Bishop of the Devil

In addition to the five starters in the Eastern Conference, seven people including Pierce, Mutombo, Rasheed, Brand, Ray Allen, Mobley and Alan Houston entered the All-Star reserve lineup.

There are two West Lafayette players in the starting lineup, Da Zhi and Iverson.

As for the substitute lineup, there are three people.

The starting lineup in the Western Conference seems to be much better than the Western Conference.

O'Neal is absent due to injury, so O'Neal, the league's second center, will naturally take over O'Neal's starting center position.

Don't look at the league in the East who found a rotten bird's egg as the starting center, but they can't do the same in the West.

The main reason is that Ou is the second center in the league. If the league randomly finds a rotten tomato as the starting center, the fans will definitely not be happy...

As for the Eastern side, Mourning is almost the third center in the league. Among the remaining centers in the Eastern Conference, they are all of the same level. Of course, Uncle Mu is a higher level, but in the end, Uncle Mu is just a blue-collar guy, so let the Raptors It makes sense for Davis to start the game.

…

The two frontcourts are Duncan and Ben.

Although Ben is a blue-collar guy, his popularity has soared since he won the MVP in the finals last season, and now he has surpassed the Wolf King Garnett.

In any case, Ben is the captain of the strongest team in the league, and his statistics are really dazzling. He also has enough valuable honors at hand. It is not difficult to understand why Garnett is squeezed out of the starting position.

As for the two starting backcourts, they are Kobe and Kidd.

There is no doubt about this, the two of them are still quite qualified to get the starting position.

However, what is more embarrassing is that Kobe directly entered the Lakers' injured list the day before the start of the All-Star Weekend!

He will miss this year's All-Star Weekend!

This left Richard a little speechless. He felt that this should be Kobe's initiative to abandon the game...

Kobe is feeling quite uncomfortable now. He knows Richard too well.

Although he is Richard's disciple, he is now wearing the purple and gold jersey of the Lakers. When the All-Star Game comes, Richard may not give him playing time.

He couldn't blame Richard for this crucial matter. It was Zen Master Jackson who took the initiative to find trouble, and Richard could only passively fight back!

Kobe didn't want to make things difficult for Richard, so he simply put himself on the Lakers' injured list...

Like O'Neal, he will not play in this year's All-Star Game!

Anyway, he knew very well that even if he went to fight, he would definitely not have more than one minute of playing time. Richard could definitely do this kind of thing.

After Kobe Bryant entered the injured list, it directly caused no one from the Lakers to be selected as an All-Star this year...

…

Kobe's position was also replaced by veteran strong guard Glove Payton.

In addition to the starters, the seven substitute All-Stars are Nowitzki, Ginobili, Larry Hughes, Raheem, Garnett, McDyess and Michael Finley.

Trail Blazers veteran Robinson failed to be selected for the All-Stars this time, but Ginobili got the opportunity to be selected for the All-Stars.

Speaking of which, Ginobili is definitely qualified to enter the All-Stars. As a substitute, he averaged 17 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals per game for the Trail Blazers, which is quite amazing.

The Western side has two West Lafayette players in the starting lineup, and an astonishing four West Lafayette players on the bench!

There are five in the East and six in the West. In this All-Star Game, 11 West Lafayette players directly participated in the All-Star!

Eleven players!

What is the concept? This is a real half of the country. All the All-Stars in the East and West add up to a total of 22, and West Lafayette players account for exactly half of them!

…

Judging from this All-Star roster, the league has truly entered a new era.

Not many faces of old players appear on the All-Star roster...

Among the 22 players in this class, the only ones who are truly old players are probably Payton and Uncle Mu.

The remaining 20 players are all new generation players.

…

Richard is now full of longing. With eleven players, when the All-Star Game is over, how many All-Star honors will he get!

These All-Star lights are all weapons for rebuilding the team in the future!

…

In the blink of an eye, this is already Richard's fifth season coaching the Trail Blazers!

For nearly five years, Richard can be said to have dedicated everything to the Trail Blazers, bringing the Trail Blazers team to the top of the league's glory!

Before Richard joined the Trail Blazers, the Trail Blazers were actually not weak, at least they were a playoff-level team in the Western Conference.

But they are still far away from winning the championship...

No one would have thought that after Richard came, he would lead the team to win two championship trophies in just over four years, and most importantly, the third championship trophy is not that far away now. distance.

Once Richard really leads the team to win the championship again this year, he will become a hero in the city of Portland!

If they win the championship this year and successfully build a dynasty, there is a 90% chance that Richard will leave the Trail Blazers and join an Eastern Conference team.

Garbage team in the East...

After building a dynasty, at least Richard will not feel any burden after leaving.

He has given the Trail Blazers enough honor, and he is worthy of this team. Even if he leaves, he will not leave when the Trail Blazers are at their lowest point, but at their most glorious moment.

As for why he had the idea of ​​leaving the Trail Blazers.

In fact, there are many reasons. The first reason is that Richard wants to show his ability in team management.

The next team he joined, Richard wanted not only the position of head coach, but even the position of president of basketball affairs, which he was not satisfied with.

What he wants is the position of head coach, president of basketball affairs and general manager of the team. He can handle all the team's lineup construction, team operations and other business at one hand!

Of course, he will definitely not join a team that is in a good situation. If he wants to show his abilities, he will naturally choose a team that is in a difficult period.

Only in this way can you fully demonstrate your ability to create miracles!

He wants this lucky team to jump directly from grass chickens to super golden phoenixes!

A super golden phoenix that lays golden eggs!

…

As for why he had to choose an Eastern team, Richard naturally had his own reasons.

If you continue to stay in the Western Conference, it will be difficult to deal with the Trail Blazers in the playoffs...

Besides, Paul Allen definitely doesn't want Richard to stay in the west. If Richard really wants to leave, he definitely wants Richard to go to the east to stir things up.

The most important thing is that the league is definitely happy to see Richard go to the east...

In recent years, since the collapse of the Bulls dynasty, the Western Conference has been too strong.

Not to mention the Trail Blazers, even the Lakers or Spurs have the ability to defeat the strong teams in the Eastern Conference!

If this continues, it will be quite detrimental to the development of the Eastern District.

What the league has always wanted is balance, and they don't want to see a situation where one player in the Western Conference dominates the other!

Now if the league management committee knew that Richard had the idea of ​​joining the Eastern Conference, I'm afraid they would beat gongs and drums and go to the streets to perform yangko...

This is definitely the biggest good news!

…

In addition to showing one's business capabilities, there are actually other reasons.

For example, after staying in the city of Portland for five years, Richard wanted to change to a new environment...

Not only Richard, but most people will feel tired after working a job for five years and want to change to a new environment and start a new life.

But the reason why these people have not changed jobs must be because of the high pressure in life...

As the saying goes, it takes three years to find a new job. Most people can find a stable job. Those who are full will change jobs.

Richard, on the other hand, does not have this kind of pressure in life. Moreover, if all the teams in this league want to invite Richard, they must not give him a decent contract? !

Richard's four-year contract with the Trail Blazers has ended long ago, and he is currently signing a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers.

The contract value is as high as 10 million US dollars!

Originally, Paul Allen wanted to offer Richard a four-year, $60 million contract to retain Richard...

This is a contract with an annual salary of 15 million US dollars, which is comparable to a player's maximum salary contract!

If Paul Allen dared to offer such a contract, he knew very well that Richard could create benefits for him that far exceeded the US$60 million!

Sixty million for four years, which is the salary of a top-paid player. Is Richard worth less than a top-paid player? !

Don't be kidding, if three people with the highest salary are offered in exchange for Richard, Paul Allen probably won't be able to exchange him!

However, Richard rejected the contract and only signed a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers.

Paul Allen naturally sighed secretly. Judging from the current situation, Richard has indeed been separated...

He must be feeling very uncomfortable, but can he blame Richard?

Definitely not, Richard has brought enough glory to the Trail Blazers!

Not to mention that Richard only signed a one-year contract, even if Richard ran away immediately after winning the championship last season, Paul Allen couldn't find fault...

However, he remembered Richard's promise very clearly, which was to build a dynasty before leaving the team, and when he left the team, there would be at least four All-Stars and five powerful newcomers on the team!

Now the promises of four All-Stars and five strong newcomers have been fulfilled...

In this All-Star Game, the Trail Blazers have four players selected for the All-Star Game, including two starting players!

As for the five strong newcomers, this is not a promise at all. The Blazers have never had less than five strong newcomers.

What can really stop Richard from leaving the Trail Blazers is whether he can win the championship this year!

If he misses the championship this year, according to Paul Allen's estimation, Richard will probably sign a three-year contract with the Trail Blazers to see if he can build a dynasty in these three years...

If you can't build a dynasty, just keep signing...

Now Paul Allen is quite troubled. On the one hand, he really hopes that the team can create a dynasty. This is a very great honor. Even the bosses at his level are looking forward to it!

But on the other hand, he doesn't want this dynasty, or he hopes that the dynasty will come later. In this case, Richard will continue to stay in the Trail Blazers because of the promise he made!

In a dilemma, Paul Allen doesn't know what he wants now...

…

Speaking of which, Yao Ming is actually one of the reasons why Richard wants to leave the Trail Blazers. At present, both Auburn and the Trail Blazers have signed six-year contracts.

And Yao Ming will definitely overlap with the Auburn team. Even if Richard can select Yao Ming in the draft, it will be difficult to arrange.

He wants Yao Ming to become the inside hegemon of this league, a super center that can truly compete with O'Neal in this league, and he wants Yao Ming to share the title of the most dominant center in O'Neal's history!

Then we need to completely build a team with Yao Ming as the core!

Under such circumstances, it must be quite difficult to stay in the Trail Blazers...

The Trail Blazers' salary space is already locked. Even if the salary space continues to increase significantly in the next few years, the Blazers will only be able to sign another maximum salary!

…

Based on the above reasons, Richard will definitely have the intention of leaving the Trail Blazers!

As for the promises he made, in fact, Richard thinks they are not difficult to keep!

If you really want to stare at yourself and squander all kinds of props, what can the Lakers do to compete with you? !

You can use a huge amount of All-Star Light to create a super monster!

Maybe this monster only lasts for one or two seasons, but that's enough for Richard to beat the Lakers!

…

On Friday night, the NBA All-Star Weekend officially begins.

The Rookie Challenge still continues the rules of the first- and second-year duel from last season!

Because there weren't really any strong players in the 2000 draft, this Rookie Challenge is destined to not be too exciting.

If you know that among the 2000 rookies, it was Mike Miller who won the Rookie of the Year honor, you can know that this rookie class is really miserable.

But even if it wasn't exciting, Richard still appeared on the scene.

In the first-year lineup, there are two disciples of Richard, namely Mike Miller and Michael Reed.

Both were named to the first-year starting lineup in the Rookie Challenge.

As for the second-year lineup, it is exactly the same as the first-year lineup in the last Rookie Challenge. Only Ginobili was selected to the All-Star team and his position was replaced.

In the final showdown between the first and second graders, the second graders undoubtedly had a huge advantage.

The strength gap between the two sides is really scary. In the second-year lineup, there are already many players who have become the leaders of the team.

Such as Odom, Brand, Francis, Hamilton...

On the other hand, the first grade is really unbearable. Reed in the Trail Blazers should be regarded as the best among the 2000 rookies.

In the Trail Blazers' schedule in the first few months of this season, Reid got a lot of playing opportunities. He is currently averaging about 13 points per game. He is actually the player with the highest scoring average among this rookie class...

No. 1 pick Kenyon Martin is currently averaging less than 12 points per game, while Mike Miller is averaging 11 points per game...

Then, in terms of statistics, there are no rookies who score in double figures.

This can easily tell how bad this rookie class is...

This is still Reed being trained by Richard. If it weren't for the addition of Reed, then only two rookies in this class would score in double figures, and they would still be in double figures, only in the top ten!

You must know that in those big draft years, there are often nearly ten players scoring in double figures, and there are even players who score more than 20 points.

Looking back at the 2000 draft, it was really miserable...

In the end, the second-year team won the first-year team with an absolutely huge advantage. Odom relied on his outstanding data of 27 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals to win the MVP of this Rookie Challenge!

Clippers fans were as excited as the New Year. They had been looking forward to it for so many years, and finally another player in the team won an award...

Although he is only the MVP of the rookie game, no matter how small the mosquito is, it is still meat!

…

Saturday night's game was a miscellaneous game, but Richard didn't go to watch it, mainly because no one on the Blazers team went to participate in the miscellaneous games this year.

In recent years, the dunk contest has attracted a lot of attention, but this year's dunk contest was an upset. The honor of dunk king was won by Desmond Mason of the SuperSonics...

The three-point king was won by Ray Allen.

…

On weekend night, crazy fans finally waited for their long-awaited All-Star Game!

Although without Kobe Bryant and O'Neal this year, the All-Star star power has dimmed a bit, but it is exciting enough to see so many new generation stars competing on the same court!

Especially this year, Richard is leading the team, which makes the fans even more excited. Everyone knows that Richard likes to cause trouble, and tonight's game may be something different.

Moreover, the head coach of the Eastern All-Stars has a close relationship with Richard. He was Richard's former assistant, Rick Carlisle.

The 76ers currently have the best record in the Eastern Conference, ranking first in the Eastern Conference record list. Carlisle is naturally qualified to lead the Eastern Conference All-Stars.

As for the Pacers, who topped the Eastern Conference record last season, this season is completely over.

Currently, they only have the eighth record in the Eastern Conference and are almost squeezed out of the playoffs...

This is definitely a scene that Larry Bird would be very happy to see. Why? Because he resigned as the Pacers head coach at the end of last season.

The current head coach of the Pacers is the smiling assassin Isiah Thomas!

The assassin squeezed Big Bird away, it's strange that Bird can hope that the assassin will have a better life now...

It has to be said that the Smiling Assassins are very strong on the court and have no major problems with their character, but their coaching and management abilities are quite bad!

You must know that the Pacers still had the best record in the Eastern Conference last season. In just a few months, they almost missed the Eastern Conference playoffs.

What does it mean for a team in the Eastern Conference that cannot make the playoffs? It goes without saying that it is a real loser!

In other words, there is only a thin line between the Pacers and becoming a fish belly!

Of course, the good days of the Assassins didn't last long. In 2003, Larry Bird made a comeback and assumed the position of president of the team's basketball affairs.

The first thing he did when he took office was to fire the Smiling Assassin!

To say that the Assassins' coaching ability is really that bad, it's not that bad, as long as the Pacers' core inside line, Schmitz, has retired.

After last season, Schmitz retired quite unexpectedly. You must know that he still scored 13 points last season.

With Schmitz's retirement, it is quite normal for the Assassins to be unable to achieve results while leading the team.

…

The All-Stars from both sides have begun to warm up, with Richard and Carlisle standing on the edge of the court.

These two should be regarded as the most successful head coaches in the league today.

"Li, life is really sad now. I still miss the carefree days in the Trail Blazers..." Carlisle said to Richard with a grimace.

Regardless of the fact that Carlisle has led the team to the first record in the Eastern Conference, he is actually under a lot of pressure.

During the offseason, Da Zhi signed a six-year maximum salary contract of nearly 80 million with the Philadelphia 76ers...

The Philadelphia 76ers' salary space has been completely locked up by Iverson, Zhi Zhi, Ratliff and Oakley, which makes it difficult for them to make reinforcements.

Although the current lineup can achieve a very good record in the Eastern Conference, Carlisle also knows it very well.

Let alone the Trail Blazers, this lineup may not even be able to defeat the Spurs and Lakers.

The entire Philadelphia fans are full of hope for the 76ers and are counting on them to win the championship...

This put Carlisle under great pressure, because he knew very well that there was no possibility of winning the championship!

And the current relationship between Carlisle and the Philadelphia 76ers management is also very tense.

If Iverson and Dazhi hadn't supported Carlisle, I'm afraid Carlisle would have been fired after last season.

This straightforward guy is really not afraid of offending people sometimes.

…

Now that Iverson and Dazhi are supporting him, his coaching position is not in danger, but what if he fails to win the championship for several consecutive years?

Then maybe the 76ers management has lost patience and it is possible to fire Iverson directly regardless of the feelings of Iverson and Dazhi!

"We are already No. 1 in the Eastern Conference. What's there to be sad about? Just relax, old man, and don't put too much pressure on yourself!" Richard patted Carlisle on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Carlisle smiled bitterly...

"By the way, Lee, I heard that you signed a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers?" Carlisle asked curiously.

Richard nodded. Although the Blazers had concealed the specific details of their contract, someone who was interested still learned the news.

He only signed a one-year contract, so there are a lot of things to say about it.

At least it can be seen that Richard wants to leave the Trail Blazers. The reason why he signed this one-year contract is probably to go to the dynasty.

When a dynasty is truly created, that will definitely be the time when Richard leaves the Trail Blazers!

…

Facing Carlisle's inquiry, Richard nodded. There was no need to hide this matter. Anyway, there were only three months left before he left the Trail Blazers.

"Are you coming to the east?" Carlisle asked with a wry smile.

Richard nodded...

Carlisle didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Good guy, just now Richard advised himself not to put too much pressure on him.

Isn’t this a lot of pressure?…

Richard is coming to the Eastern Conference to grab food. I am afraid that all the head coaches in the Eastern Conference are under great pressure now!

Especially a coach like Carlisle with the best record in the Eastern Conference...

If Richard is not here, they can reach the Eastern Conference semifinals, Eastern Conference finals and even the finals, and at least they can still explain themselves to the team.

And when Richard comes, there must be a team whose head coach is going to be unlucky!

"Don't worry, I won't go to the 76ers..." Richard said to Carlisle with a smile.

Carlisle even wanted to cry. Is he worried about you coming to the 76ers? What worries me is that you come to the east...