Bishop of the Devil

On November 22, Richard's suspension finally ended.

After returning from the suspension, the Pirates' home attendance has improved significantly compared to before.

These Pirates fans are undoubtedly here to see Richard.

On the first day of Richard's return from suspension, a shocking transaction occurred in the league.

Phoenix sent center Okur and a second-round pick, the Celtics sent Chauncey Billups, and the Pistons sent Nash, along with some players with minimum salaries to balance the deal.

The three parties reached a deal, which is definitely quite heavyweight transaction news.

The three people traded are all core players in the team.

Even Okur, before Stoudemire joined the Suns, he was the second-leading figure in the team.

Looking purely at the transaction entities, it is undoubtedly the Suns who made money. They used Okur, the lowest value among the three transaction entities, in exchange for Nash, the two-time championship point guard who has the title of the league's number one point guard. This is undoubtedly Quite a bargain.

But when it comes to making a lot of money, it's not that big of a deal. After all, Nash only has less than one year left on his contract, and Okur's contract still has nearly three seasons. If Nash waits until the end of this season, he won't renew it. If you make an appointment with the Suns, then the Suns are basically in a chicken-and-egg situation.

With such risks, the Suns certainly can't claim to be making a lot of money.

The Pistons and Greencaps don't seem to be making much money, and they even seem to be losing money.

But in Richard's view, these two teams actually did not suffer.

Green Kai cannot be broken or established. Facts have proved that it is difficult for the combination of Pierce and Billups to achieve a dazzling record.

Now they are re-building their lineup, and when the 2005 draft starts, they will get high-quality newcomers through Richard's hands, and they will definitely skyrocket by then.

Logically speaking, because the Pirates are now in the East, Richard's approach is tantamount to establishing a strong enemy for himself.

But Richard really doesn't care at all...

As the saying goes, there are too many lice but it doesn't itch. Are there still few strong teams in the Eastern Conference?

The newly formed Heat, because of the presence of O'Neal, are still a powerful team in the league.

There is also a veteran and powerful Pistons. At least in the next few years, they will remain as strong as the previous Trail Blazers.

With these two teams as the base, even if Green Kai rises, Richard won't care too much.

With Richard's interference, it is estimated that the alliance structure will also change as a result.

In the past, the situation of strong west and weak east may gradually turn into weak east wall in the future.

The reason is very simple. The Heat, Pistons, and Greencaps will all rise. It will only take two or three years for the Pirates led by Richard to rise to the top.

It won't be long before there will be four teams in the East that are capable of competing for the championship!

On the other hand, in the Western Conference, it seems that except for the Spurs and Suns, the other teams are significantly worse.

…

One person changes the alliance structure, and Richard's horror is reflected in this place.

…

The three-party transaction here had just been completed, and the Suns immediately turned around and made a deal with the Pirates.

The Suns sent White and a first-round pick from the Nets in exchange for two cannon fodder players on short-term contracts to the Buccaneers.

This transaction did not attract much attention within the league. The transaction between the two parties was considered fair and just. After all, in the eyes of everyone, the Nets' first-round pick was undoubtedly the bottom of the first round, and its value was not too high. high.

The Nets have played 14 games this season and have a record of 8 wins and 6 losses. They look pretty good. If they continue to work hard, they will still be among the top three in the Eastern Conference.

But Richard knew that the Nets were probably less than a month away from collapse...

After the Nets collapse, his first-round pick will move from the bottom of the first round to the middle of the first round, enough for him to choose Granger.

By then, the Pirates' forward-back combination will become a combination of Iguodala plus Granger.

Such a combination makes Richard very excited just thinking about it.

In Richard's opinion, Granger is the replica of Pickled Pepper, and the two have too many similarities.

The defense of both of them is quite good, and the key is that the defense is very clean.

Apart from that, they are all good at shooting and have strong offensive capabilities.

It's just that one suffered an injury and rose from the ashes, while the other suffered an injury and disappeared from everyone.

What many fans don't know is that when Pickle first entered the league, he actually played as Granger's substitute.

At first, the Pacers positioned Pickle as a 3D outside player, and did not expect Pickle to become a top all-around small forward.

Later, Granger gradually cooled down, and Paojiao got the opportunity to become the leading small forward.

…

Anyway, Richard is quite excited now. Pickled Pepper is almost his second favorite player after Duncan.

At present, I have never found an opportunity to get involved with Duncan, and I guess I will never find one in the future.

Now that he has the opportunity to coach the replica of Pickle, Richard can be regarded as getting his wish.

…

In this current season, Richard has determined his intention to perform like crazy.

Therefore, in the 2005 draft, the Buccaneers guaranteed a top-four first-round pick, a top-four-round pick, and the Nets' mid-first-round pick.

These three picks can already help Richard get Chris Paul, Granger, and Gortat extremely reliably.

The addition of Gortat will undoubtedly enhance the team's inside strength.

The addition of Dirty Cannon will complete the Pirates' No. 1 lineup.

A young dirty gun, and an old Payton outside, these two may be the two best defensive players in the history of the one position.

Payton will definitely be ranked first, and Paul's ranking in the top five will not be a problem.

As for Granger, after he joined the Buccaneers, the combination between Iguodala and him was completely faultless.

Almost every position has people available, and more than one person is available. In this case, the Pirates will definitely have the strength to compete for the championship.

…

The darkness in front of you is to make the coming dawn even more radiant.

Richard and Jordan continued to implement the team's plan to ruin the team.

Although it is a mess, there is still some skill in making it look bad.

If it is purely bad, fans will lose interest in the game, and the team's attendance rate will definitely be affected.

At this point, Richard felt it was necessary to learn from the Suns of later generations.

The Suns team in front of us is about to reach its peak. After they disintegrate, the Suns will fall into a long and endless process of failure.

However, they have a good way to deal with the failure, which is to let the players in the team score big data to attract the attention of the fans and ensure that the fans are interested in attending the game.

The best example is their young shooting guard Booker, who scored 70+ points like crazy.

Of course, brushing would be more appropriate to describe it here.

However, whether it is a real cut or a brush, 70+ is unambiguous. Suns fans are also satisfied with this and directly ignore the Suns' extremely poor on-court performance.

After some discussion between Richard and Jordan, they decided that even if they were not winning, they would let one or two players on the team produce as bright statistics as possible to attract the attention of fans.

A team cannot be without stars, and now the Buccaneers are ready to start a star-making campaign.