Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

On July 7, the NBA free market opens.

NBA teams have all taken action. The annual NBA free agent market is very lively. In order to make the team better in the next season, the general managers of NBA teams will do their best to demonstrate their abilities during the offseason.

If the season belongs to the players and coaches, then the offseason belongs to the management of NBA teams.

On the first day of the free market, a lot of news came out.

First, Stephen Curry renewed his contract with the Golden State Warriors with a super maximum salary of 5 million for 2.01 years. At the same time, the Golden State Warriors also renewed Shaun Livingston with 3 million for 2400 years.

The Warriors spent more than 200 million in one day.

All of this is to ensure the team's overall lineup so that they can defend the championship next season.

On the same day, the Los Angeles Clippers renewed Blake Griffin's contract with 5 years and 1.73 million, the Kings renewed Bogdan Bogdanovic with 3600 million for three years, the Chicago Bulls renewed Cristiano Felicio with 4 million for 3200 years and signed Justin Holiday with 900 million for two years.

The Milwaukee Bucks also signed Tony Snell to a four-year, $4 million contract, and the Minnesota Timberwolves signed Hawks guard Jeff Teague to a three-year, $4600 million contract.

Later that day, Zhuang Yu also officially reached an agreement with the Lakers, and he will renew his contract with the Lakers in advance for 5 years and 1.6 million.

This is a maximum salary contract that includes the "Rose Clause". The contract will take effect after Zhuang Yu signs it and will be implemented in 2018, after Zhuang Yu's rookie contract ends.

In just one day, many new contracts were signed in the league, including some worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

And on the next day, July 7, more news came out.

First, the Warriors announced again that they had reached a three-year, $3 million contract extension with Andre Iguodala. Durant also announced that he had decided to execute his contract with the Warriors for the next season and stay with the Warriors to continue competing for the championship.

In this way, the Warriors retained their main championship team and ensured that they would still be a championship-level team next season.

In addition to the Warriors, the Timberwolves announced that they signed Taj Gibson for two years and $2800 million, the Jazz renewed Joe Ingles for four years and $5200 million, the Cavaliers signed Jose Calderon with a one-year minimum salary, the Philadelphia 76ers signed Amir Johnson for one year and $1100 million, and the Pelicans signed Langston Galloway for three years and $3 million...

The Lakers also took further action, announcing an early contract extension with Jordan Clarkson for 4 years and $5200 million, as well as a 2-year and $300 million contract extension with Gerald Green, a one-year and $550 million contract extension with Deron Williams, and a one-year and $520 million contract extension with Nick Young.

Ed Davis, Christian Wood and Brown officially became free agents because their contracts expired, and the Lakers have no plans to renew their contracts.

The team needs to strengthen and also clear some contracts.

As a result, the Lakers lost three players, but did not sign any additional free agents to strengthen the team, which made the fans a little unhappy.

Shouldn't it be reinforced?

We must strengthen our team, otherwise how can we beat the Warriors?

In fact, the Lakers have already taken action. Pelinka has been actively trying to persuade some players to join the Lakers during this period, and Zhuang Yu has also participated in the recruitment of some players.

For example, Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward, Jrue Holiday, and JJ Redick, all of whom were recruited by Zhuang Yu.

As for the other players, there is no need for him to show up.

However, the effect was not as expected.

Paul Millsap and JJ Redick both rejected the Lakers' recruitment.

On July 3, news came out that Paul Millsap had reached an agreement with the Denver Nuggets and the two sides signed a three-year, $9000 million contract.

In addition, JJ Redick signed a one-year, $2300 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.

This made Zhuang Yu a little depressed. Two of the four most important people were now missing, leaving only Gordon Hayward and Jrue Holiday.

It wasn't until July 7 that the Lakers made any reinforcement moves, first signing Tyreke Evans for one year and $5 million, then signing Mike Carter-Williams for one year and $330 million, and then signing Jodie Meeks for two years and $1 million...but these were just minor moves.

Later on the 5th, Zhuang Yu received a call from Pelinka and learned bad news and good news.

The bad news is that they were unable to convince Gordon Hayward to join the Lakers. According to information obtained by Pelinka, Hayward seems to have reached an agreement with the Boston Celtics and will join the Celtics for 4 million over four years.

The good news is that the Lakers have officially signed Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday and Hawks sharpshooter Kyle Korver.

"Rob, well done." Zhuang Yu said excitedly into the phone.

"Haha, this is what I should do." Pelinka said modestly, "It's just a pity that I couldn't sign Millsap, Hayward and Redick. In fact, my original idea was to sign all three of them at the same time, so that we can create a super lineup comparable to the Warriors."

Zhuang Yu comforted him: "It's not your fault."

He also knew the reasons why he failed to sign these three people.

The first point is that Millsap and Hayward's contracts are too high.

At first, Pelinka wanted to use the championship as a bargaining chip to try to persuade both of them or one of them to take a pay cut and join the Lakers, just like Durant did, but he was unsuccessful.

Then he offered Millsap a three-year, $8,400 million contract, but Millsap rejected it and signed with the Nuggets.

After that, Pelinka began to lobby Hayward with all his strength.

This time Pelinka was very generous and directly gave a maximum salary contract. However, Hayward did not want to come to the Lakers to assist Zhuang Yu. Because there was a terrifying existence like the Warriors in the West, he was not optimistic about the Lakers, so it was not surprising that he finally chose to join the Celtics in the East.

As for JJ Redick, it was a bit unexpected.

Pelinka originally thought that if the Lakers recruited him, he would be happy to join the Lakers and stay in Los Angeles. However, Redick said that he did not want to be accused of defecting to the enemy. Even if he left the Clippers, he would not join the Lakers in the same city, and would rather move to another city.

Although they failed to sign either Millsap or Hayward, signing Jrue Holiday is also good. They didn't get the sharpshooter Redick, but they got another sharpshooter Korver.

All in all, although it is not the best result, it is not bad either.

After all, this kind of thing does not mean that you can sign any player you want, or you can build any lineup you want.

What's more, Holiday and Korver, one is a guard with defensive and organizational skills, and the other is a forward known as a three-point shooter, who can just replace Deron and Gerald Green.

Holiday + Korver, this combination may be inferior to Millsap + Redick, or Hayward + Redick in scoring ability, but the defense will be better.

From the perspective of the team as a whole, Holiday + Korver may be better, because they do not need to take up too much ball possession, and Holiday can also take on the organizational tasks, allowing Zhuang Yu and Lopez to give full play to the offensive end.

Therefore, Zhuang Yu was quite satisfied with Pelinka's operation this time.