The Godfather of Basketball

This time, the general managers of other teams in the league couldn't sit still.

Especially the general managers of other teams in the East, such as Danny Ainge.

Although the Celtics signed Hayward, they failed to win Irving, and now the Nets have won George again.

"A few ignorant brats, they don't know what they did!" Angie couldn't help but explode in private.

Cavaliers and Pacers, two new young general managers, they single-handedly helped the Nets complete the lineup upgrade.

After completing these two transactions, the Nets' current lineup:

Point guard: Kyrie Irving, TJ McConaughey, Dejounte Murray

Shooting guards: Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, Brogdon

Small forwards: Paul George, PJ Tucker, Gerald Green, Dillon Brooks

Power forwards: Yi Jianlian, Markkanen, Kuzma

Center: Jokic, Oden

A 15-man lineup, Irving, Butler, George, Jokic... can definitely have a head-to-head with the Warriors.

After failing to chase Hayward, the Nets once faced the dilemma that they might return empty-handed in the free market, but the two subsequent transactions brought them back from desperation and allowed the team to get the most compensation. powerful.

This is really a mountain full of mountains and rivers, and there is no way out, and there is another village in the shadows and flowers!

In the current 15-man roster, Irving's contract is 18.87 million, plus Butler's 19.3 million, plus George's 19.51 million, plus Yi Jianlian's 12 million and Tucker's 10 million, as well as the salaries of other role players, all added together A total of about 97 million.

This salary is still 2 million away from the salary cap, and 22 million away from the luxury tax.

Now there are two options before the Nets, either to reach a contract extension with Jokic in advance, keep the lineup or sign an ordinary role player, or not to renew Jokic, so that special cases can be used to sign a player with sufficient ability role players.

If he renews his contract with Jokic in advance, Jokic does not meet the terms of the Thunder (that is, Rose's terms). If he signs a five-year maximum salary contract with the Nets, he will get a starting salary of 24.75 million, 1.32 for 5 years billion contracts.

Counting this salary, the Nets exceeded the luxury tax by more than 2 million in total.

Under this premise, sign someone in the free market, because it is already very close to the salary cap, and the signer can only use the middle class exception and the biennial exception. The salary of the former is 8.4 million, and the salary of the latter is 2.26 million.

Oden, Tucker, and Mitchell are the main rotations for the new season. In addition, George will renew his contract next season. The team is likely to let Yi Jianlian or Tucker go, so Markkanen or Kuzma must also be given playing time. , so the only one left that can be reinforced is number one.

Murray's growth was slower than expected because he didn't have much playing time. Manconner performed well last season, but his defensive ability was exposed in the game against the Warriors.

At this time, there are not many point guards left in the free market. Only Rondo and Rose are left without a contract and with a certain level of immediate combat power.

Of course, if you don't renew the contract with Jokic first, the choice will obviously be much larger.

After discussing with Jones, Tang Tian and Jones decided to renew Jokic's contract with a maximum salary first, so that at least during the offseason next year, they can devote all their energy to renewing the contract with George.

Other role players can be changed, but the core lineup of Irving, Butler, George and Jokic is their current capital to compete with the Warriors, and none of them is missing.

After the two discussed it, Jones negotiated with Jokic's agent.

The provisions of the Thunder clause are: MVP during the rookie contract period, or a player who has been selected as a starter twice in the All-Star voting, or has been selected to the All-NBA Team twice (no matter which team). Get a contract that accounts for 30% of the starting salary of the team's salary cap (5% more than the normal maximum salary).

Jokic was selected to the All-Star Game as a starter last season, so he still has this opportunity next.

If he chooses to continue to implement the rookie contract, if he is successfully selected in the new season, he will get the super maximum salary stipulated in the terms of the Thunder, but that also means that he will have to implement the contract of more than 1 million for one more year.

This choice is actually quite simple, he will take more than 20 million less this year, and even if he signs the super maximum salary, the money he gets in the new contract is not as much, which is why more and more super rookies will The reason for the early renewal of the contract period.

132 million in 5 years, the Nets showed enough sincerity and reached an early renewal maximum salary contract with Jokic.

After signing this contract, the Nets' salary space also reached 122 million, which exceeded the luxury tax by 3 million US dollars.

If they want to strengthen in the free market, they can only pay more luxury taxes.

Naturally, Tang Tian wouldn't stop because of the luxury tax of several million. Now that Irving and George had been traded, he wanted to face the Warriors head-on.

In the previous transaction, they sent all the draft picks for next year consecutively, so the transaction must also be done.

Jones found the 76ers. The two teams have traded frequently in the past few years and have become good partners.

The two sides quickly reached a deal, and the Nets sent TJ McConaughey to get the 76ers' second-round pick in 2018.

After the Grizzlies showed interest in Dillon Brooks, the Nets traded Brooks to the Grizzlies for a 2018 second-round pick.

McConaughey's trade was made to sign a point guard in free agency, and Brooks' trade was purely for draft picks.

Brooks has good talent, and his outstanding performance in the summer league has won some attention. However, the depth of the Nets lineup is too deep.

After completing these two follow-up transactions one after another, the Nets' personnel has dropped to 13, and the total salary has also come under the luxury tax.

However, this does not mean that it is the last reinforcement of the Nets. In fact, these two transactions are for subsequent signings.

They need to expand their squad to at least 14 before the season starts.

"Rondo, or Rose?" Jones asked Tang Tian to choose.

The situation of Rondo and Rose is a bit similar. Because of personality problems, the former still has the ability of tens of millions, but now he can’t even get a contract of 5 million. The latter is even more difficult to get a basic salary contract because of injuries. .

Because of the system, Rose is obviously a better choice. In exchange for an iron knee, Rose will make Tang Tian feel so refreshed.

"Rondo." However, Tang Tian finally gave up on Rose, not because of his ability, but because the Nets already had Mitchell. They didn't need a breakthrough player, but a real organizer. Rondo obviously A better fit than Ross.