frightfiction Chapter 567 So Many Things Happen During the Offseason
Chapter 567 So Many Things Happen During the Offseason
Under the current salary cap, a team can theoretically have three players on maximum contracts, but this means that these three players will occupy the vast majority of the team's salary cap space. Therefore, to fill the remaining 12 roster spots, the team will have to rely heavily on minimum contracts and non-guaranteed contracts.
There are many high-value players on minimum contracts, and there are also veteran players with great ability who take minimum contracts and are considered high-performing players, such as Jeff Green, but these are the minority.
Most players on minimum contracts can only earn minimum contracts because their skills are simply not up to par. They either have major flaws or are plagued by injuries, making it impossible for them to maintain a basic attendance rate.
So, a common thread among the Big Three teams is that their role players are generally of average quality. After all, most people play in the NBA to make money. If you expect someone to be capable of earning $1000 million and only offer them a minimum salary, unless they are a veteran looking to fight for a championship, it's unlikely that a young player would forgo a big contract and accept a minimum salary for the sake of a championship. If playing for love were that easy, that would be great.
Jia Fei believes that a structure of two superstars plus suitable supporting players is healthier. If role players have a premium, it can be offset by rookie contract bonuses, so that supporting players do not feel indispensable. If competition is formed, it will not be easy for supporting players to ask for too much money.
The Clippers' current roster is as follows:
Inside players: Olynyk, Art Mayork, Harrell, Hartenstein
Wings: Jia Fei, Paul George, Dillon, Gallinari, Bridges, Jeff Green
Guards: Beverley, Lou Williams, White, Brunson, Bruce Brown
The Clippers' current draft pick resources are as follows: they have already traded away this year's draft pick, but they still have the first-round picks from the Rockets and Pistons. In addition to these two first-round picks, they acquired the 76ers' second-round pick last season through the Boban trade, plus their own second-round pick.
In other words, having successfully defended their title, they have two first-round matches and two second-round matches during the offseason.
Furthermore, these four draft picks are not all late-game picks; the Pistons' pick is the 15th overall pick, while the Rockets' is the 28th. The two second-round picks are the 76ers' 34th and their own 55th.
Based on his memories from his previous life, Jia Fei knew that the 15th pick in the first round wouldn't yield a particularly strong player. Although this year wasn't a weak draft class, with players like Zion Williamson and Ja Morant, these excellent players would generally be selected in the top 10, making it difficult to find a suitable pick at 15.
Instead of using the 15th pick to select someone who was originally the 20th pick, it would be better to manipulate the first-round pick, such as by trading down. Last season, Jia Fei chose to trade up and acquired Bridges, but this time he already has a target; he plans to trade down.
Of the 15 players currently on the Clippers roster, those with expiring contracts (including those who opted out) include Jia Fei, Art Mayork, Jeff Green, and Beverley.
Jia Fei and Art Mayork will definitely renew their contracts, it's just a matter of contract size; Beverley needs to negotiate a new contract with him, and he can stay if the price is right; Jeff Green also considers the price, and of course, his own wishes must also be taken into account.
Because Harrell and Lou Williams were dissatisfied with the team's arrangements during the playoffs, their conflicts were brought to the forefront. Since the team still won the championship without them, the team no longer needed them as much.
Considering that they can only play in the regular season, while the Clippers have many young players who need playing time, it is something that needs to be done as soon as possible to get rid of them.
Fortunately, both Harrell and Lou Williams have short contracts, signed last offseason for three years with an average salary of $8 million. Given their current form, finding a trade for them shouldn't be too difficult.
It's just a matter of finding suitable trading partners.
Jia Fei communicated with the man with the logo, asking him to put the pick-and-roll combination on the shelf as soon as possible and find a suitable buyer.
The Clippers definitely don't want Harrell and Lou Williams anymore. Putting aside their attitude issues, their defense alone is truly appalling, both one-on-one and help defense. The rest of the team has to clean up their messes while they try to lead the offense. The problem is, in the playoffs, their offense faltered, and their defense was targeted – it was a truly disastrous situation.
To put it bluntly, these two are unreliable in truly high-level games. Since they're unreliable, it's better to just break them up. Although they're not expensive, the Clippers still have a lot of salary cap pressure and don't have enough spare money to support two unruly players who are only good at regular season games.
With the season over and the long offseason underway, Nike has been busy with its own team dedicated to developing signature shoes for star players, searching for ideas for Jia Fei's new season signature shoe.
In the summer of 2014, Jia Fei signed a six-year, $120 million contract with Nike, which seemed somewhat overpriced at the time. Nike went to great lengths to acquire Jia Fei, and the contract clearly factored in his potential.
But looking at it now, the value of this contract is simply unbeatable. Given Jia Fei's current status and popularity, the price of the new contract will be unimaginably high.
It's worth noting that Jia Fei was the top-selling player in the entire NBA last season, both in terms of shoe and jersey sales, and by a significant margin. Nike profited immensely from this and naturally wanted to renew the contract with this global sports superstar, ideally a lifetime contract!
However, when Jia Fei's contract with Nike expires next summer, many competitors will emerge. Currently, it is understood that Adidas, Under Armour, and several other companies are privately contacting Jia Fei's agent, Jeff Schwartz, hoping to sign him to a super-lucrative contract next summer!
Nike, of course, wouldn't allow its prize to be snatched away by others, so they've been paying special attention to Jia Fei's new season signature shoe. This level of attention is unprecedented, surpassing even that of Running Man's Du Xiaoshuai and others, and is almost on par with the legendary Michael Jordan.
Jia Fei is busy preparing to strengthen the team, and the 2019 draft is about to begin.
The 2019 NBA Draft will be held on June 21, 2019 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Besides this, the Chinese Basketball Association also contacted him by phone, hoping that he could return to the team as soon as possible, because the Chinese men's basketball team has an important event this summer, namely the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
2019年国际篮联篮球世界杯是自1950年以来的第18届国际篮联篮球世界杯，也是世界男子篮球锦标赛更名为篮球世界杯后的第二届赛事，该届赛事将于2019年8月31日至9月15日在华夏进行。