CHAPTER 1270: CHAPTER 513: JUST MADE A CALL AND THEY SHOWED UP

After Jack and Pietrus left, Juwan Howard also departed from the Bobcats, joining the Trail Blazers for 3 million for one year; Magloire smoothly returned to Canada, joining the Toronto Raptors with a veteran minimum salary of 1.23 million for one year. After his younger brother was killed by gangsters, he had always wanted to return to Canada to play, but at that time the Raptors were not interested in him. Now he can finally go back to be with his family.

Alan Anderson played halfway through the summer league, then went to Europe. Afflalo, Collison, and others helped him showcase his individual ability in the summer league, which caught the attention of the Serie A Milan Olympic Club, gaining a promise of a core scorer role and signing a one-year contract worth 1.5 million euros after tax, equivalent to an NBA salary of four to five million.

The ’Three Bench Players of ’05’ suddenly lost one, and before returning to the team, Zhang Yang already felt a bit uneasy. Fortunately, when the emotional feelings surfaced, he was busy at work, and he just got through it that way.

The performance of the three rookies did not disappoint. From Afflalo, Zhang Yang learned that the one most favored by the coach and teammates is Cunningham, who is mature, reserved, not greedy for credit nor competitive... But when the coaching staff assigns clear tasks, he goes all out to complete them.

Collison has excellent ready-to-play ability, matches Curry in one-on-one duels without falling behind, is fully developed, technically mature, cheerful, and also well-liked by coach and teammates.

Matthews... a real man who lives on his skills, is the fastest among the three rookies to adapt to the NBA three-point line.

According to agent Tellem, other players participating in the draft usually go play after the season ends, and only start preparing for the draft when it’s almost time. But Matthews was different; the day after being eliminated in ’March Madness,’ he went back to school, drew the NBA three-point line distance on the school playground, and started practicing shooting.

Initially, Tellem was very reluctant to sign Matthews when Zhang Yang asked him to, thinking someone with such a personality and slow technical progress during college couldn’t survive in the NBA, a waste of time. But one summer league changed Tellem’s view of him.

This added some confidence to Zhang Yang for the defending season. It’s not expected that the three rookies perform better than Jack, Pietrus, and Hill in the regular season. As long as they don’t drag down when playing as substitutes and can showcase some different features, it’s not a loss. If they can contribute in the playoffs after a season of training, then it’s a profit.

What didn’t go smoothly was that Boss Joe did not get the rib medical expense. Artest rejected a one-year mid-level short contract, agreeing to join the Mavericks, and completed a sign-and-trade on July 17.

The Mavericks sent last season’s bench center Ryan Hollins, with an average of 3.8 points and 3.2 rebounds, along with Stackhouse’s partially guaranteed expiring contract, to the Warriors for Artest in a sign-and-trade, signing a 3-year, $21 million contract.

After acquiring Stackhouse, the Warriors released him immediately to save money. Their goal was Hollins, the backup center, which was their first serious center in years.

Zhang Yang analyzed that Artest didn’t come mainly because of money. A 3-year, $21 million contract is the highest average deal Artest has ever gotten in his career. His previous contract, signed in ’03, was 6 years, $48 million. At the start of the next season, Artest would be 30, so he definitely had to strive for the biggest contract available.

In fact, if it were Artest, Crazy Scientist was willing to give up the ’2010 Plan’ for a long-term contract, but they couldn’t afford it, had no cap space, and even Jordan joked about wanting to trade Mike Miller’s expiring contract one-for-one with Artest, offering an extra $2 million in salary if the Warriors agreed.

The personality of the Crazy Scientist is such that when things are not going his way, helping himself or not is not important. Seeing others unhappy comforts him. The Lakers wanted to sign and trade Artest with Ariza and a draft pick but were refused.

And a pleasant surprise...

Before returning to the country, Zhang Yang called Marion, not really saying anything, just exchanging pleasantries, having to wait for a clear answer from Artest’s side before inviting him.

But before he finished his work, the media exposed that Artest rejected Jordan’s invitation, and Marion actively contacted management to apply for a tryout!

Bikstaff curiously asked Marion why he chose them instead of waiting for their invitation.

Marion smiled and replied, "Jack was the first superstar to call me this summer."

During the tryout, Marion exposed a lot of problems. He hadn’t played ball properly for a year and a half, many technical skills had signs of being abandoned, and physical fitness had significantly declined due to age, lack of training enthusiasm for a long period, etc. Though Bikstaff was most worried about the mentality issue, Marion wasn’t as gloomy and depressed as rumored, showing high enthusiasm and positivity during the tryout... Then Bikstaff even brought in a psychologist, worried that Marion was bipolar.

Luckily, they finally confirmed Marion had rekindled his passion for basketball because he had the chance to join a strong team again and gained respect from an MVP superstar, not because his depression had worsened. After discussing it, Team Bald signed Marion to a 1+1 mid-level exception deal with a team option for the second year, agreeing that both the team and player had the right to terminate the contract at any time, meanwhile preparing to have a regular psychologist available for the new season...

Five teammates left, four new ones came, with none lacking in ability. Mainly, it was a good year for the draft, and no matter how they chose, they couldn’t go wrong.

Additionally, Perkins did not opt out of the last year of his 4 million contract, which was crucial for them.

Zhang Yang knows that Perkins exercised the player option because of the good endorsement deals he can get by following him, although he seems sullen and hard, in fact, he is quite shrewd.

The roster has reached 14 people; next is finding veteran substitutes, possibly a point guard or center. Zhang Yang isn’t too concerned about that. If there’s a trade, he will pay some attention. After resting for two nights, on the 28th, he, along with big dog Daluo who came to Hidden Mountain, began specialized training with the Legendary Trainer Grove in the rented private gym...