I just want to lie down and win

Chapter 166 Trading Elvis, losing the playoffs (4000, please subscribe)

The championship team needs more veterans to add background and stability, but for a team that has just won the championship, there are too many veterans in the team, which is not a good thing.

Although the regular season is not as important as the playoffs, but without the regular season, there will be no playoffs.

Although young people will make mistakes in the playoffs, young people also play harder in the regular season.

After the Pistons exposed some problems at the beginning of the regular season, Huo Song, as the head of the team, immediately responded to the situation and put pressure on the team management.

Huo Song understands that if the team wants to continue to compete for the championship, it is necessary to maintain the stability of the locker room.

But the team lineup configuration and team personnel structure are also very important.

A championship team cannot be so lifeless, nor is it blindly intriguing among players, but should be full of vitality and unity.

Huo Song needs the management to be the villain, to make an example of others, and to trade for him with suitable helpers to inject new vitality into the team.

However, even if the management has an idea, it can only deal with some leftovers in a short period of time.

The ship was in trouble to turn around. The Pistons lost Billups and Rasheed Wallace last season.

It can be said that they won two championships for the Pistons. When they leave the league and officially retire, the Pistons should retire their jerseys.

It is a business for the owner to buy the team, but when talking about business, it is often necessary to talk about the world.

This is one of the reasons why Joe Dumars didn't make big moves for a while.

Of course, the transaction between the teams cannot be completed so quickly. In any case, it should be negotiated for a period of time, ten days and a half months is not a big deal.

Moreover, the transactions that are being concluded are often silent in advance.

The Internet is not so developed these days, and the stars don't have the ability to force the team to take the initiative to designate that team.

Therefore, Huo Song can just wait for the news like last year.

When the trade deadline approaches, the team may suddenly complete the transaction, just like last year, using Billups and Rasheed Wallace to Marbury.

From the point of view at that time, the Pistons may still have a small loss.

But now that the season is over and the Pistons have successfully defended the championship, it shows that this deal is really good.

As for whether Joe Dumars can perform miracles this year, it is unknown.

Huo Song could only continue to trust Joe Dumars.

If Joe Dumars disappointed him again and again, then Huo Song would have an excuse to leave Detroit and go to other cities to play brother basketball.

If Joe Dumars signs for the Pistons, it's been successful time and time again.

Then, even in the dilapidated Detroit, there will inevitably be young All-Stars defecting to Huo Song, and then continue to fulfill the promise of brother basketball in the early years.

To be honest, Huo Song is really not that anxious now that he has two championships and FMVP in hand.

How many years has Huo Song been in the league?

Who is not a rookie?
……

Time passed quickly, and before we knew it, we entered 2006.

In the previous two months, the Pistons had a record of 15 wins and 12 losses, which was the worst start in the past three years.

But fortunately, the Pistons have won the championship for two consecutive years, which has not changed the pattern of strong west and weak east.

The pressure of competition in the West is still very high, and the level of the All-Stars in the East is relatively poor.

With the general situation unchanged, even though the Pistons got off to a bad start and had a 55.5% winning percentage, they are still the top six teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Pistons haven't been reduced to becoming a fringe team in the Eastern Conference playoffs, let alone start to suck.

With the return of Huo Song's state, he can play the 40+10 state in a single game from time to time when he was competing for the MVP last season. The Pistons have a relatively strong confidence in winning recently.

It's just that Ellis plays relatively independently, and the Pistons just want to train him well, and the team's record will be greatly affected.

As far as the team's current record is concerned, it will definitely not choose to be poor, but continue to hit the championship.

But if the starting point guard is a rookie at the end of the first round, there is really no possibility of winning the championship.

In addition, in order to solve the problem of core meritorious service renewal in the next few years, the internal contradictions of the Pistons are not small.

The team can be said to be suffering from internal and external troubles. For the time being, it can only rely on Huo Song's personal strength to solve most of the problems.

However, Joe Dumars, who hadn't made a move for a long time, finally started in mid-January.

Joe Dumars traded Prince and some cash from the Charlotte Bobcats for Gerald Wallace and a 07 first-round pick.

The deal was basically a Prince-for-Elvis swap.

But obviously, Prince has more cards than Elvis Presley, and the transaction value is greater.

If it weren't for the trade to balance the salary, the Pistons wouldn't use the cash at all, but the Bobcats would give more money.

Of course, the Bobcats are new to the league, and their record is relatively poor. Even if they don't want to be bad, they don't know how to win because of the lack of reliable star players.

The Bobcats are willing to take out next year's first-round pick, which can be regarded as sufficient compensation.

Newcomers to the league like the Bobcats lack team background, and even if they are willing to pay a lot of money, they will not be able to recruit All-Star players for the time being.

Therefore, it is already very rare to be able to obtain an ordinary star like Prince who is very young as the team's starter but already has two championship honors through a trade.

The Bobcats took the first-round pick as compensation, and the Pistons were not too bad.

But the Bobcats didn't gamble too much. The Bobcats didn't trade their first-round pick this year, just to bet on whether the team's overall strength can improve after the trade to Prince, and then enter the playoffs next year.

If it is the first-round pick of a playoff team, then the value will naturally not be much higher.

But if the Bobcats get Prince, the team does not become stronger, and if they want to be forced to perform poorly in the past two years, then the Pistons will also make a lot of money.

In short, both sides are betting.

Joe Dumars is also betting on Elvis' potential.

It is true that Wallace is not Elvis now, and the core of the Bobcats is last year's No. [-] pick Emeka Okafor.

Okafor has good combat power and is good at both offense and defense.

In the selection of the best rookie last year, Okafor won the honor of the best rookie over Howard, whose talent is visible to the naked eye.

The young Bobcats have such an outstanding No. [-] pick.

I also saw that the Pistons also selected the No. [-] pick at the best rookie level, and then soared into the sky.

The Bobcats will naturally be moved and try to build a reasonable lineup for the playoffs.

As a rookie, the Bobcats do not have the strength to hit the championship in a short period of time, but it is necessary to change some starters and more experienced players to hit the playoffs.

Therefore, like Gerald Wallace, who has played in the league for six years and is supposed to be a first-round pick at the peak, but has only averaged 10+5 per game so far, the Bobcats have no intention of cultivating.

The Bobcats want to train, and they should use the first-round picks of these years to train younger and more potential rookies.

The Bobcats want to try to play the taste of the playoffs, it will not keep Gerald Wallace as Elvis.

Gerrard had this luck to become Elvis Presley, but it was because Okafor fell into the water due to injuries.

Okafor was injured in his rookie season. As an inside player, he suffered too many injuries in the first three years, which will affect the team's training for him and his future positioning.

Gerald Wallace just played during this period. The most important thing is to have a good playing attitude and good defensive data, so he is trusted by the team.

Joe Dumars himself is a defensive champion, and he likes to defend players who play hard.

Joe Dumars knew that the Pistons could not rashly trade a defensive striker like Prince, otherwise the Pistons' wing defense would have big problems.

Therefore, the person who replaces Prince must be a striker with good defensive ability.

Of course, the most critical point is to be cheap.

Joe Dumars looked around and found that Gerald Wallace was the right fit.

During the 2004 offseason, the Charlotte Bobcats signed Gerald Wallace to a three-year, $3 million contract.

This is an ordinary middle-class contract, and the contract period is not long.

Even if Gerald Wallace doesn't play out, such a contract is easy to deal with.

Besides, this year is the second year of Gerald Wallace's contract, and it will take up less than 600 million team salary space, which is very cheap.

Even if it is the contract year next year, it will be more than 600 million.

Gerald Wallace's defensive data of 2 steals and 2 blocks per game alone is worth the money.

Closer to home, after the Pistons traded for Gerald Wallace, the team did have a new improvement.

Although Gerald Wallace has just arrived, the team has entered the running-in period, and the record will fluctuate.

But after killing chickens to make an example to monkeys, the team played more as a team, and there was no other idea.

The trade deadline has not yet arrived, and even the only remaining veterans of the three dynasties of the team like Big Ben and Hamilton may be traded.

The team is really safe, and only Huo Song is not for sale.

Everyone knows this, so everyone starts playing seriously.

And the newcomer Gerald Wallace wanted to integrate into the team as soon as possible and feel the winning culture of the Pistons, so he trained very hard all day and became an extremely fresh training ground mouse for the Pistons.

Although the NBA is a matter of sophistication, it is also related to fighting and killing.

The field is just the tip of the iceberg, and the competition off the field is more intense.

Gerald Wallace trained hard off the court, which made many Pistons players also rolled up.

Coupled with the fact that rookie Ellis gradually adapted to the rhythm of the NBA game, the Pistons had a pretty good record of 4 wins and 1 loss during the running-in period at the end of January.

With the game on the fast track to winning, Joe Dumars just let the Detroit local media get some buzz.

It is said that for the third championship, the Pistons will establish a dynasty belonging to the Pistons. Before the trade deadline, they will try their best to recruit all-star players who are in their prime, as well as veterans who still have fuel in the free market.

What is imaginary is real, and what is real is imaginary.

The news from Detroit made the Detroit fans very excited, and the Pistons players became frightened, and they all worked harder to train and focus on playing.

There are many black players in the NBA, and it is not without benefits.

At least it is convenient for the management to use psychological tactics to increase the control of the team.

The internal contradictions of the Pistons were gradually resolved, and some of the remaining ones gradually disappeared because of the team's better record.

With the arrival of the All-Star weekend, ordinary players finally got a certain amount of breathing time after a period of high pressure.

Huo Song and Da Ben continued to join forces to participate in the All-Star Game.

Because of the team's record, Huo Song naturally didn't want to miss the All-Star Game.

It's not that he was discouraged, Huo Song just saw the team's strength and qualifications for the championship more rationally.

As far as the current configuration of the Pistons is concerned, thank God they will reach the Eastern Conference Finals.

Even if they make it to the Finals, most of them will be picked up by the Western Conference teams.

The overall runner-up is the biggest loser, and Kobe was right.

James has also been criticized for having too many runners-up!

Therefore, instead of reaching the finals and then being embarrassed, it is better to stop the conference finals early.

Exceeding this point, Paul, who participated in the draft last year, did very well.

In the case of poor team configuration, if you don't play five or eight division finals, how can you have the nerve to try your luck in the finals?
Now that it is clear that the possibility of competing for the championship this year is slim, why not try to get the second All-Star MVP in his career?

Last year, Huo Song helped James, and this year, James will be able to repay the debt of favor.

Of course, whether the All-Star MVP can be won depends not only on strength, but also on luck.

Fortunately, whether it is strength or luck, Huo Song is not bad.

Knowing that Huo Song wants to win the All-Star MVP, this year's Eastern All-Star coach Carlisle expressed his willingness to meet Huo Song's needs.

The Pacers are not the No. [-] team in the East this season, but they are the No. [-] team in the East.

The Pacers have no problem with the championship configuration, at most they are short of a top star.

Of course, Jermaine O'Neal is at his peak now, and occasionally squeezes into the top five regular season MVP positions, which is not bad if you really want to say.

In this way, the Pistons have become competitors on the road to the Pacers' championship.

Now the Pistons rely heavily on Huo Song to win, and the All-Star Weekend is usually used for players to rest.

After Carlisle learned that Huo Song had the idea of ​​competing for the All-Star MVP, he was happy to help Huo Song and let Huo Song play for four full quarters...

What is the treatment of the All-Star MVP? This is the treatment of the All-Star MVP.

What is self-serving, using up opponents in the playoffs in advance, preparing for the playoffs, the Eastern Conference finals, and even the finals?That's it.

With the efforts of all parties, of course the most important thing is Huo Song's own ability.

Huo Song lived up to expectations. With 32 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, he successfully led the Eastern All-Star team to victory in the All-Star Game, and finally won the All-Star MVP of the year.

After the All-Star weekend, there are only 25 games left in the final two weeks of the regular season.

The Pistons have re-entered the preparations for the playoffs. The season is approaching and they are playing well.

16 wins and 9 losses, just before the end of the regular season, scored fourth in the Eastern Conference.

However, entering the playoffs, the Pistons were not so lucky.

As Huo Song had imagined before, the Pistons played the Celtics in the first round without any pressure.

But in the second round, they met the Heat who are No. [-] in the Eastern Conference.

The Heat signed a lot of signings during the offseason last year, and now the configuration is better than the Pistons.

Huo Song was not discouraged, but there were too few players on the team who could really play.

Ellis has clearly broken the rookie wall after the All-Star break, and averaged 10+5 per game in the first round of the playoffs.

But in the second round, facing the Heat's defense, only 38% shooting rate, and 7+5 performance.

Although Gerald Wallace played in the playoffs with the Kings, he didn't play much after all and lacked the experience of really playing in the playoffs.

In the end, he can only be a defensive engineer. The average data of 13+8 per game in the regular season has also shrunk to 8+5 in the Heat series.

In the end, it still depends on Huo Song and Daben's defense to stabilize the situation, and Hamilton's ineffective mid-range shot to make up for the lack of offensive firepower.

But even if Huo Song was under targeted defense and played 40+15 twice in the series, he was unable to restore the decline of the game.

In the end, the Pistons were defeated by the Heat 4-2, ending this year's playoffs early and missing the Eastern Conference Finals and Finals.

After that, the Heat got the BUFF bonus for defeating the defending champion. The whole team was united and very motivated, crushing their opponents all the way and winning this year's championship.

The Pistons lost to the championship team in the playoffs, which makes sense.

However, after the Heat won the championship, Joe Dumars had to publicly apologize to the Detroit fans in the newspaper, saying that it was for the consideration of Huo Song's future maximum salary contract, and that Marbury did not renew his contract. Chance for a championship to build a dynasty.

Joe Dumars has made great contributions to the Pistons, with such a low posture, and he also made it clear that he only considered for the long-term in order to keep Huo Song. After learning about this, the Detroit fans at most scolded him a few more times. A week, and then there was nothing wrong with it.

(End of this chapter)