It can be said that history has proven that the 2000 draft can be said to be the least powerful draft since the 80s of the 20th century.

Because of the rearrangement of the draft, Crawford and Reed, who are ranked first and second, are really a little unsightly......

Although the gram 6 is strong, but in the end, he has not even made an All-Star, but has only won the best sixth man three times.

As for the golden left Reed, he doesn't have any good honors at hand, he was selected as an All-Star once, he was only a substitute, and he was selected to the All-Star team once in his career.

……

As for Martin, the champion Martin, he is worse than Reed, an All-Star bench, and he was not even selected to the All-Star team.

……

In this draft, first, the production of stars is small, and second, the quality of stars is not high.

So Richard has no interest in this draft at all, he just needs to make sure that he gets Mike Reed......

Right now, the Raptors want draft picks, and Richard will give them casually, and it's useless to keep them for himself anyway.

The Magic's second-round pick was enough for Richard to pick Reed.

……

Of course, although Richard has decided to trade with the Raptors, at least "reserved" is still needed......

In the afternoon, Richard received a call from Larry Bird.

You don't have to think about it to know that it's for Butch Carter's intercession.

Let Richard simply facilitate this deal, Butchcart is not easy, if he is not careful, he may lose his position, and the deal can get Butchcart's friendship and so on.

Larry Bird and Butch Carter were teammates who had a pretty good relationship in the eighties.

Otherwise, these two teams would not have made any PY trade a few days ago......

"Alright, Larry, you're my old buddy, so tell Butchcart, I agree to their third plan......"

"Thank you, Lee, you're such a nice guy, I'll thank you for Butch Carter first!"

……

That night, the Raptors held a press conference at eight o'clock in the evening.

announced that a deal with the Trail Blazers was imminent, and even the content of the deal broke out......

The reason why they did this must also be because they were afraid of Richard's change of mind.

They feel that they have really taken advantage of this deal, a rookie who has not played a game, plus a sophomore rookie who averaged 9 points per game last season, in exchange for an All-Star seedling like Martial Arts Jackson, and two draft picks.

No matter how you look at it, it's also profitable......

And Richard also feels that he has earned it, a martial saint in exchange for the beast Artest plus Maddie, even if two draft picks are added, it is definitely not a loss.

……

Early the next morning, the Trail Blazers also issued an official announcement, announcing that they had made a trade with the Raptors.

Such a deal did not cause much of a stir in the league.

After all, the Trail Blazers already had Kobe Bryant and Rashid leave the team, and such news is obviously more shocking than this deal......

In fact, the teams in the league are also a little confused about the situation of the Trail Blazers.

Now the Trail Blazers, after the departure of Rashid, Kobe Bryant and Bowen, how much strength do they have left?!

Now that there is another martial saint Jackson in exchange for two newcomers, what is Richard thinking......

Although Jackson and Maddie entered the NBA in the same year, the weight of these two in the league is completely different.

Maddie only scored 9 points on the garbage team Raptors, and there are really not many teams that can look at such a player.

This is not the case with Martial Saint Jackson, who played the lead bench for the Trail Blazers who won all of them last season, and Kobe Bryant's chief bench!

And the data is much better than Maddie......

As soon as Martial Saint Jackson left, the lineup of the Trailblazers became incomprehensible.

What kind of lineup will Richard use in the new season?!

It's really exciting......

……

No one would believe that the Trail Blazers can maintain the strength they did last season, not even Richard and the Trail Blazers' assistant coaches.

Even if the roster is replenished this season, the players that can be obtained will definitely not be as good as Rashid, Kobe Bryant and Bowen.

After all, most of them are new melon eggs, and the only experienced Maddie has played for two years and started less than ten games......

……

Sitting in your office, looking at the roster for the new season in your hand.

Richard breathed a sigh of relief!

In the next two years, the Trail Blazers' lineup will be completely fixed and there won't be too many changes......

The only one that has changed, and that is Maddie.

He will play the following season, which is also the end of his rookie contract, and he may leave the team at that time.

Of course, it may also stay......

As for the others, they have contracts with the Trail Blazers for the next two years and don't have to worry about renewing their contracts.

And two years later, only Robinson and Curry Sr. have to renew their contracts, and Nowitzki, Harrington, Lewis and Mobley are all signed for four years, and they can last another year......

For almost the next three years, the Trail Blazers' roster will be able to stabilize.

This is enough to give Richard a sigh of relief, at least for the next few years to no longer have to worry about the issue of renewing the player's contract.

……

In the summer league, Richard didn't let the players in the team's squad go this time, but just asked Zhang Weiping to recruit some players to play casually.

Summer league isn't a workout, it's a risk of injury, and the Trail Blazers don't need to play in that kind of game right now.

If you really want to train new talents, there's nothing better than the preseason and regular season......

Last season, Richard led the team to a winning record!

From the regular season to the finals, he has never lost a game, and such a record is absolutely impossible for anyone to surpass.

So this season, Richard can give more playing time to rookie players,

Big Ben and Xiao Ao are both veterans in the team, and their maximum salary contracts have already been obtained, and there is no need for them to work hard in the regular season, taking a few turns off every few days to make some playing time for the newcomers.

……

At the beginning of October, the NBA preseason officially began.

Originally, there were only 12 people in the Trail Blazers' roster, and there were less than 13 of them, but Zhang Weiping didn't know where to get a summer league player and made up the numbers.

The Trail Blazers have only 13 players in the tournament this season, and at least for now, Richard has no plans to continue to bring in reinforcements.

There are absolutely enough people, and no matter how much you have, it won't be of much use......

……

Rose Garden Arena.

The Trail Blazers' first game of the preseason was on their home court, and to the surprise of Trail Blazers fans, it seemed that none of the Trail Blazers veterans were present in this game......

In the Trail Blazers, there are only four veterans: Big Ben, Little Ao, Robinson and Old Curry.

As a result, none of these four people showed up at the scene today......

As for the players Zhang Weiping made up, they have long been sent to the Development League, anyway, a team can only activate a list of 12 people, and there is really no place.

……

The game was about to begin, and Richard called the eight players who were on the field today to his side.

"Now I announce the starting line-up, Andrei Kirilenko, the driver, Artest, Ginobili and Tracy!"

"Al, Rashad, Old Cat, you three substitutes!"

……

The five people who were named into the starting list nodded one after another.

Especially Artest, I was overjoyed in my heart, I still have acquaintances who are easy to do, and I have just come to the starting position......

Maddie, on the other hand, was even more pleased, as he found a problem.

After Wu Sheng left, he was the only playmaker in the entire Trail Blazers team, and he had a great possibility of sitting in the starting point guard position of the Trail Blazers in the next season!

Richard spoke to Maddy once when he joined the team, and made it clear that he would be the team's point guard in the new season......

……

The lingering of the mad dog, this prop, Richard has already been bound to Ginobili's body.

Mobley could have used it, but because this thing could only be used once a season, Richard thought about it and finally gave it to Ginobili to use.

……

In this preseason game, the Trail Blazers' opponent is the Chicago Bulls.

At present, the Bulls are actually the brother team of the Trail Blazers, because whether it is their coach or the big leader of the team, they all have a great relationship with the Trail Blazers.

After the two sides appeared on the stage, they hugged each other.

Especially Rashid, the Trail Blazers players are quite familiar, and now the first game of the new season is to play the Trail Blazers, which makes him sigh.

"Coach, I feel like we're hanging ...... this game," Stevens said with a bitter face.

"It's hanging, it's just the preseason, let these boys practice first......" Richard said with a smile.

……

"Doot toot!" The referee blew the whistle for the start of the match.

The starters of both sides began to appear.

"Kill them! If the Trail Blazers give up three starters and we lose the game, you should know what I, Ranbill, will do to you! ”

"Be careful!"

Before coming on the court, Ranbir "threatened" the Bulls' starting lineup again.

In fact, speaking of the Bulls' lineup this season, it is quite powerful!

Even in Richard's opinion, this Bulls team has the strength to break out of the East, but the premise is that they can have good chemistry and can run together, otherwise, no matter how good the lineup is, it will be in vain.

The center forward is naturally the new No. 1 Elton Brand, and the two forwards are Rashid and Kukoc.

These two are not divided into big forwards and small forwards, they are both counted as dual-energy forwards.

At the back, it's Kidders and Randy Brown.

Quarterback Kidders must be quite good, that is, not as good as Ron Hubble in terms of experience, otherwise, the Lakers would really be reluctant to trade Kidders for Harper.

As for Randy Brown, it is the shortcomings of the Bulls' starting lineup, and his strength is a little weak.

But it's also harmless, because the Bulls' point of organization has always been not on the guard, but on the forward.

Pippen is gone, and Kukoc comes to play the role of playmaker.

……

At the start of the game, Kirilenko and Rashid stood on the halfway line, ready to execute the jump ball.

"Young man, I heard that you are going to take my place?" Rashid looked at Kirilenko and asked with a smile.

Kirilenko nodded.

"I feel that Richard is blind this time, I really can't see that you have the strength to replace me, boy, you have to play well in this game, don't embarrass Richard!"

Kirilenko didn't speak, Rashid's tone was obviously mocking himself, it was useless to say more, it was better to prove himself with strength.

……

The referee blew the whistle, the basketball in his hand was thrown high, and Rashid jumped to his feet and got the ball directly for the Bulls.

Randy Brown got the ball to the front court and passed it directly to Kukoc, who easily hoisted the ball to Brand under the basket.

Kirilenko naturally played the center forward position in this game, and he never let Nowitzki play center forward......

As a result, he faced the short and stout inside Bland, and was directly pushed away by Brand, who directly won the opening dunk!

……

Richard sat on the sidelines, shook his head and smiled.

Kirilenko is really too skinny, he really has a body like a hemp stick......

If you face a center forward like Schmitz who is technical and not very powerful, Kirilenko can still play a big role, but against a short and strong meat shield inside like Brand?!

He really can't bear it......

Kirilenko is a flexible defender in his own right, and he's not very good at hand-to-hand combat with opposition post players.

In this regard, Kirilenko's defensive style is somewhat similar to that of Marcus Camby.

……

Brand, who was directly opposed in the opening game, came to a violent dunk, and Kirilenko's face turned red.

looked at Richard on the sidelines and found that Richard had no expression on his face, which made Kirilenko a little worried.

He knew that Richard valued him very much, otherwise, he would not have gone to Moscow to recruit him......

But can you really meet Richard's requirements?!

He also knows something about the situation in the NBA, knows how strong Portland was last season, and asks himself about his strength, which is not outstanding at all in this Trail Blazers......

He is now afraid that Richard will give up on himself because of his performance!

……

The ball was converted, and it was the Trail Blazers' turn to attack.

Richard immediately perked up, and all he wanted to see was the performance on the offensive end......

As for the defensive end?! Big Ben and Little Ao and Robinson are on the court, and everything can be solved.

Maddie controlled the ball to the frontcourt, just near the three-point line, and pulled out a three-point shot.

“duang!” The three-pointer hit the neck of the basket and went far away, and finally the rebound was snatched by Rashid.

The Bulls took the opportunity to play another counterattack, and Brand under the basket carried Kirilenko's defense and successfully scored a two-point shot.

……

In the next few offensive rounds, what made Richard a little unhappy was that Maddie controlled the ball to the front court one after another and pulled out his hand directly.

The posture is not beautiful, but the hit rate is too bad......

Four dry pulls, only one shot, and not a three-pointer, just a long-distance two-pointer.

"Doot toot!" Taking advantage of the deadball phase, Richard called a timeout.

"Old cat, get ready to appear!" Richard said, pointing to the old cat.

"Coach, do I play point guard?" The old cat asked curiously......

"No, you play the point guard position you're good at, and let Manu play point guard!" Richard shook his head and said.

Maddie's face was a little ugly, and Richard was clearly preparing to press him to the bench......

……

The timeout ends and the game on the field continues.

Ginobili is quite steady, holding the ball on the outside and swapping Nowitzki to block and dismantle himself, and then holding the ball to break through, and after encountering Rashid's supplementary defense halfway, he quickly distributed the ball to the old cat Mobley who was waiting on the outside.

Mobley got up and down with his hand, shot directly at three points, and hit steadily!