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Chapter 758 - 324. Eliminate stepping into the same trap again

Chapter 758: 324. Eliminate stepping into the same trap again

Facing the camera, Zhang Yang, Felton, Brad Miller, and Tyronn Lue put on a ’happy to meet’ performance.

The Hornets had a bunch of rookie contracts, with the oldest core player Okafor being in the last year of his rookie contract. The highest-paid on the team was Mike Miller, slightly over 8 million, ’leaving’ them with a non-Bird rights cap space to spare.

About this matter, the domestic media were even more anxious than the Hornets management, from the offseason to midseason, offering suggestions across the Pacific about who to bring in, hoping the Hornets would quickly spend the cap space.

After this season, even if Okafor does not immediately execute a new contract and retains Bird rights, the cap hold will still be 150% of this season’s salary. Combined with other players’ salary increases, the cap space would shrink significantly.

Cap space, for tanking teams, is not very useful, at most it could help teams wanting to clear cap space to take on big contracts in exchange for draft picks or something.

But for strong teams, it is a top ’asset’.

Take the 1996 Lakers for example, who just got 53 wins in the 95-96 season. After the season ended and several players’ contracts expired, they had close to 7 million in cap space.

It was with this 7 million in space that logo man Jerry West could sign O’Neal outright.

He boldly traded Divac for Kobe’s signing rights, and the Hornets, through the trade, absorbed Divac’s 96-97 season salary contract of 4.72 million using their cap space.

The Lakers thus freed up another 4.72 million in cap space, eventually offering O’Neal a contract starting at 10.71 million, a 7-year deal totaling 120 million, forming the OK duo.

After the trade, the Hornets finally utilized the ’idle’ space, with the salary cap nearing full, leaving only 1.2 million in space, roughly equivalent to none. The natural growth in salaries at the end of this season would consume the remaining space.

The Hornets brought in a center averaging 13+9+4+1+1. The domestic media were even more excited than Charlotte’s, and CCTV even sent a camera crew to capture the scene of Brad Miller’s joining.

In China, after the Hornets completed the trade, the team that got bashed the worst was... the Rockets.

Now that the Hornets have filled the salary cap, with Okafor’s new contract starting next season, plus other players’ salaries increasing, they’ll start paying luxury tax, whereas the Rockets, who had been touting a ’new OK duo’ to contend for the championship, hadn’t paid luxury tax once in those years, with all their signings at the minimum salary, minimum salary, and more minimum salary...

Brad Miller still had two and a half years left on his contract, which also timed out well, expiring in 2010. While Zhang Yang and Felton’s rookie contracts would end in 2009, at most the Hornets could have one season of salary catching up to the Mavericks in 09-10. After 2010, the payroll could come down again, giving them more room to operate.

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Zhang Yang didn’t know what others were thinking, but after the interview, he felt tired. He liked being on TV, but to perform the kind of atmosphere required by CCTV, once in a while was okay, but certainly not too often.

Thinking that in a few days when Pietrus arrives, he’ll have to perform again... Zhang San thought it might be good to let senior Aaron and big brother Alan rest, as Pietrus’ one-on-one defense seemed pretty good.

However, despite holding a bit of a ’revenge’ sentiment towards Pietrus, Zhang Yang was very much looking forward to the arrival of this new teammate.

Mickael Pietrus, back in his days in Europe, was touted as the French Jordan, with excellent athletic abilities. He was picked in the lottery section of the first round in 2003, only to underperform.

After completing his rookie year and facing reality, he transitioned to training in defense and three-point shooting, becoming a very outstanding 3D player in this era, with a decent ability to handle the ball. If all else failed, giving him the ball for a brash drive could possibly result in a basket.

Last season, under Coach Nelson, Pietrus averaged 11 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1 steal, and 0.7 blocks, an excellent bench player.

It’s just that the Warriors had too many guards and forwards, overflowing with talent. This season, Matt Barnes and Kelenna Azubuike were also performing well, not as good as Pietrus but cheaper, and not by much.

Pietrus was earning 3.47 million this season, the other two were at the minimum salary. The Hornets wanted him, so the Warriors decisively used him as a sweetener to send to the Hornets, saving money and allowing more playing time for Barnes and Azubuike. The three of them were too crowded on the bench at the wings.

Zhang Yang learned from Bickerstaff that it was Carlisle who wanted Pietrus, specifically for his perimeter defensive abilities and fast break support. So, capitalizing on the abundant cap space, they absorbed Tyronn Lue’s contract, having the Kings help to bring Pietrus back.

This acquisition direction shows that although Carlisle didn’t plan to delve into the defensive system this season, and was still further perfecting the offensive system, he had already started gathering personnel for the future defensive system. Once the offensive system is refined, the defense must keep pace, and Carlisle’s favored endless rotation defense demands high individual defensive skills.

After the interview event ended, Felton, with his teammates, formally got to know the two new players.

Brad Miller, a long-established powerhouse at center, made it to the Western All-Star reserve twice at his peak at 27 and 28 years old. Though he is older now, almost 32, his strength is not quite what it was four or five years ago, it’s still not bad. So far this season, he’s averaged 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block per game. His shooting, passing, and defense are all up to par, and this season his shooting percentage in the mid-range area is as high as 47%.