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Chapter 929 - 390. Ainge Takes Revenge on Society_2

Chapter 929: 390. Ainge Takes Revenge on Society_2

The Magic were the first to taste the sweet success, using veteran Morris Evans along with a second-round pick to trade with the Celtics and get Ryan Gomes.

Gomes was a second-round pick in the same year as Zhang Yang, a swingman.

He performed well in his rookie year. During the sophomore season, when Pierce was constantly injured, he seized the opportunity, averaging 12 points and 5 rebounds per game. Later, when accompanying Pierce in resisting the management’s tanking strategy, he excelled at catch-and-shoot, posting up, and was very strong offensively in position three, and very fast in position four. Of course, his disadvantage was that he couldn’t keep up with position three defensively or hold ground in position four. However, he was very smart, focusing his defensive efforts on protecting the defensive rebound when he couldn’t guard his opponent, effectively blocking the opposing perimeter players from scrambling.

Yahoo Sports evaluated this trade - it greatly compensated for the Magic’s lack of inside scoring ability at the three and four positions, providing substantial help for Howard in challenging the basket guarded by Yao Ming.

The Cavaliers sent out Drew Gooden and a future first-round pick to trade with the Celtics for Marvin Williams.

As the fourth pick of the 2002 draft, Gooden had long lost his once-great talent reputation. He could even be considered overpaid and underperforming, with next season’s salary reaching as high as 7 million, while his actual role was only at the mid-level.

ESPN praised the Cavaliers’ operation as very high-level. Next season was the last year of Marvin Williams’ rookie contract, and the media predicted his renewal price to be about 8 million annually. Getting him with just Gooden was extremely profitable.

ESPN elevated the Cavaliers’ management’s operation by stepping on Ainge, while T.N.T Sports held a different opinion. The latter believed the Cavaliers indeed profited, but it wasn’t a bad trade for the Celtics.

The Celtics also had Josh Smith and Al Jefferson, so Marvin Williams seemed redundant to them. They used it to exchange for Gooden, who had a 208 cm height and a 114 kg physique, capable of playing center. After consecutively sending away Gomes and Marvin Williams, who primarily played at position four, the Celtics’ lineup structure improved greatly.

However, fans preferred ESPN’s version, or rather, ESPN’s extreme approach of stepping on one and praising another had more conversational value, and fans loved to discuss it. Once again, the calm and rational analysis from T.N.T fell out of favor.

Some fans joked that if it weren’t for Barkley holding the fort in commentary, T.N.T’s sports department might have been bankrupted by ESPN.

However, T.N.T was aware of this, giving Barkley a salary that almost matched the MVP-level salary during Barkley’s player era.

The last team to "rob" the Celtics was the Miami Heat, using backup guard Eddie House, first-round shooting guard DaQuan Cook from the 2007 draft, and a lottery-protected draft pick from 2009 to trade for swingman Jeff Green.

This was yet another trade that was extremely disproportionate just from the players’ value perspective, unsurprisingly leading Ainge to be heavily criticized.

There were reasoned voices analyzing this, but just like T.N.T Sports, they were drowned out by the criticism.

Upon learning that the Celtics carried out three trades in just five days, clearing up the bloated wave of talented forwards, leaving only Josh Smith, Al Jefferson, and Adam Morrison, who was already unable to play due to illness, Zhang Yang exclaimed, "Wow!"

The new Celtics lineup:

Point Guard: Farmar, Eddie House.

Guard: Tony Allen, DaQuan Cook.

Combo Guard: Mayo.

Small Forward: Szczerbiak, Leon Powe, Adam Morrison.

Power Forward: Al Jefferson, Glenn Davis, Brian Scalabrine.

Combo Forward: Josh Smith.

Center: Drew Gooden, Mikki Moore, Patrick O’Bryant.

This lineup had some potential and reminded Zhang Yang of a future championship team.

The overall talent couldn’t compare to that team, but the characteristics were similar—there was someone for every position!

And aside from Mayo having a bit of a personality issue, the others weren’t difficult to get along with. Al Jefferson was steady and composed, Josh Smith was obedient, and the rest were role players, making them very coachable.

When Ainge gave up the plan to trade in several superstars in one fell swoop, he quickly managed to correct course!

Not considering human emotions, Zhang Yang believed Ainge was truly outstanding as a general manager. His team-building plans and operational capabilities were top-notch!

Only...

Magic, Cavaliers, Heat were all highly anticipated as rising strong teams in the new season, all profiting greatly from trades with the Celtics...

Zhang Yang felt Ainge, the old rascal, was exacting revenge on society!

Generally, teams with championship ambitions tend to choose opposing division teams for trades, even if the opposing division offers a slightly lower price.

Ainge’s operation this time was different. Over in the West, they were engaged in an arms race, offering more chips than the East, yet Ainge chose to trade with Eastern teams...

Zhang San: Is this a case of "If I’m not having a good time, I won’t let others have a good time either?"

Zhang Yang reacted so strongly mainly because his Bobcats didn’t get any advantage.

The team owner being Jordan was a disadvantage this time!

Jordan, from his player era in just 11 years with the Chicago Bulls, amassed a heap of enemies, with the biggest two being the Chuck Daly faction and the Celtics faction.

His Bobcats also wanted Ryan Gomes, but Ainge preferred to give him to the Magic for almost free rather than to Jordan.

Although a bit disappointing, Zhang Yang never really expected much reinforcement from the Celtics, merely making jest of it.

Over in the West, there was also a team that was as dazzling as the Celtics in the trade market.

The Suns first used Raja Bell and Brian Skinner to trade with the Kings for Jason Richardson, a trade that received quite a bit of praise.

The Kings’ management suddenly got a whim after the season ended and thought that Jason Richardson would affect Kevin Martin’s growth in the future, deciding to sell off the Dunk King.

Yes, it was purely based on "feeling," "thinking," "predicting," without considering how well these two performed together under Rondo’s leadership.

Fortunately, the return of Raja Bell was also a solid player, and the addition of Skinner could bolster the Kings’ weak power forward position, so it couldn’t be said to be terrible, only that Kings management showed off their brains.

In strengthening their outside scoring ability in half-court plays, the Suns didn’t stop their stride and "kept the ball rolling," sending Diaw away too, and the team receiving Diaw was... the Spurs!

The Spurs used Bowen as a trade chip to get Diaw from the Suns!

This trade left everyone baffled.

They had just sent off a 3D shooter Raja Bell, and then immediately turned around and traded for Bowen? What kind of genius operation is this?

The story wasn’t even over yet. After the trade was completed, Bowen, who had just officially joined the Suns, requested a buyout from Steve Kerr, saying he was going to retire...

This meant the Spurs didn’t give up anything, grabbing Diaw from the Suns for free!

Ainge and Steve Kerr were placed together by the media and fans for heated discussions on who was the worst NBA general manager.

When Zhang Yang saw Steve Kerr’s series of baffling operations, he wasn’t surprised at all. Being equated with Ainge counted as the pinnacle moment of Steve Kerr’s career as a general manager...

By July 20th, Zhang Yang had been back with the team for over two weeks. Two days ago, the coaching staff had announced the final 12-man roster for the Olympics. He, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and Wang Zhizhi were on the list without a doubt. Yesterday, after the Basketball Management Center held the pre-game rally, today they began the final two-week intensive training before the Olympics.

After another day’s training ended, at night, Zhang Yang, Yao Ming, and Zhu Fangyu teamed up to play World of Warcraft.

The Giant guessed right, Pig Eight noted the similarities between Zhang San and Pig Eight’s thought process. After Zhang San returned to the team, within two days, he became inseparable from Pig Eight. He speculated it had to do with their personalities and their mutual prowess in fights...

Happy gaming time always flew by fast. Deep into the night, the three shared a room getting ready to turn off the lights and sleep, when Zhang Yang and Yao Ming’s phones simultaneously rang, both calls from their agents.

They received the same news—Philip Saunders and Billups were joining the Mavericks!