For Kupchak, who completed the trade and brought himself to the Lakers, Yi Feng didn't have much contact, so he couldn't say that his impression was good or bad. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 But after Yi Feng sat down face to face with him, he inexplicably felt an inexplicable uncomfortable feeling.

With silver-white hair, for a 61-year-old person, it should be regarded as "early hair", which shows how conscientious and tireless he has been in the past 15 years as the general manager of the Lakers.

He has brought five championships to the team and is also known as "the best team general manager in the NBA", but that doesn't fully represent his contributions to the Lakers.

However, it is such a meritorious old man, but Yi Feng inexplicably feels inexplicably inclose. Why is that?

Kobe Bryant put down the coffee in his hand and said with a smile: "Mickey, remember last summer?" Now I'm visiting you again. ”

Kupchak also smiled, a few deep wrinkles on his forehead, "I knew it!" You've got to be here for the team, right? ”

"Isn't there no innocent friendship between us? If it wasn't for the team, you wouldn't have come to my house. ”

Bryant: "Yes! How could there not be? However, I don't think the innocent friendship between men will be indifferent because of the decrease in the number of movements. You say yes, easy? ”

Kobe took the initiative to pull Yi Feng into the conversation.

Kupchak looked at Yi Feng, "Yi you too, it's been half a year since you came to the Lakers, and you haven't been here yet?" ”

Yi Feng replied in a warm and mellow voice, "I thought you were an old-fashioned and serious elder before, you know, children are always a little afraid of strict elders, so I didn't rush to visit." But I didn't expect you to be so gentle and kind, I couldn't help but think of my grandfather, and I began to regret not coming sooner. ”

As for Yi Feng's basic situation, Kupchak, as the general manager of the team, knows, "I am really flattered, I didn't expect you to think so highly of me!" ”

In the case of the first meeting of the two Ren, normal people will say good things about each other like Yi Feng and Kupchak. This is the basic etiquette and literacy that a person should have.

Yi Feng has been dependent on his grandfather since he was a child, and in his heart, his grandfather has a very special status, Kupchak, who is almost no different from a stranger, and his status in Yi Feng's heart cannot be compared with Yi Feng's grandfather. And Yi Feng said that Kupchak, who was difficult to have a good impression of, was so good, obviously in order to say it to the other party "without conscience".

Yi Feng: "Kind and kind elders deserve the best respect no matter where they are!" ”

Kobe Bryant said to Kupchak, "That's a nice little guy, right?" ”

Kupchak nodded: "You're really good at this move." What's the trick this time? ”

Bryant: "To be honest, I'm here to seek a trade, and I want you to help the team find an interior big man with above-average athleticism. He can shoot without returning the shot, he can not return the pass, but he must have a positive defensive attitude! ”

After Bryant finished speaking, the three fell silent.

On the way here, Yi Feng also knew Kobe's intention to come this time, and he was looking for a deal. However, he didn't ask in detail, and he didn't know that Kobe Bryant actually wanted to strengthen the team's interior defense.

The Lakers' interior defense is a real problem, and Randle is athletic, but his attitude is easily influenced by emotions. As a big black man with a bowel tuck, he doesn't have too many twists and turns in his head, in other words, the ball quotient is not too high, which makes him easily affected by his opponents, which affects his attitude towards the game. And as a rookie who should actually be a first-year, he has just started in terms of accumulation of defensive experience.

Hibbert was not known for his athleticism, and after coming to the Lakers, his competitive state declined greatly, and he completely became an "old man", but in fact, he was born in December 1986, and now he should be at the peak at the age of 29!

But his ridiculously slow movement on the defensive end has made it difficult for the Lakers to defend and pick and roll. In addition, he doesn't have the skills to shoot offensively, he doesn't have a killer feature that can score points steadily, and his rebounding ability is also poor, so he is really blind to almost two meters and twenty meters tall.

The same is true for the starting interior combination, and the bench interior combination is not much better. Nance Jr. is also a rookie with little experience, and Brandon Buss is too short. Not everyone wants Draymond Green to be like Draymond Green, who has the height of the perimeter and can also have top-level interior defensive ability.

After a long silence, Kupchak finally spoke, "Kobe, your request makes it a little difficult for me. Although we are still within the tradable time frame, we don't have many trading chips that we can get our hands on, and I'm afraid we won't be able to exchange for the big man who can satisfy you. ”

"And the salary of the Lakers team is more than 70 million US dollars, which is more than the salary cap this season, and if you want to cut some players and bring in new signings, the operation will be limited."

For the Lakers this season, the highest salary is Kobe Bryant. His salary in the final year of his contract is $25 million, which ranks first in the league. Bryant's contract was signed in 2013 with a two-year contract worth about $48.5 million.

Bryant's $25 million salary ranks first in the league, surpassing second Joe Johnson's $24.89 million and LeBron James' $22.97 million. With such a high level of popularity, Kobe Bryant has no problem getting this salary, and he has performed well this season.

But perhaps Stephen Curry will have a lot to say about it, as last season's regular season MVP who topped the regular season MVP list for two months this season, his salary was "only" $11.37 million, ranking 60th in the league.

According to last season's All-NBA team, there are a total of 14 players in the first, second and third teams except Curry, 12 of whom have higher salaries than Curry in the new season, and the other two are Anthony Davis, who has a big contract that has not yet been executed, and Tim Duncan, who is not far from retirement.

So Curry has reasons to be dissatisfied, but if you really want to investigate it carefully, Yi Feng also has reasons to disagree. He is the current leading scorer this season, and although his ranking in the MVP rankings fluctuates greatly, he has never dropped out of the top 10, and even ranked second at the peak. But he's just a rookie, with a salary of $5.6 million this season. He's and Curry the kind of players who are super affordable.

The second-highest salary for the Lakers this season is Hibbert, who has a salary of $15.51 million. If he's still the Indiana Pacers' forbidden area protector, he's certainly fine with that kind of salary. But he is no longer the All-Star he used to be, his average data dropped to 10.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game last season, and this season he only has 6 points, 5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks!

In the last year before the expiration of their contract, in this so-called "contract year", players generally put in 120 percent effort to make their next contract bigger. But Hibbert did the opposite! If he continues like this, he will burn incense if a team offers him an annual salary of 5 million next season.

The Lakers offered a three-year, $21 million contract last summer in order to poach reinforcement Louis Williams.

Williams averaged 15.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Raptors last season, so that salary is very reasonable.

Also, Nick Young is getting a salary of $5.22 million this season, Randle is $3.13 million this season, and Brandon Buss is $3 million. Inside lineman Ryan Kelly's salary is $1.72 million, rookie Nance Jr.'s salary is $1.16 million, and the rest of the players are base salaries, like Clarkson's only $850,000.

The Lakers' team-wide salary this season is $71.07 million, compared to the $70 million salary cap this season, and the luxury tax trigger floor is $84.74 million. Although the Lakers' salary exceeds the salary cap this season, and the operation of the free market will be somewhat limited, there is still more than $13 million in luxury tax collection.

Bryant said, "If you don't have a trade chip...... Mitch, do you think this is going to work, let's cut some of the team's fringe players and sign some more powerful players? ”

"Isn't this year's luxury tax collection amounting to more than 80 million? We still have more than 10 million salary space to operate, and if we do it well, we may even catch big fish! ”

Kupchak said: "Your proposal seems to be good, and the feasibility is very high. ”

It's not the same time now, before this season, the Lakers really didn't have much attraction to those big stars, the team was poor, there was no future, and Kobe Bryant was there. I have to admit that Kobe Bryant is one of the hardest stars in the league to work with.

But the current Lakers, in the top four positions in the West, can be called a strong team. To achieve such results, the Lakers do not rely on how strong their lineup is, the old and young in this team, and the strength on paper is not strong. But why is it still doing what it is now?

It is Yifeng, which not only has unlimited potential in the future, but also has a strong strength now!

At present, Yi Feng has a faint glimpse of the prototype of the thick thighs in the future, and those players who want to hug their thighs to win the championship have also taken Yi Feng into consideration.

And Kobe's change this season has made many people see a signal: it turns out that Kobe Bryant can also hand over the ball!

Kupchak took a sip of his coffee and said to Kobe, "You should already have a favorite candidate, right?" Say it and refer to it. ”

Bryant said: "Of course, there are a lot of big men in the league who have great defense, but there are not many who will be traded by the team. I've picked a few of them, Mickey, and you'll see if it's suitable. ”

"First up is Chicago's Joakim Noah. He's great defensively, he's fast, he's got a positive defensive attitude, he's been a DPOY, and he's got a lot of playmaking! Since Paul (Pau Gasol) left for Chicago, Joaquin Noah's playing time has been greatly reduced, and this season he has only 22 minutes. If we come up with the chips that will make the Bulls tick, it's not impossible to get Joaquin Noah over."

Joakim Noah, a rookie with the ninth pick in 2007, was a limited threat on the offensive end but energetic on the defensive end, and in 2013-14, he averaged 10.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, and was named the league's best defensive player.

Kupchak frowned, "Joaquin has a big injury concern right now, he retired from the Bulls in the opening game of this season due to a knee injury, and he injured his left shoulder the other day...... Once the best defensive player, I'm afraid he has become a glass man. ”

Bryant said: "If Joakim Noah can't do it, what about Nolens Noll in Philadelphia? ”

"We just played Philadelphia yesterday, and I was impressed with this little guy. He has excellent movement and rim protection, and his steal ability is among the top among the big men on the inside, and although he shoots poorly, he can keep the basket. ”

"There's a lot of quality inside players right now, Nolens Noll, Joel Embiid and Jahill Okafor, and although Joel Embiid is still recovering from injury, Nolens Noll has less than 30 minutes of playing time. When Joel Embiid returns, the big men will have to fight over playing time, and trading some of them will be a necessity for the 76ers. ”

Nolens Knight was drafted by the Pelicans with the sixth pick in 2013 and was subsequently traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Originally, he was the top pick, but because of a torn meniscus in his left knee in early 2013, the draft pick fell to sixth. And because of his injury, his NBA rookie season was postponed to the 2014-15 season.

Knoll is a defensive center with excellent mobility and a great finishing ability under the basket despite his poor shooting. The rebounding ability is not top-notch, but the blocking ability is excellent, and the stealing ability is also at the top level in the interior.

"Nolens Noll is still on a rookie contract, but the 76ers obviously can't sell him so cheap," Kupchak said. If we want to get him, we have to trade with the 76ers because Nolens Noll is not a free agent yet. However, when it comes to trading, we don't have a lot of leverage......"

Kobe Bryant was stunned, "......"

Yi Feng looked at the two people discussing on the side, and he had a bit of a taste of pointing out the country. They may be able to decide the fate of many players just by talking about it! That's the benefit of being strong!

In the league, players are generally not eligible to participate in the trade between teams, and their role is a commodity that is put on the shelf, and they do not have the right to decide their own fate. But there are exceptions, when the strength of the players is to a certain extent, when the benefits for the league and the team are more than a certain level, they can control their own destiny to a certain extent.

For example, some players have become non-selling items for the team, and the team will not trade them no matter what price the other party gives; What's more, there are also players who have signed the "overlord clause" and have the right to veto trades, even if the team owner and general manager want to trade him away, and he can turn down the deal if he doesn't want to.

This season, there are a total of six players with trade veto power: Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, and Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks.

They are all the soul of their team, and when they reach this level, their influence becomes extraordinary, and the team naturally offers a veto on the trade in order to appease them.

This is the real control of your own destiny! Although Yi Feng seems to be a non-sale for the team because of his unlimited potential, there are too many uncertain things in the future, and he may be traded one day.

Therefore, the current Yi Feng, even if he participates in the discussion of the team's senior management on the retention of players and the selection of new signings, he actually does not have much sense of security in his heart. Therefore, the "overlord clause" with the right to veto transactions has also become the target of Yifeng's pursuit. (To be continued.) )