One base salary, one starter.

It's not grocery shopping, it's not about making up the numbers.

Although Kupchak previously said to Kobe Bryant that the Lakers plan to rebuild next season.

But in fact, Kobe Bryant won't believe that.

If you don't rebuild, just find someone to play the starting power forward, it will definitely not work.

"Hasn't Carl officially announced his retirement yet?"

Kupchak's first thought was Karl Malone.

Malone struggled with injuries and internal friction last season, and his performance was ...... It's actually pretty good.

You may not believe it when you say it, Malone was still the Lakers' three-man last season, and he was the lubricant between the tandem OK combinations.

And he is also in excellent personal form, shooting 48.3% from the field, the best in the last three seasons.

If he hadn't been injured in the Finals, the Pistons really wouldn't have been able to sweep the Lakers.

It's just that after experiencing what happened on and off the field last season, Malone has been disheartened.

Even before that, he has already told Kupchak that he will not execute next season's contract.

However, the good news is that Malone has not officially announced his retirement, and Kupchak still has room to fight for it.

But the premise is that he has to make Malone feel that the Lakers have enough quality to win the championship.

This matter is completely different from Kobe's before, it is not the upper lip to the lower lip, it can be done in one sentence.

Just as he was thinking, his assistant came in and reported on the team's summer league.

NBA free agency and summer league are played simultaneously.

Especially in this era, the freeze period is long, basically the freeze period has not ended, and the summer league has already been played.

The Lakers had a good summer league performance, reaching the finals in Long Beach.

Among them, Ariza's performance was even better, averaging 12.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.

Kupchak was still happy to hear the news.

At the time of the previous trade, the Lakers sent Devin George away in order to keep Ariza, and now it doesn't seem to be a loss.

The assistant and Kupchak chatted a little more, and the two naturally talked about free agents.

"I think I can try to ask Sun's opinion."

At this moment, the assistant suddenly spoke.

Kupchak was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and it was obviously Sun Hao who could be called "Sun".

It's just that Sun Hao is a player, and he doesn't know why his assistant suddenly said that.

"I've heard people say that Michael was out drinking with people and getting drunk, and said that he chose Yao is Sun's opinion, oh yes, and that includes not needing Hamilton to trade for Stackhouse, and this year's selection of Jamil Nelson."

Kupchak listened with a look of sudden realization.

And he said! How can he also be the president of operations, Jordan will change so much before and after his comeback.

It turned out to be this reason.

And Jordan has always liked to brag, and the credibility of saying these things after drinking too much is very high.

Although I don't know why Sun Hao has such a vision, it seems that there is nothing wrong with asking a hand.

And speaking of which, because Sun Hao returned to China after the deal was completed, he was busy with other things in the free market, and he didn't have time to contact Sun Hao yet.

This is an opportunity.

……

Sun Hao is training with his teammates in the national team.

Although he was the latest to join the team, the national team has not changed much from the squad at the World Championships two years ago, and he has integrated quickly.

And the morale of this team is at an all-time high.

All of this has to do with what happened in Athens before.

After the 911 period, international terrorist activities were rampant, especially on a big stage such as the Olympic Games, which was even more dangerous.

In 2000, the investment in Sydney's security was 200 million, and this year Athens has invested 1.5 billion.

But even so, Athens had several bombings in a row before.

The immediate impact of this has been a source of panic, with many athletes abandoning the Games due to safety concerns.

This includes many stars of the U.S. men's basketball team.

Like Maddie, who represented the U.S. in the Copa America and was the team's top scorer, he didn't go.

The Chinese team will not be affected by this kind of thing, and the team members analyzed by Sun Hao before have become stronger.

This also makes the Chinese men's basketball team's desire to win the championship more and more intense!

After the training, Sun Hao chatted with Wang Zhizhi while wiping his sweat in the locker room.

Just earlier today, the Suns announced that they had agreed to a five-year, $70 million contract with Steve Nash.

Joining Nash on his trip to Phoenix is the Warriors' former head assistant coach Mike D'Antoni, who will become the Suns' new head coach.

This is a typical "there is no master here, there is a place to stay here".

Although the appearance of Sun Hao allowed Nash to be traded to the Warriors, the Suns team in history still appeared.

And D'Antoni and Nash have proven themselves with the Warriors, which is more plausible than in history.

It's just that in this way, Wang Zhizhi, who is used to playing next to Nash, is a little embarrassed.

He has one year left on his contract with the Warriors, and where he goes after that is a question of what to do.

Sun Hao chatted with him, naturally talking about joining.

Although he is in China, he is actually paying attention to the Lakers' recruitment.

After all, the current Lakers team is quite a bit of a "Los Angeles Five" feeling, and they are really short of people.

Wang Zhizhi's spatial interior line is very suitable for playing with O'Neal.

It can be a bit difficult to play the starter, but it's certainly enough to play as a substitute.

While chatting, Sun Hao's mobile phone rang.

It was a message, from Nelson Jr., saying that Kupchak had asked for his phone number and would contact him later.

Sure enough, after a while, a strange long-distance call came.

Sun Hao picked up his phone and went to the locker room.

"Sun, I'm Mitch, I'm really sorry, I've been busy with the free market lately and forgot to contact you first, I now warmly welcome you to join the Lakers team, how is your training for the Chinese national team?"

Kupchak is quite good at chatting, and a wave of apologies and care shortens the distance between him and Sun Hao.

After chatting for a while, Kupchak also expressed his intentions.

"I'd like to hear your opinion on the reinforcements of the team."

Sun Hao was silent for a while after hearing this, this is ...... It's a bit sudden.

Fortunately, Kupchak was quick to explain why.

Jordan......

After listening to this, Sun Hao couldn't help but sigh with emotion, drinking was really wrong.

But since Kupchak asked here, it's also an opportunity.

He was actually worried about how to make his traverser's "Sky Eye" work, and this call was an unexpected joy.

'I think we should prioritise the addition of strong strikers.

Sun Hao said his thoughts.

His train of thought was somewhat different from that of Kupchek.

Kupchak is the first shooter, so the outside will be prioritized.

After all, there are very few interior shooters, and some of them are basically the kind of big white soft, which does not meet the requirements of the Lakers.

But what Sun Hao thinks about is from O'Neill's point of view.

Including that he will recruit Wang Zhizhi to go to the Lakers later, it is also this idea.

O'Neal is 32 years old, and this year in history he joined the Heat, and then began to enter the stage of frequent injuries and declining strength.

This has a lot to do with Pat Riley's overtraining, but one of the inevitable problems is that O'Neal has indeed started to go downhill.

In other words, if the Lakers want O'Neal to maintain his previous dominance, they will have to reduce his playing time appropriately in the regular season.

In addition to that, it is to reduce O'Neal's attrition in the regular season.

In other words, he must be equipped with a strong enough inside line.

You can either play with O'Neill as a starter or as a substitute for O'Neal in the bench stage.

Otherwise, it is still the old Horry, or a long-term partner on the inside like the old Malone, then O'Neal will not be less impacted.

So based on this, Sun Hao's idea is to use the middle-class special case on the inside line.

And he also has a suitable person.

Memet Oku.

Because Wallace has signed a contract extension with the Pistons, Oku has little hope of staying with the Pistons.

In this year in history, he went directly to the Jazz with a 6-year 50 million contract.

It's hard for the Lakers to sign him, but it's not impossible.

For example, sign a 1+1 mid-class exception with a player option, and then offer a long-term contract next year.

Of course, this means that Oku has to take a certain risk.

Whether he can sign or not depends on Kupchak's personal bargaining ability.

Of course, in addition to Oku, Sun Hao also gave an alternative, Hill Tekoglu.

This forward swingman who entered the NBA in the same year as Sun Hao, and his career in the first four years can be described as drifting.

In particular, his performance in his Spurs career has been very bleak.

This year in history, he joined the Magic team with a 6-year contract of 38 million.

The Lakers' hopes of winning him are a little higher than Oku's.

Of course, like Oku, this is something that Kupchak needs to fight for.

As for Brent Barry, who originally wanted, it was not necessary for the Lakers.

"We've got Trevor too."

Sun Hao's answer surprised Kupchak.

Although the assistant just said to him that Ariza did well in the summer league, what does this mean that Ariza can directly play as a starting small forward?

"Ariza and Valejo, I suggested that Tang choose."

Sun Hao didn't hide it.

Kupchak suddenly realized after listening to this.

Indeed, as Sun Hao guessed before, the Lakers will cut off Ariza in this year's draft, and they learned about the Mavericks' choice through their own internal information.

After all, the Mavericks' last year's draft, Josh Howard and Daniels, both performed very well.

Combined with Jordan's drunken words, it just right.

"But he's a rookie after all, and this guy has a bad three-point score."

Kupchak still has his own doubts.

"Don't worry, he can."

Finley's scoring ability is strong enough, and he has the ability to open up space, so what the Lakers need more from the outside is actually a defender.

And that's exactly what Ariza, who has excellent reach and physicality, excels in.

As for three points or something, this thing can be practiced.

Although Ariza is known as "Tieza" by fans in history, his three-point level at his peak is also very high in the league.

He's always been among the league's top 3-and-D players in the future.

"And, we can sign another Barry."

Sun Hao then added.

The other Barry he was referring to was Brent Barry's brother, Joan Barry.

Joan Barry is worse than his brother in terms of strength and fame, but there is only one point, the three points are also extremely accurate.

His most accurate two seasons, the 95~96 season, had a shooting rate of 47.3%, and he didn't shoot much at that time, averaging only 1.4 per game.

Then came the 01~02 season, with a shooting rate of 46.9%, and at that time it was already an average of 3.1 shots per game!

Sun Hao was impressed by him because he went to Houston in the year in history, and then became the most reliable shooter on the outside next to Yao Ming.

Because of age and physical fitness, playing as a starter is definitely not a problem, but being a backup shooting guard is not a problem at all.

"What do you think of Carl Malone?"

Sun Hao helped Kupchak open up another idea, but he still didn't forget to ask Ma Long.

"If he's willing to keep playing, that's totally fine."

Sun Hao, as an opponent on the field, still recognizes Ma Long's strength.

If Malone is willing to play for the Lakers for another year, that's definitely a good thing.

Even he felt that it was not unlikely that Kupchak would persuade Malone to come back.

After all, the biggest reason why Malone retired in history was because of the contradiction with Kobe.

Now that Kobe Bryant is gone, Malone's choice is naturally likely to change.

"I think you can even try to get Horry back."

Sun Hao then proposed.

In the season before leaving the Lakers, Horry's performance could be described as miserable.

But as he said before, the form of a player is not an indication of the quality of the player.

Horry got back into shape when he arrived with the Spurs.

In this year in history, Horry even had a 21-point performance in the playoff half to help the Spurs win the championship.

Oku, Turkoglu, Malone, and Horry, two of the four can be recruited, and the Lakers' interior line for next season is actually enough.

After Kupchak hung up the phone, he couldn't hide a smile on his face.

Sun Hao is very good at being a general manager.

This is a "windfall" that the Lakers got in a trade this summer.

It seems that if there is a chance in the future, he will have to communicate more with Sun Hao in this regard.

……

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully unlocking the Emblem 'Wrath of the Emperor'. ”

Wrath of the Emperor: Increases the voice of the host and management in negotiations.

Sun Hao was a little confused after hanging up the phone.

This badge, well, is the one he's always wanted, the badge that increases his voice in management.

Just a name...... I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

He is a little emperor, and this emperor's anger is quite apt.

It's just a bit of a surprise how the badge was obtained.

Previous badges, even if they weren't upgradable, were earned by working his way up to the All-Star Game MVP.

But this time, because of a phone call with Kupchak.

really responded to that sentence.

People sit at home, and badges fall from the sky!

ps: Let's have a more chapter today.,I'm very sorry because of things at home.。