In the end, Kirilenko's transfer fee was negotiated......

500,000 US dollars, which is not much, but it is a little more than the official limit of 300,000 US dollars, and the extra part must have been made up by Kirilenko himself.

This mere $200,000 is nothing for Kirilenko, after all, as a first-round pick, he is guaranteed by a standard contract.

Since last season, the rookie contract has been restructured, from a three-year standard to a four-year one.

This is also the result of the negotiation of labor and salary agreements, with one more year of rookie contracts and the league's teams being able to pay a lot less rookie salaries, which can be regarded as Stern seeking benefits for the owners of each team.

It may sound strange, how can the bosses pay less for an extra year of contract? Isn't it time to pay more......

This is to consider the salaries of talented players such as Kobe Bryant and Iverson, who can start signing with a maximum salary after three years, while Brand, who entered the league this year, has to play for four years before signing with a maximum salary......

Giving less to the top salary for one year naturally saves a lot of salary.

As for those players who are not very good, the fourth year contract is usually a team option, and if the team is not satisfied with their quality, it is completely possible to exercise the team option and fire the newcomer.

For example, Quincy Lewis, who was selected with the nineteenth pick this year, is this kind of unlucky guy, after executing a three-year rookie contract, the team executed the team option in the last year, and he could not get the salary of the fourth year of the rookie contract, so he could only join other teams with a base salary of 200,000......

……

Now Kirilenko's rookie contract is about $4.5 million for four years, and he can still get it fairly easily for a transfer fee of $200,000.

The club gave the green light all the way to release people, and the Russian Basketball Association and the Chinese Basketball Association are not the same in nature, and they have no right to prevent Kirilenko from playing in the NBA.

Yao Ming, a few years later, was not so lucky......

In fact, not only the Shanghai men's basketball team did not let go, but even the Basketball Association did not let go, and finally negotiated the Shanghai men's basketball team, and the Basketball Association took a lot of twists and turns.

Stern also played an important role in the negotiations, agreeing to a series of conditions that seem ridiculous today......

……

Richard was quite satisfied with Kirilenko's negotiations this time.

Compared to Ginobili, it must have taken a lot of pains, but the result was a complete one......

Originally, Richard estimated that the other party would ask for at least $1 million in transfer fees, but now it only costs 500,000.

……

After returning to the United States, Richard directly called a meeting of his coaching staff to discuss the roster for the new season.

"Guys, two of the five people in our starting lineup have left, and everyone is talking about how to set up the starting lineup for the next season."

Richard asked as he turned to the three teaching assistants.

"Lee, I think it's time for Nowitzki to try his starting position, his talent is quite good, especially the talent on the offensive end, I think if he starts, it can completely make up for the damage caused by Rashid's departure on the offensive end!" Zhang Weiping said.

However, his proposal was immediately opposed by Stevens and Dave Cowens.

"I don't think so, Nowitzki's defense is still a little too weak now, and if we put it in the starting lineup, it will make our starting lineup have shortcomings on the defensive end......"

"I suggest Nowitzki can be the first substitute in the forward position!"

Stevens and Cowens opened their mouths to share their thoughts.

"Do other players have to be better defensively than Nowitzki? I'm afraid not......"

Zhang Weiping still thinks it is more reliable to let Nowitzki play the position of starting small forward.

Richard waved his hand, "I'll talk about my plan first......

If the three of them continue to discuss, they can't actually discuss anything, after all, they don't know as much about the characteristics of these players as Richard.

"I'm going to replace Rashid with Kirilenko!" Richard said with a smile.

The three of them are stunned, Kirilenko?!

The expatriate newcomer this year? How is it possible that he can take Rashid's place?!

The faces of the three of them were suspicious, and it was really Richard's words, some of which were too incredible.

"This player's defensive strength, with a little training, will be stronger than Rashid, but the offensive end is not as good as Rashid!"

"BOSS, but in this way, the offensive firepower of our starting lineup will drop too much......"

"Rashid and Kobe are gone, and now we only have one Robinson left on the outside......"

"If we start with Kirilenko, a player who is not very good at attacking, it will be difficult for us to crush the opponent in attack!"

Stevens said with a frown.

Richard nodded, Stevens was right......

"In this way, let Kirilenko be the chief interior bench, let Nowitzki play the starting small forward, for now we tentatively like this, wait for the regular season to start, see the effect, and then make adjustments!" Richard clapped his head.

The three teaching assistants nodded, and that's all there is to it for now......

The three positions in the front court are almost in the preliminary arrangement at the moment, and then the most headache is the backcourt.

All four have a headache, mainly Kobe's departure, which has a huge impact on the strength of the Trail Blazers' backcourt.

"Lee, what is our starting point guard doing now, it seems that we can only use Jackson to top!"

Cowens said helplessly, the Trail Blazers themselves lacked point guards, and now Kobe Bryant has left, and the only one left who can play point guard is Martial Saint Jackson.

If he comes to play point guard, to be honest, the effect will definitely be far less than Kobe, and if nothing else, his ball-handling ability will not be as good as Kobe.

Wusheng Jackson is indeed all-round, but compared to Kobe, his all-round can be said to be omnipotent, and he was crushed by Kobe Bryant in almost all directions.

If the Trail Blazers don't make a trade, then the starting lineup of the Trail Blazers in the next season will be Xiao Ao, Big Ben, Driver, Robinson, and Wu Sheng!

Of course, Ginobili also has a certain organizational ability, and it may not be impossible to replace Wusheng as the starting point guard......

But at least at the moment, Richard doesn't have that idea, Ginobili still needs to accumulate some game experience, at least in the first half of the next season, Richard is unlikely to start Ginobili.

He will play as the backcourt core of the second team, connecting the team's attack.

The starting line-up is important, but the second team is just as important, and a lot of times, a team wins on the second team.

That's how the Spurs used Ginobili in the first place, putting him on the bench......

……

If Wu Sheng played the starting point guard, Richard felt unreliable......

He has a higher chance of losing the ball when he has the ball, which hinders his possibility of becoming a true point guard.

Wu Sheng's passing ability is good, and the overall situation and passing vision are also good, but the ball control ability is not good.

In addition, the next season is the contract year of the Martial Saint, and Richard actually has the idea of taking the Martial Saint to make a trade with other teams.

Rashid, Bowen and Kobe Bryant all let go for nothing this time, and Richard naturally felt a lot of losses in his heart.

But there is no way, all three are free agents, and coupled with the salary space issue, Richard can't use them to sign first and then trade......

And now Richard feels that it is more cost-effective to trade the Martial Saint, taking advantage of the small contract of the Martial Saint now, to trade some newcomers.

Otherwise, when the Martial Saint's contract expires next year, the Trailblazers will still have no salary space at that time, so they can only let the Martial Saint go for nothing......

Quite a pity!

"Which of you is more familiar with Butch Carter? I'm going to make a deal with Jackson with him......" Richard said to the three.

The three of them are confused, Butch Carter?! Isn't that the head coach of the Raptors......

Take the Martial Saint to make a deal with the Raptors? Could it be that Vince Carter wants to change the Raptors?!

There is such a possibility, Carter averaged about 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game last season, shooting 45% from the field and less than 30% from three-point range......

This kind of data can be said to be quite powerful for a newcomer!

But it doesn't mean that the martial saint can't get Carter, in fact, the martial saint's performance last season was not much worse than Carter.

averaged 11 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists per game, with a shooting rate of 47% from outside and a three-point shooting rate of 36%.

Carter's defense is good, but Martial Saint's defense is not covered, and it is no worse than Carter.

Even because of his better height and arm span, Martial Saint's defense is stronger than Carter's.

Even if the Raptors feel that they are losing money, it is a big deal that the Trail Blazers will add a little bit of leverage, and the feasibility is still quite large.

"BOSS, are you trying to bring in Vince Carter?"

"It's not good, Carter doesn't have the playmaking skills, we need a good ball handler now......"

"Carter is good, but we don't need this player!"

The three of them dissuaded Richard, the current lineup of the Trail Blazers really doesn't need Carter at all, if Carter is a player with accurate shooting skills like Ray Allen, it is a matter of two words.

Richard shook his head, "No, it's not Vince Carter, I want Ron Artest plus Tracy McGrady!" ”

The three of them were stunned, and they couldn't understand what Richard wanted to do......

In exchange for two strikers?! Isn't that a Trail Blazer or a ball-handler......

"I remember that Butchcarter and Larry Bird were teammates for many years, right? I'm going to contact Butch Carter first and see what they have to say......" Richard decided to settle the matter.

In fact, Richard knows very well that he wants to trade Martial Saint Jackson for Artest plus Maddy, which is unlikely, and even if the Raptors have this trade tendency, it will definitely make Richard increase his chips.

Now Richard just wants to probe the Raptors.

……

At the very least, we have to see if the Raptors have a tendency to trade......