Chapter 263 [The future is bleak, the waves are washing]
The Suns can't just rely on a few young people to fight the world, and the management is actively recruiting in the free market, wanting to find two more excellent helpers for Guo Xu, but unfortunately the powerful free men are unwilling to join, and there are no well-known veterans to "hug the thighs".
Even Magic backup forward Timon Williams, who can't play fast and can't play well, can't look down on the Suns, and chose to join the 76ers when both teams made the same offer.
Cavaliers bench power forward Bryan Skinner, who had 3.4 points and 4.3 rebounds last season, made the same choice, and the Suns manager asked him why? He said he felt the 76ers had a better future than the Suns.
Looking at the card lineup, the 76ers trident Iverson, Van Horn, and Coleman have all proven that they have the ability to score 20+, two champions and one leader. Defender Snow defended well and was well-organized, with McGee leading the bench and balancing offense and defense.
What do the Suns have? Two rookies in the class of 2002, one rookie in the class of 2001, even the eldest and second rookies were rookies in 2000 and 1999, and the rest were marginal and declining veterans from last season.
Looking at the roster configuration, no one thinks they can make the playoffs next season, and naturally no one wants to come.
Manager Brian Colangelo was in a hurry to get his head two big, and as the new season approached, he was eager to go out with two watermelon knives and put them around the free agent's neck to force them to sign.
There are only two years left for Brian, and Daddy Jerry has already discussed with him that if he can help the Suns rise and make the playoffs in these two seasons, it will prove that he is capable and let him take over as the owner in the future.
If the Suns continue to finish at the bottom of the list, two seasons later Jerry will sell his stake to the team's minority shareholder, partner Robert Savell, who is running for the position of general manager of the U.S. National Team.
Guo Xu was invited by Jerry, and he has already laid a good foundation for his son, if he can't even dig a few auxiliary players, what qualifications does the manager have to be the boss?
Brian pulled himself together and continued to contact the player's agent, but he had to make up a 15-man squad.
Veteran guard Burshutt Davis couldn't afford the Suns and joined the Pistons with a base salary.
Bucks backup forward Darvin Ham couldn't afford the Suns and joined the Hawks with a base salary.
Even the Hawks can compete with the Suns because they look like they have a strong lineup with four attackers: Terry, Hardaway, Glenn Robinson, and Raheem. Previously, the Hawks sent blue-collar interior Theo Latlif in exchange for the Bucks' star forward "Big Dog."
Looking at the current lineup of the Hawks, Bryan wants to beat his chest, if he had traded for the Bucks before, maybe he would have traded Hardaway to replace the "big dog" Robinson, but now he has only traded back to Kukoc.
Robinson and Ray Allen became the new enemies of the NBA, and after parting ways, they began to speak ill of each other and have a long-standing grudge.
Robinson, Ray Allen, and Cassel are known as the "three musketeers", but in fact, none of the three are convinced, and the Bucks have no real core and are always scattered, which is an important reason why they can't produce results.
The trigger was Ray Allen, who had open conflicts with coach George Carr and team boss Robinson.
Karl has always been unaccustomed to Ray Allen's style of play and wants him to be tougher, but Ray Allen has always been reluctant to change. Carl has publicly ridiculed Ray Allen as a "Barbie doll", and he cares more about whether he is beautiful than victory, while Ray Allen says that Carl is too arbitrary.
Robinson was originally the boss of the team, and Ray Allen's growth led to boss strife. The two did not give in to each other, did not pass the ball to each other on the field, and did not cooperate. The Bucks, who were still a team in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2001, became a lottery team in '02, and Ray Allen said that Robinson was lazy and alone, and Robinson countered that Ray Allen was alone.
Ray Allen doesn't look like a gentleman, in fact, he doesn't have a good relationship with his teammates, he doesn't fit in well, and he even openly fought with Robinson and Tim Thomas in training.
Brian can now guess that the Bucks will definitely trade Ray Allen in the near future, but unfortunately the Suns have no leverage.
As the "big-name" players in the free agency market sign one by one, the media increasingly feels that the Suns' future is bleak. Experts believe that their interior line is too poor, except for inexperienced newcomers who can't defend veterans, and they can't play at all in the new season.
Even if Guo Xu has great ability, it is only on the offensive end, if he can't prevent it, how many games can the Sun win in a season?
Bryan also thinks that Guo Xu will definitely be lonely if this continues, but he can't find good players to join in various positions.
In this era, Tim Thomas, a power forward who can shoot three-pointers with one hand, can sign a six-year, 66 million contract, and Swift is regarded as a treasure in the Grizzlies, ordinary chips can't be exchanged, and the Suns want to sign an excellent free agent inside is a fool's dream.
What's worse is that Guo Xu currently doesn't even have a qualified point guard backup, which is too much to say, and it seems that the manager is very incompetent.
After thinking about it, Brian came up with a good way to satisfy Guo Xu, which is also to poach those unpopular free agents in the market, and let Guo Xu decide who to hire.
The object designated by Guo Xu himself, if he does not play well in the new season, he will not be able to express his dissatisfaction, and what results the team can play will depend on the strength of the core. In this way, Guo Xu will not blame the manager for his inaction, and it seems that Brian respects the opinions of the team's core.
Brian is a person who likes to do small things, and he did a lot of this kind of thing in Guo Xu's previous life, and he lost his job because of it.
In 2018, when Brian was the president of the 76ers, it was revealed by the American media that he had multiple Twitter trumpets in his hands, and he used these trumpets to criticize NBA players and peers, including the 76ers' own people, such as his criticism of former 76ers general manager Sam Sinki, and the disclosure of some medical information about players Okafor, Embiid, and Fultz that should not be made public.
After this incident was exposed, the entire NBA was shocked. The 76ers launched an independent investigation and found that the accounts had indeed been used by Bryan for a long time, and then Bryan's reputation was severely affected and he was forced to resign from the 76ers.
On September 15, Guo Xu was blowing the air conditioner to surf the Internet in his apartment when he received a call from Brian.
"Hey Jason, are you busy right now?"
"Hello, Brian, I'm not busy, what's the matter at home?"
Bryan got straight to the point: "There are three players on the team that have not yet been confirmed, so I wanted to talk to you about any free agents you want to work with. If so, I can contact their agent and have them attend the team's training camp to play preseason. Sign up if it's suitable, do you have time to look into this? ”
"Would you like to listen to my advice? That's great, is there a roster of free agents? ”
"Yes, I can send it to your mailbox, you have decided to call me again, just choose three people." Brian laughed. As soon as he saw that Guo Xu was so happy, he knew that his goal had been achieved.
"I'll definitely choose someone to ...... as soon as possible," Guo Xu said his email address.
Brian wanted to make Guo Xu happy in this way, but what Guo Xu wanted to do most was to participate in the team's recruitment plan, but he was new to the city and was embarrassed to take the initiative.
He's a reborn, and no matter how much sand there is in the NBA, he can pick out some potential real gold from it!