The days of the summer go by very quickly, the players train for training, the holidays for vacations. Fans can meet their favorite stars all over the country, and some young fans are busy attending the training camps held by the stars.

The major media have entered a long grass period, which can only report on the signing actions of each team, debate the historical status of the players, review the retired stars and the history of the past, and then follow up and report on the gossip of the stars, which is boring like a sardine that washed up on the beach and was sunburned.

Of course, there are some noteworthy events throughout the NBA. After the free agency market opened in July, teams fished in the free agency market to expand their rosters, and by August, free agents signed contracts and there were fewer and fewer fish in the free agency.

In the West, in addition to the Lakers' big moves to get Malone and Payton, and the Spurs to add Nesterovic and Robert Hawley, the Kings, a strong team that has lost two years in a row, also completed an excellent trade, they acquired the Pacers' center Brad Miller in a three-way trade, a center who is proficient in passing and has a tough style, which brings a different kind of vitality to the Kings.

The most important thing to be underestimated is the Minnesota Timberwolves, although Garnett's trade made them lose a lot, but it also brought more room for operation, after the trade got Kassel, they got Sprewell through a complicated four-way deal, and for a time the Timberwolves troika was formed, which made the already fierce competition in the West more cruel.

In contrast, the Eastern Conference teams are also busy strengthening their rosters, in addition to the Nets signing Mourning, the Detroit Pistons acquired Campbell to further strengthen their interior line, the dormant Miami Heat has acquired all-round star Lamar Odom in the free market, and Riley is slowly building a new Miami team.

However, all of this doesn't make much sense with the expansion of the Boston Celtics Green Army, as two signings in August have allowed the Boston Ironclads to reach the pinnacle of strength in the East on paper.

On August 7, after three days of negotiations, Angie announced that he had reached an agreement with former Jazz guard Ragabel to sign the tough backcourt player with a two-year exception. Coupled with Ralph Alston, who was previously acquired with a base salary through Leon's relationship, the problem of the Celtics' defenders has basically been solved.

The only regret for Angie is that Steve Kerr insists on retiring, otherwise with Kerr, the Celtics' backcourt will be more stable.

And by mid-August, the Celtics, whose total wages had already exceeded the luxury tax line, did not stop their moves, and they still had a full middle class on their hands unused. The team's three owners have all spoken, and in order to allow Boston to win the championship next season, they are willing to pay a lot of luxury tax, and they will not hesitate to spend more than 100 million yuan a year.

With the owner's commitment to fees, Aegie continued to hunt in the free market, finally picking up the team's final piece of the puzzle at the end of August, and a very important addition to the front line - James Posey, a free agent from the Houston Rockets, who was snatched from the Memphis Grizzlies on a three-year, fully mid-range contract. While the Grizzlies offered higher wages and years, Boston's championship may have attracted him.

At this point, the Celtics' 15-man roster is complete, with centers PJ Brown, Durham Porter, Wang Zhizhi, power forward Garnett, Anderson, Dior, small forward Pierce, Posey, Daniels, scoring guards Reed, Bell, Syri, point guards Arenas, Alston and Strickland, with a total salary of $68.35 million, exceeding the luxury tax line of $20 million, which means they will have to pay nearly $90 million in wages next season.

However, with a player in each position, a qualified substitute, and a backup with potential or experience, the Celtics have an unprecedentedly strong roster. Although they can't match the Lakers in terms of the luxury of their starting lineup, their structural rationality and roster depth are unparalleled in the world.

It can be said that Danny Angie worked hard to shape this team, just Leon took classes in Los Angeles, and then returned to Boston to run to Marshfield to open a training camp, running around alone, chatting with this celebrity for a while, and playing cards with this veteran for a while, Angie met with many agents back and forth on the plane, and I don't know how many batteries the mobile phone consumes every day.

When Angie received a call from Posey's agent confirming that he would choose the Celtics, his heart finally settled down. He called Leon that night and told him ostentatiously that through his unremitting efforts for more than a month, he had built the Celtics into an incredibly powerful legion, and it was up to him to win the championship next season.

Leon, of course, won't give him a chance to be complacent, and the sentence "If it hadn't been for that trade in the draft, nothing would have happened and wouldn't have made sense," blocked Angie back.

Plug back and block back, but Angie is right about one thing, he has indeed built a mighty Boston legion. Although Posey and Bale are not particularly famous players, Leon, who is familiar to everyone in the league, knows that these two guys are young and powerful with a lot of potential.

Such a team, if Leon can't lead them to the championship, is a failure for him, and there is no room for maneuver. If he can reach the finals this year and lose to the Spurs in the end, he can still be called honorable despite defeat, even if they win the championship this year, if the process is not satisfactory and it is extremely difficult to win, it is estimated that it will be a shame to win.

Therefore, an unprecedented pressure came to León's shoulders, a pressure that all the coaches of the super teams have faced, winning, of course, losing, a thousand fingers.

And now, it's mid-August, and the number one star that the Celtics just traded this year, Kevin Garnett, has not yet decided on his jersey number.

There is no doubt that Andy Miller is a stubborn and nasty guy, but Garnett's attitude has long since loosened, and he is ready to pick the No. 5 jersey that Bill Wharton once used, which is not a retired number for the Celtics, but also used by a superstar similar to himself, which is really a good choice.

But Andy Miller didn't know which tendon was wrong in his head, and insisted that Aoyama would not relax, and he wanted Garnett to wear No. 21. His mind Leon understands, he knows that the jersey number of the star is also a symbol, with great commercial value and historical significance, the number 21 has followed Garnett for eight years and has become Garnett's logo, and from a businessman's point of view, he does not want to change this logo.

So the matter dragged on like this, the Celtics did not contact Bill Sharman, Garnett did not let go, and the media fanned the flames, if Kobe Bryant hadn't come out to block a shot, Garnett and the Celtics would have given people the impression of incompatibility and contradiction before the season began.

In the end, the problem fell to Leon, who went to Redondo to visit Bill Sharman after finishing his training at Gelguric, and then returned to Boston. By the middle of the year, when the dust had settled on the Celtics' roster, he headed for Garnett's hometown of South Carolirona.

Garnett didn't stay in Boston long after the end of his signing, and his problems, including the jersey number, were handed over to Miller, and now Leon wants to find Garnett and solve the problem with him in person.

This is a real meeting between the two after the big deal is completed, and there is a slight awkward atmosphere in Garnett's mansion in his hometown. After all, for Leon, Garnett was like a wolf that he had hunted in the forest for a long time, and Leon, a cunning hunter, after a long time of trapping, tracking and laying traps, finally captured this wolf for his own use.

This kind of relationship between prey and hunter is naturally embarrassing.

However, Leon then offered to take Garnett back to Boston, and he said that he would take Garnett to Boston to pick out his jersey.

So, the two took Garnett's private jet from South Carolina and flew to Boston in one night, and then Leon drove Garnett around the city. They passed by Trinity Church, Boston Library, North End Harbor, Fine Arts Square, Charles River, and all the way north to the Old Boston Garden, the former site of Boston Railway Station, a symbol of Boston's Celtic glory and history.

The arena had been demolished four years ago and was being prepared for commercial use, and Leon stopped to look at it and talk to Garnett about the dark times that began in '87 for the Celtics.

Along the way, Leon is like a historian, like Garnett, telling the rise and fall of the NBA's biggest giants, how they dominated, how they endured, and how they fell into the dark abyss. Garnett listened to it fascinatingly, he was a basketball superstar, but he wasn't a basketball historian, he knew the Celtics were amazing, but he didn't know that there were so many stories behind it, so many characters.

In the end, Leon took him to the North Shore Garden, the current home of the Celtics, and he easily carried Garnett into the arena, which happened to be free today and had no other activities, and the stadium was being maintained and repaired.

Coming to Fieldhill and standing on the parquet floor, Leon asked Garnett to look up at the sixteen championship flags hanging high, 21 retired numbers, and 2 special retired jerseys.

Leon took a letter out of his pocket, handed it to Garnett, and said: "This is a letter from Sharman to you, and he told me that if you can be a true Celtic, then you are eligible to wear the number 21 jersey. ”

Garnett took the letter and, instead of opening it, asked, "How do you become a real Celtic?" ”

"Know it, know it, be fascinated by it, love it, and in the end you become a part of it, like those flags that fly high in the air." Leon said, pulling a cigar out of his pocket, handing it to Garnett, and lighting it with a match.

In the smoke, Garnett seemed to see his jersey hanging from the dome of the North Shore Gardens along with the championship flag.

Celtic inherited more than just the jersey, but also the history and spirit. (To be continued.) )