Chapter 502: The Crazy Free Market and the Emergence of Generation 03

With the successful defense of the Pacers' title and Meng Xu's re-election as the MVP of the Finals, the NBA2002-2003 season has officially come to an end. But the busy work has only just begun for managers and head coaches across teams, especially in what is arguably the strongest free agency summer in history, and for managers of NBA teams, this summer is the perfect battleground for them.

This summer, it is definitely the most prosperous free agency market in the last ten years, first of all, Tim Duncan, who has been in the league for only three seasons and has been firmly in the No. 1 forward position in history, has become an unrestricted free agent after the end of this season. In the six seasons of entering the league, except for the rookie season and missing the playoffs due to injury, the rest of the seasons, the Spurs' worst record was to reach the division semifinals, and Tim Duncan, as the core of the Spurs, has also ranked in the top three of the regular season MVP list for four consecutive seasons, so as the league's top three supergiants, Tim Duncan is undoubtedly the player that all teams dream of.

The second is Jason Kidd, who led the Nets to the Eastern Conference Finals for two consecutive seasons, as the current league's No. 1 point guard, Jason Kidd, who has averaged 18+7+9 data per game in the last two seasons, is definitely a player that countless other teams are looking for.

Of course, the big-name players who entered the free market this year, not only that, first of all, the Lakers, who have failed in the Finals for two consecutive seasons, and their leading player Shaq O'Neal, after the Finals, announced that he would jump out of the last year of his contract with the Lakers and enter the free market, although most analysts believe that O'Neal's move is forcing the palace management, and at the same time preparing for the next big contract, after all, O'Neal is now 31 years old, and he is still at his peak in the past two years, signing a long-term big contract, Definitely very sensible. After O'Neal announced that he would jump out of the contract, Karl Malone, who joined the Lakers last season, also announced that he would no longer execute the remaining 1-year $1.5 million contract with the Lakers, when Malone joined the Lakers last season, he signed a 1+1 contract with the Lakers, and after the failure to impact the championship, Malone returned directly to Salt Lake City, and Gary Payton, who joined the Lakers with Malone, will also expire this season, after O'Neal and Malone both jumped out of the contract, Payton did not express his intention to renew his contract with the Lakers, And after O'Neal jumped out of his contract, the Lakers' management didn't have the energy to take care of Payton. With O'Neal and Malone jumping out of the contract, the whole of Los Angeles was in turmoil for a while, but just after O'Neal announced that he would jump out of the contract, Kobe Bryant's agent also officially submitted a trade application to the Lakers' management.

The Pacers, who have achieved two consecutive championships, look very bad, except for Mutombo, James Posey, Jeff Foster, who only completed the contract extension last season, and Meng Xu, who has two years left on his contract, and two rookies NN Hilario and Tyshawn Prince, the remaining 9 players of the Pacers all became free agents after the end of the season, and among these nine players, only Jamal Tinsley and Bobby Simmons became restricted free agents, and the rest such as Jermaine O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Richard Hamilton and others are all unrestricted free agents, and as a team that has won two championships in a row, even the Pacers' fringe players are in the free market. At the same time, in order to weaken the competition, after the end of the season, many teams pounced on the Pacers like sharks that smelled blood, trying to tear a piece of meat off the Pacers.

However, what is surprising is that the first to swing the hoe to the Pacers is not the Nets and Pistons, the Pacers' fierce rivals, but the San Antonio Spurs, perhaps because of the revenge of the Pacers poaching Reeve Lafrenz last season, the Spurs launched a fierce chase after the Pacers' interior Jermaine O'Neal, David Robinson officially announced his retirement after the end of the season, and the Spurs' hard-working successor Reeve Lafrentz was finally poached by the Mavericks under the malicious coaxing of the Pacers. Therefore, Popovich is now aiming his hoe at the Pacers, and when the contract renewal negotiations with Duncan are still ongoing, the Spurs made an offer for Jermaine O'Neal, a 6-year 90 million contract, and it can also be seen that the Spurs' offer for Jermaine O'Neal is also full of sincerity.

With the explosion of the last two seasons and the selection of All-Stars for two consecutive seasons, Jermaine O'Neal, who became the No. 1 forward in the East, is now clearly in the free market, second only to Duncan, O'Neal and Kidd. Although he averaged 19 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game last season, he failed to enter the 20+10 club, many bricks assert that as long as Jermaine O'Neal can become the core of a team, not to mention 20+10, it is possible to say 25+10, and in this year's finals, Jermaine O'Neal's performance is also eye-catching. Although the average of 14.8 points and 12 rebounds per game is very obvious compared with the first few rounds of the regular season and the playoffs, Jermaine O'Neal's excellent defense against Malone and his excellent performance when defending O'Neal alone also made Jermaine O'Neal sit in the league's fifth-largest forward position, and even some media said that from next season, the "Big Four" will become the "Big Five", so Jermaine O'Neal, who has become a free agent, is definitely one of the most exciting players in the free market. Not only the Spurs, but several of the Pacers' rivals in the East, the Nets, the Pistons, the Celtics, and even the Knicks, have also pursued Jermaine O'Neal, especially the Knicks, and even Jermaine O'Neal.

As for the other players, after winning two championships, Reggie Miller has retired, and the rest of the players Lorenzen White has made it clear that he will not renew his contract with the team, as a rookie in the same class as Jermaine O'Neal, Lorenzen White is now at his peak, but Lorenzen White has less and less playing time in the Pacers, not only Mutombo's position is not moving, but behind Lorenzen White there are two strong opponents Jeff Foster and Nn Hilario, And after winning two championships, Lorenzen White also wants to sign a big contract while he is young, and the Pacers obviously can't satisfy Lorenzen White's appetite.

And Jermaine O'Neal and Richard Hamilton, who are the Pacers' priority contract extensions, In the face of the 7-year 106 million contract offered by the Pacers, Jermaine O'Neal's attitude is now very ambiguous, after the Finals, Jermaine O'Neal went directly to Portland, and Hamilton's negotiations were also very unsmooth, due to his outstanding performance in the Finals, Hamilton's agent wanted to seek a big contract with an average annual salary of about 1500 for Hamilton, but the Pacers can only give Hamilton about 5 years and 55 million now.

As for Jamal Tinsley and Bobby Simmons, who are now restricted free agents, the Pacers' mental prices are 4 million and 1.5 million respectively, but the Bulls directly gave Bobby Simmons an offer of 15 million for 3 years, and the Knicks were even crazier, directly offering Jamal Tinsley 48 million for 6 years.

And the Pacers are now facing not only the renewal crisis of many players, what really makes the Pacers in trouble is Larry Bird's physical condition, on the third day of the Pacers' return to Indianapolis with the O'Brien Cup, Larry Bird was sent to the hospital, according to Larry Bird's current physical condition, it is very difficult to continue to coach the Pacers next season. After Larry Bird was hospitalized, Herbert Simon, the owner of the Pacers, appointed Kevin Prithard, Rick Fuson temporarily took over the position of general manager and president of basketball operations, and Harry appointed Lester Connell to take over as head coach temporarily, jointly responsible for the team's contract extension for the new season, and the recruitment work, but Larry Bird's departure also cast a shadow on the Pacers.

As one of the most successful teams in recent seasons, the Pacers and Lakers, who have met in the Finals for two consecutive seasons, are facing disintegration this summer, which is also unexpected.

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On June 27, 2003, when the free market rumors were flying, the annual draft conference kicked off again in Madison Garden Plaza, although the Pacers did not have draft picks this year, but Meng Xu still came to the scene to watch this year's draft, and the last time he accompanied Larry Bird to watch the draft on the spot, Meng Xu this time as LeBron James's family and friends to cheer LeBron James, by the way, also witness this historic moment, you must know this year's draft, In the systematic evaluation, it is a draft meeting in the top ten in history. Many of the players who participated in this year's draft have gone on to become superstars, even superstars.

And Meng Xu came to the scene to watch the draft today, there is another important reason, that is, at this year's draft conference, there are two players with Meng Xu as the template, one is LeBron James, who Meng Xu has long been familiar with, and the other is Carmelo Anthony, who has steadily beaten LeBron James in McDonald's training camp. At the same time, after the Odin brand was separated, the Odin series is not only exclusive to Meng Xu, as a separate sneaker brand, Odin also needs to sign a few players to fill the faΓ§ade, but it is very unfortunate that LeBron James and Cameron Anthony, which Meng Xu valued, were all taken first, first of all, Nike, after Meng Xu's Odin was separated, Nike needed to support a top brand, and Nike chose LeBron James, who was also favored by Meng Xu. As for Carmelo Anthony, originally He Hui had already started contact with Cameron Anthony's agent, and Carmelo Anthony was also very satisfied with He Hui's conditions, but halfway through the kill, Jordan also found Carmelo Anthony, and Anthony, who regarded Jordan as an idol, chose Jordan without hesitation.

Every year at the draft, there will be all kinds of cut-offs, and you have no negotiable drama, and this year's draft, if you want to say which team is the most worried, it must be the Nuggets, the Nuggets have been fond of Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse University for a long time, but the Nuggets now only have the No. 3 pick in their hands, and Carmelo Anthony, who led Syracuse University to win the NCAA championship and was selected for the All-American team, is the top pick this year, so the head coach Buzdrick, who represented the draft, From the moment I walked into Madison Garden, I was always at ease, for fear that the riders and pistons in front of me would cut off their beards.

This year is a big year for the draft, and a lot of talented young players have emerged, so for the Cavaliers, this year's draft is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the Cavaliers' current troubles are completely happy troubles, because there are too many outstanding players, so the Cavaliers are completely dazzled, but after various training camp observations, the Cavaliers' selection targets are finally locked on two people, that is, Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse University, and high school student LeBron James. As the first person in the league, Meng Xu's achievements are needless to say, although the templates of each rookie have the habit of blowing water, but whether it is LeBron James or Cameron Anthony, they have also shown extraordinary talent, not to mention any strengthened version of Meng Xu, as long as they can cash in on their talent and reach Meng Xu's level, the Cavaliers can definitely turn over. In the end, the Cavaliers chose the former between LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James became the second high school student in NBA history.

After the Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons, who have the top pick, chose the center Darko Milicic from Serbia, although among the rookies who participated in the draft this year, there are many players with talent potential that surpasses Darko Milicic, but they urgently need to add the interior to supplement the Pistons against the Pacers, and finally chose a very talented big man, but it is very funny that just after the Pistons' head coach Rick Carlisle participated in the draft, the Pistons management told him that he was fired, He was replaced by Larry Brown, who had just stepped down from the 76ers.

After the Pistons selected Darko Milicic, the Nuggets head coach Buzdrick immediately put down, although the Nuggets have the No. 3 pick, but for whether they can choose Carmelo Anthony, who they have been thinking for a long time, the Nuggets have no confidence, and finally after the Cavaliers chose LeBron James and the Pistons chose Darko Milicic, the Nuggets also chose Carmelo Anthony as they wished.