Denver Nuggets! It was the Denver Nuggets who called.

Who would have thought that such an unassuming team in the league would take the initiative to find Phil Jackson?

When he received a call from Tim Connery, Phil Jackson was a little puzzled.

By the way, Who is Tim Connery? Connelly is the general manager of the Nuggets, a young general manager who spent his early years as a scout for the Wizards and an assistant general manager for the Pelicans. The 40-year-old Connelly is different from traditional general managers who have a philosophy that teams must maintain a certain metabolic rate every year, and he has a unique understanding of player quality and data analysis.

Connery had indeed come to make a deal with the "Zen Master," Smith. In fact, Phil. Smith.

However, since there are people who want to be in their own hands, it is a potential opportunity.

Connery was calling today to discuss a trade for the Knicks' 2017 first-round pick, and Connery was willing to give the trade chip for the team's backup power forward, Kenneth Farid.

Kenneth Farid? Kenneth Farid, nicknamed "Half-Orc"? Phil Jackson couldn't help but be a little surprised to hear the name. He and Connery checked again, and the answer was correct, and the trade chip that Connery was going to give away was indeed the short big forward nicknamed "Half-Orc".

Why Farid? And why the New York Knicks?

It is said that it is coincidental or not, there are accidents and inevitable.

First up is the Nuggets, after Serbian talent Nikola Jokic emerged last year, the team's head coach Mike Malone is interested in developing this all-round center who can score, grab rebounds, and assist teammates to become the cornerstone of the team's future. In order to build a projection-type run-and-gun team around Jokic, head coach Malone prefers to use Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler who have good mid-to-long-range shooting ability on the front line. After them, the team's next focus on developing players is younger Yusuf Nurkic and Juan Hernangomez (the younger brother of Knicks' Willy Hernangomez), which makes the position of former main Farid a little awkward.

Since last season, Farid has been playing less and less starts, and this season, after 13 games, Farid has found himself surprisingly unable to get a start.

Chaos has been Farid's biggest feeling in the team in the past two years. He had the opportunity to sign a five-year max contract with the team last summer, but Stan Kroenke, the owner of the team, was only willing to give the "orcs" a five-year, $60 million contract.

But there are many good things, and just as Farid was about to sign the contract, the accident appeared again. Because the new collective bargaining agreement stipulates that when the team renews the contract with the rookie, if it is not the maximum salary renewal, then it can only sign a four-year contract at most, and due to violations, Farid's contract can only be changed to four years and $50 million, although the money is a little more, but the "half-orcs" and the team are rifts.

What makes Farid even more frustrated is that although the team has renewed his contract, it has never cultivated itself as a core. The Nuggets have been interested in selling Farid since last year.

Before the trade deadline last year, Farid was close to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but unfortunately in the end, the Cavaliers chose the more affordable Channing Fry. And in the offseason this summer, Denver Nuggets general manager Connelly and Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Griffin once again brought up the matter of trading Farid, this time Connery wanted the player "TT" Tristan Thompson, and Griffin finally relented.

But just as the deal was about to be completed, James suddenly made a move, and he voluntarily called for the trade to be halted on the grounds that he didn't want his younger brother Tristan Thompson (the two of them were in the same agency) to be traded elsewhere, so Farid once again rubbed shoulders with the Cavaliers.

After several failed trades, Farid's mood suddenly hit rock bottom, and he felt that the team didn't value him at all and just wanted to sweep himself out of the house early. There is no doubt that Farid has emotions, and he has gradually become at odds with his manager and team-mates. Slowly, his situation in the team became a little uncomfortable.

According to one Nuggets insider, "Farid is a great player, plays hard and has a lot of passion, but he doesn't really like him on the team." After signing the big contract, he said crazy things, he thought he was the boss of the team, he offended the manager and made the other players very unhappy. ”

Was Farid the first to inflate himself, or did the team abandon him first? Who knows, anyway, now the Nuggets urgently need to trade Faried, the "boss on the bench", and instead put Jokic on the right to become the team's real boss.

The Denver Nuggets have always been known across the league for their quick and decisive trade in terms of stars, just as they were relentless in trading Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, and Ty Lawson. Even if it is the core boss of the team, when it is almost worthless, it will not be soft when it is time to make a move, this is the survival of the Denver Nuggets based on the league.

And now, the fate of being traded has once again befallen Farid.

Now, of course, it's not so much that the Denver Nuggets are trading for Faryd, but rather that Faried himself wants to leave the team that has left him depressed.

So why the New York Knicks?

The reason is also very simple, as mentioned earlier, Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Nuggets, is the most sloppy team owner in the NBA, if not one of them. As the world's largest sports tycoon, his only philosophy in running the team is to make a profit, and he will do everything he can to make money, and he must not lose money. Throwing money at superstars and cobbling together the X giants is absolutely impossible for the Nuggets to happen.

Champions are secondary, making money is first.

Kroenke not only requires his management team to strictly control operating costs and not overrun, but also requires the team's total salary to be economical. So he found Connally, who was the only one who looked forward to himself, so Farid, who had the second highest salary in the team but couldn't beat the main team, was destined to be purged. Of course, Kroenke has another reason why he has to trade Faried but can't say it, that is, Faried is so fierce that this guy nicknamed "Half-Orc" can't attract more high-income fans to the team, and he can't pull the team's jersey sales by many percent. On the contrary, the sunny and handsome international players Jokic and Gallinari can easily attract the attention of a large number of media and fans.

Sending Farid away has been Connery's most important job in recent months.

However, across the league, there aren't many teams interested in accepting Farid on a four-year, $50 million contract and willing to give away a first-round pick, limited by the salary cap and luxury tax. A rebuilding team is certainly reluctant to give away draft picks, and a championship-winning team is unlikely to break the team's existing tactical system and take in this short interior player with a hard technical character. The bargaining chips that are willing to accept Farid are all garbage players with long contracts, which Connelly is not willing to accept.

Connery has been in despair, but the Knicks' recent activity has given him hope, the Knicks got back the 2017 first-round picks, the Knicks are hiring, and the Knicks are aiming for the playoffs, so will they spend a lot of money like the next-door neighbor Nets back then? Connelly now has all his hopes pinned on the New York Knicks and Phil Jackson.

Connery is also not greedy, as long as the Knicks pay a first-round pick, plus a short-contract role player who can fill the "poor ghost line", they can take "Half-Orc" Farid away.

This deal is undoubtedly quite tempting for Phil Jackson, the "Zen Master" knows what Farid is capable of, and he is by no means unable to play the main force of the Nuggets because of his strength, he is a buried "beast".

Phil Jackson could have easily finalized the deal, but he thought about it, since the Nuggets were in such a hurry to play Fa Reed, why not learn from his old friend Danny Ainge and find a chance to cheat him? This is a good opportunity to send away the "cancer" Smith.

The bargaining between the two began immediately, and here Phil Jackson offered to accept Farid and give a draft pick.

When Connery heard it, I X, I traded Faried, originally because Faryd's four-year contract of 50 million was too long and the amount was too big, Smith (four years and $57 million), isn't that obviously cheating me? Decisive veto.

Back here, Phil Jackson immediately had an idea when he heard that your goal as general manager Connery was to reduce the total salary and transfer players to long-term contracts.

Phil Jackson's answer was: You can reduce the burden, Connery, you can say, who else do you want, let's put it on the trading table and talk, anyway, I have salary space.

Phil Jackson's unconventional routine made the young Connery dizzy all of a sudden, and he thought to himself, is there such a good thing? Originally, I also planned to slowly dispose of Darrell Arthur, who couldn't play after the overhaul (current salary is $8.07 million, and the remaining three years of the contract are $22.99 million), which is really unwanted, or will they be packaged together with the Knicks?

As soon as Connery's proposal came out, Phil Jackson immediately responded, no problem, in order to match this deal, I will fill in the "poor ghost line" for you by the way, and I will give you another Brandon Jennings (salary of $4.84 million) whose contract expires next year, so it's interesting enough, right?

Connelly couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard that not only did the Knicks have a first-round pick next year, but Jackson was also willing to take away the team's two high-salary, long-term players. As soon as he calculated, the team's total salary for next year could be reduced by 7.35 million yuan, and there were four draft picks, and the general manager, who has a habit of collecting draft picks, was instantly happy.

Deal! Must be dealed!