"Something's wrong! Greg! ”

Buford rushed in, and Popovich was startled.

But what frightened him even more was yet to come.

Buford's face was serious: "A week ago, Tim was in Orlando for three days, and then three days ago, he went to Los Angeles. ”

Popovich confirmed: "Tim Duncan? ”

Buford nodded heavily.

Popovich finally felt the seriousness of the matter, and he thought of Qiao Hai's words a few days ago, concerned about Tim Duncan? Could it be that Qiao Hai already knew that Duncan would meet the Magic and the Lakers? Duncan's meeting with the Magic and Lakers was first revealed by Hoop Sports, and soon, Popovich saw the headline that Hoop Sports had just released.

Duncan spent three days in Orlando, accompanied by Doug Rivers, who had worked as a full-time commentator for the Spurs, and then Duncan went to Los Angeles, where he stayed for a day before returning to San Antonio.

Hoop Sports' report writes the process in detail, and I have to admire Hoop Sports' sources, which are too accurate.

After reading the report, Popovich immediately made a decision to temporarily abandon the bid for Manuginobili and go all out to capture Tim Duncan.

………………

From Orlando to Los Angeles and finally to San Antonio, Duncan walked around and naturally had more thoughts.

The Magic made a cap salary offer, but Amy, Duncan's fiancée, didn't want Duncan to go to the Magic because Doug Rivers didn't allow Amy to occasionally fly on the team's plane.

The Lakers also made a maximum salary offer for Duncan, and Amy tried her best to encourage Duncan to go to the Lakers, but Duncan was still hesitating, because after going to the Lakers, he was not the boss of the team, and the Lakers had O'Neal and Kobe, and if there was another him, one ball would not be enough to score.

So, Duncan went back to San Antonio and decided to talk to the Spurs again.

However, from the perspective of his heart, Duncan feels that the Lakers are a good choice, at least go to the Lakers, have a maximum salary, plus O'Neal and Kobe, the championship also has a chance, and Duncan in this life has a stronger thirst for the championship, because he has not won the championship yet.

But Duncan still prefers to stay with the Spurs, because he has feelings for the Spurs, and in this era of 2000, the wind of huddles has not yet begun, and superstars abound in one person and one city, Duncan still prefers to stay in San Antonio, depending on the sincerity of the Spurs and Popovich.

……

Popovich and Duncan's first meeting, both sides tacitly did not mention the offer and the amount of the offer, after a conversation, Popovich took out a bottle of red wine, each poured half a glass, and then, Popovich talked about Duncan's three seasons with the Spurs as if reminiscing about the past......

At the first meeting, Popovich played the emotional card, and Duncan, Duncan was a little moved, but he was dissuaded by his agent Charles Banks, Charles Banks hoped that Duncan could go to Los Angeles, the Lakers' maximum salary was on the one hand, and the reason on the other hand was that going to Los Angeles meant higher exposure.

Therefore, in the first meeting, Duncan did not mention a specific offer, Charles Banks preferred to sign directly with the Lakers, and Duncan was still hesitating.

The next day, Popovich bypassed Charles Banks and made a phone call to Duncan.

After the call, Popovich was both excited and a little disappointed......

On the other side, at the same time, Qiao Hai was also preparing to return to Vancouver, starting from Modu Airport to Vancouver International Airport, it was another more than ten hours of flight.

Qiao Hai was forced back, no way, the offseason has been going on for two weeks, the summer league has begun, but the Grizzlies' reinforcements are still ineffective, Stu Jackson once again offered Ben Wallace, and the response from the Pistons was - it can be traded, but the offer given by the Pistons is that Billups adds a first-round pick.

reported to Qiao Hai, Qiao Hai naturally didn't want to think about it, and directly refused.

There has been little progress so far in the introduction of the third point guard position, and Qiao Hai was anxious and decided to return to Vancouver and take charge of it himself.

The current Grizzlies roster with contracts or signings includes: point guards Mike Bibby and Billups, shooting guards Maddy, Ragabel, Michael Reed and Manuginobili, small forwards Sean Marion and Sammark, power forwards Raheem and Wang Zhizhi, and centers Rasiunestrovic and Jamal Magloyle.

There are a lot of people who cheat at the shooting guard position, as many as four, but Qiao Hai thinks that it is not a big problem, Sammack will be traded, there is no substitute for the small forward position, and Maddie and Ragabel, who can play the No. 3 position, can just make up for it.

Power forward Rahimga has enough rotation to make up for Sean Marion to play that position, and even when it's really bad, Jamal Magloyer can make up for it.

Point guard Mike Bibi Gabillups is also enough, and adding a veteran point guard is also to enrich the tactics, because Qiao Hai has a set of dual-control play.

In the center position, Nesterovic can play the starting liner, but Qiao Hai feels that his strength is still poor, and Magloyl also needs time to practice, and neither of them is enough to start.

Therefore, the Grizzlies also need to bring in two people, a veteran point guard, and a starter-level center, and other positions can be filled by signing some undrafted rookies or marginal players in the league, anyway, the rotation lineup can be supplemented.

……

On the day Qiao Hai returned to Vancouver, a big news broke out from San Antonio.

The Spurs officially announced that they officially reached a contract extension with Tim Duncan, with a contract amount of 100 million for 5 years and a maximum salary.

Qiao Hai, who had just gotten off the plane, rushed towards the Grizzlies headquarters, and generally sighed: In the end, the Spurs still left Duncan behind, and the legend of one person and one city must continue, and the inheritance cannot be broken, otherwise when one person and one city are blown in the future, it will only be able to blow Russell Westbrook......

In fact, this time, in order to be able to keep Duncan, the Spurs still bleed.

Originally, they were not ready to pay the maximum salary, but the Lakers paid the maximum salary, and the temptation of big cities, in order to win Duncan, the Spurs could only play the emotional card, and at the same time throw out the maximum salary, which left Duncan.

With Duncan retained, the Spurs' recruitment efforts are also coming to a standstill because they have no money and few chips......

However, for the Spurs, keeping Duncan is the best signing.

And for the Lakers, their recruitment can be regarded as a real stagnant......

Mitch Kupchak got angry in his office, Grant Hill didn't grab it, Duncan didn't grab it, the Lakers freed up a huge amount of salary space for nothing, but they didn't achieve anything, and they also lost Bruce Bowen, and the transfer market has been open for more than two weeks, and Mitch Kupchak has been questioned.

And another big man in this year's transfer market, the Magic, is also quite regrettable to turn their attention to some role players in the free market, Magic general manager John Gabriel and head coach Doug Rivers originally had a crazy plan, they prepared a huge salary space, planning to sign Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Tim Duncan to form the Big Three.

If successful, this should be the peak of the Big Three group ten years earlier than the Heat Big Three, and even more peak with the Big Three, Duncan and Maddie just finished their rookie contracts, Grant Hill is slightly older, and has only played in this league for six years and has just reached his peak.

The plan, as crazy as it was, was half shattered as soon as the transfer market opened.

First, Maddy signed an early contract extension with the Grizzlies, and then, the Lakers suddenly intervened in Grant Hill's signing, causing them to have to pay a maximum salary to sign Grant Hill, and finally, the Magic once again competed with the Lakers for Tim Duncan, but Tim Duncan chose to stay in San Antonio.

With only one of the Big Three, the Magic are obviously not satisfied, but compared to the Lakers, who have won nothing, they are in a good situation.

Doug Rivers has always wanted to make a career, and although he didn't get Maddie and Duncan, with a Grant Hill, Doug Rivers felt he had a chance to lead the team in the race for the best coach next season.