Trail Blazers manager Pritchard immediately found Bobcats manager Rod Higgins after the first round of the draft, smiling, looking like the face of the deputy annihilator, and said politely in a negotiating tone: "Rod, the Trail Blazers and Bobcats are now old friends." We have a small request, can we trade Moon for DeAndre Jordan and then make that trade? ”

The trade naturally refers to Durant, Roy Hibbert exchanging Mayo and Moon. No matter how stupid the boss is, he knows that DeAndre Jordan is worth more than Moon. Although DeAndre did not perform well in training camp and fell from the lotto zone to 29th. But his physical fitness is very good, and he still has the potential to develop.

Higgins rejected the offer and smiled, "No." If you want to trade, you have to take out the equivalent chips in exchange. DeAndre tried out with the Bobcats and was a defensive interior monster, no worse than Hibbert. Also, Mayo was about as famous as James in high school and will definitely be an All-Star in the future. If you feel that the trade is at a loss, then cancel it. Bobcats have Wallace at small forward, and we need more shooting guards......"

"No, this can't be canceled! I just proposed, let's change it the way it was originally planned. Pritchard exclaimed.

It doesn't matter if the Bobcats don't want Durant, but the Trail Blazers have to trade Durant out of the team, and if the trade with the Bobcats is canceled, Durant can only trade back Jefferson from the Nets at most. Neither in terms of influence nor prospects, Jefferson can't compare to Mayo. Mayo was seen as the next LeBron James before he went to college.

The Trail Blazers had to reluctantly complete the deal for Mayo. Durant is here, and the Bobcats have got another piece of the championship puzzle!

The Bobcats and Trail Blazers completed a trade in the draft, bringing the total number of players to 18.

Center forwards: Marc Gasol, Marcin Gortat, DeAndre Jordan, Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert.

Power forwards: Chuck Hayes, Andrea Bagnani, Karl Landry.

Small forwards: Matt Barnes, Gerald Wallace, Kevin Durant.

Shooting guards: Coronna Azubuuk, Van Weaver, Rudy Fernandez, Anthony Morrow.

Point guards: Rajon Rondo, Raymond Felton, George Hill.

And Calderon is still very likely to stay with the Bobcats, who will have to make a reduction before the season begins.

Fortunately, the Bobcats' most position is the interior, and they have long taken a fancy to the scarcity of interior players in the league. Whenever a team comes to him, Brook Lopez is not for sale, and everyone else can choose to trade.

The most aggressive are the Warriors, who were extremely weak on the inside last season. At the moment, they are preparing to sign Biedrins back with a high salary, and even that is not enough, the Warriors still don't have a qualified backup center inside. Yi Jianlian played as a center forward in many games last season, so how can he be undefeated? This season, they traded their first-round pick to the Bobcats and regretted it to the point of liver pain.

In the second round of the draft, the Warriors selected 211cm Serbian center Pekovic. This is already the last big man available for them to choose from. Prior to the draft, many draft sites considered Pekovic a top-10 rookie, but the pick dropped quite a bit because of his contract issues with Panasin Nakos in Greece. Pekovic won't be able to land in the NBA next season unless he buys out his contract, and the Warriors will have to face a situation without an interior lineup.

At this time, the Bobcats, who need to be reduced and have a bunch of interior players, are undoubtedly the best trade targets. The Warriors still wanted to trade Richardson, but Higgins vetoed it. What he's trying to do is build around Hayes and try to find players who shoot well and don't need to attack with the ball. Higgins wants draft picks, and the Warriors are adamant not to send them away, and they don't want to be on the Bobcats anymore.

Teams such as the Magic, Pistons, Nets, Heat, and Wizards have also contacted the Bobcats to request a trade. They all saw the Bobcat's bloated inside and hoped they could get a tall inside from the Bobcat by lowering their stacks. Gortat and Hibbert are the most intriguing, and Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan have also been asked for a price.

Jordan and Higgins almost had a blast. It's like a capitalist who has a monopoly on a certain product, and they have time to sit on the ground and exploit the "toiling masses" who don't have an inside line!

As for how to trade, Hayes has no good advice, he just hopes that the Bobcats management can be exchanged for two strong veterans to increase the possibility of winning the championship. In fact, the current lineup, even if there are no veterans, Hayes is confident that he can kill other teams and win the championship. His individual offensive ability is already very strong, and as long as there are pitchers around him, it is enough for other teams.

Higgins and Jordan will do the trade, and Hayes will be notified when there is a trade plan. Hayes has some comments.

After the draft, Hayes flew to Las Vegas with D'Antoni, who served as an assistant coach for the Dream 8, to join the national team.

The U.S. Basketball Association originally hoped to observe the status of the 33 candidates through a short-term training camp at the end of this month, and then decide on the national team roster, but considering the tight time to prepare for the Olympics, the U.S. Basketball Association decided to determine the Olympic squad in advance, and the team will conduct its first training camp at the end of this month. Next month, the Dream 8 team will also have a six-day training camp and a warm-up match against the Canadian team before embarking on their Olympic journey.

Since winning gold at the Sydney Olympics, the U.S. men's basketball team has not been able to reach the podium at international competitions, winning only one bronze medal at the Athens Olympics four years ago. It was also the first defeat for the United States since sending NBA players to the Olympics in 1992.

"Old K" coach Mike Schuseski said he believes the team is still the best in the world, although the players still need to adapt to some international rules. Therefore, they have only one goal for this Olympic Games: to win!

At last year's Men's Basketball Championship of the Americas and Olympic Qualifiers, the U.S. team led by Kobe Bryant, James, Anthony, Kidd and Howard won the championship with a complete victory record and won the right to participate in the Olympic Games.

Coach "Old K" wants to bring the veteran Kidd with him.

Kidd is yet to lose a single game in 44 games in the United States, and although he was disappointed after moving to the Mavericks, he is considered to be the best hope for the U.S. team to regain the gold medal, and even above Kobe, James Jr. and Anthony. His ability has long been recognized, he knows how to pinch the team, how to organize the whole team's attack, and Kidd is able to adapt to the rules and rhythm of FIBA. If the U.S. team wants to regain the gold medal, the first thing is to need team chemistry, which is what Kidd is best at, and it proves that he is important. Looking back at the 2002 and 2006 World Championships and the 2004 Athens Olympics, the team's poor coordination was the biggest crux of the failure.

However, due to a knee injury in the playoffs, Kidd decided to recuperate at home and forgo the Olympics for health reasons. Pistons guard Billups wanted to spend time with his family during the holidays, but the national team was short of personnel, so he stepped up and was selected in place of Kidd.

Hayes's impression that the "little bully" Stoudamire, who should be out of action due to injury, also came alive. Also unexpectedly in the national team was Ray Allen. In Hayes's previous life, Ray Allen was very tired because he won the championship with the Celtics, and he politely declined the national team invitation along with Garnett and Pierce.

But now, the Celtics have been swept by the Magic in the first round of the playoffs. Ray Allen held back his strength and wanted to vent to the Olympics. Because of the appearance of these two, Jazz Boozer and the Bucks' Reed were not selected for the national team.

The person Hayes replaces is probably the Pistons' Prince. With Hayes as an all-around showman, the Dream 8 team doesn't need Prince, who is good at defense.

Dream Eight assembled in Las Vegas and began his first training camp. On the first day, all the players changed into new jerseys and had a two-hour training session.

Not only the lineup has changed, but even the jersey numbers have changed significantly from the qualifiers. James will be swapped from No. 9 to No. 6, while Wade will be swapped from No. 6 to No. 9. The Olympics can only wear the number 4-15 jersey, Hayes chose the number 4, and Anthony changed the number 8 to the number 15.

As soon as Hayes reported for duty, Coach K gave him an important task and appointed him as the captain along with Kobe Bryant and James.

The national team is star-studded, Kobe Bryant is a veteran in the team, James and Hayes have the strongest personal ability, and Coach K thinks this is a more reasonable arrangement.

The first group confrontation. Hayes, James, Billups, Wade, Howard, Ray Allen were placed on the first team, wearing red vests; Paul, Kobe, Anthony, Bosh, Stoudeyer, Deron Williams split into a group wearing blue vests. The two sides played a practice match that was not very intense.

As a result, when the red team used Wade as a substitute, they won by a dominant margin. Several coaches were surprised.

The red team's tactic is that James can break through with the ball when he has the opportunity, Hayes is the core on the inside, and the one-on-one attack success rate is extremely high, and Billups and Ray Allen can also hit three-pointers when they pass out. Although the basketball team is also a group of stars, they play separately and only rely on individual ability.

However, this is only the first day, and the starting lineup is not yet confirmed. The Dream 8 team only has 12 people and cannot play a high-intensity confrontation. In a few days, after the sparring lineup is selected, they will start the real training camp.

"Chuck, you're making incredible progress. This time the inside line of the Olympics depends on you to grab points. After training, Bryant and Hayes chatted and walked side by side to the lounge.

"I'm the inside line, and the outside line still needs you." Hayes said.

"I'm going to focus on defense this time, I don't have good fingers, I can't shoot well. We can't afford to lose this tournament again. Bryant smiled wryly. It was his first time at the Olympics and he wanted a gold medal quickly.

Hayes remembers that Kobe Bryant was really defense-oriented at the Olympics. But it doesn't matter, there are too many stars in this team. James, Anthony, and Wade are not points grabbers, and Hayes only trained once, and he felt very cool. As long as you attract the defense and get the ball out of the line, your teammates will be able to throw the ball in. Although Kidd didn't come, the U.S. team was invincible this time.

"How can we lose when we get together? Our goal should be to win big games and be like the Dream Team. In the future, when someone mentions the strongest American team, they can also think of us. Hayes exclaimed.

"That's right! I agree with you. Coach K happened to pass by Hayes and smiled.

Wade and Anthony behind them also responded.

Hayes's casual words became the goal of the Dream 8 team to compete in the Olympic Games.

(To be continued)