，

In Zhuang Fei's mind, O'Neal Jr. has always been the center he thinks is the most suitable for the Timberwolves, Zhuang Fei has always wanted to get him, but it backfired, although Xiao Ao has been sitting on the cold bench at the Trail Blazers, but the Trail Blazers have always regarded him as the future of the team and not for sale, as a rookie in 1996, this season is his contract year, but last year the Trail Blazers renewed his contract ahead of schedule, and the contract is still an amazing 4 years and 24 million, and the average annual salary is 6 million per year, A center bench who can only contribute 3 points and 3 rebounds per game can get such a high contract, this is not to say that the Trail Blazers management is stupid, nor does it mean that their boss has a lot of money and has nowhere to spend, it is true that the Trail Blazers boss is very rich, but this is only one of the aspects, the actual situation is that the Trail Blazers are really optimistic about the potential of O'Neal Jr., and have been preparing to wait for Sabonis to get him on the throne when he is old. And the team gives a lot of money, and he himself is young and can wait, but what makes the Trail Blazers uncomfortable is the playoffs last season, Xiao Ao played quite well against the Spurs, even better than the team's Indian center Sabonis, which also made Xiao Ao have a young arrogance, he decided to express his desire to the management, even if he really plays as a substitute, he can't only play 10 minutes per game, he needs a normal rotation qualification, But to Ao's disappointment, the management didn't seem to have the intention of doing so, and the management told him that Kevin Cato was just as much of a star in the team as he was, and that he hoped he could be Sabonis' replacement alongside Cato.

As soon as the management said this, he was completely angry, and it didn't matter if he played Sabonis as a substitute, but it was absolutely unbearable for him to compete with Kevin Cato for playing time, Kevin Cato was the No. 15 pick in 1997, and O'Neal Jr. was the No. 17 pick in 1996, both of whom were high-ranking potential stocks, and the top management of the Trail Blazers was of course more optimistic about O'Neal Jr., but they couldn't stand O'Neal Jr.'s frequent injuries, so they didn't plan to put all their eggs in one basket, So they are ready to cultivate two potential centers at the same time, which is why last season Xiao Ao and Cato each played an average of 10 minutes per game, Xiao Ao can contribute an average of 3 points and 3 rebounds per game, while Cato is 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds, and the data looks like Cato is slightly better. This is also a big reason why the Trail Blazers management is entangled, and now there is an urgent shortage of centers in the league, and these two potential centers they don't want to give up.

In the end, under the persuasion of the management of the Trail Blazers, Xiao Ao was ready to compromise, but something happened that made Xiao Ao even more angry, the management sent Cato away, in exchange for the German Schramf, this is a 3-time All-Star interior player, last season in the SuperSonics was able to contribute an average of 15 + 8 per game, with the arrival of Schramf, Xiao Ao is completely dead, so far Xiao Ao really had a showdown with the Trail Blazers, and the Trail Blazers were not prepared to give him too much playing time. When Schramf arrives, he will only play less time. The management of the Trailblazers has no way to do this, the team's owner Paul Allen doesn't care about money, only cares about results, and naturally needs powerful stars to become famous for results, so naturally they also squeezed a star of hope like Xiao Ao, so they have no choice, and now Xiao Ao wants to leave the team, for the stability of the team, Xiao Ao's temper naturally has to be dealt with, and Xiao Ao is naturally put on the shelf.

But what embarrassed the Trailblazers management is that in their opinion, O'Neal Jr., who has unlimited potential, has not attracted too much attention from the team, as far as they know, there have been a lot of injuries to Xiao Ao in recent years, and the data is too ugly, and more importantly, Xiao Ao's 4-year 24 million big contract. From next season, Xiao Ao's annual salary is 6 million per year, and now the annual salary of NBA players is generally not very high, Xiao Ao's 6 million can be ranked in the top three in some teams, taking the Timberwolves as an example, Garnett's annual salary is higher than him, and he is just a player who averages 3+3 per game, and now no one in the league dares to play such a gamble, which is too risky.

Although Xiao Ao is very hot now, but it is not unwanted, the Timberwolves have been seeking the possibility of trading Xiao Ao, for the Trail Blazers they really don't want to give Xiao Ao to their rivals, in their opinion, the Timberwolves have the strength to compete with them for the Western Conference championship, but now in the case of other teams are not interested, the Trail Blazers can only start trade negotiations with the Timberwolves. And the Trail Blazers' offer is Pierce, one of the core of the Timberwolves.

Use a 3+3 inside line to exchange for an outside star who averages 20 points per game, as long as it is a normal person, they will not do this, but the Trail Blazers have no way, because the Timberwolves can only make them look at the players Pierce and Garnett, the other Timberwolves Trail Blazers can't look down on at all, the Trail Blazers' organizational guard is the flying squirrel Stoudemire, the scoring guard is the former Timberwolves boss Ryddle, the small forward is Grant who can contribute an average of 12+8 per game, the big forward is Rasheed Wallace, and the center is Sabonis, There are also excellent swingmen like Jim Jackson and Walt Williams on the bench, and in their opinion, the Timberwolves' outside stars are not attractive at all, so the Timberwolves' hopefuls such as Nash, Jackson, and Mobley don't want to shake off, even if they get it, it's useless.

That's why the Trail Blazers made that brain-dead offer and let Pierce change it, because in the Timberwolves' lineup, they only need to use Pierce, and if they can really get Pierce to replace Grant, the Trail Blazers' strength will be even better.

In the Timberwolves' head coach's office, Zhuang Fei, McHale, D'Antoni and Green all got together to discuss the possibility of a trade. For Zhuang Fei, it is impossible for Pierce to let him give it to the Trail Blazers, but fortunately, now that the Trail Blazers have changed their offer, Pierce is not of much use to them now.

"The Pioneers are really rich, the depth of this lineup is simply maddening," Zhuang Fei said with a helpless sigh. Now the Trail Blazers don't even need Pierce, because they got Scott Pippen from the Rockets, and they also got Steve Smith, an All-Star shooting guard from the Hawks, and now the Trail Blazers are all All-Star-caliber players in the starters, and they also have All-Star-caliber players on the bench.

"Hehe, who made their boss one of the major shareholders of Microsoft, one of the richest people in the world" McHale also laughed dryly, and the configuration of the Pioneer was also very rebellious in his opinion. The Timberwolves are too shabby compared to them.

"Maybe the real champion of the West next season will be the Trail Blazers," D'Antoni said worriedly, after the Trail Blazers brought in Pippen and Smith, the whole of the United States thought that the Trail Blazers' lineup was perfect, and it was simply intolerable that such a lineup would not win the championship. Even in the history of the NBA, there has never been such an ungodly lineup.

"We don't have a single one on our team right now that they can eye?" Zhuang Fei asked McHale with a wry smile, the pioneer is too shocking.

"No, there's another one, Kevin Garnett, they still think it's okay, but Garnett's annual salary is too high for them to accept, and they still lack an All-Star level backup in the playmaking guard position," McHale said half-jokingly.

Hearing McHale's words, Zhuang Fei himself laughed, the Trail Blazers are now playing with a pile of stars, otherwise Xiao Ao would not have run away, the Trail Blazers have no room for him to exist at all, originally Zhuang Fei has three major goals in the center position this season, Xiao Ao, Big Ben, Wang Zhizhi, Xiao Ao and Big Ben are not zìyóu players, so it will be very troublesome to get it, Wang Zhizhi is a spare tire, it must be brought, Zhuang Fei has done it If you can't get Xiao Ao, you will go to the magic to get Big Ben, although Big Ben's active offensive ability is almost 0, But in order to fight the Lakers, he still has to do this, from the current point of view, the price paid to trade Xiao Ao is much cheaper than trading Big Ben, the Magic basically lack people in every position, Big Ben is a starter they value in the future, it is too difficult to trade him.

"Now we should think about how to get a center according to the requirements of the Trail Blazers, our team now only has Wang Zhizhi a center, and the Trail Blazers need a third center substitute" Zhuang Fei frowned, the Trail Blazers' requirements are actually very simple, two first-round picks plus a center substitute who can replace Xiao Ao, of course, this center cannot be too bad, it must be a center with NBA experience.

Although this request does not seem to be very difficult, Zhuang Fei is a little embarrassed, if Zhuang Fei really has such a center, the Timberwolves will not lose to the Spurs last season. Now the Timberwolves simply don't have such a player.

"Zhuang, it's not impossible, you can go to Pat Riley, they have a center on the team that fits the Trail Blazers' requirements very well," McHale said with a smile.

McHale's words made Zhuang Fei stunned, and then laughed

Miami Heat's general manager's office, Pat Riley has been in a good mood recently, although the team was blackened this year, but he successfully realized the last dream of his coaching career and entered the coaching staff of the United States Olympic Games.

"Zhuang, no problem at all, Coswell is not a necessary player for our team"

After Pat Riley hung up the phone, the stones in his heart finally fell a lot. Zhuang Fei proposed to him to send the team's backup center Cowswell to the Trail Blazers, and he got nothing but cash, although Cowswell is not a necessary member of the team, but he is also a very experienced and good center forward, and he can be regarded as a good rotation player in the average team.

With Pat Riley agreeing to the deal, Zhuang Fei immediately contacted the Trailblazers again, he was afraid of long nights and dreams. Just when Zhuang Fei was busy with his own trading, the NBA launched a storm of public opinion around him.