According to the eyes of future generations, this summer is actually a big year for the free market, and first two MVP-level giants entered the market, Huaben and Kobe.

Compared with the two-star MVP Hua Ben, Kobe Bryant is a little smaller, he averaged 24 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists last season, shooting 43.8%, but he is young and full of potential, so no matter where he chooses in the end, he will definitely get a maximum salary contract, of course, the Lakers opened up the free market to give him a seven-year contract close to 140 million.

As soon as Kobe's contract came out, those who shouted that Huaben took more money immediately shut up, and the MVP, who averaged 34.2 points, 14.8 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game in the playoffs, took as much money as Kobe, and the year was even less, what else is there to say?

What can be said is that those who criticize Kobe Bryant have one more reason: greed for money. The reporters who complained that Huaben's asking price was too high changed their tone one after another, and collectively aimed their guns at Peter Pan, with a very unified voice: "Do you have the face to sign this contract?" Double MVP + Best Defensive Player only got 86 million in four years! ”

Jordan almost cried when he heard this kind of remark: "Don't keep your eyes on money, okay?" Our equipment is completely according to Big Ben's house, and in order to sign him, our team doesn't even want to do anything! ”

Kenyon, who was once beaten by Warben in the second round of the playoffs. Martin also became a free agent, and he was named to the All-Star team last season, averaging 16.7 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.26 blocks per game. In order to equip Melon Anthony with a left-hand thigh, the Nuggets have enough salary space to trade him from the Nets on a sign-and-trade basis with three future first-round picks, and the contract will be seven years and 95 million — if it weren't for the playoff blowing up by Warben, he could have been a little more expensive.

Of course, we can't talk about the free market in 2004 without mentioning a guard that no one values now, Steve Brown. Nash! The Suns, who averaged 14.5 points and 8.8 assists per game last season, are still unknown at this time, and Cuban, who is willing to give Warben 25 million annual salary, is unwilling to give the future MVP 10 million contract, causing Nash to return to the Suns angrily, and the contract is only 5 years and 65 million US dollars.

Huaben knows that it is a good thing to return to the Suns Nash this time, the tree is dead, the person is alive, this old saying has been fulfilled in Nash, there are two good friends waiting for him in Phoenix, Antonio and Stoudemire Jr., when Nash's engine arrives, the Suns can take off, and then the managers will find out what kind of big fish they let go of this summer.

In addition to this, there is Kunting, the future all-round warrior. Richardson, the second center Dampier who has been repeatedly beaten by Yao Ming in the future, the Argentine demon knife Ginobili, the super chop Crawford, the top defensive Camby, and the outside defensive genius Bruce. Uncle Bowen Bao, and Divac, who is already old and can't run.

Hua Ben didn't care what contracts these people had signed, and all he had to do now was go to Chicago to participate in the Olympic training camp.

It's no wonder that the U.S. men's basketball team suffered a humiliating defeat this summer, as the team didn't start training together until mid-July, and the men's basketball team at the Athens Olympics in mid-August. Of course, the same was true of the U.S. team in the past, but at that time the team was almost an all-star team, what about this year's Olympics? Of course, there are all-stars, three, Warben, Duncan, Iverson, and the others are either former All-Stars or future All-Stars who are rookies at this time, so it's no wonder that they are prepared not to lose.

For the specific list of the U.S. men's basketball team at the Athens Olympics, Hua Ben has long forgotten, he just remembered that this team will encounter Waterloo, and then there was a shame in the 08 Yenjing Olympics NBA elite. Originally, since entering 04, the United States has been noisy to form a luxury lineup to Athens to strengthen the American national prestige, Hua Ben is quite happy, he estimates that according to this momentum, how can he choose a starter from the all-star lineup, right? He remembered Maddie, Ray. Allen, Carter, Iverson, Kidd, O'Neal and these fierce generals seem to be all there.

As a result, it was indeed there, Hua Ben came a little late this time, and as soon as he pushed open the door of the training hall, Carter and Pierce squeezed him into the corner of the wall, pushing and shoving, and began to ask: "Ben, why did you go to that little place in Charlotte?" Damn, how good is it to work on my side? Rest assured, there is a lot of money to take. ”

Garnett came up to help Hua Ben and said two words: "Don't mention these things, the contract has been signed, come on, come on, hurry up and play cards, damn there is just a shortage of people, Ben, you are for Duncan, he can't play cards, it's really boring." ”

The Wolves are happy, O'Neal traveled east to Miami, and Huaben stayed in the East and went to a bad team, so he has a good chance to win the championship next season. Without Garnett in the West, Duncan is left, and the number of wins and losses between the two is five or five, and O'Neal and Wabben in the East will be battling, no matter who wins in the end, they will definitely be exhausted, and he will just wait to reap the benefits of the fisherman.

The two gangs under the basket were practicing, and as soon as Huaben sat down, Maddie ran over in a rage and yelled from afar: "Where's my lamb chop burger?" Who ate who ate it? Bastard! At this time, the Magic and the Rockets hadn't made a trade, and Maddy didn't know he was going to Houston.

On the court, Wade, James, Anthony and a bunch of rookies were playing, Brown scolded vigorously at the top of his throat, scolding this and that, and a group of players were sprayed by him. Seeing Huaben, Maddie leaned in and said, "It's not easy for you, it's terrible to play under such a person, right?" ”

Hua Ben smiled happily: "Then you need to say? But after a long time, you will get used to it, by the way, Tracy, why are so many people participating in the Olympics this year? Kevin (Garnett), aren't you and Vince (Carter) planning to get married? Could it be that the wedding date was postponed for the Olympics? Okay, this patriotic fist heart"

"What are you kidding? We're here to spar, and the guys on the court are going to play. Garnett grabbed a handful of cards and said, "Oh, yes, Ben, you can't play cards, you have to go to training, you're going to compete, right?" ”

Hua Ben's happy mood suddenly flew, what, these people are just sparring? He was still wondering just now, such a strong squad is still suffering Waterloo in Athens, how strong Argentina must be this year. Eventually, with Billups' help, he found out who the athletes were competing this year.

According to the regulations, there are a total of 12 people in the Olympics, including the United States team, guards: Iverson, Marbury, Wade, Billups; Forwards: Anthony, James, Odom, Jefferson; Center: Duncan, Stoudemire, Okafor, Warben, the head coach is the old coach Brown.

The lineup that came to sparring was much more luxurious than the participating lineup, the playmaking guard was Kidd, the scoring guard was Carter, the small forward was Maddie, the power forward Garnett, the center was McDyce (if he was not injured, the achievement was not low Wolf King Shifo, who was not injured at this time), and there were Pierce, Francis, Butler and others sitting on the bench.

said that it was a sparring partner, and these stars were simply here for vacation, and they were yin and yang against Brown's command, and no one took it seriously. The direct consequence of this is that the participating teams don't take it seriously, and they all day long together to play cards and games, Butler's ball skills are nothing among these people, but they are masters in playing games, Anthony and Wade follow his ass every day, ask this and ask that, if people who don't know the truth think they are studying basketball tactics, they will really be moved by this enthusiasm.

At the beginning, Brown also took care of it, but later it was seen that he couldn't manage it at all, Iverson, Marbury, and Garnett were more rebellious than the other, and it was good to get together and not fight. In fact, there are really conflicts in this group, such as Anthony and Wabben have a bad relationship, and Maddie and Carter used to have a bit of a fight, although they are cousins, they don't talk much.

There are a lot of reporters, but they can't enter the training camp, and the American Basketball Association has good intentions, for fear that the reporters will disturb the players' training. But they don't understand the situation, if the reporter comes in, the players are still afraid of the public opinion honest joint practice, now the reporter can't come in, forty minutes a day to practice together, play cards when they should play, play games when they should play games, Maddie likes to sleep around with a mattress, Kidd, Marbury and Odom go around to hook up with beautiful women, all day as if they have taken aphrodisiacs.

There aren't many people who really train seriously, Duncan, Waben, Billups, James, Okafor, and they can form a starting lineup if they get together.

Okafor has always held a grudge against the Charlotte Bobcats who fooled him, and this resentment extends to Hua himself. Originally, the guy planned to deduct a few of Huaben's anger, but he was hooded by Huaben several times, but he often encountered Yan Buckles, and finally the honest Duncan couldn't stand it, and came up to comfort Okafor, so that he understood that what he wanted to teach was the double MVP and the greatest undrafted player in NBA history.

Later, Okafor changed as if, trained hard, played seriously, and won word of mouth in the star group with his performance, wanting to make the Bobcats uniform team behind Huaben regret it. Regret a bird, Hua Ben knows that this kid is not bad, but he is a glass man, especially after two seasons.

Carter was happy, of course he didn't know Okafor's glass physique, he only saw a big man with top talent and ability coming under his hands, and this kid's interior defense is very good, and it seems that the championship will fall next season.

In August, the Olympic team began to board the plane to Athens.

After the sparring was over, Garnett suddenly scattered, polite such as Carter also said 'good-bye', ran directly without good manners, of course, before leaving, they would leave a sentence: "Remember to take the gold medal back, we haven't lost the gold medal since 92." ”

Hua Ben laughed, there is no gold medal, one bronze medal, wait to be scolded, let you be timid and lazy and not fight for the country.

The Athens Olympics opened on August 13, and the first game of the men's basketball team was played on August 15, with China facing Spain in Group A, and the United States team playing the first game on August 16, and they were placed in Group B, and the first game was against the European powerhouse Lithuania.

Before going to Athens, the U.S. men's basketball team will fly to Turin, Italy, where two teams will be waiting for them, one is Italy and the other is Germany, and after these two warm-up games, they will go to Athens, the capital of Greece, where they will play a warm-up game against Greece.

Under the watchful eye of fans around the world, the players of the U.S. men's basketball team laughed and stepped on the plane to Europe, one by one, as if the Olympic gold medal was within reach. In this regard, Hua Ben expressed his attitude at the press conference of the final farewell to local reporters:

"I've been studying the history of China in the East lately, and forty years ago, one of their great generals said: 'From this day on, the history of European and American powers being able to occupy our country with a few cannons across the coast is gone'. I would say that from today onwards, the idea that we can take a team from the NBA and take away the World Championship is gone. ”

(To be continued)