When the Pelicans brought in Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, their task of recruiting was much easier, and in the new season, they can start at least four players, center Al Jefferson, power forward Paul Millsap, small forward Li Feng, and point guard Rose.

Millsap and Jefferson occupy a lot of salary space for the Pelicans, who now have a mid-level exception and other provisions, but the salary cap is not enough to sign another big-name shooting guard, and their goals have changed.

Players of the caliber of Kevin Martin and Andre Iguodala are incapable of being signed by the Pelicans, and the Pelicans are targeting Tony Allen.

Tony Allen's template before entering the league was Dwyane Wade, but now he is a defensive stalwart, and I don't know what he thinks about the Celtics' positioning for him back then.

After leaving the Celtics, Tony Allen made a name for himself with the Grizzlies and also showed some offensive ability, not exactly a pure defensive player.

Tony Allen is only 6-foot-4 tall, similar to Wade-type players, strong and fast, loves to attack the basket, and is ferocious and persistent. He can play and defend 1, 2, and 3 positions on the court, and is the team's best backcourt single defender.

At the same time, he is a player with a lot of free throw weight. Compared with his template Wade, Toney's offense is as concise, there is no more fancy ball control, the pursuit of attacking the basket body collision, as the outside projection becomes more and more accurate, Tony Allen has become a more complete offensive weapon.

Of course, the strongest is his defense, the NBA's superstars are all grandson monkeys with boundless mana on the colorful clouds, but the top defenders can't produce one or two bundles of fairy ropes for three or five years, even if Tony Allen is one.

Over the years, only Tony Allen seems to have been able to make Kobe, Wade and Durant and other top scorers on the outside deflated, and this unattractive former Boston outside iron gate, in the game against the Thunder, Durant and even Wei Shao's close service are amazing.

The Pelicans are also very confident in Rose. Instead of bringing in a scoring guard, it's a defensive player like Tony Allen.

The team already has enough stars, and what is needed now is the puzzle pieces, and although Althornton and Li Feng have traded together, Althornton can't defend point guards and swing men who are too fast.

The Pelicans offered Tony Allen a four-year, $24 million contract, but the Memphis Grizzlies rejected the Pelicans' poaching, and they opened four years for $28 million and successfully kept Tony Allen.

On July 23, according to Fox Sports, the Memphis Grizzlies officially completed a contract extension with guard Tony Allen. Tony Allen was the highest-voted defender in the Defensive Player of the Year poll for the second year in a row.

"Tony's energy, hard work and passion. Memphis has always been associated with the city, both on and off the court. ”

Grizzlies CEO Jason Lewen said in a statement, "We're extremely excited to be able to keep Tony and his defensive intensity with the Grizzlies. ”

According to NBA regulations, the Grizzlies did not release the details of Tony Allen's contract extension in the statement. However, it has been reported in the media that the Grizzlies signed a new four-year contract with a total amount of about $28 million, which is higher than the contract offered by the Pelicans.

Tony Allen is 31 years old and the No. 25 rookie in the first round in 2004. Earlier in his career, he played for the Celtics, where he won the 2008 championship. In 2010, Tony Allen became a free agent, joined the Memphis Grizzlies for 3 years and 9.45 million, and soon became a main player in the backcourt. Known for his excellent defense.

Tony Allen was named to the league's second team in 2010-11 and went one step further in 2011-12 and 2012-13 when he was named to the first team. In the voting for the best defensive player in those two years, Tony Allen ranked 6th and 5th, respectively. He is also the highest-ranked of defenders.

In the 2012-13 season, Tony Allen made 79 regular season appearances, all starts. He averaged 8.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 26.7 minutes per game, including a career-high in rebounds. In the playoffs, Tony Allen was even better, averaging 10.3 points per game, 6.1 rebounds and 2.0 steals.

When Tony Allen stayed behind the Grizzlies, many media outlets that were unhappy with the Pelicans because of red eyes or other reasons finally opened fire, including the New York media group that once supported Li Feng.

"Pelicans scoring guard may be a rookie in the new season, and Li Feng will continue to play an all-round role last year after Rose's injury"

That's the headline of the New York Times.

"The Pelicans are really lucky this year, not only got Li Feng, but also got two powerful inside, but their reinforcements are limited to the frontcourt, and there are only two Derrick Rose and rookie Oladipo in the backcourt so far, Rose's physical health is still worth testing, last season the New York Knicks were absent because of Dragic and Rose, Livingston and Belineri and J.R. Smith had to start often, and finally Tyberdou simply let Li Feng score and organize a shoulder pick, Li Feng completed the task perfectly, which is a myth! However, the Pelicans have enough salary space, but they are the same as the Knicks, or even worse than the Knicks, if the Pelicans can't bring in enough outside players in the future, we can expect Victor Oladipo to be the best rookie next season! ”

The Washington Post also wrote:

"Chinese President Liu is very beautiful and skillful, but this is the NBA, she has not been able to adapt to this circle in China for a few years, a general manager can not get the goal she wants when there is enough salary space, even if the Pelicans have Li Feng, maybe because of the accident of the management, the championship is not so easy, Li Feng paid too much in the Knicks last season......"

In addition to the media, Michael Jordan, the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, was not willing to be lonely and came out to shoot:

"The Pelicans are a young team, younger than the Bobcats, young teams always have to allow them to fail, because failure has a chance to grow, Tony's choice is normal, compared to Al, he is much wiser, next to Li Feng, there may be a championship, but not necessarily personal achievements!"

Jordan came out and pretended to be too hateful, and his words were not right at all.

"Scottie can be in the Hall of Fame without the Bulls!"

Charles Barkley retorted directly.

"Michael is worse than Isaiah as a general manager, and he is embarrassed to talk about others?"

Gary Payton scoffed as well.

And at this time, Li Feng, the star of the Pelicans, came out and responded:

"Tony has his own choices, this is his freedom, not to mention the rest, next season, we will let Michael know that his failure does not mean that others will fail!"

Al Jefferson also came out to support the team:

"I'm very grateful for the contract that the Bobcats gave me at the time, and I want to say that the Pelicans were the better option, otherwise I wouldn't be here!"

……

The battle continued, but the Pelicans' roster problems remained, and after the introduction of Jefferson and Millsap, their recruitment came to a standstill, and after Tony Allen stayed, another target of the Knicks was also cut off.

Another target for the Knicks is Corebrewer, a former MOP who returned to the Timberwolves after a multi-team move.

The Pelicans gave 24 million for 4 years, while Brewer signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves for 15 million for 3 years.

Although there is a factor that Brewer was selected by the Timberwolves in the first round of No. 7, it has to be said that the Pelicans have suffered a real setback this time.

Brewer's primary strategy in the NBA was defense, but last season he showed off his athletic talent with the Nuggets' track team, averaging a career-high 12.1 points per game, shooting three-pointers back to college levels, and making five or more steals in five games.

"I'm so grateful to the Pelicans, I have a home in Minnesota, I chose to come back to the Timberwolves for family reasons and other reasons, the Pelicans are a good team, and I hope they get better!"

Probably unwilling to get caught up in public opinion from the outside world, Cory Brewer came out to clarify, denying that he didn't like the Pelicans, because the Houston Chronicle put forward the rumor at this time that "Brewer is probably liked by other teams except the Pelicans".

"Haha, rookie runs the rookie team, this is the consequence, if Tony Allen stays and says that there is a reason, this time the Pelicans started a higher contract, but they were targeted by players with lower contracts, Li Feng's arrival did not increase the attraction of the Pelicans, where are the players who hug their thighs?"

Michael Jordan is starting to come out again.

may not get Li Feng and Jefferson, Jordan is eyeing the Pelicans, and of course, the reason is that Charlotte Bobcats used to be in New Orleans, and the Bobcats are planning to return to the Pelicans' former team name, the Hornets, although the two teams are in the East and West respectively, but they are always natural enemies.

Also, after Paul left, the Pelicans were the same league bottom team as the Bobcats, but now they actually got Li Feng, although the Pelicans provided Anthony Davis and Noll, but the Bobcats are also willing to send Kemba Walker and so on, and even the conditions are more lucrative, and now Jordan has jumped out, and there is a reason to breathe a sigh of relief.

In addition to Jordan, well-known basketball commentator George Wood also commented:

"Anyway, the new season is coming, the Pelicans currently only have Li Feng, Rose, Oladipo, Henson, Jefferson, Millsap, Thornton, the inside still needs a substitute, even if Oladipo starts on the outside, more powerful players are needed, after the setback of Tony Allen and Cory Brewer, the Knicks have fewer and fewer options, will the Pelicans bring in a point guard and then use Rose to play point guard, hey, a question suddenly came to mind, the Pelicans' head coach has not yet been decided, Monty Williams has been cut by the team, and if the new coach plays Rose as a shooting guard, please give me a thumbs up! (To be continued......)