The Timberwolves have a slightly larger roster, and after finalizing Pekovic, there are 14 players on guaranteed contracts. In the new season, the competition within the Timberwolves team is bound to be more intense.

As the only core of the team and the team's signature figure, Zheng Ke is bound to appear at the starting small forward position, and his playing time is probably between 35 and 40 minutes, so his bench, McMiller, Corey Brewer and Omi Casby, will compete for the limited time left, and even more often, they will appear at the shooting guard and power forward positions.

The Timberwolves have a lot of rookie players on the rookie rookie team, and after summer league, McHale signed all of them in one go, including Ty Lawson, Marcus Thornton, Omi Casby, Ty Gibson and Nikola Pekovic.

Many people in the outside world say that McHale is crazy, as the team that won the championship last season, the Timberwolves only need to exchange for some experienced veterans to be able to ensure the strength to win the championship, and there is no need to sign so many rookies, and with the excellent performance of the Timberwolves last season, many veterans who have not tasted the championship have expressed interest in joining the Timberwolves. Among them is veteran Allen Iverson, who was unsatisfactory with the Pistons last season.

In other words, the Timberwolves simply don't have the energy to develop young players these days, they just need to protect the old fritters.

The problem is that McHale also wanted to trade, but couldn't find a suitable match, and Tyson Chandler, who originally had a crush on the Hornets, was taken by the Bobcats.

Now, a group of rookies simply can't catch the attention of other teams, and they want to get Randy Foye more than ever. It's McMiller who has made a name for himself in the Finals.

In mid-August, the Bulls made an offer to the Timberwolves that they were willing to send the team's backup center, Brad Miller, in the hope of getting the Timberwolves' Randy Foyer and Ty Gibson.

This left McHale a little tangled. Although Brad Miller is 33 years old, he was still able to contribute 11.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in 27 minutes per game in the Bulls last season, which is a good addition to the Timberwolves' bench lineup if used as a bench.

Brad Miller has one year left on his contract, and there's no denying that his coquettish small mid-range shot still makes him very popular in the NBA. For a player like that, McMiller would very much like to get. The only concern is his recovery from injury and how well he will remain in form at an advanced age.

The Bulls want to send Miller away because they already have young and good big men like Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray on their roster. They need an attacking striker in their second roster, and Randy Foye fits their bill perfectly.

McHale was reluctant to send Gibson away, and in the summer league, Gibson impressed. His passionate slam dunk. McHale's outstanding frontcourt rebounding awareness made McHale happy, and he felt that this might be the biggest gain of the Timberwolves in the draft this year, so when it came to Gibson, McHale was like a cat that was stepped on its tail.

Two days later, the Timberwolves and Bulls were officially announced.

The Timberwolves sent Randy Foye, Omi Cosby and next year's first-round pick to the Bulls' Brad Miller.

After the deal, the Timberwolves cleared up some of the team's redundant perimeter and acquired an experienced veteran. And, most crucially, the veteran has only one year left on his contract. If the performance is not good, the Timberwolves can free up a large amount of salary space next year.

When Zheng Ke heard the news, it was already noon the next day.

He was silent, for Randy Foye, after all, they were brothers who had fought bloodily together. Although Randy Foye struggled in the playoffs, he was a real man of quality and made a huge contribution to the team. McHale's quest for a trade was something he had known for a long time, and he had expected to go under the knife with Randy Foye, but when this moment came, Zheng Ke still had a lot of reluctance in his heart.

Billups summoned Lefou, Zheng Ke and Anderson to do a pre-departure practice for Randy Foye.

Foye was very open-minded, he smiled and said: "I'm used to it, this is the NBA, don't blame the coach." This year, we have selected a lot of young, promising rookies in the draft, and I have been prepared for a long time. Actually, the Bulls are not bad, and Chicago is a big city, so don't worry about me. ”

Zheng Ke didn't speak, and patted Feye's shoulder hard. In the Timberwolves team, he and Randy Foye are the best players, and Foye's departure made him feel the cruelty of the NBA for the first time, just like Zheng Ke sent Gomez goodbye back then.

After August, the Timberwolves announced the team training plan for the new season, and in the next month, that is, at the beginning of October, the Timberwolves will start the new season's training camp, and the preseason games are also included in the training plan.

Iverson approached Zheng Ke to join the Timberwolves, and he came to Minnesota for that.

The two met at a well-known local Minnesota café, the second time Zheng had seen Iverson since playing against the Pistons last season.

The two met and hugged, and after greeting each other, they sat down.

Looking at Zheng Ke, who is now in high spirits, Iverson sighed: "The first time I saw you, it was two years ago. ”

"Well, yes," Zheng Ke's mind also flew back to the days when he had just been reborn.

Iverson showed a playful smile and said, "Zheng, you were taught a lot by Cameron, I remember how many points Cameron scored in that game, 30 points or 40 points?" ”

"Haha, that's right." Zheng Ke smiled disappreciatively: "I just entered the alliance, but I met you fierce people, it's really unlucky." “

The two looked at each other and laughed twice at the same time.

Iverson shook his head and said in disbelief: "I didn't expect you to grow so fast, to be honest, I didn't expect you to grow to this point." "That's right," Zheng Ke generously admitted, teasing himself: "After all, no matter what aspect of talent, talent, and appearance at the beginning, I didn't have a superstar appearance." "Haha." Iverson laughed, "You and Yao Ming are really different. “

Zheng Ke smiled: "I'm slightly more handsome than him." "Haha." Ivor laughed even louder.

Zheng Ke laughed for a while, then his expression became serious, and said: "To be honest, Aaron, I know what you need, I'm just a stinky boy with better luck, if you are in my position, I think you will definitely do better." “

Zheng Ke's words came from the bottom of his heart, and Iverson's career was ill-fated. When the 76ers reached their peak, he met the Lakers "OK" combination who was also in their prime, unlike Zheng Ke, who rushed all the way to the finals and won the championship with almost no obstacles.

Iverson was still very happy to hear Zheng Ke say this, but after going through so much and spending such an unhappy season with the Pistons, he has seen a lot of things, and now he just wants to get a championship ring and prove himself again in his way. "You're great enough, why?" asked Zheng Ke, somewhat incomprehensibly.

Iverson smiled indifferently, and his lonely eyes reflected his tenacious and determined basketball path: "I want to win, I want to engrave my name on the O'Brien Cup, I want to wear the championship flag, I want to wear the championship ring that represents the highest honor of the player, is that not enough?" “

Zheng Ke was shocked by this series of "I think", he is different from Iverson, Iverson pursues the honor of a basketball player, while Zheng Ke pursues extreme strength, Zheng Ke wants to become the strongest basketball player of all time, and winning the championship These honors are all to prove his strength. Although he also likes these accolades, he would rather hear "how strong Zheng Ke is." "I know that now the Timberwolves are everything with you at the core, what you say is greater than everything, as long as you nod your head, Kevin McHale will naturally not object. You're the Emperor of Minnesota now, like James in Cleveland, like when I was in Philadelphia. Iverson said.

Did you bring in Iverson?

If it were Glenn Taylor, the owner of the Timberwolves, I'm afraid he would nod vigorously, after all, Iverson means box office, popularity, and dollars. If it's McHale, I'm afraid he'll think it through, Iverson's personality is too independent, does his style of play match the Timberwolves? How much more form does he have?

And now Iverson wants Zheng Ke to make a statement, objectively speaking, the Timberwolves are not short of outside players, but from the bottom of his heart, Zheng Ke wants Iverson to join, not sympathy, but Zheng Ke wants to learn some offensive skills from Iverson.

Since entering the league, Zheng Ke has been groping on his own and developing offensive skills by himself. Although Billups has excellent offensive ability, it is not suitable for Zheng Ke, who learned more from Billups to control the rhythm. And how can other players, offensive means compare to Iverson?

He thought for a long time, and finally, he nodded his head heavily.

"I think we can try it together" (to be continued......)