Although psychologically shocked by Min Congda's boldness and fearlessness, Krakow, as a seasoned investor, calmed down, was not swayed by his emotions, and rashly signed a VAM agreement with Min Congda.

He said he'll have to look at how the Clippers do after that to determine if he's willing to make the investment.

Of course, Min Congda was not very happy, he thought that it was safer for the Clippers to enter the Western Finals, and the Thunder was not the opponent of the Clippers.

But if it makes it to the Western Conference finals, what if Krakow wants to see the Clippers' performance again? Do you want the Clippers to make it to the Finals?

This is an outcome that Min Congda does not want to see.

Enter the West to decide, sign the agreement, get the money, and then the Clippers are eliminated smoothly and go home to fish, this is the ideal script in Min Congda's heart.

It's a pity that investors don't want to follow Min Congda's script, they have to "see is believing" and see the real potential of the Clippers in the NBA.

After the meeting, Shelly Sterling asked Min Congda privately: "Are you so confident in the Clippers' record?" ”

Min Congda thought to himself, where did I get the confidence, it would be good to be able to go to the west, and said: "Of course, of course I have confidence!" ”

Shelly said: "If you are so confident, then I am also confident to participate in this bet with you." ”

Since it is necessary to bet, it is natural that the participation and consent of the Clippers owner is indispensable.

Shelly's trust is very important to Min Congda.

If Xie Li refuses to enter the game, he alone will not be able to do this.

Min Congda was very grateful for the old lady's trust, but there was a trace of shame in his heart.

"I'm sorry, old lady, if you trust me, the future will be bankrupt. But you're also in your eighties, you have enough wealth, and the team is bankrupt, and you still have a good life, don't blame me. ”

Min Congda comforted himself.

The next day, the semifinals between the Clippers and the Thunder will begin.

In the east and west, the other groups of semi-finals have also been released.

Not surprisingly, the Lakers passed the first round smoothly and avenged the Dallas Mavericks 4-2.

After the Mavericks experienced last year's glory, this year without Chandler, Nowitzki is a year older, and he no longer has the style of last year's sweep of the Lakers.

However, they still won two games, and the Lakers were not able to get through it easily with the Mavericks.

In fact, in terms of lineup, the Lakers are extremely strong, and at the trade deadline, the Lakers also traded small forward Gerald Wallace from the Trail Blazers.

The lineup of the Purple and Gold Army can be said to be luxurious to a certain extent.

Paul, Kobe, Gerald Wallace, Tzu Shiping, Kenyon Martin, Grant Hill, Billups, Bynum, Michael Reed......

In terms of book strength alone, the Lakers' lineup is simply an All-Star.

It's just that in terms of tactical matching, after a regular season, the chemistry has not reached the best state.

However, with Phil Jackson's pinching, the star-studded legion continued to move forward towards the championship.

In the semifinals, they will face the young Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies played seven games against the Denver Nuggets in the first round, defeating them 4-3 to qualify for the semifinals.

The young duo of Griffin Conley-Jordan Jr. has shown great potential, and their matchup with the Lakers has also attracted a lot of attention.

In the East, the script for the semifinals is exactly the same as last year, and the Cavaliers, who are the No. 1 team in the East, meet their old rivals, the Boston Celtics.

Last year, the Cavaliers successfully crossed the demons of the Big Three in the semifinals, and after having Irving this year, they are naturally more afraid of the Green Shirts, which are a year older.

The Heat, who are third in the West, were once again opportunistic and met the Bulls in the semifinals.

It seems that the Heat are addicted to playing the Bulls, because in terms of lineup, the Heat are indeed more restrained by the Bulls.

The only strong point of the Bulls is Derrick Rose, but it is really difficult for Rose to take advantage of Wade.

Moreover, in the first round, when the Bulls faced the 76ers, Rose was also injured, and the semifinals will undoubtedly be affected by injuries.

The Bulls, who rely heavily on Ross for offense, will obviously be much less combative.

It's just that the Heat can opportunistically pass the Bulls, can they beat the Cavaliers in the Eastern Finals?

The Heat lost Battier and got Odom, and the effect was mixed.

The problem is that Battier went to the Knights, which is very troublesome.

After the first round, the Cavaliers have the highest odds to win the championship.

They don't have as many stars as the Lakers, but the team has a group of players who fully meet James' needs, and the Cavaliers are significantly stronger than last year.

The semi-finals have not yet started, and many fans have begun to imagine that the long-awaited 23vs24 is likely to arrive this season.

Relatively speaking, the Clippers have become the more low-key of several teams.

Because they exposed a lot of problems in the first round against Spurs.

The first is that they are young and inexperienced, and although they have performed amazingly in the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, the core members of the Clippers are still very young.

Curry, Harden is a third-year, George is a sophomore, Leonard and Butler are all rookies.

Gasol Jr. is only in his fourth NBA season, and Randolph is just 30 years old.

There is only one true veteran in the team, Derek Fisher.

Their average age is only 24.7 years old, which is not even 25 years old.

In that sense, the Clippers are too young.

In the past, the average age of those teams that won the championship was generally older, the average age of winning the championship was 28 years old, and in recent years, many veteran teams have won the championship.

Because the competition for NBA titles is extremely fierce and brutal, and the playoffs are played in a best-of-7 format, which is not a one-of-one affair with great chances, experience is very important.

Like last year's championship Mavericks, the average age of the team is over 30 years old, and the core players are all over 30 years old.

The Lakers in 09 and 10 are also an old team, and the core three of the Celtics in 08 are all veterans over 30, and they are paired with a bunch of old players who are on the verge of retirement, such as PJ Brown, Kassel, etc., so the average age of the team is also very large.

The '07 Spurs, '06 Heat, not to mention the age, are all veterans.

This veteran team building idea started almost in the late 90s.

The Chicago Bulls in the 1997-1998 season were the oldest championship team in NBA history with an average age.

Their average age to win the championship is 32.09 years old.

If you look back, you will find that the teams with the highest age to win the championship are basically concentrated in the mid-to-late 90s until now.

For example, 07 Spurs, 97 Bulls, 11 Mavericks and so on.

The exception was the Boston Celtics in 1969.

And from the 1970s, to the 80s, the early 90s, the average age of the winning team was relatively young.

The youngest of them was the 1977 Trail Blazers, who were only 24 years old and a first-time sophomore and third-year rookie.

There are many reasons, two more important points, one is that contemporary medical technology is developed, and the state of veterans is getting better and better.

In the past, when medical care was not developed, many players were not in good health at the age of 30, and they were already considered veterans.

Now 30-year-old players can last for several years when they reach their prime, and then the professional life of the players will be longer and longer.

Another point is the issue of the league's style of play, from the 70s, to the 80s, and then to the end of the 90s, the overall trend is from offensive and unrestrained to gradually tightening defense.

By the mid-to-late Jordan reign, and in the first years of the 21st century, the overall gains in defense had outpaced offense.

Strong defense, weak attack, slow pace of the game, and prominent star role, this form of play is in favor of veterans.

Veterans are more experienced and can be more effective in low-score, less-rounded, strong-matched, and weaker-running games.

Then veteran coaches like Popovich and Phil Jackson developed the idea of building a team with a combination of core superstars + balloon stars + experienced veterans.

It can be said that from Jordan's retirement in '98 to today, this kind of team building idea has included most of the championships.

So every offseason, veterans who want to win championships will join the Lakers and Spurs to win a ring.

The 10-year Celtics and Lakers Finals can be regarded as the ultimate embodiment of this quality.

Last season's Mavericks won the championship, and there are still traces of the previous era, although they have begun to bring the breath of a new era.

And this year, the Spurs were eliminated in the first round, and the young Grizzlies, Clippers, and Thunder will encircle the Lakers.

All three teams have one thing in common, that is, they rely entirely on the draft to build their rosters, and they have little to gain in the free market, let alone the habits of veteran stars, and veterans are not willing to come.

The only veteran star of the Clippers is Okafor, but Okafor is actually not old, he will be at the peak of his 30s, and in terms of cards, he has never been selected as an All-Star, and he is not a big name.

The core lineup of these three teams, from starters to substitutes, is basically selected by themselves plus traded, all of them are young or very young, and there are at most one or two veterans in the team who are ballast stones.

In the East, the situation of the Bulls is very similar to that of the Clippers, Thunder and other teams, and the core of the Heat is also in the year of playing, Riley wants to collect balloon stars like he did in 06, but unfortunately people are reluctant to come, and the combination of Wade + Bosh is unattractive.

The age of the Cavaliers is quite reasonable, the ratio of rookies + playing years + veterans is very good, and the age structure of the team is the healthiest.

The only two remnants of the old era in the East and West are the Lakers and the Celtics.

Especially the Lakers, who can be described as balloon stars and veterans in the philatelic album, have collected all the old guys who have been a little influential in the last 10 years and have not retired but have declined greatly, and they have to make the last stand.

In the eyes of fans, a lineup like the Lakers is naturally very strong and very champion-like.

And they did quite well in the regular season, beating the Clippers twice, the players are experienced, and the playoffs should be smooth.

In fact, the league's style of play is in the midst of a transformation, and the importance of offense is becoming more and more prominent.

In particular, David Stern's early retirement and the arrival of Adam Silva have accelerated this transition.

Silva is desperate for a big change in the overall style of the league from the past.

Defensive battles have proven to not bring in ratings, and offense is what makes fans more appealing.

The '05 Spurs vs Pistons Finals were simply a bloody lesson.

Of course, this transition is slow and will not change immediately.

Especially in the regular season this year, the team's average points per game has decreased.

Because of the shortened season, the players are in average condition, and the team's tactical run-in is poor.

But in the playoffs, the changes began to show themselves.

The confrontation in the game is still very fierce, but the score is already in the hundreds.

In several games between the Clippers and Spurs, they have scored more than 100 points per game.

10 years ago, 80-90 points for both teams in the playoffs was the norm, 70 points were available, and it was rare to break 100.

When offense is more emphasized, the overall score increases, the pace of the game increases, and the role of stars and veterans is relatively weakened.

Your little experience and contribution from a few offensive and defensive rounds are not so important, especially the lack of fixed-point three-point ability of some of the previous generation of balloon stars, which has become a hard injury for supporting roles.

Moreover, the pace of the offense is fast, and it is easy for veterans to lose track of the rhythm and have too many rounds to run.

Unlike the late 90s and early 21st century, because of the narrow offensive space, superstar singles prevailed, and the pace of the game was slow.

Especially with the prevalence of blocking and dismantling cooperation, it is difficult for veterans to integrate into the system, and the problem of not being as good as young players will become more and more obvious.

Almost from the past few years, the lineup building method of NBA core players + balloon star veterans will gradually be eliminated by history and enter the pile of old papers.

Of course, at this time, many people have not realized this and have good faith in the Lakers.

As a result, just one day before the start of the Clippers and Thunder semifinals, the Lakers hosted the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Lakers faced the combination of Griffin + Jordan Jr. on the inside, and they were hit by the spoof.

Griffin, who stumbled in the first round, scored 25 points in the first game against the Lakers in the second round.

Jordan Jr. scored five points, 11 rebounds, and delivered three blocks, leaving Bynum disgraced.

Of course, it was the Grizzlies outside who really played a decisive role, Tony Allen + Butler + Mike Conley, who hit the Lakers with defense and three-point shots.

In the end, the Grizzlies' first game, 95:90, a 5-point advantage stole a victory in Stamps, which surprised NBA public opinion, and the Lakers lost to the Grizzlies in the first game?

This aspect has led people to re-examine the potential of the Grizzlies and examine Griffin's abilities.

In theory, this is Griffin's second season, but he's already shown a lot of skill and intelligence in the game.

Clearly, the Grizzlies have been paying attention to Griffin's development.

Wallace heeded Min Congda's advice and did not let Griffin develop into a simple basket finisher and scoring machine, but focused on developing his playmaking, ball-handling ability, especially mid-to-long-range projection.

This was very effective on the offensive end against the Lakers, which made the Lakers' defense very uncomfortable.

In addition to Jordan Jr., four of the Grizzlies' starting five have mid-to-long-range shooting ability, and they are not simply "there", but really shoot, and can make you very uncomfortable.

How did the Lakers die last season? It was shot to death by the Mavericks' four starters who could shoot.

In the early years, it was very good to have three such roles as a starter, and some even only had two, such as the Spurs in 07, only Ginobili and Bowen could stabilize mid-to-long range shooting in the real sense, and Parker was half.

Now, three is standard, four is normal, and five is available!

And what can the Lakers do? Paul, Kobe, these two combined, in fact, can only be counted as one and a half.

They continue to follow the traditional way of thinking, can they really go to the finals and win the championship?

Phil Jackson played the first game of the semifinals, and he felt more and more in his heart that times had really changed.

(End of chapter)