Bishop of the Devil

"Young man, could you tell me your future plans?"

"For example, what are you preparing for next?" Richard asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, McGrady's scalp suddenly went numb. He really didn't want to answer such a question...

He didn't like lying, especially when facing someone with such a reputation as Richard. Who knows if his lie would be exposed in the future and Richard would kill him.

But if you don’t lie, can you tell the truth?

Tell Richard directly that he will be on the market after this season. Whoever offers the highest salary will go to him? !

This is indeed what McGrady has in mind right now.

After this season, he will go to whoever offers the highest salary. Anyway, he doesn't have much nostalgia for the Trail Blazers!

"Coach, the game is about to start now, and it's still the playoffs. Can we change the topic..." McGrady asked with a grimace.

Upon hearing McGrady's words, Richard immediately felt confident.

McGrady has plans to leave the team...

In fact, Richard had envisioned this situation when he made the deal with the Raptors!

McGrady only has the last year of his rookie contract left. If he can fully perform in this year with the Trail Blazers, it will definitely be a maximum salary...

The Blazers will definitely not be able to give him a maximum salary, and McGrady will definitely leave the Blazers.

Even with McGrady's current statistics, Richard knows very well that there will definitely be a team in the league that will offer McGrady a maximum salary contract!

No kidding, there is a real team that will offer McGrady, who averaged about 14+5+6 per game this season, a maximum salary contract.

Richard is quite certain about this!

Because under normal circumstances, in the last year of McGrady's rookie contract with the Raptors, he averaged 15+6+4 per game, but the Magic offered McGrady the maximum salary under such circumstances...

It is no exaggeration to say that the Raptors' 15+6+4 data is not as valuable as the Trail Blazers' 14+5+6 data!

In this case, I am afraid that not only the Magic, but also many teams in the league will offer McGrady a maximum salary contract.

The main reason is that McGrady is still young. He is also a high school student participating in the draft. He is one year younger than Kobe. It can be said that he has real unlimited potential.

…

It is completely impossible to say that Richard is not entangled with Tracy McGrady. He is more entangled than Lun...

Not giving McGrady playing time and suppressing his data? ! Not to mention that Richard couldn't bear to attack one of his own people. In fact, even if he did, it would be completely useless.

McGrady is not a fool. Are you suppressing me like this? If I stay with the Trail Blazers next season, isn't that out of my mind? !

He can definitely find a team to sign a short-term contract, and when the contract ends, he will be able to get a maximum salary.

Give McGrady a lot of playing time? Richard feels that if McGrady is given enough ball rights and playing time, McGrady may be able to produce a 20+7+7 level of data...

In that case, Richard would have no chance of keeping Tracy McGrady!

After two tangles, Richard simply came up with a casual play, letting McGrady play normally and not giving him too much playing time, but it was not a lot. Anyway, it was much more than the Raptors.

…

Under normal circumstances, the Raptors actually want to keep Tracy McGrady.

But the problem is that they are unwilling to give McGrady a maximum salary. They are prepared to leave the maximum salary to Vince Carter, whom they are more optimistic about...

McGrady definitely has feelings for the Toronto team. His distant cousins ​​are on this team. If they can join hands, it will be a good story.

But just because the Raptors refused to give him a maximum salary and their management fired Butch Carter, McGrady chose to leave the Raptors and join the Magic.

Of course, McGrady also brought some benefits to the Magic. For example, he was traded to the Magic in a sign-and-trade deal. The contract amount he signed at that time was a terrifying 7-year, 93 million US dollars!

…

"Young man, forget it, no matter what, I still hope you have a happy future!"

"Good luck in the playoffs this season..."

Richard sighed and was not ready to continue.

Originally, he wanted to tell McGrady to take a salary cut and stay in the Trail Blazers. In return, Richard would allow him to have a healthy career.

But after thinking about it, it was too unbelievable that Richard did not say these words.

Maybe after saying it, Maddie will think that Richard is a psycho and a big liar...

…

"In tonight's playoffs, the opponent is very weak. Let's play hard. I'll give you enough playing time and try to produce some amazing statistics!"

"Maybe we will have a chance to join forces in the future!" Richard patted McGrady on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Maddie nodded solemnly...

He knew very well that Richard might know his intention to leave the team, but even so, Richard was still prepared to reuse him in the playoffs, which made McGrady a little grateful.

…

Rose Garden Arena, home of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Although tonight is the opening game of the Trail Blazers' playoffs, the atmosphere at the scene is normal and not particularly crazy.

The main reason is that the Sonics are too weak. No Blazers fan will take the Sonics seriously. If the Sonics have a chance to defeat the SuperSonics, it will probably make the Blazers fans laugh out loud.

…

"Ben, Jermaine, the driver, Ron and Tracy, you five will start tonight!"

"Ron, remember, be on the field and help the driver with defense at all times!"

"Tracy, the player you are facing tonight is Payton. Remember, don't do too many unnecessary dribblings. That will increase your turnover data! After the ball reaches the frontcourt, if your teammates have better opportunities, , just pass the ball!”

"And if there is no good opportunity, just use your height advantage to pull out in front of Payton!"

"Ben, Jermaine, I don't need to tell you too much, just defend the inside and protect the rebounds!"

Before taking the stage, Richard gave instructions to the five starting players.

These are all commonplace things. In fact, even without Richard's instructions, these proud men know exactly what they should do on the court.

For example, McGrady, facing the defense of Payton, is unlikely to do some meaningless dribbling, which is definitely causing trouble for himself.

It would be better to advance to the frontcourt and pass the ball, or simply take advantage of his height advantage and directly pull up.

"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle to start the game.

The starting players from both sides began to appear.

The Sonics' current starting lineup, the two insiders are Cobra Grant and Vin Baker!

Cobra Grant's peak strength is naturally quite good, but now he is also thirty-five years old, and the Sonics definitely can't count on him.

As for Vin Baker, his health status has been maintained well this season, but the embarrassing thing is that due to injuries last season, his competitive level has dropped a lot this season!

He was originally a top power forward averaging 20+10 per game, but now he is only around 15+7. It is estimated that his true strength is not as good as Harrington.

Harrington's defense is indeed not very good, but Wen Baker's defense is not much better either. It is basically the same situation as Harrington, or at most a little better.

Richard even thought about asking Harrington to play against Wen Baker to see how it goes...

At the moment, Richard actually has plans to sell Harrington.

Take advantage of Harrington's high value, sell it quickly, and get a lot of bargaining chips, such as draft picks or potential rookies...

This is good for both the Blazers and Harrington himself.

In the Trail Blazers, Harrington's playing time has basically reached the upper limit. In fact, his playing time was deducted from Lewis by Richard...

And for those weak teams, Harrington may be able to become the second and third boss of the team, and he will naturally get more performance opportunities!

Maybe the data can also improve!

It is beneficial to both parties, so Richard will naturally consider this matter carefully...

For example, in this series, Harrington shined, and then in the offseason, Harrington was put on the shelf, and every team was still eager to trade Harrington.

…

But it was the opening game of the playoffs after all, and Richard didn't dare to mess around.

Let’s take a look at the situation first.

If the Sonics are really scumbag, then it's not impossible to take a risk and reuse Harrington.

…

The Sonics' two frontcourts were almost completely overwhelmed by the Trail Blazers, and their backcourt actually had no bright spots at all except for the glove Payton.

The only one who can be called reliable is Ruben Patterson, whom the Sonics traded from the Lakers.

However, Patterson entered the league in the same class as Harrington and the others, so his strength is definitely not as strong as those of Harrington. Otherwise, Richard would not have let Patterson go.

…

After O'Brien easily got the ball for the Trail Blazers, he saw McGrady quickly advance to the frontcourt, and as soon as he reached the three-point line, he directly took a three-pointer!

You really dare to vote!

And he really dared to enter!

McGrady is much more relaxed now. He knows that he has a bright future waiting for him. The only thing he needs to do now is to stand up for this last duty and strive to win a championship with the Trail Blazers!

…

After I relaxed, I felt that my hand felt a lot softer. The ball hit the net completely!

"Slow down, don't be anxious, wait for the inside line to be in position first!" Richard stood on the sidelines and shouted.

When playing against a team like the SuperSonics, which is not very strong inside, it is naturally better to play steadily and steadily. There is no need to rush for the offense. Wait until the inside players are in position to protect the rebounds before taking action!

…

After only four or five minutes of play in the first quarter, the gap in physical strength between the two sides was completely reflected.

Glove Payton's defense is still as strong as ever, just as good as before!

It's just embarrassing that his defense can only perform at 60 to 70% of its ability when facing McGrady.

After McGrady controlled the ball in the frontcourt, he either passed the ball or made a pull-up, showing no interest in breaking through.

On the contrary, Payton encountered a lot of resistance on the offensive end!

Artest on the court is the Blazers' defensive gate on the outside. No matter who the opponent's outside sharpshooter is, Artest's physical fitness will not suffer against anyone anyway.

Apart from anything else, it is not easy to at least break through Artest's defense...

Although Payton's performance on the court is still strong, even against Artest, his performance is no worse than Kobe.

But just relying on his performance alone, it is obviously impossible for the Sonics to have any hope of winning!

So far, what makes current SuperSonics head coach Paul Westphal want to vomit blood is that their inside combination of Grant and Vin Baker has not scored a single point!

These two people were directly expelled from the three-second zone by Ben and Xiao Ao.

Wen Baker did get two chances to take mid-range shots, but they were all destroyed by Ben.

As for Grant, he is not the offensive point of the Sonics. Basically, most of his shots are made by grabbing offensive rebounds and making secondary attacks.

But in tonight's game, Grant obviously doesn't have many opportunities to get involved in offensive rebounds...

…

The inside line couldn't be opened at all, and the outside line couldn't take advantage. The result of this game was already obvious.

Even the result of this series is obvious, the Sonics have no chance of advancing!

Seeing the end of the half-quarter, the Trail Blazers had a double-digit point difference. Without a word, Richard replaced Ben and replaced him with Harrington, allowing Harrington to partner with Xiao Ou on the court. .

What made the entire Rose Garden Arena excited was that after Harrington came on the stage, his performance seemed to be as good as that of All-Star power forward Vin Baker!

This is a bit scary...

Richard casually brought up Harrington from the bench, and he was able to create a 50-50 tie with the second-leading SuperSonics player!

Such pioneers are simply unreasonably strong!

No wonder Richard has the confidence to say that the Trail Blazers are still the strongest team in the league...

It's normal to think about it. Harrington, who was brought up on the bench by the Trail Blazers, is as good as the second-in-command of the Eastern Conference playoff team SuperSonics!

What a terrifying thing this is...

It's like saying that the second-in-command of the Sonics couldn't even get a starting position when he arrived with the Trail Blazers!

The strength of these two teams is completely incomparable!

What makes fans more and more horrified is that there seems to be a lot of players like Harrington in the Trail Blazers' ghost substitute lineup.

At least one Ginobili, in terms of strength, is better than the second in command of many teams in the league!

There is also Mobley. Fans are quite convinced that if Mobley is given enough time, this second-year newcomer will also be a qualified second-in-command!

If Richard knew what the fans thought this way, he would probably secretly sigh at the high quality of the fans this year...

Because they were right. If Mobley hadn't been selected by Richard, he would actually have been quite comfortable this season, and he would have been the Rockets' second scorer.

Francis is the Rockets' No. 1 scorer, and he is the No. 2 scorer. When Big Dream and Big Butt leave, they will be the Rockets' top and second top scorers.

…

In the blink of an eye, tonight's game was over. The score the Blazers won was not particularly scary, and they finally won by 13 points.

In fact, this is mainly because Richard didn't use his full strength!

If they used their full strength, Xiao Ao and Ben would not only have about 20 minutes of playing time tonight...

Under this level of confrontation between these two people, there is no big problem in playing for forty minutes on the court!

And if the Auburn duo plays for forty minutes, the point difference between the two sides will not be only a mere thirteen points...

That will definitely break the twenty-point mark!

…

After the game, Glove Payton was quite helpless, with bitterness all over his face!

If you want to win a championship, why is it so difficult? !

Judging from the current situation, unless all players of the Trail Blazers, Spurs and Lakers are involved in air crashes, it is absolutely impossible for him, Payton, to get involved in the championship.

No, even if there is an air crash among these three teams, it will be difficult for Payton to get it, because there are three other teams, the Jazz, Timberwolves, and Suns, who are better than the SuperSonics...

Thinking of this, Payton felt a little desperate.

Some players have little pursuit of a championship ring and would rather get the icing on the cake. If they don't have it, they can accept it.

But some players value this small ring very much, and sometimes they even take a significant salary cut for this ring.

Payton is the kind of player who values ​​rings very much, but he just signed a five-year contract with the SuperSonics two years ago, and now he still has three years of contract to execute...

"After finishing this three-year contract, I will find a team to join. After all, I have to get a championship ring before I retire!" Payton thought secretly in his heart.

As for the current season, Payton definitely has no hope. With such a huge gap in strength between the two sides, how can the SuperSonics get past the Trail Blazers!

…

Richard found that against these weak teams, it seemed that Harrington teamed up with O'Brien, and Big Ben teamed up with Kirilenko, and the effect was quite good.

Harrington scored 17 points and 8 rebounds in this game, which is considered his normal performance.

As for McGrady, tonight’s data is a bit explosive...

Richard allowed Tracy McGrady to come on and play for nearly forty minutes!

In these 40 minutes, McGrady took 27 crazy shots and got 34 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, which can be said to be quite amazing!

Richard wasn't too surprised. The Magic were not fools. If McGrady was really a parallel import, would they give McGrady a seven-year, $93 million contract when McGrady only averaged 15+6+4 per game? !

The Magic must also be quite aware of the potential in Tracy McGrady!

Moreover, under normal circumstances, the Magic are not the only teams chasing McGrady. The Magic and the Heat are the two most aggressive teams...

Among them, Mourning, the head coach of the Heat, personally called McGrady to invite him to join.

…

Now Richard knows that Tracy McGrady has such ability, scoring 30+ points in a single game, but others don't know...

The fans in the entire Rose Garden Arena were dumbfounded!

Is this Tracy the nuclear weapon hidden by Richard? ! Just waiting for the playoffs to be reused? !

Good guy, this power is simply terrifying...

You must know that Kobe did not have the offensive firepower like Tracy McGrady in the playoffs in his first year with the Trail Blazers.

But in an instant, these fans were no longer happy.

Because they know McGrady fairly well and know that McGrady will become a free agent after this year's playoffs. The better McGrady plays, the harder it will be for the Blazers to stay!

This is very uncomfortable...

But they can see it openly. If McGrady is gone, won't there be Ginobili?

The rookie contract Ginobili just signed this year will continue to play for the Trail Blazers for three years. This coolie can last a long time...

…

In the opening game of the playoffs, the Trail Blazers easily defeated the SuperSonics, and then they were overwhelming again, beating the SuperSonics two games in a row!

Completely eliminated the SuperSonics with a big score of 3:0...

In this series, the two most eye-catching players on the Trail Blazers are Harrington and Tracy McGrady.

Harrington's average of about 18+9 per game is actually a level better than Vinbeck!

You must know that Wen Baker only averaged 14+6 per game in this series!

For a time, Harrington directly became a very popular power forward in the league...

You have to remember that Harrington is only a second-year player. Who knows whether he will grow into an incredible power forward like Duncan or Garnett in the future!

Even if he can't grow to the level of Duncan or Garnett, looking at Harrington's posture, he has the momentum to rival Raheem and McDyess!

Potential stock!

Teams, especially those lacking forwards, looked greedily at Harrington...

Will Richard sell Harrington? ! Judging from Richard's daily performance, this is really a possibility!

If it were another team, I'm afraid they wouldn't even sell it to death...

But the Trail Blazers are different. They have too many players on the team. If they have the right chips, this deal may not be possible!

This series had just ended, and Richard's phone almost exploded.

Head coaches who were close to Richard didn't worry about the fact that it was the Trail Blazers playoffs and directly contacted Richard to ask him if he had any thoughts on trading Harrington. …

Especially Larry Bird, the phone calls came like bombers, one after another.

But Richard knew the Pacers' situation too well. They didn't have any valuable chips on hand.

Just don't answer Larry Bird's calls to avoid being tricked by this bad old man.

What other bargaining chips do the Pacers have on hand now? ! No hair at all...

Richard looked down upon the pick at the bottom of the first round, and he also looked down upon several players on the team.

The only one they can look up to is Reggie Miller, and the Blazers can't afford his contract.

Besides, Larry Bird is not crazy enough to trade Reggie Miller for Harrington...

As for other teams, Richard did answer the phone, but he certainly couldn't give an accurate answer at this time. He would wait until the offseason for a unified reply.

…

Harrington is a piece of fat, fatter than Tracy McGrady!

Regardless of whether McGrady played better than Harrington in this series, in fact, if each team had a choice, they would be more inclined to want Harrington!

Because Harrington still has two years left on his rookie contract...

The rookie contract for these two years is basically a waste of time!

With a rookie's salary, but with maximum salary data, it is more cost-effective than Tracy McGrady...

Besides, not all teams have the salary space to give McGrady a maximum salary!