Bishop of the Devil

This season, except for the relatively valuable Corris, who was sold by Richard, the contracts of the Pistons' four original players, Atkins and Burrows, were all bought out by Richard.

Both of them have one year left on their contracts, and the combined contract value is about US$7 million.

Buying out the contract seems a bit wasteful to fans, but in fact it is not wasteful at all. It is actually a money-saving move.

After all, whether it is Atkins or Burrows, they will definitely not be able to get any playing time in the Pistons in the new season.

In this case, it would be a real waste for Richard to keep their words.

After buying out their contracts, it doesn't mean that the Pistons have to pay them so much salary.

If both parties negotiate, this number can definitely be reduced.

In addition, these two players will definitely not be able to stay at home and wait to die. They will definitely still have to find jobs in the league.

Once they find a job, the Pistons will be able to save the salary they paid when they signed with the new team.

After taking a discount of about US$7 million, and then factoring out the salaries of the two players who signed with the new team, Richard's buyout operation actually saved the Pistons a lot of money.

Since then, the Pistons' four former players have been almost wiped out by Richard, leaving only Clark...

With the addition of Yao Ming, Boozer and Prince, the Pistons' lineup can be said to be improving.

The players at the center position include Yao Ming, Okur and Clark.

Among them, Okur and Clark are not like Yao Ming who can only play center...

Okur can play as a space-based power forward, while Clark can play as a coolie power forward similar to Big Ben.

There are Boozer and Birdman Anderson at the power forward position.

Speaking of Boozer, Richard immediately thought of the word rebel.

This guy has a nickname, called the Rebellious Knight. The nickname came from because he tricked the Cavaliers and made the Cavaliers management the laughing stock of the entire league.

Under normal circumstances, Boozer was selected by the Cavaliers.

Boozer performed quite well in his rookie season, showing good offensive skills, excellent mid-range shooting and rebounding abilities, solid footwork in the paint, and good low-post post-up skills.

If it weren't for his lack of explosive power and poor defensive end, Boozer might be able to squeeze out Ricky Davis, the nominal boss of the Cavaliers...

Yes, when Boozer joined the Cavaliers, Ricky Davis was the boss of the Cavaliers.

Fans must be very clear about what happened next, that is, at the beginning of the 2003 draft, the Cavaliers got the No. 1 pick, James.

Ricky Davis was sold, and the Cavaliers became James' team alone.

As for Boozer, he is also thriving next to James. As a second-round pick, he actually scored 15+11 in the second season of his career, which is absolutely eye-catching.

If not to say that the Cavaliers management team has been a fool every time since the establishment of the team...

In this case, they directly gave up the third-year team option in Boozer's rookie contract.

Why would you make such a stupid decision? Because the Cavaliers management wanted to sell Boozer a good deal, Boozer verbally agreed to them. After the Cavaliers gave up the team option, he would renew his contract with the Cavaliers for six years and US$41 million...

But not only the Cavaliers management, but also James believed it, and happily said that he would work side by side with Boozer and fight together.

As a result, the Cavaliers had just given up the team option, and this guy immediately signed a six-year, $68 million contract with the Jazz.

If the Cavaliers had not given up the team option, Boozer would have had to work for the Cavaliers for almost a year for free...

Now, without the constraints of the contract, Boozer simply left.

This almost pissed off Cleveland fans...

So, Cleveland fans can't afford to be hurt, they have suffered too many deceptions.

This is definitely a rebellious behavior...

Although the behavior of pursuing profit is correct, this guy's behavior of pursuing profit is already a scam. He made an agreement with the Cavaliers to renew his contract, but ended up running away.

If they hadn't verbally agreed to renew the contract, the Cavaliers wouldn't have been so stupid to give up the team option. If Boozer could be used for one year, why not use it in vain...

This incident also gave Boozer the nickname of a rebellious knight. In preparation, he should be called the knight traitor...

Apart from this incident, Boozer is best known for his rumored defeat of Yao Ming.

In fact, this is basically a rumor. In the 20 games played between Boozer and Yao Ming, it was basically a 50-50 tie.

Explode? nonexistent……

But even if it's only 50-50, it's quite impressive. You know, Yao Ming has beaten many inside players, but he can't have any advantage over Boozer.

From this, we can also see that Boozer is really strong.

As for whether he is a traitor or not, Richard really doesn't care at all...

Dare you rebel against Richard? I'm afraid I don't know why the flowers are so red!

Richard could send him to see Ricky Davis as soon as possible...

Well, maybe we can trick the Jazz again.

Anyway, Boozer used it first and then said it. Take it one step at a time. No matter how hard he deceives, he will definitely not be able to deceive Richard.

If under this situation, Richard is tricked by Boozer again, then he might as well stop playing in the NBA.

…

Judging from the combination of the Pistons' inside lineup, they are really powerful.

In terms of overall strength, it may even be stronger than the Trail Blazers...

Of course, what I'm talking about here is that after growing up, today's Trail Blazers are still the top players in the league.

The main reason is that the Blazers have few insiders, only two from Auburn, and at best Kirilenko, a pseudo inside player.

But right now, the Pistons have five inside players with good strength.

Richard is quite confident about the Pistons' inside line. He feels that he is on the same path as he used to revitalize the Trail Blazers.

Why the Blazers can win three consecutive championships, in Richard's view, ensuring the strength of the inside is the biggest reason.

And now the Pistons' inside prototype is already quite perfect...

…

Excluding these five inside players, the Pistons are still full of talents.

There are three players at the small forward position: Gerald Wallace, Prince, and Nocioni.

Among them, Prince is quite capable of playing shooting guard. He is essentially a top 3D player. Although he has the ability to break through, in the Pistons' lineup, he is obviously not needed to break through.

Shooting guard position: Laga Bell, Hu Weidong and Crawford.

The point guard position is Nash and Arenas.

What's good is that the roster is thirteen people, and the number of people in each position is also quite balanced, within the range of two or three players.

Richard is naturally indescribably satisfied with the lineup he has created.

It's hard to say how long it will take for such a lineup to win the championship, but Richard is confident that he can defeat the Nets in a short time and become the first in the Eastern Conference!

This season, Richard wants to lead the Pistons to rise, to have the best record in the Eastern Conference, and to lead the Eastern Conference All-Stars.

…

"Lee, how do you plan to match our starting lineup this season?" The Pistons coaching staff is currently sitting in head coach Richard's office for a meeting.

Richard, Curry Sr., Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Miles and Dave Cowens.

The person who asked this was Cowens. He is the team's tactical coach, so he is naturally concerned about the team's starting lineup.

As for the old Curry, he was the team's shooting coach...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the team’s interior coach…

Miles is pretty much where Stevens was before, running errands and doing odd jobs.

"After the draft, I envisioned a lineup, and you guys helped me give advice."

"Yao Ming, Clark, Gerrard, Laga Bell and Nash." Richard said, knocking on the table.

Cowens nodded. The lineup was pretty much what he envisioned.

Yao Ming, the No. 1 pick, will undoubtedly start. Unless something goes wrong with the No. 1 pick, no team will let the No. 1 pick sit on the bench.

That is definitely a wasteful act...

It also attracts hatred and makes the No. 1 pick dissatisfied. Maybe they will run away after completing the four-year contract.

In addition to Yao Ming's stable starting position, Clark, the guy who was praised by Richard, will also occupy a starting position.

As for the remaining three starters, they performed very well last season, and there is no problem if they are included in the starting lineup.

The problem now is that since Richard has come up with this starting lineup, he definitely cannot continue to play run-and-gun like last season.

In fact, the Pistons' run-and-gun tactics last season left a pretty amazing impression.

The ultra-fast-paced offense is dizzying and enjoyable.

As for the current lineup, with the addition of Yao Ming, it is definitely impossible to play run-and-gun.

If Clark is included in this lineup, it is basically a double center configuration.

"Li, tactically?" Cowens asked with a frown.

He naturally also knows what kind of tactics this starting lineup is suitable for, but this matter must be dealt with by Richard. In any case, Richard is the main player and he is the helper. There is no reason to overwhelm the guest.

"Play half court and slow down as much as possible!"

"After the start of the new season, we must improve our success rate, take Yao Ming as the absolute core of our offense, and formulate detailed tactics around Yao Ming."

Richard said quite decisively.

Several people present nodded. Although playing with a newcomer as the absolute core of tactics will make the early game very painful...

But the ordeal is well worth it.

Once the team adapts to this style of play and the newcomers are strong enough, they can quickly open up the situation.

"Old man, I'm leaving it to you, Yao Ming, he is very important to us!" Richard looked at Jia's father and said sincerely.

In front of a historically powerful player like Papa Jia, Richard has not yet acted as a head coach.

In fact, Richard is the kind of head coach who doesn't do anything right, not that he doesn't do things right, but that he doesn't have any airs when interacting with others.

Even if the assistant coach is Richard's subordinate, Richard respects him very much and never looks bad to others.

This is probably the reason why Cowens immediately defected to Richard after being fired.

…

"Don't worry, Li. Yao Ming is a good inside prospect. It's a pity that in this era, I'm afraid it's getting harder and harder for centers to play..." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sighed.

Richard's super run-and-gun style of play last season seemed to have opened a Pandora's box, and many trashy teams also imitated it.

Anyway, when they play normally, they lose, so why not play a fast-paced game that is enjoyable to watch...

As a result, this attempt allowed them to try out some tricks.

This kind of crazy and life-threatening running and gunning style is quite beneficial to a rubbish team!

If they really stand still and play half-court, their disadvantage will be infinitely expanded!

But if they play this kind of fast-paced game with a strong feel, they can still win some games against strong teams.

For example, the Kings showed some signs of speeding up in the second half of the season.

It is very likely that the small ball era has arrived early because of Richard's attempts at running and gunning.

Of course, it's not that far ahead of schedule. After all, under normal circumstances, the Suns' run-and-gun system will be established soon, which is about the next two years...

As a famous center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar naturally knows that this kind of run-and-gun tactics will greatly reduce the need for traditional centers.

This is likely to result in center players becoming less and less popular.

Naturally, he doesn't want to see this happen...

"Don't worry, old man, I will keep the era where the center is king as long as possible!" Richard said to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with a smile.

…

The lineup and tactics were finalized, and then Richard asked Miles to organize the summer league.

However, in this summer league, no players in the Pistons lineup participated. They were all undrafted players recruited by Myers himself and some fringe players who could not play in the NBA.

In Richard's view, there is no need to participate in meaningless games like the summer league.

For new players like myself, the real challenge is in the regular season and even this year's playoffs!

Richard even planned to make Yao Ming not even play in the preseason!

He wants Yao Ming to have a real blockbuster, a real career debut, and get a truly amazing data!