Bishop of the Devil

There are still three days before the start of the draft, and the Heat are already eager to sell O'Neal.

O'Neal has completely broken up with the Heat management, and the Heat's record last season was very poor. Now the Heat have made selling O'Neal the team's top priority.

This is what the saying goes, looking for sex is as cheap as a dog, and after masturbating, you will find yourself ugly.

When the Heat tried to beg O'Neal, they were really humble. Now that they have won the championship and O'Neal is no longer good, the Heat are about to start chasing people away.

Richard doesn't like Pat Riley very much. He has to admit that Pat Riley has very strong management skills, but this person is a bit too impersonal. Everything is based on the interests of the team, and he has done a lot for this. Cold-blooded stuff.

Because of Pat Riley, the Heat have become an impersonal team.

Not only do players dislike Pat Riley, but even his colleagues don't like Pat Riley very much. There is a saying in the league that when making a deal with Pat Riley, you must first be prepared to be fired by the team.

…

Selling O'Neal's job is not that easy.

O'Neal's current contract is not small, and since he is letting himself go now, the team in the rebuilding period has no interest in him. O'Neal cannot be used as the cornerstone of reconstruction at this age.

The teams that won't win either don't have salary space or they don't want O'Neal...

The top teams want O'Neal. Not all teams have top insiders. O'Neal still has a lot of gas in the tank. For example, the Suns are more interested in O'Neal.

But even if they are interested, facing the Heat's Lions opening their mouth, the Suns have no interest in making a trade for the time being.

The Heat now want to sell O'Neal, but also want to sell him at a good price...

They had a preliminary talk with the Suns, but the talks collapsed, and then they talked to the Trail Blazers about trading O'Neal.

Richard would naturally know what happened to the Trail Blazers immediately.

The Heat wanted the No. 1 pick in the hands of the Trail Blazers, and by the way, they also asked the Trail Blazers to take out Zach Randolph.

The Trail Blazers naturally refused without saying a word. For such a big bargaining chip, Pat Riley simply took O'Neal to Richard and traded the entire Pirates team...

Not to mention, after the Blazers suffered a setback, Pat Riley actually contacted Richard.

The Blazers are still counting on the No. 1 pick to help them turn around, so naturally it is impossible to mess with the No. 1 pick.

After Pat Riley felt that the deal was dead, he came back to Richard's idea.

Richard was indeed interested in O'Neal, so he patiently chatted with Pat Riley for a while.

Other team managements are afraid of Pat Riley, but Richard is not. Anyway, if Pat Riley wants to trick others, he will definitely not be able to trick him.

The Lions still opened their mouths, Pat Riley came up and asked for the Pirates' second pick and Milicic.

Richard just kept laughing and didn't reply to Pat Riley at all.

"Li, why are you laughing all the time?" Pat Riley's scalp was numb from Richard's laughter.

"Riley, I'm laughing at you for pretending to be stupid. You don't really think Shaq is worth this price now, do you?"

"Don't treat others as fools. Shaq's current strength is pretty good, but you have to touch your conscience and ask yourself, can he really be replaced by a new FMVP?"

"Not to mention adding another second pick." Richard said with a sneer.

Pat Riley was not angry after hearing what Richard said, and asked: "Then what kind of bargaining chips are you prepared to offer?"

The Buccaneers have ample salary space and can easily absorb O'Neal's contract. This is why Pat Riley is eyeing the Buccaneers.

"How about giving you Varejao and a Chuck Hayes?" Richard asked with a smile.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"Shaq's value is far more than that, and even if I agree, the salary of this transaction cannot be balanced!" Pat Riley shouted.

"You don't have to worry about salary balancing. At worst, I will sign Mourning for US$15 million for one year to balance the salary and bring Mourning back to the Heat." Richard said with a smile.

In transactions, salary balance has never been the biggest issue. The problem is that the chips can satisfy both parties.

"I can make a concession and give you an extra second-round pick. Our Pirates have the 29th pick in the second round..." Richard said in a half-joking tone.

He knew very well that the Heat would never agree to his offer, and he was just testing Pat Riley's bottom line first.

"Li, I'm sorry, there's no way we can agree to such a losing deal."

"Since you are unwilling to take out the second pick, the subject of the transaction must be Milicic, and at least Iguodala."

"Iguodala can sign and trade, just to match Shaq's contract, and then add Varejao, plus one of your first-round picks. This is our bottom line." Pat Riley spoke.

Richard sneered again, he finally saw what Patrari was planning.

The real goal of this guy is not Milicic, but Iguodala.

It was a good idea to trade O'Neal for Iguodala and Varejao. The Heat did not need any time to rebuild and could rise directly.

With Wade at the back, Iguodala at the forward, and Varejao in the interior, this is already a good lineup.

"Okay, Riley, I wish you good luck with the Heat and try to sell Shaq for a good price."

"I hope Shaq will not die in your hands. If I were you, I would definitely find a home for Shaq as quickly as possible. After all, no one knows whether Shaq can survive this season. If he is reimbursed, ,Ah……"

Richard sneered. If Shaq was reimbursed at the start of the game, the Heat would be really in trouble. They would have to swallow this billion-dollar contract, and at least the next few years would be dark.

Pat Riley was a little frightened by what Richard said. Richard had "cursed" many people, but every curse was accurate!

He also began to worry. O'Neal's health was not very good last season and he only played half of the season.

If they really suffer serious injuries this season, then the Heat will really be doomed...

He wanted to continue chatting with Richard, but Richard hung up the phone.

…

Richard naturally has his own purpose in wanting O'Neal.

In the next draft, Richard will select two new insiders. With the veteran O'Neal here, he can help train these two new players.

Oden, in particular, is said to have a body like O'Neal. Under O'Neal's guidance, his growth will definitely be accelerated.

Oden is regarded by Richard as the future of the Pirates, and he is willing to spend his money to cultivate this future emperor.

In addition to the purpose of cultivating Oden, O'Neal's current immediate combat ability is also something Richard values ​​​​.

After the Suns won O'Neal, their record dropped. That was because the tactical system was not suitable for O'Neal.

Richard's half-court offense is O'Neal's best system. Even though O'Neal is old now, he can still show amazing destructive power on the court.

As for O'Neal's hidden injuries, Richard doesn't need to care at all. Even the Sun Doctor has no comparison with Richard in this regard.

…

Therefore, O'Neal is still somewhat tempting to Richard.

It's just that now is not a good time to trade with the Heat. Richard must exercise the Heat's patience and try to get Shaq at a more cost-effective price.

As for the issue that O'Neal's contract is too big and will take up the Buccaneers' salary space, Richard will probably sell O'Neal when the time comes. This is what the Suns do under normal circumstances anyway.

…

In addition to the Heat, many teams have submitted trade offers to the Pirates, but they are concerned about Millsap, Varejao and others.

At this point, Richard is planning to trade Varejao out. Many insiders will join the Pirates in the future, and the value of Varejao's continued stay is no longer high.

Instead of delaying Varejao's future, it would be better to sell him early.

But time is too rushed right now, and Richard plans to wait until the draft is over. Anyway, his draft picks this year are enough, and there is no need to trade draft picks.

Richard currently has the second pick, the 29th pick in the first round, the 29th pick in the second round and the 15th pick in the second round from the Philadelphia 76ers.

Among them, the 29th pick in the second round is basically useless. Richard will not be able to get any reliable players with this pick.

If Ramon Sessions, who was originally the 26th pick in the second round, could slip to the 29th pick in the second round, then Richard could be selected.

Because this draft pick is so weak, if there is a trade, some teams are willing to pay one million US dollars. If they want to exchange for the draft pick, then they must not even think about it.

Richard didn't care about the million dollars and simply kept it in case Ramon Sessions really fell down the draft.

…

The second pick was naturally used to select Oden. Richard planned to use the Philadelphia 76ers' 15th pick in the second round to select Marc Gasol.

As for Sun Yue...

What hurts Richard is that Sun Yue's draft pick is too high. He is actually the tenth pick in the second round...

Richard doesn't have such a high draft pick, so he may use his own No. 29 pick in the first round to select Sun Yue.

What Sun Yue didn't know was that he went from being a second-round pick to a first-round pick because of Richard.

…

Richard chose Sun Yue because he wanted to cultivate this domestic perimeter player. After all, domestic perimeter players are really weak. If Sun Yue grows up, he can also help the men's basketball team to support the perimeter.

On the other hand, there are actually no good outside options to choose from in the second round.

Among the good insiders in the second round, Marc Gasol can definitely be counted as one, and the power forward Landry can also be counted as one.

However, after Richard has Oden and Gasgoo, plus Milicic and the possible joining of O'Neal, there is actually no need for inside players at all.

Varejao and Hayes will be traded away, and there is really no energy to cultivate Landry.

It is worth mentioning that Landry was actually born at Purdue University under normal circumstances.

But because he was not on Richard's list, Purdue University did not invite Landry to join him. He is currently playing for the University of Maryland.

…

Everything is ready, now we are just waiting for the draft to begin.

After the draft is over, Richard can start dealing with transactions and start preparing for next season's draft in advance.

The 2007 draft is considered a quasi-big year. The quality of the stars is good, but the quantity is not large.

And 2008 is a big year, with more and better. Richard is planning to accumulate more 2008 draft picks through trades this offseason.