Bishop of the Devil

Under normal circumstances, the Spurs' actual first-round pick this year is the 30th pick. Popovich used this first-round pick to select Sledgehammer Anderson.

Anderson is known as the essence of human squirming. In fact, his strength is not bad. Otherwise, he would not have gone to get a big contract later...

As Zach LaVine's college teammate, Anderson also came out of UCLA, the former basketball mecca. He is a kid from a prestigious school and has quite good basketball literacy.

In addition, his maternal grandfather is Chinese, and he has one-eighth Chinese ancestry, so there are many Sledgehammer fans in China.

Now that the Spurs want to get an inside man, they naturally choose Capela first instead of the sledgehammer Anderson.

…

After Richard watched the Spurs get Capela, after a brief shock, his mood calmed down.

Get it if you get it. Having multiple opponents in the West is also a good thing for the Clippers. At least the game will be more suspenseful. This should be a situation Xiao Hua is happy to see.

…

After Richard got Jokic, he actually had no interest in this draft, because he only had the 23rd pick in the second round left on hand, and there was really nothing to choose from.

In the end, Richard used the 23rd pick to select Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Antetokounmpo's brother.

It’s not that Antetokounmpo is so strong, but Richard only knows one Antetokounmpo brother at this position, and he doesn’t know anyone else...

Anyway, they are just used to make up the numbers, so why not choose an acquaintance, who might be able to play some role then.

At the end of this draft, Richard really kept a low profile and picked up two inconspicuous European players.

Jokic is indeed not very eye-catching. In terms of fame, Zhou Qi may be more famous on the international stage than Jokic.

But now that he has been selected by Richard, this player must have unusual advantages. Otherwise, how could he have caught Richard's eye.

…

During the offseason, Richard first sold the Damascus...

The next season is the contract year of Damian Monkey. It is naturally impossible for Richard to sign Damian Monkey, nor can he let Damian Monkey go for free. After all, Damian Monkey's value is still quite good.

In this case, trading the Big Horse Monkey becomes the best choice.

In the end, Richard sent the Damascus to the Grizzlies in exchange for an unprotected first-round pick.

It’s not a loss, and of course there’s no profit. According to the normal market price, the price of the monkey can be raised higher, but Richard can’t bear the Grizzlies’ misfortune, and the Clippers don’t need that kind of money now. Draft picks.

If too many draft picks are piled up, Richard, who doesn't like waste, will probably choose some strong players.

And after these powerful players joined the Clippers, how could Richard bear to let them go unused...

It may end up going the way the Pirates did before, beating the entire league. This is not a scenario that Richard wants to see.

After selling the Horse Monkey, Rondo's contract also expired this summer. Richard came to Rondo to have a good chat.

At present, Richard has provided Rondo with two plans. The first plan is that he will provide Rondo with a contract worth 15 million US dollars a year for only one year this season.

The reason why such a contract is given is because Leonard and Thompson will sign a contract next year, so Richard naturally cannot plan ahead.

In addition to this reason, if Rondo leaves, the Clippers' salary will not reach the poverty line...

As for the second plan provided by Richard to Rondo, it is to let Rondo switch to other teams. With Richard guaranteeing that Rondo will not cause trouble, there must be many teams willing to give Rondo One more big contract.

In the end, Rondo chose a big contract. He only had a few years left in his prime, so he naturally had to make as much money as possible. As for honors, Rondo had three championship rings with the Buccaneers before, and he just joined the Clippers. Got another one...

With four championship rings in hand, if Rondo wants more honors, he must choose a stable and big contract.

In the end, the Trail Blazers offered Rondo a four-year, $52 million contract.

Rondo's departure has reduced the Clippers' salary space by a large amount. What makes Richard even more distressed is that Ben and Miller also announced their retirement.

These two people also have contracts worth more than 10 million US dollars. Including Rondo's contract, it's almost 30 million...

Without such a large vacancy, the Clippers will have to spend a lot of money in the new season, otherwise they will not be able to touch the poverty line and the league will fine them.

With so much salary space, countless teams are optimistic that the Clippers will bring in a top-paid player. After all, the Clippers want a market, a record, and a coach with a historical level like Richard, so for For those All-Star players, it is simply too tempting.

For a time, countless media and experts were speculating on which star the Clippers would introduce during this offseason.

The free market this offseason is extremely lively.

Not to mention anything else, the contracts of the Heat's Big Three have all expired. Among them, James's contract will not expire until 16 years. However, there was a clause when he signed the contract that James could terminate the contract early in 2014. I don't know about Pat Riley. Why would this old fox agree to such overbearing terms?

At present, Heat fans still have a glimmer of hope for James, thinking that he may stay and lead the Heat to a new start...

But Richard knew very well that James was determined to leave, and there could be no change in this.

All contracts of the Heat's Big Three have expired, and the contracts of Curry and Durant of the Buccaneers have also expired. In addition, the contracts of many first-line stars in the league have expired...

There are so many big fish in the free market. Under the conditions of the Clippers, it is really easy to catch them at will. Whoever you want can be taken. It is impossible for the other party to say no...

Before Richard could think about it, these stars had already started to take action. Among them, Durant first contacted Richard and expressed his desire to return to play under Richard.

Then Curry also called, hoping to bring his father to Los Angeles to play...

Even James contacted Richard and euphemistically expressed that he wanted to join the Clippers and win three, four, five, six, seven or eight championships for the Clippers.

James' move did not surprise Richard, because James now needs a championship so much.

In the blink of an eye, James has been in the league for eleven years, but he has achieved nothing, not even a single hair from a championship.

When Richard was in the Eastern Conference, he was always suppressed by the Buccaneers. Later he went to the Heat. First he was suppressed by the Buccaneers, and then he was suppressed by the Mavericks and Spurs...

Now that the Heat have completely eliminated his hope of winning the championship, they naturally want to end the contract early and find a next home that is more confident that he can win the championship.

Returning to the Cavaliers is naturally a good choice. In the past two years, Irving has been selected by ESPN as one of the top ten stars in the league for two consecutive years. With such a good helper, and adding an inside player through trade, he will directly become the Big Three lineup. .

But compared to the Cavaliers, James still feels that joining the Clippers is safer.

The Cavaliers can only say that they have a chance to win the championship, and if he joins the Clippers, with the Clippers' current lineup, he has a 90% certainty of winning the championship.