Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 1005 1005 583 Persistent Hatred

?Chapter 1005: Chapter 583: Persistent Hatred Chapter 1005: Chapter 583: Persistent Hatred The All-Star Weekend had just ended, and the NBA entered a fast-paced phase.

The trade deadline was the last opportunity for major teams to strengthen before the playoffs arrived. However, curiously, this year not many teams were willing to make significant adjustments for the postseason.

Ever since Dwight Howard requested a trade, he had gone through relationships with the other 29 teams in the league on a rotational basis.

And the result? Other teams couldn’t offer enough dowry to satisfy the Brooklyn Nets when it came to “marrying” Howard home.

Just when this play seemed to have come to a halt, Howard announced that he would stay with the team, at least for the rest of the season.

When reporters asked him if he would stay in New Jersey, Howard’s answer was affirmative, “Of course, I am a loyal player.”

No matter how concerned the Brooklyn Nets were that Howard might walk away at the end of the season, all they could do now was trust his loyalty and maintain a facade of unity with The Big Three to fight through the playoffs.

After months of stalling, Howard ended up with such an outcome, which greatly annoyed those media people who were waiting to capitalize on the fragmented audience attention.

They called the Brooklyn Nets “cowards” — how dare they trust the loyalty of a player who had been linked with all 29 other teams?

Besides, without a trade, where would the traffic come from? Without traffic, what would the media use to attract public attention?

The development of the situation made the media sick, but that was the reality.

With Howard no longer on the move, the most attractive player on the trade market became the Bucks’ fourth-year player Ervin Turner and Golden State Warriors’ Tyreke Evans.

The former was the fifth pick in the 2010 draft, selected by the Bucks as a safe bet.

The downside of a safe bet is just that — it’s too safe, offering no surprises. But Turner’s predicament was a bit worse, as he not only lacked surprises but also brought quite a few shocks.

As a guard, his defense was poor, his three-point shooting was subpar, and his first step was extremely slow, making his ball-handling skills rather awkward.

Handling the ball in offensive play is a gem in the individual offense system and is the hardest skill to develop. However, if one only has the ability to handle the ball without any explosive power or shooting threat, it’s equally ineffective.

Turner was like ice cream with a flavor of poop — it looks appealing, but only the person using it knows just how stinky it is. And yet, he was young enough that, despite his glaring weaknesses, if the Bucks were to keep him, they would have to offer him a 4-year 44 million US Dollar contract, which was unbearable for them with three maximum contracts already on the books.

The situation with the Warriors was sympathetically parallel to the Bucks.

Or rather, Evans’ current situation was what was most likely to happen if the Bucks renewed Turner’s contract.

As a rookie from the 2009 class, Evans entered the league averaging over 20+5+5 and was seen by the Warriors as a future core member. After the lockout season ended, the Warriors even offered him a maximum contract extension. However, Evans’ performance declined as quickly as his salary grew, and with the rise of new stars like Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, and Klay Thompson, Evans’ position became awkward.

He wasn’t without talent, but compared to others on the team, he was no longer worth the high salary.

The Warriors Team hoped to use Evans to strengthen the inside line, and for this, they inquired about Little Gasol from the Lakers and Big Jah from the Spurs, only to be dissuaded.

Then one day, the general manager of the Warriors Team, Bob Myers, made a phone call to the Clippers, asking, “Is Blake Griffin available for trade?”

This was based on Arne Trem stating at the beginning of the season that only Yu Fei and Antetokounmpo were “untouchable” on the Clippers.

Trem’s response was as Myers had expected, “Griffin is also untouchable, but I won’t hang up the phone.”

Negotiations between the two sides thus began.

Myers suggested trading Evans for Griffin.

Trem laughed, “Looking at the stats, Blake is the current number one power forward in active service. Tyreke Evans’ abilities overlap somewhat with Frye’s, why would I give up the current number one power forward to get a player who overlaps with Frye and is overpriced?”

Of course, Myers didn’t expect a one-for-one trade to succeed, so he started probing slowly by adding draft picks.

Starting with one more first-round draft pick.

Then it was two first-round draft picks, three first-round draft picks, and he even suggested 3 first-round draft picks plus a first-round draft pick swap right along with a second-round draft pick.

Trem was clear in his mind that if Myers was negotiating with a team that was rebuilding, this deal might actually have a chance of success.

But the problem was, the first-round draft picks the Warriors were offering were for the years 2015, 2016, and 2019, while the first-round draft pick swap was for 2020.

The Greatest of All Time had hinted multiple times that he might retire around the age of 35. What was the point for the Clippers to trade Griffin for a first-round draft pick that wouldn’t materialize until at least 2016?

“Do you think you’re dealing with Sam Hinkie?” Trem asked pointedly, “We don’t need that many draft picks.”

Myers asked, “Are there any other possibilities?”

“If you add Damian Lillard, we have a deal.”

Trem was asking for the moon.

“That’s impossible!” Myers flatly refused.

“What about Kawhi Leonard?”

“Even more impossible!”

“Then it will have to be Klay Thompson,” Trem said, “We can’t trade Blake without any immediate return.”