noveldrama
Chapter 876 876 539 The Wind Rises in New Jersey_3
Chapter 876 876 539 The Wind Rises in New Jersey_3
?Chapter 876: Chapter 539: The Wind Rises in New Jersey_3 Chapter 876: Chapter 539: The Wind Rises in New Jersey_3 Howard’s reputation wasn’t tarnished by just standing under the eaves; he had become the most sought-after player in the free market.
As the leading center in the Eastern Conference, Howard’s demands for his new team were simple.
First, they had to make him happy, and second, they needed a point guard who could pass him the ball and take control of the game during critical moments.
Upon hearing Howard’s demands, Paul couldn’t help thinking, “He’s practically talking about me!”
Under the new labor agreement, teams were very cautious about signing players.
No one wanted to trigger the luxury tax with reckless moves.
Except for one team.
The New Jersey Nets.
To be precise, it was the owner of the Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov from Russia, a gold supplier, who completely disregarded the luxury tax as if it were nothing.
Prokhorov’s current net worth was 15 billion US dollars, which made him one of the tycoons even among the wealthy NBA owners.
Prokhorov, a die-hard basketball fan since childhood, had dreamed of owning an NBA team, and his wish was fulfilled on the eve of the NBA lockout when he completed the acquisition of the Nets in May 2010, just before the league shut down.
The canceled 2010-2011 season wiped clean the hefty contracts inside the Nets.
They were like people who had come to a buffet on an empty stomach, only to see a table full of delicacies.
Prokhorov’s idea was to acquire two to three top-tier stars this summer to form The Big Three, and then directly enter the championship fray, competing against the Knicks with sheer force.
The Nets offered Howard and Paul contracts of 60 million US dollars over four years.
As the biggest fish on the market, both inside and outside, the most attractive point of New Jersey was its backing by the New York State market.
Furthermore, the owner didn’t seem like the type of miser who would use a penny as if it were two dollars.
The main difficulty encountered initially in the signing process was that Howard wanted to wait until Paul signed before he would sign.
Paul felt the same way; only if Howard signed would he sign.
Billy King, the General Manager of the Nets, was helpless and could only drag it out.
But Paul didn’t want to delay, recalling how his good buddy James had made his decision, so he contacted Howard privately to find out if he was interested in teaming up.
“Buddy, what can I say?” Howard said to Paul, “Of course I’m willing to team up with you!”
On the third day the free market opened, the Nets became the biggest winners of the summer.
By signing Howard and Paul consecutively, they had directly reserved a spot in the division finals.
Billy King, the General Manager of the Nets, said proudly, “Our initial plan was to build The Big Three, but now, looking at it, two of The Big Three aren’t bad either.”
Moreover, he didn’t put all his eggs in one basket.
If there was an opportunity to bring in a third star, then the Nets would consider all options.
This meant that Gordon Hayward, Jimmer Fredette, and future draft picks were all tradeable.
What’s said might be unintentional, but the listeners were intentional.
Since the spring of 2010, Carmelo Anthony, who had been looking to escape from Denver, had been paying penance for his youthful recklessness.
At that time, Yu Fei’s precedent of extending his contract for a short term had been criticized throughout the United States. People scolded but consciously emulated it.
Carmelo Anthony, thinking himself quite unique, directly signed a 5-year top-salary extension until the summer of 2012.
Now, as this prolonged agony was about to enter its final year, the Nuggets knew that a forced partnership wouldn’t be sweet, and the Brooklyn Nets had a unique advantage. Aside from the two newly signed top-salary contracts, they had no other commitments, and people like Hayward only had signing rights.
Therefore, they could easily absorb Anthony’s contract.
When the Brooklyn Nets, aiming to compete with the Knicks, heard that the Nuggets intended to send Anthony over, Billy King went completely mad.
If they could get Anthony, he was willing to personally take Hayward and Fredette to the airport, wishing them well in their future endeavors.
Then, King first confirmed Anthony’s intentions and, after receiving his commitment to re-sign, the Nuggets swapped Carmelo Anthony for the signing rights of Hayward and Fredette, along with first-round picks for 2012, 2014, and 2016.
At the time of the Anthony trade, he announced on Twitter that he couldn’t wait to re-sign with his new team.
This series of news instantly exploded on social media.
“New Jersey BOOM” became a trending Twitter hashtag.
“Can Dwight, Chris, and Carmelo’s ‘Big Three’ challenge Seattle’s supremacy?” Simmons wrote on Twitter, “I don’t know, but what I do know is that their roster is much more reasonable than Los Angeles’s. Even with Melo, CP3, and Dwight, they still have 3 million US dollars in cap space and a full mid-level exception. You should know this year has the deepest free agent market ever, so they have a big chance to fill out their roster depth with minimum salaries. I don’t know if Seattle’s four-peat will be disrupted, but the suspense in the Eastern Conference has disappeared, as long as they stay healthy, New Jersey is unstoppable.”
To the outside world, the impact of New Jersey’s ‘Big Three’ was no less shocking than when number 23 and number 24 joined forces two years ago.
From a strength perspective, this was a union of the league’s top center, the second-best point guard (if Yu Fei played as a point guard), and the third-best small forward.
At that moment, Yu Fei was attending the premiere of his movie “The Chosen One” with his new girlfriend Elizabeth Olsen.
At the premiere, numerous Hollywood entertainment media were present.
Although a considerable segment didn’t like Yu Fei’s acting, the movie itself didn’t have many dramatic scenes, but his performance in the basketball-related professional scenes was flawless, so most media gave it a rating above 7.
As the end credits rolled, Yu Fei was still immersed in the joy of playing the lead role in a Hollywood movie for the first time; the flashlights lit up, with Olsen nestled by his side.
Yu Fei’s name as the leading actor appeared on the screen.
It was a moment every Hollywood dreamer yearns for.
The compliments from the media at the scene could make one feel like they were in heaven.
When the atmosphere peaked, it felt as though it could last forever.
This was the beguiling trick of Hollywood.
Having dated many Hollywood girlfriends, Yu Fei knew that the most lethal aspect of Hollywood’s stardom was its potential to vanish at any moment.
Yu Fei was very clear about where his real battlefield was.
So when he and Olsen stepped outside to take interviews, a sports media inopportunely intervened, asking Yu Fei what he thought about New Jersey’s ‘Big Three.’
“I’m happy for Melo.” The spotlight was on Yu Fei as he spoke of him like a junior, “He can become a real big shot in New Jersey.”
“At the same time, he will fully and completely realize.”
“What it costs to be a big shot.”
“And what is that, Frye?”
The reporter persisted.
Yu Fei and Olsen exchanged smiles and replied casually: “For instance, having reporters inexplicably intrude into his life, giving him an irrelevant basketball question when he least wants to hear about basketball.”