CHAPTER 1272: CHAPTER 514: ZHANG SAN: KOBE, WANT TO LEARN? I’LL TEACH YOU! (PART 2)

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The Wizards disrupted the market, igniting the free agent frenzy that had been dormant for over a month.

Many teams were holding back, hoping to take advantage of the Wizards’ situation. Caron Butler and Jamison, both averaging over 20 points and capable of playing off the ball, were highly sought after.

Some media revealed that the Raptors only made an offer to Turkoglu at this time because their original target was Jamison.

The destinations for these two players from the Wizards have been set, and teams with salary cap space started taking action.

Marvin Williams received a 3-year, $27 million offer from his former team, the Hawks, which the Cavaliers, possessing the right to match, chose to do so.

Bibby took a pay cut to re-sign, and with some mid-level contracts expiring, the Hawks cleared up cap space. After failing to bring back Marvin Williams, they signed Jamal Crawford from the Warriors for 2 years, $19 million.

The Pistons offered $35 million over 5 years to Villanueva, who averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds last season, and the Brooklyn Nets did not match.

The Hawks signed veteran Joe Smith from the Bulls with a one-year minimum offer. The Bobcats’ competition was rejected, as Joe Smith stated he did not want to join the team that just defeated him.

The Miami Heat signed Big Q, who averaged 10.2 points last season with the Knicks, for $10 million over 1 year. It was rumored that Dolan called the yacht-selling owner of the Heat saying, "Are you crazy?" The Knicks’ offer was 2 years, $9 million.

The Lakers won out against the Spurs in competition, signing veteran Antonio McDyess with a two-year mid-level exception.

The Spurs turned and signed the 1995 draft class’s former blocking king, Theo Ratliff, with a minimum salary.

The Suns, beating out the Hornets, Jazz, and Bulls, signed free agent Channing Frye to a 5-year, $36.29 million mid-level exception.

Gooden declined to re-sign with the Celtics, and the Mavericks used part of their mid-level exception to sign Gooden for 1 year at $3 million. The Mavericks’ total salary rose to $98.72 million, surpassing the Cavaliers’ $96-plus million to take the top spot on the salary list.

Having failed to renew his contract with the Warriors, Matt Barnes disappeared from public view for a while before suddenly signing with the Magic on a one-year minimum contract...

Zhang Yang trained on schedule daily, and on rest days went fishing, feeling notably different fishing after winning the championship compared to being eliminated. In his spare time, he also kept an eye on the free agent market and the rumors.

In July, there wasn’t much activity. Artest moving to the Mavericks was considered a hot transfer. Zhang Yang thought that this summer would just be the summer of mid-level players like Jack and Pietrus, but then many well-known players changed teams.

Occasionally there were rumors about his own team, such as rejecting Marbury, being turned down by Joe Smith, and having negotiated a minimum salary with veteran Earl Watson of the 2001 class, only to be outbid by the Pacers who offered $3 million for 1 year...

He didn’t care too much about this, as the team roster already had 14 players. The 15th spot was just a backup. Unless they encountered a situation like the Mavericks’ last season, it didn’t make much difference.

What piqued his curiosity was the situation with the Lakers. After their championship loss, this summer they only made two moves. Their plan to recruit Artest was disrupted by the "Crazy Scientist" who was "not only harming themselves but also others", and then they had no news until they finally grabbed McDyess.

On their end, before signing Marion, there were quite a few competent players wanting to join, such as Rasheed Wallace, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, and Malik Allen. However, their shooting guard and power forward positions were well-filled. The relatively weaker positions were point guard and small forward, so they were declined.

Over on the Lakers side, those wanting to cling to the star players were likely no less than here on their end. But the news about the Lakers’ trials and signing rumors were not as abundant as the headlines about Kwame Brown and Pau Gasol’s "weight loss showdown".

In July, Kwame Brown lost 11 pounds, and Pau Gasol lost 13 pounds. Kwame Brown lost $20,000 to Pau Gasol, and this bet was donated to a local stray animal protection organization, even making the headlines.

With curiosity, Zhang Yang checked on the condition of the Lakers in the early years of the century and also on the Bulls in the 1990s, finding the answer.

The "OK Dynasty" and the Bulls’ double dynasty have one common feature – as long as the players were sufficient.

The lineup characteristics of the three dynasties were similar. Apart from the superstars and core facilitators, players in other positions were mostly specialists.

There’s a slight difference between them and functional players. Functional players excel in one specific area and possess NBA rotation level skills.

In those three dynasty teams and the current Lakers, some players might not continue in the NBA if they changed teams, but under the triangle offense system, they managed to look quite decent.

Players like Vujacic and Shannon Brown, if put on other strong teams, they wouldn’t know how to utilize them due to their major weaknesses. At most, they could only go to weak teams to rack up some stats, fading out of the NBA within two to three years. But during the Lakers’ championship contention period, they were part of the main rotation.

Zhang San: Perhaps this is why the Zen Master can easily build championship caliber strength with superstars?

Time flew to the end of August. As each team’s cap space gradually ran out, the free agent market’s fervor also slowly cooled down, becoming dormant again.

On Zhang Yang’s side, after the "Compton Volume King Training Camp" ended, he joined the "California Iron King Training Camp". The trainer was still Tim Grove, but the players training with him changed from those like Daluo and Erluo Xiaofei to Kobe, Ariza, and Kidd.