Chapter 237 Journey to the East

Redden quickly met with Wells' agent, and Bunch Wells' contract expired.

Wells' agent asked for a long-term contract of five years with an average annual salary of $800 million. There was no way he could agree to such a request.

Negotiations broke down and Bonzi Wells announced he would enter the free market.

Mutombo, Wells, and Alan Houston, these three are definitely gone.

Among them, Alan Houston will be bought out because the Knicks have already received the news that the amnesty clause will most likely be passed.

Scott Layden can now confirm that the core lineup for next season will be He Zhongqiu, Nash, Battier, and Josh Howard.

The main lineup is still missing a center or power forward, this must be acquired.

The bench lineup is also in trouble. The contracts of Doriak, Charlie Ward, Shandon Anderson and several others have expired or are about to expire.

They all hope to get better contracts after winning the championship, but it is impossible for the Knicks to offer big contracts to these role players and marginal players.

These people will either enter the free market as completely free agents or be traded away in exchange for some players.

In the league, the NBA will add its 30th team this year. After the original Charlotte Bobcats moved away, the Charlotte Bobcats were re-established.

In the 03/04 season, the New Orleans Hornets joined the Western Conference.

The newly formed Charlotte Bobcats joined the Eastern Conference.

The league also announced that the Eastern and Western conferences would be divided into three divisions each, for a total of six divisions, namely the Southeast, Central, and Atlantic divisions in the East, and the Pacific, Northwest, and Southwest divisions in the West.

The league has re-established the regular season schedule, which will still be 82 regular season games.

Teams from different divisions will play two games each, for a total of 30 games.

Four of the 10 teams from different zones in the same division (randomly) play three games each, for a total of 4 games.

Six of the 10 teams in different zones of the same division will play four games each, for a total of 6 games.

The four teams in the same zone will play four games each, for a total of 4 games.

In order for the Bobcats to complete their roster, the league stipulates that the Bobcats can take no more than one player from each team.

At the same time, in order to protect important players of other teams from being snatched away by the Bobcats, an 8-man protection list was given. Players not on the protection list can be drawn.

The Knicks' eight-man protection list includes He Zhongqiu, Nash, Battier, Josh Howard, Harrington and others.

Excluding those who have left or will leave, 8 rosters have not been filled, and the Bobcats are destined to get nothing from the Knicks.

On June 2004th, the NBA Draft was held at Madison Square Garden.

The Magic selected talented center Dwight Howard with the No. 1 pick, the New Orleans Hornets selected Emeka Okafor with the No. 2 pick, and the Bulls selected Ben Gordon with the No. 3 pick.

The Knicks selected Anderson Varejao, a Brazilian who can play both the four and five positions, with the last pick in the first round.

Currently, Layden has only six players confirmed for next season, namely He Zhongqiu, Battier, Josh Howard, Nash, Anderson Varejao, and Harrington.

The contracts of Doleac, Charlie Ward and Shandon Anderson have all expired. After winning the championship, they have no more aspirations, so they do not plan to renew their contracts. They want to enter the free market to fight for a big retirement contract. If they don't get it, they will retire.

Harrington only has one year left on his contract, so it would be best to trade him.

As the trading window opened, he began to busy himself with finding people.

In this year's free market, there are two big names who are completely free agents, one is Kobe and the other is Wallace.

There is no need to think about Kobe. Last time, the Lakers wanted to trade O'Neal for Wolverine. This time, they would definitely rather trade O'Neal than let go of Kobe.

The Pistons will definitely try their best to keep Rasheed Wallace, otherwise it would be a waste of two first-round picks.

He contacted Rasheed Wallace's agent and found out that the Roaring King had reached a contract extension agreement with the Pistons.

Then he immediately contacted the Postman, hoping to sign the veteran with a minimum salary, but he could only play as a substitute.

But the Postman's agent said he wanted to take a break before deciding whether to retire.

Leiden immediately contacted He Zhongqiu and asked him to recruit the postman. The postman still had some experience, so it would be very cost-effective for him to be a substitute.

After He Zhongqiu received Leiden's call, he called him immediately.

To be honest, he doesn't think highly of the Postman's current strength, but the team is short of people now, so the Postman can only play as a substitute.

"Hello?"

"It's me, the great Wolverine."

"Wolverine, you're the first guy to call himself great."

"Haha! I thought you were complimenting me. If you were mocking me, I'd beat you up next time we meet."

"...You bastard! No, you are right, you are really a bad guy!"

"Haha, Doc, stop talking nonsense. I'll give you a chance to win a championship and be my substitute. Will you come?"

"Can't I play as a starter? I still have some energy left. I can definitely do what Mutombo can do."

"Don't bargain with me. Come and talk to me. If you have the ability, fight for the starting position yourself, unless you don't want the championship."

"OK then."

"Let your agent contact Mr. Rayden."

Raiden then received a call from the postman's agent and was very happy. He was glad that he had informed Wolverine, otherwise he would have missed out on this bargain of the postman.

He then contacted Payton and offered him the first backup position at the point guard position, but only with a minimum salary of $100 million.

Payton said modestly through his agent that he would think about it first and notify the Knicks after the trade freeze period.

In fact, he thought that since he is only 36 years old now, with his current physical condition, he can still play for two years. If he plays as a substitute, three years will be no problem.

Apart from the Knicks, he doesn't know where to go to win the championship. The Knicks are definitely the team with the greatest chance. He doesn't want to retire without a championship like Barkley.

I just want to negotiate the conditions, strive for a bigger contract, and better treatment after I get there.

"Let Wolverine recruit all these guys. His influence must be utilized, otherwise it will be wasted."

Leiden was a little frustrated by the failure of recruiting, and immediately notified He Zhongqiu and asked him to do the work.

He Zhongqiu called Payton’s private number without saying anything and said, “Gloves, the postman is coming, aren’t you coming over?
I can tell you, old man, there are many veterans who want to come here. If you hesitate any longer, there will be no place for you."

Payton was surprised and said, "He, he promised you? This bastard, why didn't he tell me? Well, I'll come over too."

Now that the glove was fixed, Nash's main substitute was no longer a problem, and Layden breathed a sigh of relief.

He plans to let Josh Howard play as the main player at the No. 2 position. The young man played well in his rookie season, and his defense and offense were also okay.

The main player at the third position is Battier. There are no substitutes for the second and third positions yet, so we need to find two or three more.

He has his eyes on Jamal Crawford, the Bulls' main shooting guard last season. If he can be traded, he can replace Alan Houston's sixth man position.

克劳福德是00年首轮8号秀，上赛季场均17.3分3.5篮板5.1助攻，是公牛的第一得分点。

But his shooting percentage is very poor, only 38.6% last season, and his defense is pathetic, with poor confrontation ability. He cannot adapt to the current tough style of play in the league, which the Bulls do not like.

But he believes that Crawford has good scoring ability and is suitable to play as the sixth man. The position of the sixth man does not require high defense, as long as he can score points.

The reason why he wanted to trade Crawford was because he knew that the Bulls were not satisfied with Crawford and wanted to trade him.

After Jordan retired, the Bulls fell into repeated reconstruction. The team-building strategy changed repeatedly, and the reconstruction was never successful.

Now that the Knicks have won the championship, other teams will not be willing to strengthen the Knicks through trades, except for bad teams at the bottom like the Bulls. As long as they have draft picks, they should be willing to trade.

He quickly contacted the Bulls, offering Harrington and the Knicks' unprotected first-round pick in 05 as a bargaining chip.

Crawford's four-year rookie contract has expired, and if he is not traded, he will be let go for nothing, so the Bulls readily agreed.

The Bulls signed him first and then traded him to the Knicks, offering him a six-year, $6 million contract with a starting salary of $4536 million, which was worthy of the No. 576 pick in the first round.

In order to match the deal, the Knicks added Frank Williams, the last pick in the first round in 02, in addition to the original chips.

Only after the deal was negotiated did Scott Layden begin studying the free market list.

Soon, he dealt with several people.

The first is shooting guard Brent Barry, who is very accurate in three-point shooting. When he was young, he could fly and dunk. He is the only white dunk champion in the league's history. He is 33 years old this year. Although he can't fly anymore, he has no problem playing as a substitute for the first and second positions.

The second is the Spurs' backup power forward Malik Rose, 30 years old, a second-round pick, who averaged 03 minutes, 04 points and 18.7 rebounds per game in the 7.9/4.8 season. His rebounding ability is okay, and he has no problem playing as a substitute at the power forward position.

The third one was just to make up the numbers. They found a marginal center, Bralo Sandov, because they couldn't find any outstanding people in the interior.

After getting these three people, there is still a lack of a main power forward. The team has no chips to trade. If they really can't find anyone, the main force at the fourth position will be temporarily replaced by the postman, or rotated into the starting lineup.

In this way, Layden has basically finalized the lineup for next season.

The main lineup includes He Zhongqiu, Karl Malone, Battier, Josh Howard and Nash.

The inside substitute lineup is Anderson Varejao, Malik Ross, and Bralo Sandev.

The outside bench lineup is Jamal Crawford, Brent Barry, and Gary Payton.

This twelve-man lineup still needs to be strengthened, as it is missing a main power forward and there is no substitute at the third position.

……

As the Knicks stepped up their efforts to strengthen their team, the Lakers held a press conference and announced the termination of their contract with head coach Phil Jackson, citing their failure in the finals as the reason.

General Manager Kupchak invited former Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich to serve as the Lakers' head coach.

Then, the Lakers management put O'Neal on the shelf.

Old Buss originally wanted to keep the OK combination, but O'Neal insisted on a five-year, 100 million-dollar maximum salary contract. There was nothing to be done. The Lakers believed that O'Neal was not worth that much now and did not want to give him, so they could only put him on the shelf.

The Mavericks immediately offered their chips, and everyone except Nowitzki could be a chip.

The Timberwolves are similar to the Mavericks, and everyone except Garnett can be taken.

The chips offered by the Grizzlies are Pau Gasol + Mike Miller + Jason Williams + the unprotected first-round pick in 05.

But Tomjanovich disagreed with trading O'Neal to the West, and his reasons were very clear.

First, if O'Neal stays in the West, it will only strengthen the Lakers' Western opponents, which is not good for the Lakers.

Second, trading O'Neal to the Eastern Conference would give the Knicks a strong opponent, which would also be beneficial to the Lakers.

Therefore, the Lakers management excluded all Western teams and chose to trade with Eastern teams.

Several teams in the East also offered their own chips, including the Heat, Wizards, Celtics, etc.

Kupchak couldn't make a decision for a while and could only study these chips slowly.

……

On July 1st, He Zhongqiu, who had rested for more than half a month, officially joined the crew.

Most of his scenes were action scenes, which went quite smoothly. The shoot lasted for a month.

On the 8th, Knicks Chairman Scott Layden and Alan Houston's agent Strickland had some negotiations.

Alan Houston has a serious knee injury and severe arthritis. He just underwent surgery and has been ruled out for next season.

Strickland knows Alan Houston's current situation best. The possibility of his comeback is very small, and he may retire.

Therefore, he did not agree to reduce the contract amount and demanded that the Knicks pay the full amount of the remaining three years of the contract, a total of more than 57 million US dollars.

On July 14, the Lakers and the Heat completed a deal that shocked the league.

The Heat paid Odom + Caron Butler + Brian Grant + the Heat's unprotected first-round pick in 06 + the second-round pick in 07 to get Shaquille O'Neal.

The reason why the Lakers chose the Heat is because of Pat Riley's special relationship with the Lakers, and they would give the advantage to their own people first.

There is another reason, and it is also because of Pat Riley.

The Lakers recognize Pat Riley's ability, and with O'Neal in the hands of this fortune teller, he may really be able to create a strong opponent for the Knicks.

He Zhongqiu soon learned the news. He knew that the Knicks had a new opponent in the East. The Big Shark and the Flash were strong enough.

With the Knicks' perimeter defense, no one can stop the Flash's breakthrough.

As long as the Flash breaks in, he can form inside and outside cooperation with the Great Shark and create a power that is greater than the sum of one and one.

……

On August 1st, Yang Xue arrived in New York and officially joined the crew.

She needs to shoot in New York for two months, and some scenes with He Zhongqiu have to wait until He Zhongqiu finishes the Olympics.

In addition to her former assistant Zhou Qing, she was also accompanied by Wang Fang.

"Sister Xue, did those two guys bully you again?" He Zhongqiu asked as soon as they met.

"No, I just said two sentences that time."

Yang Xue smiled again and said, "This time when I went back to film with them, their attitude was okay. Anyway, I only filmed with them and we didn't talk in private."

"If it doesn't work, just continue to punish them." He Zhongqiu laughed.

Yang Xue said, "Forget it, Sanjin, there is no deep hatred. Their reputation in the mainland has declined a lot this time, and they have been much more low-key in the crew."

"A dog will always eat shit. People in the Hong Kong film and television industry are used to being domineering in the mainland. As long as this wave of public opinion passes, they will definitely relapse."

He Zhongqiu shook his head and asked, "Have you finished filming your scenes?"

Yang Xue said with a smile: "Sanjin, let me tell you, after I went back last time, Director Wang and I signed another contract.

The pay is 35,000 yuan per episode, and I get a quasi-first-line treatment. I also have a lot more scenes. I didn’t finish filming this time. I’ve finished filming Iron Eagle King, and I’ll have to film for another half a month after returning.”

"Wang Jing? This guy knows how to handle things."

He Zhongqiu praised and asked, "Has the domestic market price increased now? The quasi-first-tier theaters have reached 35,000 per episode?"

"Well, it started to increase last year. This year, first-line stars make 40,000 to 50,000 per episode. For a 20-episode series, a female lead with more scenes can make around 500,000 to 600,000 yuan, while a female lead with fewer scenes can make around 340,000 yuan."

Yang Xue nodded and said, "Sanjin, your film and television company has been established, and Lin Xue has also arrived at the company to temporarily manage the artist department.

My current contract is also signed with the company, as are Wang Baoqiang, Wu Jing, and Zhang Jin, making a total of four people."

"Okay, I mentioned this to Lin Xue last time. This year I plan to take 20 million US dollars to develop the company. There is also a 10 million US dollar salary from Shinhwa, a total of 30 million US dollars. If you are optimistic about any film and television project, invest after you have done your research." He said.

Yang Xue said worriedly: "Then when you go back this time, go visit Mr. Han first and get his support, otherwise you will definitely be suppressed in China."

"Who would suppress my company?" He Zhongqiu asked with some confusion.

Yang Xue said: "Liu Yifei can't get any acting jobs now, neither movies nor TV shows. She only has two movies she signed on for. I think she is being suppressed.

Not only did she not get any acting jobs, but there was no news about her either, and the magazines she shot hardly appeared on some portal websites.

Then she talked about the affairs of Tangren and Huayi Company, and said: "The entertainment industry is like this, the big fish eat the small fish, the company with the most resources is the biggest, and they can suppress us with just one word.

Now that you have returned to China to start a film and television company, with your fame and influence, you will definitely take a piece of their pie. For their own interests, how can they not suppress you?"

He Zhongqiu thought of the Hong Kong entertainment industry that was once controlled by the underworld, and what happened to Jet Li in Hong Kong, and nodded his head.

But he was a little confused and asked, "If you can't get a role, you can also say that you are suppressed by the companies in the industry. This is indeed possible.

But her news and magazines were also suppressed. With such great power as Tangren and Huayi, can they influence those Internet companies and TV stations?"

Yang Xue said: "Of course they can have an impact, these two companies have many artists, especially Huayi Company, which has more than a dozen first-line big-name stars from Hong Kong.

If Huayi doesn't agree, these big-name Hong Kong stars will refuse to participate in certain TV programs and will not choose these TV stations to produce TV dramas. Do you think it will have a big impact? Internet companies have similar reasons. "

"So that's how it is." He Zhongqiu suddenly realized.

Yang Xue said, "I'm only busy filming this time when I return to China, so I don't have much time. After finishing your movie, I plan to build some connections at Beijing Film Academy and Beijing Film Academy, and then see if there are any good talents in the school and sign them to the company first. We don't have any big stars, so we can slowly train them ourselves."

"Sister, you make the decision. I don't understand either." He Zhongqiu said.

Yang Xue recounted what Wang Fang had told her last time and said, "If there really is a chance, Sanjin, do you think we should poach Wang Jinhua?"

He Zhongqiu nodded without hesitation and said, "A horse cannot grow fat without night grass, so take the opportunity. Ross Lewis has good connections in Hollywood, so he has a chance to play a role in a literary drama.

If that doesn't work, we can write the script and shoot it ourselves, just like Iron Eagle King did, find investment in Hollywood and share the risk."

Yang Xue said: "Then I will let Sister Wang have a chance to contact Wang Jinhua."

He Zhongqiu nodded and said, "There is one thing, sister. If you are not satisfied with the makeup done by the makeup artist of the crew, you can do it yourself, or ask Lin Xue to invite a good one from China."

"Ah?" Yang Xue was a little surprised.

He Zhongqiu explained: "Because our aesthetics are completely different from those of Americans, there are few beautiful Chinese female characters in American movies. Smoky makeup is too ugly. I have already discussed this with Ross Lewis and the director."

"Okay, I understand." Yang Xue nodded.

(End of this chapter)