The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 598 - 292: 2015 NBA Free Agent Market_2

Love was selected for the second best team in the 13-14 season, and although he was not selected for the best team last season, he still averaged 25.4 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game with a three-point shooting percentage of 37.3%. His data was still explosive.

Moreover, Love had developed his playmaking abilities and his three-point shooting was very stable, making him the complete version of Love.

If it weren’t for Love’s personal wishes, influenced by Nike, the Timberwolves would never have sold him for so little.

Therefore, this news was even more explosive than that of the Heat Team, because when 23+24 still couldn’t succeed, they went directly for The Big Three!

It was after trading for Love that James and the Lakers signed another 1+1 contract.

With this, the Lakers not only formed The Big Three but also retained Frye.

And because they had traded for Mozgov prior, this season he was a team option, which meant their frontcourt depth instantly became the best in the League.

What they needed to do next was decide whether to keep Lin Shuhao, whose contract was expiring, or to strengthen the team with some veterans.

At this time, the voices on social media were quite intriguing; apart from being shocked, they were all calling out to West for signing with the Heat Team too early.

Hansen only found out about Love moving to the Lakers after seeing Griffin arrive following the training.

He was somewhat surprised, but not overly so.

Kobe was already showing signs of decline; if the Lakers, including Nike, didn’t seize this opportunity, they really wouldn’t have another chance.

Including the draft rights previously sent out by James to the Lakers, the Lakers had completely emptied their future, a typical all-in move.

But not everyone is Musk; the Lakers can’t even think of winning the championship that easily, let alone reaching the finals, especially with the Warriors in the West.

Others might not know, but Hansen knew that the next season was going to be Curry’s true peak season of devastation.

This upcoming season was going to be crazy.

Both the Eastern and Western Conferences had two super teams, even epic teams. If you include the Warriors, that made three. The team that ultimately wins the championship in such a season will definitely go down in history.

In poetic terms, only such a champion would be worthy of the Cavaliers’ first championship in team history.

Seeing how calm Hansen was, Griffin was no longer anxious; after all, Hansen’s shock victory over the Heat Team last season was truly stunning.

If Hansen said there was no problem, then there definitely was no problem.

Incidentally, he also discussed the Cavaliers’ summer reinforcements with Hansen.

The main purpose of the Cavaliers this season was to retain the original lineup and sign as many players as possible.

JR and TT were definitely going to be retained; both had performed exceptionally last season in the Cavaliers’ win over the Heat.

JR was not erratic beside Hansen, and TT was rapidly improving under Garnett’s guidance.

However, their contracts were quite different.

JR opted out of his contract option of over 6 million to explore, only to find that he couldn’t secure a larger contract than his player option in the market!

Theoretically, he had performed excellently in the playoffs last season, and securing a contract of eight or nine million would have been completely reasonable.

But the reality was, in the eyes of the various general managers, you, JR, had been irregular for so many years, and now you’ve been normal for just one year—it’s hard for us to trust you!

So in the end, the Cavaliers actually saved money on signing JR, securing him with a 2-year contract for 12 million, with a player option in the second year.

But TT, he went all out, demanding a 5-year contract worth 80 million.

"This is your job, don’t consider my factors," Hansen said, not getting involved in such negotiations.

It was different from when Conley and others were renewing their contracts, because at that time, Conley and the others were worth that market price, whereas TT’s price was clearly inflated.

What Griffin actually needed was just that phrase from Hansen, because there were still no teams outside making offers to TT, and the Cavaliers could afford to wait.

Besides these two, Williams and Garnett were both set to sign renewal contracts with the Cavaliers.

Although it wasn’t necessarily a sure win for the team if Irving had played in the finals last season, that kind of experience always left people feeling unsatisfied.

In addition to this, the Cavaliers had also signed Mike Dunleavy with a 3-year, 14.4 million contract.

Hansen was somewhat surprised by this because Dunleavy was a starter for the Bulls, but he could only play as a substitute for the Cavaliers.

The reason Griffin gave was irrefutable.

"It’s because you chose to join us; indeed, there are other players who want to come, but we don’t have that much cap space to maneuver."

That statement was quite true, Hansen was performing so well with the Cavaliers, how could there not be players wanting to join him?

Especially since, being last season’s playoff opponents, they had directly experienced his dominance on the court.

Dunleavy, whom Hansen had faced back when he was playing for the Lakers in the West, was a very "typical" white player with average physical fitness but high basketball IQ, relied heavily on off-ball movement, and was the kind of player who could plug and play.

His addition was indeed a nice boost to the Cavaliers’ bench.

The Cavaliers signed Dunleavy not only for reinforcement but also because James Johnson was preparing to move to the Raptors.

Johnson got regular rotation during the last season, but his playtime significantly reduced during the playoffs.

His situation was similar to Guy’s; having won three consecutive championships with Hansen at the Grizzlies, he needed money more than trophies.

The Raptors could offer him more opportunities.

Of course, Hansen knew about this and fully supported Johnson’s decision.

Like Oakley who was only with Jordan in the early days of his career before moving to the New York Knicks, a player has to consider their career path.

Especially now when Johnson needed opportunities the most.

In fact, Garnett had even tried to persuade Pierce to join the Cavaliers, but Pierce ultimately returned to the Celtics for a three-year, $10.5 million contract called back by Angie.

He and Garnett were, after all, different; as Hansen’s first major critic, his personality was not one to submit to Hansen.

As the free agency period was winding down, Hansen was also getting ready to start another summer training camp.

But before the camp began, Irving arrived at the gym earlier.

His recovery had taken longer than expected, but he was now fully healed.

Upon seeing Hansen, Irving’s first words were, "Help me get stronger!"

That caught Jokic, who was in the middle of training, off guard. He looked at Irving with a bewildered expression as if to say, "It’s just a regular day at work, why so intense?"

Honestly, Hansen was also surprised, but seeing Irving’s resolute expression, it seemed that during the month of rehabilitation, Irving must have thought a lot.

One of those thoughts definitely was: I missed my first career championship.

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Irving tended to be self-centered, but regardless of the reason, his initiative to want to get stronger was good news for the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers’ roster reinforcements were limited. To defeat the Lakers, Heat, and Warriors, they had to rely on their current roster getting stronger.

So in what areas could Irving improve, or needed improvement?

The first and most useful thing was actually organizing.

Last season, due to a focus on the team’s performance, it got overlooked, but this season they definitely had to give him ample opportunity to practice.

They didn’t expect Irving to truly become a master organizer, just that he could improve his "passing tendency."

However, this aspect required in-game changes, besides the training camp scrimmages, also regular-season games.

Another equally important aspect was Irving’s defense.

Currently, Irving’s defense was immensely weak; last season against the Heat, Dragic could easily get past him.

In other words, Irving’s defense, just like James’s post-ups, although couldn’t reach an elite level, because the original level was poor enough, with real dedication to training, it could still get to the league’s average.

And just by covering these two areas, Irving would have eliminated any weaknesses in his skills, which means next season he should be thinking not just about All-Stars but about being in the All-NBA Team.

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