Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters Chapter 876 876 539 The Wind Rises in New Jersey3

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 beco 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 ga during critical monts.

Upon hearing Howard’s demands, Paul couldn’t help thinking, “He’s practically talking about !”

Under the new labor agreent, 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 dread 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 co 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 sumr 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 sa 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 Jas 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 beca the biggest winners of the sumr.

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 ant that Gordon Hayward, Jimr Fredette, and future draft picks were all tradeable.

What’s said might be unintentional, but the listeners were intentional.

Since the spring of 2010, Carlo Anthony, who had been looking to escape from Denver, had been paying penance for his youthful recklessness.

At that ti, 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.

Carlo Anthony, thinking himself quite unique, directly signed a 5-year top-salary extension until the sumr 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 commitnts, 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 confird Anthony’s intentions and, after receiving his commitnt to re-sign, the Nuggets swapped Carlo Anthony for the signing rights of Hayward and Fredette, along with first-round picks for 2012, 2014, and 2016.

At the ti 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 dia.

“New Jersey BOOM” beca a trending Twitter hashtag.

“Can Dwight, Chris, and Carlo’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 lo, 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 mont, Yu Fei was attending the premiere of his movie “The Chosen One” with his new girlfriend Elizabeth Olsen.

At the premiere, nurous Hollywood entertainnt dia were present.

Although a considerable segnt 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 dia gave it a rating above 7.

As the end credits rolled, Yu Fei was still imrsed in the joy of playing the lead role in a Hollywood movie for the first ti; the flashlights lit up, with Olsen nestled by his side.

Yu Fei’s na as the leading actor appeared on the screen.

It was a mont every Hollywood drear yearns for.

The complints from the dia 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 mont.

Yu Fei was very clear about where his real battlefield was.

So when he and Olsen stepped outside to take interviews, a sports dia inopportunely intervened, asking Yu Fei what he thought about New Jersey’s ‘Big Three.’

“I’m happy for lo.” The spotlight was on Yu Fei as he spoke of him like a junior, “He can beco a real big shot in New Jersey.”

“At the sa ti, 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.”