Hill also chose to return with a minimum salary. After winning the championship, he either retires or sticks around with Zhang Yang to ride the wave of fa, ntor young players during the regular season, and strive for a main rotation spot in the playoffs to pursue a dynasty.
If unable to recruit free agents in their pri, then sign veterans.
Earl Watson, a second-round veteran point guard from the 01 draft, who averaged 5.1 assists per ga last season with the Pacers, joins on a 1-year minimum contract.
Jason Kapono, a second-round pick from the 03 draft and a forr Three-Point Contest champion small forward, joins on a 1-year minimum contract.
Rasual Butler, a second-round pick from the 02 draft, who played in 80 gas last season for the Heat and Clippers, averaging 8.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.1 steals, joins on a 1-year minimum contract.
When no longer persistent or forced to give up pursuing free agents in their pri, the kind of players the Bobcats wanted were plentiful. Stable point guards, defensively active two-three position players, open shooters were easy to choose from, all with seven or eight years of experience... they were just a bit old, already showing obvious decline in recent years, thinking about winning a championship before retiring to complete their basketball careers.
The Bobcats finally assembled an ideal 14-man rotation.
Point Guards: Felton, Collison, Earl Watson; Shooting Guards: Afflalo, Jordan Crawford, Rasual Butler; Small Forwards: Zhang Yang, Marion, Kapono; Power Forwards: Millsap, Ibaka, Hill; Centers: Okafor, Perkins.
The new lineup is slightly less brilliant compared to last season, but after training camp started, everything went smoothly for the Bobcats. Team training and preseason conditions were all very good.
When the regular season began, the starting lineup of Felton, Afflalo, Zhang Yang, Millsap, and Perkins, combined with the main rotation of Collison, Marion, Ibaka, Perkins, and Hill, started with a seven-ga winning streak and ended the first month with a 14-3 record.
Although not matching the 70-win season, it was clearly better than last season.
Zhang Yang’s personal performance also improved, averaging 37.5 points in four gas in the first week, achieving two 40 point gas, imdiately getting into form.
After the first month, except for missing the second ga of a back-to-back due to an ankle sprain, in the 16 gas he played, he averaged 32.5 points, far ahead of Jas with 29 points per ga and Durant with 28.6 points.
With high scores and good records, Zhang Yang defeated... Randolph to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for the first month.
The wayward Randolph returned, and in his first month with the Pacers, he averaged 22.5 points and 12 rebounds in 18 gas, leading the league with 5.4 offensive rebounds per ga, leading the Pacers to a 12-6 record, surpassing the Magic, Hawks, and Knicks to enter the top four in the East.
The Bobcats were first in the East with 14 wins and 3 losses in the first month, Celtics second with 13 wins and 5 losses, Bulls third with 13 wins and 5 losses, and Pacers fourth with 12 wins and 6 losses.
The Bobcats’ performance in the first month was not surprising. They retained four major frontcourt players in the offseason: Millsap, Perkins, Marion, and Hill, which received positive evaluations. O’Neal didn’t want to play anymore, so he retired, there was nothing they could do.
The Bobcats themselves were not surprised either.
Although they couldn’t achieve their ideal strengthening goals in the offseason, they didn’t lose major players except for O’Neal and Matthews.
O’Neal didn’t contribute much during the regular season last year. His main role was during the matchup against Yao Ming and in the finals against Kwa Brown and Gasol.
Matthews only filled in when the team had injuries in the first part of last season and only got stable playing ti towards the end of the season, and was then again benched in the playoffs.
On the other hand, players on rookie contracts like Collison, Cunningham, Ibaka, Afflalo, and Millsap, starting their first year of a big contract at $8.21 million, all showed so improvent.
Felton and Okafor might not have shown much progress compared to last season, but Zhang Yang improved again, and while they didn’t strengthen the rotation, it didn’t an they were weaker than last season.
Old Bickerstaff’s thirty-plus years of experience as a general manager and head coach played a role in this offseason.
Their goal in the free market was to strengthen, if they couldn’t strengthen, then they wouldn’t make any changes, at least not signing players that could disrupt their already refined team system or affect the young players they had developed.
The veterans from the 01 to 03 drafts they signed had been drifting in the league for years. While not exceptionally strong, they had strong adaptability, knew their roles, were receptive to the new system, and were good at finding their place and knowing the right things to do. If not working out, they could simply be waived and replaced, since they were on minimum salary contracts as backup players.
This allowed them to seamlessly continue the almost perfect tactical chemistry they achieved in last season’s playoffs, reaching form earlier than in the past three seasons.
Paying Perkins, Marion, and Millsap higher-than-market contracts for their renewals also served as a great motivator—playing well ans the boss is really willing to pay!
While the average annual increase for these three was only $1 million, the local dia knew how to fra it, saying that Jordan spent an extra $10 million to renew these three players.
However, as a two-ti defending champion, they had no substantial reinforcents while all competitors reinforced, leaving them at a disadvantage, purely forced by circumstances.
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