Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 563 A Brand New Season Arrives! Loud Talk, But No Results

After understanding the team's full roster and situation for the new season, what else is important?

Lin Tian thought for a long time, then suddenly slapped his thigh and jumped out of bed.

The season gift pack from last season's end hasn't been opened yet!

Because the Knicks only won around 50 games last season and ultimately failed to win the championship or even reach the Finals, this season's performance package is quite low. While his personal statistics, highlight moments, and team status were indeed rated S+, his final record was only A-, which is arguably the lowest he has ever achieved since entering the league.

The gift package that Lin Tian ultimately received was only an A+ level.

Anyway, Lin Tian didn't have any matches in the summer, and after the season ended, he just played around and completely forgot about it.

Now that the new season has started, it's time to open this A+ bundle and see what good stuff is inside!

"The gift pack has been opened for the host."

"Host has gained 8000 experience points."

"The host has acquired the rune: Restoration Rune."

"Recovery Rune: After the host suffers damage from any external force or bodily ailments, as long as they do not die, their positive recovery ability increases by 20%!"

Gone.

The A+ gift pack only contained two items, which is really a bit low.

But after reading the description of the rune, Lin Tian couldn't help but sigh.

This thing shouldn't be too much of a surprise to appear in an S+ gift pack, right?

This time, we were absolutely incredibly lucky.

Of course, this thing is of little use on the basketball court. After all, no matter what kind of injury you have, increasing your recovery speed by 20% won't make you come back for the game right away.

At most, it can get you back on the court in just two and a half months from an injury that would normally take three months to recover.

However, it may not be very useful on the basketball court, but it plays a significant role in daily life!

Even Lin Tian felt that, with the addition of the Evergreen Rune, he was now a walking, simplified version of the elixir of immortality.

Slow down aging, accelerate self-healing...

He's just a few bone knives away from becoming Wolverine.

In addition, after receiving 8000 experience points from the system, Lin Tian now has more than 24,000 experience points. However, after studying it a little, Lin Tian decided to save them and not level up this time!

After all, Lin Tian doesn't have many skills that can be upgraded right now, and his physical attributes and offensive skills are already at their peak. As for defense, trying to improve his defense on a team that doesn't emphasize defense at all would just be asking for trouble!

Lin Tian reviewed all his skills and found that only "Peak Moment" was useful for the current Knicks team.

However, at peak moment, it would take approximately 3 experience points to level up to LV5, which is the maximum level, so Lin Tian decided to wait.

Who knows, maybe this skill, once it reaches its maximum level, will bring me some extra surprises?

Anyway, it's only a difference of 6 to 7000 points. If I'm lucky, I can beat Jordan and the Bobcats a couple more times and I can make up the difference in half a season.

Lin Tian still remembers how much experience Jordan gave him during the game last season when he led his team to a crushing victory over the Bobcats!

That was absolutely wonderful!

What does it mean to be consistent and relentlessly exploit a sheep?

That's it! From the very first chapter when he entered the league, all the way until Lin Tian dominated the league, he still wouldn't let Jordan go!

It's not really Lin Tian's fault. Who told you to be so generous, quick, and easy when Jordan lost experience points?

There's nothing I can do!

After Lin Tian finished opening the season gift pack, all the pre-season preparations for this season can be considered complete.

All that's left is to wait for the preseason to start, and then the regular season.

This season's league is not much different from last season.

Although there were many small trades, few were enough to shake up and change the league.

One of the few things worth mentioning is that the Nets finally disbanded after years of failure.

This offseason, they faced the predicament of both Yao Ming and Pau Gasol's contracts expiring at the same time. Both of them undoubtedly deserve maximum salaries, but with Kidd and Carter already on the team, the Nets really couldn't afford to pay both Yao Ming and Pau Gasol's high salaries at the same time.

If a team has four max contracts, then you have to go look for the Knicks next door. Our Nets, at that point, are truly a rural team.

The fact that the Nets neither extended the contracts of these two players nor traded them speaks volumes about the team's thinking.

They're betting on the last year; if they make a breakthrough, they'll all stay; if not, then we'll see.

The Nets, who fell in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, obviously couldn't be considered to have made a breakthrough, so the team had to make a decision during the offseason.

Well, this choice isn't difficult to make.

The Nets retained Yao Ming with a five-year max contract, a player with a larger market and the entire Chinese market behind him, who could help the Nets make a lot of money.

As for Gasol, after fully communicating with him and understanding his personal thoughts, the Nets signed him in a sign-and-trade deal, sending him to Memphis.

As for the reason for going to Memphis, it was because the head coach there, Hubie Brown, had a good relationship with Gasol and was willing to build the team around him as the absolute core, and gave Gasol a maximum contract.

All the Nets got was a future Grizzlies draft pick and a trade exception.

Gasol's willingness to sign-and-trade, leaving the team with a first-round draft pick, shows he's quite sentimental; otherwise, he could have simply left the team without a pick.

The Nets lost Gasol but didn't make any reinforcements. It's clear to everyone that while they'll likely remain a top-four team in the East next season, that's about the ceiling for the Nets.

The upper half of the Eastern Conference plus the second round of the playoffs.

Another breakthrough?

Are they going to take on the Pistons, Celtics, and Knicks?

In addition, after the Pacers had a terrible season last year, the new team leader Webber, who also performed poorly, had a rather unpleasant relationship with Carlisle and Bird after Lin Tian left.

Although the team made him the absolute core last season, letting him play his preferred power forward position and his preferred passing and cutting system, Webber still only averaged 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists per game, with a field goal percentage of only 46%. As an inside player, Webber's efficiency was truly mediocre.

Even so, Webber was still not satisfied. He felt that Miller was taking up his space in the paint, that Ginobili's passes were too free-flowing and unreliable, leading to too many turnovers for the team, and that Parker was always thinking about pick-and-rolls and didn't treat him as the team leader at all.

In short, a year after Lin Tian left, all sorts of problems of the Pacers surfaced, and the harmonious atmosphere and sense of shared hatred that Lin Tian had when he was in the team completely disappeared.

After half a summer of back-and-forth and mutual torment, Bird couldn't withstand Webber's repeated trade requests and had no choice but to finally decide to send away this key player who had contributed to the team's five-peat.

After some communication and asking around, Bird continued his usual humane approach and sent Weber to Philadelphia, the big city he wanted to go to!

Even though Philadelphia's offer wasn't the best, and they were in the same Eastern Conference as the Pacers.

Weber wanted to go, so Bird agreed anyway.

Let's just consider it a way of giving those who have made contributions a decent living.

At this point, Doug Christie is the only player on the Pacers team who has won more than five championships with Lin Tian. Considering his personality, contract size, current age, and current form, this guy, who started playing as a substitute last season, will most likely retire in Indiana.

If you're lucky, you might even get a retired jersey.

But that was just his own honor. That invincible Pacers team was ultimately disbanded!

The Pacers, rebuilding around players like Parker, Ginobili, and Howard, are destined to struggle to make the playoffs and will likely linger in the lottery for a while.

They need to wait for a true leader to guide them before they can rise again.

The good news is that the team's rookie this year, Granger, seems to be very capable. He is mature, calm, and has good skills. Bird even saw a bit of himself in him.

I just don't know how far Granger will eventually grow.

In addition, the Spurs are also making moves. As James gets older, his muscles are becoming more and more defined and muscular. He is no longer the skinny young man who could only play point guard a couple of years ago.

He has fully grown up.

This means that James can play the 2-3 positions and form one of the league's top wing-guard duos with McGrady, but this would leave the point guard position vacant.

The Spurs' approach is to continue strengthening their roster!

They once again over-specified their last two first-round draft picks and all the rotation players they could offer, trading them to Sacramento in exchange for the Kings' point guard, who was still in his prime.

Mike Bibby, the star of "The White Devil".

Bibby possesses both good offensive and playmaking abilities, and his strong physique allows him to perform quite well on the defensive end as well. Popovich believes that he, along with James and McGrady, can completely carry the team's offense!

It's the third year, Spurs, it's time to produce results!

When the team's last top talent joined, they made it to the Finals in their second year!

In addition, the Cavaliers signed Larry Hughes, who averaged 20+5+5+2 and was named to the All-Defensive Team last year with the Wizards, to a five-year, $55 million contract, further strengthening the team.

After experiencing a nightmare playoff run last season, Hughes' value in the free agent market dropped significantly. Several teams that originally wanted to acquire him began to wait and see, while those teams that were willing to offer him contracts mostly offered between 4 years and $3800 million and 5 years and $4500 million.

Nobody offered him a multi-million dollar annual salary!

The Cavaliers were the only team willing to offer him a 5-year, $5000 million contract, but even so, Hughes didn't want to go to Cleveland, a small town. He preferred the Bay Area or a more comfortable climate like Orlando, even if those places offered less money.

In the end, it was the general manager of Cleveland who made the final decision, increasing the investment again and raising the offer to $5500 million over 5 years. Only then did Hughes finally agree, choosing the smaller city of Cleveland for the sake of the extra $100 million per year.

Cleveland thus formed a backcourt duo of Wade and Hughes, as well as a frontcourt twin towers lineup of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Gooden.

As for the quality of this lineup and how well it will perform in the end, only time will tell.

Anyway, this lineup just looks so-so.

Apart from the aforementioned star-level or near-star-level trades and transfers, the league's top championship contenders have maintained their original rosters and systems, all wanting to compete for another year!

The Pistons are aiming to defend their title, the Celtics are ambitious, the Mavericks and Suns are eager to emerge from the West, the Timberwolves want to return to the NBA Finals, and the Knicks are also ready to go!

In addition, after losing the Finals again, the Lakers, who represented the West in the Finals last season, were in chaos. Jackson, Kobe, O'Neal and others were extremely frustrated during this offseason.

Meanwhile, the boss, Bass, the general manager, Kupchak, and the special advisor, West, held meeting after meeting.

They have to consider whether the Kobe + Shaq duo can bring the team a championship, and whether they should break up the team and rebuild.

For a time, news about the Lakers wanting to rebuild spread throughout the league. Most of the teams in the league inquired about Kobe or Shaq. Of course, many teams, after failing to acquire these two players, went to ask the Lakers if they were prepared to trade their two top role players, Kirilenko and Prince.

Of course, sometimes their goal isn't actually to make a trade, but simply to test the Lakers' attitude so they can be ready to make a trade at any time.

Even if we don't get Kobe or Shaq, we'll still have a chance to get some soup, right?

What's intriguing is that Kupchak didn't directly reject those transaction requests; instead, he would ask rather ambiguously: "What price are you offering?"

Although all offers went unanswered and received no reply or news, everyone could sense the Lakers' change in form.

Before this, no matter who inquired about Kobe and Shaq's prices, the Lakers' response was always a swear word.

The fact that they're willing to listen to the price this time is a signal!

The Lakers might really be about to undergo a major transformation.

So throughout the offseason, half of all sports reporters in the United States were focused on where OK would go, offering one trade proposal and speculation after another, and releasing one reliable or unreliable trade rumor after another.

In short, the Lakers almost single-handedly stirred up the entire league!

Why "almost"?

A week before training camp began, Kupchak suddenly stated in an interview: "The team will not make any trades. We believe the OK duo can bring us a championship! We have been one of the best teams in the league for the past few years!"

"We didn't win the championship; we were just a little bit unlucky!"

"This year, I believe it's our turn!"

Pukuczek's bold statement clearly reflects the Lakers' attitude.

They did indeed halt all trades, although this drew criticism from countless management and fans who complained that despite all the noise, nothing actually happened, suggesting it was a fraudulent scheme.

But everyone also received another secret message, supposedly leaked by an insider from the Lakers.

This is the last year!

If the OK duo fails to win a championship in their 10th year together, the team will make trades and break them up.

This is the last year that OK has the opportunity!

After receiving the news and verifying its authenticity, the alliance's overt activity subsided, but the undercurrents beneath the surface grew increasingly fierce.

Many teams confident of acquiring Kobe or Shaq began accumulating assets, while those who felt they couldn't get either set their sights on Kirilenko or Prince. The next level down was waiting to make a fortune through trades, preparing to act as middlemen and earn the difference.

Especially with the Lakers unsure whether they will trade one or both players, everyone is even more excited.

If you Los Angeles want to dismantle your team, we have to give the Lakers a boost!

In short, everyone get ready, and get ready for a good show!

Surprisingly, the Lakers' championship win has become something that most teams in the league don't want to happen.

If you win the championship, who will buy our tickets?

It's going to crash! It has to crash!

This is the biggest expectation the entire league has for the Lakers right now.

The Lakers themselves will inevitably face greater pressure and countless troubles in what may be their 'last season'.

Of course, these things have nothing to do with Master Lin.

He should be preparing for the preseason now! (End of Chapter)