Chapter 1,656 The Ambition of the Platinum Generation

After Gasol was put on the shelf, almost all general managers of the teams called to inquire.

Because it was the Celtics who took the initiative to trade, the outside world speculated that there was an irresolvable conflict between Gasol and the team. Therefore, many teams wanted to take advantage of the situation.

For example, the Lakers want to trade Chris Webber.

If there are no other options, Weber is indeed one of the candidates that can be considered.

Currently, the Celtics have strong players in the starting five positions and do not need All-Star level returns.

Because players of All-Star caliber must start, and the only starting position the Celtics can give to new players is the fourth position.

As a rookie, Horford can stay on the bench for a year or two.

Therefore, Weber can indeed consider it.

However, the Lakers cannot add more future first-round picks to the deal.

Because their first-round draft picks in 2009 and 2011 are in the hands of the Celtics.

So, of course, they lost the bidding war.

The team that won the battle for Gasol was the Denver Nuggets, who decided to send Lamar Odom and first-round picks in 2009, 2012 and 2014, thus becoming the winner of the battle for Gasol.

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At this point, the Celtics already hold five first-round draft picks in 2009.

No one knows why Boss Lu is so obsessed with this year's first-round pick.

Although some potential new stars who may participate in the 2009 draft can now be seen, industry insiders have not seen outstanding super talents.

Scouts generally believe that the 2009 draft class has mediocre potential and does not have super giant prospects with explosive physical talent.

Before the arrival of 2009, it seems that there is no point in insisting on this.

Gasol's trade can be regarded as the biggest change for the Celtics in recent years.

The inside partnership of Yao Yueban and Gasol is deeply loved by Boston people. Now, Gasol has suddenly been traded, and the outside world does not know what happened inside the Celtics.

No one is optimistic about Odom replacing Gasol.

Even Louis is not optimistic about it. He just wants to exchange Gasol for a player with decent strength and get some future draft picks by the way.

Odom is okay, has comprehensive skills, and can play any position when in normal condition. This is what the Celtics need.

If he doesn't get used to it in the Celtics, Louis can accept it.

The Celtics' personnel reserves are sufficient.

In the first month of the new season, the Celtics achieved a record of 14 wins and 1 loss.

The only defeat was by the Grizzlies.

Entering December, the Celtics began to show their invincibility.

The starting lineup includes Lu Wuxia, Ginobili, Battier, Horford, and Yao Yueban, and the chemistry between them is excellent. The bench also includes Wade, Odom, Korver, and Kirilenko.

This month, they have not lost any games and are winning by an average of 25 points per game.

Then, people began to ask when the Celtics could complete Lu Wuxia's contract extension.

In order to stabilize people's hearts, the Celtics management and Lu Wuxia's management team jointly announced that the two parties will not reach a contract extension during the season.

"We will figure it out in the offseason." Lu Wuxia said abstractly, "This is to ensure future flexibility."

Although fans are a little worried, they believe Lu Wuxia will stay in Boston.

There's a competitive team here, and his father is both the head coach and owner, and he could become the most carefree core player in NBA history.

Then, as time entered 2008, the Celtics' winning streak ended at the beginning of the New Year, and then continued until the All-Star Weekend.

In this year's All-Star Game, James was on full fire, and his desire for AMVP was evident throughout his body.

The Western Conference star team was a bit sluggish, and in the Eastern Conference, there were too many people who could compete but chose not to compete, so James won the AMVP trophy with 38 points and 11 rebounds.

After the All-Star Weekend, the league enters the final stage of the regular season.

During this period, strong teams and weak teams were clearly hierarchical, and only those teams that were neither up nor down had not yet figured out their positioning.

The Celtics are in better shape after the All-Star break.

Their winning streak lasted until mid-March, when they were defeated by the Lakers in back-to-back games.

Moreover, what the Lakers defeated was not the complete Celtics.

Yao Yueban and Kirilenko took turns taking turns, leaving the Celtics empty inside, which gave the Lakers a chance.

Kobe Bryant scored 48 points, Paul scored 30 points and 10 assists, and his golden guns from the outside led the Lakers to flourish across the board, and vowed to bring the Purple and Gold Legion back to its peak in the Finals.

The Celtics players humbly accepted their fourth defeat of the season, but assistant coach Laimbeer said sarcastically: "What the Lakers are best at is winning such inconsequential games."

As we approach the final stage of the regular season, the Celtics rest more and more frequently, especially in the last twelve games, at least two main players rest in almost every game.

Even with a fault-level lineup, such a large-scale rest will increase the possibility of an upset.

The Celtics, who had only lost four games in the first four months, lost three games in the last month and a half of the regular season.

In the final game of the regular season, Louis rested the entire starting lineup.

The opponent who originally didn't take the game seriously - the Atlanta Hawks - wanted to just play a casual game and prepare for the draft. Being so underestimated by others, even a weak team in the lottery was aroused.

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As a result, the Eagles' fierce resistance resulted in Wade's best performance since his comeback.

Against the Hawks, Wade was on full fire, scoring a career-high 51 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, helping the team beat their opponent by 18 points.

"This is the kind of team we are," Wade said. "If the team is like a bus, then I am the driver tonight. What is special about us is that everyone on the team can be the driver."

Wade's expression was full of excitement and excitement, and he showed no signs of preparing to leave the team during the offseason.

Tom Heinsohn said regretfully: "D-Wade and Wish are a perfect match and they should not be separated."

What Tom Thorne couldn't imagine was that Wade wasn't the only one who was going to be separated from the Celtics.

In this way, the Celtics advanced to the playoffs with a record of 75 wins and 7 losses.

They are the undisputed number one in the league, and they have a strong lineup that will fail if they don't overwhelmingly win the championship.

In the first round, the Celtics faced the 76ers.

This year can be regarded as a watershed year for the 76ers and their leading player Shaquille O'Neal.

O'Neal, who has been a super center since entering the league, finally showed his age. Although his attendance rate this season reached the highest in the past four years, he only averaged 20 points and 8 rebounds per game.

People who support O'Neal can no longer use injuries as an excuse. He is old and far inferior to what he once was.

In this regard, the 76ers' backup center Brandon Haywood may have caused more trouble to Yao Yueban than O'Neal.

Since the timeline for the league's emphasis on the three-point line was greatly advanced by Louis, players like Haywood, who would have only been able to become a qualified blue-collar insider step by step, developed the three-point shot.

Haywood became the 3D at the five position.

This is the type of headache that Yao Yueban has the most.

However, although there was nothing he could do about Haywood's three-point explosion, Yao Yueban still averaged 30 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists per game in the 76ers' interior, thus proving that he is the undisputed number one center in the league.

As for the outside, the helpless bearded Baron Davis was beaten by Lu Wuxia and Wade one after another, and the entire series had no sense of existence.

4 to 0

This is an unsuspicious result.

"The way they defeated us was as simple as crushing an ant."

Baron Davis shook his head and said, "I can't even imagine them losing in the series. Is there really a team that can beat them?"

The answer is of course yes.

But it is not the Celtics' semifinal opponent - the Cleveland Cavaliers have met the Celtics in the semifinals for two consecutive years.

Coincidentally, like Lu Wuxia, James also did not renew his contract with the Cavaliers in advance.

Even this is not a phenomenon unique to the two heroes of the 2003 class.

Star players from the 2003 class such as Wade, Anthony, Bosh, etc., none of them completed early contract extensions with their home teams.

Among these people, Lu Wuxia is the only one who will cause surprise to the outside world if he is not renewed.

In order to retain James, the Cavaliers spent money on reinforcements last summer, but they did not have enough high-quality chips and the team was not attractive. Therefore, they only enhanced the depth of the lineup, which is still not comparable to the Celtics.

This season is also a season where James has made great progress.

In addition to retaining the data of 30+8+8 per game, his defensive ability has been comprehensively improved, and his single defense has reached an excellent level. His already excellent help defense is now even more elite, and he is still the best shot-blocking small forward in the league.

In terms of defense alone, James has surpassed Lu Wuxia.

This is a gap in talent. As long as James is willing, his defense cannot be bad.

James no longer suffers the humiliation of data doubling.

Although he was swept 4-0 after the semifinals, his per-game averages were higher than Lu Wuxia's, with 34 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, while Lu Wuxia only averaged 25 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists per game.
To be continued...