One Thousand and Seventy-Six. Take the Third Point Guard

On the morning of the 17th, US time, Sun Ce and his team took an overnight flight and returned to Memphis from Chengdu after a long journey.

After a day of rest, Sun Ce got up on the morning of the 18th and had adjusted to the time difference.

After sending Zu Ge to school, Sun Ce came to the FedEx Arena.

Surprisingly, the coaches had already started working.

Sun Ce came to the training ground and saw David Fizdale, the offensive assistant coach, passing by. He asked curiously, "David, don't you have to adjust to the jet lag?"

"I should be the one asking you this. God, what is the structure of your body? You are more energetic than me, who is used to staying up late," David Fizdale exclaimed, and continued, "I usually only sleep 5 hours a day. I'm used to it."

"Me? I'll be fine after a good sleep."

"..."

After chatting for a while, Sun Ce went to do his own training. It's not easy to be a coach, especially a coach in the best basketball league, NBA. Of course, the salary as an assistant coach is also high, at least 20,000 US dollars a week. David Fizdale, an excellent offensive assistant coach, has a weekly salary of 40,000 US dollars. Even in the United States, few employees in the industry have such a high salary.

Under the guidance of Tim Hardaway, who yawned from time to time, he practiced three-pointers and crossover breakthroughs for a whole morning. The focus of the breakthrough is the acceleration after lateral movement, the way of exerting force for lateral movement, and the action of connecting acceleration and breakthrough. This is difficult, and it is even more difficult to do it in the game.

In NBA history, the strongest players in this move should be Tim Hardaway and Allen Iverson.

After lunch at noon, Sun Ce was called over by Coach Hollins.

"Noah, we have three types of point guards, Beverley, who is good at defense and has shooting talent; Pago, who is strong in scoring and can pass but has an unstable personality; Green, who is strong in scoring and works hard. Since we can't find a better third point guard, we plan to let Jimmy and Paul hold the ball when you and Steve need to rest or play. We have discussed it for a long time and want to ask for your opinion..."

Coach Hollins began to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the three candidates for the third point guard.

Sun Ce analyzed what Coach Hollins said.

Beverley is indeed suitable for their Grizzlies. He has three-point potential and defensive potential. He plays very hard when his strength is not enough.

But it is indeed a little short now,

and the 1 million euro buyout fee with the Russian Premier League is a problem.

The NBA's cash limit for this season is $2.75 million. When trading Larry Sanders, the Grizzlies compensated the Bobcats with $2 million in cash because the Bobcats took Ridnour's $4 million salary.

Now, only $750,000 is required, which means that even if the Grizzlies are willing to pay the buyout fee, Beverley has to pay the remaining $300,000 buyout fee. Moreover, it is not so easy for the Grizzlies to spend $750,000 to buy out.

Given Beverley's current strength, let alone a $750,000 buyout fee, Beverley can't play the performance of $750,000 now.

Sun Ce did not say that he would definitely want Beverley just because he would get better and better in the future. It would be better to have Tony, who is now at his peak? It would be better to have Paul George, who is about to enter his peak defensively? It would be better to have Klay Thompson, who is extremely talented?

The third point guard is only signed as a backup, so what the team needs is the best to pay the least cost to ensure operational flexibility.

Jeremy Pargo and Willie Green are two scoring players, both of whom are C+ level players. They haven't found a job yet, so they are more suitable for the Grizzlies.

However, there must be a reason why the two C+ players still need to try out in the preseason when they played well last season. The former had a conflict with Kemba Walker in the locker room last season in the Bobcats and was finally cut. He is a standard thorn.

Willie Green is more accurately a combo guard in his early years. He is too short to play as a shooting guard and his passing is not very good as a point guard. He is old and too independent. He plays like a core player and has the strength of a bench player. He is obviously a tactical master in team meetings, but he has no tactics when playing. He just plays with the ball. China

After the training camp and the first three games, Sun Ce learned that these three people were left on the candidates list of the coaches. Of course, the others were not driven away directly. Since they were invited, they naturally had to show their abilities to other teams in the preseason. They are also good as sparring partners and can also be used in team competitions.

Sun Ce played with Jeremy Pargo and Willie Green in the past three preseason games and has seen their ability evaluations. They are not as good as Jimmy or Paul George in ball control. At least these two have a foreseeable future and are willing to pass the ball because of the team atmosphere.

After a comprehensive analysis, Sun Ce said: "It would be great if Beverley could be signed, but it's a pity that his buyout fee is too high..."

"This is a problem. His defensive talent is indeed excellent. After playing in Europe for three years, his defense and fixed-point three-point shooting have improved more than I thought. You can consider giving him a long-term contract and let him play when Tony or Steve is resting. He has a good fighting spirit."

Give a long-term contract? Sun Ce asked: "Coach, do you know Beverley?"

"He came to our team for a trial in 2009. His attitude of playing hard left a deep impression on us, so we invited him to come for a trial, but we did not select him at that time. He was too bad at that time. Well, after the Lakers drafted him, they also treated him as a trade addition, and he was finally given up. We can give it a try and talk to him about the buyout fee..."

…

Time passes day by day, personal training, team training, intra-team competitions, pre-season games...

Find problems, think of ways to solve them, change your thinking if you can't solve it, and ignore it if it doesn't work, strengthen your strengths and avoid weaknesses.

On the 20th, they lost to the Hawks at home, on the 22nd, they lost to the Magic at home, on the 24th, they won away from the Magic, and on the 26th, they won away from the Hornets.

Time passed quickly, and on the 27th, Sun Ce returned to Memphis with the team.

The regular horse racing was about to start. Sun Ce felt very excited when he returned home, and then...he played the passionate 97 fighting game with Zu Ge in the afternoon.

Sun Ce searched for a cabinet-style arcade game machine like this for a long time before he bought "Fighting 97", "Revolution of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "Proud Sword and Mad Sword"... these games that he had been obsessed with since childhood. Collect the machines and put them in a room.

Sun Ce would check the news from time to time.

After returning to Memphis, the first thing the team did was to lay off five players with training camp contracts. It was about to be the last preseason game, and they had to decide whether to sign a third point guard in the end, or else they would lose all their players. The training camp contract will be waived, and the last preseason game will be played as a regular season game.

Jeremy Pargo, who averaged 8.5 points and 2 assists in the first six preseason games, received a one-year base salary of $1.12 million from the 76ers after the Grizzlies played two preseason games against the Magic. The Grizzlies did not match the contract. After laying off five players with training camp contracts, the Grizzlies now only have two players with training camp contracts, Beverley and Willie Green.

Moreover, Willie Green also received offers from other teams. The Clippers gave the veteran a 1+1 basic salary offer totaling US$2.88 million over two years, and the Grizzlies have the right to match.

Sun Ce is waiting for news. As the third point guard, anyone is good. The scoring combo guard Willie Green is good. Beverley is also good. What the Grizzlies want is now and they won't expect Beverley. In the future, we must launch an attack on the next championship now, immediately, and immediately.

Of course, Beverley's fierceness is very consistent with the style of the Grizzlies, and his appearance can be used to scare people on the court.

But Willie Green, who can serve as an assistant coach, is naturally also excellent.

At 5 p.m., Sun Ce received an email from Chris Wallace.

Beverley reached an agreement with the Russian Super League, and the buyout fee will be paid in installments. The Grizzlies will pay US$500,000, and Beverley himself will be responsible for the remaining US$590,000 in the next five years.

At the same time, Beverley and the Grizzlies reached a 1+1+1 contract with team options for the next two years. The starting salary is US$530,000, the lowest in the 2012-2013 season, and the total contract is US$1.89 million. That is, only the first year is fully guaranteed, and the next two years are not guaranteed!

"Sign this contract too? You have to pay the buyout fee yourself!"

Sun Ce feels that he underestimated Beverley's determination to enter the NBA!