After dialing Ma Hong's phone number, Kongbu announced his home address.

"I can go to the Raptors."

"But I have one condition. I hope to join your coaching staff after I retire."

Before Kongbu could explain his purpose, Ma Hong spoke directly.

Kongbu was stunned for a long time. In his mind, Ma Hong was a rough and reckless man. Who would have thought that he could put forward such a condition.

"Aren't you afraid that after you retire, I won't be able to be the head coach?"

Kongbu asked tentatively.

"Then I won't lose either."

"I believe you should offer me a good contract."

Ma Hong said with a hoarse voice and a low smile.

Kongbu was shocked. How could this man be a reckless man? In terms of shrewdness, he was definitely better than old Thomas.

When I think about it, it seems that among the Pistons, Thomas Sr. is the one with the best emotional intelligence and IQ.

"Okay, I promise you."

"But at your current age, can you still fight?"

Kongbu asked too much.

"Whether it can be fought, I don't know."

"But I can guarantee that any fight the Raptors have within two years will leave the field with a smile."

"Whether it's the Knicks, the Jazz, or the Heat."

When he said this, Ma Hong exuded a kind of confidence from the inside out.

Kongbu couldn't help but think of that sentence, never question the professional ability of a professional.

Ma Hong is undoubtedly a professional, and this is what he relies on for a living.

After hanging up the phone with Ma Hong, Kongbu was in a good mood. All he had to do next was wait for news from Dumas.

Late the next evening, Dumas called back.

The Pistons directly bought out Mahon's $480,000 contract this year. Now that Mahon has become a completely free agent, he can sign with the Raptors at will.

At first glance, the piston seems to be very kind, but there is still a secret to it.

According to the rules in the labor agreement, if a player is signed by another team after being bought out, the buying out team only needs to pay the difference.

For example, Ma Hong's current buyout is 480,000. If he signed a contract with the Raptors with an annual salary of 400,000, the Pistons would only have to pay the difference of 80,000.

And if the Raptors offer a 1 million contract, the Pistons don't have to pay a dime in buyout money.

No wonder Pistons owner Bill Davidson let him go so happily, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in one sentence.

"What?"

"How did you do this kid? You didn't trade my precious players, did you?"

The Pistons released him, and Combs immediately called Thomas to prepare to sign the contract.

Old Thomas was frightened half to death. What he couldn't do was solved by Kongbu in just one day?

How could it be possible that my own face was not as good as that of Kong Bu?

Then there is only one explanation. Kongbu took the team's high-value rookie and made a trade.

"Who is it? Eric Stephen?"

"Don't tell me it's Jermaine!"

"In that case, you should buy a plane ticket and escape from Toronto. I'm afraid I will strangle you to death when I see you."

Old Thomas was not joking at all.

As a veteran player, even though he is a defender, he still has an unusual superstition in his mind about top insiders.

To say that the most valuable player in the Raptors in Thomas' eyes is definitely not McGrady who has performed miracles, nor is it captain Ben, but Ou.

A 19-year-old super inside prospect who is good at both offense and defense and has rebounding abilities is simply Thomas's favorite.

"First of all, that's not your precious player, it's my precious player."

"Secondly, I'm not as stupid as you think. Ma Hong is buying out, and we don't have to pay any price."

Kongbu's voice was not loud, but it made old Thomas feel like he was struck by lightning.

Are you kidding me? Buyout? Kong Bu has such a big reputation?

How did he do what he couldn't do?

This kid definitely knows magic, otherwise there would be no way to explain such a strange situation.

The next morning, Mahon arrived in Toronto and signed a two-year, $2 million contract with the Raptors.

Kongbu wanted to give more, but unfortunately he couldn't make the decision. The signing and other matters were all decided by Thomas Sr.

Fortunately, Ma Hong was satisfied with the price and there were no other setbacks.

…

Signing a free agent with an annual salary of only one million is not a big deal in any era.

But this time the situation was completely different.

The player is Ma Hong and the team is the Raptors, which gives people a lot of room for imagination.

They had just had the largest brawl in history with the Knicks. The Raptors' suspension hadn't even ended before they changed hands and added Mahon to the team.

Sima Zhao's heart is known to everyone on the road.

For a time, countless fans began to check the time of the Raptors' next game against the Knicks. All fools knew that this game must be extraordinary.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

The suspensions of Kongbu, Ben and others have officially ended, and the Raptors are back in full force.

Short of a major general, the Raptors relied on the outstanding performance of Tracy McGrady, O'Neill and Snow to achieve a record of 3 wins and 4 losses.

If it weren't for the poor combat effectiveness of the scrap players, even without five core players, the Raptors' combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

In seven games, McGrady averaged 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game as a top small forward.

Xiao Ou had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks, which was equally top-notch.

The most surprising thing is Snow. When the team has no one available, his ball rights have skyrocketed.

In half a month, he averaged 12 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals per game, which directly increased his worth more than ten times.

His old club, the SuperSonics, is regretting his youth. This is a young point guard who averages a double-double per game. The key is that his defense is very strong. Apart from Payton and Kidd, there is no other point guard in the league who can beat him defensively.

No one.

There are a lot of point guards in the league who can score, and there are not many point guards who can be called defensive gates all over the league.

Why Kidd is valuable, apart from his historical level of overall outlook, is mainly because of his defensive ability.

Things are rare and valuable.

Snow was tied to a first-round pick in exchange for Jones from Combs.

In less than a month, Snow is no longer what he used to be. Even if the two Joneses are tied together and a first-round pick is added, Snow cannot be exchanged.

The heads of the major teams in the league had only one thought in mind when they saw Snow's rise.

That is to say, when making transactions with Kongbu in the future, you must be careful and careful. If you are not careful, you may sell players like Ben, Ou or Snow at a low price.

Whether the transaction makes a loss or not is secondary. After all, they got what they wanted from the transaction.

The main reason is that he can't live up to his reputation. In his own hands, he is useless, but in the hands of Kongbu, he immediately turns a pheasant into a phoenix. Doesn't this show that he is short-sighted?

A team leader who is labeled as blind-sighted is not far away from stepping down.

It is foreseeable that there is almost no possibility that Kongbu will miss something in the transaction in the future.

Kongbu himself was clearly aware of this, but he didn't care at all.

Almost all the leaks that can be picked up have been picked up, except for Nash, who has not yet been picked up.

Nash is in a special situation. Although he didn't play a lot of time with the Mavericks, he was highly regarded by Nelson. To be precise, he can't be considered a leak.

The only place where things can be picked up in the future is the draft. As long as Kongbu has enough draft picks, other teams can only watch.

The 1997 draft was special, with very few first-line players, so Kongbu only picked up Wu Sheng.

However, the situation in the next two drafts was very different.
Chapter completed!