The Trail Blazers' lineup and main structure did not undergo many changes in the summer. Among the team's regular rotation players, the only one who left the team was Mo Williams, whose contract expired and became a free agent.

In order to get a high salary, Xiao Mo chose to "get together and relax" with the Trail Blazers. After the season, he packed up and left.

Just when McCollum still wanted to rely on his hard training in the summer to get playing time and opportunities to prove himself in the competition within the team, head coach Stotts had already given the team's young guards a chance to win.

Cleared the "obstacle" for entering the market.

Both McCollum and Button, although both are young players, showed good on-field performance in the second half of last season.

Especially in the playoffs, in the limited playing time, as young people, the two experienced the intensity of the playoffs for the first time, but they both performed well. It can be said that Stotts was

Having completely believed in their talent and current strength, it was natural to fully unleash their abilities as soon as possible.

With such an intention to develop young players, it is not worth spending a high price to renew Mo Williams, even if the Trail Blazers actually have enough salary space to renew Mo Williams.

When Mo Williams was looking for a high-priced contract, he also considered the Trail Blazers as his first choice. However, the Trail Blazers did not match the offer and let Mo Williams go to fully cultivate young people on the team's defense.

Of course, the salary space cannot be left empty. The Trail Blazers then paid a two-year salary of US$4 million to sign veteran Steve Blake to add an insurance player at the point guard position.

If McCollum and Patton's performance is limited, then Black can still do the job if he uses his experience and serves as a point guard on the bench.

In fact, the Blazers still want to find a certain "big fish" in the free market to further enhance the team's strength. There are not many "big fish", and the salary is still expensive, so the Blazers have no way to compete.

It's just that Portland's market is too small and the team's appeal is not strong, which makes some powerful players with relatively cheap salaries look down upon. The powerful players either want higher salaries or want to join a team.

The team competing for the championship, being a puzzle piece for the championship, doesn't care that much about the Trail Blazers' recruitment.

In desperation, the Trail Blazers can only play the new season with almost the original lineup, and the management will also focus their greatest energy on contract renewal negotiations with Aldridge. As long as Aldridge can be renewed and retained, then

It's equivalent to getting a heavyweight signing, but the player's contract renewal negotiations have not yet yielded a good result.

AD did not say that he must leave, but the last year of the contract is there. If the contract extension negotiations cannot be completed, the Blazers are very likely to lose an inside All-Star player next year. This is very important to the Blazers management.

It is said that this season, a lot of brain cells and words are destined to be spent to keep Ade as much as possible.

Of course, player contract renewal is not something Stotts needs to consider. All he has to do is lead the Trail Blazers to start anew this season and pursue a better record.

Although Mo Williams, who could steadily contribute 10+ points in every game, was lost on the bench, Stotts believed that McCollum and Patton should be able to make up for these 10+ points after coming off the bench.

In the main lineup, Zhang Feng and Lillard are more experienced and stronger, which will be a huge complement to the strength of the Blazers' starting lineup.

After training in September, the Trail Blazers have been training to consolidate the tactics of the previous season.

Since the main personnel framework has not changed, for everyone, there will not be much change in tactics. It is just necessary to adapt to the changes in the personal abilities of the team players and better integrate the team as a whole.

together.

After training for more than half a month, the entire Trail Blazers team flew to China to participate in the NBA China Game before the start of the season.

Originally, the NBA's two stops in China this year were scheduled to pit the Kings against the Nets in Shanghai and Beijing respectively.

But after the Trail Blazers selected Zhang Feng last season, and after Zhang Feng established a foothold in the Trail Blazers and became an important rotation player for the Trail Blazers, in order to maximize the benefits and to further promote the NBA in China,

NBA officials will make changes to the overseas preseason games that have been planned long ago, and the Trail Blazers will go to China to bring out Zhang Feng's huge "commercial" value.

Domestic fans are in luck this year.

You can not only see Zhang Feng, the proud insider of domestic players, but also the All-Stars of the emerging era such as Lillard and Aldridge.

You can also see the many youth memories that accompanied the growth of fans, such as "Wolf King" Garnett, "Eagle King" Joe Johnson, as well as the Jazz core Deron Williams, and "AK47" Kiri

Lianke, these people are all witnesses of an era. Although they were always enemies at their peak, maybe because of Dayao, they were not so popular, but now it seems that for many fans, they are

The best memories of youth.

Zhang Feng, the only domestic player in the NBA, has still established a firm foothold and even played the main position. As well as so many All-Star players, tickets for the two games in Shanghai and Beijing are sold at sky-high prices in China, but

It still attracts many people and makes it difficult to get a vote.

The most outstanding operation of the Trail Blazers management last season was to use the second-round pick in hand to select the center player Zhang Feng.

There is strength in numbers. Back then, hundreds of millions of Chinese fans were able to support the Mosaic team because of Dayao Yao, making them a team comparable to many established giants. Now, fans can also support the Trail Blazers.

In fact, there are not many domestic players who go to the NBA, but except for Dayao, others do not do very well. Players cannot get enough playing time, do not have stable performance, and even the team's record is not good and they always lose.

when.

With Yao Zhuyu in front, many domestic fans have been spoiled and some "dislike the poor and love the rich".

This is also the reason why the Bucks who chose Yi Di and the Nets later did not reach the height of Mosaic's popularity.

The players must perform well and the team's record must be strong. Only by combining the two can we achieve the goal of igniting Chinese fans.

Therefore, when Zhang Feng participated in the draft last season, even though he knew about the vast market behind China, few teams would be willing to use draft picks to find a "dud" if they did not believe that the Chinese player could be successful.

Normally, NBA management is willing to use second-round picks to dig out "lottery players" on the defense or forward lines. If they find someone who can develop quickly, then they will make a profit.
Chapter completed!