Chapter 219: The Nets Strengthen the Lineup (Part 1)

Just the day after Mark Lodge and Shen talked on the phone, the media broke the news that a deal had been made between the New Jersey Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Todd Markloch and Keith Van Horn traded the 76ers' starting center Dikembe Mutombo in a two-for-one trade.

After the news was released in the morning, the Nets and 76ers held press conferences in the afternoon to confirm the authenticity of the news.

Originally, Shentong also felt that it would be difficult for Mark Lodge to exchange Mutombo one-on-one, but it turned out that it was because of Van Horn.

Van Horn's departure is understandable.

After Martin and Jefferson occupied the starting positions of the two forwards, Van Horn has been unhappy this season and played very unhappy.

Leaving the Nets should be a good thing for Van Horn, and he can return to his role as a starter in Philadelphia.

At the press conference, Nets chairman Rod Horn, general manager Bernard King, and head coach Byron Scott attended, which shows the importance attached to this transfer.

In the interview, Horn said very happily: "Getting a player like Mutombo is what we should do. In the new season, we will strengthen the defense inside and become a team with excellent defensive skills!"

Barkley expressed his views on this transaction: "The management of the Nets has finally done a good thing. Dikembe Mutombo is definitely the player that the Nets need most at present. -Mark Lodge and Keith Van Horn, but I think the Nets did the right thing with this trade. Obviously, they felt the pressure from the moon"

However, there are also people who are pessimistic about this transaction.

Although in the just-concluded finals, Shaquille O'Neal arbitrarily abused Mark Lodge, Martin and all the substitute inside players in the penalty area, but in the 2001 finals, Mutombo's defense against O'Neal was not considered a success. .

It is not realistic to expect Mutombo to limit O'Neal alone in a one-on-one situation, but with Mutombo as the core, creating a tactic to defend O'Neal is definitely more effective than a player like Mark Lodge.

In fact, Philadelphia also has their own calculations.

After reaching the finals, they were excited and signed a valuable contract with Mutombo, but Uncle Mu's official age is 36 years old.

After being eliminated by the Magic in the first round of the playoffs, the management of the 76ers quickly sobered up. They realized that with the current lineup, they could not achieve the goal of the championship, and the 36-year-old Mutombo was walking. Downhill, they have to trade him out before he depreciates.

As a result, the Nets hit it off with the 76ers and facilitated the deal.

The Nets added an All-Star center.

In addition to Iverson, the 76ers added another firepower point.

But in any case, Mutombo can definitely make up for the shortcomings of the Nets, and the strength of the Nets next season will definitely go further!

Just when the Nets fans were talking about Mutombo's arrival, good news came one after another.

Patrick Ewing, a 39-year-old veteran who played for the Orlando Magic last season, will join the New Jersey Nets as a free agent.

The news made New Jersey people rejoice.

This is definitely a wise move to abandon the dark and turn to the bright.

After a strong sweep of the Eastern Conference last season and reaching the finals, many players whose contracts expired and pursued began to take the initiative to defect to the Nets.

After Ewing, small forward Rodney Rodgers, who played for the Suns and Celtics last season, and Chris Childs, a backup point guard for the Toronto Raptors, brought guns to shoot.

For a while, the New Jersey Nets became the hottest team in the league.

Compared with the hell-like west, the New Jersey Nets in the east are undoubtedly the most promising team to reach the finals. This makes many free agents give up Los Angeles, Satramento, San Antonio and other cities. New Jersey.

The New Jersey Nets in early 2000 were just a small team, and in the blink of an eye, the Nets' lineup in 2002 was already strong.

The training camp in New Jersey has as many as 40-50 people who come to try out, just for the remaining 1-2 spots of the Nets.

Such fierce competition shows the Nets' market in the new season.

After Shentong and Avril Lavigne returned to New Jersey after their vacation in Hawaii, the general manager of the Nets, Bernard King, called Shentong and informed him that the league would send the Nets and the Lakers to further develop the Chinese market. The team in the season finals went to China for a series of business activities.

This kind of business activity, which is equivalent to a vacation, is no different from tourism.

According to the schedule, New Jersey will go to Beijing, while the Lakers will go to Shanghai.

Before leaving for China, the New Jersey Nets first determined the list of players who will definitely stay in the team next season.

Centers: Dikembe Mutombo, Patrick Ewing, Jason Collins;

Power forwards: Kenyon Martin, Aaron Williams, Brian Scalabrine;

Small forwards: Richard Jefferson, Rodney Rogers;

Shooting guards: Shen Tong, Corey Kidders;

Point guards: Jason Kidd, Chris Childs; Brandon Armstrong.

The 15-man roster has confirmed 13 people, and the remaining 2 spots will be produced from this year's draft and training camp.

Temar Slee, who was selected by the Nets in the second round of the draft, could only stay in New Jersey and continue to play training camp to ensure that he could successfully sign and stay with the team.

So these 13 players, along with the Nets staff and management, will travel to China on a mission to promote the NBA.

Before leaving, a major event happened to the Adidas brand endorsed by STO.

As the saying goes, the general trend of the world, the long-term division must be united, and the long-term unity must be divided.

Kobe Bryant, who just won the championship, suddenly announced the end of his endorsement contract with Adidas.

There was no sign of this news. According to normal logic, it is impossible for Adidas to voluntarily give up a rising superstar like Kobe.

However, there is a certain lack of communication between the two.

In the 6 years of signing with Adidas, the "Kobe" series of basketball shoes has only produced two generations.

According to gossip, Kobe has been complaining about the quality of the sneakers he endorsed, "this is not good", "that is not good" and so on.

When Adidas painstakingly produced the second-generation sneakers according to Kobe's request, Kobe directly ignored Adidas' hard work, threw the second-generation sneakers aside, and still wore the old first-generation sneakers. As a result, the sales of the second-generation new sneakers in the market are dismal, and no one cares about them.

But if the old ones don't go, the new ones won't come.

After Kobe terminated his contract with Adidas, Tracy McGrady quickly replaced Kobe and became another Adidas spokesperson after Shen Tong!