Author: Tiamo the Withered

"LI, do you have any thoughts about the draft, or about trades and signings?"

When the championship parade was over and Li Chengming was about to return to China, the Magic's general manager Austy Smith went to the airport to see him off and asked such a question, which stunned Li Chengming.

But he quickly reacted and grinned.

What does this mean?

The most intuitive thing is his current improved status in the team.

In the past, even before the finals, how could the manager have this attitude towards him?

This is enough to show that whether it is from the perspective of the team management or the boss's order, Smith now treats him as the core of the team.

As a business league, the NBA's stars play a very important role, especially the core players. Therefore, managers and coaches will also consider their opinions when adjusting the lineup and arranging tactics.

Sometimes it is even to match the lineup in order to make the core player feel more comfortable.

Li Chengming obviously now has the qualifications to suggest and even decide the team's lineup selection. Another important reason why Smith would ask this is because in the next few days, the annual NBA draft will be held.

2008 was a small draft year, but no matter how big or small it was, it actually had little to do with the Magic. After all, they didn't have a top pick.

As the new championship, they only have one draft pick, the 30th overall pick in the first round. This kind of pick is neither good nor low, which obviously gives the team a headache when making a choice, because they may only choose to miss it.

Otherwise, it is necessary to trade the draft picks, otherwise it is to seek upward trade, or else it is to trade future draft picks, or simply make transactions involving player transfers to strengthen.

Of course, it is also possible to simply exchange some cash.

For championship teams, defending is an issue they must consider during the offseason. Therefore, after winning the championship, most teams will choose to retain the core lineup first and then make minor repairs.

There is also the possibility of tearing down and rebuilding, but considering the current core age group of the Magic, it is far from that time.

In this way, the opinions of the head coach and the core of the team are very important. What they want and need must be told to the general manager and let him operate.

However, Smith obviously got a taste of the benefits of Li Chengming's draft. He missed it once, and of course he wanted to do it a second time.

In fact, for the current Magic team, if they can select a good player in the draft, develop them well in the regular season of the new season, and play a certain role in the playoffs, then it will be considered a success.

Li Chengming was also honest and unceremonious. After thinking for a moment, he said: "I think we still need a third position player with sufficient size and strong defense. If it is a draft, we will look in this direction. Of course, this is just my personal opinion.

Opinion."

Smith nodded thoughtfully, smiled and said, "Okay, I'll look in this direction."

Li Chengming hesitated for a moment and then said: "Actually, it would be okay if there were better defenders, I mean in terms of ball control."

Smith was startled for a moment, then understood and nodded.

In fact, late in the playoffs last season, the Magic almost only had Nelson as a genuine point guard.

Arroyo has not been as good as before since his injury. In the playoffs, he can't shoot, he can't defend, and even his breakthroughs are limited by injuries.

If it weren't for the fact that Turkoglu is the real core player of the Magic, and Li Chengming also takes on part of the organizational connection work, they may have problems due to shortcomings in this area.

Although they have won the championship now, it seems that such a big problem is not a big deal, but team formation must still respect objective laws. After all, who knows whether there will be a team making a fuss about their problems next season.

Especially for the Lakers, their opponent in the finals, their lineup only needs to survive the offseason. In fact, it can be stronger without any reinforcements, because they already have important inside players missing from the injured bench.

In the offseason, they will definitely look for reinforcements from the outside. This is the only point where they can enhance their advantage against the Magic.

The same goes for other teams. As the defending champion in the new season, the Magic are destined to become the biggest imaginary enemy of every team in the league that is committed to winning the championship. Maybe some teams' reinforcements will not focus on themselves.

Instead, it is specifically targeted at them, especially the strong teams in the Eastern Conference that have a certain strength foundation, such as the Pistons and Cavaliers.

As for Green Kai, there is no room for improvement in their lineup, mainly because there is no room for trade. We can only wait and see whether the trio can work together better next season, and whether Rondo can further grow.

After all, in this playoffs, Rondo's shooting can be said to have affected Green Kai's progress.

Competitors will look for ways to strengthen themselves. If the Magic stand still or even regress next season, defending their title may become a wishful thinking.

Judging from the current situation, the Magic will retain most of the original lineup in the new season, and the main core will remain on the team, including Li Chengming, Howard, Turkoglu, Lewis, Nelson, and important rotation members, Gotta.

Te, Bogans, Foyer.

They all have contracts, or they are simply in the contract year and want to fight for a good contract for their future. For example, Turkoglu does not need to defend his title to mobilize his enthusiasm.

Of course, Redick also estimates that he will have a chance to be reused in the new season. After all, he is a shooter he trained. Last season, he played a certain role in limited time appearances in both the regular season and the playoffs. It is time for him to make his mark.

Even if you don't play well in the end, you can still seek trades during the season.

As for the remaining people, they basically either trade or don’t have to renew their contracts.

They are all replaceable, and you can even find better ones. However, with the current salary space of the Magic, and the boss is not willing to exceed the luxury tax too much, their maneuverability is not high, so they still eat rookies.

The benefits are better.

Similarly, Li Chengming's rookie benefits are only enough for them for the next season, and then they have to consider the issue of contract renewal. Of course, the Magic will also be Li Chengming's priority, but if other teams are willing to spend big money,

It's not like Li Chengming won't consider leaving.

As Smith is now, he actually has some thoughts on showing his kindness to Li Chengming and starting to prepare for the contract renewal next year.

After saying goodbye to Smith and others who had come to see him off, Li Chengming took Li's father and other members of the team and boarded the plane back home.

As for Amy Adams, who had agreed to go there with her, she would have to be delayed for another two days, and maybe Li Chengming would be asked to pick her up at the airport.

Dayao also returned to China earlier. He also had a lot of business schedules to run. Seeing that he was almost done with his recovery training in Los Angeles, he simply returned to China to finish the chores and have a good rest at the same time.

I will prepare to join the national team training for a while.

Of course, Li Chengming's schedule was announced early. With the attention he currently receives in China, it can be said that every word, every move, and every move is watched by hundreds of millions of people.

When he was in the United States, Li Chengming also experienced the situation of being double-teamed by fans, but it was not until he returned to China that he realized that it was nothing compared to the big one. As expected, the people of the motherland are more enthusiastic.

"Li Chengming! Li Chengming!"

Li Chengming still walked through the VIP channel, but as soon as he came out, he was still shocked by the jam-packed scene in front of him. The key is that most of them were men, and the volume of shouting was even more amazing.

Father Li seemed to know better and was mentally prepared for this. He patted Li Chengming on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Son, don't underestimate your current status in the hearts of the people of the motherland."
Chapter completed!