This Forward is Not Serious

The Nets' deal is a bit confusing.

Because the Nets currently have a fixed lineup rotation, replacing Mahinmi will not bring much help.

Moreover, the Nets currently have 15 guaranteed contracts on their roster, and in order to trade for Mahinmi, they will have to cut players to make room for them.

As for guaranteed contracts, layoffs will still be counted in the salary cap.

Let’s talk about Mahinmi’s contract. It was acquired by the Pacers from the Mavericks in 2012. It is worth 16 million in four years and expires in the summer of 2016.

Although the contract is not very big, the 4 million a year contract adds a lot of luxury tax to the Nets, which is almost 16 million more luxury taxes in a year.

Even Mahinmi's performance with the Pacers was relatively average. He was a player who didn't have many functions other than defense and pie-eating.

However, the power of fans is always strong, and soon someone on social media analyzed the reason why the Nets did this.

This is about preparing to pardon Joe Johnson.

The NBA does not clearly limit the time for amnesty to players, and can amnesty at any time as long as the rules are met.

However, most teams will do this in the summer, because the team's lineup is basically determined in the summer.

So fans didn't expect this at first.

However, some professional fans have begun to analyze that the Nets' luxury tax this season has reached more than 90 million. .

If Joe Johnson performs well, the Nets are willing to pay the luxury tax.

But the crux of the problem is that Johnson has yet to come out of the shadow of last season's finals. If the Nets do this again, they will be taken advantage of.

Amnestying Joe Johnson, even including the traded Mahinmi, the Nets' overcap limit will plummet from more than 30 million to more than 14 million.

In terms of luxury tax transactions, it has dropped from more than 90 million to 38 million.

This is equivalent to saving more than 50 million yuan at once.

The Nets would only have to pay about 40 million to amnesty Johnson.

In such a comparison, amnesty seems to be a good deal.

Therefore, Walken Dean has always had a plan and always left himself room for choice.

Fans' speculations were quickly verified.

Before the trade deadline officially ended, the Nets indeed used the amnesty clause on Joe Johnson.

Johnson's Nets career was over.

And immediately after the amnesty, the Nets official website tweeted to thank Johnson for his contribution to the Nets.

Since being traded in 2012, Johnson has played for the Nets for three seasons and helped the team win two championships.

Although he is now pardoned, his contribution will not be erased.

After a 48-hour bidding period, Johnson was ultimately not placed under bid.

It's not that there is no market for Johnson, but according to regulations, only teams that still have salary space are eligible to participate in the bidding.

It's the middle of the season, and there are basically no teams with salary space.

The only few teams basically have no hope for the playoffs.

For Johnson, it's a good thing that he didn't get bid, because according to the rules, he can freely choose his next home.

After finally weighing the situation, he joined the Heat with a one-year contract of 3 million.

The Heat did not use up their mid-level exception in the summer, which made them competitive in the process of signing Johnson.

Moreover, the Heat have shown a very good team atmosphere after trading Anthony and welcoming Wade, and they are still ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference.

It's definitely a good place for Johnson, too.

Back to the Nets.

A few days later, the Nets sat at home and ushered in their first opponent after the trade deadline, the Wizards.

The Wizards' most important signing in the summer was the signing of Yi Jianlian, making him the team's starting power forward.

Yi Jianlian got a bigger role with the Wizards and had the best season of his career.

He averaged 12 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this season, and he shot 40.3% from three-point range.

Wall was able to be selected as the Eastern All-Star starter before, and his status as "Yi Jianlian's teammate" gave him a lot of help.

It was in this game that fans saw the Nets' new starting lineup.

Delong, Bradley, Claude, Lin Ying, Chandler.

Crowder was selected by the Nets themselves, and he is the only starter the team has cultivated since Lin Ying arrived at the Nets.

Well, it was Lin Ying who suggested that Walken Dean choose.

With such a starting arrangement, we can understand the reason why the Nets traded for Mahinmi before. This was to be a new substitute power forward.

After all, Marion is old, so it's okay to support him occasionally, but it's a bit difficult to rotate.

Moreover, Mahinmi's defense is online, and he and Jokic can share a lot of pressure when they come on as a substitute partner.

This was also reflected in the game against the Wizards.

And without Johnson, the Nets players' enthusiasm for the game suddenly became much higher.

People are very realistic. Johnson was still in the starting lineup even though he didn't play well before. As time goes by, others will definitely have some thoughts in their hearts even if they don't show it because of the team atmosphere.

Now that Johnson is gone, and Crowder is still in charge, this is tantamount to telling others that the starting lineup can be won, so why not do it?

Even Deron played harder and harder.

Because he also felt an existential threat.

If he continues to be like this, it is not impossible for the Nets to kick him away and let Bradley and JR play together in the backcourt.

Stimulated by these external factors, the Nets played a very hot state in late February.

Well, the kind of feeling that made Joe Johnson sigh, "So you just want me to leave?"

Counting the two games before the All-Star break, the Nets ended February with a nine-game winning streak.

Such a performance led Barkley to shout "They're back!" on TNT.

The Nets team that dominated the league for the past two seasons is back!

"They just got older and needed time to warm up, and now they're back!"

Barkley couldn't hide his excitement. After all, he was a serious No. 1 player.

Well, then, the first game in March.

Deron is injured.

Moreover, he was not as lucky as before and suffered a season-ending ankle injury.

This is something unexpected, but also reasonable.

Moreover, there appear to be some unsolvable problems.

The Nets were very cautious with Deron last season and always chose to rest.

But the result is that Deron couldn't get up in the playoffs because he played less games.

So in the new season, the Nets gave up this plan.

This was not a problem at the beginning of the season.

Because Delong's injuries are all scattered and small, they will slowly recover if he takes care of them.

After playing less last season and recuperating in the offseason, the injury will recover.

Then the Nets' record was not good, Karl adopted Lu's strategy, and Johnson was waived.

These things have prompted Deron to work harder and harder in the regular season.

Then, his body couldn't handle it anymore and he got hurt.

This is certainly not what the Nets wanted to see, but this is the final result.

And the key is still in March, the buyout deadline has just ended, and the Nets have basically no room to make up for it.

In Delong's first training session after his injury, Lin Ying's brows were furrowed.

Even though he had heard Jordan talk about the hardships of the last championship when he won his second three consecutive championships, this game in front of him was really too difficult!

Jordan is very strong, but if you say that Deron was reimbursed for the season in the last year of his second three-game winning streak, even Jordan basically had no choice.

This round is really too difficult!

It wasn't until the next day that Lin Ying regained his composure, and then used actions and a positive attitude to encourage his teammates during training.

Think of it as a kind of tempering for yourself!

He has experienced situations that Jordan has not experienced. This may be an opportunity for him to surpass Jordan in some aspects.

Jordan is very strong, but he is certainly not a god.

And he's not just in training, he's also invested in the game.

Scored 45 points against the Bucks.

Scored 41 points against the Eagles.

Scored 51 points against the Bobcats!

Scored 55 points against the Raptors!

…

He scored 40+ points in 10 consecutive games and 50+ points in 4 games!

The fans in Brooklyn started going absolutely crazy.

No, not only the fans of Brooklyn and Nets, but also the league started to go crazy.

They all know that Lin Ying is very strong, just like Jordan back then.

But just like Jordan, because Lin Ying is too strong and the Nets themselves are not weak, he actually does not need much scoring performance.

As for the record-breaking 85 points, fans looked back after the game and found that it was also scored with the help of the entire Nets team.

It’s just that others can’t do it even if they want to.

But now, Lin Ying was forced to start scoring points!

No one expected that they would have the opportunity to watch the scoring performance that Kobe showed back then for a second time!

This performance made the fans unable to sleep with excitement. The New York media reported on Lin Ying's scoring performance every day.

The "Linsanity" in history did not appear in New York, but now, Lin Ying's performance cannot be described by these three words at all.

However, such a performance worried the Nets coaching staff and management.

They can accept Deron's injury, but if Lin Ying is also injured due to excessive fatigue, then the Nets will really be GG ahead of schedule this season.

Therefore, at the request of the management and coaching staff, the Nets began to control Lin Ying's playing time.

Lin Ying's playing time was reduced by about 5 minutes compared with previous games.

Lin Ying's scoring also began to decline, from 10 consecutive games of 40+ to 20 consecutive games of 35+...

Now everyone knows what it means to be truly "stable as an old dog."

This is more stable than the Spurs' performance last season!

However, behind Lin Ying's crazy scoring performance, the Nets still experienced great ups and downs in their record.

Basketball is not a one-person sport. Although Deron is not in very good shape due to injuries, no one on the Nets can replace him.

But on the bright side, this gives other members of the Nets a chance to exercise.

Such as Bradley's organizational skills.

Originally, organizational ability was not his specialty, but with Lin Ying's guidance and the fact that he was assigned to play the starting point guard after Deron was injured, this dual stimulus finally made his organization look a bit better.

Another example is Covington.

Originally, like Crowder before him, he got a chance to play in his second year as a rookie, but he was also in and out of the rotation.

But now, the Nets have little room for reinforcement in the free market. Bradley is forced to play the starting point guard, but he has become a stable rotation.

Although he doesn't have a lot of playing time, in the limited time, he fully demonstrated his abilities as a 3D player.

This is important for the Nets.

Because although Bradley and Crowder are excellent defenders, a defensive guard and a power forward who prefers a small lineup will face a swingman with sufficient size, such as Kobe, Durant, and DeRozan. These have poor defensive effects.

But Covington's performance can form a closed loop very well.

If the lineup of Bradley-Covington-Claude-Chandler can be maintained, the Nets will have arrows to match any star they face in the future, which is very embarrassing.

So just like Jokic's character, a good mentality is not simply about self-comfort and joy in suffering, it really allows people to see the good aspects in adversity and even difficulties.

…

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is already the end of April, and the curtain of the NBA season has finally come to an end.

After the season ends, fans not only pay attention to the rankings of each team, but also pay attention to each individual statistics of this year's season.

There are several statistics this year that are worthy of attention.

For example, in the rebounding list, Jordan of the Clippers averaged 15 rebounds per game. Compared with his height, the "uncle emperor" in his peak period was a weak version of Rodman.

Another example is the steals list. Leonard won the season's steals title with an average of 2.3 steals per game.

This season, in addition to taking on more responsibilities on the offensive end, he has demonstrated his defensive abilities to the extreme.

His nickname "Death Coil" also began to appear on the stage of history.

Spurs fans are extremely happy at this time, because after James and Anthony have returned to small forwards one after another, it is now the real golden era of small forwards.

With Leonard, the Spurs' lower limit is guaranteed when they are in super teams such as the Nets and Cavaliers.

Otherwise, just how to deal with these giants will be a headache for the team.

Of course, what fans are most concerned about at this time is the scoring leader.

Because after the season, Lin Ying's scoring average was fixed at 34.1 points per game!

He retained the NBA scoring title!

With an earth-shattering momentum!

Although he ultimately failed to break Kobe's scoring record like his previous 85 points, fans also saw how terrifying Lin Ying was with his full output.

You must know that the Lakers' record with Kobe's numbers is not good.

But Lin Ying's output ensures the team's victory, and the team also controls his playing time.

If this really allows Lin Ying to let go, surpassing Kobe is not completely impossible.

And Lin Ying is not dancing alone. For the Thunder, Durant's final scoring average was fixed at 32.7 points per game.

Although it is slightly inferior to Lin Ying, this score is crazy enough.

Well, if you average 32.7 points per game and still can’t win the scoring title, who are you talking to?

At this time, a 1.83 meter middle-aged man on the Nets bench raised his hands and looked at me, look at me!

In the year when Kobe Bryant averaged a crazy season of 35.4 points per game, he averaged 33 points per game that year!

With this comparison, Durant's mentality should be much better.