Chapter 935 Balance

In January 2017, Harden's deal dropped a blockbuster on the otherwise dull NBA market.

Because of the Warriors' success, Li Liang decided to stay with the Kings for at least three years, causing other teams to have no idea of ​​competing for the championship in the near future, so the entire market has entered a dormant state.

The teams are making some minor repairs and repairs, and there are basically no major moves.

In 1995, 2004, and 2008, the mid-season trading of core players led to the trading of championship-level teams in one fell swoop, which has not happened in the past two years.

After all, the appearance of Li Liang made the entire NBA free market environment worse.

Unexpectedly, on an unremarkable January afternoon, the deal between the Rockets and the Celtics shocked everyone.

The Rockets have indeed faced many difficulties this season. With two major stars inside and outside, they can only hover on the edge of the playoffs in the West.

The investment in Howard proved to be a failure, and Warcraft is no longer the Warcraft it once was.

The overall environment in the West is so bad that it can't be added. The Rockets have almost no hope in terms of salary structure, draft picks, and market environment.

In the summer, the Rockets signed Anderson for 20 million in the free market. The moment the contract was signed, a garbage contract was born.

Influenced by Li Liang, the Rockets wanted to renew Harden's contract in advance last year, but Harden refused.

Then, Harden watched the Thunder's eldest brother and second brother reach the pinnacle of life and win the championship.

It's impossible to say that there is no stimulation for him. It's true that no one has won the championship.

Throughout the summer, Harden was being stimulated by his two brothers, who were still thinking about getting Harden back to the Thunder.

But where does the Thunder have the capital to exchange Harden back.

Besides, it is impossible for Harden to return to the Thunder to be the third child. He has the strength to win the regular season MVP.

Seeing that the Rockets have no future and hope, the team lost consecutive games in December.

The relationship between Harden and Howard is getting worse.

The Rockets uniform team has been seeking to trade Howard.

After all, Harden is the future of the team.

As a result, Howard has no team willing to take over.

One is that the contract is too big, and the other is that Howard has an expired contract. If he trades back at a high price and leaves after playing for a season, wouldn't everything be in vain?

Therefore, Howard's contract was not willing to ask for it at all, and the Rockets could only watch it rot in their hands.

Now Harden quit. He has always had no temper, and he submitted a trade application to the team in January.

Once an honest person loses his temper, even a few cows can't pull him back when he gets stubborn.

For Harden, he actually didn't want to run around, he was not Li Liang.

When he was in the Thunder, he said that he could accept the status of a substitute.

The result was sent away by Presti.

When it came to the Rockets, he quickly brought the team out of the quagmire.

Moreover, the Houston strip club is well-known in the United States, and it feels very good to play here.

But times have changed. How can a player have no ambitions, how can he think about staying in one place forever, sinking on the verge of the playoffs.

Li Liang has set a good example for everyone in the league.

Trees move to death, people move to live, have strength, where not to play?

Once Harden submits a trade application, it means that there is no room for recovery.

And the day after Harden proposed the deal, the Rockets reached an agreement with the Celtics.

This also shows that the Rockets have long had a plan to trade Harden, but they just don't want to execute it.

Once it has to be executed, it works very quickly.

Business is business, and sometimes it is so ruthless.

So, Harden was sent from Texas to Massachusetts, and went to Boston, the holy city of basketball.

For the Celtics, getting Harden means that they have taken the last and most critical step in their reconstruction.

After sending away the Big Three, the Celtics stood up again in just a few years.

This season, the Celtics can be described as "there is no tiger or monkey king in the mountains" in the East.

After James left, the East can be said to be dimmed. The Celtics rushed to the No. 1 position in the East when the lineup was not favored.

Thomas Jr., who is 175 tall, almost played at the MVP level, averaging 28 points per game, leading the Celtics to No. 1 in the Eastern Conference.

But Danny - Ainge is obviously not satisfied with this temporary soaring.

Once he has the chance to get a real superstar, he doesn't hesitate.

It's a pity that the Rockets are not fools and don't want Thomas Jr. in the trade, even if he averages 28 points per game.

The height of 175 is indeed a flaw.

Without the defense of the Celtics team, it would be difficult for Thomas Jr. to perform like this year.

The Celtics lost a defensive champion like Bradley and a rising star like Ingram, but for Harden, these are all worth it.

This deal that shocked the league not only affected the Rockets and Celtics, but also balanced the situation between the East and the West.

Therefore, some media and reporters said that behind this transaction, there is likely to be an alliance to promote it.

After all, the East is really dim now, and this year's All-Star Game feels like it's impossible to watch.

There are no heavyweight stars in the entire Eastern Conference, all of them are ordinary All-Stars.

And what about the West? Durant, James, Li Liang, and Curry, the four most heavyweights are all gathered in the West.

The remaining stars with both strength and popularity such as Davis, Harden, Howard, and Paul are also in the West.

In the East, there are Irving, Paul George, DeRozan, etc., and Anthony can be used at most. What do you think of this All-Star Game?

The star is still second, and the more important thing is the strength of the team, which is too unbalanced.

Just like in the first few years of the 21st century, the Western Conference championship is equivalent to the championship, and the finals are just a formality.

The situation where the west is strong and the east is weak has always had a negative impact on the league, and calls for canceling the east and west divisions have never stopped.

The earliest reason for the East-West division was that the distance between the east and the west of the United States was too large, and the transportation was not developed in the early years. It was not easy to play golf from the east coast to the west coast.

So not only the east-west division, but also a more detailed division of the competition area.

A major reform of this year's regular season rankings is the cancellation of the rankings in the East and West, and the rankings are directly based on record.

Because the transportation is too developed now, and the United States is a country that takes planes everywhere.

At the same time, some competition areas have long been meaningless due to changes in the team's location.

For example, the Thunder are in the Northwest Division, because his predecessor was the Seattle SuperSonics, and Seattle is in the most northwestern part of the United States.

Almost equivalent to the location of Kashgar in China.

After moving to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is in the central part of the United States, which is almost equivalent to Wuhan in China.

Is it appropriate for you to divide Wuhan and Kashgar into one district?

Due to multiple reasons, this year's call for canceling the east and west divisions is particularly loud.

Of course, it is very difficult to break the traditions of the East and the West.

Since the division between the east and the west cannot be broken for the time being, why not make some small moves to balance the east and west?

This is not the first time the alliance has done this.

To ensure the balanced development of the entire league through the rules on the surface and small actions in the dark can be regarded as a way of checks and balances.

As Stern's disciple, Xiao Hua should be well aware of this.

So, following 2007, the Celtics once again rose through a deal.

However, it may be too early for them to win the championship on behalf of the Eastern Conference team this year.