Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 439 - 146: Veteran Support, New Deputy Debuts! (10,000-Word Single-Day Update, Kindly Subscribe and Vote!)
Maybe it’s realizing how foolishly he has self-destructed, or maybe it’s feeling the significant damage his actions have caused the team...
In any case, Artest’s injury recovery date, as he actively undergoes post-surgery treatment, has been moved up.
In mid-January, Artest recovered nearly half a month early, giving team GM Mulin the opportunity to strengthen this defending champion team.
However, Artest’s trade value, far below Mulin’s psychological expectations, immediately drenched Mulin with cold water.
Externally, no one denies Artest’s abilities.
But Artest’s experiences clashing with management at both Indiana City and the Bay Area have substantially reduced his trade value.
In the NBA, a player’s trade value is never solely based on their on-court performance.
Factors like age, potential, and commercial value all influence a player’s specific trade value.
Among these...
A player’s stable personality also affects the offers from teams wanting to trade for him.
Artest’s current contract will expire in a year and a half.
Given Artest’s personality, no team dares guarantee they can keep him after his contract expires.
Additionally, when the contract expires, Artest’s age will be nearing thirty.
Therefore, considering Artest’s age and personality, any team looking to acquire Artest in this trade will inevitably have to prepare for only having him for a year and a half.
These factors lead to Artest’s current trade value not matching his abilities.
Even though Mulin had long planned to package Biedrins and Artest for a trade, when Mulin saw the humiliating offers from other teams to the Warriors, the Warriors’ GM was furious: "Are they treating me like an idiot?"
The New Orleans Hornets propose using Mike James and Rasual Butler to complete this trade.
The former shone with "20+" scoring averages in the 05/06 season with the Raptors, but this season averages only 6.5 points.
The latter is a cost-effective wing with 3-and-D skills.
But just one cheap 3-and-D player for Artest and the youthfully limitless Biedrins from the Warriors feels like an insult to Mulin’s intelligence.
The Dallas Mavericks want to use Jerry Stackhouse and Devin George for this trade and express their willingness to add two future draft picks to compensate the Warriors.
However...
As a potential competitor to the Warriors, knowing the Mavericks have been trying to bolster their front lines recently, Mulin doesn’t want to trade Artest to Dallas.
Thus, utterly frustrated, Mulin turns his attention to the Pacers’ roster, hoping to see if Larry Bird, with whom he has good relations, has anything good to offer.
Then...
Mulin gets scolded for two hours on the phone by Bird.
Because the only player in the Pacers lineup who can meet Mulin’s needs is Danny Granger, personally named by Bird as Indiana City’s prince.
Bird never thought Mulin would dare aim for Granger, and Bird angrily retorted on the phone, "Want Dan? Sure, just swap the Messiah!"
Bird felt Mulin must be crazy to dare ask for Granger.
Moreover, what Mulin proposes to swap Granger with is Artest?
You know, two years ago Mulin traded Artest from Indiana City, and now he wants to use Artest to trade for Granger...
In Bird’s eyes, next time they meet, if he doesn’t beat up Mulin, he’s not a good Bird!
And Mulin, hitting walls in the trade market, ends up sleepless for several days. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
After all, as the Warriors are about to enter a new round of demanding schedules...
Mulin, anxious and restless, fully knows the Warriors are practically relying on Qin Yue to hold the fort?
Whether reducing playing time or deliberately slowing the game pace, all strategic adjustments to protect Qin Yue can’t truly free him.
By mid-January, Qin Yue’s average attempts were still as high as twenty-four, and his average frame crashes reached an astonishing nine times.
From the first day of regular-season play, the Golden State War God has been in full-power mode to compress opponent defenses and provide shooting opportunities for his teammates on the outside.
Each night, he averages a jaw-dropping 36.1 points, grabs 14.1 rebounds for the team, delivers 8.8 assists, plus nearly 4 blocks.
His on-court performance certainly makes his supporters reverently worship him, but unless the Warriors trade for a reliable right-hand man before the trade deadline...
Mulin could assert now that later games will definitely exhaust Qin Yue’s energy.
Fortunately, just as Mulin was about to collapse, Bobcats’ GM, Michael Jordan’s dear friend and former Bulls player used for obedience testing, Rod Higgins called him.
The Bobcats expressed strong interest in Biedrins right off the bat.
Biedrins is a sweeper type center highly rare in the current league.
Higgins believes that if the Bobcats can give Biedrins ample playing time, he will definitely develop into a complete double-double machine.
