The formal implementation of the new television contract...
Made the summer of 2016 the liveliest summer the NBA has seen in a decade.
With the salary cap significantly increased by the television contract, many teams aiming to challenge the Warriors saw hope in forming a "Cosmic Team" to stop the Warriors Dynasty.
And the quality stars set to become free agents that summer provided the possibility for this hope.
At the end of June, at the draft held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, under the strong recommendation from GOAT, the Warriors ultimately used their 30th pick in the first round to select Ivica Zubac from Croatia.
Although as a young center with an incredibly long growth cycle...
Qin Yue did not expect Zubac to quickly realize his potential like Jokic.
But it's worth knowing...
This young player, later humorously called "Zunier" by fans, is already one of the top five centers in the NBA's future.
Additionally, with several veterans from the "Golden State Knights" retiring this summer, they had to prioritize strengthening the inside line in this year's draft.
Of course...
The reason Qin Yue strongly recommended the Warriors choose Zubac in the draft.
Also relates to Zubac being one of the few future centers capable of challenging Jokic head-on.
In Qin Yue's view, as long as the Warriors can keep Zubac, he doesn't even know how many centers in the future league can compete against Jokic.
Don't ask.
If you ask, Qin Yue, from the moment he decided to lead him in, was already prepared to close the door on his potential competitors for Jokic, this "disciple."
And in July, after holding a grand farewell party for Andrei Vallejo, Drew Gooden, David Lee, and Mo Williams, who had a successful career in San Francisco, the Warriors turned their attention to the free agent market.
It's worth mentioning that at this farewell party, Vallejo and others, who decided to officially end their careers, did not forget LeBron James, who once led them to fight in the NBA.
Just, if it were possible...
James apparently did not want Vallejo and others to use him to highlight Qin Yue's greatness.
"In my home country Brazil, there's a saying that a pack of lions led by a sheep will never defeat a flock of sheep led by a lion."
At the farewell party, Vallejo said, "In my view, the biggest difference between the Messiah and those stars hyped by commercial marketing is that he would always say 'follow me' to us, rather than 'go for me'."
To this, Gooden said with empathy, "When I recently read in the news that his fans still see him as a young player, honestly, I can only describe my feeling as shocked."
"It proves that great people are often inherently surrounded by an aura of greatness. While clay that can't be molded, will always remain just that."
"You ask me, what's the most profound impression of working with the Warriors and the Messiah?" Mo Williams said, "You might not believe it, but it wasn't until I became teammates with the Messiah that I realized the lead star can be the one responsible for the clutch shots on the field."
Despite that, since James' "fairy tale" collapsed in New York, mocking "Young James" in the NBA had become politically correct...
But at this moment, James' status in the NBA world was only describable with these few remarks:
They all look down on me, yet I am also no use.
No one raises my high ambitions, and I also can't rise up myself.
Everyone makes fun of me, yet I am the funniest.
The strong never blame their circumstances, yet I am the weak one.
I not only blame the environment, but also blame the strong.
The ones who can defeat me, I also don't compete with them.
If only I had a little real skill, I wouldn't be without any skill at all.
...
In mid-July, before entering the "shopping phase" of the free agent market, the Warriors first offered JR Smith a three-year, $50 million renewal contract.
With just JR's contributions to the Warriors over the years, he deserved such a high-salary retirement contract.
Just...
Regarding the renewal request made by the Warriors, JR said, "Are you looking down on me? Am I, JR Smith, the kind of guy who plays for money? Quickly take back this contract, I just want a veteran's minimum!"
Fortunately, under Qin Yue's persuasion, JR eventually signed the contract with tears in his eyes.
Because regardless of how much JR made with him off the field in recent years, in Qin Yue's view, JR did not need to save money for the Warriors.
Moreover...
If Qin Yue couldn't even secure a retirement contract for his ironclad brother JR, how could he, as the big brother, continue to mix in the NBA in the future?
This summer, the Warriors ultimately signed Emeka Okafor, Jerald Green, and Joe Johnson from the free agent market.
As one of the inside players Qin Yue most wanted to partner with in his early NBA years, although Okafor, soon to be 34, was no longer that "white moonlight" of Qin Yue's college days.
But as an experienced and fundamentally solid veteran, Qin Yue still strongly recommended the team offer Okafor a veteran's minimum.
Because even if "Lian Po" is old...
"Lian Po" can also pass his experience to young players like Zubac.
And as a supplement to the Warriors' forward and guard line, the "Nine-Finger Dunking God," Jerald Green, won by virtue of cost-effectiveness.
After all, in this era where you have to offer tens of millions per year for recruits, there weren't many players as humble as Green left.
However, with Jerald Green's joining...
In the new season, there will definitely be many Chinese fans going crazy over this.
Because as of now, on the Warriors' roster, there are three Greens alone.
As for Single-Player Joe, who first played for the Lakers then switched to the Warriors?
Don't ask.
If asked, it's all for the championship, what's wrong with "switching sides"?
Does it mean the Lakers can't allow Single-Player Joe to play for other teams?
In Qin Yue's previous life, Johnson, who didn't win a championship ring until retirement, in this life, after savoring a taste of the championship with the Lakers, simply couldn't stop.
"I don't care how Lakers fans see me." On the day of signing with the Warriors, Single-Player Joe said, "Because I just want to retire with as many championship rings as possible."
Thus, the Warriors' summer recruitment work is complete.
Although compared to other power teams, the Warriors didn't make any big moves this summer.
But in Qin Yue's view, this "4.0" version of the Warriors is already strong enough.
Inside, the soon-to-be breakout Jokic now only needs an opportunity to welcome his "Rushing Forward."
There's also the "Iron Bull," who was selected for the first team of the Best Defensive Team last season.
To guard his starting position, Iron Bull didn't even need Qin Yue's reminder; he'd already started extra three-point practice in the offseason.
Plus, the increasingly Jordan-like Jimmy Butler...
And the Stephen Curry, who has officially entered the "Three-Point God Mode."
To be honest, in Qin Yue's view, even if he weren't on the team, this Warriors squad has the potential to compete for the championship.
Of course, externally...
Qin Yue would never reveal the truth.
After all, even the capable GOAT also needs marketing packaging.
And in this summer of mixed emotions...
The funniest one in the whole NBA once again surged to the limelight in the basketball world search lists in an unexpected way.
The reason was...
Although this summer, the Clippers' executive team had been striking everywhere, trying to recruit more support for the peak Griffin.
But due to the same reason...
Until September, this team, whose owner changed to Steve Ballmer, still hadn't recruited any strong new support.
So the question now is.
Why, this summer, did the Clippers hit walls everywhere in their recruitment efforts?
Could it be...
Just because besides Griffin, they also had LeBron James?
"These people are too much, how can they say superstars don't want to join the Clippers because they don't want to play with LeBron?"
California, San Francisco.
Facing the majority of Clippers fans online blaming James for the Clippers' poor recruitment, even Qin Yue stood up for James.
However, against GOAT's defense of James, in the next second, the GOAT's chief manager Ronnie Evans made the final blow with just one sentence.
"If, and I mean if, if the Warriors traded Jimmy Butler for LeBron James, would you agree?"
"..."
...
PS: Bringing you the fifth afterword, two days late. (Not a sob story, two days ago, after the Golden Core episode, Ah Qiao truly did not expect that just by drinking a bit more cold water and eating some cold watermelon, this sudden acute gastroenteritis almost sent Ah Qiao straight away.)
