Chương 85: Invincible.
Every NBA season has a trade deadline. As the name implies, it's the last day teams can make trades for that season.
So, even if a team starts the season far over the salary cap and is paying a ton in luxury tax, what matters is how they look on the deadline.
Teams that don't want to pay the tax will go all out on this day, trying to lower their payroll to get under the cap or the tax threshold.
This year, the Wizards were one of those teams.
The Wizards' 'Big Three' finally managed to stay healthy this season, but due to poor form and morale, their record was still awful. The blowout win against the Cavs was one of the few highlights of their season.
But their star, Gilbert Arenas, wasn't satisfied with just that. He decided to make an even bigger splash.
He became the NBA's first 'Gun King' when he pulled a gun on his teammate, Javaris Crittenton, in a locker room altercation.
Even though he didn't fire the gun, as Chekhov's law might suggest, the incident still shattered his career and reputation.
Before this, Dwyane Wade had a famous 'throat-slash' celebration that the NBA later banned. The league, as the pinnacle of basketball worldwide, simply couldn't allow any crossing of lines into violence.
Arenas was suspended for the rest of the season and cooperated with a government investigation. There was even a chance he could end up in jail.
This incident pushed the Wizards, already considering a rebuild due to their poor performance, to make a final decision: they were opening up a fire sale.
The Mavericks swooped in, using a washed-up Josh Howard (who had only played 31 games and averaged 12.5 points and 3.6 rebounds on 40% shooting due to injury) and a bunch of benchwarmers to acquire one of the Wizards' Big Three, Caron Butler, along with Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson.
The Cavaliers also made a move during this window, trading Zydrunas Ilgauskas and a first-round pick for the Wizards' number-two option, Antawn Jamison.
Although this wasn't the biggest trade news of the deadline (that honor went to the Rockets sending Tracy McGrady to the Knicks), when Han Sen arrived in the locker room, he could still sense the excitement on the players' faces.
Even though Jamison was 33, he was still averaging 20.5 points and 8.8 rebounds for the Wizards, shooting 45% from the field and 34.5% from three.
You could say that only active All-Stars could consistently outplay him as a power forward.
In terms of spacing and inside play, there were only a few who could surpass him.
Of course, no one in the locker room showed this excitement openly, since Ilgauskas hadn't left yet.
If you were to ask who the most influential player in Cavs' history was, it would undoubtedly be LeBron James.
But if you asked who the most beloved player was, that would be Ilgauskas.
Ilgauskas was a first-round pick by the Cavs in 1997 and had played for the team ever since.
Over the past 12 seasons (he missed the 1999–2000 season due to injury), he had been a two-time All-Star and the team's leader before LeBron arrived.
He was humble, hardworking, selfless, and always kept the team together. Even when Shaq came this season and took his starting spot, he gave it up without complaint.
You could see almost every positive trait of a professional athlete in him, and he was respected by everyone on the Cavs.
LeBron was the first to stand up and walk over to Ilgauskas, giving him a heartfelt hug while whispering words of farewell. His eyes even welled up slightly.
The rest of the locker room couldn't help but feel emotional watching this.
After all, since LeBron entered the league, Ilgauskas had been by his side.
Well, except for one person.
Han Sen, watching this, couldn't help but take back his earlier comments about LeBron. He thought LeBron might be more suited to being a politician than a businessman.
Because, in addition to intelligence, a politician needs acting skills.
If LeBron really didn't want Ilgauskas to leave, would the Cavs' front office dare go through with the trade?
Just last season, when the Cavs tried to lowball Anderson Varejão during contract negotiations, LeBron forced their hand by coming off the bench in protest, which resulted in Varejão getting a six-year, 48.2 million dollar deal.
So, at the end of the day, LeBron didn't stop this trade because Ilgauskas had gone from being a prized asset to an aging player.
Besides, this trade brought LeBron a seasoned All-Star power forward in return.
LeBron's always been about winning, just like how he could apologize to a player who had punched him if it meant winning a championship. It's all about the bottom line.
After LeBron, the rest of the Cavs also came up to say their goodbyes to Ilgauskas.
That included Han Sen.
Han Sen was still grateful to 'Big Z'. If it hadn't been for his earlier mediation, he might have been benched indefinitely by the Cavs.
Sure, he could've forced a trade by publicly trashing LeBron, but that method came with a lot of uncertainty.
Compared to that, the path he was currently on, gradually earning his place with the Cavs, was far better.
Of course, Han Sen didn't make a grand gesture like LeBron, because he knew Ilgauskas would be back.
After saying goodbye to Ilgauskas, the players finally let their emotions loose on the practice court.
The energy in practice was sky-high, with LeBron flying all over the place, visibly excited.
It wasn't just him. Han Sen noticed Shaq seemed pretty pumped, too.
"Is Jamison really that good?" he asked Shaq after practice, unable to contain his curiosity.
This was the first time he had seen Shaq this fired up since arriving in Cleveland.
After all, Shaq had been in the league for years. Not much should surprise him at this point.
"You have no idea how good this guy is," Shaq said, sitting down on the bench.
The 'Big Diesel' was about to give a lesson, and it wasn't just Han Sen who gathered around— other players did, too.
Most of them had the same impression of Jamison as Han Sen: a former All-Star who, at 33, could still drop 20+ points and was part of the exclusive 20,000-point club.
"My biggest memory of him is from Christmas Eve in 2000. He was with the Warriors then, and Phil (Jackson) told us to watch out for this third-year guy who had dropped 51 points in Seattle three days earlier."
Shaq knew how to tell a story. Even this opening line drew everyone in.
On December 4, 2000, Jamison had dropped 51 points, though the Warriors narrowly lost to Gary Payton's Sonics.
Three days later, the Warriors returned home to face Shaq's Lakers, and Jamison once again scored 51 points, leading his team to a 125-122 victory.
"He could back you down in the post, hit long twos, drive from the high post, pass out of double teams, grab offensive boards for put-backs, and his three-point shooting was a serious threat. We tried everything that night, and nothing worked," Shaq said.
His description was so vivid that Han Sen couldn't help but pull out his phone and look up the stats from that game.
Jamison had shot 21-of-29, finishing with 51 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and 4 turnovers.
Wow. That was terrifying.
This was in 2000, before the hand-check rule was eliminated, and the Lakers' defense back then was one of the best in the league.
Shaq wasn't exaggerating.
What made it even more interesting was that in that same game, Kobe Bryant had also scored 51 points, though he shot 18-of-35 and turned the ball over eight times.
No wonder Shaq remembered it so well. Two players scoring 50+ in the same game? That doesn't happen often in NBA history.
Han Sen then looked up Jamison's stats from the game against the Sonics: 23-of-36, 51 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and only 1 turnover.
Jamison was seriously something else!
Just then, Shaq revealed the real reason for his excitement during practice:
"Now that we've got him, I honestly don't know how we lose."
Shaq was really hyped up, probably forgetting how the Lakers lost back in the day.
But his confidence is understandable.
This isn't the era before Han Sen's time travel, where superteams were all the rage, with no teams having two top-tier superstars.
Even if you count the earlier Celtics, both Pierce and Ray Allen were just the stars of struggling teams, and the only true superstar was Garnett.
And even including the Celtics, they were the only team like that.
Other teams, at most, were like the Lakers: one superstar leading the former star of a weak team.
But now, on the Cavs, LeBron is a superstar, and then three second-tier stars: Mo Williams, Shaq, and Jamison..
That's not even counting the rapidly improving Han Sen.
And in terms of rotation, guys like West, old Parker, Moon, and Varejao were all starters last season.
That's basically like playing with two starting lineups, and on paper, it's hard to see how they could lose.
Of course, basketball isn't played on paper. Otherwise, the Heat's Big Three in their prime wouldn't have won just two championships.
Shaq and LeBron have already spent a lot of time adjusting to each other. How long will it take for Jamison to fit in?
Let's not forget, after the All-Star break, there's only two months left in the season.
And when you have a lot of star players, it's really a test of the coach's ability to manage them.
Especially when you have someone like LeBron on the team, who has such a strong desire for ball control.
Without guaranteed touches, it's hard to maintain form, just like what Han Sen experienced earlier.
Rivers did a good job in Boston, but Brown...
Luckily, based on what we've seen in practice, things are looking optimistic for now.
After all, Jamison could be seen as an upgraded version of Cunningham, perfectly complementing LeBron.
The next day, Malone led Jamison to the Cavs' locker room, where he would take over the corner locker that used to belong to Ilgauskas.
The first thing that caught Han Sen's eye when he saw Jamison was the prominent scar on his right cheek.
Although the Cavs had faced the Wizards before, you don't really notice those details on the court.
It gave him a tough look, but the moment he opened his mouth, that impression vanished.
Jamison's warm and genuine smile, combined with his large frame, created a striking contrast.
Everyone who greeted him was met with a friendly smile, giving off a very humble and polite vibe.
But after the greetings, he sat quietly, preparing his gear for practice.
This made Han Sen a little concerned.
It wasn't that he was being prejudiced, but in his time playing in the States, the Black players he had met, like Rondo and Cunningham, were all chatterboxes. Quiet ones like Jamison were rare.
Curious, Han Sen pulled out his phone and searched for Jamison, not for game footage but for his career background.
After that, it all made sense.
Turns out Jamison went to UNC.
No wonder.
That's a place that could even make someone like Jordan understand the importance of teamwork. It's known for producing players with that mindset, though not always.
What surprised Han Sen even more was that Jamison had been college teammates with Vince Carter at UNC for three years, and Jamison was the team's leader?
Averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds in his junior season?
Those are insane stats for a UNC player!
And how come no one ever mentioned it before?
Even more interesting, he and Carter were both drafted in the same year, with Jamison going fourth and Carter fifth, and they even swapped teams right after being drafted.
Such an interesting story, but too bad no media really hyped it up.
After putting down his phone, Han Sen came to a final assessment of Jamison: stats greater than skill, skill greater than fame.
Jamison's arrival boosted the Cavs' morale, but it didn't impact Han Sen much.
His main focus now was to push his [Giant Slayer] skill to the limit in the remaining two months.
It wasn't going to be easy, meaning he had to get back to his previous training routine.
After practice one day, Han Sen stayed behind to work on his floater, with Malone helping by holding up a board to simulate a defender.
After a while, he noticed Jamison sitting on the sidelines, watching.
When Han Sen finished, he was still there.
Han Sen grabbed a towel to wipe off his sweat and sat down beside him.
"Did you want to talk to me?"
"Vince mentioned you."
Hearing that, Han Sen took a tactical sip from his water bottle.
His interactions with Carter had mostly been on the court, and let's just say, those weren't pleasant memories for Carter.
Was Jamison here to stick up for his old college buddy?
But what Jamison said next made him choke on his water.
"He said you've got potential."
Wait, is this the difference between people?
Han Sen trashed Pierce, and the latter became his biggest hater.
But after he trashed Carter, he instead got complimented?
Is he some kind of masochist?
Well, at least he wasn't here to settle a score. That's good news.
Although Han Sen had established his place on the Cavs, his relationship with LeBron hadn't changed much.
It's always better to have one more friend than one more enemy, especially when that friend is a starter on the team.
Plus, Jamison replaced Cunningham, and a lot of weak-side plays would require coordination between the two of them.
"Tell him thanks. He's my idol. I grew up watching him play," Han Sen said, adjusting his tone to sound serious.
Carter was the face of the league when Han Sen was 11 or 12, so the age thing checked out.
It definitely sounded more plausible than calling Bird his idol.
And no one ever said you could only have one idol, right?
If needed, you could have plenty!
Sure enough, this comment instantly brought him and Jamison closer.
"I saw you working on your floater earlier," Jamison said, continuing the conversation.
"Yeah. Wait, huh?"
Han Sen paused and turned to him.
He remembered that Jamison was pretty good with floaters too, right?
In that game against the Wizards, Jamison had dropped 31 points, including two impressive floaters.
"I know a bit about them. Want me to practice with you?"
Hearing that, Han Sen eagerly nodded.
The reason the floater is called 'Giant Killer' is because it's a move used by smaller players to counter bigger defenders.
Using Malone as a stand-in hadn't been that effective, since Malone's slower foot speed and lower reach didn't really simulate a true big man.
If he wanted to make his training more efficient, he needed to practice against an actual big guy.
But the Cavs' big guys? No way Shaq would help out, even if they were friends. Ilgauskas was just traded. Cunningham was too short.
And he definitely wasn't going to ask Varejao!
So Jamison's offer was exactly what he needed.
Jamison's signature floater was a spin move into a drifting floater, usually after a post-up.
It was the complete opposite of the floater Han Sen learned from Wade.
The key to a floater is keeping your body balanced.
Jamison explained that his drifting floater was a way to deal with help defenders in the paint.
It made sense. In low-post situations, it's easy to get double-teamed and blocked by big men.
But this was Jamison's unique move— not something just anyone could learn.
According to him, it stemmed from an experience he had as a kid.
His dad, noticing his love for basketball, put up a hoop in their yard. The standard height is 10 feet, but his dad hung it at 11.5 feet.
So from a young age, Jamison had to practice shooting high floaters from all kinds of angles.
That's how he developed the ability to hit drifting floaters with consistency.
So in a way, it was kind of a 'weird trick'.
But Han Sen thought it was worth trying out, since the move focused on surprise and unpredictability, making it hard for defenders to guard.
Aside from learning the floater technique, Jamison also shared his insights on how to defend against floaters.
With his 7-foot-2 wingspan, the defensive pressure Han Sen faced from him was nothing like the resistance Malone's board could offer.
Han Sen had to focus on every detail and adjust his rhythm to suit his own body.
By the time they finished training, Han Sen felt like he had learned a lot.
One thought crossed his mind: he didn't trash-talk Carter enough!
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