The NBA entered a long offseason, and after the Celtics won the championship in the 23-24 season, many teams in the East quickly responded, such as the Knicks, 8 for 2 to get Bridges, and at the same time renewed Anunoby for 5 years and $212.5 million, creating a roster framework that called the Celtics and took a shortcut in the East to the Finals. Including the Bucks, who have been in the first round for two years in a row, Rivers Sr. intends to tear down the frame, and everyone except Lillard and Antetokounmpo are on the trade shelf. On the Western side, the Warriors, who can't even make the playoffs, have completely broken with Klay, but they are aiming at George, and they want to sign and trade with the Clippers when they are only willing to take out Paul or Wiggins, which is a bit of a fool's dream. The Lakers drafted Bronny to satisfy James, but the biggest problem for the Lakers is that they can't change players.
Counting on this group of players, counting on the aging Lao Zhan and thick eyebrows, the championship window is almost closed. The fate of the Clippers' Big Four is different, no matter what George says, the Clippers are only willing to give George a 3-year, $149 million contract at most, and George will leave the Clippers. In the words of the Los Angeles media, Harden is sure to stay, but the Clippers management's offer contract is still quite different from the Harden team. But there is one person who is easy to overlook, and that is Wei Shao. Clippers reporter Hazari confirmed that it is difficult for Wei Shao to return to the Clippers after he is sure to enter the free agent market, and his next home options must include enough playing opportunities and playing time. But Wei Shao then made a decision: exercise the $4 million player option and return to the Clippers!
Let's start with a piece of news. As early as after the Clippers were eliminated in the first round of this season, ESPN revealed that Wei Shao's transformation from a starter to a bench this season was actually very reluctant. After Wei Shao confirmed to leave the Clippers, the Los Angeles team reporter disclosed the details: After Harden came to the team, with the backcourt combination of Harden + Wei Shao losing consecutive games (once 6 consecutive defeats, Harden played 5 of them), the team could not let Wei Shao hold the ball Harden squatted in the bottom corner, from the management to the coaching staff are trying to persuade Wei Shao to play as a substitute. Wei Shao finally compromised, but in the regular season after that, the coaching staff needed to communicate with Wei Shao repeatedly, in the words of the American media, Wei Shao decided that during this period, because of Harden's tactical position and team results, playing Harden's bench was a huge sacrifice.
There are several statistics, this season's regular season Wei Shao averaged 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, and in the playoffs averaged 6.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, with a three-point shooting rate of 26% + 23.5% + 61.5%! You must know that in the playoffs last year, Wei Shao faced the Suns, and he could contribute an average of 23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, with a shooting rate of 41% + 35.7% + 88% in two consecutive seasons. The key is that Wei Shao's ball usage rate in this year's playoffs is 26.3%, the first in the team (George 24.7%, Leonard 22.8% in two games, and Harden only 22%), but Wei Shao's true shooting rate is 34%, and the team's efficiency value is the first! Statistics show that Wei Shao has entered the playoffs 7 times in the last 7 times and stopped in the first round 6 times!
To put it mildly, Wei Shao's hard work and willingness to defend after playing, there is nothing wrong with him, he is often the promoter of the team's rhythm, but Wei Shao should have faced the reality a long time ago, Wei Shao, who will be 36 years old next season, has no ability to fly away, plus he has no projection, and the efficiency of rushing to the frame is also seriously insufficient. But even so, including Leonard and Harden, both of them praised Wei Shao's dominance many times this season, not to mention George, who was the one who defied public opinion at that time, and even refuted President Frank, and helped the Clippers recruit Wei Shao under pressure. However, Wei Shao's advanced data this season has fallen to outside the 120th place in the league, and his true victory contribution value is negative! What is the premise of Kewei Shao's recognition of reality? Do you still have to hold the ball?
Owner Ballmer is not short of that multi-million dollar salary, and Wei Shao himself is not short of this money, but after consecutive failures in his Lakers and Clippers careers, can Wei Shao still find a team with enough ball possession and playing time? In the Lakers, he is known as a cancer in the locker room, and although he is a nominal substitute in the Clippers, he really has a lot of ball control, but Wei Shao can't coexist with any star-level teammates. On the one hand, he needs to dominate the ball, which is the best example in the Wizards, surrounded by Avdija and Kisbert, Wei Shao can play any way, but whenever there is a superstar partner around him, Wei Shao's shortcomings are exposed: there are many mistakes with the ball, low efficiency, no projection attributes, and it is easy to get on the defensive end. This is not to blame Wei Shao, but Wei Shao's actual situation.
At any point, to put it mildly, there is no place for him in the championship team. Wei Shao finally chose to stay with the Clippers, which was really helpless, similar to Russell of the Lakers, he really couldn't find a better home, but if he didn't stay, he couldn't even keep this player option. In my opinion, the Clippers certainly need Wei Shao, but the premise of Wei Shao in the Clippers next season is to give up the ball, reduce shots, increase tandem and defensive energy, cooperate with Xiaoka and Harden in a down-to-earth manner, and don't have personal heroism, otherwise it will be difficult for him to have the next contract next summer.