You'd better wrap me

Chapter 167 The Best Teammate in History

At ten o'clock in the morning on May [-]st, the Clippers did not hold joint training on the second day of the game as usual, but the whole team gathered in the temporary training center to celebrate teammate Bobby Simmons' winning the Most Improved Player award. Hug and fist bump with him.

As the boss of the team, Su Yang made the opening speech: "The Best Improvement Award is an affirmation of Simon's hard work this season, and we all know that his ability is far more than that. His three-point shooting rate is as high as 43.5%. Every shot can be hit, we should find ways to create more opportunities for him, he has also defended from the second position to the fourth position many times on the defensive end..."

During the conversation, the crowd nodded, cheered and applauded frequently, surrounding Simmons like stars holding the moon.

Simmons wanted to laugh and cry. He felt that he had reached the pinnacle of his life as a second-round pick. He thought that after the team exchanged Su Yang, he would become a marginal person, especially in the preseason and the first few games of the new season. Under the circumstances, but Su Yang suggested more shooting and catching three-pointers, and more defensive practice. In the end, he was able to share the starting shooting guard with Jaric. I also want to thank Jaric for missing those games due to personal reasons. 7 40+ performances, under very little pressure, 5 of 5 in several games.

Before, I was worried that the amount of the next contract would be too small, but the agent has revealed that many teams are preparing to offer high prices in the summer.

"Thank you! Thank you! I love you guys!"

Simmons had tears in his eyes, "This year is the happiest season in my career. Iguodala is willing to give up the starting shooting guard when I meet excellent teammates like you. When I meet a boss like Su Yang who cannot be praised in words , is willing to create opportunities for me wholeheartedly as a cover, and when I meet an excellent young coach like Eric, I understand my thoughts..."

The brief celebration ended quickly, and the whole team took advantage of the trend to shoot and play, while the well-known commentators sparked heated discussions at the same time.

Chris Bunty said on ESPN's Lunchtime Discussion: "PR! Definitely SUJAN'S PR!

The Most Improved Player Award should be awarded to Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat. He scored 16.2 points and 4.5 assists last season, soared to 24.1 points and 6.8 assists this season, and his shooting percentage increased by 1.3%. Michael Jordan was able to increase his shooting power, but his shooting percentage did not decrease but increased. This is definitely Su Yang's momentum for himself! "

Kyle Pelton, who was also on the show, said:
"Chris is farting! Even misremembering the data!
This season, LeBron's scoring average has increased from 21 to 27, his shots have increased from 18.9 to 21.1, and his shooting percentage has increased from 41 to 47%. Isn't it also a case of increasing the number of shots but increasing the shooting percentage?What's more, Simmons has also improved.

If you want to say that it is because last season's shooting percentage was too low, then I must say that Kobe's rookie season was only 41%!

Of course, Wade’s shooting rate in the rookie game was 46.5%. Being able to increase his shooting rate to 4% with an average increase of 47.8 shots per game is indeed a very commendable achievement. We all know how difficult it is to increase marginal benefits. .

But Wade's advantage over Simmons is that the Heat's offensive and defensive system is built around it, and Simmons doesn't get that treatment. "

Bill Simmons later posted a podcast and wrote:

"I think it makes sense not to award the Most Improved Player award to Wade, because it is a default role player or non-big player priority award, so it will not be awarded to LeBron James, who has also improved a lot, but I am the same Disapprove of awarding it to Bobby Simmons, who just catches and hits those easy wide-open 43.5-pointers, even though he hits a whopping [-] percent of them.

I think the most improved player award should be awarded to Primoz Brezek of the Bobcats. As a fourth-year player, he transferred from the Pacers to the Bobcats. He averaged 1.6 points per game, shot 13.0% from the field, averaged 51 rebounds per game, and sent 7.4 assists with only 1.2 turnovers.

In contrast, Bobby Simmons only improved from averaging 7.8 points per game to 12.8 points per game, which is a very small improvement.

I agree with what Chris said about public relations, but I think it is more about the league wanting to create a perfect image of Su Yang, making Su Yang a perfect player who can win the scoring champion and allow his teammates to win the most improved award. This never seems to have happened. "

Discussions came and went, and finally it turned out to be aimed at Su Yang unexpectedly, and fans said that Simmons was forced to change his style of play because of Su Yang. Award, but cut his own way.

However, some fans pointed out that Simmons not only has a high three-point shooting rate, but also a high two-point shooting rate, because when Su Yang is double-teamed, he often cuts and rushes to the basket to catch the second ball from players other than Su Yang. At the same time, rebounds and steals have also improved.

In the blink of an eye, training ended in the afternoon, and the Clippers temporarily set up a stage for Simmons to be interviewed by dozens of reporters.

Talking about Su Yang's help to himself, Simmons laughed: "I heard from my agent that some commentators want to use me to slander Su Yang. I must say that Su Yang let find a better position on the court and extend the My career, those critics are clowns, I know some of them will deliberately discredit Su Yangbo to get traffic, just to make money, but that is really sad."

After the press conference, Olshey found Su Yang for a chat, bluntly saying that Simmons would not be able to keep Simmons in the summer, because the Bucks had already offered Bobby Simmons' agent a large contract of 4000 million+. If there is a fancy candidate, they can advance Inform and act.

Su Yang was a little surprised when he heard it, and thought, why talk about this during the playoffs?Hint yourself to pay attention to Simmons' performance?

Immediately waved his hand and refused, and waited until the end of the season to talk.

The next night, the Clippers fought the Nuggets again.

The game started at [-]:[-], and the Nuggets took the initiative to change their lineup, using Earl Boykins as the starting point guard, and at the same time using rookie Nene to replace Marcus Camby as the starting center. Range defense.

That kind of strategy, coupled with the bonus of the home whistle brought by the 0 to 3 lag, really made the Clippers rush.

Su Yang switched to the one-on-one mode, without the need for Kobe to dribble the ball to the frontcourt to score, attracting most of the defensive attention. Open up gradually.

After half the game, Su Yang, who had 18 points and 3 assists in the first quarter, only had 5 points and 2 assists in the second quarter. A lot of points and assists were taken away by the Clippers. He only needs to split and move to attract defense, so that Simon S or Jaric rushed to the basket to score.

The term "Su has gravity" was mentioned again in the mouth of ESPN commentator Bill Wharton.

"In the past, we praised a certain player for creating easy scoring opportunities for other players, either by breaking through and disrupting the defense to score the ball, or being double-teamed and releasing the ball. However, Su Yang can stun the defender just by moving. His offensive threat is too great. big."

"You look carefully at the Clippers offense at the end of halftime. Su Yang is stuck on the left waist. After seeing Simmons crossing the ball at the top of the arc, he strode up to the top of the arc. It seems that he wants to use Simmons's down. The screen catches a pass from Varejao at the top of the key, successfully attracting Jamal Johnson to try to switch and forcing Anthony to scramble for position, but Varejao passes the ball to Simmons who is rushing to the basket.

He didn't get an assist, let alone a score, while Varejao had +1 assist and Simmons scored +2. "

"The Nuggets can't do anything about it, because given Su Yang the opportunity to catch the ball and a certain amount of space, he may rush to hit a three-pointer. It doesn't take much effort at all, so the Nuggets must defend immediately, which leads to Simmons Rush into the basket with ease."

The second half of the game followed closely.

The Nuggets relied on Boykins to speed up with all their strength, and the offensive end opened up the situation, but the defense was basically free, and they were still unable to narrow the gap with the Clippers. Shoot threes.

Perhaps there is only one way left, but they have become particularly determined. As a team that ranks 25th in the league in three-point shots, the Nuggets, Sr. Miller, Boykins, and Anthony hit six three-pointers in a row. It was only 6 points away from forcing the chase.

It's a pity that time is still not enough, Su Yang took the lead in starting the penalty shootout, and abruptly refused to give the Nuggets a chance to grab three points.

Anyway, I don't give any hope at all, and I don't want any home promotion. I will kill the Nuggets 4-0.

That operation made George Karl and the Nuggets fans curse shamelessly together, but he could only be incompetent and furious.

In the end, the Clippers defeated the Nuggets 123 to 116, sweeping the series 4-0 and advancing to the Western Conference semifinals.

On the same night, the potential opponents Suns and Mavericks tied 2-2, and Nash scored 48 points and 5 assists.

Su Yang and Iguodala watched the video at the hotel and decided that the Mavericks' winning strategy was to kill the Suns in the first and second quarters, and then release Nash in the third quarter to prevent others. Make Nash unable to lead the team to launch an offensive shock wave.

Looking at the statistics, Iguodala sighed: "It's too cruel! In the first quarter of the Mavericks' game, Nowitzki, Josh Howard, and Jason Terry all played 12 minutes, while the Suns, Nash , Marion, Stoudemire also played 12 minutes, and Quentin Richardson played 11 minutes, and Joe Johnson played 9 minutes, both teams have eight rotations."

Su Yang also lamented: "The Suns said that there is an eight-man rotation, but in fact, Bob Sa and Hunter are two, one for 5 minutes and the other for 2 minutes. They are responsible for letting their teammates breathe. Playing like that is a test of touch. , easily crashes.

We need to learn from each other's strengths, learn from the Mavericks and not give the Suns a chance to break out easily, and give up short rotations to fight for physical strength.

Anyway, the Mavericks played like that, and it was difficult without home court advantage. "

During the conversation, Su Yang thought that the Thunder relied on a short rotation and led the Warriors 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals, but they were too weak to overtake the Warriors at the end. In fact, they should strategically let go of a game, so that the players are not so tired, and sometimes they pause to rush. Also an excellent strategy.

The Clippers instead flew back to Los Angeles to rest while waiting for the results of the Suns and Mavericks.

On the evening of the [-]th, the NBA announced through ESPN that Su Yang was elected as the Rookie of the Year in the game between the Nets and the Heat.

Su Yang immediately received many congratulatory text messages, emails and phone calls, and everyone was quite calm, after all, there was no suspense.

The results of the first round match between East and West have also been released one after another.

In the East, the Heat and the Pistons swept the Gentlemen 4-1 to advance, and the Pacers also defeated the 4ers 2-76 to advance. Only the Celtics led 2-0 and were eliminated by the young Bulls in four games. out.

In the West, apart from the Clippers sweeping the Nuggets 4-0, the Spurs also defeated the Rockets 4-1, and the Supersonics defeated the Kings 4-2. Only the Suns and the Mavericks tied 3-3, requiring a tiebreaker. Suns main player Joe Johnson was injured.

The absence of the starting small forward has cast a shadow over the Suns' promotion path, and more fans have complained about the stupid ranking mechanism. As a result, the Suns with the second record can only be No.4, and the Mavericks with the fourth record. Start shopping in the first round.

Before the tiebreaker took place, the well-known 'Su Hei' Bill Simmons released a podcast in advance and wrote: "Joe Johnson's injury made the Suns lack combat effectiveness even if they advanced, not to mention that they still consumed seven games in the first round. The same is true for the Mavericks. .

It can only be said that the league's stupid competition arrangement saved the Clippers, we know it, and they know it too. "

(End of this chapter)