warrior godfather

After the Warriors' training camp opened, the players enthusiastically devoted themselves to tactical training.

Passing and cutting is a tactic the Warriors have been playing for the past three years. Now it is nothing more than increasing the proportion of passing and cutting, adding some routines, making the coordination more complicated, and more people touching the ball. The overall tactical thinking is still In the same line, it is not too difficult to master, but it is necessary to change some habits that Curry has completely controlled everything in the past, so that everyone has the awareness of handling the ball.

And that wasn't too difficult for the Warriors players who spent a long offseason at Miami's accelerated training camp last summer.

In the first two days of the training camp, the players often made mistakes when running tactical routines, but only a few days later, they played well in the training game, passing and cutting offense smoothly.

During the training process, everyone's progress in strength was also clearly revealed in front of Zhang Yu.

Curry's strength is too strong, and his growth rate is limited, but it is often the most difficult to make further progress. His three-pointers are still unsolvable as always, and his movement and control skills are more rounded and free, deliberately controlling the randomness of passing. , The mid-range and inside finishing skills have been further improved to the top level of the league.

On the offensive end, Curry has reached the extreme, but limited by his physical condition, he still relies more on rhythm and skills to complete breakthroughs. He cannot accelerate like Westbrook and Rose, and he can directly overwhelm his opponent and rush to the goal. Inside, but that's a necessary price to pay for flexibility and speed.

On the defensive end, Curry has reduced unnecessary fouls, further increased his weight, and strengthened confrontation. Before that, he only had a good defensive awareness. Now his defensive level has exceeded the average level of the league, and he is good enough to be called excellent at the point guard position. , whoever underestimates his defense will definitely pay the price.

However, due to the speed and flexibility of the offensive end, Curry's weight gain is limited, and the improvement in confrontation is not large enough. The defensive back will not suffer, but it will be very difficult to face the attack of the striker.

Green further took advantage of his passing and practiced hard for a summer of three-pointers, which made his long-range shots more threatening, would not be emptied, and could deal cards better.

Butler worked as hard as ever during the offseason. His ball-handling skills continued to improve, and he further developed his passing ability. He initially combined shooting, rushing, and passing. The threat of holding the ball increased, but because he had to distract him, The three-pointer got worse.

Clay has been polishing his shooting and defense during the offseason. He shoots three-pointers faster. In the rhythm, he can hit three-pointers even against people, and the off-ball threat has increased again.

After two years of playoffs and one Finals, Clay has accumulated a lot of hands-off experience, especially in the six games against Wade, he has learned a lot of lessons. He has strengthened his confrontation and strength in the summer, but his footsteps It hasn't slowed down much. Whether it's outside single defense or inside top defense, they have improved a lot, and they have truly reached the league's first-class level.

Leonard's strength is the weakest, and he has improved the most. After a championship season, he has accumulated more experience than other rookies of the same class, and he is very clear about his shortcomings.

As a 3D player, three-pointers and defense are his foundation in the league. This offseason, he absorbed the experience and lessons of last season and continued to temper his defense. Both single defense and assist defense have reached the first-class level in the league. The stealing ability has reached the top of the league, and the three-point training has become more assiduous. The corner three-pointers have become more accurate, the three-pointers at the top of the arc and on the two wings have also improved a lot, and the threat of openings has further increased.

In addition, Leonard also allocated part of his energy to the mid-range. In training games, he occasionally scored through post-up singles and mid-range face-to-face singles. Zhang Yu is very satisfied with a technical method that can be used in the competition.

Jeremy Lin, Danny Green, and Yi Jianlian have also made progress, but they are not as remarkable as Butler and Clay. Their potential is limited. After playing for the Warriors for two years, there is not much room for development.

Both Thomas Jr. and Parsons have made great progress. Although they don't have the potential of Leonard, after a year of competition, it is the easiest time to improve their strength.

Thomas Jr.'s breakthrough has become sharper. Under the influence of the Warriors' three-pointer environment, his shooting is also much more accurate. However, due to the limited vision, the pass error rate is still quite high, and his ability to break double-teams is not strong. His defensive enthusiasm Tall, but too short for defensive effect.

But no one will double-team Thomas Jr., and his defensive weakness is difficult to be targeted by the opponent's rotation. With his increasingly excellent scoring ability, he can initially be qualified for the role of the sixth man.

It's just that Thomas Jr.'s time in the league is still too short, and he still needs to grow up, so he can't directly replace Jeremy Lin's position.

Jeremy Lin is still the Warriors’ first choice as a backup point guard in the new season, but Zhang Yu will not let Thomas Jr. sit on the bench all the time. Since Jeremy Lin wants to pursue a big contract, he does not intend to train players for other teams in vain. Thomas Jr. will definitely Get a lot of opportunities to play.

Parsons was also very diligent in the summer, and the Warriors selected two more strikers. The competition within the team became more intense, which greatly increased his sense of crisis in his heart, and he dared not relax a bit.

Affected by the team environment, he focused on practicing three-pointers and defense. Zhang Yu repeatedly emphasized that no one in the Warriors can not defend, and no one can not shoot three-pointers except the center.

The only exception may be Tony Allen, but Parsons does not have such a strong defense, and even Tony Allen has never relaxed three-point training, but he really has no talent in shooting.

Parsons did not give up his all-round advantage. He knows a little bit of everything, including breakthrough, passing, mid-range, and passing. Although he is not proficient enough, it is also very rare among players with a basic salary.

In the training match, he demonstrated his comprehensive skills many times, and his influence on the court is very obvious.

Parsons' performance is so outstanding, Zhang Yu will naturally not let him sit on the bench again, since there are Leonard and Butler at the small forward, and there is no position for Parsons, let him play the power forward. With a height of 2 meters, Parsons is not at a disadvantage playing the fourth position. Although he is a little thinner, he is not weak in confrontation.

After Zhang Yu and Parsons communicated this idea, Parsons readily accepted that as long as he can play, he is willing to do anything.

In the next two days of training, Parsons swayed to the power forward position and competed with Yi Jianlian for the chance to play. He performed quite well, not much worse than Yi Jianlian.

It's just that he is not very familiar with the inside play, and he is a little unfamiliar with the skills of inside players such as protecting the frame, screens and cutting down. However, he is much better than Yi Jianlian in terms of shooting, handling the ball, and breaking through with the ball.

Zhang Yu is not a crony person, he has already considered it. When he needs to protect the rebound and frame, he will go to Yi Jianlian; when he needs outside shooting and ball handling ability, he will go to Parsons. Everything is for winning.

Parsons' strength is still slightly inferior to Yi Jianlian's. After all, Yi Jianlian has been playing the power forward position. He has partnered with his teammates for two seasons and has a better understanding in cooperation. But Parsons has more potential. If he continues to improve Going forward, although Zhang Yu is more inclined to Yi Jianlian, he must also be equal to give Parsons more opportunities.

As for the three rookies of Middleton, Jamichael Green and Bazemore, they have not experienced the tempering of the NBA arena. There is a big gap between their strength and others. They will not have many opportunities to play in the new season. Their stage is not here. Now, but in the future.

……

On October 10, the Warriors trained in the training camp for a week and basically mastered the new tactics.

Curry's off-the-ball ability is already the best in the league, even better than Clay. Cole's many passing and cutting tactics carefully designed for Curry further exerted his off-the-ball threat.

And these tactical routines were originally developed on the basis of the Warriors' offensive system. The players quickly grasped the essence of them, but the awareness of handling the ball of others still needs to be strengthened.

After all, Curry used to control the ball, and Green didn't have many opportunities to deal cards. Now everyone has the opportunity to participate in tactics. They must have the awareness of passing the ball instead of just taking the ball. There was a situation where Curry ran for an opportunity, but his teammates shot directly against the person.

Training can teach players tactics, but it cannot immediately reverse their consciousness, which can only be gradually cultivated in the game.

Fortunately, the league is very caring. After the pre-season training camp, it is the pre-season game.

The next day, the Warriors ushered in their first preseason game against the Lakers who came from afar.

The Lakers, which formed a four-star team during the offseason, have always been the focus of fans and the media. As the defending champion, the Warriors have also attracted a lot of attention. This preseason game is just a warm-up, but it has attracted much attention. Staples Center The seats are packed, and Lakers fans can't wait to see the new version of F4 kill the Quartet.

But to their disappointment, Howard missed the game due to a back injury, and Mike Brown didn't care about winning or losing the game. A total of 14 substitutes were sent to test the lineup and tactics.

Of course, this approach can't win the game. The Lakers were suppressed by the Warriors throughout the game, and finally lost to the Warriors by 83 points 110:27, and returned with a big defeat in the first preseason game.

Although the Warriors did not play seriously, and the main players did not play more than 20 minutes, the Warriors' bench was much better than the Lakers. Even in the third team competition, the Lakers did not have the upper hand.

In order to compete for playing time, the Warriors' substitute players also did their best in the preseason. No one dared to fish for fish on the court. After all, apart from the solid main lineup, there are two candidates for each substitute position.

Especially after Whiteside was severely reprimanded by Zhang Yu because of his poor body management, and Turiaf temporarily replaced him as a substitute center, the substitute players were all alarmed and dared not slack off in the slightest.

The players in the third team worked harder on the court. Zhang Yu told them with practical actions that anyone can enter the rotation lineup, and no player's position is stable.

On October 10, the Warriors returned home to play against the Jazz.

In the second preseason game, Zhang Yu still didn't let the main players play for too long, but the Jazz played very seriously, and the starters all played more than 30 minutes.

Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin treated this preseason game as a regular season, not letting go of every opportunity to play against the defending champion, and training Jazz players with the help of the Warriors.

After all, it is extremely difficult for the Jazz to win the Warriors in the regular season. From the perspective of the first game, the Warriors will not be too serious in the preseason. It is the best opportunity to hone the team. If they can win the defending champion, they can also improve The confidence of Jazz players.

But the Warriors did not give him this chance. In 19 minutes of playing time, Curry made 16 of 10 shots, 10 of 8 three-pointers, no free throws, and scored 28 points. The Warriors quickly opened up a huge gap of 19 points.

After he left the field, the Warriors firmly held their advantage. The Jazz failed to make a comeback and eventually lost to the Warriors 86:93.

This game also caused discussions among fans and the media. It is normal for the Warriors to win the Jazz and Curry scored high points. It is not news, but the way Curry scored is very unexpected. He hardly played with the ball. After running out of opportunities without the ball, he received a pass from his teammates and made a shot. This is very different from Curry's previous offensive style that focused on holding the ball, and it has attracted people's attention.

In the post-match interview, the reporter asked Curry why he didn't play with the ball. He said it was only due to the team's tactical needs. The reporter asked Zhang Yu again, and Zhang Yu also said that this was to test a new team tactic.

But the media and fans are still at a loss. What is the tactic to keep Curry running without the ball?
……

On October 10, the Warriors ushered in the challenge of the Israeli team Maccabi at home. Zhang Yu directly let Chandler and Curry rest this time, and the other starters only played less than 12 minutes, giving a lot of time to the bench Players, constantly experimenting with various lineups and tactics, blatantly released water.

But even so, under the huge strength gap, the Warriors still beat Maccabi 115:98 and won three consecutive victories in the preseason.

Jeremy Lin, Leonard, Thomas Jr., Parsons and others all played very well, showing their progress in front of the home fans, which made the fans very satisfied.

On October 10, the Warriors lost to the Nuggets 16:98 away.

This time in the Denver Plateau, Zhang Yu did not bring a main force, and played purely from the bench. Jeremy Lin performed extremely well, scoring 25 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, continuing the excellent state of last season, but the overall strength of the Warriors who lacked the main force Lost to the opponent.

Although George Karl did not catch the remnants of the Warriors, the Nuggets relied on the advantages established by the starting lineup in the first half and finally won the victory at home.

But the tenacious resistance of the Warriors' substitute players was also impressive. Some media commented after the game:

"The Warriors lost to the Nuggets in this game, but I have seen their revenge in the regular season. When Coach Z brings the main players to the Denver Plateau, can the Nuggets resist?"

A reporter asked Zhang Yu this question, and Zhang Yu said with a smile:
"Sorry, I never take loans. We lose when we lose. The Nuggets performed very well. Coach George Karl's tactics are also very subtle. We are convinced that we will lose. As for whether we will win the regular season, who knows? What happens then? Finally, I want to correct one point, we have no grudges with the Nuggets, this is just a preseason game."

George Karl, who has always been hot-tempered, also said in front of the reporter:
"Coach Z is right. This is just a preseason game. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. If you lack news, you can go to Los Angeles."

His words caused a burst of laughter. Who didn't know that the Lakers had already suffered a three-game losing streak, and it was the time when they were battered.

The Lakers are also unlucky. Howard will miss the entire preseason due to a back injury. Kobe also missed the second game due to repeated shoulder injuries. However, the Lakers, who are sitting on the two stars of Nash and Gasol, lost consecutively to the Trail Blazers , Jazz, still surprising.

However, Mike Brown didn't seem to be affected by the losing streak. He replaced 11 substitutes in these two games to test the lineup and tactics, and he didn't care about the outcome of the preseason at all.

……

On October 10, the Warriors returned home and defeated the Kings 18:118.

Curry, who didn't play in the first two games, scored 18 points in just 23 minutes.

In this game, he was the same as in the previous game against the Lakers. He rarely attacked with the ball. Most of the goals were obtained by running without the ball, and then received passes from his teammates to score.

In this process, there will be passing errors, and there will be situations where Curry ran out of space, but his teammates did not pass him the ball. However, as the game gradually deepened, the Warriors players cooperated more and more tacitly. The balance between passing and attacking was gradually found, with fewer and fewer turnovers, and the Warriors' passing and cutting offense became more and more smooth.

On October 10, the Warriors played against the Trail Blazers at home and won easily with 20:125.

The Blazers have entered a rebuilding period since Roy was injured and retired. They failed to make the playoffs last season. In the draft, the Blazers selected junior Lillard, obviously wanting him to fill Roy's role vacancy.

Lillard performed very well in the summer league and was finally elected as the MVP of the summer league. In this preseason game, he played 30 minutes and scored 23 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. He also performed very well.

But in front of Curry, who scored 18 points in 27 minutes, Lillard can only pale in comparison.

The Blazers' defense was too loose, and the famous five Tigers of the Blazers hadn't yet formed at this time. The Warriors completely took the upper hand in the game, and easily dismembered the Blazers' defense with sharper passes and cuts.

Curry still focuses on offense without the ball, shooting 17 of 10 shots, 9 of 6 three-pointers, and 1 of 1 free throw. The efficiency is terrible.

But what surprised Zhang Yu was that the Blazers traded Wesley Matthews from the Bucks this summer, and after going around, he still came to the Blazers.

Zhang Yu sighed in his heart, no wonder the Bucks have had such a bad record in the past few years, the management can't keep good players at all, the trade and draft are extremely poor, if the general manager John Hammond is not replaced, the Bucks will never succeed day.

But the Bucks owner obviously doesn’t think so. The Bucks have just signed a three-year contract extension with John Hammond, which will not end until 3. However, Bucks fans don’t have to wait until the end of this contract. Appointed John Hammond and gave him a five-year contract.

Then, there was no more. The new general manager of the Bucks, Jon Horst, completed a worthwhile deal, and finally studded Zhu Holiday to build a championship lineup. Under the wise leadership of Mond, every year is bad, and the future is dark.

After playing the Trail Blazers, the Warriors have only two preseason games left.

They can continue to play preseason games at home, which is the benefit of defending champions. Everyone wants to play warm-up games with strong teams. Come to Warriors.

However, the Warriors can't be home games in every game. That would be too biased towards the Warriors. The league still arranged two away games for the Warriors.

On October 10, the Warriors came to Phoenix to play away against the Suns.

In the Nash deal, the Suns acquired 4 draft picks and entered a rebuilding period.

There was no suspense in this game. The Warriors beat the Suns by 115 points 92:23.

Because the opponent was too weak, Zhang Yu simply let the third team play the fourth quarter, but the Suns still could not pose a threat to the Warriors. It seems that there is another strong contender for the No. [-] pick in the new season.

In this game, the Warriors' passing and cutting tactics were further improved. The weakness of the Suns allowed Zhang Yu to experiment with tactics unscrupulously. All kinds of dazzling off-ball tactics made the Suns fans on the scene dumbfounded.

Curry's smart running position completely tore apart the Sun's undisciplined defense. Others got a lot of dunk opportunities, and the Suns' home basket was about to be dunked.

On October 10, the Warriors returned to their home court and ushered in the last preseason game.

Tonight's guest at the Oracle Center is the Clippers. This summer, they introduced Crawford and Matt Barnes, but they still haven't sent away the guards in the team, and still retain a deformed lineup.

Like the Warriors, the Clippers also played 7 preseason games, and they have almost tested their tactics and lineup.

In this game, the Clippers played very seriously and wanted to test their combat power.

But Zhang Yu didn't give De Nagro this chance. He still only let the main lineup play for less than 20 minutes, and then replaced a group of substitutes. He used the Clippers to test the depth of the Warriors' lineup and the strength of the team's substitute players. .

In the end, the Clippers beat the Warriors 126:112. Paul played 30 minutes and scored 27 points, 16 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals. His performance was very dazzling.

But the Warriors fans don't care about it. In the past three years, they have become familiar with Zhang Yu's style. Zhang Yu never takes the preseason seriously. He uses the preseason to test the lineup and tactics every time.

In this game, Jeremy Lin scored 16 points and 6 assists, Leonard had 18 points and 8 rebounds, Thomas Jr. had 14 points, and Danny Green had 13 points. Winning is even more meaningful.

The attention of the outside world is not on the Warriors and Clippers. The Lakers suffered an eight-game losing streak in the preseason. With three stars, they did not win a game and shocked the entire league.

Although there are reasons for Mike Brown to test the lineup and tactics, it is not impossible to win even a preseason game. The media, celebrities and fans are all pessimistic about the prospects of the Lakers in the new season.

On TNT's show, O'Neill angrily criticized:
"The old problem of the Lakers can't be changed. They are eager for quick success and instant benefit, and always want to rely on superstars to compete for the championship. Isn't this nonsense? The lessons of 2004 are not enough? The Rockets formed the Big Three at the beginning, but they still couldn't win the championship. The Blazers called The highest luxury tax in the league, the playoffs didn’t even make a splash, the Heat are now the Big Three, what’s the result?”

"Look, the Lakers will make such mistakes in the future. Their tricks are indeed useful, but they are trying to catch them. If they honestly rely on the draft to build a team, it may not be so easy to win the championship, but they will not make a big fuss. Feather, the team will be more cohesive."

"Hey, what's wrong with the Rockets? We made it to the Western Conference Finals. We lost to the Jazz because of bad luck. If it is now, we will definitely win the championship!" Barkley retorted dissatisfied.

O'Neill sneered:

"Chuck, you can only win the championship in the world of what if. If your skills are half as hard as your mouth, you would have been a champion long ago!"

"Oh, Schett! Didn't you win the championship by sticking together? Without Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, you can't win the championship!"

"Hehe, anyway, I have four champions, and you have none."

"Can you say that again?"

"Well, let me put it another way, I have four rings, and you don't have any..."

……

After the preseason ended, the Thunder diverted some attention from the outside world to the Lakers. Because Presti wanted to save $600 million, he sent Harden, Cole Aldridge, DeQuinn Cook and Lazar. Hayward was traded to the Rockets in exchange for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, 2 first-round picks and 1 second-round pick.

In an interview, a reporter asked Zhang Yu what he thought of the deal, and Zhang Yu said:

"The Rockets' choice is very wise. Harden is a player with unlimited potential. His career has just begun. The Thunder gave up a good player. Their approach is incomprehensible. I believe Harden will play very well in the Rockets The Thunder will soon regret making this trade, which is irresponsible to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and the Thunder has already withdrawn from the title race."

His remarks were quickly reported, but they won the approval of Thunder fans. They did not want the team to trade Harden, but Presti said that this deal is very cost-effective. Kevin Martin, his strength will become stronger, and he will continue to attack higher goals next season.

When Larry Riley was chatting with Zhang Yu, he asked puzzledly:
"Ronan, this deal has nothing to do with us, why did you offend Presti?"

Zhang Yu smiled and said:

"I don't want to offend him, but the Thunder is one of our biggest competitors in the West in the next few seasons. I just remind Durant and Westbrook to let them notice that the Thunder management is in the Harden trade. What do you think they'll think if Harden does play out?"