warrior godfather

Chapter 483 Standing and Winning the Championship

April 4, Oakland.

The Rockets traveled all the way from Houston on a special plane and entered the hotel where they were staying.

The day after tomorrow, the G1 series between the Rockets and the Warriors will be held at the Oracle Center. They came to the Bay Area one day earlier to prepare for the Rockets' first playoff game in three years.

Although the Rockets lost the No.7 battle with the Lakers, the No.8 has made Rockets fans very satisfied.

In the past three seasons, the Rockets have ranked tenth in the Western Conference, only one step away from the playoffs.

This year, they finally returned to the playoffs stage, regardless of the final result, Rockets fans have seen hope.

哈登常规赛场均能够砍下25.9分5.8助攻4.8篮板1.8抢断3.8失误，数据全方位提升，展现出了成为巨星的潜力。

Rockets fans firmly believe that under the leadership of Harden, returning to the playoffs is only the first step in the Rockets' revival, and the championship is the ultimate goal of the Rockets.

Rockets general manager Darrell Morey also said after the regular season that the team will not be satisfied with the current lineup, and will definitely make trades during the offseason to strengthen.

Although Morey said this, it seems that the Rockets have been eliminated, and he is looking forward to the next season, but Rockets fans have no dissatisfaction with this.

No one thinks that the Rockets can defeat the Warriors and create a miracle of black eight. Facing the defending champion, it would be good if the Rockets can not be swept, even the Rockets fans think so.

Obviously, Harden and Rockets fans have the same idea.

On the first day in Oakland, the Rockets simply conducted some training, and then let the players go back to the hotel to rest.

That night, Harden invited his friends, took his teammates, and went to a well-known nightclub in the Bay Area to have fun.

Silas was very annoyed when he learned that Harden took his teammates to the nightclub, but there was nothing he could do.

No one thinks the Rockets can win, the media and fans think so, the Rockets players think so, even Silas himself thinks so.

He can't offend Harden or the Rockets players for a series that must be lost. After all, the Rockets are not his team, but Harden's team.

Silas has cachet in the locker room, but not much.

In fact, in the two days after the end of the regular season, Harden's training was relatively slack.

Silas had no way to restrain him, he could only remind him that there were still playoffs to be played, and the season was not over yet, but he didn't care much, so Silas stopped talking.

After getting along for a season, Silas thinks he still understands Harden's character better.

There is no doubt that Harden is a qualified head star.

Harden worked very hard during the offseason, carefully polished his skills and improved his strength, so that he will usher in a big explosion this season.

Although he likes to go to nightclubs, sometimes he is late for training, and he doesn't like to defend on the court, but as a star player, he should enjoy these privileges, which are common rules in the league.

As long as Harden can score high points and lead the team to victory, he can do anything.

However, Harden's fighting spirit is not strong, and he is also eager to win, but he will not give everything for victory.

This season, the goal of the Rockets is to reach the playoffs, and everyone in the Rockets knows this goal.

So, when the Rockets made the playoffs, Harden was discouraged.

Now that the established goal has been achieved, why bother to work so hard?
During the regular season, he can abstain from sex before the game against the Warriors.

But in the playoffs, he completely let go.

Harden, who has been fighting for two months, is tired.

He is a qualified head star, but only qualified.

He can lead the team to the playoffs, but what happens after that is out of his consideration.

The next day, the Rockets conducted targeted tactical training for the Warriors, and Harden appeared on the training ground with a tired face.

The Bay Area is indeed a place where the world's elites gather, and there are girls of all ethnicities. Harden had a great time yesterday.

Silas looked at Harden's fatigue, shook his head helplessly, and could only turn a blind eye.

……

When the Rockets are preparing for the playoffs, the Warriors are also preparing for G1 with the Rockets.

But unlike the low morale of the Rockets, the atmosphere on the Warriors' training ground is very relaxed. The players are talking and laughing with each other without any pressure.

The huge gap in strength between No. [-] in the West and No. [-] in the West is where their confidence lies.

The Warriors coaching staff has already prepared tactics to deal with the Rockets. The Rockets only have Harden as their strength. As long as they strangle the others, Harden alone will not kill the Warriors.

常规赛中，勇士面对火箭的战绩是4胜0负，哈登场均能够砍下28.6分4.3助攻4.5篮板，但火箭场均输给勇士13.5分。

Zhang Yu's defensive strategy is very clear. Harden can score in singles, but don't try to drive his teammates.

If you have the ability, Harden will kill the Warriors alone. If you can't kill the Warriors, then the Rockets will never want to win.

Facts have proved that Harden does not have this strength now.

He can score high points, but his efficiency will be reduced under the strict defense of the Warriors, and his teammates will be unable to provide support.

The Warriors led from the beginning to the end of every game. Harden scored a lot, but he couldn't reverse the situation.

……

Since G1 is about to start tomorrow, Zhang Yu ended the training early at [-] pm and asked the players to go home and rest.

Tomorrow, the Warriors will not conduct systematic training, but will only conduct an hour of simple training in the afternoon to warm up for the evening game.

After the training, the Warriors left one after another, and Zhang Yu returned to his office.

He waited for a while, and Larry Riley came to Zhang Yu's office with a pile of documents in his hand.

Larry Riley sat down opposite Zhang Yu, pushed these documents to Zhang Yu, and said:

"Ronan, this is a summary of the scouting reports of the candidates for this draft, as well as their judgment on their expected picks. Take a look."

Zhang Yu nodded, took the file, and looked down slowly.

He didn't take the series against the Rockets to heart either, he had to arrange the trial training before the start of the playoffs.

Slowly flipping through the scout report, Zhang Yu kept nodding.

The outside world generally believes that this year is a small year for the draft, but the 2013 draft has emerged with many powerful players.

Oladipo, Otto Porter, Gobert, McCollum, Schroder, Andre Robertson, Hardaway Jr., Adams, Olynyk and many other powerful players were all selected this year of.

Of course, the biggest legacy of 2013 is the superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, also known as Antetokounmpo.

The Greek monsters of the future are still just little people playing in the lower Greek leagues.

But Alphabet's talent was so conspicuous that even though he was only playing in the Greek lower leagues, he still attracted the attention of NBA teams.

Many teams have sent scouts specifically for him to examine his performance, and the Warriors are also on this list.

At this time, what Zhang Yu was looking at was Alphabet's scouting report.

Name: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Birthday: 1994 12 Month 16 Day

Position: Small Forward
Height: 6 feet 10 inches (2 meters 08)

Weight: 205 lbs (92 kg)

NBA Draft Template: Nicolas Batum

Projected pick: 8-25
advantage:

As an athletic insider, Antetokounmpo has a super long wingspan of 7 feet 3 inches (2 meters 20), plus an unbelievably huge palm.

He is still in the developmental stage and has grown 2012 inches since last year (2013-3 period).

He has excellent athletic ability and physical coordination, has excellent dribbling and changing skills, and still has excellent balance when he gets to the basket.

In addition, Antetokounmpo also has an excellent sense of the game, as well as an excellent basketball IQ, and his passing instinct and passing skills are quite outstanding.

On the defensive end, Antetokounmpo has a very good intuition in cutting off the opponent's passing route and assisting in defense. He can defend multiple positions and can switch from guard to power forward.

Things to note:

While Antetokounmpo is extremely athletic, he doesn't have elite levels of explosiveness, and he has to work more, especially on lower-body strength.

Antetokounmpo is too thin, and he needs to know how to use his muscle strength when facing opponents.

He basically has no mid-range shooting ability, he can hardly jump shot in offense, and hitting the basket is his most important and only means of scoring.

Antetokounmpo's three-point shooting percentage can reach 31.3%, showing good potential, but his three-point shooting stability is not high, and his shooting is not very natural or particularly smooth.

On the whole, Antetokounmpo's understanding of basketball is mainly based on his physical advantages, and his technical completion is extremely low.

In addition, he has always played in the lower leagues, which will also affect the judgment of his personal ability.

Alphabet's scouting report is long, the longest of any player.

This was specifically ordered by Zhang Yu. The Warriors sent the most experienced scouts to Greece to carefully observe every game of Alphabet and know his technical characteristics well.

However, in order not to expose the Warriors' interest in letters, all this was done in secret, and the Warriors officials have never had any private contact with Alphabet.

Zhang Yu understands Alphabet’s family situation and growth process. His childhood was extremely poor, and he grew up living in poverty. He is very eager to change the fate of himself and his family.

Zhang Yu is not sure whether the current letter has a long-term vision. If the Warriors contact him privately and he exposes it, then everyone will know that Coach Z is interested in this Greek kid.

At that time, the attention of Alphabet will be greatly increased, and scouts from other teams will flock to it.

Antetokounmpo's draft pick will definitely improve a lot, and he can sign a bigger rookie contract, while the Warriors get nothing.

Zhang Yu will not take such a risk, and he will not reveal the slightest word before the draft.

Larry Riley saw Zhang Yu reading Alphabet's scouting report, hesitated for a moment, and said:

"Ronan, Giannis Antetokounmpo's talent is indeed outstanding, but he only started to play basketball in 2008 and only played in the lower leagues of Greece. If you can speak English, I think you should be more cautious..."

Zhang Yu raised his head and smiled:

"You can just say no, many people think he is the second Thabeet, right?"

Larry Riley nodded:

"That's right, Thabeet also came into basketball very late, with a thin body and rough skills, and he played in the NCAA anyway, but he couldn't adapt to the intensity of the NBA. Giannis Antetokounmpo did not show in the lower leagues of Greece. Dominance, I don't think he can play anything when he comes to the NBA."

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. Larry Riley made a lot of sense, which is also the common view of the outside world on letters.

The negative BUFF on Alphabet has been stacked full. Before that, there were too many "geniuses" of this height, long arms, thin body, and rough skills who were selected at the top of the list. The example disappeared.

And Alphabet is an international player, does not speak English, and grew up in a refugee family.

Teams generally believed that Antetokounmpo would struggle if he lived alone in a strange city without his family.

This is also the reason why the prediction order of letters fluctuates so much. There are too many uncertainties in him, making it difficult to make accurate judgments.

Choosing letters is to scratch a lottery ticket with great risks and unknown benefits, and it is very likely that you will lose everything.

Therefore, even if Alphabet shows a very attractive talent, each team is only cautiously optimistic about his future development prospects.

Only the Bucks have been in contact with Alphabet and have shown strong interest in him.

With his many years of experience, Larry Riley is also not optimistic about the development of letters and put forward his own opinions.

The Warriors have now built a fixed lineup, with so many potential new stars, why should they scratch a lottery with huge risks?
"Ronan, our core lineup is very young. As long as we keep the combination of Curry, Jimmy, Clay and Drummond, we can remain competitive as a team. There is no need to spend a lot of effort to train high-ranking rookies... "Larry Riley spoke again to persuade.

"You are right, but if we do this, how much luxury tax will we have to pay, have you thought about it?" Zhang Yu said.

Before that, he also struggled, should he choose letters and spend energy and time to train him.

It takes a long time for Alphabet to grow up. During this period, he is bound to occupy a lot of playing time, and the Warriors will pay a big price.

But after thinking about it, Zhang Yu decided to choose letters this year.

There is no other reason, the talent of Alphabet is too attractive, his style of play is also very suitable for the Warriors, and he will not interfere with the management operation.

Zhang Yu couldn't just sit back and watch his historical talent slip away from him. Even though cultivating letters took a lot of hard work and energy, he was happy with it.

Lacob dared to adopt a dual-track team-building strategy, so why wouldn't Zhang Yu dare?

He not only needs to compete for the championship while cultivating rookies, but also avoids high luxury taxes.

He just wants to stand up and win the championship, and earn money!
　Thanks to Ku Jingtian for the reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)