warrior godfather

Chapter 544 This is Wiseman?

After the two China games, the Warriors flew back to the United States the next day.

Before the start of the regular season, the Warriors still have two preseason games to play, and they also need to run in the training camp, and the time is very tight.

This is also the reason why the Lakers don't like the Huaxia game. This is a feast for the Huaxia fans, but for the teams participating in the Huaxia game, it is exhausted and physically and mentally exhausted.

That is to say, Zhang Yu's prestige in the team is too high, otherwise his arrangement of letting the main players play for more than 10 minutes will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the players.

Zhang Yu also knew that the trip to China had exhausted the Warriors players. After returning to Oakland, he gave the team a day off.

On the second day, the training camp, which had been interrupted for a long time, reopened, and the Warriors players devoted themselves to intense training.

……

On October 10, the Warriors came to Sacramento to challenge the Kings away.

Zhang Yu just let the main players play casually for about 20 minutes, then replaced the substitute lineup, and sent the third team during the rotation period to test the strength of the Warriors players.

On the contrary, the Kings play very seriously. The preseason is their only chance to beat the defending champion. If they can win the Warriors at home, the confidence of the Kings players will be greatly improved.

But what Kings coach Mike Malone didn't expect was that the Warriors were on par with the Kings' main force relying on the bench lineup.

After a summer of hard training, Thomas Jr. has made breakthroughs more and more sharply. Although he is not tall, he is extremely strong in confrontation, and he is also very resolute in long-range three-pointers. His passing vision is unexpectedly wide, and he can also play off the ball. , Turning the king's defense line full of loopholes upside down.

Parsons has also become more and more versatile. Although his autonomous ball-handling offensive ability has not improved much, he has a precise three-point catch, is good at air cuts, can make simple breakthroughs, and occasionally supports in high positions. , It is especially suitable for dealing with teams with weak defensive discipline like the Kings, and has a strong sense of presence on the court.

Danny Green has reached his upper limit, working hard in the position of 3D engineer, perfectly qualified for the role of backup shooting guard, and is an absolute strength in the Warriors' rotation.

In fact, if he goes to any strong team, he is enough to play the role of the starting second position, but the Warriors' starting second position is Klay Thompson-the first 3D in history, even if it is a high-quality 3D like Danny Green , Champion Jigsaw, can only serve as a substitute.

After three years of training, Whiteside finally ushered in great progress.

But the direction of his progress seems to be going astray.

After Whiteside came on the court, he was unwilling to go up to cover Thomas Jr., or the quality of the cover was extremely poor. Sometimes he didn't block it at all, so he hurried down, and at the same time raised his finger to the sky, signaling Thomas Jr. to pass him a lob. Even if it is not good, you can also have the opportunity to grab offensive rebounds, which is much better than staying on the outside.

On the defensive end, Whiteside's pick-and-roll position selection is still a mess, and sometimes he is not even willing to stretch his hand, keeping his eyes on the basketball, ready to send a beautiful block at any time.

If the defense is "accidentally" switched, Whiteside's big defense and small defense are even more catastrophic, and it is simply the sight of the King's guard.

In the first two preseason games against the Lakers, Whiteside didn't have many chances to play. Today, Zhang Yu gave him a long time, and soon saw a very familiar shadow from Whiteside - this is not It's "Big Smart" Wiseman!
However, unlike Wiseman, Whiteside is not a dish. He is all about data. He has confrontation, can rebound, can eat cakes, and can block shots, but he is not willing to do dirty work. , Much better than Wiseman.

To be honest, Zhang Yu has coached the Warriors for so long, and he has never seen a center worse than Wiseman...

However, Whiteside's approach is still hurting the team. If it weren't for the king without a star guard, the Warriors must be behind now.

But even so, Ben McColemo and Fredette wanted anything and everything in front of Whiteside. When a cover came out, it was an open opportunity, and it was difficult to make a shot.

In the Warriors' preseason, Cole was mainly in charge of on-the-spot command. He soon couldn't stand it anymore and yelled for Whiteside to defend him.

But Whiteside looked reluctant, with ink smears under his feet, and he didn't work hard.

This made Cole very angry. He wanted to replace Whiteside, but was stopped by Zhang Yu:

"Steve, calm down, this is just a preseason game, the more problems that are exposed, the better, there is no need to be angry."

Only then did Cole forcefully suppress the anger in his heart, but the look he looked at Whiteside was still full of evil spirits.

Cole's temper has always been very hot. As an assistant coach last season, he actually got 4 technical fouls, only 1 less than Zhang Yu. In many cases, Zhang Yu comforted his emotions, making Zhang Yu a little dumbfounded.

……

Thomas Jr., Danny Green, Parsons, and Whiteside are very stable in the rotation. After Butler left, Parsons returned to the small forward position, which is also expected.

But the power forward position in the Warriors' rotation is not Yi Jianlian, but Antetokounmpo.

This is of course not that Antetokounmpo has replaced Yi Jianlian as a substitute. His talent is far stronger than Yi Jianlian, but his strength is far behind the latter.

Still because of the preseason, Zhang Yu happened to test the quality of Antetokounmpo's hard training in the summer and let Yi Jianlian take a break.

After Yi Jianlian played in the finals, he rested for a month and went to the Asian Championships. He also played very hard. He rested for two months and then played in the China Championship. He also worked very hard in front of the Huaxia fans. This summer has consumed a lot , very tired.

His strength is obvious to all. After killing all sides in the Asian Championships, he has aroused the interest of many teams, and there is no need to play preseason games.

After Antetokounmpo came on the court, he immediately showed his progress.

He gained 10 pounds during the offseason. Although his body still looks a little thin at the power forward position, his improved confrontation ability is finally not so disadvantageous in NBA-level games.

Limited by his lack of stature, Antetokounmpo's screen quality is relatively average, but the timing and method he chooses to screen are very good, and the pass is also very timely, scoring consecutive points by eating cakes.

Thanks to Curry.

In the basketball acceleration training camp, Curry often trains with Antetokounmpo. From the perspective of a super point guard, he instructs Antetokounmpo on how to cover and how to grasp the timing of running down, which has benefited him a lot.

Antetokounmpo has not yet played in the NBA, but has already gained NBA experience.

This is also the most suitable offensive method for Antetokounmpo. As long as he moves and fights, he can give full play to his natural advantages and avoid the weaknesses of poor confrontation.

In addition, Antetokounmpo's sense of fast break is very sensitive, and his speed is not inferior to that of defenders. Every time the Warriors counterattack, he is in front of him.

However, Antetokounmpo's inside finishing ability is still lacking, and his touch is not soft enough. As long as there is someone in front of him, it is difficult to put the ball into the basket, and the scoring efficiency of fast break is not high.

And at this time, he was only 2 meters tall, he didn't have enough flesh on his body, he hadn't reached the peak state, and his impact was not strong enough.

Back on the defensive end, Antetokounmpo seemed to be a little bit behind.

His defensive positioning still has a lot of problems. He is not good enough to defend against pick-and-rolls. Due to his size, his low-post defensive ability is very average.

Only when he switched defenses to the outside line did Antetokounmpo rely on his sensitive footwork, excellent wingspan and a pair of big hands to contribute above-level defense.

Antetokounmpo has a lot of problems in defense, but he has an advantage, that is, he is not frizzy, rarely eats, and rarely fouls. This is very rare among rookies in the interior, and he also shows his high ball quotient.

However, Cole was not satisfied with Antetokounmpo's performance and regretted it:
"Ronan, I think we've gone wrong with Giannis. He should really be at small forward. It's going to turn his weakness into an advantage...if only Giannis didn't put on weight. His shooting is pretty good, if you practice three-pointers well, you should be able to practice..."

After selecting Antetokounmpo, Cole wanted to train him as a small forward.

He has always felt that Antetokounmpo's height of 2 meters is not enough to gain a foothold in the NBA's interior.

Not only Cole thinks so, Ron Adams and Frey also make this suggestion.

In the eyes of the Warriors' coaching staff, Antetokounmpo's weakness in playing power forward is all his strengths in playing small forward. He is not an inside player at all.

But Zhang Yu resisted all opinions and insisted on letting Antetokounmpo play the position of power forward, and several people gave up.

Hearing Cole's complaint, Zhang Yu smiled and said:

"Okay, Steve, Antetokounmpo has gained so much weight that he can't get his hands back. Let's think about how to make him play better at the power forward position. Believe me, He won't let you down."

"But... hey, okay." Cole hesitated to speak, and finally gave up the argument with Zhang Yu helplessly.

Although Cole is not optimistic about Antetokounmpo's ability to play at the power forward position, he even thinks that this is a waste of Antetokounmpo's talent.

But Zhang Yu has never been wrong. He is so sure that Cole is a little skeptical and dare not question his decision.

Looking at Cole's uncomfortable expression, Zhang Yu smiled secretly.

In this world, no one knows Antetokounmpo's talent better than him.

The current Antetokounmpo is not yet a complete body. When he grows to 2 meters 11 next year and gains weight again, it will be the time when the Greek monster will truly take shape.

Before that, his talent was also very good, but he did not reach the historical level, and his positioning was more inclined to the outside.

In Zhang Yu's previous life, after Antetokounmpo was selected by the Bucks, he played as a small forward in his rookie season, but his performance was relatively average. Instead, he shot 34.7% of his three-pointers, the highest level in his career.

Zhang Yu asked Antetokounmpo to start from the position of power forward in order to let him adapt to the feeling of an inside player in advance.

Although gaining weight in advance will make Antetokounmpo lose his soft touch, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and it will save him from taking so many detours.

And in the Warriors, Antetokounmpo has the Splash Brothers next to him, and the inside space is extremely open, and he can't practice three-pointers, and it doesn't affect his offense.

It's just that now he can only partner with the substitute lineup. After the start of the regular season, he has to make way for Yi Jianlian. If he wants to enjoy the bonus of the Splash Brothers, he will have to wait for a long time.

Zhang Yu's positioning for Antetokounmpo in his rookie season is very clear, that is, to play in a small amount of rotation time and garbage time, and the main task is to focus on training.

If necessary, he will also be transferred to the Development League to play games.

This is also something that can’t be helped. Antetokounmpo’s basic skills are not solid enough, and there is still a lot to improve, and the Warriors are not a bad team. There is no time for him to level up, and he can only give him a little time for leftovers. .

Wiseman left a very deep impression on Zhang Yu. If it weren't for half a season of practicing Wiseman, the Warriors would definitely make it to the playoffs in 2021, and the ranking would not be low. Curry's third MVP is also in the bag. of things.

The championship team deliberately trains rookies, and it will definitely not end well.

Zhang Yu would rather grow Antetokounmpo slower than leveling him at the expense of the team's record.

……

Antetokounmpo's performance is the focus of the Warriors' coaching staff.

他足足获得了31分钟的上场时间，12投7中，罚球4中2，得到16分5篮板2助攻1抢断3失误2犯规。

He basically seized the opportunity to eat the pie, but wasted several good opportunities in the fast break, and the free throws were not good enough.

However, such a performance is already very good for a rookie, and Zhang Yu is very satisfied.

It's just that the sample of one game is still too small, the King's defense is too poor, and more games are needed to examine Antetokounmpo's level, so that the coaching staff can formulate a targeted training plan for him.

Antetokounmpo performed well, but the Warriors still lost the game.

Mike Malone regarded this game as a regular season, and even played in the playoffs. The Kings played more than 30 minutes in the starting lineup, and the intensity was also full.

凭借考辛斯34分15篮板5助攻2封盖的超级两双，国王最终以115:107战胜了勇士。

Whiteside was blown away by Cousins ​​and flew away in a flash. He didn't look like a backup center who had played in the NBA for 3 years.

In addition to the soy sauce starter, the Warriors had 23 points, Parsons 17 points, Danny Green 11 points, Whiteside 15 points and 12 rebounds. The statistics are good, but the defense is a mess.

Whiteside is all in line with the data and doesn't want to get out of the penalty area at all; Thomas Jr. has a full attitude, but he is limited by his height, so he just can't defend; Parsons shows signs of grinding on the defensive end; suffer...

Only Danny Green has always been conscientious, but his second position cannot change the overall situation.

Under the defense of the Warriors, Ben McColemo scored 17 points, Fredette scored 15 points, and Rudy Gay scored 21 points, all of them became stars.

And Zhang Yu saw the Warriors' defense so unbearable on the sidelines, and changed his relaxed attitude, and his expression finally became dignified.

(End of this chapter)