Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

The Timberwolves in the 99-00 season still retained their main lineup from the championship season. Not long after the NBA preseason began, major media across the United States had already glimpsed the team strength of the Timberwolves this season and regarded the Timberwolves as the favorites to win the championship this season.

There is no way. The Timberwolves, who have retained their championship-winning main lineup, have proved their dominance for two consecutive seasons. There is no way to see the strength of other teams' new lineups in preseason games, but commentators have to have something to say in front of the camera, so it has become nothing wrong to mention the Timberwolves frequently.

After the regular season actually started, the strength shown by the Timberwolves in the first few games was in line with the previous predictions of the Timberwolves by the commentators.

In the first five games at the beginning of the season, the Timberwolves won five out of five, easily winning the games with an overwhelming score difference, and this good start was continued under the leadership of Wu Dao.

After winning 14 games in the regular season, media reporters in various cities have been lamenting that the Timberwolves are too dominant and have become pessimistic about their team's season prospects.

However, among all these cities, the only exceptions are the fans of the Lakers and the Spurs. In the new season, the Lakers and the Spurs have also shown their terrifying strength. In the games at the beginning of the season, the Lakers had a terrifying record of 13 wins and one loss. The only loss was a game when O'Neal was resting, and they lost to the Trail Blazers.

The Spurs have a record of 11 wins and 3 losses, and their winning number is enough to compare with the Timberwolves and the Lakers. Among the three games they lost, one was lost to the Timberwolves, and the loss was only 1 point. If Wu Dao hadn't hit the key mid-range shot with less than 1 second left in the game, the outcome of this game would still be unknown. The Spurs may even break the Timberwolves' unbeaten record this season.

While the NBA regular season is in full swing, there has been a big stir in the basketball circle of a populous country in the East this year.

The rookie center of the Shanghai Sharks announced that he will participate in the NBA draft next season. This news also gave the Chinese people a shot in the arm. Next year, both Yao Ming and Dazhi are expected to go to the United States to play. These two things have also become the talk of the domestic fans.

Almost everyone stopped paying attention to the upcoming CBA tournament and instead began to heatedly discuss the future draft picks of these two players into the NBA.

Yes, in their opinion, it is a foregone conclusion that these two outstanding domestic players will enter the NBA. There will be no surprises at all when they are selected by NBA teams in the draft. The only difference is whether they will be ranked higher or lower.

In today's era, as the overlord of Asian basketball, domestic fans do have the confidence to say such things.

This matter not only has a huge influence in China, it has even spread to the United States. When the 18-year-old Yao Ming attended a training camp in the United States, he attracted the attention of many scouts. Now that it is confirmed that he will participate in next year's draft, some bottom-ranked teams naturally have to make plans early.

Yao Ming's combat effectiveness may not be that strong. Looking at all the No. 5 players in the NBA, he can probably only be considered above average. However, his talent is unquestionable. All professional scouts are optimistic about Yao Ming's development in basketball.

There is no doubt that this is a center with the talent standard of "team building cornerstone" and a player that all teams hope to get.

Some teams that learned the news early on also started to play badly. They also knew that they would miss the playoffs. Instead of struggling with other strong teams in the regular season, it would be better to play badly and train their players to prepare for the new season in advance.

The Timberwolves' dominance was already evident at the beginning of the season. At the same time, the Lakers led by Shaquille O'Neal and the Spurs led by Tim Duncan were also closely behind.

The pattern of this year's playoffs is actually quite clear. If there are no accidents in the long playoffs, this year's champion may be one of these three teams.

Naturally, no one can shake Michael Jordan's historical status, but it has to be admitted that Michael Jordan is really old. His dominance on the court is far less than when he was young. The Bulls played 13 regular season games, with half wins and half losses. Michael Jordan's performance in the regular season was also very unstable.

Even he couldn't overcome the hurdle of age.

Although he occasionally has outbursts on the court, everyone knows that it is impossible to lead the team to win the championship by relying on such outbursts.

Even if the Bulls were not in the weak Eastern Conference, they might not have made it past the first round under the siege of teams like the Timberwolves, Lakers, and Spurs.

Wu Dao naturally also learned the news that Yao Ming was about to enter the NBA. If the news was true, Yao Ming would enter the NBA one year earlier than in history.

It is difficult to say what impact entering the NBA a year earlier will have on Yao Ming's entire basketball career. Wu Dao prefers to believe that the impact is positive, because if nothing unexpected happens, there will be many teams competing for Yao Ming next season.

The team that will draw the No. 1 pick may not necessarily be the Houston Rockets.

Of course, it is uncertain whether this more inexperienced Yao Ming can be selected by the team with the first pick in the first round, but if Wu Dao is the team management, he would be willing to bet on this young man's future.

A 226cm technical center, this type of player is really too attractive to the team.

Yao Ming's draft template is Hakeem Olajuwon, which shows how good Yao Ming's skills under the basket are. Even if it is a naive version, it can still impress scouts and fans.

During his free time during the regular season, Wu Dao also learned about next year's draft situation. As he expected, even the immature version of Yao Ming is still a hot favorite for the No. 1 pick. And not only Yao Ming, but also Pau Gasol, who is currently playing in Spain, is also a popular player that various teams are paying attention to.

By the way, Tyson Chandler, who was once beaten by Yao Ming in the training camp, is also a hot favorite in the draft.
Compared to Yao Ming's broad draft prospects, Dazhi's draft prospects are worse. He was born in 77. If he participates in the NBA draft next year, he will be 24 years old. Players of this age in the NBA have no training value unless they have excellent combat effectiveness. They are truly older rookies.

This kind of performance data in the CBA arena is obviously not recognized by NBA scouts. Moreover, as a power forward with a height of 216cm, Dazhi's defense is a big problem. Although he has a good three-pointer, the three-pointer ability in the CBA and the three-pointer ability in the NBA are not the same thing.

In the current league environment, it is difficult for players with Dazhi's technical characteristics to display their strength in this arena.

Generally speaking, if a No. 4 wants to gain a foothold in the NBA, the first thing he needs to do is defense.
I'm sorry, but Wu Dao is not optimistic about Dazhi's prospects in the NBA. This is not suitable for all players, and his technical characteristics may not be well developed in this arena.

While Wu Dao was concerned about next year's draft market, he was more focused on the team's games and some commercial activities.

This year he is busier than the previous two years. Having won the championship consecutively, he has received more business invitations, both from America and island countries.

Moreover, his free time was also drastically compressed. Whenever he had a little free time, reporters would come to him. Even during the busy regular season, he could not escape the "death entanglement" of the media. However, such hard work seemed insignificant in the face of the generous rewards.

Martial arts is full of energy and doesn't mind being busy.

The Timberwolves' unbeaten streak was finally interrupted when they won their 28th consecutive victory. They were defeated by the Lakers who built a triangle offense.

The Lakers' triangle offense is different from the Bulls'.

The Bulls' triangle offense tactics revolve around Michael Jordan's unstoppable one-on-one play from the outside. Pippen is merely an auxiliary attacker and a central axis for transmitting basketball. Although the role he plays in the triangle offense system is important, he is also highly replaceable.

The Lakers' triangle offense is completely different from the Bulls'.

The starting point of the Lakers' triangle offense is Kobe Bryant on the outside, but the entire tactical system is built around O'Neal, who also has unstoppable singles in the interior.

Although the tactical starting points of the two teams are different, they have one thing in common: they both have to develop their "territory" around an "unsolvable" player.

The Bulls had Michael Jordan, the Lakers had O'Neal.

In the 21st century, there is always one person who will appear in the battle between Comey and James, and that person is O'Neal.

Kobe is used to downplaying O'Neal's contribution to the Lakers during their three consecutive championships. Whenever he talks about the OK combination period, he always says that the Lakers could not beat the Spurs without Kobe, and that O'Neal was beaten by Duncan.

But anyone who has actually watched football will know that such an argument is simply untenable.

Because Duncan is a 4th position~
Because it was David Robinson who had to face O'Neal head-on most of the time, all Duncan needed to do was to use his excellent mobility to provide assisting defense, or to face the Shark who had been rapidly exhausted in the second half.

The Sharks' dominance was also demonstrated in the series against the Spurs. No matter which center he replaced, it would be impossible to produce such explosive data under the Spurs' twin tower system.

In the 00-01 season, when the Lakers won their second championship, the Lakers faced the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals and swept their opponents 4-0.

系列赛G1，科比35投19中，砍下了45分10板获得了球队最高分。

但是奥尼尔这一场球也是22投11中砍下了28分11板（4前场板）；马刺的双塔，邓肯是19中10，砍下了28分14板（11个后场篮板），大卫罗宾逊16中6，14分11板。

Although O'Neal's scoring cannot be compared with Kobe's, it can be seen from the number of shots that the Lakers allowed O'Neal to attract the pressure of the opponents and gave him unlimited firing rights from the outside.

系列赛G2，科比24中11砍下了28分7板，奥尼尔21中8，砍下19分14板；马刺这边邓肯炸裂的砍下了40分15板，罗宾逊9中3，拿下7分9板。

After this game, the Lakers realized that Duncan was the core of this Spurs team and immediately adjusted their defensive strategy.

系列赛G3，科比27中14拿下36分9板，奥尼尔仅上场35分钟就23中16，砍下了35分17板肆虐篮下；马刺这边大卫罗宾逊压力骤减，18中10拿下了24分12板，邓肯打了39分钟，14中3仅仅只是拿了9分。

In this game, the Lakers defeated the Spurs 111:72.

In Game 4 of the series, Fisher and Kobe scored 28 points and 24 points respectively. With ample space on the outside, O'Neal made 19 of 11 shots and scored 26 points and 10 rebounds. In contrast, the Spurs' twin towers, Duncan made 10 of 5 shots and David Robinson made 16 of 5 shots, scoring 15 points and 12 points respectively. In this game, the Spurs had no resistance and were defeated.

A glimpse of the whole picture shows that the inside deterrence displayed by O'Neal in this round of the series is far beyond the reach of other players in the same position. The ease with which the Lakers can shoot from the outside is also something that those outside players who have not worked with O'Neal cannot even imagine.

Why was O'Neal unable to demonstrate his intimidation under the basket through assists data during the series?

The reason is very simple, because the first pass from inside to outside often cannot immediately get rid of the opponent's defense, and the Spurs have the opportunity to interfere with the ball handler. For safety, the outside players often need to make another pass after receiving O'Neal's pass before a wide open space will appear.

O'Neal's influence on the court cannot be felt by just looking at the assists data without watching the game.

If there is Joe, choose Joe; if there is no Joe, choose Shark. This has never been an empty saying.

Of course, while Kobe fans are constantly belittling O'Neal's influence and dominance during the OK combination period, James fans are also constantly belittling Kobe's role during the OK period. Indeed, following O'Neal, even a player like Fisher could have a career night of 13 of 11 shots, 7 of 6 three-pointers and 28 points.

But Kobe's ability to cause damage during that period cannot be ignored.

Kobe has a high volume of mid-range shots and strong outside shooting. In that era, there were not many players like him, at least Fisher couldn't do it.

In the 99-00 season, after coach Phil Jackson joined the Lakers, their style has begun to take shape.

What the Timberwolves have to face is actually such a super strong team that created the Lakers dynasty in the original time and space!
(End of this chapter)