From sparring to superstar

Chapter 337

Li Ao has become accustomed to a high-shooting style. He has taken more shots, scored more points, and assisted more, but he has spent less energy on the offensive end.

He averaged 5+ assists per game, mostly in singles and counterattacks. The offensive rhythm was controlled by Kidd. He did not need to spend as much energy as he did in the past three seasons and was able to devote more energy to building a defensive system. .

When the offensive system is improved in the future, he may need to take on more complex tactical roles, but with Kidd here, the burden will still not be as heavy as in the past.

Along with the decline in the league's average scoring, the rebounding of each team has improved. Last season, Ben Wallace only averaged 16 rebounds per game after the All-Star break. In the first month of this year, he averaged 16+ rebounds per game...

On December 12st, the league announced the best of the month awards for the first game month.

The Pacers' Larry Brown and the Spurs' Popovich won the Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month respectively.

American cable television commentators analyzed that from a coaching perspective alone, Larry Brown was the head coach who benefited the most from the Iron-Blooded Era.

Today's NBA defensive environment has never been more conducive to defense. It maximizes Larry Brown's advantages and greatly avoids his disadvantages.

Popovich reaped the same benefits.

James and Anthony won the Eastern and Western Conference Rookie of the Month.

In the first game month, due to the abusive behavior of an unnamed No. 0 player, major superstars rushed to imitate him. James and Anthony, the two most famous and most powerful rookies, were banned in the first game month. Superstars from all walks of life are targeting him crazily.

For example, in the game between the Magic and the Cavaliers, Tracy McGrady saw James, known as the 'Son of America', and went crazy on a whim. He made 16 of 11 shots, including 10 of 8 three-pointers, plus 4 of 4 free throws, playing 25 games. Scored 34 points in [-] minutes... James sat on the bench in a daze for the entire quarter in the final quarter...

In the game between the Pistons and the Nuggets, Artest defended Anthony and only scored 17 points on 3 of 8 shots. Ray Allen threw 17 three-pointers in a single game and scored 10, tying him. Personal career record.

However, even though they were wildly targeted, the two of them still won the Rookie of the Month award without any suspense.

文斯-卡特以场均25.8分6.2板4.8助攻1.8抢断1.2盖帽的表现拿下东部月最佳球员奖。

李敖以场均31.8分5.8板5.4助攻2.8抢断2.2盖帽拿下西部月最佳球员奖。

Li Ao's shooting ability, counterattack scoring ability, and counterattack passing ability were pushed to the extreme by Kidd. Although the rebounds dropped, his points and assists both set new career highs.

Carter...no one can understand the brain of the Raptors front office.

The Raptors management seems to really feel that the lineup they built for Carter is enough to compete for the championship, seeing as the team has not had a breakthrough for several consecutive years.

Although Carter's scoring performance declined this season, his overall performance was his best year since entering the NBA... As a result, there were rumors that the Raptors wanted to trade Carter for reconstruction.

...

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Clippers started their second game month and faced the challenge of the Timberwolves.

Not long ago, they lost against the Timberwolves, and the Clippers players still hold grudges.

After the game started, the Clippers' defense was full of enthusiasm and they fought hard.

Garnett played 42 minutes tonight and scored 24 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. It looked okay... but he took 25 shots and made 25 of 9 shots, with a shooting percentage of less than [-]%.

森林狼队还有另一个出手25次的球员——沃利-斯泽比亚克，25投10中，其中三分球10中3，加上4中4的罚球拿到27分。

Their performance was actually quite good, with a total of 50 points on 51 shots. Other Timberwolves players took 32 shots and scored 21 points...

83 to 72, the Clippers revenged the Timberwolves through a bloody battle, improving their record to 13 wins and 3 losses!
李敖今晚继续大量出手，24投11中，其中三分球6中2，加上7中6的罚球，拿到30分4板4助攻2抢断3盖帽。

Kidd also performed well, with 18 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.

In this game, he discovered another point of convergence between him and the Clippers - broad-mindedness.

In the past, Kidd often felt bad that he couldn't score enough points and couldn't get a triple-double. Unexpectedly, he couldn't get a triple-double now because he lacked assists. This feeling... is so cool!

Li Ao feels that his burden of organizing offense has become lighter, and the same is true for Kidd.

When the Suns and Nets launched counterattacks, he had to do a good job in all aspects, but now that he is counterattacking, he can safely hand the ball to Li Ao. Although the number of assists has dropped sharply, he is not so tired.

He believes that after the offensive system is established in the future, he will still not be as tired as before!
The team's defensive performance also made Kidd extremely excited.

In just one month, the team's defensive system has become perfect!
He, Li Ao, and Matt Halprin are mature defensively. O'Neal Jr. is already very good defensively. Gerald Wallace is very talented and improves quickly. In one month, they have already built a good defensive frame!
With the core defensive framework in place, when two good defensive players, Jaric and Bobby Simmons, come on the bench, the core lineup players who remain on the field can adjust the details to maintain extremely high defensive intensity.

When Drobiak, a meat shield center who excels in low post defense, comes on the court, he can also play pretty good defense around him.

When two pitchers with poor defense, Eddie House and Glenn Rice, come on the field, they can adjust the defensive lineup to play 4-1.

It's a pity that another center tractor, Robert Traylor, is completely useless on the defensive end.

Robert Traylor is really a pure human shield. He can do nothing except confrontation on the defensive end. He is only 203 centimeters tall. He was originally played as a power forward, but his huge weight of 130 kilograms, slow movement speed, and repeated encounters Injuries...I finally switched to center, but my speed is still slow and my height is still at a disadvantage.

That is to say, he has strong hand-to-hand combat ability. In the era when the Shark was at its peak, he didn't have to worry about being unemployed.

It can be seen that Matt Barnes has good defensive talent, a wild style of play, and a positive attitude. Unfortunately, his foundation is too poor and he has to practice slowly.

Matt Barnes and Robert Traylor, if the team does not have injuries, these two can only wear suits.

The overall framework of the defensive system has been completed, and the next step is to adjust the details and continue to strengthen role players through transactions or signings.

This progress is much faster than Kidd expected!
Before he came, this team already had a complete defensive system, and it was a defensive system that successfully won two consecutive championships. If he had not come, the Clippers would have retained Big Q and Jaylon Collins, and they would definitely continue their previous efforts. defensive system.

Now they are completely rebuilding their defensive system. He is in his 10th year of NBA career and knows how difficult it is.

But a few core-level teammates are capable, talented, and work hard... In just one month, this matter was solved!
Kidd lamented - It’s good to have superstar teammates!
He thought of the Sonics, the coffee-selling owner, and how ridiculous it was to use role players to attract superstars.

Although he went to the Nets and successfully turned that weak team into an Eastern Conference finals team, he would never have gone there in the summer of 01 if he had not been out of options.

If a team has superstars, as long as the team is willing to spend money to recruit players, it can gather a bunch of high-quality role players in two or three years no matter what.

But if you want to use the role player lineup to attract superstars to join... you may not be able to wait for ten years.

...

On the 3rd, the Clippers faced the challenge of the Mavericks at home.

This season the Mavericks were a huge disappointment, starting with 4 wins and 6 losses. Late last month, Nelson adjusted his style of play and stopped playing tactics. He only relied on star players to improve their record. He has played 17 games so far, with 8 wins and 9 losses. burden.

After the two teams entered the venue at 7:40 pm, Li Ao looked at the group of singles masters opposite Nash, Finley, Anthony Walker, Jamison, Nowitzki, Marquis Daniels, Tony Delk... It turns out that the future singles finals team sprouted at this time.

When Josh Howard develops his ability to handle the ball and attack, the Mavericks will have two singles masters in each of the four positions except the center.

Not to mention, the Mavericks' singles style of play, when the regular season confrontation is still not reaching the extreme, feels better and is simply impossible to defend!
Several of the Mavericks' main players at positions 1-4 are somewhat related to 'stars', and their hand stability after the confrontation is extremely good!

The Clippers couldn't guard against the Mavericks' wireless singles tonight, and their own positional warfare offense was not good... 88 to 93, the Clippers suffered their fourth loss of the new season.

诺维斯基拿到26分、芬利15分、纳什16分5助攻、安东尼-沃克14分、贾米森10分，纯靠球星个人能力赢球，除了他们5个，小牛队其他上场的球员加起来拿到12分。

Nowitzki's scoring style this season has been evaluated more and more like a sloth version of Spider-Man.

He himself was very happy with this statement and learned it in vain!

Tonight he scored the second-highest score of 26 points in the game, second only to Li Ao's 27 points. He was very happy, but also a little depressed.

He has just started playing back-to-the-rim singles, and is preparing to strengthen his skills this season. As a result, Spider-Man has already begun to practice the supporting scoring skills of the triple threat style!

And Spider-Man's current head coach's three-threat pull-up, pull-up jump shot, and step-back shot... He, the Silver Horn King, can't learn it!

After losing to the Mavericks, the Clippers came to Sacramento, the state capital, to challenge the Kings away from home on the 5th.

The Kings barely maintained their status as a strong team last season, but this season collapsed.

After last season, Turkoglu was clamoring to leave and return to Turkey without a trade. The Kings were forced to send him to the Spurs without getting any high-quality assets back. Turkoglu was traded away, and Weber's knee injury worsened and he underwent minimally invasive surgery. He will not be able to return until February next year at the earliest. The two tactical cores of the Kings' starter and substitute are gone.Turkoglu's departure was purely the fault of the Kings management.

In the 01-02 season, Turkoglu was already in his second year, averaging 10.1 points, 4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He had strong shooting ability, good tactical literacy, and excellent offensive organization. As a result, last season, the Kings management To give veteran former Dallas 3J Jim Jackson more playing time, Turkoglu's playing time was reduced, and Turkoglu's performance declined sharply.

After being eliminated in the first round, the Kings called Turkoglu to negotiate a contract extension. He was originally very touched. He didn't play well, but the team actually wanted to renew his contract in advance... but the Kings gave him a five-year contract worth $5 million. insulting contract.

The Kings management actually lost hope in last season because of injuries at the start of last season. They deliberately suppressed the talented Turkoglu and wanted to renew his contract at a low price.

This operation is just like what the Grizzlies did with Battier this season.

Battier has a kind-hearted personality and can tolerate it, and will most likely accept a low-price renewal in the end.

But Turkoglu is not the type to be bullied. He is a descendant of the Ottoman Empire and has a hot temper. He just flipped the table and stopped playing.

As a result, the Kings only have two highlights this season - White Chocolate's passing show and Peja's shooting show.

Peja has averaged 20.6 throws per game so far this season, and 80% of his shots are from mid-range to beyond the three-point line. As a player with almost zero offensive ability with the ball, this number of shots is quite amazing, averaging 9.2 shots per game, 44 % shooting rate, averaging 7.1 three-pointers per game, and averaging 42.1 three-pointers per game with a 3% three-point shooting rate, which is also amazingly accurate. At the age of 26, he has reached the peak of his career.

White Chocolate averaged 14 points and 8 assists per game this season, surpassing Kidd to rank No. 3 in the assists list.

But other than those two, the rest of the Kings' performance was lackluster.

Without the tactical core, the Princeton system cannot function. The offensive performance of the two veterans, 33-year-old Doug Christie and 34-year-old Divac, has plummeted. Only defense is left, and only one Bobby Jackson is left on the bench. .

The Kings have currently played 18 games, with 7 wins and 11 losses, ranking tenth in the Western Conference.

There was not much suspense in the game. The Clippers, whose defense became increasingly solid, defeated the Kings 91-83.

7号和8号，快船队回到主场，背靠背以99比86击败太阳队、88比82击败黄蜂队，拿下4连胜！

The Suns are last in the Western Conference this season. Marbury is clamoring to leave and Madman is clamoring to renew his contract. The atmosphere is a mess. After losing to the Clippers, their record fell to 3 wins and 17 losses.

The Hornets are completely unlucky - after Mashburn had his peak season, he fell to the ground and was seriously injured without confrontation after playing 5 games in the new season. He will be sidelined for 4-6 months, and the injury is to his ankle, which is over 30 years old. It's hard to say how the [-]-year-old will be able to recover after his return. He is a player who relies heavily on speed and flexibility.

This can be regarded as another kind of "collapse at 30". His style of play is extremely damaging to ankles and knees, and his physical fitness can only support him until this age.

After playing the first 20 games, they achieved a record of 16 wins and 4 losses, which was much better than what the Clippers coaches and players expected before the start of the season, with a winning rate of [-]%.

Li Ao analyzed this situation after the first month of play and felt that it was related to the fact that most of the opponents they encountered at the beginning were Western Conference teams.

During the offseason, most free agents who pursue championships choose Eastern teams. Those who choose Western teams are concentrated in the Lakers who introduced Payton, the rising Spurs, and the Mavericks who introduced Jamison and Anthony Walker. A team.

The Clippers have won two consecutive championships. Jordan retired and Campbell left. At first, they were not favored by those free agents who were eager to win the championship. Those young free agents who wanted to change teams to get more performance opportunities would not consider every position. They all have their main players, and by the time they introduced Kidd and shocked the entire basketball world, the outstanding free agents had basically found a home.

There are players from the West who travel east, and there are naturally players from the East who go west, but the overall strength of the players who travel east is significantly higher than those who travel west. After the Angel City duo dominated the NBA for four years, they have changed the pattern of the strong west and the weak east at the turn of the century. Totally broken.

Li Ao looked at the schedule of the remaining 10 games this month. Most of the opponents are Western Conference teams. They need to take advantage of this period to accumulate more wins so that they will not be so passive in the middle and late seasons of the season.

As a player, there is nothing wrong with this way of thinking.

But the coaching staff started to act like a monster.

After playing back-to-back games, the Clippers got three days of rest. They took one day off on the first rest day. During the preparation meeting on the morning of the second rest day, Gentry announced the next team plan-the creation of the offensive system.

The defensive system framework is completed and the coaching staff's season plan enters the next stage.

Li Ao was numb. His first reaction was to be irritated and want to show off.

The framework of their defensive system is progressing quickly, but it does not mean that it is easy. Especially as the core of the defensive end, he not only has a heavy task, but also has to set an example for leading his teammates forward. He is not tired physically, but mentally high pressure.

After finally finishing the defense, I thought I could relax a bit, and new work is here again!

To build an offensive system, it will inevitably involve changes in formation, which will have an impact on the defensive system, and adjustments must be made on the defensive end. To be precise, the next step is not to create a simple offensive system, but to create an offensive and defensive system.

Li Ao, who has already completed the system building once, knows how difficult it is, especially since they are now short of manpower and can only play eight or nine people. Unlike the last time they built the system, they activated the list of 12 people with online strength...

However, after being irritated, he put away the thought of messing up and concentrated on listening to the two coaching staff members Doug Collins and Larry LaRue explaining the tactics to be experimented next.

As the star player and team boss, he still has to set an example and drive his teammates forward in the team's next plan.

Most of the tactics that the coaching staff will try out next are positional warfare and offensive combinations that they have played on the spot in the previous 20 games. A small number of them are tactics that the coaching staff has studied based on their lineup and wants to try.

Li Ao concentrated his attention, picked up the pen and started taking notes.

Seeing that the boss was so serious, his teammates also picked up their pens... After a while, except for Kidd, Jaric, Matt Halprin, and Gerald Wallace, everyone else put down their pens.

Most people don't even know what to write or draw with a pen, and there are some like Odom who are too lazy to move.

Anyway, Spider-Man and the point guard god are here, so they don't need to worry about tactics.

When the Clippers entered the next stage of their season plan with great enthusiasm, something big happened in the NBA - near the middle of the season, big trades happened one after another!
The Hawks sent Jalen Rose and Ratliff and traded for Rasheed Wallace.

Subsequently, the Hawks sent Rasheed Wallace to the Pistons for almost nothing in exchange for Bob Sura and Lee Nylon, as well as the Pistons' two first-round picks in 04 and 06. sign.

This deal is as sensational as the Clippers' trade of Bibby for Kidd during the offseason!
It is roughly equivalent to the Pistons using two role players and two draft picks at the end of the first round to exchange Roaring Tianzun back!

And what the Eagles received...the total salary, which was subject to tax, was reduced from $6900 million to $5600 million, without having to pay luxury tax.

After several years of personal control by their prodigal owner Price, he has finally ruined the team's fortune and is now starting to cut back on food and clothing.

In an interview that night, Popovich angrily accused the Pistons of robbing the team.

Since the start of the new season, he has been trying to make an offer for Rasheed Wallace.

In the playoffs last season, Zach Randolph performed well in the series against the Lakers and was reused in the new season. As the sixth man, his performance was no worse than Rasheed Wallace. Popovich felt this was They have a chance to become a top team in one fell swoop.

But he put both Parker and Ginobili into the bargaining chip, but Paul Allen still rejected it.

As a result, the Hawks used two moves to replace Rasheed Wallace, a top insider, and gave it to Joe Dumars for free!
The Pistons' robbery operation detonated the centralized trading window.

The next day, the Cavaliers completed the deal with the Celtics. After a month and a half of selling, the Cavaliers finally sold Ricky Davis.

Last season, Ricky Davis averaged 20+5+5 per game. In the offseason, the Cavaliers management used the "price tag" to sell top players in the free market. No one cared about it, and no fool took over, but lowered the "price tag". ’, and they felt that they were losing face, so they just hunkered down and waited for someone to bargain.

When doing business, it’s normal to ask for a lot of money and pay back on the spot.

But the price tag was too high, and not many people even came to bargain.

Finally, the Celtics, who were short of forward manpower after sending away Anthony Walker, reached out to help and replaced Ricky Davis with Tony Barty.

Then, the famous scene was born.

Ricky Davis learned from the media that he had been traded. He said with a confused expression: "I thought the team selected James to assist me..."

Shortly after the Ricky Davis trade was completed, the Suns and Rockets trades were completed.

The Suns sent out Madman, and with ample salary space, they took Antonio McDyess's contract in exchange for the old cat Mobley.

This deal saved the Rockets $1300 million in salary...

After the deal to send away the Madman was completed, the media broke the news that the Suns' deal was not over yet. Colangelo Jr. had already found a new home for Marbury, and the details of the deal were under negotiation.

The Los Angeles Times broke the news that the Kings have begun to sell Webber, who is injured...

(End of this chapter)