no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 300 Park

Like the five lockouts in history, after the NBA is suspended, not only will the league suffer heavy losses, but the players will also suffer huge tests.

After the shutdown, players were unable to use any of the team's facilities, and even many places were no longer open to the public due to the epidemic. For superstars, it's okay to have supporting training facilities at home, but for ordinary players, they can't even find them. How to maintain competitive status through local training is a huge challenge.

And this is not only physical, but also psychological, because no one knows how long the epidemic will last, and it is even unknown whether we can continue to play this season.

Against this background, many players have started side jobs, the most common of which is playing e-sports. Hayward, George, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, etc. are among the representatives.

Xu Yong did not do that. The advantage of being a reborn person allowed him to know that the NBA shutdown would only last four months. When everyone else chose to relax, if he could make good use of this time, then after the NBA resumes, They will become more competitive.

Because this shutdown is not caused by human factors, NBA officials also have certain regulations. For example, players must stay at the team's location; the team is required to suspend all joint training and multi-person meetings. If training is to be held, then a court and a venue must be guaranteed. Basketball and a coach; team doctors and trainers need to communicate with the players once a day, etc.

Without violating these regulations, Xu Yong decided to do something.

He asked Shipp to directly find a training base in the suburbs of Dallas that had training facilities and accommodation.

Immediately afterwards, he sent a text message to everyone on the team. The general content was that he was going to provide a training venue at his own expense, and would arrange accommodation and food, but the premise was that people who entered the training base could not leave. Can't come back again.

The purpose of this, in addition to increasing competition, is to prepare the players in advance for future park competitions.

Of course this is all voluntary.

After all arrangements were made, Xu Yong said goodbye to his wife and children and arrived at the training base one day earlier than planned.

Shipp is very reliable in doing things. This training base covers a very large area. In addition to the indoor court and gym, there is also a large outdoor grass field that can be transformed into a football field or rugby field according to different needs.

In the accommodation area, Shipp has also added electronic game equipment, as well as some billiards and poker equipment to the lobby in accordance with Xu Yong's requirements.

After all, we have to train in isolation here for four months, and it is impossible to do it without entertainment activities.

He went to experience it and the overall feeling was very good.

He even specially set up an isolation area. If there is an uncontrollable risk, the person who was recruited will be isolated before being released.

Everything was ready, and on the next day, the members of the Mavericks team came over one after another.

Except for some players due to special reasons, such as DeRozan needing to take care of his mother, Rose has been recruited, etc., most of the remaining players have come over.

On the one hand, this is Xu Yong's personal appeal. On the other hand, they are used to training and playing during this period. If you suddenly ask them to stop their habits, they will feel uncomfortable.

Xu Yong was still very excited when he saw this. He knew that the shutdown would only last four months, but others did not know.

This shows that after this season's games, the entire Mavericks team's competitive spirit has been fully stimulated.

Moreover, just a few days after their training started, an uninvited guest found them, it was Patil who had been forced to interrupt the recording before.

It took him a lot of effort to find out that Xu Yong and the others were training here.

"This will be the best material." Even the mask couldn't hide the excitement on his face.

"I promise I will be the last one to leave here." After learning the rules of the training camp, he also patted his chest and promised.

His attitude eventually won Xu Yong's approval.

After Patil joined, the team members' training enthusiasm became even more intense.

This is a very subtle psychological change. Although they do not want to be like some people on the Lakers next door, who constantly post personal training photos to show how hard they have worked after the lockout, they also understand that success requires a lot of hard work behind the scenes. It makes sense, but everyone would want this hard work to be recorded.

Xu Yong also did two things besides training.

One is donating $20 to team staff and calling on others to do the same.

NBA teams not only have management and players, but also security, cleaning and other low-level staff who maintain the operation of the team.

Players will continue to receive their salaries during the lockout, but these people's jobs are based on working hours, and these people are most affected by the NBA lockout.

At the same time, he also made some appeals on social media not to stigmatize or develop hatred towards others because of this epidemic.

"Be kind to others and understand their fears. Whether you feel the same or not, pay attention to your own safety and make smart decisions during these times."

Of course, this matter is just a trivial matter to Xu Yong. After all, he only did this to make himself have a good reputation in Dallas.

In contrast, there was another thing he did that he really cared about.

He donated 2000 million US dollars to areas with severe epidemics in the country, such as cities such as wh, to help them fight the epidemic, and he also asked people to track the donations to ensure that they were implemented.

He used to say that domestic fans are the group that supports him the most and is the group he is most grateful for. Now that the fans are in trouble, he will naturally want to do his part.

Time flies and it’s June.

Nearly three months have passed since they started training.

Training is boring, but because Xu Yong has arranged entertainment projects in advance, the atmosphere of the entire training camp is actually not bad.

Of course, some people quit. For example, some people had to leave after their relatives passed away. The disaster this epidemic has brought to people exceeds most people's expectations.

But fortunately, from the beginning to the end of the closed training, no one was recruited in the training camp, which prevented them from coming to an abrupt end.

After all, in such a small environment, although there are isolation preparation measures, basically if one person is infected, others will hardly be spared.

The reason why the training camp originally planned to be in July ended early is because the league has issued an announcement that closed games will be held behind closed doors at the Disney World Resort in Florida on July 7, which is the so-called Park competition.

It takes time to adjust after a long training camp, especially since the next three months will be closed.

But after learning the news, the members of the Mavericks team were very excited.

Because of this theoretically impossible experience, Xu Yong has led them to accumulate it in advance.

After leaving the training base, Xu Yong also spent the rest time with his family.

During this period, Daddario was also unfortunately tricked.

During this period, Xu Yong has been by her side to help take care of her, which also touched Daddario.

Xu Yong's previous appeal was not a whim. At the beginning of the epidemic, anyone who was recruited would be killed at first because of fear.

Daddario is also worried that he will infect Xu Yong. "Your husband is the person with the best resistance in the world." Xu Yong blocked her mouth with one sentence.

Looking back on the days he spent with Xu Yong, it seemed that he had never seen Xu Yong get sick.

Even during this epidemic, she was infected, but nothing happened to her two children.

But she didn't think too much about it. After all, some people in this world get diarrhea after eating some cold or spicy food, but some people are fine no matter how much they eat or drink. Everyone's genes are inherently different.

Daddario finally recovered, and she was so moved that she decided to give Xu Yongsheng another child.

During the quarantine period during the epidemic, I had no problem making babies at home every day.

When the time came to the end of July, after Daddario won the bid again, Xu Yong also went to Orlando with the team.

Orlando, not Oakland, is the city where the Magic play their home games. The Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is located on the southern outskirts of downtown Orlando.

This place is much larger than their previous training base, and it feels a bit like the Lost Olympic Village.

However, the control measures here are much stricter than those in the Olympic Village.

First of all, everyone (including players and team staff) will be quarantined for 36 hours upon landing. They need to undergo two rounds of testing, and they can only be officially admitted to the park after both tests are negative.

And they will be distributed a 113-page manual as soon as possible, which details the rules that players and staff need to respect in the park.

Some of the most important ones are: Except during meals, games and sleeping, all players must wear masks when in the park; outside of games and training, players must carry distance alarms. When the distance between two players is less than 6 feet In less than 5 seconds, the distance alarm will automatically sound the alarm.

Of course, like Xu Yong's previous training base, there are also supporting entertainment facilities here, and they are also much more comprehensive.

2K games, TVs, game consoles, swimming pools, movie screenings, etc. Players are also allowed to play poker (the serious kind) in the hotel, but the poker cards must be thrown away after use; players can also play table tennis as entertainment, However, only one person is allowed to play table tennis, and two people are not allowed to play against each other.

In addition, players can also make appointments in advance for hairdressers, manicurists, masseuses (the serious ones) and other related services.

It can be said that players can enjoy many things in the park, besides freedom.

However, when Xu Yong saw the back, he was quickly attracted by one of the clauses, that is, the park will accept anonymous reports. If any player violates the regulations, he will receive a certain warning or punishment. If the circumstances are serious, he will be directly punished. Expelled from the park, and the team cannot add additional personnel.

Although the park is not big, it is very difficult for the staff to fully supervise it, but this anonymous report is cruel enough, because there is competition between teams, and players will be very happy to do this kind of thing, which is tantamount to Supervise each other.

After reading the manual, Xu Yong got up and walked around the park to familiarize himself with the environment.

Because they had just arrived, most people were resting in their rooms, and there were not many people walking around the park.

When someone sees Xu Yong, they will stretch out their hands to say hello, but they will leave quickly because of the rules.

But when one person saw him, he was like the motorcycle rider who stepped on the accelerator crazily when he saw the traffic policeman. Not only did he immediately let go of the accelerator, but he even got out of the car and pushed the cart past, passing by in despair.

It was none other than the idiot Gobert whom he had previously called arrogant.

If it weren't for Gobert, this park would have opened as early as March, and the NBA wouldn't even have to shut down because of it.

And he also remembered something even more disgusting, that is, when he called for donations for league employees, Gobert also pretended to donate 50.

After adjusting his mood, Xu Yong continued to familiarize himself with the venue.

There are three arenas in the entire park, which will also become the venue for the next park games.

It is worth mentioning here that because the previous suspension was in March, and the suspension lasted for 3 months, the league obviously cannot arrange the remaining regular season, because there will be playoffs and next season’s games. So in fact, the remaining regular season games for the teams in the park are eight.

Therefore, not all 30 teams were invited, but only 22 teams. The remaining 8 teams have no possibility of advancing in theory because they are more than 6 games away from the playoffs. Naturally, there is no need to come.

So even though there are only three arenas, games can still be arranged.

Of course, the game time will definitely not be concentrated in the evening as usual, but there will be many scheduled during the day.

For example, the first game the Mavericks entered the park against the Lakers was scheduled for that afternoon, which would also be a test for the players.

The next day, after training with the team for half a day, the Mavericks ushered in a game against the Lakers that afternoon.

When they entered the competition venue, they felt a little strange.

Because there are no familiar spectators around, there are only some staff and some cold large-screen monitors. When the game starts, the screen will show online fans watching the game.

This feeling made the players on both sides somewhat uncomfortable.

Because it makes the game look like an intra-squad match.

You have to know that the cheers and boos of fans can stimulate the body's adrenaline secretion, which can then lead to extraordinary performance.

This kind of empty field is just the opposite, which will make people's desire to play plummet.

Xu Yong sat on the sidelines after warming up for a while, lowering his head with his hands to arouse his emotions for the game.

After a while, when he stood up again, his face was filled with high morale.

This is the first confrontation between the two teams after the Lakers traded for Davis, and of course it will also be the last confrontation.

If the two teams will meet in the playoffs, then tonight's game is the best chance to find out.

On the other side of the court, James is also eager to try.

Davis is much better than he was a few years ago. After he came, the Lakers' record has been soaring. Before the suspension, they rushed to third place in the Western Conference, which was better than the Warriors' record.

The team's performance finally rekindled his desire for the championship.

Since Durant and Curry can get what they want after years of struggle, he can naturally become the next one.

Moreover, Davis was a little injured before, and the lockout allowed him to recover from the injury. Now the Lakers are at full strength.

In addition, he has been training to maintain his physical condition during the lockout, and he feels that he is at his peak. If this is their road to the championship, he believes that today is the beginning.

(End of this chapter)