Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 300 Recovery treatment, injuries and civil strife, new challenges

After winning the opening game, the Bulls became more confident and full of fighting spirit, and began a new journey against the entire league.

After playing the game in November, the Bulls handed over a record of 11 wins and 10 losses.

To be able to achieve such a record in the face of hostility from teams across the league and unfavorable referee whistles, the Bulls are not weak in the new season.

At the same time, the stakeholders behind Doun are also constantly lobbying the league's top management and contacting league referees privately, hoping to relieve Doun's unfair treatment as soon as possible and help Doun "recover" to his peak condition.

So far this season, Duan is averaging only 19.2 points, 7 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game.

Although the three hit rates were 53.3%, 42.9%, and 91.6% respectively, he successfully entered the 180 club.

But for the league's first player who has just won three consecutive championships and three consecutive FMVPs, this data is definitely unqualified.

Just looking at the data, it seems that the level Duen has shown this season is just an ordinary All-Star.

However, whether it is the evaluation of Duan by North American basketball commentators or the data from games such as 2K and Live, Duan is still among the top ten in the league.

But the problem is that the decline in Duen's data will indeed affect the purchasing power of some fans for products endorsed by Duen.

Here I have to mention the influence brought by the Olympic Games, which made more domestic and foreign audiences recognize Du En.

In the past few months, the number of Duen's fans around the world has skyrocketed, which in turn has caused a surge in sales of products that Duen endorses, making the corresponding manufacturers a lot of money.

However, fans don't know enough about Duan, and they don't know it deeply enough.

When they noticed that Du En's performance in the NBA was relatively mediocre and was not as strong as in previous seasons, they also questioned Du En's strength and influence on the game.

After brands such as Nike noticed that the purchasing power of Doon fans was declining, they quickly began to send people to investigate the truth of the incident.

It turned out that it was because Du En didn't play well enough, which caused some fans to lose fans or still wait and see.

So out of self-interest, he immediately organized manpower to help Duen regain star status as soon as possible and help Duen return to the top.

After all, the United States is a capitalist country. In recent games, Duan's "state" has been improving.

In fact, the recent situation in which Du En was gradually lifted from the ban was also caused by domestic forces.

Domestic audiences often like sports that can bring them happiness and honor.

Basketball has always been one of the three major sports with the widest audience. Not long ago, it just won the gold medal in the Olympics for the first time!

After this happened, basketball in the country became very popular, with a large influx of new fans and basketball enthusiasts.

Originally, sports can strengthen the body and benefit the body and mind, and the learning cost of basketball is very low, and it can also bring a certain amount of happiness and honor to the growing body of students.

After the men's basketball team won the Olympic gold medal, some parents easily changed their minds and no longer stubbornly believed that their children's playing would delay their studies.

"Playing basketball is better than going to game arcades or Internet cafes to play games!"

"Watching basketball games is always more meaningful than watching TV series!"

"Three hundred and sixty, and you will be the top pick! You can not only win gold medals by playing basketball, but you can also earn money by going abroad!"

It is also because of parents' support that more young fans pay attention to NBA games, which increases the ratings of NBA game-related programs and even drives the development of related domestic industries.

The domestic official media, also because of winning gold medals in the Olympics, have had some new connections and needs with NBA officials in recent months.

In addition, there are private companies that target NBA teams with Chinese players.

It is precisely because the Chinese market is becoming more and more influential in the NBA and playing an increasingly important role.

Therefore, when everyone noticed that Du En's interests were being infringed, they would speak out and make efforts in a timely manner to help Du En overcome the difficulties.

After all, the NBA is a business league. Dunn led the men's basketball team to defeat the Dream Team in the Olympic finals and win the gold medal. It was mainly a matter of face. In fact, it did not offend too many people's interests.

For the vast majority of NBA team owners, they do not want their stars to play in games such as the Olympics and World Championships.

Now that the Chinese market has become a new growth point for the NBA's profits, for the sake of interests, everyone can naturally accept Duan's "return to normal".

Of course, some referees are grudges about this and hate Duen, but that is purely a personal matter.

The league officials are not easy to control this kind of thing, and even a small number of people will indulge it.

However, for the most part, the Duan matter passed away like this.

The interested parties, led by Nike, even hope to give Dunn a unique status and treatment in the NBA.

After all, the better Duane plays in the NBA, the more real money they can make off the court.

They will undoubtedly earn more than they pay.

Having said that, as time entered December, the Bulls' overall performance became better and better because Duan was no longer targeted by the referee.

At the same time, the All-Star voting channel is opened again.

Last year, the Bulls had four All-Stars for the season. This year, Ben Gordon signed a big contract and became a starter. If you don't fight for reputation, you will naturally strive to become an All-Star this year.

Luol Deng and Josh Smith, who have already been selected as All-Stars, feel that they have reached their peak period and want to continue to be All-Star players.

Even going one step further, he was transformed from an All-Star substitute to a regular All-Star starter!

It is for this reason that competition within the Bulls has increased slightly.

However, due to Duan's "return to form" and the outstanding performance of the core players, the team's overall development was driven. At the same time, continuous winning also suppressed all conflicts. The Bulls played vigorously and impressively in December.

However, at this time, Josh Smith was suddenly diagnosed with a sports hernia.

It turned out that Josh Smith had a slight discomfort in his groin some time ago, but in order to ensure an All-Star spot, Josh Smith suffered a minor injury and continued to play with pain.

In Josh Smith's opinion, it's just a minor illness and pain. Take some painkillers, pay some attention to rest, and you'll be fine after a while.

Who knew that a minor illness would turn into a serious illness and he would have to undergo hernia surgery and need to rest for six to eight weeks.

In other words, under normal circumstances, you have to wait until the All-Star Weekend is over before you can return to the team.

It has to be said that basketball players are prone to groin pain, which usually requires several weeks of rest.

Of course, it is not impossible that individual players have different physiques and may have good or bad groins.

Josh Smith's physical fitness is quite good, but he was not able to recover automatically by relying on hard work. Instead, he delayed treatment and harmed others and himself.

Now that the Bulls are missing their starting power forward, the problem of weakness inside is suddenly exposed.

Because they renewed four multi-million-level maximum-salary contracts in the previous summer, the Bulls did not renew their contracts with veterans such as Webber in order to reduce the luxury tax as much as possible.

At the same time, Josh Smith and others performed well enough at the beginning of the season, and the Bulls management had no plan in advance to reinforce the veterans inside. Josh Smith, who is now in his prime, was injured and was out for two months.

However, at the Bulls power forward position, there is only one Joe Smith left who is almost retiring.

After this incident, Scott Skiles discussed a countermeasure with other members of the coaching staff overnight.

In the end, some burdens were added to Garnett, allowing him to return to the power forward position, and promoting Milicic to the starting center.

However, the Bulls' lack of personnel inside has become more serious.

Garnett, Milicic, and Joe Smith need to eat up 96 minutes of power forward and center, which is an average of 32 minutes of playing time per player.

Now Joe Smith does not have the ability to play 30 minutes in a game.

Garnett's usual defensive tasks are also relatively heavy. If he is always on the inside, especially on the center, there will be a greater risk of injury.

Therefore, for the current plan, only Du En, the head of the team, stepped forward to help solve the urgent matter.

Garnett and Milicic are still the starting power forward and starting center, but when Dunn leads the second lineup, he needs to spend some time at the fourth position.

A game lasts about 15 minutes.

In this way, Garnett and Milicic average more than 30 minutes per game, and Joe Smith only plays for more than ten minutes.

Of course, in order to deal with other unexpected situations that may arise, the Bulls management immediately became busy.

The Bulls management is going around, contacting veterans who have been laid off or are about to be laid off on the market, hoping to complete the reinforcement work before Josh Smith returns.

However, it rained all night, and Ben Gordon injured his wrist on the floor while falling for a layup during a regular season game.

Although it will not require a period of time off for surgery, the wrist injury still affects Ben Gordon's offensive state.

But Ben Gordon still wants to play better data and strive to become an All-Star player this season.

Therefore, for his own selfish reasons, Ben Gordon, as the starting point guard, took more offense with the ball, and not only scored inefficiently, but also affected the Bulls' overall chemical reaction.

The team's main players have suffered injuries one after another, and some people have acted recklessly and randomly on the court due to personal reasons. This will undoubtedly affect the Bulls' overall record.

Although the team's record has declined, the Bulls will inevitably expose some problems, and there are more and more complaints, arguments, and noises in the locker room.

Du En didn't pay much attention to it at first. After all, when we usually get along, everyone is not friendly.

Instead, they would quarrel and joke around for various reasons, including details of cooperation in games, private matters such as off-field gambling and fights, and bumping into each other is normal.

However, everyone's ideas are different.

At different stages, everyone’s ideas will also have more changes and differences.

All I can say is that if you don’t do it for yourself, you will be punished by heaven and earth!

Three consecutive championships and big contracts, the intertwining of fame and fortune, have caused some changes in the relationship between players and become different from before.

Ball rights and data are the cake! Everyone wants one more piece, so who is willing to sacrifice? Who wants to suffer a loss?

Perhaps from the beginning, our relationship was just that of colleagues.

Some colleagues are close friends, some are strangers to each other, and some even hate each other due to competition and have never interacted with each other until death.

Just like for Duan, in this NBA, the best relationship is with Anthony, who played together in college, and the friendship is more pure.

There is no conflict of interest and the relationship has been maintained well.

"People's hearts are broken and it's hard to lead the team!"

Time soon entered 2009. As the conflicts within the team intensified, the newly recruited veterans were still in the running-in period, the team's record declined rapidly, and Du En was also hesitant.

Are you going to forcefully suppress the conflicts within the team, unite the vast majority of the players, and lead everyone to continue to fight for four consecutive championships?

Or should we solve the problem in advance, ask the management to make trades, and trade the players who are selfish and causing conflicts to other teams in exchange for certain draft picks, and then start rebuilding and wait for the next championship window?

The 09 rookie class is a class that has been overlooked. At first glance, there is really no outstanding rookie. However, if you look at it ten years later, you will find that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is definitely not a rookie year.

It is also because the outside world is looking down on this rookie class, it will be easier for the Bulls to hoard draft picks, and the price they need to pay will be lower.

In the long run, the Bulls entering the reconstruction period early will definitely have more advantages than disadvantages.

However, it was difficult for Duan to make such a choice.

People are selfish. It is impossible for Du En to just give up his peak period and go out of his way to train some rookies and train them for two or three years before he can compete for the championship again.

The Bulls do have problems of one kind or another this year, but their lineup is definitely not bad and is one of the best in the league.

If the Bulls are not the public enemy of the league for three consecutive championships, the Bulls can hide their strength and bide their time in the regular season, recharge their batteries, wait until the playoffs, and then surprise everyone and win the championship.

It's a pity that the Bulls are so famous, and their three consecutive championships have attracted too much hatred.

Nowadays, teams and players across the league are paying attention to every move of the Bulls. If the Bulls want to continue to win the championship and achieve four consecutive championships, it has become extremely difficult.

However, Du En still wanted to challenge.

After all, in sports competitions, challenging difficult levels is the real fun!

"If I take the initiative to lower the difficulty, wouldn't it mean that I am on the same level as others?"

Du En feels that the previous championship came too easily!

Duen has yet to play a tiebreaker in the playoffs. Duen has not yet encountered an opponent who can push him to the edge and have to press the button of God to win.

To put it bluntly, the championship is in trouble, and now Du En wants something fresh and exciting.

For Dunn, leading a team with internal conflicts to win the championship is definitely more interesting than leading a united team to win the championship.

Duane also wanted to experience Jordan's Last Dance.

Besides, Duen is looking for draft picks in the 09 class, and the Bulls management is definitely willing to help Duen get them.

To say the least, even if they lose their fourth consecutive championship this year, the Bulls will still have enough chips to make deals in the summer.

What's more, the most promising potential stock worth investing in in the 09 class was almost traded by his parent team due to injuries. The Bulls can wait two years to take over.

Therefore, instead of being timid before starting a battle, Duan became more interested in how far he can go this season.

(End of this chapter)