NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 196 Wang Chong: If you don’t win the championship in the new season, you will fail!

With the popularity of Transformers in the United States, Wang Chong gained money and reputation.

During this period, transactions and signings were still taking place in the league.

However, after experiencing the crazy big trades in July, the alliance was obviously much calmer in August. Occasionally, there were a few transactions, but they were just symbolic and minor troubles.

Basically, the league's pattern for the new season has been basically determined.

ESPN also began to grade the operations of each team during the summer offseason.

The Bulls' five-for-one exchange for Garnett was undoubtedly rated A+, the highest in the league.

The reason given by ESPN is that although Garnett's performance declined slightly in the past season and was not selected for the All-NBA Team, he still has the honor of rebounding leader and defensive second team, and averaged 22.4 points, 12.8 rebounds and 4 assists per game in the regular season. He is still among the top superstars in the league.

Although the Bulls paid a huge price to get Garnett and dismantled half of the team, the arrival of this top superstar in his prime, forming the Big Three with Wang Chong and Billups will surely lead the Bulls to the next level. The championship launched a powerful attack.

The Lakers' introduction of Gasol and the Cavaliers' acquisition of Ray Allen were both rated as A-level operations.

Gasol is to Kobe Bryant, and Ray Allen is to James. They are both combinations that seem to fit their respective playing styles very well. The performance of the Lakers and Cavaliers in the new season is also worth looking forward to.

The Magic's deal to acquire Lewis from the SuperSonics for a 5-million-yuan contract was evaluated as B+. Lewis is indeed a very good player, but this -year, over -million-yuan contract is already a little uncomfortable even though it has not yet been officially fulfilled. Be favored.

But the Magic have at least introduced an All-Star forward with this, which is better than nothing.

As for the strength ranking of the new season, although the preseason has not yet started, the media has still made a prediction list.

On this list, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs top the list.

Although the Spurs basically made no moves in the summer after winning the championship, just maintaining the original lineup was enough to make the Spurs the favorite to win the new season. The strong dominance displayed by the Spurs during the playoffs is obvious to all. It deserves attention.

The second-ranked team is Wang Chong's Chicago Bulls.

This is actually normal. The Bulls acquiring Garnett are equivalent to having two MVP-level superstars at once, as well as an All-Star point guard Billups. The combination of the three is better than Kyle The three giants of Teren are much stronger.

After all, although the Big Three of Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen formed by the Green Army are also sensational in the league, Billups, who does not have FMVP, may be slightly inferior to Pierce and Ray Allen in terms of star status, and although Wang Chong They have only played for 4 years, but in terms of personal honors, they are already far behind these two. To put it too much, the honors Pierce and Ray Allen have achieved so far combined are not as good as Wang Chong.

By the end of the 06-07 season, Pierce had only two third-team appearances, while Ray Allen had one second-team appearance and one third-team appearance.

The two have been selected to the All-NBA Team four times in total. Wang Chong has been selected to the All-NBA Team three times after playing in the league for three seasons, two of which were All-NBA Teams. In addition, he also has the highest personal honor award of regular season MVP. Pierce and Ray Allen can't compete.

However, there is still a slight difference, that is, after the formation of the Celtics' three giants, it brought a huge impact to the league, and the unhealthy trend of teaming up came into being. Although the teaming of the Green Army's three giants was not as bad as in the past few years. It's still a bit behind James' peak team-up, but it's undeniable that Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen are all in their prime.

三人联手前的一个赛季也就是06-07赛季，加内特场均22+13+4，雷阿伦26+4+4，皮尔斯25+6+4，而且至少都还有三年左右的巅峰期，绝对不能用暮年抱团来形容。

In fact, the Big Three of the Green Army, who started to join forces in the 07-08 season, were still the Heat's biggest rivals in the Eastern Conference five years later, in the 11-12 season. The two teams still had to fight seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals to decide the winner. , it can only be said that defeating magic with magic is the best way.

As for why no one mentioned that the Bulls' Big Three are in a team, the reason is also very simple, because the Bulls' Big Three and the Celtics' process and method of forming the Big Three are completely different.

Wang Chong came to the Bulls first in the 05-06 season, and Billups joined the Bulls through a trade in the middle of last season. In the off-season, he acquired Garnett through a big move. It was a step-by-step process. It was not agreed upon by the three of them. We need to work together to win the championship and form a team at the same time.

Although the lineup looks quite exaggerated and is almost the only one in the league, it still cannot be described as a team. It can only be said that the Bulls management (no, it is actually Wang Chong) strategized and through a series of excellent operations and transactions. This lineup you have.

Although the results are the same, there are still very big differences in terms of process and concept. Otherwise, according to this logic, 99% of the teams in the league are suspected of teaming up, including the Bulls' Pippen, the Lakers' Kobe, and the Mavericks' Novi Players such as Ski and others were also acquired through trade.

But who would say that Jordan and Pippen are in a group? Would you say OK is a group?

Some people are also curious. After Garnett, who has a strong personality and is known as a tough guy, goes to the Bulls, who will be the boss of the Bulls team?

Wang Chong, who has only been playing for four years, can suppress Garnett, a veteran player who has been famous in the league for a long time. Will the two of them join forces to create a situation where Wang Chong and Kobe were incompatible with each other like when he was with the Lakers?

But this possibility obviously does not exist.

If Garnett is 26 years old now, the two may really be in the same boat, because Garnett himself is a player with a strong and flamboyant personality, especially Wang Chong.

Two players with strong personalities will always have conflicts when they are together, and then they will not give in to each other and deepen the conflicts step by step.

But Garnett will be 31 years old in the new season. He knows exactly what he wants now, which is to win as many championships as possible in his final peak period.

Although he has not met with Wang Chong during the offseason, the two have had more than one phone call, and their division of labor for the new season has even been determined.

Wang Chong is responsible for the offense, and Garnett is responsible for the defense. The two attack and defend to maximize the Bulls' combat effectiveness.

Now that he has decided to focus mainly on the defensive end, Garnett is naturally mentally prepared to be a green leaf.

When asked in an interview with the media about his and Wang Chong's positioning in the Bulls, Garnett said simply without hesitation.

"The Bulls are Wang Chong's team. Wang Chong just won the regular season MVP and has two consecutive scoring titles. He is the one more suitable to be the team leader. I just need to use my game experience to help Wang Chong and the Bulls." It would be nice to win a championship."

When asked how many championships he could win after joining forces with Wang Chong, Garnett smiled. "I think there should be more than one. I believe in Wang Chong's personal ability."
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Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, the three-month offseason is over.

At the end of September, Bulls players reported to the team one after another, took makeup photos and held a media day press conference.

Garnett, the wolf king, wore the Bulls' No. 21 jersey, standing side by side with Wang Chong and Billups, and took the first makeup photo of the Bulls' Big Three in the new season.

At the subsequent press conference, reporters couldn't wait to ask many questions that fans were concerned about. Including the new team head coach Tom Thibodeau's issues related to team coaching, as well as how to reasonably arrange and use the Big Three, etc.

The team has already thought about these problems in advance. As a veteran who has been an assistant coach for more than ten years, Thibodeau is still able to deal with them easily even if he is sitting in the head coach's position for the first time. The reporter talked without any nervousness.

The most difficult question in the entire press conference was what the team's goal is for the new season.

This question is obviously meant to dig a hole. Thibodeau, Garnett and even general manager John are not easy to respond to.

But Wang Chong was unswerving and said categorically: "The team's goal for the new season is of course the championship. We paid a huge price to get Kevin. The team has become unprecedentedly strong. If we cannot win the championship, for us, It’s a failure!”

This is equivalent to making a declaration to win the championship in advance. At this point, the Bulls have no way out and there is only one way to win the new season.

But Wang Chong is full of confidence in winning the championship.

No one knows that the big boss of the 07-08 season is not the Spurs, but the Celtics, who formed the Big Three in the Eastern Conference.

Now the Celtics' Big Three have been stillborn because of Wang Chong. Garnett has become Wang Chong's partner, and Ray Allen has gone to Cleveland. Although the Green Army got Durant, a promising future player. A top scorer than Wang Chong, but better than Durant, it will take some time to grow, and the Green Army of Durant + Pierce will definitely not be as strong as the Big Three.

So in theory, in the 07-08 season, the Bulls' only obstacle to winning the championship in the new season is the Los Angeles Lakers, who have assembled the top three inside players in advance.

The Lakers are not weak at this stage. After all, they are the team that defeated the Spurs and entered the finals. Kobe also won the first and only regular season MVP trophy in his career this season.

But Wang Chong has absolute confidence that he can defeat the Lakers after meeting them in the finals.

The reason why the Spurs couldn't beat the Lakers is that the team's defensive system was restrained by Kobe's particularly reckless style of play. I don't care how many people hit me, I just have to shoot, and when I feel good, I can really make the shot. The style of play is indeed very unreasonable at times.

But this style of play is also really a test of touch.

In the original 07-08 season, Kobe performed superbly in the Western Conference finals. Facing the Spurs, Kobe averaged 53 points with a 29% shooting percentage. However, in the finals against the Celtics, he immediately lost his temper and his shooting percentage plummeted to 40.5%. , averaging only 25.7 points per game.

With Wang Chong's current strength, coupled with a peak Garnett, if he can't even beat the Lakers in the 07-08 season, then Wang Chong's plug-in is considered blind. He can't expect to complete the system upgrade task and reach the top. .

There was nothing wrong with Wang Chong's arrogance to the outside world.

The Bulls themselves were the runner-up last season, with 69 wins in the regular season and the second-best record in history. The lineup has been upgraded in the new season, and they have MVP-level helper Kevin Garnett. If you don't dare to shout the championship slogan, really It's a bit too timid, and it doesn't have the arrogance that a winning team should have.

After the media day, the Bulls also began preparing for preseason recovery training.

Although it was only 3 months before the end of last season's finals.

But for some Bulls players, things have changed dramatically in just three months.

First of all, the team's original starting lineup only has Wang Chong and Billups.

Tyson Chandler, Luol Deng and Raja Bell have all left the team.

Compared with the departure of key players, the change of head coach brings greater changes.

Thibodeau and Scott are indeed different coaches. They have their own coaching philosophy and their training arrangements are also different from Scott's.

However, even Thibodeau still needs to communicate with Wang Chong before determining the specific training content.

In the past few months since he came to the Bulls, Thibodeau has figured out the situation of the Bulls. He was shocked by Wang Chong's transcendent status in the Bulls. He is like a ball tyrant. Both the coaching staff and the management must After pointing fingers, no one dared to ignore him, not even general manager John Paxson.

Then he also learned that the previous coach Scott was fired at the request of Wang Chong, and that it was Wang Chong's idea that he received the coaching invitation from the Bulls.

This fact scared Thibodeau at the time. If Wang Chong didn't have a standard Asian face, he would have doubted whether Wang Chong was the illegitimate son of the owner of the Bulls? What is the difference between this and ball dominance?

But when you calm down and think about it carefully, it doesn’t seem strange.

Didn't Jordan have a similar status with the Bulls back then? When the team's general manager wanted to trade Pippen for McGrady, Jordan directly vetoed the almost-concluded deal with just one sentence.

In the 96-97 season, when the top salary of the league's top star was just over 1000 million, Jordan already had an annual salary of 3000 million. His salary alone was as much as the total salary of more than half of the league's teams. .

The league also gave Jordan the green light. The Bulls' salary space will not be included in Jordan's salary, and they will not have to pay a high luxury tax for this.

This kind of privilege is not an exaggeration to say that he is the godson of league president Stern.

Wang Chong, as the Bulls player who has the best chance to become the second Jordan in more than ten years, is normal to be held up as a treasure.

Moreover, in the past two years, all of Wang Chong's seemingly willful requests have brought positive results to the Bulls. In this case, anyone who is not a fool will never refuse his request.

After understanding all this, Thibodeau naturally understood what the communication method between himself and Wang Chong should be like.

The two have communicated on the phone more than once during the offseason to discuss how the team will play games and conduct daily training in the new season.

Again, although Wang Chong doesn't know how to coach, as a time traveler, his overall view and foresight are far ahead of the league by more than ten years.

Therefore, many of the opinions he put forward made Thibodum suddenly enlightened, and he felt like he was enlightened. He was even more shocked by Wang Chong's basketball philosophy.

For a player who just celebrated his 23rd birthday, Thibodeau can only think of two words to describe him as having such an opinion about basketball - monster!

(End of this chapter)