The Road to Stardom: Start as a Slam Dunk Master.

Chapter 324: Mind!

"Andre! Watson!"

Watson and Iguodala received a lot of applause when they took the stage. Of course, there was no shortage of home fans who were familiar with No. 10.

"Haha, No. 10 went up so early today!"

"Please call his name Sakuragi Hanamichi and don't mention No. 10, okay?"

"Don't hit your own people again!"

"Fake, Japanese brat, don't hold us back!"

The home fans are no longer strangers to these young people. In other words, to the fans, this No. 10 is actually quite famous, and it is also quite topical in Seattle now.

After all, the jersey number No. 10 means a lot to the Sonics and Key Arena. In other words, this jersey should be hung on the wall of Key Arena now. It belongs to the retired SuperSonics Sir – Nate McMillan.

And with the permission of McMillan himself, Hanamichi Sakuragi wore the No. 10 jersey. From the day he joined the SuperSonics, he has received an amount of attention at home that no other rookie except Lin Dong has received. Iguodala was drafted above him in front of him.

It takes a lot of courage to wear the jersey of a famous player. It can bring you glory, but it can also bring you destruction...

But he didn't notice that a pair of eagle-like eyes had been staring at him.

——Wherever you fall, you get up.

But since entering the Supersonics, everything has become different.

Look at Wang Zhizhi of the Mavericks. The market in the Dragon Kingdom is bigger, but Cuban didn’t make any money from that guy. On the contrary, it was Yao Ming last year who made the Wizards a lot of money. Not any Dragon Kingdom person can There is a dragon country market, and Japan is the same. To make iron, you need to be strong. This is the cruelest market value.

This kind of thing was something that he didn't care about at all for his rough nerves.

Focus! Focus! Focus!

come on!come on!come on!

Frankly speaking, Sakuragi had heard enough of the taunts on the court as early as Hidaka. Not to mention the fans, the 50 girls who had found 50 excuses to reject him were randomly selected and the reasons for their rejection were The level of ridicule was much greater than that of these fans, and he didn't really take it seriously.

Unfortunately, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Sakuragi's brows furrowed slightly, and he felt that his hands, which had calmed down just now because he was focusing on tactical understanding, started to tremble again.

Wearing the jersey of a former SuperSonics star, he averaged only 1.8 points and 1.6 rebounds per game... The lack of playing time is no excuse, because he also has the third-highest record in the team with an average of 1.5 turnovers per game. You know, he is The team ranks third in turnovers, which is based on an average of only about 5 minutes of playing time per game!
Brent, who has the highest turnover rate besides him, averages 2.1 turnovers per game, but averages 33 minutes per game. Payton, who has the second highest turnover rate, averages 1.7 per game, but averages 35 minutes per game. Both of these two are playing the role of point guards with a high ball holding rate!
Imagine if this No. 10 was allowed to play for 35 minutes, my God... Then the average turnovers per game would not be in double figures?
So you can't blame the Seattle fans for being mean. If you were just an ordinary rookie, the fans wouldn't say anything at all. They would most likely choose to ignore you, which is even more ridiculous.

He clenched his fist vigorously.

SuperSonics possession.

Bob wanted to use Sakuragi as a bargaining chip during this period. In fact, it was largely because of the dissatisfaction of Seattle fans.

For the team, although the Japanese market is good, local fans are more important. Besides, if he is just a player who averages 1.8 points and 1.5 turnovers per game, what kind of market can he talk about? How many Japanese people would stay glued to the TV set just to watch a stand-in for a few minutes? Or what will be consumed and what commercial value will be created for this substitute? Maybe it would feel like a shame instead.

One hero has three gangs. At that time, Seattle fans were confidently expecting him to become the best assistant next to the SuperSonics Prince Lin Dong, assist the old king Payton and the new king Lin Dong, and help the SuperSonics become a championship team.

LeBron licked the corner of his mouth: It would undoubtedly be an unwise choice for him to challenge Lin Dong now, but this Japanese kid who once got himself into trouble with public opinion at the World Championships...

At the beginning, the home fans were actually very excited about No. 10. After all, most fans knew that he had the experience of defending LeBron, the strongest high school student in the United States at the time, in the World Championships. They thought he was different from McMillan, Payton is of the same lineage and will be Payton's new successor.

Sakuragi forced himself to clear away the distracting thoughts in his mind, tried hard to stay focused, and looked for the 'loopholes' and the 'axis' of operation that he had just seen on the sidelines.

But you are wearing the SuperSonics No. 10 jersey, so your performance is really eye-catching!

Right now, Lin Dong is in charge of the ball.

On the offensive end, the Sonics mainly use two sets of play. They rely on rapid advancement when preventing counterattacks, and pick-and-roll mismatches during normal offense.

According to tactical requirements, every Sonics shot should be based on a pick-and-roll mismatch. In addition to ensuring the hit rate, it can also maximize the sharing of the offensive pressure and physical strength of everyone on the team. to extend the run-and-gun burst.

Lin Dong deliberately gave Sakuragi some opportunities to appear in the spotlight. After holding the ball across the center line, he first found Sakuragi's position and set up a pick-and-roll.

At this time, he was in the penalty area, and Lin Dong accelerated in one step. Since Zasunas was guarding the basket, the Sonics were in a local position of five on four, and Iguodala behind him had an opportunity.

Iguodala had just scored a three-pointer. After being misplaced by the pick-and-roll, LeBron was the closest. He ignored Sakuragi and turned to block Iguodala. Unexpectedly, Lin Dong turned back and looked at the moon. The basketball had already been passed. In the hands of Sakuragi who came out of the vacancy.

Sakuragi has mid-range, but in the rhythm of the Supersonics running and gunning, all his points came from the basket when defending against counterattacks. At this time, he suddenly caught the ball at this position and was stunned. His shot was so slow. Half a second later, when he made the shooting motion, LeBron realized that he had been deceived and turned back to block the shot path. Sakuragi Hanamichi's heart tightened. LeBron, who came over in a hurry, just blocked his line of sight. In fact, he still had a chance to shoot, but due to nervousness, once his line of sight was blocked, he felt like he had no idea where the basket was.

At this time, he did not dare to force a shot, and immediately chose to pass the ball to the outside line that was once again vacated. However, Iguodala missed a 3-pointer, which failed to save him.

Wow!
Many fans in the arena immediately started to chirp.

"What's going on on the 10th? What's wrong with such a good opportunity? Why don't you vote?"

"I just said this guy is not good. It will cost McMillan his jersey!"

"If it doesn't work, go down and let Payton play for two more minutes!"

"I can't handle the strength of my gloves. It's only the first quarter, but if we're going to play run-and-gun, we can use Livingston. That guy's been performing pretty well lately!"

Sakuragi can basically understand the chatter in the arena.

He gritted his teeth nervously.

McMillan's brows were knitted tightly, and Payton, who was sitting on the bench, was also frowning.

This kind of open space and this kind of distance is actually missed. This may not be a big problem for other teams, but for a run-and-gun team that emphasizes the speed of the shot, this kind of mistake is absolutely fatal and also quite damaging to the ball. The overall rhythm of the team.

McMillan silently wrote it down for him.

When he gave the jersey to Sakuragi, he was actually optimistic about this guy, but being optimistic does not mean being indulgent. Letting him play is giving him a chance, but if he can't grasp it...

Considering that both Lin Dong and Payton talked to him yesterday, McMillan felt that he could tolerate Sakuragi making two mistakes at most.

And now, a mistake was made!

Payton twisted the bottle cap bitterly: This guy seems to be hanging on in this game again... Damn it, why are you so nervous? What a waste of time for me to teach you!
Fortunately, the knight's fast break was stopped by Lin Dong.

Throughout the first quarter, Lin Dong was in a dormant state of integrating into the team. This is what he must do.

He tried his best to fight on his own in the first few games of the season. As a result, he played very well, but his teammates felt cold.

This is the NBA, not Ridaka's brutal game. No matter how strong your personal ability is, it is useless in this situation. If you continue to play like that, maybe you can compete in one or two games with personal scoring, but it is definitely Lose more and win less.

You will never be able to score more points than the five opponents, and your physical strength will not allow you to maintain high efficiency in the entire court under the NBA's defensive level. It is difficult even in half a court.

Not to mention efficient, do you really have to take fifty or sixty shots in one game and in this kind of confrontation? In the end I couldn't even lift my arms!

Therefore, unless the team is in absolute adversity, 2/3 of the physical strength should be used for the overall operation of the team, driving teammates to score, maintaining the teammates' touch, and then using the remaining 1/3 of the physical strength to determine the outcome. Handling the key balls and putting all the responsibilities at the last moment on his shoulders, this is Lin Dong's current understanding of NBA superstars.

Therefore, until the most critical moment, Lin Dong's main responsibilities on the court are to organize, control the rhythm of running and gunning, and to defend well.

Lin Dong in this state is almost a nightmare for all fast breakers who want to defend against counterattacks.

Wade started very quickly. When the basketball just bounced off the rim, he was already running back, but Lin Dong was faster than him. He didn't even consider the Sonics and the frontcourt. Possibly, he predicted earlier than Wade, ran faster than Wade, and easily blocked Wade's fast break in front of the midfield line.

Facing Lin Dong's defense, Wade did not choose to break through. After all, he was not sure of passing, so it was better to suppress the SuperSonics' running and gunning rhythm.

The Cavaliers stabilized their position, and the SuperSonics' rotating defense immediately started to rotate again.

Loophole! Loophole! Loophole!

Sakuragi forced himself to withdraw from the failed offensive round just now, his eyes constantly looking for the axes and loopholes he had seen on the sidelines before.

At this time, Wade passed the ball to Davis, and Sakuragi Hanamichi, who came from the backcourt, immediately joined the double-team on Davis.

Davis passed Boozer, and Desmond was blocked in the rotation. There was also a double attack from Iguodala. Boozer immediately distributed the ball to LeBron, who came up, but he was still rotated. Lin Dong, who was on top of his defense, stopped him.

The Cavaliers are not in a hurry and continue to pass the ball to find opportunities. Controlling the time of the offensive round is also part of breaking the run and gun.

At this time in the past, when the opponent passed the ball and the Sonics' defensive axis turned, Sakuragi Hanamichi's brain was often confused, or he would instinctively slow down the first half of the beat, which led to the team's overall defense. Can't rotate.

But this time...

With absolute concentration, the 'loopholes' and 'axes' he had seen on the sidelines appeared clearly in his mind again, as if they were in his mind's eye!
Of course, the so-called mind's eye is not a fantasy thing.

Rather, it is a wide-angle perspective that presents a three-dimensional picture in consciousness!
(End of this chapter)