Back in 84, he became Jordan’s lifelong enemy!

Chapter 22 It was Su who transformed the team!
The Auburn Tigers won seven games in a row until they lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons by 1 point in the final invitational game.

When people think of Wake Forest, they will think of the former 'Flying Devil' Tim Duncan and later Chris Paul.

But in fact, during the Duncan and Paul periods, Wake Forest only led the team to the quarterfinals and the top [-] of the national championship.

In its history, Wake Forest has reached the top [-] nine times, the quarterfinals six times, and the semifinals once.

One of the most recent quarterfinals was this year's Devils team.

Last season, in the championship week of its own league division, it only lost to the University of Houston, led by Olajuwon and Drexler, and finished second.

The current Devils team is still the main force from last season, but they are becoming more and more skilled in cooperation and have a strong offensive firepower configuration.

Whether it is the leading small forward, the 6-foot-6-inch Kenny Green, the guard Danny Young, the point guard Delaney Ladd, or the 6-foot-9 center Anthony Teach, they are all averaging double figures per game. of elite players.

These four players also entered the NBA through the draft this year and next year, and the lowest pick was the second round.

Kenny Green was even the 85th overall pick in 12.

Their overall strength is not bad, and they could even threaten the University of Houston's dominance for a time.

University of Houston?
But last year's national championship runner-up.

The Tigers were not in very good shape in this game, and their offensive firepower from the outside was not enough to support their final counterattack against their opponents.

In addition, Su Wen and Barkley received a lot of care, so losing is not a surprise.

Even so, ending the invitational tournament with a record of 7 wins and 1 loss is already the best result in the history of the Auburn Tigers.

They can outperform their opponents by an average of 15+ firepower per game, which has attracted the attention of many people in other league divisions, especially Su Wen.

In these eight invitational games, he averaged a double-double of 20.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 0.7 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. His performance was extremely eye-catching. He appeared in major sports sections in Alabama every game, attracting more and more people. Many eyes.

He has become the most high-profile player on the Auburn Tigers besides Barkley.

Starting from the third invitational match, there were more and more people wearing suits and ties on the sidelines.

These people were either attracted by the news in major reports, or they were lucky enough to see his performance in person and continued to pay attention.

In short, Su Wen is no longer the unknown rookie he was when he first joined the team.

On the first day after the invitational tournament, which happened to be the weekend, Sonny Smith held a newspaper in his hand, with a look on his face that was both happy and worried.

He has always had this face, and it seems that there has been no other change since the start of the new season.

People who know him may know what he is worried about. He has never been able to completely relax and his nerves have been tense.

People who didn't know him well thought he had some mental problem. He was smiling cheerfully and frowning, looking worried about his country.

"Sonny, can I come in?"

Even with a slight frown on his face, Smith, who was staring at the newspaper, was still in a good mood. Just when he was about to do something after reading it, he heard a knock on the door and a voice outside the door.

"come in."

The person who walked into the office was Jeff Friend. As soon as Smith saw him, his brows relaxed completely and there was a slight smile on his face.

"Is something wrong, Jeff?"

"I'm here to discuss the arrangements for the next game." Jeff Friend walked up to Smith with a smile, "The regular horse racing will start soon, and I want to ask you if we are satisfied with our current lineup. "

"What needs to change."

After saying that, he inadvertently glanced at the newspaper that the other party had just put down on the table. There were pictures about Su Wen on it, and Su Wen's pictures immediately attracted all his attention.

"The birth of a new talented insider?"

"At the beginning of the new season, as usual, the Southeastern Conference will hold six to eight invitational games before the game, and the opponents are strong teams from other divisions. And now the last invitational game has ended. We found that the Auburn University Tigers actually swept the After achieving nothing this season, it became the most outstanding team among all the teams in this division, if not one."

"After the 18-year-old newcomer Su Wen joined, the Tigers seemed to have been injected."

Flanders read it very carefully and seriously. Even Smith's response went in and out of his ears. His eyes and mind were filled with the newspaper's report on Su Wen.

This No. [-]-selling newspaper from the state of Alabama almost exclusively praises Suvin while introducing the results of the Auburn Tigers Invitational Tournament.

It seems that the emergence of Su Wen has injected great energy into them and transformed the team. This is the main reason why they have undergone such changes.

It was he who completely activated the whole team.

Although such flattery is biased, Flanders himself is very happy with it.

Su Wen was discovered by him and specially arranged to join the inside line.

The fact that the former has received such attention and received such high praise was all created by him.

He has reason to be proud of this.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

While Flanders was watching and giggling, Smith, who had already said something, had to wake up the other party when he couldn't get any response.

When he saw that this guy was actually hooked by this report, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "Don't read it, Jeff."

"This is just a report to praise and kill Su. Let's just watch it for fun. Don't take it seriously."

"Holding and killing?"

Flender's smile did not change. He agreed with the other party and was also secretly pleased with himself: I think it's pretty good.

Seeing his disapproval, Smith shook his head, covered the newspaper and said, "These media like to exaggerate to gain attention."

"Su is very important. With his addition, we have more offensive firepower and options."

"But this is not the reason for them to sensationalize and kill Su."

As he spoke, he advised Flanders with serious words: "Don't pay too much attention to these things."

"In my opinion, they are not only flattering us, but also trying to sow discord with ulterior motives and want to cause conflicts in our team."

"Think about it, what other people will think of Su after reading this report?" Okay, I admit you are right.

Friend's smile faded, and he seemed to agree with Smith's words. He pretended to be very angry and said: "These media are indeed hateful and have sinister intentions."

"I suspect they are undercover agents from the University of Kentucky."

"Ha ha!"

Smith was amused by his childish words.

"Stop talking about this." He said, raised his eyebrows, looked at the other party, and asked curiously: "Where's Su?"

"What is he doing now?"

Since Su Wen was mentioned, he was a little concerned about the latter's dynamics at this time.

He didn't want the other party to see this report, lest he become confused.

"Su?"

When Flanders heard that he was going to ask Su Wen, he smiled and said, "He is still training in the training hall."

After the invitational tournament, the team got two days of rest to prepare for the new regular season.

Flanders admired this about Su Wen. Even during his break, when others were sleeping in or simply going out for shopping, Su Wen still maintained his hard-working training and was quite self-disciplined.

"Ah."

Smith was also quite satisfied with this. Just when he was about to say something more, Friend said again: "It's just..."

Seeing his hesitation, Smith asked doubtfully: "Just what?"

"Why is he practicing blindly again?"

Smith remembered how he had asked Su Wen to improve his shooting, but the latter practiced passing by himself and made rapid progress.

"You guessed it right."

Flanders smiled bitterly and said: "I don't know what happened to this kid recently, and he started practicing defense."

"Today he even forcibly dragged Charles and Chuck to the training hall to be his sparring partners again."

"The two are responsible for one-on-one offense, and he is responsible for defense."

"Practice defense?"

Smith was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile and said, "That kid always has his own ideas!"

"The most important thing for him right now is to practice shooting, not defense."

"I mentioned this to him too." Friend also smiled bitterly. "I even told him that if he doesn't practice shooting, he won't be able to leave the paint."

"This kid is just a stubborn donkey, and he won't listen to anything."

Yes!

Smith took a deep breath. This kid didn't do anything bad at shooting, but he made rapid progress in his favorite projects, changing every day.

If he had this passion for shooting, he would no longer be where he is now, only attacking the basket and scoring.

It's not too serious to be partial to science.

He thought about it and smiled relievedly: "That's good."

"It's better than not practicing at all."

While the two coaches were chatting about Su Wen in the office, Su Wen in the training hall had been dealing with Barkley's offense seriously.

Needless to say how powerful Barkley's offense is and how impactful it is, his big ass alone can make most insiders suffer.

You know, people thought that the 'no post-ups for five seconds' rule introduced by the NBA in the future was aimed at Barkley.

In fact, the league was targeting Mark Jackson at the time, and Barkley was included incidentally.

Forming this inherent impression, one can imagine how deeply rooted his big butt is in people's hearts.

This little chubby guy's back attack was so strong that it was so powerful that it made people frightened.

But today, he met Su Wen.

Met a guy who saw him as a way to hone his defense.

At this time, Barkley was using a back shot.

Although he is not as proficient as he will be in the NBA in the future, he is able to control the ball while pushing forward, which makes Su Wen very difficult.

As long as he aimed his big butt at Su Wen, every time he arched it, Su Wen would be forced to take a step back before adjusting back.

Fortunately, Su Wen had been preparing, and his speed and footsteps were fast enough, so he did not completely lose his position and was directly converted into a frame attack moment by the opponent.

If Barkley really turns around and attacks the frame, all that's left is to watch the opponent score.

Su Wen was pushed to the edge of the reasonable collision zone this time (it didn't exist yet, but it specifically refers to the range). Seeing that there was no way to retreat, he gritted his teeth and locked himself in place, refusing to retreat.

Barkley was stunned for a long time, and when he could no longer move forward, Person on the sidelines shouted: "Charles, if according to the rules of the game, you have already timed out."

"Your attack lasted for more than 35 seconds, a mistake!"

"is it?"

Barkley simply threw away the basketball and admitted defeat, "Since it lasted more than 35 seconds, it was my mistake in this attack."

As he spoke, he looked at Su Wen who was sweating profusely, with a look of unwillingness on his face, and said angrily: "It's only been two days, but you can already defend me alone."

"hateful!!!"

(End of this chapter)