So I am the god of basketball?

As expected, the news of Meng Lang's date with Monica made headlines early the next morning.

In the past, it can be said that it was just catching wind and shadow, but now, it can be considered that "people have gained both the stolen goods and the stolen goods".

There is even more exciting news:
After Monica followed Meng Lang home last night, she didn't leave until the next morning.

Just as the media added another name to Meng Lang's "aunt's strategy list", Kobe also saw the news and called him excitedly at the first time: "Meng, you are finally back. Come on. Let’s have a bullfight, I will definitely beat you this time!”

Meng Lang left Los Angeles almost a month ago and went to Kimchi Country. During the past period, Kobe followed the discounted version of the "Breakfast Club" Meng Lang gave him and advanced in an orderly manner. Currently, his physical fitness has increased a lot. Make him more solid when doing movements.

This time, he believed that when he faced Meng Lang, he would never be blocked again... Ah!
How could someone in his department have only such a small amount of ambition?
He has great ambitions!
It's definitely not just about not getting a clean sheet, it's as simple as that. He wants to...defeat Meng Lang and lock in his starting position in the new season in advance!

Kobe is very confident because no one knows how much hardship he has suffered in the past month, only he knows it. Although Meng Lang performed horribly in the two games of the Asian Championships. But playing in the Asian Championships with his ability is a pure "dimensionality reduction blow."

And as soon as he came back, he went on a date with Monica, which made Kobe even more convinced that this old boy had reached the level of "self-satisfaction."

How could he not be able to defeat a guy whose speed was affected by a woman?
This time, he asked Meng Lang to lower his head and leave the arena.

"You don't dare to challenge me one on one, right?"

He even used the "provoking method".

Meng Lang sneered, but didn't take Kobe's "exciting general" to heart.

But he didn't refuse Kobe's invitation to a bullfight.

There have been no big trades in the league recently, which is similar to the original situation at the same time... because the summer of 96 was so crazy, and now two big trades can be considered a relatively big shock.

There is the so-called "sequelae of the dynasty", and naturally there is also the "stable period of the alliance structure."

In addition, it is now 97, the end of an era, the old and the new, and many eye-catching newcomers have emerged, but their strength is not enough to completely replace the old and cannot have a greater impact.

Therefore, there is a high probability that the Lakers will still compete for supremacy in the new season.

The only difference is...

Compared with the "two tigers competing" between the Bulls and the Lakers last season, the strength of the top teams in the new season will inevitably become more balanced. ——Part of the important reasons for this situation are:

The salary is unreasonable!

The sudden increase in player contracts has led to the signing of "super giant" teams in the past two years, and the team's salary space is full.

Take the Lakers as an example. The retirement of Johnson and "The Best of Human Movies" has reduced part of their strength, but the problem is that this part of their strength cannot be filled by signing free agents. The Lakers still don't have enough salary space to sign free agents of sufficient quality.

All these disadvantages will be completely eliminated after the "labor agreement" next summer.

As the last season before the "New Deal" is promulgated, all most teams can do this year is maintain stability.

This also leads to the fact that the Lakers' weakened combat effectiveness cannot be made up for by signing contracts, and they can only look forward to the growth of new people.

From the perspective of Meng Lang, who has "eyes in the sky", the one he pays most attention to is of course Kobe.

Therefore, he obviously felt that Kobe Bryant was swollen, so he naturally needed to deal with this kid as soon as possible.

One thing that Meng Lang knew very well was that under the encouragement of the "Breakfast Club", Kobe's current strength must be much stronger than before. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as a huge increase. However, he believes that after becoming an "evergreen tree in basketball", he can still suppress Kobe.

Because now his improved immunity to injuries has given him the confidence...

He can make moves more unscrupulously, whether it is defensive or offensive moves.

Although he was injured before, he was not affected by it. But he will more or less take his own body into consideration and try to avoid exerting force indiscriminately. Now...

Congratulations, Kobe!

You will be the first to witness "Full Power Meng"!
"Bah!"

"Bah!"

"Bah!"

……

"..."

Early the next morning, Meng Lang came to the arena as scheduled. Without saying a word, he took off his clothes and warmed up. Then he easily defeated Kobe with three strikes, five divided by two.

Kobe, who was originally full of confidence, once again felt that suffocating feeling when facing Meng Lang's defense.

He only took one shot. After the ball bounced out of the frame, he was dunked by Meng Lang after various "back hits", until he couldn't take care of himself.

"11-0, Kobe, did you really train hard this summer?"

After another clean sheet, Meng Lang's confused tone made Kobe very unhappy and said: "Do it again!"

"Row!"

Meng Lang didn't hesitate and threw the ball to him. Seeing that Meng Lang was so talkative, Kobe suddenly asked "cautiously": "Can I change my hair?"

Meng Lang rolled his eyes: "With your current ability, changing your hair is a waste of my time, or do you think of me as your sparring partner? It's not easy to find a sparring coach at my price!"

Kobe: "..."

He wished he could hit Meng Lang's arrogance with a ball, but he also knew that Meng Lang was right. There were indeed not many "sparring partners" at his level. Maybe it’s just Jordan.

"Dangdang!"

When the attack failed again, Meng Lang defeated him easily.

After going 11-0 twice in a row, Kobe now really doubted what he had been practicing this summer.

Meng Lang felt obvious changes in Kobe:
For example, his core strength has become better, which improves his stability in confrontation.

You must know that Meng Lang can fight with confidence now. The ferocity of the confrontation is definitely at the "Best Defensive Team" level, but Kobe can stabilize his center of gravity many times. Even if his center of gravity shakes, he can quickly adjust.

In addition, his core strength allows him to do more complete actions, which Kobe could not compare to last season.

Last season, Kobe could only rely on his touch on the court. Once the touch was unstable, he would not be able to adjust it no matter how he adjusted it. Needless to say, there are too many ways to ruin the feel.

This is also the reason why after Kobe entered the playoffs, he only performed as well as he did during the regular season in one or two games.

But because it happened in the finals, it was particularly valuable.

Of course, now that Kobe faces that situation again, Meng Lang believes that he can definitely perform even better.

Even though he is still suppressed by himself.

But that's because Meng Lang's own abilities have improved again.

"Keep practicing, kid, you're still far from there!"

Meng Lang's "trash talk" fell on Kobe like raindrops.

11-0 twice in a row, it can be seen that this guy's self-confidence has been severely damaged. Finally, he sat on the ground. The confidence he had when he saw him in the morning was completely gone.

Ok……

It really hurts people's self-confidence.

After practicing so hard for a month, the situation has not changed at all.

In fact, as long as Meng Lang said, "Now you can at least make me take it more seriously," and it was such a truthful statement, Kobe would probably be able to recover a little. What the 19-year-old young man needs most now is some affirmation.

But Meng Lang didn't do that. When he left, he posted a Chicago media newspaper in front of Kobe's locker:
"Grover has high praise for Tracy McGrady, will he be the next 'Pippen'? Grover: No, it's not just Pippen! 》

Meng Lang believed that this newspaper alone was enough to revive Kobe Bryant with full blood.

Sure enough that night, Meng Lang received a call from Kobe again: "Meng, if I want to make a bigger improvement this summer, what should I do next?"

Look, this is Kobe!

He just wants to succeed.

There are many similar stories to tell about this.

The most familiar one is the story Wade once told in the future:
Kobe took the initiative to call him and ask for advice on how to break double teams.

Wade was flattered by the call. Because in his opinion, this is Kobe. But now he is asking himself for advice on how to break double teams. This is simply...

This is how he treats Wade, whose reputation is not as good as his own.

Not to mention treating other people.

What many people don't know is that after Jordan retired completely, he maintained a "food buddy" relationship with Kobe for a long time. It was during a certain period of time that Kobe would take the initiative to contact him and ask this "idol senior" whom he could not surpass to teach him...

There are many factors on Kobe's successful growth path, and one of the biggest factors is that his goal is just to succeed.

He will do whatever it takes to succeed.

Of course, it's a way, not a shortcut...

If I have to mention the Lakers' "f4" and "new f4", there's nothing much to say.

As for the difference between "grouping together" and "grouping at the peak", it's actually there, and it's not something that can be confused together with clever words and tricks.

Kobe's success stemmed from his willingness to put his head down.

Meng Lang thought carefully about his question and gave his own opinion: "Breaking through, catching and shooting, post-up, hand-to-hand... There are twelve offensive methods. You can't all make progress this summer. You need to make some choices." "The other thing is your attitude. Your positioning of yourself in the new season will determine the team's positioning of you, and your positioning of yourself will also affect your focus in training."

He didn't say it clearly, but after hanging up the phone, Kobe understood what he meant.

What Meng Lang means is that if he wants to take on the offensive responsibility of the Lakers in the new season, then he will most likely become the Lakers' substitute, because Meng Lang and Barkley are still the backbone of the Lakers in the new season.

But if he can contribute on the defensive end, take on the responsibilities on the defensive end, improve his catching and shooting skills, and have a certain ability to play in singles with the ball, then he will be the main starting force of the Lakers in the new season...

Correspondingly, he needs to gain muscle before the new season to strengthen his confrontation ability, improve his confrontation ability, and improve his ability to reduce injury risks... In this way, when he is training, You must focus more on improving your better offensive skills.

Because he definitely doesn't have time to polish all the skills one by one.

After two days of thinking, Kobe finally decided on his decision to settle down in the starting lineup first.

Barkley's age is here. He will definitely retire in two years at most. With Eddie Jones lining up in front of him, Kobe wants to become the Lakers' "under one man" immediately after Barkley retires. , you must first let your status in the team catch up with Eddie Jones...

Well, not only did I figure out the direction I should train in, but I also became more down-to-earth.

His goal is no longer to defeat Meng Lang, and even Barkley is not on his target list for the new season. Although he doesn't want to admit it, under the current situation, he can barely even squeeze out Eddie Jones.

If he just defines his team status as the "third leader", then what he needs to do in the new season will be very clear:
Whatever Jones does, he does!
Defense, and throwing the ball passed by Meng Lang and Barkley into the damn basket.

Of course, in order to achieve a higher status than Jones, he must have better singles ability with the ball than Jones, so that he can handle the period when Barkley and Meng Lang are not on the court.

That is a responsibility that he needs to bear, and it is also an opportunity for him to prove himself!

Kobe figured everything out and threw himself into the second phase of special training.

Meng Lang released his "signature shoes" this summer:
dream fifth generation boots:
Turn of the century.

The name of this signature shoe was naturally the inspiration for the final shot.

In order to fit the name of this pair of shoes, Meng Lang's new shoes use the latest sneaker materials, including some of the latest technologies that are not so stable. ——Just like Meng Lang just defeated Jordan and ended the "Jordan Era", but his era has not yet completely stabilized the status quo.

To be honest, the comfort of this new pair of shoes is not enough, so in terms of appearance, Adidas has made it very cool. Even streetball players like the appearance of this pair of shoes.

Of course, they will definitely not let Meng Lang wear these shoes in the new season.

According to Adidas' plan, they will release Meng Lang's second shoe this summer in the new season.

There is no change in the appearance of this shoe, it is just as cool, but the materials inside are all already stable materials. They may not be as cutting-edge, but they guarantee comfort.

In order to distinguish these two pairs of shoes, they called these two pairs of shoes "the beginning of the century" and "the end of the century" respectively. (End of chapter)