NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 78 New Season, Results Announced, Being Underestimated (35)
Every time a new season begins, ESPN will start making various lists for the new year as usual, which will also arouse heated discussions among fans and players.

Everyone is happy to see this kind of pre-match predicted ranking.

This will inevitably lead to a bloody storm.

First, the team strength list.

First place: Thunder.

Although they traded away the best sixth man Harden, they still have the top spot on the list because of the sudden rise of center Lin Chuan. As long as they stay healthy, they will have no problem defending the title this year.

Second place: Miami Heat.

They have no rivals in the East, and the only thing to watch is whether the Big Three can recover from their two-year Finals defeat and take revenge this year to win the championship they have long awaited.

The next three to five were given to the Clippers, Spurs and Lakers respectively.

The Clippers have two superstars, Paul and Griffin, and they reached the Western Conference semifinals last season. This season, Griffin is more mature, and they have a good chance of going further and reaching the Western Conference Finals.

Although the Spurs advanced to the Western Conference Finals last year and lost to the Thunder in six games, their stars are older this year. The star players Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker are 37, 36, and 31 years old respectively. Age has become the main problem they cannot overcome.

ESPN believes that the Lakers have a new F4 and their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. The only concern is that several of the Lakers' stars are very old and may be affected by injuries.

ESPN also gave the subsequent 6-10 places to the Knicks, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Bulls, and Nets.

For the 11th to 16th places in the playoff sequence, ESPN lists the Celtics, Warriors, Pacers, Rockets, Mavericks and Hawks.

Lin Chuan looked at the ESPN team strength list in front of him and couldn't help but exclaimed to Durant beside him,
"It's true that the West is strong and the East is weak now. Kevin, look, four of the top five teams are from the West. Although there's not much difference between the top ten and top sixteen, you can still see that most of the teams are from the West and the East is at the bottom."

Durant put his hands behind his head, closed his eyes and said,
"Yes, this situation has been going on for several years. Going back a few years, when I was first drafted, the Western Conference had to win 50 games to enter the playoffs, and the Warriors only ranked ninth with 48 wins. Guess how many wins the Eastern Conference had?"

"How much?"

“You can get in in 37 games.”

"Shit, this is too far off."

"Yes, in the following years, the difference in wins between the two divisions in making the playoffs was generally close to ten games."

Lin Chuan continued to look at his phone and said jokingly,

"No wonder the Heat were overturned by us. It seems that we didn't play enough intense games."

However, Lin Chuan also discovered that the team list before the game was only a prediction after all, and it was quite different from reality.

Who could have imagined that the aging Spurs would still be so strong after getting one year older, that the Clippers, the city of alley-oops, seemed to be cursed and would never make it to the Western Conference Finals, and that the Lakers, with their new F4, would be so injured. And Howard, the league's top center, has also become a pure blue-collar worker.

The Bulls' star player, the youngest MVP in history, Derrick Rose, did not return for a season and was directly written off for the season. As for the Warriors, no one could have imagined that they would become so strong in the future, playing in the small ball era and even achieving the first 73 wins in league history.

After looking at the team list, what is even more anticipated is the player list. Lin Chuan has been looking forward to it for a long time. He wonders where ESPN will rank him based on his performance.

ESPN Star List.

This list was also launched by ESPN in 2010, bringing together all the players in the NBA, including veterans who are about to retire and players on short contracts.

Every time a list is released, it will cause heated discussions and all kinds of quarrels.

James has been ranked first for the past two years. This year... it should be Durant's turn. After all, the scoring champion who won the championship for two consecutive years defeated James to win the championship.

No matter what, there is no reason for James to be ranked first.

Lin Chuan looked down from above.

First place: James.

Second place: Durant. ???

Lin Chuan was speechless. How could James still be ranked first? Did ESPN not watch the game?

Or is it just watching the regular season and that’s it!
Or maybe they really control the media!

Seeing Durant, who was also looking at his phone and had a frozen expression, Lin Chuan found it funny and couldn't help laughing out loud.

He is worthy of being the well-known "Du Lao Er".

Durant was ready to be the new No. 1 player, but the media played a prank on him and made him No. 2 in the new season.

"Fuck... we beat the Heat every time we see them this season!"

Durant gritted his teeth.

In fact, it's not just Durant. Fans are also mocking ESPN after seeing this ranking. For a guy who didn't play in the Olympic finals, he has no right to be at the top of the list. They forced the picture here. They may not pay attention to international competitions at all, or they just took money and want to subtly change the fans' thinking under this kind of public opinion, so that in the future history books, they will forget James' failures in the past two years.

The third place is Howard. As the current top center in the league, it is reasonable for him to be photographed here. However, Lin Chuan believes that he is better than him. Even though he cannot be ranked in the top three, he should at least have a place in the top ten.

Lin Chuan comforted himself.

But when Lin Chuan saw Love who was ranked seventh and Deron Williams who was ranked tenth, he was completely overwhelmed.

No way... Does ESPN really only watch the regular season? A player who didn't make it to the playoffs can be ranked in the top ten! Isn't this just based on Excel?

But why am I not in the top ten?
Could it be that despite such powerful achievements as a 1:3 comeback against the Heat in the finals and defeating the US team in the Olympics, they can't even make it into the top ten!

"Shit, where on earth did ESPN rank me?"

Lin Chuan slid down, passing Bynum, Bosh, Aldridge, Gasol, GDP, Chandler, Iguodala, until the 30th place, when Lin Chuan's name appeared.

And next to him is Horford.

"Okay, okay, I'm not as good as Howard, and I'm not as good as Chandler, Gasol and Pau Gasol, right? In ESPN's eyes, I can barely make it into the top 30 of the new season?"

Durant came over to take a look and couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Hahaha, Lin Chuan, you are underestimated. Ibaka's ranking is almost catching up with you."

Lin Chuan took a look and saw that Ibaka was ranked 33rd.

My goodness... ESPN really has something wrong with their brains, they make random rankings.

"Okay, this season, I'll beat every team I see! No one ahead of me will have an easy time!"

After Durant, Lin Chuan also joined the ranks of those who gnashed their teeth.

Lin Chuan looked for the schedule, ready to see who would be the first player in the new season.

"On October 10, there was no competition. On October 30, there was still no competition..."

Lin Chuan's finger slid down the calendar until it stopped at November.

"November 11st, play against the Spurs!"

"Ok, let's play against the Spurs, right?"

Lin Chuan's eyes lit up. The Spurs, the three major GDP drivers, Parker ranked 16th in the new season, Manu Ginobili ranked 25th, and Duncan ranked 27th.

All three of them are taller than him.

It just so happens that we can use them as the first game of the new season to let fans across the United States see what level Lin Chuan, who is ranked 30th in the new season, is at!
(End of this chapter)