Standing pretty old

Chapter 807

The lockout is over, but the regular season has not yet officially started.

According to the league's latest schedule, the Los Angeles Clippers who got Ruan Erniu will appear in the opening game, and the opening game will be on December 12th.

In other words, the opening game is the Christmas game.

The preseason is gone, and there are no first 16 regular season games. The entire season has shrunk to 66 regular season games. More importantly, no one is sure whether the players can return to their best condition.

During the team training, Ruan Erniu saw Kawhi Leonard lock up his teammate Ryan Gomez on the defensive end, and he confirmed his judgment more and more. This guy who can be called Kawhi is indeed qualified Become the team's perimeter defense gate.

Malcolm Lee's performance is quite mediocre. The teenager from UCLA is very immature when facing NBA-level confrontation. Wait for others to learn.

"Little Assassin" Isaiah Thomas performed amazingly in training, probably because of his second-round pick and lack of physical advantages. A chance to stay in the NBA.

The height of 175cm has inherent disadvantages on the defensive end, but when you really see his defense in the first position, it doesn't make people feel too desperate.

Sometimes, the so-called defensive black hole theory is the conclusion drawn by experts who do not look at specific game data but only look at physical conditions.

The truth is, judging from the team's training alone, Thomas, a rookie, is not stage fright at all. When facing Foye and Xiao Mo, he also has back and forth.

That is to say, the guy with a round face took advantage of his height and hit a few three-pointers from the outside, but when it really came to the game, it was another matter.

With Kawhi, the rising outside gate, Thomas can be accepted even if he is worse on the defensive end. After all, Er Niu and even the entire Clippers value the performance of the little assassin on the offensive end.

This is the same as the Mavericks to JJ* Barea. Of course, if Thomas can also handle James in the post-up state in the game against the Heat, it would be a surprise.

By the way, there is another person that has to be mentioned, and that is DeAndre Jordan, who has been dubbed "Uncle Emperor" by Chinese fans for more than a year.

The reason why it is called so is because Xiao Qiaodan collided with the actor Yu Hewei who played Liu Bei in the TV series "New Three Kingdoms".

During the team training, this guy was tortured countless times by Ruan Erniu, who had recovered from his injuries, so that he was dying of immortality.

Er Niu's dominance in the low post may be ranked first in the entire history of basketball. Facing Jordan, who likes to dance when he has nothing to do, Er Niu even made various fake moves to increase his knowledge.

Think about how Tony Allen became the league's top defensive player?

Paul Pierce, who is not yet at his peak, was abused by various kaleidoscopes during team training.

Defense requires technical training and accumulation of experience. From this perspective, Kawhi must also have a process of accumulation if he wants to grow into the defensive gate that the Clippers need.

It should be said that after a lot of ravages, Uncle Huang's defensive awareness has been rapidly improved.

After all, Chris Kaman's low-level dominance is far inferior to that of Er Niu. This is the same as playing chess. After being abused by masters for a long time, his chess skills will naturally improve quickly.

However, Er Niu is still not satisfied with this. In his opinion, there are still quite obvious loopholes in the current Jordan.

That's right, it's about Uncle Huang's free throw problem.

If this problem is not resolved, at the critical moment, the Clippers will dare to put Jordan on the court, which is equivalent to 4VS5, or even 4VS6.

Fortunately, Er Niu has thought of a way to improve as soon as possible.

He got a phone number from Steve Kerr and quickly dialed the name of an NBA star named Rick Barry.

……

"So you want me to teach DeAndre to flush toilet free throws? It's easy to teach him. The problem is that he may not be willing to execute it in the game."

After Rick Barry came to the Clippers, he quickly entered the working state. He is now the Clippers' consultant in charge of shooting and free throws.

Barry went on to say: "Actually, for those players who have maintained a 5% free throw percentage all year round, instead of caring about the aesthetics of free throw postures, it is better to care about whether the ball can be put into the basket.

For a professional player, winning the game is the first priority. Wouldn't he be laughed at if he fails to score a penalty? "

Subsequently, Rick Barry gave multiple sets of detailed data to prove the feasibility of free throws by pouring down the toilet.

Among them, the most representative figure is a player named George Johnson.

This person won the NBA championship in the ancient times of the NBA, the three-time block leader, and still maintains the record of 11 blocks in halftime.

When he first entered the league, his free throw percentage was only 41.2%, but after Rick Barry's down toilet training course, his shooting percentage once reached 80.6%.

Although his career free throw percentage has dropped back to 69.4%, the fact is that he has indeed improved in terms of free throws.

It can be seen that in the case of repeated penalties and failed to score goals, pouring the toilet may not be a very reliable choice.

"COACH-R, are you sure you want me to make free throws in such an ugly way?" Uncle Huang looked at Erniu rather sadly.

Since Er Niu became the current head coach of the Clippers, COACH-R has become his new nickname.

Ruan Erniu nodded and said, "That's right, any guy who can't hit 70% of his free throws must empty the toilet to make his free throws. This is the Clippers' current rule.

In addition, although my free throw percentage is above 8%, I also decided to use this trick to improve my free throws. "

Uncle Huang lowered his voice and said, "Don't you feel ashamed?"

Ruan Erniu asked back: "Don't you feel ashamed when the fans booed you for a long time when you failed to score a penalty?"

In this way, there was an upsurge of emptying the toilet in the Clippers.

Of course, most of the Clippers' free throws are very stable, and most of them are actually training with a playful attitude. As for Jordan, they have to struggle in the abyss.

Don't underestimate the skill of emptying the toilet, this is not a simple free throw action.

Rick Barry, at least, has introduced more than one way to empty a toilet: a bottom-up toss without spin;

Professional basketball is an extremely scary world, and emptying the toilet is by no means a simple free throw technique.

Just as Er Niu stepped up his team training and was actively looking for players suitable for the Clippers in the free market, Clippers owner Sterling once again invited Er Niu to dinner.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" During the meeting, Er Niu proposed a new idea, and Sterling asked back rather strangely.

Er Niu nodded and said: "It is said that the Clippers are cursed. To be honest, I have had a rough time in the past season. Before the season has started, it may help us to have someone do a ritual. "

Er Niu is not talking casually. Luck is something invisible and unspoken, but a person's aura will change with emotional fluctuations.

Even with a superstar like Ruan Erniu, the Clippers still have no expectations for a championship. This is something Ruan Erniu, who has established a dynasty, certainly cannot accept.

The three armies cannot take away their commanders, and the generals cannot take away their ambitions.

Even morale is gone, let alone a championship or something.Without the courage of the blood, the players cannot fully display their strength on the field.

After all, Er Niu's idea of ​​arranging a ritual is not to target the so-called curse, but to show it to the Clippers players.

The mysterious oriental power is also very marketable in Millikin. Otherwise, where did the so-called Chinese character tattoos have mysterious power come from?
Sterling nodded and said: "I agree! It's time for the Clippers to rise in Los Angeles. This lockout, Jerry (Bass)...Forget it, Kraft, when do you think we can win the championship?"

Ruan Erniu didn't know why Sterling suddenly changed the subject, but he still replied: "I can't guarantee this, but we are on the right path."

Sterling suddenly smiled mysteriously: "What if I can get another top five superstar in the league?"

Ruan Erniu was taken aback for a moment, and then after a short thought, his brain came to his senses: "Chris Paul? Are you sure?"

Donald Sterling shook his head and said: "The reaction is really fast, but it is not so simple to complete the transaction, but it is not completely impossible."

……

This meeting did not affect the normal construction of the Clippers. It was a surprise to be able to get Chris Paul, but even if they couldn't get it, it wouldn't shake Er Niu's belief.

In fact, on the issue of whether to get Paul, Ruan Erniu is neutral. On the one hand, he naturally hopes that the team can quickly improve its strength, but on the other hand, he also does not want the Clippers to get Paul. Paul paid too high a price.

The fact is also true, the first scandal with Chris Paul is indeed not the Los Angeles Clippers, but the same city rivals - the Lakers.

In early December 2011, Yahoo reporter Woj first broke the news that the Lakers, Rockets and Hornets will have a three-way deal. The Lakers get Paul, the Rockets get Gasol, and the Hornets get Odom, Scola, Kevin* Martin, Brooks and Knicks. Smith's 12 first-round pick.

The Hornets executives have officially notified the team that the deal was concluded, and the Hornets player Carl Landry even tweeted his congratulations to teammate Paul.

But soon the deal was rejected, and Woj also updated his twitter immediately, continuing his super level of this summer's MVP.

The New Orleans Hornets were still in custody at the time, so it was naturally David Stern who vetoed the deal.

The reason given by the President is: "The reason for basketball!"

The various media at the time were full of gossip, but judging from mainstream voices, the reasons for Stern’s reneging on his promises involved many team veterans in small ball markets, and the typical figure was Cavaliers owner Gilber special.

He directly wrote a stern email to Stern, denouncing the disadvantages of star teaming and the resentment of losing James, but Gilbert still couldn't let go.

But is it really Gilbert's fault?

Small-market team owners, led by Gilbert, Bobcats owner Michael Jordan, and Suns owner Robert Savor, hated the "Big Three" phenomenon that had emerged in the league (they couldn't get it).

Gilbert's battle statement clearly pointed out that "the superstar group will tilt more resources to certain teams."

During the entire lockout period, the "Big Three" were banned words. In the eyes of some people in the industry, James' going to the Heat was the fuse of the 2011 lockout.

This is a bit one-sided, but the rumor that the Lakers might even get Paul and Howard at the same time did hit the G-spot of Gilbert and other small ball market owners.

It is reported that when the Lakers reached a three-way deal with the Hornets and Rockets, the owners of each team were holding a league council meeting in New York.

Allegedly, the venue was chaotic, and the small-market team led by Gilbert attacked Stern and asked the league to veto the deal.

In other words, even without Gilbert's email, a small ball market owner like Jordan would still let Stern veto the deal.

Of course, is Stern completely the one being bullied?

It's hard to say, because David Stern, who has drifted away from Jerry Buss at this time, may have already made various preparations and tricks to suppress the Lakers.Vetoing the Paul deal may have been in Stern's plan long ago.

Those small ball market owners who jumped out just said what Stern wanted to say but was unwilling to say.

A few years later, Lakers star Kobe Bryant even said this in front of the media: "Everything about that lockout was designed to limit the Lakers' access to players and create a kind of equality.

But after the lockout ended, an interesting thing happened. The Lakers reached an agreement on the Chris Paul trade, which immediately made us a championship contender and saved salary.

And the league vetoed the deal, but the Lakers reached an agreement at the time, and no one thought it was even possible.The trade was rejected because they created that lockout to limit the Lakers. "

The Lakers did not get Paul after all, and within a week of the deal being rejected, Chris Paul's next home was decided.

Paul was sent to the Clippers, the same city team of the Lakers, and the Hornets got Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al Farouk Aminu and the 2012 draft that originally belonged to the Timberwolves. Also sent two more 2015 second-round picks to the Clippers.

Tianchao fans immediately shouted: "The 'Picking Girl Group' was born!" (Paul can be read as a cannon, so there is no need to say more about Er Niu.)
Ruan Erniu immediately expressed his welcome to Paul on Twitter, claiming that the Clippers will usher in a new era, and Paul immediately gave an interaction, expressing that he was very happy to join hands with the dynasty-level Ruan Erniu. It will surely become a new force of the alliance.

For the Clippers, everything seems to be so good.

Only Ruan Erniu understands that things will never be so simple.

　Thanks to Halseisen, Immortal Immortal Eternal Immortal, ╰☆╮～Manbu, and the fish that will go away for their rewards!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)