Pick Westbrook

Chapter 201 Team Training
9 month 16 day.

All teams in the league took makeup photos, and the curtain of the new season is slowly opening.

Bucks training camp.

This was the first time that the whole team gathered together in the new season. Even Yi Jianlian, who was plagued by injuries, came to the training ground with a cane.

Li Lai carefully assessed the abilities of all the players.

威斯特布鲁克94、德拉季奇81、库里90、乔治希尔81、安德烈英格拉姆73、阿泰斯特83，丹尼格林73、查理维兰纽瓦83、小奥尼尔76、德马库斯·考辛斯80、奥尼尔70、艾佛森72、林书豪66、麦迪78、易键联（受伤）。

After checking the abilities of all the players with the list of gods, Li Lai frowned.

Because he found that O'Neal and Iverson are the players with the most degraded abilities.

Compared with last season, O'Neal has regained his huge size again, and he can't play on the court at all now.

Of course, Li Lai had made an agreement with him a long time ago. His current task is not to play at all, but to train and guide Cousins.

However, Iverson's decline in strength was completely beyond Li Lai's expectations. Last season, he was the player who could face Kobe in single-handed scoring.

In addition, Artest's ability has also dropped a bit.

The situation for the Bucks this season has become a little more difficult.

Tyronn Lue led the players to conduct warm-up training on the court, while Marshall was watching the players' physical management during the off-season.

"Westbrook and Curry are the players with the best body management, and even their physical condition looks better than last season. It can be seen that they must have maintained systematic training during the off-season."

"Dragic and Danny Green participated in the summer league, and their physical condition is also not bad. George Hill has been reassuring. His physical condition is still very good."

"Artest seems to be the same as last season, but it is worth noting that his feet are obviously clumsy in the warm-up."

"The physical condition of O'Neal and Tracy McGrady looks good, but whether the combat ability on the court is suitable for our offensive system is still open to question."

Marshall reported the status of the players he had analyzed to Li Lai one by one, and the latter put his arms around his face and looked serious all the way.

O'Neal can't play at all now, and Iverson is 35 years old, and he seems to have lost the running and jumping ability of a small player.

If it's a traditional point guard, it's okay. After all, players like Nash and Kidd still have good abilities and court effects when they are 37 or 38 years old.

But Iverson is an attacking guard, without a certain running and jumping ability, his role on the court may be greatly reduced.

And Artest is only 31 years old, his sudden decline in strength at this age was completely beyond Li Lai's expectations.

Fortunately, Artest's defensive experience and ability are still there, but because of the decline in physical function, his contribution to the team on the offensive end may be less and less.

After reading the physical condition of the players, Tyronn Lue bowed his head a little disappointed and said: "Yi Jianlian is injured, O'Neal and Iverson may hardly become our regular rotation players."

"Artest can still play, and his strength on the defensive end is still there, but with his current physical condition, he may have some problems on the offensive end."

"The situation of O'Neal and McGrady has to continue to be tested, but it is not realistic to expect them to save the Bucks."

After observing the status of the players, even Tyronn Lue and Marshall are somewhat pessimistic about the prospects of the Bucks this season, let alone other commentators and commentators.

Li Lai said very seriously at this time: "But we have ushered in Curry's growth."

"Curry was in a very good state in the warm-up just now, and he has experienced the baptism of last season's finals. This season will definitely be his explosive season."

"So the Bucks have not reached the point of doom, because we still have the best perimeter twin stars in the league."

"With Westbrook and Curry, we have the strength to challenge any team."

Li Lai's words gave Marshall and Tai Lun great confidence.

Seeing that their head coach has not been defeated by this series of problems, the two also believe that under the leadership of Li Lai, the Bucks will regroup and perform very well again in the new season.

in the afternoon.

Intra-team rivalry begins.

Group A: Westbrook, Curry, Artest, Villanueva and O'Neal, led by Tyronn Lue

Group B: Iverson, Dragic, Danny Green, McGrady and Cousins, led by Li Lai.

When distributing players, Li Lai suddenly found that he was not even able to rotate inside players. In the entire Bucks team, only Villanueva, Jermaine O'Neal and Cousins ​​could play inside.

So Li Lai had to push McGrady to the power forward position.

"Because of Yi Jianlian's injury, the Bucks are really in great trouble inside."

Game start.

As soon as Westbrook came up, he singled Iverson and succeeded in rushing to the basket, facing Cousins' defense and dunking successfully.

With this ball, Westbrook showed his physical condition as soon as he came up.

Then Curry shot a cold arrow one step away from the three-point line and made a steady three-pointer.

This goal also gave Li Lai, Tai Lue, and Marshall a big surprise.

Yi Jianlian's ultra-long three-pointer ability is already well-known throughout the league, and although Curry's three-pointers are many and accurate, he did not show the ability of ultra-long three-pointers in his previous career.

But just now that ultra-long three-pointer that hit the basket steadily, Li could see clearly that it was not accidental, but a confident and intentional shot from that position.

Tyronn Lue said a little excitedly: "Curry has made great progress as you said. The ability of this ultra-long three-pointer seems to be a special training in the off-season."

Marshall agreed and said: "During the warm-up in the morning, I also obviously found that Curry's ball-handling ability has improved. It seems that the ball-handling style of the Eastern Conference semifinals last season gave him a lot of inspiration."

"His biggest offensive threat should be the combination of off the ball and with the ball. This is the strongest Curry."

Li Lai nodded.

As early as last season, he talked with Curry about some styles of play and the shortcomings that the opponent still has. This season, Curry has obviously conducted very effective training for those problems and shortcomings.

Now he has made great progress, and Teby is on the ball.

If Curry can further improve the combination of passing ability and human ball in the future, then he will complete the transformation to a historical superstar.

Of course, looking at it now, there is still a big gap from this step, but even such Curry can already be regarded as a league superstar.

Li Lai had a hunch that Curry would go crazy this season.

Group B attack.

Li Lai specially asked Iverson to play the role of the main attacker, singles against Westbrook.

He passed through the flowers continuously, relying on the shaking of the rhythm to deceive Westbrook's defensive center of gravity, and chose to shoot from the middle distance.

boom!
Westbrook returned to defend against interference in time, and a dangerous block was sent.

Group A under the fast break.

Curry made a solo layup.

Seeing this, Li Lai frowned.

Tyronn Lue said: "After all, Westbrook is the best defensive player on our back line. How about letting Iverson play with someone else?"

Li Lai raised his hand to signal that Iverson continued to attack, but let Dragic come to pick and roll.

In this way, it was replaced by Iverson singles Curry.

Should we have it?
Iverson broke through with the ball in his right hand, pulled it behind his left hand and made a huge change in front of his body, then retreated and bowed to Buddha to go to the right.

"Iverson's changing rhythm of holding the ball is still there. This is his housekeeping skill. Curry has been passed!"

After taking a step, Iverson did not choose to break through the penalty area for a layup, but continued to try a mid-range half-shot to end the offensive round.

But this time Iverson's shot speed was at least a beat slower than in the past, and Curry's return defense like Westbrook interfered in time.

Duang!

Hard work!
Artest picked up the rebound and went up and down the half court for a fast break.

After Westbrook received the ball, the Turtle Tomahawk dunked and scored.

Marshall gritted his teeth and said: "Curry's defense has improved, but Iverson's failure in singles is still a bit unreasonable."

After seeing this goal, Tyronn Lue was proud of himself.

Because in the group confrontation between him and Li Lai, no matter whether Tai Lue coached Group A or Group B, he had never won against Li Lai.

This season, it is obvious that Group B is not the opponent of Group A, and the gap is huge, so he has great confidence to win this team game.

"At that time, this will be my bragging capital, Li Lai, I have fought."

on the field.

The two consecutive singles not only allowed Li Lian to see clearly Iverson's current strength, but also made the latter realize the reality.

It is really difficult for him to help the team on the offensive end.

And Iverson is not a player who is good at defense or organization. Once the offense cannot be opened, it will be meaningless to stay on the court.

Li Lai adjusted the substitutions, took down Iverson, pushed Dragic to the point guard position, and sent George Hill to replace him.

Back on the bench, Iverson angrily threw the towel handed over by his teammate to the ground.

O'Neal patted his good brother on the shoulder and said, "Al, don't hold grudges against the coach, he is doing the right thing for the team."

Iverson shook his head and said, "Shaq, I'm not losing my temper with the coach. Really, I haven't lost my temper with the coach for a long time since I was traded by the 76ers."

"I am no longer the rebellious Iverson."

"I'm angry at myself, what a game, even Curry can't single-handedly, I'm such a piece of shit."

O'Neill has the most say on this point.

When he was in the Suns, he wanted to try a shark dunk, but was blocked by the basket firmly. Since then, O'Neal has known it.

"We can face our opponents and fate will not admit defeat, but we must admit that we are no longer young."

Iverson was silent for a while.

Yes, he is 35 years old. How many players can play at this age and not retire?

In addition, he has been plagued by injuries for many years, and he has suffered at least [-] injuries, large and small. His body has already been difficult to support him to make such difficult large-scale changes of direction and sudden stops and starts. shoot.

"So it's time for us to retire."

O'Neal turned his head and said seriously.

Iverson was shocked when he heard this sentence, retired?
He never thought of retiring!
It's just that O'Neill's sudden reminder woke Iverson up.

It does seem like it's time for him to retire.

From participating in the NBA draft in 1996 and becoming the No. 2010 pick, in [-] he finally got his first championship trophy as he wished.

Iverson has spent 14 years in his entire career and is heading towards his 15th season.

Thinking of this, Iverson smiled knowingly.

In the past 15 years, he has regretted, angry, cried, and sad, but he has never bowed to fate.

He is always fighting his opponent like a warrior.

on the field.

Dragic started to hold the ball, and he passed Curry with a very fast breakthrough and half-stepped to the basket.

Jermaine O'Neal assisted in the defense, and Dragic made a surprise pass to Cousins, who scored with a one-handed dunk.

"That's the way Dragic plays best."

"The combination of sudden shots is always looking for a breakthrough to cut the opponent's formation, and then help teammates get easy scoring opportunities."

Marshall is increasingly satisfied with Dragic's performance this season.

After two years of training, Dragic's current playing style has become more and more stable and trustworthy.

If it weren't for his struggling on the defensive end, it would be no problem even as a team's starter.

But Cousins' dunk just now made Marshall look forward to it.

In the past decade, the Bucks have never had a big man with his talent.

Seeing that the players in Group B were about to start their momentum, Tyronn Lue directed Westbrook and Curry to strengthen their offense from the sidelines.

"In this intra-team confrontation game, I decided to let you play all the time."

Westbrook and Curry: Help, this coach is the devil.

Li Lai, on the other hand, didn't have any idea about who would win or lose in this intra-team duel.

He has been observing the players' status, strength, and tactical drills with tacit cooperation.

next round.

Li Lai signaled Dragic to slow down the offensive and let McGrady go to the horns to play singles.

This is McGrady's first offense with the ball in the Bucks.

And this singles tactic The Bucks ran as early as last season. At that time, it was a low-post singles tactic designed for Rasheed Wallace.

Now choose the waist singles tactic designed for McGrady, which is closer to the left sideline, which is the most suitable area for launching three-threat singles and offense.

Li Lai did not let the players on the court run for McGrady in the pick-and-roll.

This ball is for McGrady to single out Artest, the Bucks' strongest individual defensive player.

Marshall said nervously, "Isn't it a little exaggerated for McGrady to try singles against Artest?"

"After all, Tracy McGrady is no longer as brave as before, so how could he be Artest's opponent."

Li Lai naturally knew this too, but he just wanted to see how many layers of peak strength McGrady still had.

And Artest is the best touchstone.

on the field.

McGrady catches the ball with his back.

After discovering that the defender behind him was Artest, the experienced man chose to take a step back to get outside the three-point line, and changed to a frontal offense with the ball.

After all, he is the most ecstasy pull-up player in NBA history. Artest is a little afraid of McGrady's shooting ability, so this step is very close.

McGrady took the ball with one step, and after taking Artest back to chase the defense, he pulled back to the long-distance two-pointer again and chose a dry shot.

Swish!
in!

(End of this chapter)