I just want to play healthy basketball

Chapter 43 Integrating into the team, preseason (for collection)

When He Li heard George Karl talk about lightning switching defenses, at first he thought it was the infinite switching defenses of the later small ball era.

But no!In fact, the lightning switch defense that George Karl mentioned is the iron-blooded defensive system he built in the Supersonics relying on Payton and Kemp, plus a super striker group.

Of course, the lightning switch looks very similar to the infinite switch, and the theory is actually similar, but the actual operation is very different.

George Karl's defense switching system mainly relies on the speed and height of the striker to make up for the lack of perimeter defense, and uses the perimeter and striker to cut off the opponent's internal and external connections.

As for the center forward, he still guards the penalty area alone to prevent someone from breaking into the inside, or make preparations for blocking and grabbing rebounds.

In other words, not all players can participate in the defense change, the center is still the center.

Having said that, now that the zone defense is legalized, coupled with the good athletic ability of the Bucks players, George Karl's defensive tactics can finally come in handy, instead of being criticized for being strong offensively and weakly defensively as before.

However, the Sonics led by George Karl have defensive giants Payton and Rainman Kemp, but the Bucks only have three strong offensive and defensive musketeers.

The Big Dog defends the colander, Ray Allen likes to play on the outside recently, and Cassel is the most defensively active, but his body is the thinnest.

Forward Tim Thomas is also a floating type, and He Li is just a rookie. It will take time to test whether he is tough or not.

In short, the Bucks lack one or two cores that can support the entire defensive system.

George Karl's lightning switch theory is okay, and there are even actual successful cases, but the tactics are dead, and if they want to play a role in the game, they need suitable players to operate.

This is also the reason why George Karl directly proposed a lightning switch in the first video room meeting of the Bucks training camp.George Karl needs time to find a suitable defensive player, and even a defensive core.

In this way, the Bucks can have both offense and defense, and officially move towards the championship.

In the next meeting, George Karl basically explained the new tactics to everyone. At the end of the meeting, George Karl announced the starting list for the preseason.

Of course, this is not the final list of the regular season, but a temporary arrangement based on last season.

Bucks preseason starting list: point guard Cassell, point guard Ray Allen, small forward Robinson, power forward Tim Thomas, center Scott Williams.

Among them, the little-known Scott Williams was born in the draft, but he was fortunate to be a member of the Bulls' bench. He belonged to the type of his grandma in O'Neal's mouth, and followed Jordan to get the first three consecutive championship rings.

As a rotation player, Scott Williams is actually okay, but usually he can only stand up to the power forward, because Scott Williams is only 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 meters) tall, and he is actually not 2.08 meters in shoes...

Not all short inside players in the NBA can make big money. They are also undrafted. Although the senior Scott Williams has three championship rings, he is quite misnamed. In the Bucks, he is a high-paying low-energy player similar to Tim Thomas.

The Bucks let Scott Williams serve as the starting center and is also a shorty general.

It's not that the Bucks don't have the idea of ​​strengthening the inside line, but there is really no way.It may be unbelievable to say it, but a small ball market like the Bucks, which is at the bottom of the NBA's market value, has actually been above the luxury tax trigger line in order to return to the playoffs in recent years.

The Bucks traded to Kassel, extended Ray Allen's maximum salary contract, and signed a big contract for Tim Thomas. Coupled with the original maximum salary of the big dog, the Bucks' salary situation in recent years has been at the same level as the Knicks.

Fortunately, in the past two years, the luxury tax clause was not implemented, but starting from this season, the luxury tax clause was officially implemented, and the small ball market had to tighten its belt in order to operate normally.

He Li thought about it carefully, maybe trading Lindsay Hunter back for him is also to free up part of the salary space...

If it weren't for the fact that there is no salary space, the Bucks have a chance to win the gorilla Ewing.

Now the Bucks can only be used by their own people. Basically, the starting lineup is the one with the highest salary in the Bucks.

Among the remaining players, Jason Caffey and Elvin Johnson have higher salaries than He Li. These two are the Bucks' defensive "Titans".

Now it seems that these two peaks have passed, and the prices are inflated and in name only.However, the depth of the Bucks' bench does not depend on them, but on potential stocks such as He Li, Reid, Alstom, and Joel.

In the preseason roster, He Li and others are all there.

George Carter specifically clicked on He Li's name after talking about the roster, saying that He Li needs to take on more responsibilities in the new season.

At that time, He Li smiled and nodded, but he couldn't laugh anymore after the meeting was over.

In the new season, the Bucks have two more rookies, and the only ones who can be amusing are He Li and Andre Hutson, and the latter was waived because of poor performance after the summer split.

The NBDL was only established this year. At first there were only 8 teams, and it had nothing to do with the NBA.

In other words, He Li became the only handy boy in the Bucks. Apart from his teammates who fought together in the summer game, He Li had to serve tea and water to the other seven or eight veterans.

At the beginning of the Bucks training camp, He Li dared not speak out, holding his breath in his heart. Fortunately, He Li has strength and is not a soft persimmon to be manipulated by others. Except for Dagou and Kassel, everyone else was singled out by He Li to get back the field.

However, because He Li temporarily changed to the big dog's shooting movements, some shooting attributes were temporarily affected. He Li's shooting became faster, and the shooting point became higher and more difficult to defend, but it also became unstable. Sometimes he was beaten in the face when he just wanted to pretend.

With the passage of time, He Li's shooting attributes have risen again, He Li's shooting movements have also gained a certain amount of muscle memory, and his shooting has become more and more stable. The other veterans of the team are even more helpless.

Of course, there are still things like delivering food, asking for snacks, helping to deliver water, and handing over towels, but things like helping people tie shoelaces and lifting trousers have become less and less.

Dagou and Cassel continued to dispatch He Li without any change.

However, He Li also gradually understood that if he wants to survive in the NBA, he must have a strong heart. If he can't adapt to this humiliation and this situation, he might as well go home and raise pigs.

In addition, the veterans let the rookies buy things and do chores for them. Isn't it helping the rookies to integrate into the team and the city?
A rookie is a newcomer who doesn't understand anything, so it's impossible to make a veteran accommodate a newcomer, right?
Moreover, under the guidance of the veteran, the newcomer gradually understands which restaurants in the city have delicious food, which dishes are more expensive, which places are suitable for dinner parties, which nightclubs have more beautiful women, and which places are safer...

How about being able to grow, being able to quickly integrate into the environment, and running errands?
Although the training time is less, running errands is not for nothing, at least there are tips, right?

After five days, He Li has earned more than 4000 US dollars, so it is 10,000+ US dollars for a season!He Li does not lack the 10,000+, but what if it is an ordinary second-round pick?
I'm afraid they won't be unhappy, right?
Time flies, the days are getting shorter, and the preseason is finally coming.

On October 10, the Bucks flew to Orlando for an away game against the Magic.

Last season, the Magic and the Bucks had just formed a relationship. The Magic relied on McGrady's three heroes to fight Lu Bu, and the Bucks' three musketeers, but in the end they lost to the Bucks.

However, the Bucks won and lost. The Big Dog was defeated against McGrady. Although the captain of the Big Dog had been replaced by Ray Allen at that time, he was still the boss of the Bucks.

And this season, the Magic made a comeback, not only Grant Hill returned from injury, but also Gorilla Ewing and Cobra Grant joined in.

Both teams are now star lineups, and He Li is also looking forward to his first game in the NBA.

It's a pity that He Li had to serve as a substitute, sitting in the audience and watching the game, and was unable to participate in it immediately.

Although the preseason is a warm-up match, the stars may not be active due to the summer vacation, the quality of the preseason will be worse than the regular season, and the game will not be so good.

But today's game was full of gunpowder from the very beginning.

The Magic won the jump ball, and the first attack was handed over to McGrady. McGrady is really good, and he directly went to the big dog to fight head-to-head.

When Dagou first entered the field, he must have physical strength, and when he met McGrady, who made him grit his teeth just looking at him, he did not slack in defense.

However, people cannot be compared with each other.McGrady's physical fitness is far behind even the big dog's mother.

As soon as McGrady got angry, the big dog's face turned into a liver color.

And after the dry pull hit, McGrady took the initiative to spray trash talk: "Hey, isn't this a big dog? How did it become so lazy?"

The big dog stared angrily, and there seemed to be anger burning in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)