king of los angeles

Chapter 78 79. Problems Plaguing the Team

Every morning, Lin Feng gets up early for a run. He has never seen Los Angeles at 04:30 in the morning, but he has seen it at [-]:[-] several times.

Time flies, day after day life in the gym makes Lin Feng forget what day it is every day.

On October 10, this was their last practice session at Staples before their debut.

Everyone looked on edge as they suffered a crushing loss to the Nuggets in their preseason debut at No. 1.

LeBron made his debut under the spotlight, scoring 15 points and 9 rebounds in 3 minutes.

Although it was only a preseason game, the team almost exposed all the problems under the spotlight.

The combination of a rookie and a veteran did not form a good chemical reaction, and there were frequent mistakes in cooperation.On the contrary, the Nuggets with Jokic as the core played smooth team basketball.

The performance of several preseason games made the management very angry. They recruited No.1 in the league. They thought they would have a good start, but the result was not ideal.

Lin Feng, as the team's third point guard, only averaged 5 minutes per game and scored an average of 3.2 points and 2 rebounds.

He tried a shot from the three-point line, and the result was not satisfactory.Lin Feng is still trying to find the rhythm of the regular season, which is completely different from the summer split.

"Okay my guys, forget about the previous score, I'm very confident in the game against the Trail Blazers the day after tomorrow. We are improving and no one can stop us."

Just a few preseason games pushed coach Walton to the edge of a cliff. Obviously, the young Walton was incapable of solving the team's ball possession problem.

In the Cavaliers, Tyronn Lu's tactics have been effective.Walton's coaching philosophy is egalitarian.What he wants is the balanced development of the rookies of the Lakers, and they will grow into star players together.

There is a big gap between reality and imagination. The Lakers rookies did not play a decent offense. Instead, Lao Zhan needs to stand up and lead the game at critical moments.

After joining the Lakers, James said many times that he would reduce the use of the ball and cultivate young people as much as possible.

Hart was a little serious, standing behind the team with his hips crossed. His performance in the preseason was severely kicked by the media, and his defense was almost a disaster.

The only one who can receive praise is probably McGee. Judging from his contract, his average points and rebounds per game are at the online level.

In the final training session, everyone had a serious face, without the usual laughter.

Lin Feng was puzzled as to why he was only allowed to play for 5 minutes.

It seems that Walton still doesn't trust their new rookies who joined the team. More time in the preseason is reserved for rookies such as Ingram and Kuzma who have played for one or two years.

Well, Lin Feng is still patiently waiting for the opportunity.

He had a great block from the [-]-point line against the Warriors in the preseason, which was a perfect example of his three-second anticipation.

Another time interfered with Cook's three-point shot, touched the basketball with his fingertips, and finally missed it.

In all fairness, Lin Feng performed well in the limited time. He limited the opponent's substitute performance on defense, but he couldn't get the ball on the offensive end, and Wharton didn't arrange singles tactics for him.

As the big brother in the team, James clapped his hands to boost morale, and Rondo also said words of encouragement.

Despite this, the atmosphere in the team still cannot return to the relaxation of the first team training.Everyone has their own wishful thinking in their hearts, and the problem of ball possession will always plague this team.

Lin Feng was relaxed. As a rookie with the 60th overall pick, his pressure was not that great, and he played very little time, which had little impact on the game.

"We need to play unselfishly, share the ball, play more like a team, you know guys."

Walton didn't name who took up too much possession of the ball, but everyone can see it on the court.

Lao Zhan is willing to share the ball with young players, while some veterans like to play singles, because they are just mercenaries who signed a one-year contract and need data to support their next contract.

As for exercising newcomers?They are not philanthropists with too much money to spend.

Lin Feng understood very well that Walton was talking about Michael Beasley, the No. 08 pick in [-], and that guy was a complete thorn.

Wharton did not directly name them, as he did not want to intensify the conflict.

He is too young to bring together such a group of disparate personalities.

In the afternoon, after coming out of the Staples Center, everyone said hello to each other and dispersed.

Beasley didn't speak to anyone, and after practice, he got into his car and drove away from Staples.

In the parking lot, Lin Feng met Hart. It seemed that he was under a lot of pressure.

Lin Feng patted Hart on the shoulder and said mockingly, "We're in trouble bro."

Hart shrugged, "The result is terrible, and there is still a long way to go. Randle went to the Pelicans, Lopez joined the Bucks, and Thomas went to Denver, plus the previous Russell Wait, we changed half the team."

He seemed frustrated, and was beaten by the defending champions in the preseason against the Warriors, and there were even rumors of sending him away.

Lin Feng looked openly, the storm that belonged to him has not yet come, "This is Los Angeles, while enjoying the aura, you have to face tremendous pressure."

Hart wanted to complain about Beasley. When that guy was on the court, Hart had almost nothing to do, except for turning back and running, he was serving.

The problems between veterans and rookies in the team are gradually accumulating, and will explode when the time is right.

Lin Feng felt the charm of the NBA, and he was under a lot of pressure under the spotlight.

By this time the next day, they were on a plane to Portland.

Damian Lillard of Tear City threatened to guard Portland and would start the new season with a big win.

Lillard told reporters that LeBron's team is not an insurmountable mountain, and they are confident of winning this game.

In contrast to the generals in Los Angeles, the atmosphere on the plane was still tense, almost no one spoke, and most people chose to sleep to pass the time.

James and Rondo, who have extremely high emotional intelligence, want to change this. They try to create some common topics, such as some Internet jokes and so on.

Only Lin Feng used a pad to watch the replays of the Blazers' preseason games. He had to study the Blazers' double-gun playing habits in the backcourt to improve his prediction accuracy.

In any case, the new season has begun, and the Lakers must face everything with a [-]-point mentality.

It will definitely not be smooth sailing. In addition to the team's own problems, they also have to challenge traditional strong teams such as the Warriors and Rockets.

It took less than two hours to fly from Los Angeles to Portland, but Lin Feng felt that it was extremely long. He couldn't see anything in the dark night sky outside, and there was almost no movement in the entire cabin.

In a daze, a beam of light woke him up, and the plane arrived over Portland.

The small ball market will never have too many spotlights, and their rookies will not receive "special attention" from the media like Lin Feng.

The beauty of Ripped City is different. This is Damian Lillard's city. One person, one city. He is the defender of Portland.

(End of this chapter)