Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 114 114.30. Three years in Hedong, three years in Hexi, the Rockets are still poor...

"Relax, John, Tracy is not as powerful as you think. As long as you can keep pressing Tracy on the defensive end, Tracy can't do anything against you with your lateral speed."

"As long as you can slightly limit Tracy's offensive efficiency in this game and don't let him perform supernaturally, the team will naturally win."

Before the game, head coach Luke patted John Salmons on the shoulder, with ease and trust in his eyes.

This season is the last season of John Salmons' rookie contract. Since Salmons experienced the baptism of the finals last year, Salmons' personal strength is now fully capable of being alone.

Not to mention the best group of 3D players in the league, at least any team has the strength to sit firmly in the starting lineup.

截止到目前，替补出场的萨尔蒙斯场均可以贡献12.6分2.8篮板2.4助攻以及1.6次抢断，其中投篮命中率为48.8%，三分球命中率为39.7%。

In the Timberwolves, the favorite to win the championship, Salmons' playing time must be limited, but in the limited playing time, Salmons' personal efficiency is very intuitive.

As a typical off-the-ball attacker, coupled with Salmons' personal characteristics of being good at disrupting combat, the running-in between Salmons and the Timberwolves is completely getting better. Be able to contribute in the first time.

With the performance of Salmons in the contract year, the Timberwolves will definitely not be able to keep this guy this offseason. After all, the Timberwolves have no salary space. With Salmons' performance, the next contract is destined not to be too low.

So Luke has been considering since the offseason, whether to trade Salmons in the new season, in order to exchange some chips for the Timberwolves.

After the provincial contract expired, Salmons left his hometown for no reason, and the Timberwolves could only sigh in the end.

However, considering that the Timberwolves want to defend their title this season, Salmons on the front line can be regarded as a more important part of the Timberwolves.

Especially when the opponent has a top striker like McGrady, Salmons is usually put on the starting lineup by Luke, replacing Szczerbiak to better improve the defense.

Salmons has excellent single-defense ability, and his lateral speed is the top striker in the league. In terms of lateral speed alone, there are only a handful of players in the entire league that can compare with Salmons.

These reasons are the root of Luke's reluctance to trade Salmons. Otherwise, with Luke's eyesight, it would be a breeze to exchange Salmons for some star seedlings.

Not long after the start of the new season, the Timberwolves have received multiple trade offers for John Salmons.

Regarding this matter, General Manager McHale approached Luke more than once and asked Luke what he thought about this matter, but Luke never gave an accurate answer.

Obviously, Luke is also weighing in his heart, weighing the gains and losses of the lineup after trading Salmons, and weighing the trading chips given by each team.

.........

After the start of the game, the Rockets' flaws in the lineup were very obvious, and they were clearly at a disadvantage from the beginning.

The Rockets' starting lineup for this game is: Alston, David Wesley, McGrady, Juwan Howard, and Yao Ming.

Except for Yao and Mai, the entire lineup can defend fairly well, and the other three can be called defensive loopholes.

Zhuwan Howard naturally needless to say, Uncle Huo at his peak was a defensive loophole, not to mention that he is getting older now.

As for the 36-year-old David Wesley, who moved very slowly, when he met the "madman" Sprewell, one of the league's offensive kaleidoscopes, Wesley was beaten terribly.

David Wesley is 1.8 meters tall. The main reason why he can play the position of shooting guard is that Wesley is strong enough.

But the height of 1.8 meters three is [-] centimeters shorter than the madman. Faced with this advantage, the "madman" has no mercy in the fight. He used his personal ability to score consecutive points on David Wesley's head at the beginning of the game, as if helping the Rockets. Fans recalled the nightmare of the first round of last year's playoffs.

The madman's outburst made Rockets coach Bob Hill helplessly wry smile, which is the case with this year's Rockets lineup.

Except for Yao Ming, everyone else is either high-paid and low-powered, or has a defensive loophole, or is an old guy like Wesley, Uncle Mu, or Juwan Howard.

Sometimes Bob Hill himself feels desperate about the future, and even has the idea of ​​​​submitting his resignation report to the management. Although the Rockets' lineup looks good at first glance, the reputation of the players is getting louder and louder.

But when it comes to the actual game, all of them are crooked. Even Tracy McGrady, who has an annual salary of 1600 million, wears the hat of high salary and low ability. The operation of the Rockets management is as idiotic as a fool.

Free market signers only value fame and personal data, but never consider personal efficiency, just like Alstom, who has only shot more than 30% of his career field goal percentage. In this game, he faced "Glove" Payton. People can't bear to look directly.

In the first quarter of the game, Alston only made [-] of [-] shots against "Glove" Payton's defense, and also sent up to [-] turnovers. Watching Bob Hill standing on the sidelines, his blood pressure once began to soar.

If it weren't for the fact that the Rockets had no one available on the back line, Bob Hill really wanted to kick Alstom out of the rotation.

The defensive ability is poor, and the offensive end can't help the team. Alstom is as depressing as an undercover agent on the court.

Throughout the first half, the Timberwolves' defensive focus was very obvious, mainly focusing on Yao Ming. As for Tracy McGrady, John Salmons has been defending alone.

It is indeed wishful thinking that Salmons wants to completely lock McGrady through one-on-one, but as the head coach Luke said before the game, as long as Salmons can limit McGrady's offensive efficiency, don't let McGrady play super godly. The Timberwolves will naturally win this game.

After losing weight, Yao Ming no longer can only play in the low post like last season. Now that Yao Ming has regained his flexibility, he can not only fall in the low post, but also play more offensive threats through hooks and shots.

However, the main defensive target of the Timberwolves is Yao Ming. Except for Yao Ming, even McGrady can't enjoy the double-team treatment of the Timberwolves.

As long as Yao Ming catches the ball near the three-second zone, Garnett will immediately step forward to flank, resolutely not giving Yao Ming any singles chance, just like flanking O'Neal in the opening game without any hesitation.

On the offensive end, the defensive loopholes of the Rockets are too big, allowing the Timberwolves to play an efficient team basketball, not just "Madman" Sprewell and "Wolf King" Garnett, even Kasey who came off the bench Both Hall and Szczerbiak scored frequently.

It took almost only half of the game to beat the Rockets to pieces.

With the end of the halftime game, the Timberwolves had a 19-point lead at home. The Madman even scored 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals, which turned the Rockets' defense upside down. Bob Hill had no temper at all.

(End of this chapter)