Reborn in the 96 golden generation

Chapter 7 Intention to sign a contract
Eddie Jones looked down on Zhou Yu at first, but Zhou Yu's brilliant performance in the first quarter also changed his impression.

"Boy, if you can score more than 10 points in the second quarter under my defense, I will consider you amazing."

Eddie Jones came over, patted Zhou Yu on the shoulder, and said provocatively.

Zhou Yu was naturally aware of his strength. It was obvious that he was so arrogant, how could he show weakness, so he snorted coldly and said with some disdain:
"Then it depends on whether you have that kind of strength. What if I accidentally score more than 20 points?"

Eddie Jones couldn't help being startled, you know, he is one of the best players in the team, not to mention this brat, even in the entire Lakers team, no one dared to talk to him like this.

But having said that, Zhou Yu admired the arrogance of this young man.

In an instant, it was Zhou Yu's turn to attack again.Byron Scott dribbled the ball across the half court, but still searched for Zhou Yu's position first.

In 1996, Byron Scott was 35 years old. He was approaching the age of retirement. His greater role in the Lakers was to help and lead.

In his eyes, although Van Exel and Eddie Jones are both playing in their prime, one has more than enough drive and lacks stability, while the other has more than stability and lacks drive. "A blue sky for the Lakers.

In contrast, Zhou Yu's arrival made his eyes shine. Although he is young, he is calm-headed and full of drive, and his future seems to be limitless.

So in this practice match, Byron Scott is deliberately training Zhou Yu, not only often giving him good passes, but also taking the initiative to do pick-and-rolls and support for him.It can be said that Byron Scott contributed a lot to Zhou Yu's outstanding performance in the first quarter.

Zhou Yu entangled with Divac on the inside for a while, and found that there was no opportunity to take advantage of it. He quickly pulled to the top of the arc to catch the ball. Eddie Jones quickly followed up and defended him closely.

Zhou Yu suddenly realized that Eddie Jones' defensive skills were not covered. He used his strong body to constantly rub against his body, exerting strong defensive pressure on him.

Zhou Yu, who was squeezed by him and his center of gravity was unstable, almost broke the law by not walking.

Fortunately, Zhou Yu's height still had a certain advantage. He held the ball high above his head, while trying to avoid his defensive interference, while carefully observing his teammates' running positions.

Suddenly, he found that Van Exel quickly penetrated through the baseline, and then ran to a better open position with the help of a teammate.

Zhou Yu quickly passed the ball obliquely without thinking. After Van Exel caught the ball near the baseline, he raised his hand and scored an unreasonable three-pointer.

It's a pity that his hand feeling is too bad today. After shooting a three-pointer, he bounced out of the frame again, and the rebound was snatched by Divac without accident.

Divac, who grabbed the rebound, made another strong long pass and passed the ball to Eddie Jones who was going forward.

Fortunately, Zhou Yu's reaction was quick enough, and he ran back to his own half, blocking Eddie Jones' path in advance.

Therefore, this fast break quickly turned into a heads-up between Zhou Yu and Eddie Jones.

The corner of Eddie Jones' lips curled up, as if he was determined to win the ball.On the other hand, Zhou Yu has a serious face. He knows the opponent's scoring ability and repeatedly judges his scoring method.

At this moment, Eddie Jones can score in two ways, one is to get to the basket and score a layup, and the other is to score a jumper with an emergency stop.

Therefore, Zhou Yu has to control his center of gravity to prevent his emergency stop jump shot, but also seal his offensive line and prevent his layup, which is very difficult.

Unexpectedly, Eddie Jones neither made an emergency stop for a jump shot, nor used fancy moves to shake Zhou Yu away, but just pushed straight to the three-second zone,

It's just that while pushing forward, he bumped against Zhou Yu with his strong body, which made Zhou Yu feel very uncomfortable, and had to retreat steadily.

Soon, Eddie Jones reached near the three-second zone, then made an emergency stop, and used a small hook that the center used to,
Zhou Yu was about to come over to block the shot, but it was too late, and he could only watch the basketball fall high into the basket and into the net.

Zhou Yu suddenly felt flushed. Eddie Jones' style of play was obviously bullying, which made him a little ashamed.

"Wang, don't pay too much attention to it. It's good to have your performance when you first came to the NBA. In the future, you can strengthen some strength training."

Byron Scott came over and comforted him with kind words.

Zhou Yu bit his lip and nodded. He was aware of his lack of strength, but he just didn't expect that a defender could bully him like this.

"Although Wang Zhizhi's shooting and movement are not bad, his strength is indeed much worse."

West on the sidelines shook his head and sighed.

"Not only Asian players are like this, but many European players are also like this. I am afraid this is caused by innate factors and it is difficult to make up for it."

Harris felt the same way.

Zhou Yu on the field pulled to the top of the arc again, and Byron Scott passed the ball to him first as always.

Zhou Yu looked around the situation on the field and found that his teammates did not have a good chance to make a move. This time he was going to do it alone, which could be regarded as a powerful response to Eddie Jones.

Zhou Yu first used his right foot as the axis, and made a probing step with his left foot to test the opponent's defensive center of gravity.

Seeing that Eddie Jones is almost motionless, it is obvious that his defensive focus is on his left.

But he overlooked one point, Wang Zhizhi himself is a left-handed player, and his left-handed dribbling and shooting are much more sensitive than his right-handed.

Seeing an opportunity, Zhou Yu swayed suddenly to the right. Eddie Jones was really fooled, and his center of gravity shifted immediately.

In the next second, Zhou Yu leaned over, dribbled the ball with his left hand, quickly passed Eddie Jones, and went straight to the three-second zone.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Divac hurried over to defend.

Zhou Yu had expected this for a long time, and when the timing was almost right, he immediately made a three-step layup. Not only did he avoid Divac's block, but he also used another block shot by another inside player of the opponent. A beautiful tie-bar layup.

Zhou Yu played the guard position in his previous life, and Wang Zhizhi's original flexibility was good, so there was almost no sense of disobedience in this tie-bar layup, and he hit it steadily.

This skillful operation shocked everyone. As a tall center, it is indeed rare in the NBA to be so flexible.

"Wang Zhizhi's breakthrough skills are just right, and his physical flexibility and flexibility are rare in the NBA."

Harris couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

West glanced at him and couldn't help but nodded in agreement.

To be honest, he still had some concerns about Wang Zhizhi's physical condition at first, but just now he scored a layup that missed the defender and made him have a different opinion.
This at least shows that he has learned to use his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. Even if his physical condition is average, he can use his skills and flexibility to cause a certain impact on the inside line.
As for physical fitness and strength, it can also be improved with acquired efforts and continuous participation in competitions.

The subsequent game process also gradually confirmed West's judgment.

Although Zhou Yu is not as strong as Eddie Jones and Divac, he is still able to find some opportunities to make shots through flexible running positions and the cooperation of passing and cutting between teammates.

Unfortunately, due to the rapid decline in physical strength in the second quarter, Zhou Yu's shooting rate was far from comparable to that in the first quarter, and he only scored 6 points.

Even so, after two quarters, the performance of 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists is indeed a good result for an NBA rookie who has not participated in the draft.

At the end of the practice match, West basically made up his mind, called Zhou Yu and Wang Hui to his office, and spoke frankly:

"After observing the practice game, our Lakers team intends to extend a sincere invitation to Wang Zhizhi, hoping to let him join our Lakers team. What do you think?"

Zhou Yu was so excited that he almost jumped up when he heard that, joining the Lakers to play with Kobe was his long-standing dream.

He just wanted to say that I completely agree, and raised his hands in favor, but he heard Wang Hui say indifferently with a blank face:
"It's great to join the Lakers, but I don't know what kind of contract the Lakers can offer him?"

"3 years, 240 million US dollars, how about it?"

West thought for a moment.

3 million dollars in 240 years? !Zhou Yu was pleasantly surprised when he heard it. You know, Kobe's rookie salary was only 3 million in three years.

"3 million for 240 years? This is just a basic salary contract in the NBA. You know, Wang Zhizhi's strength is far beyond this price. It seems that your Lakers don't have much sincerity.
If this is the case, I think we should still participate in the draft. Presumably there should be many other teams interested in him. "

Wang Hui smiled coldly.

　Ask for a recommendation, ask for a recommendation.

　　


(End of this chapter)