NBA: I am the card dealer

Besides.

Paul George has recovered well and officially completed an early contract extension with the Miami Heat.

Paul also chose to stay with the Houston Rockets. Their combination last season was undoubtedly successful, and Paul also completed his first breakthrough in the Western Conference Finals, so staying was not surprising.

The Raptors have been rumored to be exchanging Leonard and DeRozan with the Spurs.

Both teams have been rather unlucky in recent years.

The former has gone through many ups and downs since winning the championship in the 13-14 season, but still has not been able to make a breakthrough. Even after forming the double-D combination, they have not been able to break out of the West.

The team had the best record in the season before last, fighting the Lakers until a Game 3, but was overturned after leading 1:, which was very demoralizing.

Last season, they were directly defeated by the Warriors and did not even make it to the Western Conference Finals.

As the older players in the team are getting older and retiring, their competitiveness is no longer as high as before. If there are no changes in the new season, they will have no competitiveness for the championship, so it is natural for them to try to make changes.

But it was still unexpected that the person involved in the scandal was DeRozan.

The Raptors weren't much better. They didn't even make it out of the Eastern Conference. No, they didn't even make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

It is obvious that there are huge problems with their lineup and their offensive capabilities are seriously lacking.

It's more understandable that they want Leonard now.

but.

The Spurs are not fools.

Leonard is capable of fighting tough battles after all. He once made it into the top three in MVP. He is a true first-class superstar. It doesn't seem so cost-effective to trade him for an All-Star guard.

So the two sides came to a stalemate.

What is most surprising is that Cousins ​​actually joined the Golden State Warriors at the minimum salary to form an unprecedented Big Five.

As soon as the news came out, it caused a huge commotion.

You know, the Warriors were already strong enough, and then they got Cousins, which directly formed a five-star alliance, Curry, Thompson, Durant, Green, and Cousins.

Such a lineup is so terrifying that people dare not look directly at it.

But there are also naysayers.

"The Universe Warriors have been established for two years, but Xue Liancheng has done it twice."

"When Durant joined the Warriors, he boasted a lot, saying that they had the best lineup in history and a cosmic-level team. But what happened? He was beaten up by Xue Liancheng."

"Whether you are willing to admit it or not, the Warriors have been defeated in disguise and have no choice but to recruit superstars again."

"The roster is indeed ridiculously strong, with everyone averaging 20+ points per game, but the problem is there's only one ball! Will it help if you pile up superstars?"

"Doesn't this year's finals speak for itself? There's no point in having all these stars."

"Cousins' temper is like a time bomb. It might explode at any time."

"With the Big Five and two injured players, it's a question whether they can play together."

But no matter what.

The lineup of the Big Five is still intimidating, and this is a fact that no one can deny.

But can this be blamed on Cousins?

Obviously not.

As the league's top center, he deserves respect. However, after he was seriously injured shortly after the beginning of the year, the Pelicans not only did not offer him a maximum salary contract, but even made an extremely insulting offer.

Other teams are trying to take advantage and wait for the right price.

This led to Cousins ​​going all out and joining the Warriors at a minimum salary, which led to the formation of the unprecedented Big Five.

The entire West is now a purgatory.

There is undoubtedly a gap in the five-star warriors.

The Rockets with the Light Bulb combination have proven their strength in the Western Conference Finals.

The Thunder added Anthony, and their overall strength should have improved.

The Spurs have not changed, their strength is questionable, and their chances of getting out of the West are very slim.

With the arrival of James, the Lakers' strength has naturally increased significantly.

In addition, there are the four-star Timberwolves, the two-star Trail Blazers, the Jazz of Mitchell + Gobert should not be underestimated, and the Nuggets also have strong combat effectiveness, and the Pelicans led by Anthony Davis are not easy to bully.

The West is in chaos right now.

But the free market has only started for a few days, so each team still has the opportunity to strengthen its team.

The Nets were surprisingly quiet.

Atkinson thinks it is enough to keep the championship-winning team, and the others do not need major changes because they are all young players who are in their growth stage.

After the baptism of last season's finals, they should become stronger.

This is what they rely on.

of course.

The most important thing is what Xue Liancheng feels, and what he relies on is not this, but himself.

After winning his fourth championship, third MVP and fourth FMVP, the current golden thigh has changed again.

His predictive ability has reached 0.8 seconds, which is a very important improvement, enough to improve his offensive and defensive levels, as well as his passing accuracy.

The dynamic images in the mind have also been upgraded and connected to the predictive ability.

In other words, its dynamic images can be predicted 0.8 seconds in advance, which is quite terrifying.

The improvement of these two abilities allows him to capture every offensive opportunity more accurately, which is the source of his confidence.

Other sporadic signings and deals were also being made until mid-August.

The alliance once again dropped a bombshell.

The Lakers sent Lonzo Jefferson, Clarkson, Kuzma, and other potential new stars, plus three first-round picks, to the Pelicans in a trade for Anthony Davis.

When Xue Liancheng heard the news, he was slightly surprised.

I didn't expect that butterfly wings are so powerful. This is completely off track with the trajectory of history.

The Lakers' reconstruction was completed in an instant. James + Davis directly allowed them to restore their competitiveness in the West. With the addition of Dinwiddie, Pope, Zubac, Courtney Lee, Joe Johnson, Glenn Robinson, and the newly signed McGee, they still have a certain level of combat effectiveness as a whole.

People are also optimistic that they will enter the first tier of championship contenders.

After all, no matter how down and out James is, and whether he is mocked as a runaway king, a traitor, or a collaborator, it does not affect the fact that he is still the league's top small forward.

Davis' statistics and the level of performance he achieved last season also prove that he is truly the top power forward, especially his energy on the defensive end, which is really outstanding.

The combination of the league's top small forward and the league's top power forward will definitely arouse people's imagination.

The Spurs and Raptors have not made any moves for a long time, perhaps the Spurs' asking price is too high.

In the end, it was just some minor fights and the offseason just passed by.

Preseason is coming soon.

Xue Liancheng played for more than ten minutes to test the waters and felt that he was indeed evolving stronger and stronger, especially in terms of passing, vision and ability to read the game, which was truly a leap forward.

At the same time, he is also observing the results of his teammates' off-season training.

Sabonis has become noticeably stronger, his ability to fight has improved by leaps and bounds, his base is stable, he has good mid-range shots, and he can seize opportunities after pick-and-roll screens. His progress is also visible to the naked eye.

Anunoby has finally mastered the ball-handling skill, but only in one-on-one situations. This is already a good sign. At the same time, he has been practicing his explosiveness and three-point shooting during the offseason. The former has been effective, while the latter is just so-so.

of course.

The most important thing is that three-point shooting requires a good feel for the shot, which is not something you can practice just because you want to.

Some players never turn three-point shooting into a stable output in their entire lives, so this is not surprising.

He is quite satisfied with the offseason results of his two teammates.

ESPN also makes various season predictions at this time.

First of all, the Nets will still stand out in the Eastern Conference, and there is no doubt that they will become the leader of the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors are far behind. As for whether they can break the historical record of 72 wins, it depends on the specific recovery of Cousins ​​and Durant.

If they recover well from their injuries, there is no doubt that they will dominate the regular season, and breaking the 72-win record is also conceivable.

But if the recovery is not good, it’s hard to say.

Then for the regular season MVP, Xue Liancheng is still far ahead. Judging from the current competitiveness of the league and the data Xue Liancheng has produced, he is likely to win the title for the second time.

There is basically no major change in the rankings of other players, but there are still some small differences that have caused controversy.

And just as the fans were looking forward to it, the new season officially began.

The Nets' opening opponent is the Pacers, a rising power in the Eastern Conference.

During the offseason, they added top blue-collar center DeAndre Jordan, which improved their rim protection and basket play.

There is also Tyreke Evans, who won the Rookie of the Year award in 09, beating Harden and Curry. Their overall strength has been greatly enhanced.

But after all, the Nets defeated the Pacers 4:2 in the playoffs, so before the game, the public was still optimistic about the Nets.

Unexpectedly, the Nets failed again and lost the game 122:132.

薛连城进攻端失常了，19中8，三分10中3，只得到24分17助攻的数据。

Sabonis Jr. and Anunoby performed well.

The former made 14 of 8 shots and scored 21 points and 14 rebounds.

The latter made 15 of 8 shots and scored 19 points and 9 rebounds.

The two finally came out of the shadow of the finals and felt like left-hand-right-hand men.

It’s just that the team lost, which makes people feel helpless.

奥拉迪波18中10，浅浅拿到27分7篮板7助攻，表现非常全面。

Ingram made 12 of 7 shots and scored 16 points and 8 rebounds, and his growth was also obvious.

Russell made 8 of 5 shots and scored 14 points and 6 assists.

New player Tyreke Evans came off the bench and scored 15 points and 5 assists.

DeAndre Jordan also had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Besides.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 15 points, Thaddeus Young scored 10 points, and Joseph scored 10 points.

A total of eight players scored in double digits. After adding DeAndre Jordan and Tyreke Evans, they had so many players to fight with that it was dazzling.

There is a reason why ESPN predicts that the Pacers will become the third in the Eastern Conference. They are indeed terribly strong.

The Nets were not discouraged even though the venue where they received their championship rings was smashed. They quickly regrouped, first defeating the Pistons 120:103, then the Knicks 117:105, followed by a 112:86 victory over the Cavaliers, and then defeating the Pelicans 135:117.

They took the lead in winning four consecutive games, not giving any chance to their haters to celebrate.

And in the sixth game of the season, they faced a test.

Home game against the Golden State Warriors.

The two sides were really meeting like enemies, and they were extremely jealous of each other.

It’s just that the Golden State Warriors are not in full form. Cousins ​​is still recovering from injury, but Durant has returned and does not have a ruptured Achilles tendon.

In other words, both teams are playing with the lineup from last season's finals.

This gives the fans something to imagine.

Because the Warriors lost in the finals and were unwilling to accept it.

They think that Durant was injured, which gave the Nets the opportunity, otherwise the championship would have belonged to the Warriors.

Now, this game makes up for the one in the finals that Durant missed.

Under the media's hype, the battle between the two sides was almost like a game seven in the finals.

But in the end, the Warriors failed to turn the tide and lost again 120:124, just losing by 4 points, a very shameful loss.

Actually, that’s not the case.

With 2 minutes left in the game, the Nets were already leading by 7 points, and Xue Liancheng still had three % hit skills in his hand, so the outcome was basically decided.

result.

Curry jumped out to counterattack, making three consecutive three-pointers and competing against Xue Liancheng.

But at this time there were more than 10 seconds left in the game and the Nets were still leading by 7 points.

In the end, Durant made a three-pointer with two seconds left in the game, which had nothing to do with the overall situation.

So everyone who watched the game knows that the Warriors lost without any temper.

This time, the Warriors can be said to have accepted their defeat sincerely, right?

There should be no dispute about who won the championship last season, right?

But Warriors fans refused to accept that and used the fact they only lost by 4 points as an excuse to express their dissatisfaction again.

"You only won by a narrow margin of 4 points. If Xue Liancheng hadn't made it through with a three-pointer, it's hard to say who would have won or lost."

"It's a little late for Curry to recover, otherwise I would have had my head knocked off."

"Ha! We won the game by chance thanks to the home field advantage and the fans' abuse. Do you take this seriously?"

"Just know that we stole the championship last season, and this is just a regular season game."

Their tone changed immediately.

No longer stating that this was a continuation of Game 7.

There is nothing wrong with that.

Do you look ugly and tell everyone: I am ugly and look disgusting?

impossible.

Even if they lose, they can only hold on.

However, after this game, the Warriors fans' crazy jumping behavior has decreased a lot.

The Nets did not stay where they were and continued to strive for a winning streak.

The next day, they met the Knicks again and defeated them easily with 115:96. The Knicks without James were obviously no longer their city rivals, and the loss was no surprise.

On the last day of October, they defeated the Pistons again 120:109.

The Nets ended their October journey with a seven-game winning streak.

The record of 7 wins and 1 loss still leads the entire league.

Xue Liancheng's dominance remains, but his scoring has dropped a lot, from 35+ last season to 32 points this season, while his assists have skyrocketed, from 15 per game last season to 17 per game this season, which is really eye-catching.

It can be reflected from these data that Xue Liancheng's personal offensive shots have decreased, but his direct assists and passing frequency have increased.

The main thing is that the two younger brothers in the team have really grown up.

In October, Sabonis Jr. averaged 17.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, with an overall shooting percentage of 52.3%, a very strong performance.

Anunoby's average scoring improved even further. Throughout October, he averaged 20.4 points per game, plus 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. His shooting percentage was 50.4% and his three-point shooting percentage was 36%. He finally looked like an All-Star.