NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 114 James: Am I a substitute for Wang Chong? ? ?

Wang Chong represented the Dream Team in the Athens Olympics, which actually caused quite a stir in the country. Although many fans understood this, after all, as a Chinese American, there was nothing wrong with Wang Chong representing the United States.

The Chinese Basketball Association's view is another story.

Since Wang Chong is willing to play on behalf of the Dream Team, it shows that he still values ​​the honor of international competitions. In this case, is it possible for Wang Chong to return to Huaguo International and represent the Huaguo men's basketball team?

From previous interviews with many Chinese media, it can be seen that although Wang Chong grew up in the United States, his knowledge of China has not fallen behind at all. He speaks fluent Chinese and has a very good understanding of Chinese affairs, and The kind of Chinese who still look Asian in appearance, but are completely American in nature are completely different.

Judging from Wang Chong's love for China revealed in the interview, the leaders of the Basketball Association felt that there was something in this matter.

Therefore, when the leader of the Chinese men's basketball team led the national team to Greece to compete in the Olympic Games, he also received another task: to establish a good relationship with Wang Chong and find out whether he had any thoughts on playing for the country.

With Dayao's help, the two parties have had dinner together several times.

Even Wang Chong couldn't help but sigh, different identities are indeed different.

Normally, the high-ranking big shots in the Basketball Association are polite to them and treat them like guests, which domestic players simply cannot enjoy.

The most typical ones are Dayao and Dazhi.

Dayao, who has become a world-renowned star, still has to be squeezed. Not only does he have to hand over part of his salary, but he also has to obey the leadership's arrangements and often participate in all low-level competitions in Asia and even domestic.

Dazhi just wanted to strengthen training in the United States and declined the recruitment of the national team, so he was directly banned. In the end, he bowed his head and admitted his mistake and paid a huge price to calm the incident.

But now Wang Chong is just a young boy in his early 20s, but at the dinner, the leaders of the Basketball Association took the initiative to propose a toast.

Wang Chong actually knows in his heart that these senior officials of the Basketball Association may not really value him. What they really value is the opportunity to be promoted to a senior official.

The men's basketball team is still very short of talents, especially talents like Wang Chong, who are currently considered by the outside world to be stronger than Yao Yao.

This is not an exaggeration at all. Dayao has only played two seasons in the league. This season, he averaged 17.5 points and 9 rebounds per game. He is only eighty-two points behind Wang Chong as a rookie in terms of statistical performance.

Although Dayao still has two honors as an All-Star starter and the best third team, Wang Chong still has a championship.

Considering the age gap between the two, and the fact that Wang Chong was able to perform at a star level only in his rookie season, even Dayao fans must admit that Wang Chong's development prospects are far better than Dayao.

If the Chinese men's basketball team can really get Wang Chong, there will be no need to worry about the performance of at least the next three Olympics. The relevant leaders of the Basketball Association who have successfully planned an outstanding sports talent will definitely be able to use this performance to climb up the ranks. .

Wang Chong did not agree immediately, although he also had the same idea. After finally traveling back through time and having a plug-in, he also had the idea of ​​winning glory for the country. The reason why he played for the American Dream Team was simply because of the system's mission rewards, otherwise he would He won't come at all, but if he is to play for the Chinese men's basketball team, he will be more than happy even if there is no mission reward.

But there is another major premise above this, that is, he does not want to be constantly squeezed like Yao. Even if he wants to win glory for the country, it must be within the scope of his willingness, that is, it is limited to the Olympic Games and the World Championships, the two major international basketball tournaments. tournament.

The 04 Athens Olympics is definitely out of the question. The next event he is willing to participate in is the Men's Basketball World Championship to be held in Xiaozi Day two years later.

The 06 World Championships, in Wang Chong's opinion, is the best opportunity for the Chinese men's basketball team to achieve the best results.

The lineup of the American Dream Team 7 is not as good as the current Dream Team 6. The main players of the Dream Team 7 are James, Anthony, Wade, Bosh and Howard, and then there is the fledgling Chris Paul, who was selected as an All-Star. Jamison, Joe Johnson et al.

The Spanish men's basketball team finally won the championship. The Dream Seven team, like the Dream Six team, only finished third and third.

It was precisely because of successive failures in the Olympics and World Championships that the American men's basketball team finally got serious. At the 2008 Capital Olympics, a powerful Dream Team was assembled, crushing the championship all the way, and reviving the United States' position as the world's basketball hegemon. .

The topic has gone a bit far.

In Wang Chong's plan, even if he wants to change his nationality back to China, he will have to wait until at least 06, not now.

Therefore, facing the warm invitation from the leaders of the Basketball Association, Wang Chong said that he would seriously consider it, but did not immediately agree.

Even so, the leaders of the Basketball Association are relatively satisfied.

If there is no direct rejection, there is an opportunity. The key depends on whether the chips are enough and how much actual benefits the Basketball Association can obtain for the planning players.

They may have misunderstood. Wang Chong didn't expect them to give him much benefit at all. It was enough that he didn't cause trouble for himself after he returned to Huaguo International and joined the national team.

However, if someone is willing to give, Wang Chong will certainly not refuse.

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The competition time of the Olympic Games group stage is from August 8st to August 21th.

On August 8, the United States men’s basketball team faced Puerto Rico in the first round of the group stage.

In the original history, this was the worst game played by the American men's basketball team in the Athens Olympics. Facing Puerto Rico, which was not a strong enemy, the American men's basketball team played in a mess and unexpectedly lost to their opponent 73:92.

There are many reasons for this failure. The first is of course underestimating the enemy. The American Dream Team has long been famous and can be called an invincible team, while Puerto Rico is just a little-known team and cannot be ranked at all. This leads to the fact that the United States The players played very casually and did not take their opponents seriously at all, and they just capsized in the gutter.

The second reason is that the running-in time of the new Dream Six team is indeed too short. The players lack a tacit understanding with each other. At the same time, the two main guards are both well-known in the league. Needless to say, Iverson has nothing to do with him. Like Kobe, even if his hand is not good, he dares to take more than 30 shots in a game.

And Marbury was dubbed the lone wolf because of his playing style and personality.

The two partners had almost zero coordination in the backcourt. When they got the ball, they charged towards the opponent's penalty area like carrying a bag of explosives.

If it were in the NBA, this style of play might be really effective. After all, both of them are masters of breaking through with the ball. When they take turns charging, the opponent will definitely be difficult to parry.

But it is different in the Olympics. FIBA ​​rules allow for assisting defense, and there is no defense for three seconds. Puerto Rico has a big center standing in the penalty area all year round, and the breakthrough effect is really average.

The above reasons led to the American men's basketball team's upset loss to Puerto Rico by 19 points and became a laughing stock.

Not only that, the American men's basketball team also lost to Lithuania in the group stage. The final record of the group stage was 3 wins and 2 losses, and they only finished fourth in the group.

Before the game, head coach Larry Brown announced the starting lineup for the game.

"Point guard: Stephon Marbury."

"Shooting guard: Allen Iverson."

"Small forward: Wang Chong."

"Power forward: Amar'e Stoudemire."

<divclass="contentadv">"Center: Tim Duncan."

There is actually no suspense in the other positions, but when the name of small forward Wang Chong is read, the eyes of James, Anthony and others obviously change slightly.

Although there have been clues in previous daily training and warm-up matches, they have not been confirmed yet. Unexpectedly, Wang Chong actually started.

Wade patted Wang Chong's shoulder hard and was sincerely happy for Wang Chong.

But the expressions of James and Anthony were a little bad.

During their rookie season, the two had already lost to Wang Chong several times. They did not expect that they would continue to be suppressed by Wang Chong in international competitions. The dignified No. 03 pick and No. draft pick in would now have to fight for Wang Chong, the th overall pick. Rookie on the bench!

But it's useless to be upset. Larry Brown, as the league's long-established head coach, is a well-known tyrant. He couldn't even tolerate Iverson in his peak period, let alone a group of recruits that he didn't like in the first place. Egg? At least now, James and Anthony have no ability to influence Larry Brown's decision.

It's just that Larry Brown obviously also made the mistake of underestimating the opponent. He didn't pay attention to his opponent at all, and he didn't make any pre-game arrangements. He just let the players play freely.

This is actually not surprising. With the strength of this group of players in Dream Team 6, even if each one of them plays alone with the ball, they can defeat more than 90% of their opponents based on their individual abilities, which must include Puerto Rico.

As Wang Chong expected, the Dream Team played very sloppily at the beginning of the game. The ball was basically concentrated in the hands of the two defenders Iverson and Marbury. Under Puerto Rico's zone defense, the two Human attacks also frequently failed.

Puerto Rico relied on tacit tactical cooperation to score continuously, and soon established a double-digit score advantage.

Wang Chong soon discovered that even though Dream Team 6 now had him, the situation had not changed.

The reason is simple, he can't catch the ball.

Neither Iverson nor Marbury, as the point guard, passed the ball to him at all.

Even when he took the initiative to provide a pick-and-roll screen for the two big guys, the opponent just headed towards the basket without any intention of passing the ball back to him.

You must know that during the Lakers period, even if Wang Chong provided pick-and-roll coverage for Kobe, the latter also knew how to distribute the ball when encountering a double-team.

This is also one of the drawbacks of international leagues. Players work on their own and want to show their abilities to fans around the world. The level of selflessness is not as good as in the NBA.

Fortunately, in the second quarter, Wang Chong finally got some possession of the ball.

Because Brown found that Iverson and Marbury were not very effective on the court at the same time, he replaced Wade.

Wade was still happy to pass the ball to Wang Chong, especially after watching the entire game off the court. Wade probably had some knowledge of Puerto Rico's style of play.

Wade, who mainly focuses on breaking through with the ball, doesn't think his breakthrough is much better than Iverson Marbury. Against the opponent's center who almost stays inside, there is definitely no way to break through easily.

But they clearly have Wang Chong, what are they most afraid of in the joint defense? Shooting, of course!

Wade has absolute confidence in Wang Chong's shooting ability, so when he has the ball, he will pass the ball to Wang Chong without hesitation.

With the basketball in hand, Wang Chong straightened his waist immediately.

Standing outside the three-point line facing the opposing defensive player, he directly took the shot.

As mentioned before, under the rules of FIBA, the three-point line is shorter than that of the NBA. Therefore, the two-point line that Wang Chong is good at is actually a three-pointer in FIBA!

The Puerto Rican small forward who was responsible for defending Wang Chong was not even 2 meters tall, and he was positioned far back in order to defend the zone. He had no time to interfere and could only watch Wang Chong's three-point shot.

"Ok?"

Wang Chong's crisp shot made Larry Brown raise his eyebrows on the sidelines.

Wang Chong barely touched the ball in the first quarter, and of course he didn't care much. In his opinion, although Wang Chong was somewhat capable, his offensive ability was not even the slightest bit behind that of Iverson and Marbury.

But this attack gave him some clues.

Puerto Rico's defense is particularly ineffective against long-range shooters like Wang Chong.

Sure enough, in the next few rounds, as long as Wang Chong catches the ball, it will be difficult for the opponent to defend. Whether it is a three-pointer or a two-pointer, Wang Chong's shooting rate is very high.

The sudden appearance of Wang Chong caught Puerto Rico off guard, and the double-digit point difference was narrowed to single digits.

The first half of the game is over and it's halftime.

"Wang, you did a good job. The opponent's zone defense was unable to deal with attacks from the outside. In the second half, I created more mid- and long-range shooting opportunities for you."

Larry Brown said to Wang Chong.

James and Anthony on the side looked melancholy when they heard this.

In the first half of the game, Anthony did not play at all, and James only played for less than 5 minutes, with no chance to perform at all.

On the contrary, Wang Chong was the team's starter, played nearly 15 minutes, and already scored 10 points.

Don’t underestimate 10 points at halftime. Each International League game lasts for 10 minutes, and a whole game lasts only 40 minutes. In addition, the Dream Team does not have an absolute tactical core, and scoring in double figures at halftime is already a very high score.

With Larry Brown's approval, Wang Chong continued to work hard in the second half of the game, firing frequently from the outside. The ultra-high shooting rate made it difficult for Puerto Rico to parry. It had to break up the zone defense formation and arrange for players to go to the outside to mark Wang Chong closely.

However, after making this adjustment, Puerto Rico's head coach desperately discovered that even close defense was useless.

Their striker is less than 2 meters tall and cannot guard Wang Chong, who is 2 meters tall.

Why is it said that Durant is a big killer in international leagues and has a bug-like existence? It's because he's too tall!

In most international teams, the average height of small forwards is over 2 meters tall. A person who is 2 meters tall can be the main center. How can they guard against such a tall outside player?

Moreover, when most international teams face the American Dream Team, they can only use zone defense to fight against the dream team with super personal abilities. To compete with the dream team in terms of personal ability is to seek death.

However, Wang Chong's exaggerated accuracy in mid- and long-range shooting forced them to abandon the zone defense and conduct one-on-one defense against Wang Chong. How could they defend this?