NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 118 Wang Chong: Do you want me to be Pippen? hehe!

With O'Neal traveling east to Miami, Malone officially announcing his retirement, and Gary Payton being traded to the Celtics, the once all-powerful small group in the Lakers has collapsed.

In this case, Wang Chong's existence will not only not become a threat to Kobe, but will become his greatest help.

Kobe actually admires this first-year rookie who averaged 20+6 per game in his rookie season and turned the tide several times in the playoffs to save the Lakers from the fire. After all, when Wang Chong first came to the team, Kobe Played one-on-one with him.

He almost witnessed Wang Chong grow into an All-Star player at an astonishing speed in just one season.

Kobe also knows very well that as long as he can get Wang Chong's help, the Lakers' record in the new season cannot be too bad.

Therefore, when Kobe and Odom came back from Athens, he immediately invited them to dinner and built up their relationship. Who made these two the two strongest players on the Lakers team besides him?

"Congratulations on winning the gold medal in the Olympics." Kobe said with a smile on his face. "To be honest, I kind of envy you, because although I have four championship rings, I don't even have an Olympic gold medal."

In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Kobe was absent because he was getting married, and in the 2004 Athens Olympics, he was absent again due to external factors. His first Olympic gold medal would have to wait until the 08 Capital Olympics.

But in fact, for NBA stars, few care about Olympic medals. After all, winning the Olympic gold medal for the American men's basketball team is too simple and has no gold content. Instead of wasting precious vacation time to participate in such competitions, it is better to win more Several business activities make money.

This idea directly led to superstars such as James, Curry, Harden and others refusing to participate in the war. Of course, that is all a story later.

On the one hand, Kobe's words were praising the two of them, but at the same time, he was also secretly reminding them.

I already have four championships. One of you has only won one championship, and the other has not even won a championship. In the future, who will be the king in the team should have some idea, right?

"In the new season, we are all partners to fight side by side. I believe that the three of us join forces and there will be no enemy that we cannot defeat in the league!"

Kobe is high-spirited and full of expectations for the upcoming new season.

Seeing Kobe like this, Wang Chong wanted to tell him what he had experienced after O'Neal left.

The boss has tried his best, and the words of teammate CBA are by no means groundless.

In the three seasons before Gasol came to the Lakers, Kobe was so angry with his teammates that he almost left. He even wore a Bulls jersey and ran to challenge the management. Only then did he finally get the helper in his destiny - a good person. The sister-in-law who is easily pushed down.

Of course, now that Kobe has Wang Chong with a comprehensive ability rating of 91, his situation is definitely much better than before.

But Wang Chong is not Gasol, and he does not have as good a temper as Gasol.

This season, I am afraid that Kobe has not had time to enjoy the feeling of being the boss, so he must first experience what O'Neal's mood was like when facing him in the past two years.

"You want me to be Pippen? Haha! Are you kidding me? None of my skill points are used to assist others. All my talent points are used to score carries."

Wang Chong was thinking this in his heart, but he didn't show it on the surface.

In any case, Kobe is now the nominal boss of the Lakers, and there is strong support from team owner Buss. It is obviously not wise to go head-on with the opponent.

Wang Chong planned to build a plank road to cross Chencang secretly.

His presence has brought great changes to the Lakers. On the one hand, the Lakers won the championship in the 03-04 season. At the same time, the butterfly effect flapped its wings. Phil Jackson did not resign as head coach under the pretext of illness after the finals. One position.

After the original 03-04 season, Phil Jackson was actually dissatisfied with the management's bet on Kobe Bryant's trade for O'Neal, and took the initiative to submit his resignation to express his dissatisfaction.

In the subsequent 04-05 season, the Lakers experienced a bad season. The Lakers had no choice but to invite Phil Jackson back. The latter also used this to regain control of the team. Even if O'Neal was squeezed out, he felt that he was the boss and the second child. Kobe Bryant, who led his team to a first-round trip to the lottery, had to listen to Phil Jackson in order to win.

But now the Lakers have won the championship, and although O'Neal was traded away from the team, Wang Chong stayed in the team.

As an old fox who has been in the league for many years, Phil Jackson has a very vicious vision.

The combination of Kobe + Wang Chong + Odom is definitely promising, and it is still promising.

Odom's style is actually very similar to a version of Pippen with a weakened defense and three-point shooting. He has a height advantage and can organize and support with the ball.

Kobe certainly looks a lot like Jordan.

As for Wang Chong, although his playing style is not very similar to Jordan's, his mid- and long-range shooting is even more accurate than Jordan's!

If next season we use Odom as the central axis and take turns playing triangle tactics around Kobe and Wang Chong, then we have to take off?

Of course, the Lakers still have many problems to solve, such as defense.

Although Wang Chong's defense is pretty good, it is limited to a pretty good level and can only defend the perimeter. Odom's confrontation ability is also average. When the Lakers face teams with top centers in the league, such as getting O'Neal's Heat, Duncan's Spurs and other teams may be difficult to deal with.

No matter what, Phil Jackson is extremely interested in coaching this Lakers team.

The topic has gone too far...

Wang Chong knew that Phil Jackson would continue to coach the Lakers in the new season, and he also knew that his prejudice against Kobe still existed.

In this case, as long as he can show higher scoring ability and offensive efficiency than Kobe, the opponent will naturally give him more opportunities.

As long as he has the support of his head coach, Wang Chong is not afraid to compete with Kobe on his personal abilities on the court.

Although his current overall ability score is 91, he is still weaker than Kobe Bryant in terms of personal ability, but the natural advantage of height and wingspan, the blessing of the badge, and the league's cancellation of the handcheck rule in May this year, in terms of offensive ability alone, Wang Respect for Kobe is absolutely true.

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Time flies and it soon comes to mid-September.

As players arrived to report to the team one after another, the Lakers took their makeup photos for the new season.

At this time, the Lakers have basically determined their roster for the new season.

Compared with last season, the changes are really huge.

<divclass="contentadv">First of all, the point guard position. Gary Payton was traded away from the team, but veteran Fisher did not choose to jump out of his contract and leave like Phil Jackson did in the original history. , Fisher, who is like a man, can see that the Lakers still have fighting ability.

After trading away Gary Payton, the Lakers management also tended to renew Fisher's contract, and the two sides hit it off.

After jumping out of the contract, Fisher re-signed a four-year, 2100 million contract with the Lakers, with an average annual salary of 525 million. This contract is also in line with Fisher's past performance.

In addition, after Payton was sent to the Celtics as a trading chip, Chucky Atkins was exchanged for him. He is also a point guard with good immediate combat ability. Together with Fisher, he is fully qualified to transfer from the Bulls to the Celtics. The point guard position has never been taken seriously by Phil Jackson during the team's days.

At the shooting guard position, the main player is of course Kobe Bryant, who has become the boss of the Lakers as he wished. He has two substitutes, one is Sasha Vujacic, who was selected with the 30th overall pick in the first round this year, and the other is his future wife. Tennis superstar Sharapova is a player who is almost useless except for being very good.

Vujacic averaged 5.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game throughout his career. He is a proper water cooler keeper, while the other backup shooting guard, Karim Rush, is not as good as Vujacic.

But Kobe doesn't need any substitutes.

In the next few seasons, his average playing time will hover around 40 minutes per game, and his attendance rate is also quite high. He firmly holds the position of shooting guard, so what substitute players are needed?

At the small forward position, Wang Chong is naturally the absolute first starter. In addition to him, there is Caron Butler who was traded from the Heat.

In fact, Caron Butler's level is very good. In the original 04-05 season, he quickly secured his starting position with the Lakers. He averaged 15.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, ranking second on the team in points per game. Compared to Kobe, he is even slightly taller than Odom.

It's just that Butler only played for the Lakers for one season before being traded to the Wizards. Later, Caron Butler averaged 20+6+5 All-Star data with the Wizards and was selected to the All-Stars for two consecutive years.

Unfortunately, now that Butler is with the Lakers, he may have a hard time getting ahead.

With Wang Chong here, he can only serve as a substitute for Wang Chong. As one of the absolute main players of the team this season, Wang Chong will play for at least 35 minutes, so there will definitely not be much playing time for him.

Moreover, the Lakers also have Devin George at the small forward position, and their talent reserve is quite sufficient.

At the power forward position, the Lakers have Lamar Odom and Brian Grant. The former is a left-handed magician who is favored by many media, and the latter is a brutal forward with good physical fitness. At his peak, he averaged 15 points per game. +9 stats.

Compared with several other positions, center is obviously the most stretched position for the Lakers in the new season.

Although Chris Mihm was acquired through a trade, and the team also has O'Neal's backup center Stanislav Medvedenko, these two players averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds per game last season, and the other averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds. Two people tied together can't do as well as half of O'Neal.

This is also the biggest weakness of the Lakers in the new season. It is easy to be attacked by a super center.

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After the makeup photo shoot, head coach Phil Jackson said in an interview with reporters. "Our lineup has changed a lot this summer. Shaq's departure is definitely a heavy blow to our strength, but at the same time we have also welcomed young, more dynamic new players. We have done Let’s face the challenges of the new season.”

When Kobe was interviewed, he made no secret of his ambitions.

"I want to be the strongest player in this league, and now I finally have this opportunity to prove it to everyone! Please wait and see for the new season!"

In contrast, Odom, who has just arrived, is much more low-key, saying that he will adapt to the new team and new teammates as soon as possible and play every game well.

Of course, reporters could not let Wang Chong go.

Reporters have many questions to ask Wang Chong, who won the MVP award over other superstars such as Iverson, Duncan and Marbury in the Olympics.

Especially after the Olympics, head coach Larry Brown, who has always been known for his stubbornness, praised Wang Chong in front of the media. He believed that Wang Chong was a very smart player with strategic vision and hoped to cooperate with Wang Chong again.

Being recognized by Larry Brown shows that Wang Chong is indeed unique.

You must know that Larry Brown does not like rookies. During the Olympics, only Wang Chong was reused among the 03 rookies. Among the remaining three, Wade averaged about 15 minutes of playing time per game, which is already relatively high.

Having said that, it must be mentioned.

James and Anthony averaged less than 10 minutes per game in the Olympics, with James averaging 5 points per game and Anthony averaging 2 points per game.

The No. 03 pick and No. pick in became Wang Chong's backup in the Olympics. He was crushed in all directions, which was shocking.

Although Wang Chong won the championship with the Lakers in the past 03-04 season and became the first player among the 03 rookies to win the championship, that was mostly due to the OK combination.

Even if Wang Chong himself performed very well in the playoffs, without him the Lakers might not even be able to win the championship. However, there is no doubt that the OK combination plays a more important role on the court. Without Wang Chong, the Lakers might not be able to defeat the Pistons. , but without anyone in the OK combination, the Lakers will definitely not be able to beat the Pistons.

Putting aside the honor of the championship, the performance of the three players in the regular season is almost equal. They all averaged 20+ points per game. James has the most gorgeous statistics, Wang Chong has the highest efficiency, and Anthony leads the Nuggets in the Western Conference. Make the playoffs.

Although James won the Rookie of the Year award in the end, most fans generally believe that the three players in the 03 class are almost equally powerful.

Who would have thought that in just two or three months at the Olympics, James and Anthony, two players who are on par with Wang Chong, would have become Wang Chong's substitutes and barely get a few minutes of playing time. Already? Isn’t this contrast too strong?

Now many people are very curious, the new season is about to begin, and what kind of performance each of these three players will have in the upcoming 04-05 season.

James next door has already boasted in front of reporters that he will lead the Cavaliers into the playoffs in the new season.

Obviously, he also felt the huge threat from Wang Chong, and had to make such bold words to strengthen his own momentum.

It's just that if you fail to make this kind of promise, you'll be embarrassed.

Like, "I'm not leaving Cleveland, this is my hometown."

"When Wade and I are together, we will win one, two, three or four, not five or six, but at least seven championships."

"I never dive, I don't even know how to dive."

Once these words are used to settle old scores, it will be really embarrassing.