NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 119: Walking through flowers and butterflies, knocking out Anthony

James doesn't know yet that he will pay the price for what he said in the future.

When facing reporters, Wang Chong always maintains a relatively low-key and conservative attitude.

"Mr. Wang Chong, what are your goals or expectations for the new season?"

This question made Wang Chong think about it for a moment, and then gave a relatively conservative answer.

"I have two main goals for the new season. The first is to participate in the All-Star Game, and the second is to be selected for the All-Star Team at the end of the season."

Wang Chong had already spoken very conservatively, but the reporters were still shocked by Wang Chong's goal.

Don't be surprised.

Being selected for the All-Star Game is a little better. There are 12 players from the East and West, a total of 24. As long as Wang Chong performs better, with his identity as a Chinese American and the support of a large number of Chinese fans, he can pass like Yao. Being voted into the All-Star starting lineup is not impossible.

But the best lineup is different. Counting the first, second and third teams, there are only 15 players in total who can be selected. They are basically the 15 best players in the league. If position is also taken into account, Wang Chong, as a forward, Performance must reach the top six in the league to have a chance to be selected.

This is no joke for a rookie entering his second year.

Referring to the six players selected for the All-NBA Team last year, Wang Chong's competitors will be Duncan, Garnett, Nowitzki, O'Neal Jr., Tracy McGrady and others.

These players are all top superstars who have been famous for a long time. How can they be surpassed so easily?

Wang Chong's two goals are ambitious, but if you think about it carefully, they are by no means completely impossible.

After all, Wang Chong's performance in the Olympics was so amazing that he even outshone Iverson, Duncan, Marbury and other stars.

In the new season, he is the second offensive core of the Lakers. He can get more ball rights and shot opportunities than last season, but accordingly, he will encounter much greater defensive pressure than before.

Without O'Neal to protect him, no one knows whether Wang Chong can continue to score efficiently as he did last season.

-

The Lakers, whose players have gathered together, have begun training before the new season.

After a long offseason, the first thing the assistant coaches have to do is to conduct physical tests on all players, obtain detailed physical test data, accurately grasp the situation of all players, and use this to measure the players of the entire team. Customized training plan.

"Oh, I've actually grown taller again."

The assistant coach who measured the height looked at Wang Chong who had completed the height measurement, recorded the height data of 6 feet 11 inches on the statistics board, and shook his head at the same time. "With this height, there is no problem playing center..."

Wang Chong also smiled. "With my small body, are you trying to tear me apart by asking me to go inside?"

When the assistant coach heard this, he couldn't help but take a look at Wang Chong's detailed physical test data.

身高6尺11寸（2米10），臂展7尺5寸（2米26），体重240磅（109公斤）。

"Can't you hit the inside with this physique?"

The assistant coach felt a little doubtful about life, and couldn't help but take another look at Odom's data that had just been tested.

身高6尺10寸（2米08），臂展7尺2寸（2米18），体重230磅（104公斤）。

Last season, Odom played the power forward position for the Heat, and occasionally even played as a center.

Can't hit the inside line?

Of course Wang Chong is qualified for the inside position. In fact, during Durant's time with the Warriors, he appeared at the power forward position most of the time.

Yes, but not necessary.

Obviously, the small forward position has a height advantage and can perform better on the offensive end. Why must he go inside and wrestle with a group of muscle sticks?

Some players who are lighter in weight will try to avoid playing center. The most typical example is Garnett. In order not to play center, he deliberately lowered his height. In this era, every player wants to increase his height by 2 centimeters. The alliance is really clean.

Durant's height will fluctuate in the future. First, he was officially registered at 2 meters, and later changed to 06 meters. I'm afraid it's the same reason.

After the physical examination, the assistant coach submitted a detailed report to Phil Jackson.

When he saw Wang Chong's physical test report, Phil Jackson was shocked.

Wang Chong's physical condition is very good and has improved significantly compared to last year's physical test, both in terms of height, wingspan and weight, as well as speed, jumping and explosive power.

But compared to the physical test, Wang Chong's progress in basketball skills is more obvious, especially in the ball-holding skills.

Wang Chong's original dribbling skills were not bad, but after the Olympics, his dribbling level has obviously improved greatly, especially in fancy dribbling and left-handed dribbling, which is comparable to Odom. Give more, and even be better than Odom in terms of breakthrough with the ball!

Odom is a player known as the left-handed magician. His ball-handling skills are at the top level among strikers in the league!

Wang Chong's height has reached 2 meters. He can have such ball-handling skills with such a high center of gravity, which shows how talented he is!

With his outstanding ball control and breakthrough skills, combined with Wang Chong's already very accurate mid-to-long-range shooting ability, Phil Jackson was shocked to find that just one season later, Wang Chong seemed to have the qualities to become the league's top scorer.

"This growth rate is a bit exaggerated..."

It’s no wonder Phil Jackson was shocked.

After the finals, Wang Chong's overall ability score reached 91. Looking across the league, players with higher ability scores than him can be counted with both hands and feet.

In this way, Phil Jackson can add another tactic to his tactical board - Wang Chong's singles tactic with the ball.

-

In early October, the 10-2004 preseason began.

The preseason stage is no longer as important to Wang Chong as his rookie season last season.

After a season of baptism, Wang Chong has secured his position as the team's starting lineup and does not need to show his abilities through preseason games to get more playing opportunities.

Even in order to hide Wang Chong's current strength and catch his opponents off guard during the regular season, Phil Jackson deliberately controlled Wang Chong's playing time.

In 8 preseason games, Wang Chong's average playing time was only about 18 minutes per game, which was close to that of Kobe Bryant. Every time, he would come on and play for a while and then take a rest, leaving the game to the Lakers' substitute players.

But the same goes for other teams in the league. Few teams will let their main players play for a long time in the preseason.

In the final eight preseason games, the Lakers achieved a record of 8 wins and 4 losses. Their performance was quite satisfactory, which did not reveal the true strength of the Lakers after losing O'Neal.

But it doesn't matter, the end of the preseason means the real game, the NBA regular season is coming.

The Lakers' first game of the new season will be on November 2004, 11.

<divclass="contentadv">They will face the Denver Nuggets at home.

In the 04-05 season, the Nuggets' strength has been significantly improved compared to the previous season, because they paid three first-round picks in the summer to acquire 2000 No. pick Kenyon Martin from the Nets in a sign-and-trade manner. .

Last season, Martin averaged 16.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game with the Nets, shooting 48.8% from the field, and was selected as an Eastern All-Star substitute. He is definitely a strong player.

The Nuggets have retained the complete lineup from last season's playoffs and added a strong player, and their strength has naturally increased.

As for the Lakers' matchup with the Nuggets, the main highlight is the head-to-head showdown between Wang Chong and Anthony, the geniuses of the 03 class.

After a major overhaul in the offseason, the Lakers' starting five for the opening game of the new season are point guard Derek Fisher, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, small forward Wang Chong, power forward Odom, and center Chris Rice. Mu.

The Nuggets' starting lineup is Andre Miller, Voshon Leonard, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby.

Mihm and Camby competed for the ball in the midfield. The latter won the ball with his excellent jumping and explosiveness, and the Nuggets attacked.

After Miller dribbled the ball across half court, he handed the basketball to Anthony.

After Anthony averaged 20+6 per game in his rookie season, he has become the undisputed first core of the Nuggets. All the Nuggets' tactical systems in the new season are basically developed around Anthony. At the same time, the Nuggets management The management also very much hopes that Anthony can surpass James and Wang Chong in terms of personal performance this season and become the strongest rookie in the 03 class.

Anthony faced Wang Chong directly with the ball, and immediately a Nuggets player took the initiative to pick and roll for Anthony.

Anthony always suffered a disadvantage when facing Wang Chong last season, but this can't be blamed on him. Who made the size difference between Wang Chong and him so big?

Wang Chong's height and wingspan make him naturally extremely talented on the defensive end, especially when defending outside players. His long hands are waving back and forth in the air, and the effect of interfering with shooting is simply not very good.

Anthony no longer has the stubborn idea of ​​defeating Wang Chong in a one-on-one fight. In other words, Anthony at this stage has long since lost the idea of ​​underestimating his opponent when he met Wang Chong in the NCAA finals.

Even in his subconscious mind, Wang Chong may still be stronger than him now, and he cannot tolerate the slightest contempt.

Kenyon Martin provided a pick-and-roll screen for Anthony, who used the screen to break through and rush to the free throw line to make a pull-up jump shot.

Odom, who was helping Wang Chong defend, was half a beat slow, but in the first game of the new season, Anthony's touch was not very good. Although the defensive interference was not strong, his pull-up jump shot failed to hit.

The defensive rebound was protected by Mihm and the offense and defense transitioned.

Fisher dribbled the ball across half court, stopped at the top arc, and then decisively looked for Kobe's position.

The first attack of the first game of the new season after O'Neal left the team must give Kobe, the newly promoted boss of the team, face.

Kobe caught the ball in the low post on the right side, with Wash Leonard at his back. He instantly turned around and passed his opponent in one step, rushed to the basket and pulled the lever for a layup.

Leonard, who was selected to join the league in the second round in 94, relies on three-point shooting as a skill to survive in the league. At only 1 meters tall, his defensive ability at the shooting guard position is not outstanding, and his speed and explosiveness are incomparable. Comparable to Kobe Bryant in his prime.

In the next few rounds, Anthony was always the main attacker on the Nuggets' side, and every time he used pick-and-roll screens or other methods to find ways to stagger Wang Chong's defense.

This really gave Anthony a lot of shooting opportunities. After all, the Lakers' inside line was newly formed, and their cooperation was seriously lacking. Moreover, neither Odom nor Mihm was good at inside defense.

首节比赛刚刚过半，安东尼已经4投2中，罚球3中2得到6分。

For the Lakers, the main point of attack is naturally Kobe. In the first game without O'Neal, Kobe also performed extremely actively. Facing Leonard's half-hearted defense, he scored 8 points directly on 5 of 2 shots and 2 of 12 free throws.

Wang Chong basically didn't take many shots in the first quarter and only made 2 shots. They were all open shots made by Kobe's double-team to attract the defense and then split the ball. He hit one three-pointer and one mid-range shot and scored 5 points.

Then Anthony was shocked to find that he had spent a long time to score 6 points. Wang Chong didn't play much at all, and he actually scored 5 points at the end of the first quarter.

In the first quarter, the Lakers took a 26-point lead at 17:9.

The fans at the Lakers' home court were happy.

It seems that even though O'Neal is no longer here, as long as the Lakers have Kobe and Wang Chong, they will still be the league's top team. At least they still have a huge advantage against teams on the edge of the playoffs like the Nuggets.

Kobe did not play immediately after the start of the second quarter, but sat on the bench to rest.

Seeing a rare opportunity, the Nuggets immediately wanted to seize the opportunity to catch up with the score difference they fell behind in the first quarter.

But they obviously thought too much, because although Kobe went off the court to rest, Wang Chong was still on the court, and the person who replaced Kobe on the court was Caron Butler, who replaced Kobe from the small forward position to the shooting guard.

The Lakers served the ball from the baseline, and substitute point guard Chucky Atkins held the ball past halftime and then passed the ball to Wang Chong.

This is the request of head coach Phil Jackson.

In this regular season opener, he not only wanted to win, but also tested the perfect way for two scorers, Kobe and Wang Chong, to coexist.

The way for two people to coexist is actually very simple, just travel during off-peak hours.

When Kobe is on the court, Kobe is responsible for attacking. Wang Chong serves as a fixed-point shooter to help Kobe occupy the space. When Kobe comes off the court to rest, Wang Chong is the main attacker.

Since in the first quarter of the game, Wang Chong was basically just a so-called fixed-point shooter, stationed on one side, and he played for about 8 minutes before taking a rest, so his physical energy consumption was not great, and he was full of energy at this time.

Standing at the top of the three-point line and holding the ball facing Anthony's defense, Wang Chong's dribbling speed suddenly accelerated. He changed hands under his hips and handed the ball from his left hand to his right, making a breakthrough toward the left.

Upon seeing this, Anthony immediately adjusted his steps and stepped forward to defend.

But the next moment, Wang Chong suddenly made a quick change of direction in front of his body, instantly pulled the basketball to the left, and rushed out with his body.

Butterfly step through flowers!

Wang Chong's movements were so realistic that Anthony was completely unprepared. When Wang Chong rushed past him from the left, he didn't even have time to adjust his steps. He was caught off guard. Anthony, who hurriedly tried to adjust his steps to catch up, stumbled and slipped. , and sat down on the floor!