Legend of Tomorrow

On the morning of November 1, O'Neal called Guo Xu and asked him to have dinner with him at noon. After training, Guo Xu drove O'Neal directly from the hotel to his home in an SUV.

Going to a restaurant is boring. O'Neal has already tasted all the delicacies, and reporters may interrupt the two of them while they chat. What Guo Xu did was exactly what Ao Pang wanted. He only seemed close to her when he came home to greet her. He hadn't been here since Guo Xu moved.

The small villa Guo Xu bought is definitely incomparable to O'Neill's mansion in Los Angeles with a total area of ​​nearly 10,000 square feet. It is better because it is warm and you can find each other at home with just a shout. O'Neal's mansion must be maintained by many servants. He and his girlfriend Shanni can play hide and seek at home and never find each other.

As soon as O'Neal walked in, the puppy Buddy shrank back in fright, rolled over, turned around and ran away. Puppies are usually very scared when they see big dogs. When they see O'Neal, Buddy thinks this is a monster.

O'Neal greeted the two sisters and praised Megan for becoming beautiful. They were already familiar with each other when they were in Los Angeles. It is not surprising that Megan is fat when she lives here.

We had dinner together at noon. O'Neill was full of praise for the pizza made by Christie. He kept telling jokes while chatting, making the two women laugh. Christie met O'Neal for the first time and lamented that he was more interesting than on TV.

After dinner, the two girls went shopping together, while Guo Xu and O'Neill were playing game consoles at home to reminisce about old times. The humorous O'Neal turned into a grumbler and talked to Guo Xu about his recent bad situation.

As the saying goes, family scandals should not be made public, but even if Guo Xu changed teams, O'Neal did not treat him as an outsider. He also firmly believed that Guo Xu would not spread what he said.

Now he not only dislikes Kobe, he has also fallen out with the management. The conflict between the two parties has completely intensified because he was severely played by the Lakers management.

O'Neal has always wanted to get a huge contract extension from the Lakers, and the management may have made a certain commitment. They told O'Neal that if he could convince Malone and Payton to take a salary cut and come to the team, they would give them some care in terms of contract extensions. Therefore, O'Neal started calling those two in the middle of last season to ask them to join.

In the summer, O'Neal fulfilled his promise, but the Lakers owner changed his mind and still did not renew his contract with a high salary.

The management also asked the OK team to cease fighting and stop sarcastic remarks in front of the media. As a result, Kobe gave an interview during the preseason, saying that O'Neal was too fat and had poor physical fitness. Said he spent too much time nursing his toe, said his injury wasn't that serious after all. He also said O'Neal was only thinking about his own contract extension while the other two Hall of Famers were playing for almost free.

O'Neal was so angry after watching that interview that he wanted to beat Kobe Bryant during the preseason but was stopped by his teammates. The atmosphere in the Lakers locker room is very bad now. Zen Master Phil Jackson is impatient. Malone and Payton are also impatient.

After hearing O'Neal's complaints, Guo Xu sighed: Shaquille, the Lakers are like this now. Let me tell you the truth. Don't be angry. Don't blame me after this season.

What words?

The Lakers will definitely not be able to beat the Suns. No matter whether they meet in the regular season or the playoffs, you will not be able to win. Guo Xu said with a smile.

O'Neal curled his lips and was really displeased: The game hasn't even started yet, and you already look down on the Lakers?

You let me know so many inside stories about the Lakers. Brother, let me give you some insight. When we reinforced in the summer, we mainly targeted the Spurs, which happened to restrain the Lakers. Diop, who was traded, is a blue-collar tank and is suitable for main defense. You and Duncan, the rest of the inside line, are very fast and run like guards. We mainly play counterattacks. Do you and Malone have the physical strength to run the entire court?

... O'Neill thought for a while, this must not be possible!

Last season, it was difficult for him to defend against counterattacks. Malone is 40 years old, can he have better physical strength than him?

Guo Xu continued: Our team's outside swingmen can also run well, and most of them can shoot three-pointers. In positional battles, you and Malone have to defend pick-and-rolls, which consumes more energy. Even if you play well offensively, your physical strength in the second half will be exhausted. You will definitely suffer a loss. Moreover, the coaching staff is prepared to use shark-cutting tactics to deal with you, and we have many people rotating inside.

Damn! O'Neal cursed: Why are you targeting the inside? Why don't you double-team Kobe?

Did he use double teams? Another weakness of the Lakers is the lack of three-point shooting points. We just stayed close to the penalty area. Kobe scored two points in a one-on-one with the ball. His shooting percentage is generally only 45%, including Should he let you and Malone, two guys with high shooting percentages, shoot?

What Guo Xu said is all true. O'Neal can't refute it. Payton, a point guard who likes breakthroughs and post-up attacks, joined this season. Fisher has to be a substitute. The most reliable three-pointer in the starting lineup is Kobe. The Lakers are just a card lineup. It looks relatively powerful.

In Guo Xu's previous life, the Lakers were not strong this season. They only achieved 56 wins in the regular season. Malone's injury was not an accident at all. It was caused by too much playing time, heavy defensive tasks, and fatigue.

On the offensive end, the Lakers' main tactic is one-on-one. What the Lakers need most at this time is actually Kobe playing off the ball on the outside to help open up space and shoot three-pointers. Of course Kobe would not do this. He wanted to compete with O'Neal for the star player in the low post.

People who hit 45% of two-pointers and people who shot 60% took the shots. Kobe was so good during this period. Later, O'Neal left, and Kobe played in the low post as much as he wanted. There was no post-season partner with a high shooting rate who could score. Can't make it past the first round.

Jackson tried to let Kobe play off the ball and persuaded him to do so in the preseason, but it didn't work. In his previous life, Kobe never played without the ball until he retired. Later, in the 2012-2013 season, the Lakers formed an F4 again. The situation was very similar to this time. There was a lack of three-point shooting points. The Lakers' adjustment method was to let Nash be a fixed-point shooter from the outside.

O'Neal and Kobe have been fighting together for eight years. How could he not know Kobe's character? It is indeed difficult for the Lakers to defeat the Suns when they mainly rely on two-pointers. Just like other teams could not defeat the Lakers with Guo Xu, he led the whole team to open up the field.

O'Neal sighed: If it's like you said, I'm done after this season.

Then go play healthy basketball with a team you like. Don't count on the strong teams in the Western Conference. The Lakers management will not assist competitors. I think 80% of you will be traded to the Eastern Conference. Man, don't waste your energy with Kobe. , he is young, you can’t wear him down, anyway, you have all the honors you should have, if you want to be more active, make more money, and live happily. Just don’t go to a team with a lot of training intensity. You have a lot of training with your body. If you don’t, your career will be shorter.”

O'Neal said he would consider it. He was in a bad mood, but he had to admit that Guo Xu made sense.

The Lakers started the transfer of power last season. Kobe's sharp increase in shots was supported by the management. O'Neal took fewer shots this season. Jackson did not arrange for O'Neal to attack the basket as he did back then.

Aopang didn't have to fight to the death with Guo Xu on the court. He was more concerned about whether he could star in a movie in the future. He liked the previous one very much, but it was a pity that he had too few roles and was just a guest appearance.

Guo Xu said: If I have a good script in the future, I will definitely film it. Let's invest in a comedy together and play the leading role.

There are no such scripts now. Apart from basketball-related movies, Guo Xu can't think of anything suitable for O'Neal. His image is all about himself. He can only wait for Robert to collect the scripts and rummage through them for inspiration.