Legend of Tomorrow

Guo Xu looked at the big news that happened in the NBA league in the world in the past 10 years. A small change can cause a series of butterfly effects, causing history to change beyond recognition.

The changes in this parallel world are even greater, and the cause of the matter is probably just that Duncan's mother had an extra physical examination when she was young.

In the original course of history, in 1990, the day before Duncan's birthday, his mother died of breast cancer. Duncan was only 14 years old at the time. Before his mother died, she hoped that he could complete college and become a cultural person. Therefore, in order to fulfill his mother's last wish, Duncan only participated in the NBA draft after graduating from college despite his outstanding ability.

In this world, Duncan's mother discovered the small lump on her chest early and successfully changed the outcome of her death through surgery. Naturally, her last wish for Duncan to go to college was lost.

Duncan's family supports him entering the NBA as soon as possible. As long as he is ranked high and has a guaranteed contract, the whole family can enjoy the benefits.

In 1993, Duncan entered Wake Forest University to major in psychology. In the first game against the University of Alaska, Duncan failed to score a point. As a freshman, he was just an ordinary inside man with outstanding physical fitness.

Duncan's original dream was to become a swimmer because his sister was on the U.S. national team.

Later, due to the influence of his brother-in-law and his tall stature, Duncan started practicing basketball at the age of 14. He has a high IQ and basketball talent, which is why he can quickly become a star. At first, no one expected that he would be strong enough to fight against the big shark on land.

With high-intensity training, Duncan's performance soared rapidly. In his sophomore year, Duncan scored 25 points in a game against Wallace University. Jerry West believed that he would become the No. 1 pick in the 1995 NBA draft. Unfortunately, the Lakers did not have a high pick.

Although Duncan's team's record in the first two years of college was not outstanding, his statistics were not particularly impressive, and he never won any personal honors, he was confident that he could adapt to the intensity of NBA competition and participated in the 1995 NBA draft.

Duncan, who entered the draft two years in advance, did not become the No. 1 pick. He just edged out high school player Garnett and was selected by the Timberwolves with the fifth overall pick.

The unlucky Garnett was selected sixth by the Grizzlies. During this period, the Grizzlies were located in Vancouver and no stars were willing to join. Their record was at the bottom every year and was not much better than the Timberwolves.

Guo Xu felt that this was fate, and Garnett was destined to become the King of the North.

After joining the Timberwolves, Duncan's rookie season was not outstanding. The team did not even make the playoffs. He averaged 12.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.2 blocks per game, but he failed to compete with Little Flying Squirrel Stoudemire for the best award. Rookie.

This is not because Duncan is incompetent, but because he cannot get the ball. The Timberwolves' boss in the 1995-96 season was Isiah Leder, the famous NBA cancer player. Christian Laettner and Duncan also shared playing time in the paint.

The Timberwolves' record has changed this season, with the draft pick ranking only eighth.

In the 1996 draft, the Grizzlies, who already had Garnett, did not use the third pick to select overlapping power forward Shareef Raheem, but instead selected point guard Stephon Marbury.

Fate is wonderful...

The Bucks selected Raheem with the fourth overall pick. If they select Marbury, they are willing to make a deal with the Timberwolves.

When the Timberwolves wanted to trade Marbury, who they had taken a fancy to, the Grizzlies, who also lacked good defenders, refused.

The Raptors selected Stoudemire, the Celtics selected Antoine Walker, and the Clippers selected Lorenzen White. Ray Allen fell to eighth place before being selected by the Timberwolves. He was extremely depressed.

If Marbury couldn't be traded, the Timberwolves had no choice but to keep Ray Allen. Both parties were quite reluctant.

Unintentionally, the Timberwolves' spring came after shit stirrer Leder was purged by the team and Laettner was traded.

Duncan became a 20+10 star next season, and second-in-command Gugliotta also hit his career peak of 20+8+4. The two were selected to the All-Stars together and led the Timberwolves to the playoffs. Lost to the Jazz in the second round.

The Timberwolves' offense has become smooth and beautiful. Duncan and Gugliotta form a twin tower, which can not only attack in the pick-and-roll, attack in the low post, but also support passes in the high and low posts.

Focus on cultivating Ray Allen from the outside. Ray Allen, who just entered the league, has excellent immediate combat ability. He has a strong body, very fast speed, and his jumping ability is at the level of a slam dunk contest. He has accurate mid-range and long-range shots and can break through with the ball.

The Timberwolves have established a trident, and other role players are responsible for catching, shooting and defense, and their cooperation is becoming more and more tacit.

The key to the team's success lies in chemical reaction. Gugliotta and Duncan form a twin tower that complements each other. His specialty is pulling out the mid-range shot, while Duncan preferred to attack with the ball in the low post in the early stages of his career, attracting double teams and then dividing the ball.

Gugliotta and Garnett have overlapping positions. Both are forwards, both like to hide and play, and have difficulty defending the penalty area.

Garnett was too thin when he first entered the league. He lied about his height in order not to play inside, which resulted in Gugliotta having to defend the penalty area. His many injuries were directly related to the intensity of the confrontation.

Now that the Timberwolves have the tough Duncan, Gugliotta remains healthy and can pull out and play as much as he likes. He is not afraid of others saying he is a softie, because he knows his own weight, his physical fitness is incomparable to Duncan's, and success depends on technology.

In the 1997 draft, the Timberwolves selected combo guard Bobby Jackson to strengthen the weakest No. 1 position.

Although Jackson's organizational skills are not very good, he can shoot suddenly and strengthen the team's offensive firepower in the second quarter. The starting Timberwolves focus on the inside, and Ray Allen is responsible for holding the ball and attacking on the outside.

Ray Allen has made significant progress in the second season of his career, averaging 17.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4 assists per game, shooting 40.7% from three-point range and hitting 2 three-pointers.

It is worth mentioning that the Spurs, who had a poor record in 1996, used the No. 1 pick to select Van Horn, which was a tragedy for the Twin Towers.

The results of the 1997-98 season were surprising. During the regular season, the Timberwolves finished fourth in the Western Conference, slightly behind the Jazz, SuperSonics, and Lakers.

But the young Timberwolves players got better and better, and they fought fiercely after entering the playoffs, sweeping the Suns 3-0 in the first round.

In the second round, the Timberwolves upset the Jazz, who topped the Western Conference in the regular season with 62 wins, 4-3.

Big White Bear Ostertag did a good job defending O'Neal, because O'Neal had no shooting range and kept attacking the penalty area. Although Duncan is less dominant in the penalty area than the Shark, he is more comprehensive. He can not only attack in the low post, but also pull out to play pick-and-rolls to create misplaced offensive opportunities for defenders, and can catch the ball and make mid-range shots.

The Big White Bear couldn't defend the pick-and-roll and was blown away. Duncan and Ray Allen became the key figures.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Timberwolves eliminated the Lakers 4-2. Duncan's performance against O'Neal was not inferior in terms of statistics. In the second season, Kobe's performance was not as good as Ray Allen's. He only made random hits and wasted shots.

In the finals, Duncan completely defeated Bulls center Luke Longley. Rodman could only defend Gugliotta, but there was nothing he could do against Duncan.

Led by Duncan, Tom Hammond, Sam Mitchell, Terry Burt, Anthony Pillar, Ray Allen and others all performed well. Only Gugliotta is in a sluggish state and has a low shooting percentage, but Bulls forward Rodman has no offensive power, so he can only try to cash in.

In the end, the Timberwolves defeated the Bulls 4-3. Duncan helped the team win the first championship in team history and was elected FMVP.

The Bulls tried their best. This season, the players were aging and their physical fitness was compromised. In the finals tiebreaker, Jordan even had a high fever and forced himself to play. Jordan, who has a fever, can handle the Postman but not the Wolf King!