Legend of Tomorrow

After chatting for half an hour, Guo Xu called four new friends to have dinner together in the evening.

The summer league invitation letter uniformly stated that the team is responsible for all the players' food and accommodation, and does not stipulate what to eat. The team will pay the players every day in the form of subsidies and buy them themselves.

This is a tradition of the NBA league. As we all know, NBA teams are relatively wealthy financially, and the owners of each team are also very generous to their favorite players. Providing food and accommodation can make the players feel respected.

Kurt Rambis was a little surprised when he saw these five people gathered together, because they were the focus of the Lakers' inspection in this league, and they were the starting lineup he wanted to arrange.

Guo Xu knows the strength of his teammates, which is the benefit of the reborn. He has an impression of the names of these four. During the meal, he asked everyone about their strengths, discussed tactical coordination, and promised to pass the ball to them whenever there was an opportunity.

The players are not familiar with each other in the temporary team, and the coach can only arrange basic tactics. The quality of cooperation depends mainly on the ability of the point guard. Everyone gave Guo Xu face and flattered the commander on the field.

The team had a simple joint practice on the morning of the 5th, and the Lakers VS Suns in the evening.

The summer league is held in the training hall, which can't accommodate many fans. The point is to inspect the players. As a result, the arena for the Lakers' first game is full, and the sidelines are particularly crowded. There are many Lakers fans in Long Beach. It is not convenient for them to go to the Staples Center to watch the game. They pay more attention to the rookie's performance, especially Guo Xu's performance.

After the draft, Guo Xu's exposure rate remained high and he was ranked among the top five rookies. Many media called him the craziest rookie and attracted a large number of fans.

Lakers starting: Guo Xu, Pampesi, George, Madsen, Medvedenko.

Suns starters: Joe Crispin, Paul McFernson, Ben Davis, Ruben Gassers, Jack Chakalidis.

The Suns are also composed of some NBA rookies, undrafted rookies, and weak NBA fringes.

Such a makeshift team is certainly not as strong as the NBA preseason games that start in October, but the competition is more cruel, ruthless, and unreasonable than the NBA regular season. Because there is a problem in front of him, what level of performance in the summer league can he win a basic salary contract?

The answer is that only the best in the summer league deserve a basic salary. Player data is not valuable here. Some fringe players in the NBA can compete for scoring, rebounding, assists, and MVP in the summer league.

Even if you perform well in the summer league, you may not be able to get a contract, because this is more of a stage for players to show their personal abilities, without too many tactics. In the NBA regular season, every player must perform their duties and abide by their duties. So how to change your role is also the key to whether you can finally stay on the team.

For many players who emerge in the summer league, what they get is not a stepping stone to enter the NBA, but more to prove themselves to overseas leagues. The NBA is the pinnacle of basketball, and only a handful of players climb to the top every year. On the contrary, there are thousands of players who dream of playing professional basketball. Even if they are marginalized in the NBA, they are only one in a million.

The Suns attack first and the game begins.

The players pulled away, and Paul lobbed the ball from the side to Tsakalidis in the low post on the right.

This 21-year-old center was selected by the Suns with the 25th pick in the first round. He is 218cm tall and weighs 129 kilograms. The team's purpose of selecting him is very clear, which is to be a blue-collar human shield to defend O'Neal.

Last season, the Suns eliminated the defending champion Spurs in the first round and were eliminated by the Lakers 4-1 in the second round. The Suns had nothing to do with O'Neal, they could only rely on fouls to prevent him from wreaking havoc in the penalty area. In this era, because of O'Neal, bulky blue-collar centers have received unprecedented attention.

Tsakalidis is tall, but lacks explosive power, turns slowly, cannot jump, and has no dominance at the basket. He has average footwork in the low post and no shooting range.

Just an ordinary blue collar. He caught the ball in the low post and pushed the 113-kg Medvedenko twice. He was too embarrassed to move and passed the ball out to the outside.

The ball ended as soon as it reached Ben Davis. He chose to isolate George and missed the basket under interference. Madsen grabbed the backcourt rebound.

Ben Davis was the 14th pick in the second round of 1996. He spent four seasons in the NBA and played a total of 40 games. His characteristic is that he thinks he is very comprehensive. He dares to attack with the ball no matter who the defender is. To put it bluntly, his shot selection is very poor. His NBA averages are 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds per game, and his shooting percentage is 35.6%.

The Suns lineup seems to be a group of NBA-level players, but in fact, except for the two guards, they are all blue-collar and have a terrible offense.

The Lakers attacked and Guo Xu dribbled the ball to the frontcourt.

Suns point guard Joe Crispin is 183cm tall and weighs 84kg. At the age of 21 this year, he unfortunately failed to participate in the draft and came to try his luck in the summer league. As an NCAA player, he will of course pay attention to the finals. After witnessing Guo Xu's terrifying performance, he is panicking now.

Guo Xu's relaxed eyes and the smile on the corner of his mouth are exactly the same as in the NCAA finals. A guard of that strength is simply not something he can fight against...

Guo Xu didn't play hard in the middle, and waited for Medvedenko to pull out the screen to block Crispin. If the small guard encounters the screen, he will be a black hole in the NBA if he is not good at chasing and defending.

Chakalidis stood near the penalty area, and Guo Xu stopped and made a jump shot within the three-point line and made a steady hit. 2 to 0.

He doesn't like long-range mid-range shots, but the opportunity is so good that he doesn't mind taking one occasionally. The big man doesn't switch defenses, and the point guard can easily get an open shot from this distance.

When the Suns attacked, Crispin brought the ball to the frontcourt. Facing Guo Xu, he did not dare to single out the ball. He passed the ball to the side, and Paul once again lobbed the ball in the low post.

The Suns are focusing on Chakalidis, hoping that he can take on more responsibilities on the court in the future, and the coaching staff should try to develop his offense.

Tsakalidis squeezed twice with his back, turned towards the baseline and shot. He used his height advantage to create shooting opportunities. His huge body could squeeze the opponent and prevent him from jumping, but his shooting range was too close, and the last shot was in vain if he couldn't make it. up. Madsen grabbed the backcourt rebound and handed it to Guo Xu for position battle.

Coach Rambis did not arrange a fast break, so Guo Xu forced himself to stay in position. If he were in the Spartans, he would definitely advance this kind of ball at full speed, and his teammates would also run wildly together.

Now the Lakers can counterattack. Except for Medvedenko, the other three teammates on the court are not slow, especially George. Just looking at his body, he can compare with LeBron James.

Guo Xu felt that George was a bit out of practice in the Lakers. He is good at fast breaks and is very powerful. If he plays the 4th position, he will be a violent beast when he rushes, looking like a gorilla. If he debuts on a fast-break team, he will have a better career.

In Guo Xu's previous life, the Lakers were also optimistic about George's physical fitness, even though his statistics were average and he signed a mid-level contract. Unfortunately, he soon suffered frequent injuries and his quality declined.

Guo Xu played a pick-and-roll with Medvedenko again in the middle, and Tsakalidis came out to block it. Guo Xu lowered his center of gravity, and with a change of speed, he passed Tsakalidis and easily reached the basket. Picked the basket with the right hand and scored. 4 to 0.

Guo Xu did not celebrate when returning to defense, and it was too easy to score.

He even suspected that the opponent was not playing seriously and his defense was terrible, not as strong as the defense in the semi-finals. If he faced this kind of defense throughout the game, scoring 50 points would be like picking something out of a bag!

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