Basketball: Starting from the Rodman template

Chapter 155 Unsatisfactory No. 8 and No. 23

The acquisition of Gerald Wallace in the trade last season was originally an "inadvertent move" by Pat Riley. He wanted to add a striker with strong physical fitness to run with this team.

But he didn't expect that with just one glance, he would see such a "potential stock" on the Kings bench.

Gerald Wallace: I have been waiting for three years, not to prove how powerful I am, but to prove that if you give me a chance, I will be successful!
But even so, Stan Van Gundy thought Gerald Wallace's performance had reached its peak last season.

The main reason is that he wasted three years on the bench of the Kings. As a rookie player, in the three most critical years for rising goals, he had little playing time, and his potential would only be exhausted.The most obvious example is Wang Zhizhi back then.

Even Nelson said that if he had come to the NBA two years earlier, he might have been able to become the next Nowitzki...

Stan Van Gundy really didn’t expect that!
This summer, Gerald Wallace's condition can actually rise to another level.

As far as his physical test data is concerned, to be honest, only Woody and Wade can be better than him.

Woody is a "gifted talent", and with this trajectory, it is clear that he is heading towards the next "league super giant"; Needless to say, Wade is preparing for top events such as the Olympics in the summer, and it is his fault that he is not in good condition. .

Gerald Wallace wasted three years of good time, but he can still see obvious progress.

Look at this data...

Before this physical test even started, Stan Van Gundy was already very excited.

In his opinion, the new season has a lot to offer.

And now, he feels that this season is likely to become the "big breakthrough year" in the history of the Heat!
Since Miami has an NBA team, it hasn't made it to the Finals yet, right?
Well, yes, the new season hasn't even started yet, and Stan Van Gundy is already looking forward to next year's Finals.

It’s no wonder he is so confident. The strongest person is already in the formation, but he is still afraid of a hammer!
The starting lineup for the new season has basically been determined after he read the physical test data of these players:
Center Shaquille O'Neal, power forward Woody, small forward Gerald Wallace, and Wade's name must be on the back line.

As for the remaining quota...

Mainly, he is not sure whether Wade should play the No. [-] or No. [-] position!

After just a few days of training matches, he played the No. [-] position and the No. [-] position, each with its own outstanding features.

If he is in the second position, his ability to penetrate the basket from the wing is very good, and even outside defenders like Eddie Jones who have been in the "best defense" can't stop him.

In the first position, regardless of his pick-and-roll cooperation with Woody and Shaquille O'Neal, he can ensure that the ball reaches the hands of these two people smoothly.

On the contrary, Alstom does not have this capability.

It's just that he can pass the ball to the hands of these two people, but his subsequent containment ability is very problematic.Judging from the past few games, his stability with the ball and shooting has improved somewhat, but his catching and shooting is still a mess, and it is easy to fall into "dead ball" adjustments.

This gives the opponent a reason to double-team Shaq or Woody who is captured inside at will...

In about half a month, Stan Van Gundy finally determined their starting lineup for the new season after constant attempts:

No. [-] Alston, No. [-] Wade, No. [-] Gerald Wallace, No. [-] Woody, No. [-] Shaquille O'Neal!
In the end, he decided to let Jones, who earns tens of millions per year, sit on the bench and join Wade in the second team.

This can ensure the continuous output capability of the second lineup...

After all, judging from the effect, the effect of Wade plus Jones is obviously better than that of Alston plus Jones.

While the starting lineup and substitute rotation strategies were gradually coming into focus, Pat Riley suddenly made another move. He used a basic salary of 75 to sign Mourning, who had previously chosen to retire due to kidney disease, to fill the No. [-] position. bit depth.

Mourning also became the first person in NBA history to return to the NBA after a kidney transplant.

Woody studied behind him for a year last year. There is absolutely no problem with this guy's hardness.

Now the entire Heat team looks even more terrifying.

The key is that it is extremely reasonable and motivated!

Woody and Wade's momentum as newcomers, Shaquille O'Neal's being underestimated, and the suppressed energy to slap him in the face all gave this Heat team a sense of belief.

The Miami media said directly: "In the new season, I believe no one wants to meet us!"

The courage to say this comes from the confidence in my heart.

There is also unanimous optimism from the outside world...

ESPN ranks the strength of 30 teams in the new season. Although they are still not optimistic that Woody will surpass LeBron James in his future achievements, the Heat appear in fourth place on the list.

Second only to the Pistons, who won the championship last year, and the Pacers, who were first in the regular season last year, and the Spurs, the 03 NBA champion...

Powerful players like the Kings and Nets, as well as last year's top-ranked Timberwolves in the Western Conference, have all been trampled under their feet.Of course, there are other reasons for these three teams that have caused their rankings to drop!
It is worth mentioning that it is not just Woody's team's ranking that has become higher.

The Nuggets, with Carmelo Anthony, are ranked 13th on the list and have become one of the top eight in the Western Conference in the new season in the eyes of ESPN.

LeBron's Cavaliers are also ranked high, ranking 11th on the list, two places higher than the Nuggets, and second only to the Pistons, Pacers and Heat in the Eastern Conference.

Although the general manager of the Cavaliers made a series of tricks this summer and let go of a "third-in-command" level of immediate combat ability, ESPN is still optimistic about the growth of the Cavaliers because this team has a "proud son of heaven" "LeBron!"

Ok……

Since Woody's "Emperor" nickname was announced, LeBron's team and ESPN have increasingly used the term "God's Proud One" to describe LeBron. As for the nickname "King", it has been mentioned less and less often. .

In "Sports Illustrated", the Heat's ranking is even higher.

They believe that the Pacers are another year older, and the Pistons' "Double Wallace" combination will not get any benefits against the "Audi".

As for Tim Duncan, let alone that. Since 00, Shaquille O'Neal has been very powerful in suppressing the "Stone Buddha". Now coupled with Woody... this combination is an unsolvable problem for the Spurs.

So they ranked the Heat first in the new season!
They are not afraid of putting pressure on Woody.

What is there to say?

If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight!
They believe that the guy they are optimistic about will never be able to withstand this level of pressure...

Speaking of which, they even shot a special cover for Woody. ——Including this issue, Woody has appeared on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" for the sixth time since high school. At his age, the number of times he has appeared on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" is definitely the first in the NBA!

No one has this kind of preference!
The cover of this issue even made the Cleveland media call it "bold"!
Because Woody's shooting action is a "about to put on the crown" action.

The cover title is even more straightforward:

A new emperor has arrived?

This issue caused quite a stir.

The reason is that Woody finally appeared in front of the public. Even if it is just a photo, everyone can clearly see that this guy has gained a lot of weight.The whole person is called stout.

"Bleacher Report" said: "The league lost one Karl Malone, and another Karl Malone will be born!"

After the Lakers failed to win the championship in last year's finals and were upset, the "OK" group fell apart and Karl Malone retired.

In the "Jordan era", another "uncrowned king" who won the regular season MVP was born.From Barkley to Karl Malone, it's not that they are not strong, it's just that Jordan is too strong!

Including Olajuwon and David Robinson, all players who won the regular season MVP could only stand in the audience and watch him during the period when Jordan did not retire in the 90s.Even if they cut off the possibility of Jordan's three consecutive "MVP" titles in the regular season, this is the maximum they can achieve.

The reason why Jordan is unique lies in this dominance...

So when Woody heard "Bleacher Report" say this, he felt that the media in Los Angeles were too rude.

Who's talking about Karl Malone?
unlucky!

However, the cover of Sports Illustrated made the Heat's media day very lively.

A total of 6 teams held media conferences on this day, but 7% of the reporters were concentrated in Miami.

When they saw Woody appear at the scene, all the reporters' hands were almost smoking when they pressed the shutter button.

This guy……

A lot has changed in one summer!

When domestic reporters brought Woody's recent photos back to China, it also aroused heated discussions. Fans who originally thought Woody was just making an excuse not to go to the Olympics were completely speechless.

It turns out that he really wanted to improve himself, so he chose to reject the invitation from the national team!
Such weight gain does require concentrated time to achieve...

At that time, many fans forgave Woody.

There was also a makeup photo shoot that day.

When Woody, Shaquille O'Neal and Wade stood together, the scene fascinated Miami reporters.

Is this definitely a roster Miami can have?

This is too dreamy, right?
If this is a dream, please don't wake me up!

The final makeup photos of these three people were hung on the advertising wall of the American Airlines Arena two days later.

There is no doubt that this is the signature "core" of the Heat in the new season!
Woody stands in the middle, extremely dazzling.

On his left is Shaquille O'Neal with his hand on his shoulder, and on his right is Wade with his hand on his shoulder.

The whole thing is a "WiFi" signal.

It is worth mentioning that the three of them took several sets of shots.

There is also a photo of Wade standing in the C position.

Wade, who was just surrounded by Woody and Shaquille O'Neal, looked a little cramped.

In fact, Wade thought he was not there at first in this game, but he did not expect that the team management was willing to take him to play. This was enough to make him happy for a long time.How dare you think about standing in the C position!
How can He De He can!
In the end, the management chose this poster.

It’s not the most visually domineering one, but sometimes, the role of this poster is to declare sovereignty!
Woody is the absolute core of this team.

Whether it is the "Wood" combination or the "Audi" combination, Woody is the core person!

"Son of the city" is none other than Woody!
Shaquille O'Neal was not unhappy when he saw this poster.

He has already accepted this matter. When interviewed by the media, he also said: "This is Woody's team!"

Of course, he also had his own selfish reasons for doing this. Think about it, Kobe spent so much effort to be his boss, but he refused, instead he went to other teams to be the "second child" for a newcomer. This scene …

How angry Kobe was!
As long as it can make Kobe angry, that's a good thing!
It really doesn't matter whether it's C or not. Just thinking about Kobe's stingy look when he saw this poster can make the "big shark" wake up in the middle of the night.

If you ask Shaquille O'Neal what he regrets the most, he will definitely say that I shouldn't have signed Kobe's autograph to ease his embarrassment!

Shaquille O'Neal isn't the only one who thinks this way.

Some reporters who were not too concerned about the excitement took this poster to Los Angeles, and then they successfully placed Kobe's snake-like expression on it.

Stare you to death!

This summer, there are many people who are not having a satisfactory life...

Kobe is definitely one of the most unhappy people.

Shaquille O'Neal eventually left, and the chips he got in exchange were not as good as Kobe expected.

On the first day of the new season's closed training camp, Odom's completely out-of-shape figure almost made Kobe Bryant swear:

"Are you still an NBA player?"

Kobe felt that his father had retired for so many years and managed his body better than Odom.

You must know that this is the partner he is most looking forward to in this lineup. Even he is such a fool. Kobe can only describe the Lakers in the new season as despair.

But he really couldn't complain.

He asked for the "boss" position from the management, and the management gave it to him. He can't just ask for help from the management just after becoming the "boss", right?
His pride won't let him do it.

Let’s fight for two years first and then talk about it!
Kobe actually wanted to prove to everyone that he was capable of leading a team alone...

At the same time at Quicken Loans Arena, LeBron James looked at his new teammates, and the confusion and disappointment in his eyes were also visible to the naked eye.

This summer, the Cavaliers let Boozer go. In order to make up for their mistake, they quickly struck out and signed Drew Gooden, the fourth overall pick in the first round of 02.

There seems to be no problem. He averaged 13.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game with the Magic last season, but this is already the third team he has changed to in the third year of his career... On average, he changes to one team a year.

If one team thinks he has little development value, it may be that they are mistaken. Now both teams think so...

LeBron James knows very well that he will have to carry the Cavaliers alone in the new season.

only……

Sometimes, he is quite helpless!

This ESPN, can you take a longer look at the Cavaliers' lineup?
I don’t object to you bragging about me, but...

Can this lineup rank 11th in the league?

You guys are so cool, but when the time comes, I will be slapped in the face and ridiculed by the crowd, won’t I?

(End of this chapter)