Vol 6 Chapter 18: Lakers new aid

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With the decline of power centers, the current NBA has gradually become the world of frontline players. Compared to that, guards are also talented, but the overall quality is really not as good as the frontline.
Especially those excellent small forwards, the speed is not worse than the guard, the shooting ability is the same as the guard, but the body is stronger, the lethality on both ends of the offense and defense is also greater than the guard. In particular, the emergence of a versatile forward like James. One can hit the position of the point guard from the first position to the fifth position. There is such a small forward in the team that does not shoot. On the contrary, it is not as good as those 3D players on the wing.
The trend in the future NBA is even more so. As a defender, either Curry, Wei Shao and Harden have super scoring methods; or Beverly is a defensive 3D player who can shoot three points. Purely organized point guards are becoming less popular, and people like Irving, Thomas, Lillard, Lowry, etc., although they have good assists, are increasingly inclined to score.
The future Cavaliers rely more and more on James, and James has more assists per game than Irving. The Spurs are increasingly relying on Leonard. Parker, the former Spurs organizer, has started to become irrelevant; For the Warriors, the key to victory is not Curry, not Thompson, but Draymond Green.
In comparison, in the small forward position, the Lakers' Wesley Johnson is really a little too weak. Kupchak, the Lakers general manager, also knows this. If you want to go further in the playoffs, reinforcement is necessary. Kupchak also wanted to reinforce, but unfortunately it was a clever woman who could not cook without rice.
Before the start of the season, the Lakers had little room for operation. This season's Lakers, Kobe, Gasol and Nash's salary took up a lot of space. The Lakers' salary has exceeded the salary cap, and the Lakers have no first-round draft pick. There is no middle class exception, no biennial exception, and the only thing the Lakers can do is sign a base player. After Kobe's injury, the Lakers have already planned to squander. What else needs to be done for a squad team?
"Strengthen the frontline. It's light, but what can I do to strengthen it? The trading deadline has passed, and now I can only find people in the free market. But by this time, there are decent players in the free market, and I can only sign a contract with the basic salary. Wait, veteran's basic salary! Maybe you can try that person! I don’t know how his knee injury has recovered.
Kupchak suddenly remembered a familiar name.
...
While Kupchak was having a headache for the Lakers lineup, the Lakers also challenged the Timberwolves away, and the Lakers fell into a bitter fight again.
Gasol was bumped by Carrefour in the second quarter and was inspected in the end. When Gasol came off, the inside combination of Kaman and Jordan Hill had a feeling of being beaten by the Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves, the two starting insiders are Le Fu and Pekovic. Le Fu's strength does not need to be introduced. Pekovic is also a strong center with a heavy body and a strong attack on both ends. , One stop down the basket, few centers can shake his position.
After all, Pekovic is really a bit like Kaman when he was young, with very similar characteristics. If Kaman is five years younger, maybe he will fight with Pekovic, but now Kaman has passed the peak of his youth, but Pekovic is at the peak, and the contest between the two , Kaman is really a bit overwhelmed.
Between Jordan Hill and Love, there are really several grades.
Although some people say that Love is a data brush, it is undeniable that Love is a rare scorer in the league. Love's average scoring is arguably the highest among the inside players. Jordan Hill looks very tough and athletic, but his strength and basic defense skills are average, that is, he is not strong enough on the defensive end. For Love, he likes to play this seemingly sturdy but actually weak opponent. The result is that Love's data once flew, and almost reached the triple-double data after three quarters.
For the Lakers, Batesmore's defense made Kevin Martin a bit tight, and his shooting percentage was not high. Rubio, however, was simply beaten by Zhang Guan.
Spanish "Golden Boy" Rubio has been in the NBA for three years, but his shooting ability has not improved a little. Recently, Rubio has no desire to attack, and he does not have the confidence to attack. He can even break through five opponents and then pass the ball to his teammates, daring not attack himself.
The Timberwolves are raging inside two towers, the Lakers are outside players, the two sides have played a half a catty, equal. Eventually the game was dragged into overtime, and in the overtime, Pekovic's physical decline made the Timberwolves somewhat weak, and the Lakers won the game with thrills.
After the game inspection, Gasol did not cause any problems. A slight treatment and rest were enough, which did not affect the next game.
However, the inside was suspended, making Zhang Guan's heart rate for the Lakers inside the player a grade lower.
"Now the Lakers have a lot of insiders. Gasol, Kaman, Jordan Hill, Ryan Kelly, Thackeray, Gasol are totally trustworthy; Kaman has recently become a bit bully and afraid, Encountered various double-doubles from teams without inside lines, and met opponents with strong inside lines, immediately deflated!"
Zhang Guan looked at Jordan Hill again and shook his head slightly.
"Jordan Hill was the No. 8 pick at the time, but he has tossed multiple teams and has never met people's expectations. There is a reason. This guy has good athleticism and training is very hard. If you don’t go up the level, this is probably what people call a lack of talent! This kind of guy, it is already very good to be able to mix a rotation in the NBA."
"As for Ryan Kelly." Zhang Guan looked at the "Tall White" and couldn't help but sigh.
As the 48th pick in the second round this year, and the only Lakers to think of a rookie in a few years, Ryan Kelly's personal data is still very good. With 22.3 minutes per game, he can get 8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. For a rookie, especially a young man in the draft, he can almost squeeze into the rookie roster.
Like Ryan Kelly's "Tall White" who can shoot but has no confrontation ability, the best template is undoubtedly Ryan Anderson. It is also okay to be a Steve Novak. Kline-Kelly's shooting percentage is not very good. Judging by the new standard, his current shooting percentage is still in the past, but the rookie season is his best performance season, and later is Wang Xiaoer's New Year, A year is not as good as a year.
As for Thackeray, it really requires talent, no body, no skill, no skill, and the dirty work done inside is unsatisfactory. As an NBA player, Sackley probably only has passion.
"Such an inside combination, I only hope that Gasol will not be injured again!" Zhang Guan sighed silently in his heart.
...
On March 30, the Lakers faced the Phoenix Suns at home. This was a crucial game for both teams.
The Suns have just experienced a six-game winning streak. Their current record is 44 wins and 29 losses. In the West, the teams that also have 29 losses are the Grizzlies and Mavericks.
The Warriors are currently 27 losses, ranking sixth in the West, the gap between the two losses, so that the Warriors have stood out, the position of the playoffs is relatively stable. This also makes the Suns, Mavericks and Grizzlies more fierce. In the case of everyone losing 29, if anyone loses a game, it means that they have lost their first move and are likely to fall behind in the accumulated competition.
The Lakers can't lose even now. To maintain the victory and end the regular season, the Lakers still have a ray of life. If you lose one more game, it may be really out of the game.
And now that the Lakers want to enter the playoffs, they must pull two of the Suns, Mavericks and Grizzlies off, so in the face of the Suns, Mavericks and Grizzlies, the Lakers win This is equivalent to narrowing the advantage of consecutive games. So the Lakers are also pursuing victory in this game.
The current core of the Suns is Dragic, the second round of the 2008 show has become a new inspirational figure in the league, he played the best season of his career, averaging 20.3 points, 5.9 assists and 3.2 times Rebounding is almost all star level, and this season he will also be elected as the fastest progressive player.
At the World Championships in Turkey four years ago, Zhang Guan once played against Dragic, who was the point guard of Slovenia. Now, when the two meet again, Dragic is much more mature than he was back then, and the kind of retreating jumper is also more skillful.
In the backcourt with Dragic, it was Bledsoe.
"Blood Cloth" Bledsoe is a desperate Saburo on the court. This guy's defense is less than Wei, and his desperate style also happens to be complementary to Dragic, making the Suns. The level of the backcourt is outstanding in the entire league.
Zhang Guan was never afraid of the kind of player who was willing to work hard. He couldn't wait for his opponent to fight his body. Anyway, he dared to fight his hard guard. None of them had a good end. So Bledsoe was a bit tragic in this game, where to sing 1 of 9 shots, 4 of 3 3-pointers, plus four fouls and four turnovers.
In addition, the Suns' two inside players, Miles Plumley and Channing Frye, were also exploded by Kaman and Gasol.
Kaman scored 28 points and 17 rebounds in a large double-double, and Gasol also scored 20 points.
The recent Kaman's play is a bit unstable, and he is obviously bullying and fearing. The last time he played the Timberwolves, he was bullied by Pekovic and became a dog. This scene instantly restored confidence to the inexperienced Pramley.
As for Gasol's performance, it is still relatively stable, and his experience is more than enough to deal with big players like Channing Frye.
The twin Morris brothers on the Suns bench created some trouble for the Lakers. The twins have a tacit understanding, and it is easy to confuse the defense. However, the Morris brothers play similarly, and their defensive strategies are similar. Even if they are confused, they will not affect the overall situation.
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Suns 115 to 99, winning this crucial game, and the Suns lost 30 games, and they have lost their first hand in the competition for playoff tickets. Behind the Grizzlies and Mavericks.
...
Next, the Lakers will play a back-to-back game, the first game is against the Blazers.
Lillard is still limited by Zhang Zhang, but Aldridge scored a large double-double with 31 points and 15 rebounds. But the Blazers did not win because the Lakers, Nick Yang's "nerve knife" has become more powerful.
Nick Young is a young Kobe. This game scored a full 40 points, and the shooting rate was as high as 60%. Such a Nick Yang directly stunned the Blazers. Until the end of the game, Aldridge was somber, he got a big The number two doubles was originally intended to win a victory, but it was abandoned because of a nerve knife.
Then, the Lakers went to the Sacramento Kings away. The last time the two teams competed, the Kings center Cousins ​​was injured and missed. The Lakers also won more easily. This time, Cousins ​​recovered and the Lakers will obviously suffer. To great pressure.
The same is true. In the face of Cousins, Kaman turned into a soft-footed shrimp, and Cousins ​​only got a 20+10 double-double in just 25 minutes.
It is just that the Kings have only 26 wins and 48 losses, ranking second from the bottom in the Western Conference. By the last season of the regular season, such a team is definitely going to be bad, so the Kings players have no fighting spirit, Cousin Si and Rudy Gay each finished the data, and then both took a break. The game entered garbage time, and the Lakers won another victory.
...
In the locker room, Marchan Brooks was packing up his stuff. He had just returned from Sacramento to Los Angeles and received a notice that disappointed him so much that he was cut by the team!
Bezmore looked at his companion with some pity. The two were originally players of the Warriors. The two were traded to the Lakers together, but now Marxian Brooks is about to be laid off.
Batesmore could not help raising a sense of urgency. He was also a player with the same basic salary as Marshall Brooks. Now that Marshall Brooks has been cut, Batesmore must stay if he wants to stay. You have to work harder.
"Release Ma Shang, the team will definitely have a newcomer, I don't know who will come?" Bezmore secretly said.
But soon after, the answer was revealed.
"Everyone, let's welcome the new companion, to be precise, a new companion that everyone is familiar with, world peace!" Kupchak personally introduced the Lakers' new aid to the players.
Kupchak is not shouting slogans, "World Peace" is the name of the player, this new aid is Ci Shiping.
Ci Shiping was bought out by the Knicks in February because his knee injury recurred. Ci Shiping has been out of work for almost two months now. The Lakers signed Ci Shiping with a year's veteran's base salary.
It is said that the veteran's basic salary, only one-fifth of which is guaranteed, the other amount needs Ci Shiping to strive for through personal efforts, such as getting more playing time, to ensure that no more injuries and illnesses, etc.
Ci Shiping is also a veteran player of the Lakers. When he was also called Artest, he helped the Lakers win the NBA championship and also experienced the era of the Lakers "new F4". This season, the Lakers cut him in order to save salary space.
Ci Shiping's advantage is that he can quickly familiar with D'Antoni's tactical system, because last season, he was also a player under D'Antoni. For the Lakers, they don't need Ci Shiping to score. The Lakers have Zhang Guan, and there is no shortage of people who can score. Ci Shiping only needs to contribute a part of the defense.
With the current strength of Ci Shiping, as long as he stays healthy, there is no problem playing the NBA. Two years later, Ci Shiping can still get a veteran base salary in the NBA. Now Ci Shiping can still play a game for more than ten minutes.
"I remember that Ci Shiping was going to China to play CBA next season. He went to Sichuan Province. It seemed that he changed his name to "Panda Friends" at that time. I didn't expect to be signed back to the Lakers again now. If he can If you stay in shape, you might continue to stay with the Lakers next season without going to the CBA."
At this moment, Zhang Guan remembered the domestic CBA league. At the next moment, his head flashed, and he suddenly thought of a person.
"Sichuan Province, how did I forget him, he played there last year. If he can sign him to the Lakers as a backup center now, why would that guy have to be reliable with Pizzakray!" Zhang Guan thought of this, Came to Kupchak.
"General manager, our scouts, do you have time now? I need scouts to find someone." Zhang Guan said.
"Who?" Kupchak asked.
"This person once participated in the 2010 draft. The second round of 33 was selected in the past, and was later cut off, and then went to play NBL in our country." Zhang Guan said.
"NBL? Isn't your country's league abbreviated as CBA?" Kupchak asked.
"NBL is equivalent to the development alliance of CBA, similar to the relationship between NBA and NBDL." Zhang Guan explained.
"So, this player can't even hit the CBA in your country, and is going to the next level of development league?" Kupchak felt a little weird.
Even the strongest foreign aid in the CBA can't play in the NBA, let alone the CBA development league player. Kupchak didn't understand why Zhang Guan let scouts focus on such a bad player.
"What's his name?" Kupchak asked.
"Whiteside! The Chinese word for this word-white edge!" Zhang Guan said the last two words in Chinese.