Vol 3 Chapter 690: New Orleans Talents

"Super Heavy Artillery (
After returning to Oklahoma from Houston, Anlo took a day off and set foot on the court again.
This time, the opponent they encountered was relatively weaker. At least from the perspective of the strength on paper, the opponent is not as strong as the two teams that the Thunder encountered before in Portland and Houston.
However, the exposure of this team this year is not at all lower than that of the defending champion of the Thunder.
The New Orleans Pelicans, a big team. It was the moment when they played the highlight two years ago. At that time, the New Orleans team had Anthony Davis and LaMarcus Cousins, two of the league’s top insiders, as well as J. Holiday and Rajon Rondo, the two former All-Star guards, not only made it to the playoffs, but they also scored and swept the Portland Trail Blazers to the second round of the playoffs.
However, the success of this season did not let this team out of the quagmire. Rondo's departure and Cousins' injury made this "non-mainstream" team with bright prospects lose the opportunity to rise completely. Since that season, the Pelicans have once again become the bottom of the Western Conference. Although New Orleans still has a strong internal and external combination like Davis and Holiday, apart from these two brothers, there is no one who can do it. As a result, Davis often scored the best scores, but the team lost the game. Davis has also been re-crowned as the leader of the alliance "empty chop group".
Since entering the NBA in 2012, Davis's career has been running for 10 years. For a player who wants to make a difference, Davis does not want to taste the taste of never breaking through the second round of the playoffs. In fact, over the years, Davis has made the playoffs very few times. New Orleans has given him the treatment of a super star, but it cannot give him glory. Therefore, Davis took the initiative to propose a deal.
It was Davis's change that the Pelicans also started a radical change.
Anthony Davis went to the Lakers, New Orleans got Ingram, Ball and Hart, and Hayes. The first three players were traded directly from the Lakers, and the latter was the No. 8 pick traded with the Atlanta Hawks with the fourth pick.
These guys are quite potential. Ingram and Ball, in particular, were the cornerstones of the reconstruction chosen by giants like the Lakers. Hart and Hayes are also good young people, who can play a world in any team.
After sending off Davis, the Pelicans seem to be very happy. They won the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery and then selected Zion Williamson, the favorite of heaven. This is known as the most influential rookie after James. New Orleans lost one champion and got another champion.
In addition to Zion, the number one pick, Hayes also won the lottery in this year's draft.
At this moment, the Pelicans directly became a youth army. Apart from Holiday and Okafor, the main players on the team are all players still on rookie contracts. Moreover, these young people are all talented, judging from the draft pick alone, except for Hart, the others are lottery picks. No. 1 pick Zion, No. 2 pick Ingram and Ball, No. 8 pick Hayes, and even Okafor, are also the best picks that have just ended their rookie contract. In 2015, the 76ers selected him, which is also the cornerstone of the team. Of course, the draft pick does not represent the ability of these players, but one thing is certain is that the future of these guys is worth looking forward to.
Therefore, the Pelicans faced by Anluo and others this time are a completely different team.
It's a pity that Zion, the number one overall pick, missed the game due to injury. In fact, this is not the first game this young man has missed. Anyone who knows him knows this guy's talents and abilities, but at the same time, everyone also knows his flaws and hidden dangers.
Since his debut, Zion's figure has been the focus of most attention. With a weight of more than 258 pounds, he can show a completely inconsistent athletic ability, which is the only one in history. However, from last year's NCAA campaign on behalf of Duke University, he sprained his knee in the first show of Xia Lian, and countless people began to worry about the weight of Zion whether the future of this talented champion would be affected by his weight. affected.
If you are looking for a player similar to Zion in NBA history, Charles Barkley may be the most suitable candidate. And Barkley's concerns about Zion also focused on its exaggerated weight. He once said this to the media:
"I heard that he weighs a full 280 pounds. This weight cannot be played in the NBA. He needs to bear too much pressure on his knees. Even though he is so tall and strong, the players in the NBA are like this. It's too heavy!"
Barkley’s worries are not unreasonable. For a player of this size, his biggest enemy is a knee injury~EbookFREE.me~ Barkley also had the same hidden danger back then. Therefore, after coming to the NBA from college, he The first thing to do is to lose weight.
Although the No. 1 pick is missing, there is no shortage of talented young people in the Pelicans lineup. This can be seen from Gentry's starting lineup. Ball, Holiday, Ingram, Merley, Okafor. The eldest Holledi, 29 years old, and the youngest Ball, just turned 22.
Young people have the advantage of young people.
In this game, the Pelicans played a very explosive offense as soon as they came up. Under the impact of this group of young people, the Thunder's defense did not appear to be so deterrent. As a result, for a long period of time in the first quarter of the game, the Pelicans occupied the initiative of the game.
However, young people also have their shortcomings.
When the Thunder slowly adapted to the offensive mode of this youth army, the situation of the game began to reverse. In the second half of the first quarter, Anluo and Alexander teamed up to play a 12-3 offensive wave, leading the score.
In the following half of the game, the Thunder always maintained the lead, and more and more points were leading.
The Pelicans' talent is indeed enviable, but their talent is now more on the offensive end. On the defensive end, they never found their own rhythm. In fact, since the start of the season, the Pelicans' defense has been in the league's worst sequence. They averaged 122.8 points per game, ranking second in the league.
In the West, where there are many strong enemies, if the talented team of New Orleans wants to grow up as soon as possible, it must fully understand the defense, and improve the defensive ability of the players as soon as possible to form a system. Otherwise, the reconstruction of the Pelicans will take a long time.