Chapter 182 181. Rookies, welcome to the NBA!

If Zhang Yang really gave a long speech, the temporary teammates would not refute him, but they would definitely not take it seriously.

We are all rough people, but you are educated and you are great, that's enough.

But after Zhang Yang said this, they really became interested.

This is much more fun than dunking.

A group of people gathered together to discuss how to deal with the rookies, and everyone put forward some of their own ideas.

Bynum decisively sold Farmar.

Zhang Yang and Felton also sold out their teammates.

No matter how bad the 06 class was, those who were selected for the rookie team were at least the main substitutes for each team. The fans may not understand this, but the second-year players who are also the main players of each team certainly understand this.

The targeting methods provided by the three of them are actually known to all teams, and they are not difficult to target.

Now listening to how others would like to target Rondo and Millsap can also help the two think of ways to improve their shortcomings.

When Bobcats assistant coach Randy Brown, who was leading the sophomore team, arrived at the practice field, he saw the players discussing heatedly and did not join in, leaving the sophomore players to play on their own.

Deron and Ellis were the most reluctant when it came time to gather, but they were the most proactive when it came time to come up with ideas.

With everyone's brainstorming, the second-year team gradually perfected their strategy for tonight...

...

At 2007:2 p.m. on February 11, 7, at the Thomas and Mack Arena at the University of Las Vegas, the pre-game performance ended and the entrance ceremony for the Rookie Challenge began.

The Rookie Challenge is where the 9 best rookies challenge the 9 best sophomores, so the freshman teams play 'away' and the sophomore teams play 'at home'.

Zhang Yang and others stood at the entrance of the home team's players' passage, watching the first-year team players enter one by one as the host introduced them.

Kidd's successor - Bobcats point guard Rajon Rondo.

McDyess Jr. – Bobcats power forward Paul Millsap.

Angel City point guard star - Lakers point guard Jordan Farmar.

Nowitzki, Italy — Raptors center Andrea Bargnani.

Spanish world champion - Raptors power forward Jorg Garbajosa.

Little T-Mac - Grizzlies small forward Rudy Gay.

Modern Bird - Celtics forward Adam Morrison,

Jalen Rose plus – Trail Blazers shooting guard Brandon Roy.

Wade Jr. - Timberwolves combo guard Randy Foye.

When the host read out the titles given to the rookies, Zhang Yang heard his teammates laughing non-stop... Did the class of 04 laugh at them the same way last year? By the way, how did the host introduce him last year?

It seems to be the 'youngest NBA player in history'...that's great, great.

It's average, but much better than the fat guy's 'Charlotte has Baron Davis again'.

Paul's 'Assassin's Successor' is pretty good.

Everyone else…it seems that except for Little Punch Saint Granger and White Duncan Bogut, no one else was selected for the Rookie Team last year.

The sophomore players laughed non-stop, but the fans at the scene and in front of the TV were very concerned about which of these rookies had what characteristics and whose playing style they resembled.

The Rookie Challenge is a stage for promoting potential newcomers to the United States and the world. Since its inception in 1994, it has always received good attention and ratings.

No one can tell whether a newcomer now will become a superstar in the future.

The NBA is not short of geniuses who have a particularly long growth period and who accumulate strength over time. Billups is a representative player of this type. In the first three years of his rookie contract, Billups was sold everywhere. He even stayed in the Magic for half a month without a single chance to play, and was traded again. It was not until he went to the Timberwolves to play as the sixth man that he became famous. In 02, he was favored by the Pistons and received a 5-year full middle-class contract. Then he was unstoppable.

He won the FMVP, was selected to the All-NBA Team and the All-Defensive Team, and was selected to the All-Star Game... In early January, he completed an early contract extension with the Pistons, a 1-year, $5 million contract that began in the 6000-08 season, when he will be 09 years old.

He entered the NBA as the third pick, almost couldn't find a job after his rookie contract, and then at the age of 32 he was able to get a five-year contract with an average of US$5 million per year. His career is truly legendary.

The 06 class is not very good at the moment, but who can predict what will happen in the future? The 00 class looked so bad at the time, the worst in history, but now there are players like Reed who average 25+ points per game, Turkoglu, Crawford, Kenyon Martin and others who are also very strong, Mike Miller, Maurice Peterson, Big Q, Magloire, Przybilla... and others are also the main players of each team.

The players of the freshman team also thought so. Rondo was a bit of a show-off during an interview this morning. When asked by a reporter, "Do you think the 06 class is the weakest class in history?", he shouted out Jack's words of encouragement - "Don't despise the poor youngsters."

When it was the second grade team's turn, the introduction wasn't fancy, they just called out their names.

Although the rookie team usually cannot beat the sophomore team, the focus of the Rookie Challenge is to promote newcomers. During the pre-match introduction, the sophomore players must not steal the limelight from the rookies.

After all, rookies have a special section on the homepages of major media websites, and they are at the forefront. Moreover, the second-year players played for an extra year, and many of the talented 05 geniuses are already the starters or even the core of their respective teams, so they don’t need any additional introduction.

The All-Star Game entrance ceremony is exceptionally long, and there are individual interviews after the ceremony. The All-Star Carnival is, after all, just a show.

Under the instruction of a certain unnamed player No. 3 (Paul: Huh? Me? Yes! Me), the sophomore players said "Hello, I'm hello, everyone" and "Friendship first, competition second" during the interview, which made the rookies who were interviewed feel that the sophomore players were easy to talk to...

By the time all pre-match activities were over, half an hour had passed and it was already 7:50, and the players from both teams took the time to get moving again.

A few minutes later, the referee notified both teams of their starting lineups.

Starting lineup of the freshman team: Farmar, Roy, Adam Morrison, Millsap, and Bargnani.

Starting lineup of the sophomore team: Paul, Zhang Yang, Granger, David Lee, and Bynum.

The rookies came to the court, all thinking about defeating the opponent with an underdog. The sophomore team wanted to put friendship first and competition second? That's great, their chance has come!

Then, right at the start of the game, the rookies were dealt a heavy blow.

Bynum won the jump ball, went to the frontcourt and fell into the low post to receive the ball and play against Bargnani. Without any skills, he just relied on his huge 129 kg body to knock Bargnani into the basket in a few strokes, and then slammed the ball into the basket through Bargnani!

When Bynum turned around and jumped for a dunk, Bargnani lost his balance and fell to the ground. As he fell, he subconsciously pulled Bynum's jersey, and the referee blew the whistle!
Bynum's goal is valid and a penalty will be added!
The rookies had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but they couldn't tell what was wrong...

Bynum missed the free throw... and Morrison grabbed the rebound.

The rookie team attacked, and as soon as Farmar reached the frontcourt, he was stuck by Paul.

When he was a student, Farmar had both strength and speed. He was known as the best point guard in the United States in high school, so UCLA made an exception and gave him a starting position in his freshman year. In his sophomore season, he led UCLA to the finals... But in the NBA, he seemed so mediocre. Since his rookie season, he has averaged 4 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2 assists per game. He is still very fast, but he can't get rid of his opponents with his speed. His physique of 188 cm + 82 kg is not enough in the NBA...

Facing Paul's close defense, Farmar turned sideways and stuck out his butt to protect the ball before dribbling beyond the three-point line.

Seeing this, Millsap quickly moved forward to block Paul. Farmar used the screen to escape from Paul's defense. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, David Lee, who was defending the pick-and-roll, directly pressed out to the three-point line to defend, and Farmar hadn't even finished getting around the pick-and-roll!
And Paul also walked online and came around!

Millsap has good awareness and breaks away from the opponent immediately.

Farmar didn't know who he learned this from, but straight pass and ground pass are both good options, but he had to jump up to pass the ball. Due to interference from David Lee, Farmar was forced to increase the arc when he jumped up to pass the ball, and the ball was too long!

Millsap quickly quickened his pace to chase the ball. Just when he was about to catch the ball, a familiar figure went around from behind him to in front of him and grabbed the ball first!

Zhang Yang retreats around the post to steal the ball!

After grabbing the ball, Zhang Yang immediately passed it to Paul and rushed to the frontcourt.

Farmar and Roy tried hard to catch up, but although their speed was not slow, it was about the same as Zhang Yang when he first entered the NBA, excellent but not top-notch.

Without the ball in their hands, the distance between the two and Zhang Yang became larger and larger... As soon as Zhang Yang entered the three-second zone, the ball fell in front of him.

Zhang Yang received the ball, took a step forward and jumped, then gently dunked the ball into the basket with both hands!

In this sprint counterattack, Zhang Yang treated Paul as Rondo and was not worried at all about not being able to catch the ball.

It was the rookie team's turn to attack again. Farmar passed the ball to Roy before crossing half court. After one round of attack, Farmar became scared.

Roy did not back down. He pushed forward to the three-point line. Zhang Yang's defense was not as fierce as Paul's. He stood inside the three-point line and took small steps.

Roy, who had played against Zhang Yang twice, knew that although the bad boy in front of him was not famous for his defense, he was very good at one-on-one defense and shooting from the outside. They were of similar height, but Zhang Yang's arm span was more than ten centimeters longer.

Roy lowered his center of gravity, quickly switched dribbling with his left and right hands, took a step to the right, retracted his foot, and continued to advance to the right!

Roy grasped the small details very well. Zhang Yang defended very hard but was still fooled. Roy successfully broke through the middle!
Bynum came in from the left side of the three-second zone, blocking half a step outside the reasonable collision zone, Roy passed the ball... Bargnani cut in from the left baseline, received the ball and took a step into the three-second zone...

If Bargnani had just taken the ball and thrown it out honestly, nothing would have happened.

But Bargnani had just been dunked, and now he was facing an empty basket. He stepped into the three-second zone, jumped high, and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand... "Snap"... "Bang"...

Bynum turned around, jumped up with both feet, and slapped the ball that Bargnani dunked!

This block reminded Zhang Yang, who was chasing Roy into the paint, of the time when he cut in against the Lakers and tried to dunk but was blocked by Kwame Brown... I don't know whether to say that Bynum has a high basketball talent, or that Kwame Brown taught him well.

The ball hit the backboard and bounced toward the front of the basket. Zhang Yang used his long arms to grab the defensive rebound over Roy's head!
Roy immediately hugged Zhang Yang. There was no limit on the number of fouls in the Rookie Challenge, so he calmly chose to use a foul to stop Zhang Yang from continuing to counterattack.

When he dunked at the beginning, Bynum could still hold back and play around, but this time he couldn't control himself. He clenched his fists and roared, turned his back to Bargnani who was lying on the floor, and yelled to the other players on the perimeter: "Rookies! Welcome to the NBA!"

Rookies:? ? ?

What happened to friendship first and competition second?
They looked at the other members of the sophomore team. As Bynum roared, their expressions and eyes changed... They were eyes that wanted to eat them alive!
Where are the sophomore players who were so friendly just now?

Roy was very calm about this, but the top pick Bargnani, who was knocked to the ground by Bynum's block, was about to burst into tears: Mom! I want to go back to Italy!
……

……

I won’t stay up late anymore, I’m crying o(╥﹏╥)o. I was in a pretty good writing state yesterday and the day before yesterday, but Xiaofeng had a brain storm last night and stayed up all night, wanting to make up for the 3000 words I owed. As a result, I dozed off in the office all day today. It’s all Xiaofeng’s fault... I’ll go to bed early today so as not to affect tomorrow’s update. Xiaofeng kowtows here to apologize!
(End of this chapter)