Chapter 334 333. Someone is greedy for the bad boy again

On February 2, the Bobcats arrived in Washington, DC, rested for a night, and visited the White House on the morning of the 3th.

This was the first time that an American athlete visited the White House as a champion of one of the four major leagues. The domestic media gave it a huge response, with more people coming than local reporters from the United States.

Zhang Yang can understand this situation. At this time, the Chinese people still need to use sports strength to create inner satisfaction and feel the country's growing strength. They are particularly concerned about championships and Olympic gold medals. After another ten or twenty years, when the country really succeeds in embarking on the road of rejuvenation, most Chinese people will return to rationality and treat all this with a normal mind...

At the moment, even his parents who do business in the Eagle Sauce area care about this matter very much. His mother asked him to take a photo with the Eagle Sauce leader and take the photo back to show off to neighbors and relatives.

The hottest topic during the day today - the scene of Bobcats owner Jordan and the Eagle Sauce leader chatting and laughing.

In the evening, the Bobcats came to the Verizon Center to challenge the Wizards away.

Looking at the opposing team, Zhang Yang said with regret: "The Wizards spent so much money to build such a lineup, but just when they were about to produce results, Arenas got injured, and it was such a serious knee injury."

The Wizards have made a lot of signings in the offseason in the past two years, and have built a very good lineup of role players around the three core players of Arenas, Jamison and Butler.

Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, Antonio Daniels, Roger Mason, Andre Blatche, Nick Young, Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas... this lineup of role players is not inferior to that of major championship teams.

But Arenas was ruled out for the season due to a knee injury after playing 13 games this season.

Arenas's pull-up jump shot ability is second to none in the league, and that style of play is also the most damaging to the knees in the league. Paul's high-speed change of direction and Wade's lightning-fast Euro-step are not as damaging to the knees as Arenas's pull-up jump shot.

If he plays like that, getting injured is inevitable. Zhang Yang also knows that Arenas will be useless in the next two years, but as an opponent, he still feels sorry for him.

After Arenas was injured, the Wizards still played very well. With the assistance of Jamison, Butler and a group of high-quality role players, the Wizards maintained a winning rate of more than 47%. They have played 25 games so far, with 22 wins and 24 losses, temporarily leading the Cavaliers with 22 wins and losses, and ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference.

贾米森场均21.4分10.6板、卡隆-巴特勒20.7分6.7板5助攻，都打出了巅峰表现。

If Arenas hadn't been injured, the Wizards would have grown into a top-notch team this season just like the Magic, and the league's top four offensive teams would have become top five. These three guys would be able to beat anyone when they play the triangle offense.

Felton's tone was not so friendly: "A guard who relies on speed and bounce has a serious knee injury, and the Wizards still gave him a maximum salary for 6 years. With such an operation, it is reasonable that they cannot rise."

Zhang Yang smelled a strong sour smell.

Not only Felton dislikes Arenas, Zhang Yang also looks down on Arenas in terms of personality and behavior.

It's just that Felton, who is also a point guard, still feels envious of Arenas. Not only him, but all the point guards in the league who have a little bit of ambition but can't get the maximum salary are extremely jealous of Arenas.

去年12月中旬，奇才队给阿里纳斯提供了一份6年1.27亿美刀的7年老将鸟权顶薪，阿里纳斯主动少要了1600万，签下了6年1.11亿的续约合同。

The reason Arenas took the initiative to reduce his bird rights maximum salary to a non-bird rights maximum salary was that he wanted to show the public how selfless he was and how much he cared about the team, because he said this himself in an interview after signing the contract.

At that time, no one thought that he was paid too little for 6 years and 1.11 million. Public opinion generally believed that the Wizards management had lost their minds and that the contract was even worse than Lewis's.

Lewis is just a premium. He at least has the ability to score 20 points per game, and his playing style is highly suitable for Howard.

It is almost certain that Arenas' strength will decline drastically after returning from injury. There are too many precedents.

However, Zhang Yang has a different view on the Wizards' contract extension with Arenas: "From the perspective of the Wizards management, they must renew Arenas' contract and can only renew Arenas' contract."

Felton showed a puzzled expression when he heard this, and Hill and Okafor on the side were also very curious.

Hill asked, "Why did they have to re-sign Arenas?"

Zhang Yang: "They have signed a lot of long-term contracts in the past two years and have recruited a lot of high-quality players. Most of these players came for the core combination of Arenas, Jamison and Butler, and most importantly for Arenas, a super scorer who can average 30 points per game in singles.

The money has been spent, and those players have come to the Wizards for Arenas... They have to renew Arenas with a contract that other teams can't offer. This is a sunk cost. "

Hill: "That makes sense. If the Wizards don't give Arenas a maximum salary, but instead give him 6000 million or 8000 million to be on the safe side, there will definitely be teams that will compete with them for him. If Arenas continues to perform well after his injury, like in the Human Highlights movie, their management will be held responsible."

If they renew the contract, they will be held responsible. If they don’t renew the contract, they will also be held responsible. They must take a gamble. If they win, it will be a classic operation. If they lose, they will just be held responsible…”

Ten minutes later, the starting players of both teams came on the court.

Wizards starting lineup: Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Jamison, Haywood.

Bobcats starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Okafor, Brad Miller.

After adapting to a few games, Brad Miller officially took the starting position.

Originally, Carlisle wanted to make Brad Miller the starting player in the last game. He thought that Brad Miller would need a long time to get used to his teammates...mainly because his teammates needed to improve their tactical abilities and adapt to Brad Miller's better passing choices.

Unexpectedly, Brad Miller took the initiative to be backward compatible and basically figured out his teammates' running habits during the five consecutive away games.

That's the experience!
This was also the first time for Carlisle to coach a center with such outstanding passing ability, and he underestimated the Big White Bear.

But the opponent was the Magic, and the Big White Bear's schedule was postponed for one game, so Perkins had to replace Howard... and he couldn't defend against the rampaging beast.

But it doesn't matter. The wing can't make shots, and Howard alone can limit the Bobcats' entire team's attack on the basket. Brad Miller's high-post support is also useless and takes up Zhang Yang's space.

The Magic's defense of one player guarding the rim and four players blocking the outside line is quite restraining against the triangle offense or Princeton.

With Howard breaking out to that extent, the team that wants to beat the Magic will have to rely on Zhang Yang to maintain efficient mid-range and long-range shooting in such a shooting environment.

Obviously, for Zhang Yang at the moment, unless he has a great touch, passing the ball is the better option when there are several people around him.

At 7 pm, the Bobcats' home game against the Wizards began.

Haywood narrowly defeated Okafor to win the jump ball, and the Wizards attacked first!

Jamison received the ball from mid-range and launched an attack.

Facing Okafor's defense, Jamison dribbled the ball between his legs like a small forward, changed direction, passed Okafor and rushed into the inside.

Brad Miller moved in advance to block the three-second zone sideline. When Jamison was about to confront Brad Miller, he suddenly grabbed the ball, turned around Brad Miller, came to the bottom of the basket, jumped, and hooked the ball into the basket!

Jamison's playing style does not rely on athletic ability. At the age of 32, his skills in all aspects have been perfected and he has entered the peak stage. In addition, his alternative playing style has made him one of the most difficult power forwards to defend this season.

Although Arenas was out this season, Jamison led the team to a better record than last season.

In the offense-defense transition, Okafor received the ball in the low post and backed Jamison. Jamison blocked the baseline and Okafor turned left and came to the front of the basket.

Haywood got into position in time and formed a double team with Jamison, but just as the two of them got into position, Okafor had already passed the ball.

Brad Miller received the ball at the free throw line and passed it... Zhang Yang ran back from the left side of the three-second zone to receive the ball, and slam dunked for two points while DeShawn Stevenson was chasing him.

Brad Miller's receiving movement, vision, ball transfer...it was a pleasure to watch, and he easily tore apart the Wizards' already poor defense.

When it was the Wizards' turn to attack, Jamison continued to advance alone.

Jamison looked in good shape tonight. The Bobcats did not dare to let this scoring forward who was capable of scoring 50+ points in a row score. Hill seized the opportunity to shrink and block Jamison, and cut off Jamison's direct pass to Caron Butler.

But Caron Butler did not just run on the wing like before. He immediately moved up to the left side of the free throw line and received the pass from Jamison.

Felton made up for Caron Butler in time, and Caron Butler passed the ball again...Antonio Daniels made a high jump shot from the right side of the free throw line!
People will improve. After Arenas was injured, Caron Butler had to take on more responsibilities. His previously unappreciated ability to assist and pass the ball was revealed this season. He averaged 5 assists per game, was able to shoot and pass, and became Jamison's most capable helper.

It was the Bobcats' turn to attack, with Okafor continuing the attack in the low post.

The Wizards did a great job of blocking this time. Brad Miller didn't rush to pass the ball, but kept it safe and waited for Felton to pull up again. After Felton received the ball, he pulled out of the three-point line and passed it to Zhang Yang who moved to the right side of the free throw line and leaned against DeShawn Stevenson.

Zhang Yang received the ball and back-played. DeShawn Stevenson pressed very tightly. Zhang Yang shook his shoulder to trick DeShawn Stevenson into raising his center of gravity, and then turned around and rushed forward!
Caron Butler retreated alone and was completely unstoppable. Zhang Yang rushed into the inside and used the European step to avoid Haywood's defense. He came to the left side of the three-second zone and made a reverse layup facing the baseline!
Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan was extremely upset when he saw this scene - a player who was only a few months away from turning 20 actually had a first-class back-to-the-basket skill.

DeShawn Stevenson is very good at one-on-one defense. He is good at pressure defense and can hold up against breakthroughs. He can handle James, Artest, and Maggette. He is also very good at defending shots. He has outstanding awareness of interference, is fierce in confrontation, and has comprehensive abilities to defend against face-to-face one-on-ones.

But he is not good at defending against back-to-the-basket shots. His defensive characteristics of sticking close and pressing hard all become loopholes in the eyes of opponents.

This is why Carlisle used Barea to defend James' low-post shots in the 2011 Finals. DeShawn Stevenson might not be able to defend James in the low post.

The team cooperated well, and Zhang Yang could continue his singles when the team offense failed. Led by Zhang Yang and Brad Miller, the Bobcats started a big offensive battle with the Wizards!

So far this season, the Bobcats are averaging 110.5 points per game, fourth in the league, and averaging 102.9 points allowed per game, eighteenth in the league. It has become a habit for them to prioritize the offensive end when encountering problems.

The Wizards are averaging 104 points per game so far this season, ranking eighth in the league, and are averaging 104 points allowed per game, ranking th in the league. Their victory this season is purely based on offense. If they can perform well, they will win, and if they can't, they will fail.

The Bobcats lack the ability to rotate and defend, and Jamison's style of play, which is equal to a mismatch no matter who he plays against, is just right for dealing with the Bobcats. Led by Jamison, the Wizards played very well on offense tonight.

In the first quarter, led by Zhang Yang, who scored 12 points in the quarter, the Bobcats scored 31 to 29 and took a two-point lead.

In the second quarter, Jamison returned the favor, making three three-pointers and scoring 3 points in a single quarter, leading the Wizards to a 14-33 score and going into halftime with a 27-point lead over the Bobcats at 62-58.

张杨半场打了19分钟，拿到20分2助攻；贾米森半场打了20分钟，拿到21分6板。

After the halftime break, at the beginning of the third quarter, Zhang Yang started to play one-on-one.

Facing Zhang Yang's fierce attack, Jamison naturally had to keep up in order to maintain his advantage.

However, tonight Jamison had a slight advantage over Zhang Yang in the regular offense and defense phase, but when it came to one-on-one confrontation, Zhang Yang clearly had the upper hand!
The fight was back and forth at the beginning, but after a few more rounds, when Jamison needed to slow down, Zhang Yang was still able to swing!
Jamison's close-range attack style with outside shooting as a threat consumes a lot of energy, but he has to play like this. He can't just float around and shoot from the outside. Firstly, he can only rely on his touch when floating around. Secondly, the Wizards' triangle offense can only be played smoothly if he attacks inside. Otherwise, he will be double-teamed on the outside and won't even have a receiving point.

Zhang Yang fought much more easily.

Antonio Daniels, Caron Butler, or Roger Mason and Nick Young who came off the bench, they were just cannons in Zhang Yang's eyes and could shoot at will.

DeShawn Stevenson guarded him, and he maintained a 50% shooting percentage when posting up from the high post.

If the Wizards want to create pressure on Zhang Yang to score, they have to move to a position closer to the free throw line to provide backup defense.

But in that case, Mike Miller, who averaged 43.2 three-pointers per game with a 2.5% three-point shooting percentage this season, and Hill, who averaged 45.7 mid-range and long two-pointers per game with a 1.9% shooting percentage, will teach them a lesson.

第三节张杨9投6中，其中三分球2中1，加上3中3的罚球，单节拿到16分，率领山猫队单节拿到30分！
Although Jamison's playing style has the characteristics of an outside player, he is ultimately an inside player and cannot play the role of raising the ceiling like Nowitzki. He was beaten by Zhang Yang in the confrontation and only scored 7 points in a single quarter. The Wizards team only scored 24 points in the third quarter.

After three quarters, the Bobcats overtook the Wizards by two points with 88 to 86!
In the final quarter, the Bobcats took the initiative after overtaking the score.

The Wizards, led by Caron Butler and Jamison, two players averaging 20+ scorers per game, launched a fierce new offense and performed well, but every time they overtook the score, Zhang Yang, Felton and Okafor would score one or two to reverse the score.

In a closely fought game like this, the role of the star players' singles becomes more and more evident as time goes on.

At 9:23 p.m., Felton broke into the paint with the help of a screen... and made a high pass!
Zhang Yang made an alley-oop layup and the Bobcats led by 3 points.

Looking back, Caron Butler missed a three-pointer against Hill's defense, and the game came to an end.

首节12分、第二节8分、第三节16分、末节9分，张杨全场打了39分钟，25投16中，其中三分球9中5，加上10中8的罚球，拿到45分3板4助攻2盖帽。

布拉德-米勒8分8板12助攻、奥卡福23分8板、费尔顿14分6助攻……

Four players of the Bobcats scored in double figures and they narrowly defeated the Wizards 4-118. The night of the team's first visit to the White House did not leave any traces of sadness!
...

Jamison looked at Zhang Yang who was surrounded by his teammates celebrating on the opposite side. He was really defeated tonight!
他今晚打得也很好，首节7分、第二节14分、第三节7分、末节8分，25投12中、其中三分球13中6，加上6中6的罚球，拿到36分10板2助攻。

But in the third quarter, which was a competition of singles ability, he was beaten by Zhang Yang and lost his temper.

He is not good at this. In the past, it was Arenas who competed with the opponent's outside stars at that time, and Arenas never disappointed his teammates in this regard.

The Wizards' team offense is so good this season. They may be behind the Suns, but they are not inferior to the Nuggets, Warriors and Bobcats. However, they "only" average 104 points per game, and their offense ranks only eighth in the league, because they lack the key ball offense.

The Suns have Nash and Stoudemire, the Warriors have Baron Davis and Ellis, the Bobcats have Zhang Yang and Felton, and the Wizards originally had some, but they were ruled out...

As a teammate, Jamison knows that there is no optimism in Arenas' injury situation. There is only darkness and no light ahead.

Jamison was suppressed in the head-to-head confrontation with the Bad Boys tonight and regretted renewing a 4-year, 5000 million contract with the Wizards in advance last season. He had heard from his agent before that the Bobcats were interested in getting him but gave up because the price was too high.

This price does not refer to his salary. Even if he does not renew his contract in advance, with his ability of averaging 20+10 per game, he can get an annual salary of tens of millions anywhere.

Price refers to the transaction value.

If he doesn't renew his contract in advance and requests a trade during this contract year, his trading value will drop rapidly like Ray Allen.

But if he renews his contract, his trading value will be completely different. Even if he requests a trade, his trading value will be very high.

With his playing style, as long as he doesn't suffer injuries, he is confident that he can maintain an average of 15+ points per game even when he is or years old in the last year of his new contract.

He learned from his manager that when the Wizards faced inquiries from the Bobcats at the beginning of the season, they asked for Felton or Rondo, plus Millsap, Mike Miller, and draft picks... It was not excessive to exchange a forward who was averaging 20+10 at his peak for these chips. At that time, Rondo's value was not as high as after playing 3 times 15 in a single game. But it was unacceptable to the Bobcats, who rejected it at the time and never made another offer.

Unlike Nash who wanted to fight for a few more years and then seek help from others if he failed to win the championship, Jamison, in his position, wants to seek help from others now, so he regrets renewing his contract last season.

But at that time, how could he have imagined that the general who was only 25 years old, had just been selected to the All-Star team for three consecutive years and would definitely be selected to the All-NBA team for three consecutive years would be gone just like that?

Jamison was not opposed to hugging the thighs. Originally, he averaged 2011 points per game in the 2012-35 season at the age of 17.2. After his contract expired in the summer of 2012, a lot of teams offered him offers, with the highest being 2 million for 1500 years, but he finally chose to join the Lakers for a year at the minimum salary and hug the thighs of the Big Four... He has already earned 1 million before the new contract is executed, and at this stage, he wants to compete for the championship in a strong team...

As for Zhang Yang, he didn't know that another person was greedy for him.

He is very excited now. This is the 13th time this season that he has scored 40+ points in a single game, surpassing McGrady and ranking third among active players!
The first two are Kobe and Iverson.

艾弗森有过3次单赛季至少15次40+，最高的是铁血时代的00-01赛季，17次单场40+，铁血时代结束后，他在04-05赛季拿到16次单场40+、05-06赛季拿到15次单场40+。

科比单赛季40+次数超过15次，也是3个赛季，02-03赛季19次、06-07赛季18次。

最高的05-06赛季场均35+的赛季，拿到30次40+，排在现代篮球时代第二，第一名是86-87赛季的乔丹，场均37+，拿到37次40+。

Iverson has never had more than 20 seasons with 40+ points in a single game, which is related to his frequent injuries. In his four highest scoring seasons, he missed more than ten games. He only played in all games in the 4-02 season. It is possible that he will play in all games this season, but at this time Iverson is no longer the answer he was back then.

It is not easy to surpass Kobe's 18 or 19 times.

Zhang Yang has scored 13+ points 40 times this season, 7 of which were in the last month, including tonight's. In the first two months combined, there were only 6. Because the team needed him to score this month, he had to shoot, even if his shooting percentage dropped.

Moreover, he actually took too many shots in the early stage of the season. At that time, the team's offensive system was still being adjusted and he was required to take a lot of shots.

Now that the offensive system is gradually being improved and the new core is in place, his shot count should decline after the All-Star Weekend. It would be a lot if he could score 2+ 3-40 times a month... But he doesn't resist this. With the improvement of the system, he can score more easily and efficiently, and have more energy to devote to single defense and double-teaming, improving the team's defense a little bit.

But it is possible to challenge Iverson's 16 or 17 times!
Zhang Yang helped Chaoting TV come up with a documentary title - Writing New Answers to Basketball, Starting from Beyond the Answers!
After a night's rest in Washington DC, he woke up at noon the next day and put aside the matter of "writing a new answer". He didn't have the time to think about it because he was about to return to Charlotte to play a back-to-back game against the Celtics at home that night.

There are still 6 games left in the early season, we must hold up our record and not be overtaken by the Pistons!

(End of this chapter)