One Thousand Four Hundred and Seventy-Seven. Emerging Complacency

On the morning of the 23rd, Sun Ce returned to the team with his teammates.

The players came back early for training, and the coaching staff, training team, and logistics department naturally had to start working.

Sun Ce and the coaching staff talked about the double bear problem. The Grizzlies management had already anticipated it, otherwise they would not have kept Larry Sanders, who was suspended for 5 games at the beginning of this season.

During the offseason, Larry Sanders was found to be carrying banned drugs while driving in his hometown. Although the test was negative and he did not violate the higher laws of Florida, he was released after paying the fine, but he was still suspended for 5 games by the league, starting from the first game of the regular season.

Larry Sanders can be traded or replaced. The key is that from a certain perspective, Larry Sanders is easier to trade than Paul George.

First of all, Larry Sanders is a center. Second, Larry Sanders is not as expensive as Paul George. Other teams cannot be so stubborn as to throw out a maximum salary that the Grizzlies cannot match.

But in the free market, when the price of a good backup center has risen to 5 million US dollars, the Grizzlies have no money to give a substitute and no space.

Therefore, when the Grizzlies traded Jimmy Butler, they did not want future draft picks, but wanted to take away Gobert, who was selected by the Jazz with the draft pick that was supposed to belong to the Grizzlies.

In the absence of good choices, NBA teams are generally willing to scratch the lottery. For example, last year, the Lakers lacked a center, so they did not sign anyone randomly, but used the purchased draft pick to select Sacre.

As for the two bears, there is no need to say much about Randolph. It has nothing to do with self-discipline. He can play for so many years and maintain such a high level. It is purely a talent.

Now with two championships in hand, he completely lets himself go.

As for Gasol, he is actually not a self-disciplined player. It can be seen from his weight of nearly 140 kilograms when he entered the NBA.

If Gasol had his brother's self-discipline and standard body when playing in Europe, he would not have fallen to the second round.

The Grizzlies traded Gasol for Gasol. Gasol entered the NBA in the 2008-2009 season and started in his first game, proving that although the trade was a robbery, the Grizzlies believed in Gasol's talent and strength.

So in the past few years, the Grizzlies have been ready for Gasol to let go of himself like Randolph, and they are looking for the second and third centers every summer. Otherwise, they would not have quickly brought back Larry Sanders and Lopez after the offseason in the summer of 2012.

At the beginning, it was planned that Gasol would be overweight, Lopez would be the main player, and Larry Sanders would be the third center during the period when Gasol lost weight and reduced his playing time.

As for Larry Sanders playing so well, Gasol actually maintained his body shape last year, which made Lopez have no stable playing time, which was indeed an unexpected situation.

This year's Gasol's situation is what the team expected.

…

After communicating with the coaching staff, Sun Ce felt a headache.

But when it came to training, Sun Ce was surprised to find that Gasol was fat, weighing 129 kilograms.

However, except for problems with mobility and physical strength, it did not affect Gasol's shooting, positioning under the basket, and interference with shooting under the basket!

Even in terms of shooting, Gasol was fatter and more stable...

Sun Ce finally understood that Gasol was actually more accustomed to playing with a fat body, purely because the area inside the NBA three-point line is wider and there is a three-second defense, so he had to lose weight. If he played under the rules of the International Basketball Federation, being fat or not would have no effect at all, just like the Greek little shark.

However, if his mobility is affected, Gasol may not be able to play the best three-second zone protection performance of the league center last season. Just because Gasol's mid-range shots and high shots under the basket are more stable, it cannot be considered a good thing.

This is definitely not a good thing.

There is also the choice of the third power forward. Stoudemire looks good, but the management and coaching staff unanimously decided to wait for Boozer.

Stoudemire is too fragile. He is not a good choice when he is bound to get a lot of playing time. Moreover, Stoudemire does not have to be with the Grizzlies. He is also waiting for other teams, and other teams are also waiting for Boozer.

In the absence of a decision, we can only waste time.

So, after the Grizzlies started training camp in advance, the players were divided into two groups for training.

Since the strongest lineup of last season - Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Randolph, and Gasol Jr. was retained, this lineup, which is almost certain to be the starting lineup in the second half of the season and the playoffs, does not need to polish the skills and tactics, and adjustments will be made at that time.

Focus on the second lineup.

The second lineup is missing four main players, Nash, Battier, Lopez Jr., and Jimmy Butler, especially Nash, the core of the rotation lineup in the past two years, and now they have something to do.

Sun Ce talked with Coach Hollins about the second lineup and learned about the arrangements of the coaching staff.

Beverley may get more playing time. He has good ball control. After the offseason, it can be seen from the training that Beverley's three-point shooting has improved significantly.

The newly introduced Livingston played 24 minutes per game for the Cavaliers last season, scoring 7.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.2 steals.

But Livingston's position is limited. The small forward is only 85 kilograms tall and can't play any other position except point guard.

So the two have to compete for the position or work on demand.

This needs to be adjusted slowly.

The current training, which starts a week in advance, focuses on technical training. When the training camp officially starts, we can directly enter the tactical training stage.

Sun Ce learned that there are several options for the second lineup.

Livingston, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Richard Jefferson, and Yi Jianlian are the main offensive players. In this option, Tony Allen and Prince will cooperate more with the starters to play defense.

Or Beverley, Tony Allen, Paul George, Prince, and Larry Sanders are the main defensive players.

Anyway, Paul George will take more responsibilities this season, whether it is offense or defense.

In the most helpless situation, just fight the defense to death... The Grizzlies always have a last resort, which is to fight the defense to death.

But fighting the defense is not so easy. Before the Lakers' Kobe-Jan combination came out of nowhere, they were still very worried.

But now, seeing the progress of Paul George and Klay Thompson, even Sun Ce has made surprising progress this summer...

Young stars and ordinary players have a very different vision from top superstars!

Most of the Grizzlies players, including Paul George who was preparing to stay with the team, could not have imagined that Sun Ce would make such significant progress in the summer after winning two consecutive championships!

Coupled with the rapid progress of Klay Thompson and Paul George, the complacency of the old players after two consecutive championships gradually began to emerge.