Seven Hundred and Three. Test? Guarantee? Funny!

Last season, Sports Illustrated made a gimmick of the top ten point guards of the 2009 generation. By this season, many of the top ten point guards have fallen behind.

It is obvious that second-year players such as Jonny Flynn and Tony Douglas have no upward momentum.

The Timberwolves' long-awaited Rubio has postponed his return to the NBA for another year. If the Spanish golden boy joins the NBA next season, he will already be 21 years old. The key is that Rubio's skills are not good.

But the powerful ones are very powerful.

Sun Ce, Evans, and Curry became the leaders of the 2009 generation.

Each of the three has its own characteristics. Sun Ce is expected to become a superstar who can raise the upper limit of a team's strength; Evans is expected to become a stable superstar like LeBron James and Chris Paul who can guarantee the lower limit of a team; talent. Curry, who ranked first in the three-point list as a sophomore, is expected to become a historical level shooter.

Compared with Evans who is low-key and Curry who is underdeveloped, Sun Ce is the most dazzling one.

In addition to these three people, there are actually many players from the 2009 generation who have shown their talents.

Harden of the Thunder did not perform well in his rookie year, but after entering his second year, he averaged 12 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists per game, making many teams envious of the Thunder's draft luck.

Although DeRozan of the Raptors has nothing to do with the point guard, he has made great progress in his second year. He averaged 8 points per game last season and soared to 17 points per game this season, making him the favorite for the Most Improved Award.

Although Jennings has not improved much, his field goal percentage has increased from 37% last season to 40%. If you don't think about his 50+ points in a single game, there is no need to compete with another rookie. Comparing it with players of the same generation who scored 50+ points in a single game in a season, it looks good.

The 76ers' Jrue Holiday and Iguodala formed the most athletic perimeter defensive combination; the Pacers' Darren Collison continued to improve after changing teams, and is known as Little Paul...

However, relatively speaking, except for Sun Ce and Evans, who can really play a big role in the team, mainly in terms of helping the team win, none of these people can compare to the Nuggets' Ty Lawson!

But the most important thing is that the Nuggets are known as the "Little Spurs"!

…

After the game against the Nets, the Grizzlies players who returned to the locker room received the scouting report for the next game. There will only be training arrangements for the afternoon tomorrow, and the coaching staff gave them the opportunity to sleep in.

When Sun Ce reads the playbook, of course he focuses on players in the same position as himself. He has never paid much attention to the Nuggets before. It is too difficult for a team that focuses on team play to attract attention. It also focuses on fast breaks, like the Knicks. The data is concentrated on Paul and Stoudemire. The topic and star popularity are obviously much higher than that of the Nuggets.

Seeing the performances of Lawson and Lowry, Sun Ce felt that the game the day after tomorrow would be quite difficult!

Lawson is averaging 26 minutes per game this season, averaging 13 points, 2.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.

Sun Ce feels that Lawson's statistics are almost the same as his last season. Without looking at rebounds, his statistics last season were not as good as Lawson's.

The point guard line formed by Lawson and Lowry, who averaged 14 points and 6 assists in 28 minutes per game, is very strong!

The 25-year-old Lowry has begun to show his strength. Of course, it is far from the future where he will average 20+ points per game, average 3+ three-pointers per game, and shoot over 40% of the three-pointers, but Not to be underestimated either!

Especially since the two of them have played together from time to time, along with Ariza, Courtney Lee, Gallinari, Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, Nene, Al Harrington, Chris Anderson and other players with excellent physical fitness, some of these players have first-class defense... The Nuggets combine Anthony, who is in his prime, JR Smith, and the aging Billups and Kenyon... Martin used them as bargaining chips to trade too many powerful players, and they look even stronger than they were last season!

Lowry is relatively suitable for positional warfare, and Lawson is suitable for defensive counterattacks or pure bombardment. Together with the group of young talents that the Nuggets brought back in exchange for Billups and Anthony, they have managed to gain a foothold in the Western Conference.

And it’s not like there’s no chance to compete for second place in the Western Conference!

This opponent is very troublesome. During the break in the game just now, he noticed that the Nuggets have arrived. This team has many stars and they want to win and prove themselves.

The key is that Sun Ce saw from the scouting report that the Nuggets were similar to the Knicks. They did not show a "lazy mood" in the middle of the season. They were a group of physical monsters. In the middle of the season, they surpassed the Trail Blazers and Thunder and climbed to the top. Fourth in the West!

This is very different from what Sun Ce remembers!

However, Sun Ce feels very excited. This is the change he has brought to basketball in the world, which means that his influence is constantly expanding!

There are also comments from the public. The media and fans generally call the Nuggets the Little Spurs.

Most media and fans will not care about the differences in tactics and core concepts. They see that the Nuggets also play briskly. Like the Spurs, there are no players averaging 20+ points per game, and the team scores equally. , which brought the two teams together.

However, in the top eight teams in the Western Conference, after Sun Ce's scoring average increased to 20.2 points per game, only the Nuggets and Spurs did not have a scorer averaging 20+ points per game. Both teams have at least 6 players averaging double figures. .

From the evaluation analysis in the scout report, Sun Ce found that the defensive counterattack of the Nuggets is very special. If it is a series, it is estimated that the Western playoff-level teams will not be afraid of them, and the Eastern playoff-level teams may not have much disadvantages against the Nuggets in a series.

But it is not so easy to play against the Nuggets suddenly. The Nuggets have too many players who can play, and they can't focus on the key points like in the series. Their players' performance fluctuates greatly, and the rotation adjustment may be very large. The head coach of the Nuggets, George Karl, is also a very good head coach, which is very difficult to deal with.

We can only play first. There will always be two teams among the Nuggets, Thunder, and Trail Blazers that will be sixth and seventh in the West, and the other team is likely to be fourth. Whether the Grizzlies maintain the second or third position in the upper half of the playoffs, or drop to fifth, they will definitely play against one of these three teams in the first round. Anyway, if the Grizzlies drop to fourth, they will definitely choose to drop to fifth to avoid meeting the Mavericks in advance. Sun Ce knows this general policy of the team.

Therefore, playing against these three teams, relatively speaking, needs to win more than playing against the Lakers, Mavericks and Bulls!

The ultimate goal is to defeat the Lakers, Horses and Bulls, but first we have to get through the first round!

…

…

"Zach, you don't have a fever today, do you? You came to practice so early?"

"You are already an MVP candidate, and you are still working so hard. If you work so hard, of course I have to work hard too. I don't want to be surpassed by you so easily. I am the boss!"

"Yes, yes, you are the boss, I am the second in the team and the first in the league."

"Haha, by the way, let's practice low post together today. Why have you been backing up in the high post recently? We are the Grizzlies! We should go to the basket more. Your size is so big on the outside. Why don't you play low post well and run to the outside!"

" Blame me for this? Who has become so fat this season?"

"Honda Naci O'Neal is not fat! He is strong! Look at my dominance in the interior, and look at you, you are as skinny as a monkey. Be careful, Honda Naci O'Neal will soon regain the team's scoring throne!"

"I XXX is a point guard! Can we compare?"

"..."

Early this morning, Randolph ran to the gym to train with Sun Ce, which surprised Sun Ce. It has been more than a month since he had extra training with Randolph. The last time he had extra training with Randolph was in mid-December, after which he was preparing for the concert and the mid-season break.

To be precise, Randolph rarely practiced extra skills this season, and Sun Ce also practiced less low-post with Randolph, because Randolph needed to spend more time on losing weight.

The coaching staff did not arrange training this morning, but Randolph took the initiative to come to train, which was really surprising.

After practicing two sets of low-post steps with Randolph, Randolph sat next to the training ground to rest, and Sun Ce practiced an extra set of low-post layups with a left turn.

After the practice, Sun Ce looked at the learning section.

"Humility:

Learning object: Zach Randolph,

Learning goal: low-post turnaround skills, S+ level, bonus efficiency 35%. Completion (2/7).

Mid-range and short-range flip shots, S- level, bonus efficiency 25%. Completion (0/7)."

After practicing layups, Sun Ce came to sit next to Randolph, and Randolph handed Sun Ce a glass of Gatorade.

"Zach, how many years do you plan to renew your contract?" Sun Ce asked, he was very concerned about this matter.

At this stage of the regular season, Randolph's body shape has changed a lot compared to the beginning of the regular season. He has lost more than ten pounds and his current weight is 126 kilograms, at least not as bloated as at the beginning of the season.

Of course, with Randolph's height, 126 kilograms is still a bit too heavy, and his condition is sometimes good and sometimes bad, which is still a headache for the coaching staff and teammates.

But Randolph has always had a good attitude towards playing since joining the Grizzlies. He rarely does things like he did in the first eight years of his career, especially since he no longer has off-court troubles. Last season, the team actually kept a wait-and-see attitude towards Randolph, but now, Sun Ce and Randolph's common agent Bill Duffy learned that the team management has been discussing contract renewal.

Speaking of this, Randolph was a little anxious: "I plan to sign for three years, but Bill thinks four years is safer, and I am also hesitant."

Randolph's two-year, $33.26 million contract signed in 2009 will expire after this season. Randolph will turn 30 in half a year, and the management is ready to offer a three to four-year contract, which means that Randolph is truly considered part of the long-term plan.

When the Grizzlies signed Randolph, they gave a second-round draft pick to the Clippers, signing first and then trading for Randolph's bird rights, so there is no need to rush to renew the contract.

Now Randolph and Bill Duffy are considering whether to sign a 3-year or 4-year contract. Randolph will only be 30 next season. If he signs for 3 years, he will only be 33 years old after the next contract. If he maintains his condition well, he may get another long-term contract.

If the contract extension is for 4 years, he will be 34 years old after the next contract, which is a big difference.

It mainly depends on whether Randolph has the confidence to maintain a long-term condition, choose a more secure 4-year contract or fight for the next contract after the year he is 32.

Sun Ce can understand Randolph's hesitation. If he signs one year less, if he really encounters the worst situation, he may get nearly 20 million less!

Randolph is going to renew his contract now. His starting salary may be lower than the current contract, but it will not be lower than 15 million. In the fourth year, it will be almost 20 million.

If he only signs for three years and is not in good condition in the last year, the worst case scenario may be that he will be directly demoted to the minimum salary level or even have no ball to play.

30 years old is a hurdle. Haven't you seen that players who have received maximum salaries such as McGrady, Carter, Webber, and Rasheed Wallace are not as good as before after they are 30 years old?

Sun Ce can't give any advice on this matter. Although he knows that Randolph retired at the age of 37, and he was in good condition when he retired, he just didn't want to hug his thighs and chose to retire. He didn't want to continue to live in a weak team after all, he had already earned 200 million. But the world has changed so much, how can he give advice casually.

And Randolph's own choice in the original time and space was not bad.

After chatting about the contract for a while, Randolph said: "Don't worry, Noah, I will definitely stay, you don't have to worry so much."

Randolph suddenly made a promise to Sun Ce. How could Sun Ce not know what Randolph wanted to express? It is estimated that he has already communicated with the management.

This topic is more serious and sensitive if we go deeper. Everyone knows that the Grizzlies want to reach a contract extension with Sun Ce as soon as possible, but so far this season, the Grizzlies have not told the public about this matter through any channel, nor have they had a conversation with him about this matter. It seems that the team players are also prohibited from discussing Sun Ce's contract extension.

Sun Ce does not intend to discuss this matter at all for the time being. He does not have bird rights, and the team currently has no salary space. It is useless to talk about contract extension now. He will not accept the salary of early bird rights. He needs to wait. He has a tendency to stay, and the Grizzlies need to find a way to create salary space.

At this time, Randolph opened this topic. Sun Ce saw that Randolph still had something to say, and suddenly felt a little nervous.

At this time, Randolph spoke: "Noah, have you... decided what we will perform in this year's All-Star Game?"

Sun Ce subconsciously responded: "I haven't thought about it yet... Watt?"

Sun Ce looked at Randolph's eyes from expectation to dissatisfaction, and he really wanted to pry open this guy's head to see what was inside! Maybe it's really rotten tofu!

How come such a serious topic is brought up to the All-Star Weekend?

Sun Ce thought Randolph was trying to test his words. He knew that his decision would definitely have a huge impact on the Grizzlies and even some other teams.

For more than a year, the Grizzlies have been building a system around him, Sun. If he leaves after this season, the Grizzlies' efforts for two seasons will be in vain. Randolph, who is about to enter his thirties, will definitely make other considerations. This is no longer the situation in the original time and space where Randolph will definitely renew his contract. In the original time and space, Randolph was the most important player of the Grizzlies.

But Randolph just got his emotions aroused, and suddenly brought up the All-Star Weekend performance?

What the hell is a performance! Haven't you performed enough at the concert?