Chapter 393

As the new season is approaching, the popular media rankings are here again.

The Eagles, which only ranked twelfth last summer, made it into the top five on the list of major media this time!

The Lakers have no suspense in the first place in the list of major strengths, except for the Bulls who lost Jordan in 1993 and Jordan and Pippen in 1998; the Mavericks who lost most of their main players in 2011; the Cavaliers in 2016, almost all The defending champion, at the beginning of the second season after winning the championship, was the first in the strength list.

What's more, the Lakers who just won three consecutive championships retained their core lineup. The core lineup of Fisher, Kobe, Robert Horry, Reagan Fox, O'Neal, Brian Shaw, and Devin Brown is all retained. The seven core members who have remained on the team for the past three years, no matter how others change, these seven players of the Lakers have not changed.

Moreover, this year's Lakers team has received more attention than before. It is true that Wang Zhizhi was banned by the national team because of the so-called "treason" incident, but he went to the Lakers team, the most watched basketball team in the world, and the domestic media cannot ignore him. With the existence of the Blue Association, it is impossible to block the Lakers, and it is said that the new chairman Wei Yuanli, who is about to take office, wants to recall Wang Zhizhi to form the "Big Three" of the national team next summer. Cheng Lanxin is about to step down. The Blue Association did not make a statement on the news of Wang Zhizhi joining the Lakers reported by the domestic media, that is, it acquiesced.

Although the Lakers, which retains the core lineup, are one year older, the man who forged the iron is one year older, so the Lakers are still considered to be the number one favorite to win the championship next season.

The Kings are also recognized as second in the strength list. The fourth quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals last year is still being discussed non-stop, and it is considered to be the team most likely to beat the Lakers in the new season.

The Eagles and the Spurs are on par with the Spurs in the competition for the third place in the major lists. ESPN has never waited to see the Western Conference. The Eagles are ranked third against the Spurs. At third, the Eagles are fourth.

Last year's Eastern Conference playoff champions, the Nets, were all ranked fifth.

Looking at this power ranking list, Liu Mang felt that he had been fed another sip of poisonous milk, the kind that was forced into it.

The Eagles started the training camp ahead of schedule, and they are the first team in the entire league to start the training camp. The Spurs and Pistons are only a week ahead of schedule, but the Eagles training camp has already started a week of training camp. The boss' seniors haven't come yet, and no one knows where they have gone.

Not only the Eagles could not be contacted, but even the domestic company that wanted to find this famous first-class star as an endorsement could not find anyone, so Muhammad and Ratliff took advantage of it and got an endorsement contract of hundreds of thousands of dollars .

Just like the players of the Rockets, the players of the Eagles have already begun to enjoy the dividends brought by Liu Wei.

As for the two popular players, Raheem and Jason Terry, they have already signed some endorsements just after the end of last season. Raheem, a second-team player, doubled his endorsement fee in the summer. Nike gave him a new five-year endorsement fee of 20 million U.S. dollars, and the endorsement contracts signed with several Chinese companies have reached nearly 30 million soft sister coins per year, which is comparable to Nike's endorsement fee. about there.

The Eagles' early training this time has become somewhat dispensable.

Without Glenn Robinson, the team's collective tactical training can't be done. He must be one of the team's main offensive points.

...

...

Without Glenn Robinson, the Eagles can only practice defense and small-scale coordination.

In fact, this is also very good, except for Glenn Robinson, the cavalry company of Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Raheem, Newbell, and Muhammad of the Eagles is still there, and they can continue to polish cavalry tactics.

However, in addition to the regular cavalry company combination, Coach Kruger also tried to intersperse two players with excellent physical fitness, Barnes and Prince. Liang, this accuracy almost caught up with Kukoc!

Moreover, Prince is young and can run. Unlike Kukoc, who can only play in positional battles, he fits the Eagles' style of play very well. He can even play power forward in small ball tactics! In addition to being a little thinner and inexperienced, this guy who is equivalent to the No. 21 pick in the first round in exchange for Kukoc is really good.

Another day of training is over, of course Liu Mang has to continue training.

Seeing the continuous improvement of overall ability, the progress in shooting is relatively slow, which makes Liu Mang a little worried.

Liu Mang's comprehensive ability was low before, only more than 60, mainly because the strength could not keep up, the confrontation was not good, and he could only focus on scoring, so the overall strength was low.

But now the strength has been greatly improved, and the inside scoring and mid-range scoring have all improved significantly. As soon as the confrontation comes up, the ability value has skyrocketed by 11 points this summer, reaching 75.

In this regard, Liu Mang is the same as other talented rookies who have made rapid progress after their first season.

Just like James, his rookie year went from 75 at the beginning to 85 after finishing his rookie season, and then after one summer, he broke 90 in the second season and became a top star.

What is more similar is that the Lakers drafted in 2016 against the extremely poor Brandon Ingram at the beginning. Ingram played like a parallel importer in his rookie year, and became a quasi-first-class star in the second year. After the confrontation came up, it became very difficult to stop.

Liu Mang's starting point was lower than that of James, but after the confrontation, he improved just as fiercely. Even if he didn't rely on the bench bandits, he still had an ability value of 75.

But in this way, Liu Mang became very "average", with layups, mid-range shots, and three-pointers all over 80. The more average and versatile, the higher the overall ability value.

This made Liu Mang feel a sense of crisis.

If you get more and more adapted to your stronger body and play better and better, you still have more than 1100 skill upgrade cards, and you haven’t chosen to upgrade those new skills. Just reach the level of a quasi-first-class star, then the bench bandits will be invalid.

So Liu Mang will not move those skill upgrade cards for now, and continue to work hard to improve his shooting ability in the new season. After all, this is the foundation of his life!

Liu Mang is very clear about what he needs to rely on. Whether it is fouling or wanting to break through, the threat of shooting is the most important thing!

So he doesn't care so much about first-class and quasi-first-class stars. The evaluation of ordinary stars is just ordinary stars. The best ability is the strongest.

Sometimes you don’t need to be so versatile. The team doesn’t lack rebounds and assists. You don’t need to do so many things. Shooting is just shooting!

After the training in the afternoon, Liu Mang saw that his teammates had almost left, so he continued to return to the training ground for training.

Surprisingly, this time Liu Mang saw that there were other people staying behind.

Three rookies!

"Why haven't you left yet?" Liu Mang asked strangely.

The three rookies were a little nervous seeing Liu Mang coming, but Barnes was more courageous: "Sorry, did we interrupt your training? Then let's go to the visiting team's training ground..."

"No, it's okay, you'll be fine after you practice, so I'm just curious." Liu Mang felt that he should be very kind and kind, but the three rookies usually saw him as if they had seen a ghost.

Liu Mang didn't know that, except for the original Eagles players, other teams had the impression of him as a new-generation player who was lawless, dared to fight with those superstars, had a bad temper, and a bad personality.

"When we were drinking with Vice President Mr. Moron Wiley yesterday, he asked us to learn more from you, Ace." People who are calm and cold are always calmer, Prince explained.

"Are you drinking?" Liu Mang frowned and said, even a rookie can drink? What a world!

When Liu Mang asked this question, the three rookies froze for a moment, drinking...what's wrong?

all adults...

etc!

The three of them remembered that in the player handbook, even if Liu Mang was born one year old according to the calculation method in some places, he was born in 1983, and he was only 20 years old...

When I ask Liu Mang out for dinner, I can only drink juice, coffee, and milk. This is an "unspoken rule" among NBA players who I know well with Liu Mang. , there can be aggro gaps.

But most of the confrontation and hatred that can be clearly said will not be revealed to the media, because they belong to the same circle, and they can fight each other within the circle, but the entire NBA is still very united.

Just like basketball and football, basketball and rugby, on a public level, they are still very united.

Therefore, the circle of NBA All-Stars and quasi-All-Stars will almost laugh at Liu Mang for not being able to go to nightclubs or drink, but the outside world has not noticed this, otherwise Liu Mang will become a joke for people to laugh at.

How do we tell the little boss that the three of us have grown up and can drink? Will this hurt the little boss' self-esteem?

The three rookies all realized this and looked at each other, how embarrassing!

Liu Mang looked at the embarrassment of the three people, and suddenly thought of it, it seems that these three people are all older rookies...

The atmosphere at the scene was once awkward.

Liu Mang looked at the abilities of the three rookies.

"Carlos Boozer, 73 abilities, 56 three-pointers, 85 mid-range shots, 86 layups, 82 speed, 87 strength..."

"Tyshaun Prince, 67 abilities, 80 three-pointers, 69 mid-range shots, 76 layups, 89 speed, 71 strength..."

"Matt Barnes, 58 abilities, 67 three-pointers, 59 mid-range shots, 80 layups, 88 speed, 82 strength..."

Liu Mang did not expect that Boozer was actually the strongest among the three rookies! I thought it was the little prince!

With Boozer's strength, how did he get selected in the second round? Damn it! This is definitely a T1 rookie! In addition to his lack of three-point ability, his scoring ability inside the three-point line is absolutely top-notch, his speed and power are excellent, and his body is strong. There are few in the lottery area better than him. Even in the draft year of 2002, he is absolutely It's a top ten rookie!

At first, Liu Mang thought that Boozer was the type who had accumulated a lot of money after being selected with a low pick. He didn't expect that Boozer, who had just entered the NBA, already had the ability to start!

It's so annoying to compare people to people!

Prince is quite satisfactory, and at this stage is the strength of an ordinary first-round pick.

Barnes...he has good physical fitness, but his skills are really bad...

but……

"Ahem, since you are here to train, then..." Liu Mang's eyes lit up, "Carlos, come and train with me!"

Liu Mang suddenly thought, Boozer seems to be one of the new generation of Shuangsha in the future! You can practice with him yourself!

"Me?" Boozer asked in surprise.

Barnes and Prince envy Boozer!

Rahim has a cold personality, Jason Terry is arrogant and rookie has nothing to talk about, Muhammad is nice but he is nice to everyone, except for Liu Mang who is very young and the bottom of the bottom. , It’s just ordinary care for the new rookies, after all, the Eagles have stood up now, the best relationship has been cultivated, newcomers are always newcomers, and Ratliff has a moderate personality.

Of the six big men in the team, one has not returned to the team so far, and four of them can't hold their thighs. Only Liu Mang is left.

And Liu Mang is a super "stab head" in the legend. After the three rookies entered the NBA, they could not find a backer. Barnes and Barnes are so envious.

"Well, Carlos, is your CIC okay?" Liu Mang asked.

"I'm best at mid-range shots!" Boozer showed his presence strongly. Even if he is not good at it, he will say that he is very good at it. Don't miss the opportunity! And he is really good at middle dog.

"Okay then, let's practice cooperation..."

Liu Mang decisively dragged Boozer to rehearse some cooperation with Shuang Shaxue last month, leaving the other two rookies envious and jealous.

Sometimes, talent is not just physical and technical, it is also a natural talent to be good at a certain aspect. Liu Wei and Boozer talked about the running route and their respective changes after the pick-and-roll. Boozer learned Hurry up!

Liu Mang didn't waste the other two rookies and let them serve as defensive sparring partners. Even if the two rookies were not valued, they worked hard to show their presence, so that Liu Mang and Boozer's pick-and-roll cooperation started from the very beginning. , There is a very good chemical reaction... Except that Boozer is trying hard to find his scoring position but can't catch the ball very much...

Anyway, Prince and Barnes were silently abused.

Coach Kruger is still planning for Glenn Robinson's training after his return. Since he doesn't know what Glenn Robinson will bring when he comes back, whether it is good or not, he doesn't even have a general direction.

If Glenn Robinson comes back, he can clearly know what kind of problems the team will have, but the current core lineup is still the same as last season. The Eagles played very successfully last season. The performance is almost perfect. Except for the lack of experience in the playoffs and the fierce opponents, the Eagles have no other problems. This year, they can go further.

But there is one more uncertain factor, and many things need to be adjusted.

Coach Kruger worked overtime until it was dark and was going home to rest. When he came out of the office, he happened to see Liu Mang and Boozer's pick-and-roll training. It felt...it seemed very good!

...

As time passed day by day, in the regular training of the Eagles, there was suddenly an additional item, the confrontation training between the starting lineup and the substitute lineup.

The starting lineup consists of Dean Grove, Jason Terry, Raheem, Mohammed and Ratliff.

The bench lineup consists of Liu Mang, Emmanuel, Chris Crawford, Boozer, and Murtola.

Occasionally, the composition of players will be changed to make the strength of the two teams more balanced, but the focus is on the pick-and-roll training of Liu Mang and Boozer's second team, which makes Coach Kruger feel that his team has a new team. tactical.

This is what coach Kruger wanted to add to the team after seeing Liu Mang and Boozer's training. If Glenn Robinson doesn't come back, the team can't just wait. It's time to practice or practice. We've been waiting for a while It's a week and it's impossible to wait forever.

In terms of professionalism, Coach Kruger feels desperate for Glenn Robinson.

That's it!

...

Just as the Eagles were getting better, Glenn Robinson finally had news!

On September 29, 2002, there were two big news today.

The first one is the release of the new player strength ranking list.

The Hawks have six players in the top 50 active players.

When Liu Mang saw the news, he said that he was numb to any poisonous milk!

Can it be more poisonous?

In the 2002-2003 player strength rankings before the season, O'Neal ranked first without any suspense, Duncan second, Kidd third, Kobe fourth, Garnett fifth, McGrady sixth, Carter seventh, Webber is eighth, Raheem is ninth, and Iverson has dropped from second last year to tenth.

Raheem entered the top ten player rankings for the first time by virtue of his outstanding performance in leading the team to the No. 1 Eastern Conference last season.

The 11th to 20th places are Nowitzki ranked 11th, Gary Payton ranked 12th, Ray Allen ranked 13th, and Rasheed Wallace ranked 1st Fourteenth, Michael Jordan ranked sixteenth, Karl Malone ranked seventeenth, Ben Wallace ranked eighteenth, Paul Pierce ranked nineteenth, Ratliff ranked twenty.

And Liu Mang... saw that he was actually ranked fifteenth by several goddamn media!

Liu Mang understands, and he also understands that the media prefers rookies who perform well, just like James, who was ranked sixth in the strength list in the second year, and Rose was also ranked No. 1 after finishing his rookie season. ten.

But did those two people get less hatred for it? These two teams were beaten to death by the teams of stars ranked behind them in their sophomore year! Rose didn't make much progress in the second grade, James relied on his strength in the second grade and almost made it to the playoffs, but in the second grade, Iverson, who was ranked behind them, met once with McGrady, Carter, and Kidd Beat it once, and grow up hard in the tempering.

Liu Mang felt that his next new season would be a cool feeling. He already felt that the two teachers, Shuangsha and Jordan, were going to be jealous when they saw him. Stockton, who is also a point guard, only ranked 22nd.

Just taught the little apprentice Kung Fu, and the ranking of the little apprentice is higher than them! How can I bear it! Liu Mang already felt that someone was praising him for being handsome.

In addition, the entire Eagles team also attracted hatred.

In addition to Raheem, Liu Mang, and Ratliff, who led the team well or had a brilliant rookie season or won the best defensive player, they were ranked in the top 20. Jason Terry was ranked 25th. Glenn Robinson ranked 27th.

These two are understandable. There are only 25 players with 20+ in the league. The 25th place in the scoring list last season was Hamilton, who just averaged 20 points per game, and was also ranked 35th.

Scoring is still an important indicator to judge whether a player is strong or not.

However, Muhammad was ranked forty-first...

That is, the six main players of the Eagles, all entered the list of the 50 strongest active players...

This hatred is too big!

Fortunately, someone helped the Eagles divert their attention, so that the hatred of the Eagles was not so miserable.

It happened to be the Eagles players who made "contributions" to the Eagles.

The guy who wasn't supposed to be reporting back until training camp officially started on October 1 got into trouble in Milwaukee.

According to gossip magazines, Glenn Robinson's wife, Frendie Robinson, cheated on a male model in Milwaukee. Glenn Robinson went back to catch the rape that night when he saw the news, and then kept beating Frandy until he was bruised all over his body. , Until he was tired, he called the police to report that his wife was cheating... God-like operation, and was finally arrested by the police.

Seeing this news, the Eagles players are about to collapse!

Nima, what kind of teammate did we recruit!