Coach, I don't want to retire yet

Chapter 586 Kobe, you are so crazy!
In his dream, Tabit found a way to become stronger.

Data, honors, and results. Whether in the national team or the NBA, as long as you can get results, achievements, and honors, you may be able to change your destiny and improve your potential.

The 1993 season ended with the Denver Nuggets being defeated 3-2 by the powerful Spurs in the first round, and Thabeet and Mutombo ended their first playoff journey.

Their good brother Alonzo Mourning led the Hornets all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, where their opponent was the defending champion, the Chicago Bulls led by Jordan.

After winning the first two games, the Hornets were tied by the Chicago Bulls for four consecutive games and were eventually defeated by the Chicago Bulls 2-4.

The combination of Mourning and Laettner has indeed been very successful for the Hornets this season.

Mourning also ended his first playoff trip in his career. Mourning's first playoff trip successfully shocked the whole country, because in the final finals, the Chicago Bulls played against the Suns with a score of only 4 to 2.

After losing to the Bulls and Jordan in this way, Mourning received nothing but praise.

Mourning himself is also very proud and clamors that he will lead the Hornets to take revenge on Jordan next season.

However, Thabeet knew that Mourning would not have this opportunity because Jordan would retire for the first time this summer.

Sure enough, Jordan retired and the NBA fell into madness.

None of this has anything to do with Thabit.

After the playoffs, Thabeet started to play in aerial mode.

In May, he worked with his teammates to help the Chinese team win the men's basketball championship at the first East Asian Games held in Shanghai.

Later, at the World University Games held in Buffalo, USA, Thabeet helped the Chinese team win the second place in the men's basketball competition.

It’s a pity that I didn’t win the championship. If I could win the championship in the Mini Olympics, maybe it could also reward my potential?

Tabit is now shooting at random and wants to try every kind of game.

In July of the following year, at the 7th National Games held in Beijing, Tabit helped the Soviet team win the gold medal and became the best athlete of the National Games.

This was his first and also his last National Games. Winning the championship was a way of repaying the kindness shown to him by the basketball community in Jiangsu Province.

I flew around the world for three consecutive months in May, June and July, but the final result was miserable and I did not feel the increase in my potential.

Finally, Thabeet could only turn his attention to the new NBA season, 1993-1994.

With the full support of Thabeet and Mutombo, Westhead's position in the Nuggets is as solid as a rock.

Westhead is still leading the team in the new season, and the Nuggets are still playing run-and-gun.

The Nuggets play a run-and-gun style, which is suitable in terms of lineup.

Center Mutombo, power forward Robert Holly, small forward Reggie Williams, shooting guard Hu Weidong, point guard Lauf, and sixth man Sprewell.

If we have to point out any shortcomings, it is that Lauv is an offensive point guard with no organizational skills. He mainly relies on personal offense. He has strong offensive ability but no defense.

So this summer, the Nuggets sent away Lauv, one of the Nuggets' backcourt duo who averaged 19 points per game, and completely established Hu Weidong's position as the leader of the outside line.

Lauv is a junior and can average 19 points per game. Although he has no defense, he still has value. He was the third pick in 1990. Although he could not get a top three pick in 1993, he was able to get the No. 7 pick from the Kings, plus the Nuggets' original No. 21 pick.

At Thabeet's suggestion, in 1993, the Nuggets selected Alan Houston with the seventh pick, Nick Van Exel with the 21st pick, and Brian Russell in the second round, the famous background board for Jordan. If he wasn't so famous, Thabeet wouldn't have remembered him. However, although he served as Jordan's background board, was it so easy to be Jordan's background board?
His strength is still very good, he is excellent in both offense and defense, and he can also shoot three-pointers. The key is his height of 2 meters, which perfectly meets the needs of a run-and-gun wing.

In the new season, Thabeet is ready to play point guard, which is also what Westhead wants him to do.

The Nuggets' starting lineup for the new season will be center Mutombo, power forward Robert Horry, small forward Reggie Williams, shooting guard Sprewell, point guard Hu Weidong, and the substitute sixth man will be two rookies, Nick Van Exel and Alan Houston. Brian Russell will enter the important rotation.

The Nuggets are still a young team and a growing team.

Without Lowe in the new season, the Nuggets have completely become Thabeet's team.

Moreover, after promoting the madman Sprewell to the starting lineup, the Nuggets' defense has been upgraded. Except for Hu Weidong, the other five starting players have good defense. Hu Weidong's one-on-one defense is actually not bad. Given his height and weight, he is definitely better than Love.

So, in the 93-94 season, when Jordan retired and the NBA was full of competition, the Nuggets' record improved from fourth in the Western Conference to fourth in the Western Conference.

Well, the Nuggets' record this season is 60 wins and 22 losses, second only to the Seattle SuperSonics. However, according to the ranking rules, since the SuperSonics are first in the Northwest Division, the Nuggets can only be fourth.

Then, the Nuggets' first-round opponent was the Spurs again.

This time, the Nuggets finally avenged the Spurs 3-1.

In the second round, they faced the Supersonics. In this series, Thabeet saw what one of the strongest perimeter defenses is. Payton almost made him miss shots in 7 games. He missed shots in every game. However, in this series, Mutombo was amazing.

Averaging 6.2 blocks per game throughout the entire series is more than just amazing, it's simply indescribable.

In the end, the Nuggets made an epic advance to the Western Conference Finals, facing the Rockets, who were second in the Western Conference.

Facing Olajuwon's Rockets, Mutombo, who was super in the last series, was no longer as he should be. In this series, Olajuwon averaged 33 points per game, scored 4+ in 30 of the 41 games, including 12 points in one game. Mutombo on the opposite side scored 10 points in one game, 8 points in one game, 4 points in two games and points in one game. He was completely beaten.

Mutombo was beaten by Olajuwon, and the loophole of the running and gunning team with one big and four small players appeared, that is, the lack of a power forward who could help with defense, and Robert Horry's help defense was not that good.

He could only watch Mutombo being called out madly by Olajuwon. Mutombo was almost beaten to tears and almost cried in the locker room.

Mutombo has no help in the paint.

In the end, the young Nuggets watched Olajuwon perform superbly this season and lead the Rockets all the way to the finals and win the championship.

Strong, too strong.

Without Jordan's dazzling brilliance, the strongest player in the NBA is not Ewing, not Malone, not Barkley, but Olajuwon, who is undoubtedly the strongest player under Jordan.

As for Thabeet, he was selected to the All-NBA First Team with an average of 24 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the regular season this season.

This is also the only gain for Thabeet this season, because his potential has increased.

His teammate Sprewell was selected to the second team. It was a pity for Mutombo, as Olajuwon was selected to the first team, the second team was the Admirals, and O'Neal, Mourning and Ewing were all unlicensed in the third team, while these two were undoubtedly the top ten players in the NBA this season.

In this era, it is very difficult to win honors as a center.

Tabit is glad that his reborn Hu Weidong is a defender.

However, this performance also caused him to encounter great criticism.

This season, the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference Finals, which exceeded everyone's expectations, but the best performance was not Hu Weidong, the team leader, but Mutombo.

Even Sprewell performed better than Hu Weidong in the playoffs. As a first-team guard, Hu Weidong should have performed like a superstar.

However, in the playoffs, when he was closely guarded by the opponent, especially by Payton, Hu Weidong did not even show his All-Star level strength, let alone a superstar.

Counterfeit, garbage, not worthy of being selected for the first team, all kinds of criticisms came rushing in.

This is indeed a fatal blow to ordinary young people, but for Tabit, it is just a drop in the bucket.

He was reborn, but this was his first time playing on the outside. Although he had the advantage of being reborn, his advantage of being an early starter became less and less after entering the NBA.

These people are right to scold him, he really does not have the All-Star level ability.

With the ability of 84, he is almost an All-Star, but not yet an All-Star.

"But now, I'm 85!"

Hu Weidong could clearly feel that his potential had increased a little bit thanks to the honor he had received.

"Next up, it's the 1994 World Championships!"

Being selected into the best team at the Olympics is rewarded with 1 point, so what if you can be selected into the best team at the World Championships, or even win the MVP?
In the 1994 World Championships, Thabeet led the team, which was composed of players under the age of , making it the youngest Chinese team.

In the group stage, the Chinese men's basketball team was trapped in a death group and had to win two games to qualify. The Chinese men's basketball team strategically gave up the game with the US team, defeated the South American powerhouse Brazil and the European powerhouse Spain, and advanced to the quarterfinals!
In the qualifying match, China defeated Croatia and Greece with great difficulty and finally secured first place in the group. However, they strategically gave up the game and lost to Canada. Hu Weidong scored 30+ points in all three games, especially against Canada, when he scored 30+ points in the first half. In the end, China led the team to the semi-finals of the World Championships with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss.

The opponent in the semi-finals was Russia, the second in another group. In the end, China lost to Russia by a small margin. Although Hu Weidong scored 30+ again, facing the fierce Russia, China was still unable to turn the tide and lost 80 to 89.

In the final third place qualifying match, the Chinese team defeated Croatia again and finally won the third place, winning a bronze medal for the Chinese team in this World Championships.

However, Hu Weidong was selected into the first team and won the MVP of the tournament with his average scoring of 31.5 points per game.

Whether it's winning a bronze medal or getting an individual MVP.

For the Chinese men's basketball team, this is history.

What's more, these players are still so young.

"Ding, congratulations to your player Tabit for changing his fate, potential +1."

"Ding, congratulations to your player Tabit for changing his fate, potential +1."

After the World Championships, he returned to the NBA.

This time, Tabit felt like he had upgraded his weapon to a better one.

"The ability of 87 is worth it. This time, the two potential points are not added to mid-range and three-point shooting, but to athletic ability. I feel that my athletic ability is running faster!"

All 2 points of potential are added to athletic ability. This is definitely not just a simple addition of 2 points to athletic ability. At least his double speed feels like it has increased by at least 5 points, and maybe both speeds have reached 90.

Now Hu Weidong clearly feels that his hard power has definitely reached the All-Star level.

Because the points added and the attribute distribution were very reasonable, Hu Weidong even felt that his actual strength should be considered relatively outstanding among the All-Stars.

"Now, if I meet Peyton, I will definitely not be without any ability to fight back!"

"It's easier to gain potential in international competitions. When will Yao and Yi come out to help me..."

Thabeet can't wait any longer.

Yao and Yi may have to wait, but...

"Wang should have been able to help in 1996!"

Thabeet is now full of confidence.

In the 1994 draft, the Nuggets selected streetball king Alston. The Nuggets' draft pick was not high, and their young players were very outstanding. Excellent power forwards were not easy to come by, so they could only tap potential from within.

The Nuggets had great flaws in the interior. This season, Hu Weidong, Sprewell and Alan Houston have all grown up. All three of them have started, and Alan Houston has squeezed Reggie Williams to the bench, but in the end, they still lost to the Rockets led by Olajuwon in the Western Conference Finals.

Perhaps the only thing that comforted the Nuggets was that Mutombo was almost beaten to tears by Olajuwon, while the Spurs' general was actually beaten to tears by Olajuwon.

This left the entire NBA stunned.

However, this season, the most shocking thing in the NBA was Jordan. He lost. The returning Jordan was defeated by the Magic, and the combination of Penny Hardaway and O'Neal killed the god in one fell swoop.

Even if he is not a perfect God, he is still a God.

In the East, Jordan is back, and O'Neal and Hardaway have grown up.

In the West, Olajuwon was at his peak and the Nuggets grew.

In this year's regular season, Hu Weidong was once again selected into the first team, but without the bonus of potential.

At the same time, Hu Weidong has not been able to gain any potential bonus this season.

One season is over.

The ability is still 87.

In 1995, the national team had no potential to increase. In the 1995-1996 season, the Jazz and Supersonics rose. This time the Nuggets fell in the Western Conference semifinals.

In the 1996 Olympics, although the Chinese team made it to the top eight, they were unable to create another miracle.

Although Thabeet was selected for the best team, there was no potential reward.

Two years later, there has been no growth.

Thabeet is under a lot of pressure.

Finally, the 1996 draft is here!
There is nothing to say.

At Thabeet's request, the Nuggets traded Reggie Williams and Alan Houston for the No. 8 draft pick, if not for anyone else, then for Kobe!
Select Kobe with No. 8, and then take Nash in the first round!

In the new season, Thabeet is full of confidence.

However, there was a boy who was very crazy!
"Hu, my name is Kobe Bryant, I'm going to beat you up!"

(End of this chapter)