super point guard

Chapter 162 Rookie Wall

Eight straight wins!
After narrowly beating the Minnesota Timberwolves by one point at home, the Indiana Pacers have won eight consecutive victories, creating a Pacers storm in the league. longest winning streak.

After these eight consecutive victories, the Indiana Pacers have ranked third in the Eastern Conference with a record of 23 wins and [-] losses, behind the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls, which many people have never imagined.

You know, last season, the Indiana Pacers barely made it to the last train of the playoffs as the eighth place in the Eastern Conference, and in the first round, the Chicago Bulls led by MVP Derrick Rose scored 4:1. disuse.However, this season, the Indiana Pacers are still ranked third in the Eastern Conference after playing 31 games, which surprised the so-called "basketball experts".

The Indiana Pacers can suddenly emerge this season and become a dark horse in the NBA, not only because the old coach Larry Brown, who once coached the Indiana Pacers, returned to Indianapolis. It is because of the joining of a group of new players such as David West, DeMar DeRozan, OJ Mayo and Rudy Fernandez, and it is not just because of the veterans of the Indiana Pacers such as Danny Granger. Another reason for the excellent performance of the players is that the rookie promised to join.

Promise is just a rookie player selected by the Indiana Pacers with the No.12 pick in the second round. Perhaps the original intention of the Indiana Pacers when they first chose Promise was just to promise the vast Chinese market behind them, but not Count on Xu Nuo to make too many technical and tactical contributions to the team.In the eyes of many people, a rookie player who was selected with the No.12 pick in the second round is already very good to be able to enter the team's roster, not to mention becoming the team's starter and making a splash in the league. It's stormy.

However, after Xu Nuo entered the NBA and joined the Indiana Pacers, he immediately became a focal figure in the league.With the team's main point guard Darren Collison absent due to injury, Xu Nuo stepped in to serve as the starting point guard for the Indiana Pacers.It is precisely because of this that Xu Nuo repeatedly performed well in the game, and even scored a career-high 26 points in the game between the Indiana Pacers and the Atlanta Hawks.So far, Xu Nuo has averaged 12.9 points and 8.8 assists per game, closely following Kyrie Irving in the rookie rankings, and on par with Spanish golden boy Ricky Rubio.

It is precisely because of Promise's outstanding performance that many people will think that it is precisely because of Promise's joining that the Indiana Pacers have become so strong this season.

However, after this eight-game winning streak, Xu Nuo began to face a very serious problem:

rookie wall.

The rookie wall is a problem that all rookie players who have just entered the NBA league have to face. The so-called rookie wall means that rookie players who have just entered the NBA league will have no state for a period of time after entering the league. The reason for not being able to find the state is like an invisible wall blocking the way forward.The reason why rookies who have just entered the NBA will hit the rookie wall is because the NBA schedule is much denser than they used to face in college or in other leagues, and those rookies have not yet learned. Maintain your physical strength in such an intensive schedule.

However, while many people are talking about the rookie wall, the rookie wall is somewhat like the NBA's version of Santa Claus. Some people believe it and others don't.

For example, Al Thornton, he is the player who realizes the existence of the rookie wall.According to Al Thornton himself, when he spent his rookie season with the Los Angeles Clippers, he hit the rookie wall around the middle of the season.

"After a while you get really limp," recalls Al Thornton, "and when you wake up, you're still tired. I remember my year when I took four days off in a row, It still feels like someone beat me up right after I got out of bed."

When New York Knicks veteran Mike Bibby was a rookie with the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1999, he described to Sports Illustrated what the "wall" was doing to his body.

"I'm exhausted," Mike Bibby wrote. "Sometimes I feel like I'm walking on quicksand. To be honest, I don't think I'm going anywhere today. The barrier, but I think I've walked too long in the mud."

Unlike those folks, however, others reject the rookie wall theory.

"My first job is to try to clear their heads and tell them that the rookie wall is just a figment of people's fiction," says longtime Denver Nuggets strength and conditioning coach Steve Hayes. Limits are ideas that we set and ingrain in our consciousness. As soon as they bring up the rookie wall, I'm like, 'I don't want to hear that at all. I don't want to discuss it or even talk about it. You should start letting this Get the whole rookie wall concept out of your head."

Steve Hayes doesn't like the idea of ​​a "rookie wall," he likes to call it a "drop in focus."When those players' bodies start to show signs of fatigue, Steve Hayes and his colleagues will do everything they can -- from changing a player's diet plan to adjusting training volume -- to see how they are doing.Steve Hayes will never let them use the rookie wall as an excuse, and Steve Hayes said he's starting to notice that some rookies are starting to fall for it at this point in the season.

"It's kind of like when you're taking a test in college," Hayes added, "you're like, 'What the fuck is going on?' as you face the last two days of the test, and that's the spirit of it." Concentration has dropped."

"Why do some guys hit the rookie wall and others don't? So forget about it." Shooting guard Eric Gordon, who plays for the New Orleans Hornets, is the perfect example of Steve Hayes' point.The former Indiana University phenom averaged 18.1 points and 2.9 assists as a rookie, and he scored in double figures in every game except for three in early January.

"I don't think I hit the rookie wall in my first season," Eric Gordon said. "In fact, as the end of the season approached, I played better."

However, regardless of whether the rookie wall really exists or not, it is an indisputable fact that the current promise has hit the rookie wall.

Just after the eight-game winning streak, the Indiana Pacers challenged the Boston Celtics in an away game. Xu Xu only scored 101 points and 109 assists in 117 of 91 shots in the game. The team also lost 91:86 away to defeated the Boston Celtics, ending the team's eight-game winning streak.Although in the next two games, the Indiana Pacers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats and the New Jersey Nets [-]:[-] and [-]:[-] respectively, Xu Nuo still did not perform well. Eighteen points and thirteen assists.

"What's going on in the recent period, how can you continue to perform poorly in the game?" Xu Nuo said to himself in the players' locker room after the game with the New Jersey Nets.

"What's the matter, newcomer?" Danny Granger couldn't help but sat beside Xu Xu when he heard Xu Xu talking to himself in the corner.

Xu Nuo took a deep breath and said: "Recently, I have always performed poorly in the game. I only scored eight points in the game against the Charlotte Bobcats. I really don't understand why I am in a sudden state. What's wrong?"

"You must have hit the rookie wall." Danny Granger said without thinking.

"I think so too. I can't find any other reason, but I never thought I would hit the rookie wall so early." Xu Nuo said.

"It's already mid-January, and the time is almost the same." Danny Granger said, "Hitting the rookie wall is a problem that every rookie player has to face. You can't avoid it. Now you can only cheer up Arise, step over this barrier!"

"I know." Xu Nuo said in a low voice.

"Now you have to take care of your body, you have to eat right, you have to rest enough, you have to keep training and keep in good shape." Danny Granger looked at Xu Xu with a serious face and said, "When I was a rookie That's what we did at the time, so that we can get through this difficult period more smoothly."

"Thank you, Danny, I will remember your warning." Xu Nuo said sincerely.

"Also, don't feel any frustration about hitting the rookie wall," Danny Granger continued. "There's no other way to get over the rookie wall. You have to be patient. You have to remember , Why did we sign this contract!"

Danny Granger walked away, promised to sit in his chair, and kept chewing on Danny Granger's words "what the hell are we signing this contract for?".Danny Granger is right. Since he has chosen to become an NBA player, he has to overcome any difficulties. Only in this way can he realize his dream.

(End of this chapter)