unfinished glory

Chapter 27 A Stronger Person

Stayed overnight at Yao Ming's house, and Li Chongxiao rushed back to San Antonio the next day.

A game was played yesterday, so the team only arranged a simple training in the afternoon today.

During training, it was inevitable to talk about yesterday's game.

Li Chongxiao had only watched the performances of NBA stars on TV before, and the preseason game was considered a real contact.

After entering the NCAA, Li Chongxiao knew that every NBA water player who was belittled by the audience was once the favorite of heaven, and he could dominate the league in college or other countries.

As for McGrady, a star player in the NBA, his strength surprised Li Chongxiao.

This is a little stronger than he imagined.

Li Chongxiao had also encountered an All-Star like Ray Allen before, and he was easily embarrassed on the offensive end, but he didn't feel as incomprehensible as McGrady.

As for the teammates and opponents in the previous NCAA, compared with McGrady, they are all like elementary school students.

He became very interested in McGrady, and asked Bowen for advice: Is McGrady the most difficult outside line to defend in the league.

Bowen knew that the child had been hit badly yesterday, but the blow had to be hit.

"No, for me, McGrady is not the most difficult to defend." He seemed to remember something: "When we play the Lakers, you will see another more exaggerated beast."

Li Chongxiao was in high spirits. McGrady's talent was also ranked among the best in NBA history.In his position, only Jordan's talent overwhelmed him.

And McGrady is not the kind of person who only eats physical talents, and his offensive skills are also very comprehensive.

So why would Bao Wen feel that Kobe, who is slightly less physically fit, would be more difficult to defend?
Bowen explained that the scary thing about Kobe is that he can always do what he wants to do.You know that he wants to break through, and he will be completely wiped out; you know that he is going to shoot, and he will still make a hit if you try to obstruct him in every possible way.

Although these McGradys can also do it, Kobe has amazing physical strength and can maintain an aggressiveness that lasts for a whole game.

If it is a high-intensity game, McGrady will be a little weak at the end, and Kobe can still make great contributions on both ends of the offense and defense.

Then Bowen said seriously, and the most important point is that Kobe in the regular season is different from Kobe in the playoffs.

In the regular season, Kobe was a little ostentatious, like a tiger, desperately showing off his various abilities, shooting and breaking through omnipotently, for fear of missing every opportunity to perform.

In the playoffs, he evolved into another form.Incarnate into a patient black mamba, not simply obsessed with individual performances, but adopt more efficient means, if you don't make a move, you will be killed, and if you make a move, it will be fatal.

"In the previous few seasons, we were able to deal with that fat man, but we couldn't guard against Kobe." Bowen sighed a little: "But fortunately, 'OK' disintegrated, so don't worry too much about this trouble for the time being."

This was beyond the scope of Li Chongxiao's knowledge. He felt that Bo Wen's defense was already very strong.

Moreover, Li Chongxiao also observed carefully off the court yesterday, and Bowen's defense against McGrady was also very effective.

So he doesn't quite understand what Bowen said, and what about the regular season and playoffs. He is just a rookie who hasn't even played in the regular season. How can he imagine the scenery of the playoffs.

Besides, in his opinion, both the regular season and the playoffs are official games, and there should be no difference.

When it comes to McGrady and Kobe, we have to talk about the other two of the "four major points" that Chinese fans are familiar with.

In the last game against the 76ers, Li Chongxiao did not face Iverson, and he wanted to know Bowen's opinion.

Bowen's answer was that he couldn't defend Iverson because he was too fast and he couldn't keep up at all, but generally he wasn't defending, so he didn't have that much thought.

Then there's Carter, a player who looks like he can do anything on the floor.But in many cases, he didn't seem to have that much desire to attack.

After Li Chongxiao finished asking, Bo Wen said with a smile: "What, you always ask how to defend, do you also want to be called 'McGrady Terminator' or 'Kobe Terminator'?"

"But you have to be careful, these guys are narrow-minded, and they are the most energetic when they are against the so-called "Terminator"."

Bowen joked: "I don't want our team to have a second background emperor. You must know that every time you appear in the newspaper, there is only one jersey number left."

Li Chongxiao laughed and waved his hands: "A good defensive player will become the background king in a certain scene. For our outside defensive players, becoming a 'McGrady Terminator' or a 'Kobe Terminator' is not a very good compliment Is it?"

On October 10, the Spurs played their last preseason game at home against the New Orleans Hornets.

Li Chongxiao was still the same as the previous games, and got the chance to play during the rotation time.He scored a new high of 16 points and helped the team beat the opponent with a score of 106:86.

On the night of November 2004, 11, the Spurs will host the Sacramento Kings at home.

The morning of the game, the Spurs had no practice scheduled.

Under Armor held a brief press conference, announcing the signing of Li Chongxiao, a player from the San Antonio Spurs, as the company's first sneaker spokesperson.

The endorsement period is two years, and the specific amount of the contract has not been disclosed, but according to the reporter's guess, it will not exceed 250 million US dollars.

In the afternoon before the match, Li Chongxiao brought the new shoes to the locker room, triggering a new round of envy, jealousy and hatred.

In the Spurs, except for Duncan who owns Adidas' signature shoes, Parker, Ginobili and others are all "cash contract" shoes.Most of the other substitutes wear "team shoes" provided by sneaker manufacturers such as Nike and Adidas.

Now that Li Chongxiao has suddenly reached the level of a star in the team, and it is even certain that the endorsement contract is more lucrative, how can this not make people jealous?
In fact, Li Chongxiao didn't dare to tell his teammates that before the All-Star Game this season, if he played well and joined the rookie lineup, he would have a pair of signature shoes like "FLY" next season.

He'll be tight-lipped, and if it's true, Duncan's donuts will last until next season.

This time, the boss took Li Chongxiao's sneakers, pinched left and right, imitating the scene where Li Chongxiao used his sneakers to make a phone call last time.

In the joint training in the afternoon, Popovich emphasized the enthusiasm of defense.

After the head coach Adelman took over, the Kings began to use the "Princeton system", and their record has improved year by year.

Especially in the 01-02 season, after replacing "white chocolate" with "white devil", the Kings, under the leadership of "the most gorgeous power forward in history" Chris Webber, had the best record in team history with 61 wins and 21 losses in the regular season. The record topped the league table.

However, in the Western Conference Finals, after seven games with the Lakers led by the "OK" combination, they regretted losing and lost the best chance to touch the O'Brien Cup.

Although Divac, the main center of the magnificent Kings, returned to the place where his dream began - the Los Angeles Lakers, but the other four main players remained, and with the addition of Brad Miller, the team The team is still a powerful Western Conference.

Popovich emphasized the defense of Webber, Bibby and Stojakovic. These three are the core of the Kings. They can shoot and pass. Once opened, it is difficult to deal with.

Li Chongxiao also actively asked Bowen for his experience in defending Stojakovic. Although Bowen defended most of the time, Li Chongxiao still needs to be on top of the rotation time.

Popovich was very surprised by Li Chongxiao's performance in the preseason. He has already listed Li Chongxiao as Bowen's first substitute. The core of the opponent's outside attack is usually dealt with by these two players.

Popovich is very satisfied with his own vision. In the Spurs training camp before the draft this year, the team had just been eliminated. I was in a bad mood and went to have a look. I found that the Chinese boy had good running positions and three-pointers, so I awarded the ball. The team chose him.

Anyway, the team's second-round pick is the third-to-last pick at No. 58. Do you still expect another Ginobili?
Who knew that luck was really good, and it turned out to be a "Bruce Bowen".

Moreover, this "Bowen" reacts faster, shoots more accurately, and the team's tactics can be enriched.

The real Bowen is already 33. After a few years, the trained fake Bowen and Li Chongxiao will be able to take over smoothly.

(End of this chapter)