The morning after playing against the Heat, Zhang Hao saw news about Duncan while reading and studying. He was so popular that he was simply the contemporary Oden!
Just watching the Logo man and the Cardinal praising Duncan together, Zhang Hao always felt something was wrong.
It seemed that the Cardinal really wanted to select Duncan. He remembered that the Cardinal also helped the Celtics develop a plan to build a team around Duncan, but they did not get the No. 1 pick. Instead, it was taken by the Spurs, who had 5 more wins, and all the plans were in vain.
But isn’t Logo Man’s target O’Neal?
Sign O'Neal and trade for the No. 1 pick to select Duncan? This operation...
But it doesn’t look like it!
And Zhang Hao didn’t have any memory of this happening.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, I flew with the team to Atlanta, the city where the next away game would be held.
At 5:08 in the evening, Zhang Hao received the prompt.
“In the game between the Hoyas and the Fighting Irish, contract player Wang Zhizhi played 21 minutes for the Hoyas, scored 11 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, helping the Hoyas win the game.
Congratulations to the host for gaining a total lifespan of 4 days.
Remaining lifespan 429 days, usable lifespan 428 days. "
“Well done!”
Zhang Hao immediately became happy, not just because he gained 4 days of life, but also because Georgetown University defeated its opponent.
Zhang Hao had an impression of Notre Dame University, which was one of the universities he had applied to. Last year, it passed the NCAA review and entered the Division I league and joined the Big East Conference. At that time, he cast a wide net, and this kind of team that had difficulty recruiting talents was also one of his goals. However, he did not receive a response until he finished the Adidas Training Camp Elite Tournament.
Although the past is like floating clouds, Zhang Hao was also happy to see Notre Dame University being beaten!
…
"Iverson is really strong. Even a double team defense can't stop his breakthrough. His mid-range shot is also very accurate. I wonder if it's as accurate as you, big brother."
"Our coach has started to arrange for me to lose weight. Oh, by the way, someone scolded me a while ago, and I couldn't help but fight with him. I thought I would be punished, but our coach reported it to the school, and that guy was punished..."
"Iverson asked me to go to his apartment later. I know he wants me to go drink secretly. Should I go?"
"On the 6th, the Knicks came to play the Bullets. Ewing came and praised my shooting talent, saying that I had a chance to enter the NBA..."
Listening to Wang Zhizhi's words, Zhang Hao couldn't help but say: "You should practice your English before entering the NBA."
A stabbing blow to the heart!
In the evening, after coming back from dinner with Kenny Anderson, Vaughn Fleming and others, Zhang Hao received a call from Wang Zhizhi. It seemed that the call was made from a public telephone booth. From the moment the call was connected, Wang Zhizhi was talking about things related to his team.
Perhaps because the communication was not smooth and he could not tell everything to the media, Zhang Hao, a senior who came to the American basketball world earlier, became the person Wang Zhizhi confided in.
Wang Zhizhi felt very miserable. He had never received much education, and suddenly he had to learn English when he was 18... It was hard for his neighbor... No, he lived on campus, and his neighbor was also a man... It was hard for Old Wang!
However, after a few months, his English has improved. He has no problem using professional basketball terms, and can also communicate through some basic tasks such as buying things, asking for directions, etc. However, he still has difficulty in chatting.
The most embarrassing thing was that when seniors from the school team came back to praise him, there had to be an interpreter standing next to them.
After chatting for a few more sentences, Zhang Hao ended the call with Wang Zhizhi.
"Why did Dazhi become a little childish after he started studying? It doesn't seem to be wrong. He is only 18 years old. When I encounter things, I sometimes have big emotional fluctuations because of the memories of that era. Although he used to be a soldier, he is still an 18-year-old young man after all."
After packing up his things, Zhang Hao came to the hotel's indoor basketball court for training.
Atlanta is really a good place with a good living environment. The city is built on the Appalachian Mountains. It is one of the gathering places for the world's richest people, and the number of billionaires ranks among the top five in the United States. The living conditions for tourists are quite good. The hotel where the Nets stayed has an indoor basketball court.
After stretching his body, Zhang Hao began to actually practice the back-to-the-basket turnaround jump shot.
It was a very simple training of a turnaround jump shot with your back to the Nets. I wasn't very proficient in this move when playing against the Heat. I had already reached a passing level when running, but I was still not very proficient in the turnaround jump shot when standing still.
If he was more skilled, he could have played against Kurt Thomas from a longer distance and pushed the ball to an area close to the basket. The main purpose was not to pass the ball, but to have more options closer to the basket.
…
November 11th is a very lonely day. The very lonely Nets team challenged the Hawks away with a hot start record of 3 wins and 1 loss.
In terms of strength, the Hawks should be similar to the Heat, this is the conclusion of the Nets' scouting report.
But fighting is completely different.
The Heat's style of play is to wear out the opponent, wear out the opponent's touch and disrupt the opponent's rhythm. This style of play is difficult to deal with when encountering unexpected situations, unless the defense is so strong that accidents rarely occur.
The Eagles played normally and their lineup was better.
In the 1993-94 season, the Hawks packaged Dominique Wilkins, the essence of human film, and two first-round picks and traded them to the Clippers in exchange for top power forward Danny Manning, who averaged 23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks per game at the time This deal was emotional, and the Hawks' own fans were cursing the deal, but in terms of performance, the deal was a success. In the second half of the season, the Hawks' record soared, tying the team's best 57 wins, and made it to the second round again after a lapse of 5 years.
At that time, Wilkins was 34 years old and Danny Manning was not yet 28 years old and was at the peak of their careers. The Eagles fans felt that the trade of Wilkins and two first-round picks for Danny Manning was the right one, regardless of the transaction value or the performance of that season. After the end of that season, the Eagles fans also felt that the trade was correct.
It was unexpected that Danny Manning's condition declined drastically between the ages of 28 and 29 last season, and he aged rapidly. In the first four games of this season, he only averaged 15.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Of course, this is not bad, plus the top-notch point guard Mookie Blaylock who is at his peak in the back line, the top-notch tall shooting guard Steve Smith, and the strong frontcourt rotation of Grant Long, Andrew Long, and Stacey Augmon, and the bench lineup also includes Ken Norman and Alan Henderson...
The Eagles' lineup was aimed at winning the championship, but they didn't expect that their strongest core player, Danny Manning, would deteriorate so quickly and collapse just one year after his peak.
But if they collapse, they will only be unable to compete for the championship, and their playoff spot is only a little bit secure.
99 to 107, the Nets tried hard but ultimately failed to improve their record and lost the game, with their record becoming 3 wins and 2 losses, the same as the Hawks' 2 wins and 2 losses before the game.
Zhang Hao performed stably in this game. He played for 31 minutes, made 6 of 13 shots, 4 of 5 free throws, and scored 16 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
…
After playing the Hawks, the Nets returned to the town of Rutherford.
After a day of rest, on November 13th, the team faced the Kings at home.
Although the Nets lost to the Hawks and their record became 3 wins and 2 losses, they still look good.
After the game started, with Almon Gilliam's attack on the basket distracting them, Zhang Hao and Kenny Anderson had more scoring opportunities and cooperation opportunities, and they attacked fiercely.
The Kings' defense is not that good, but their offense is good. The 1988 draft was a year of great talent. Mitch Richmond had just turned 30 years old, at the prime of his life. He led his teammates Lionel Simmons, a player from the 1990 class who competed with Coleman for the best rookie that year, Potato Webber, the short and powerful center Vayman Tisdale, etc., to compete with the Nets.
The Kings are a team that can make the playoffs purely by relying on offense, so their offensive firepower is naturally strong, but the Nets had a hot start and were in high spirits, with the two teams competing against each other throughout the game.
Players on both sides tried their best, but in the end, Mickey Richmond, a Hall of Fame player, performed better in the tug-of-war.
Richmond had 35 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, Spot Webber had 8 points and 12 assists, Tisdale had 20 points and 9 rebounds, and Walter Williams had 19 points and 5 rebounds, and they overpowered Kenny Anderson with 23 points and 11 assists, Almon Gilliam with 25 points and 8 rebounds, Zhang Hao with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 2 turnovers, Jason Williams with 6 points and 14 rebounds, and Charles with 8 points and 7 assists. The Kings finally defeated the Nets 117-109.
…
Three players scored 20+, but still lost the game.
There were opportunities, but in terms of grasping the key balls, Richmond taught the Nets players a good lesson.
The Nets went from a perfect start of 3 wins and 1 loss to a 3 wins and 3 losses with a winning rate of 50% in just three days.
But looking at the schedule, the Nets, who are regarded as a team competing for the No. 1 pick, in the first six games, except for the Raptors who were a bottom team and the Pistons who were not sure at the beginning whether they had playoff strength, the other four teams were playoff-level teams. It was obvious that they were used as appetizers for the strong teams.
With such a schedule, the Nets coaching staff is quite satisfied with the start with 3 wins and 3 losses.
It's true that they had just suffered two consecutive losses and that they were trying to develop the habit of winning, but neither the stern Randy Whitman nor the ever-changing Butch Baird, nor the new coaches Chris Irving and Alvan Adams who had just joined the Nets, thought that they could really win many games, and that it would be enough to just do better than last season.
Zhang Hao played very well in these two games. Judging from his personal performance alone, he was very good.
But he felt that his opponents were paying more and more attention to him, and their opponents had clearly targeted his poor defense.
If the opponent can play pick-and-roll on the outside, the opponent will most likely use the pick-and-roll to pull him out, and he has to follow him out, otherwise the opponent's inside player will rush in after the pick-and-roll, and if it is a strong inside player, he will be impossible to stop him.
But if it expands out, it becomes an ATM for the opponent's outside line.
Obviously, his stable performance on the offensive end not only brought him one of the highest levels of attention among rookies, but also attracted the attention of opponents.
As for his forte in offense, his organization of offense is still under development, his passing training has never stopped, and the results of his attempted linking offense on the field cannot be said to be bad but are not very good either.
However, in terms of scoring, which is his best area, Zhang Hao also felt powerless in the games against the Hawks and Kings.
Unless he explodes like he did against the Pistons, the only performance he can perform is that of an ordinary main scorer.
This is already impressive, as a rookie, and a high school rookie at that. However, he did not become complacent because of this, but rather very "ungrateful".
This is his very special place...
…
…
"Axel, you come to training so early again? God, don't you give yourself some time to rest?"
After losing to the Kings yesterday, the Nets got two days of rest. The next game is against the Pacers at home on the 16th, and the next game is against the Jazz at home on the 18th, and then there will be another away game.
Judging from the strength of their opponents, the Nets' schedule in November is very miserable. Judging from the tightness of the schedule, the Nets only have 13 games this month, which is quite easy.
The team did not schedule any training today, and Kenny Anderson did not have any extra practice.
Losing... he was bound to lose. After playing for several years, he knew that thinking about losing was not a good thing. The method of holding back and rushing forward was not suitable for him. He chose to find teammates to play together.
Kenny Anderson ran excitedly to Zhang Hao's apartment early in the morning, but didn't find anyone. When he arrived at the gym, he saw that Zhang Hao was indeed training.
Looking at Kenny Anderson dragging his suitcase, Zhang Hao responded, "I go to bed on time. Normally I will go to bed at 11 o'clock... Boss, what are you doing with your suitcase? Are you going to leave the team?"
“You just left the team!
I'm not saying whether you sleep well or not, but I'm saying that on your days off, don't just think about training all day, and have some entertainment activities occasionally... Forget it, it's really a waste of time to look for you..."
Kenny Anderson said this depressedly as he opened the suitcase . Inside was a laptop as thick as two bricks stacked together, and a box.
"After I die, there will be plenty of time for entertainment. I have to work hard while I am alive..."
Zhang Hao was showing off when he heard Kenny Anderson mutter, "I used my connections to get the beta version of Warcraft 2. I remember you have a computer..." Zhang Hao immediately shut up and moved closer.
At this time, Kenny Anderson also heard Zhang Hao's pretentious words just now, but he didn't hear them clearly, so he asked, "Axe, what did you just say? What do you mean you have plenty of time for entertainment after you die? What else is there to entertain yourself after you die? Are you going to dance on your grave?"
"That's people dancing on graves... ugh, you heard it wrong!
Let's go play some games! You're right, we can't just train all day, we have to play some games occasionally."