Volume 1 Western Cowboy Chapter 038 Wayne's Possibility
A brutal block was followed by a fast break dunk.
This kind of scene is enough to make all the fans raise their arms and open their mouths to shout.
Bobby Jones is not even on the mock draft rankings now, and Bird doesn't know where he gets the courage to challenge Wayne, who is ranked in the top three of the second round.
Trail Blazers scout Roy Perkins almost couldn't hold back his laughter. That was the man who had pretended to be Rasheed Wallace. Did he think he was joking with you?
That kind of straightforward and mindless attack might be fine for bullying ordinary people.
But you want to use this trick to beat a player who is about to play in the NBA? Wake up!
Speaking of which, Bird now has a new worry - Wayne's mock draft pick is getting higher and higher.
The Pacers' current record of 50 wins and 17 losses puts them far ahead in the Eastern Conference. Even if you look at the entire league, this record is definitely good.
This means that the Pacers cannot get a draft pick that is too high.
Bird originally thought that if Wayne was really capable, he would use a draft pick at the end of the first round to snatch Wayne early and not give him the chance to enter the second round and be selected by others.
But now, Wayne is already in the top three of the second round. If his performance continues to be so good, it is not impossible for him to enter the first round.
By then, the Pacers will have a late first-round pick, and it will be difficult for them to pick Wayne.
On the Trail Blazers side, general manager Steve Patterson couldn't stop smiling.
He was determined to rebuild, and through a mid-season move, he traded two 2004 first-round draft picks for the Trail Blazers.
Adding the one they already have, this means the Trail Blazers will have three first-round draft picks this summer!
So even if Wayne enters the first round, they have a high probability of picking him.
The better Wayne performs, the more it proves that Patterson's vision is correct.
As for whether Wayne can be selected, Patterson is not worried at all.
Although he already has a lottery pick, he won't necessarily use the lottery pick to pick Wayne.
But even so, there are still two first-round draft picks left. No matter how much Wayne misses, he can't let it slip away!
Of course, there are now more than just the Trail Blazers and the Pacers who are interested in Wayne.
After all, he is the Big 12 Conference regular season MVP, and Wayne is still very prestigious in the scout circle.
The Utah Jazz are now also very interested in Wayne. The outstanding performance of "Pentagon Warrior" Andrei Kirilenko in Salt Lake City has made the Jazz management very optimistic about all-around forwards like Wayne.
If they can't get Latvian Andrei Biedrins, they will seriously consider Wayne as a backup.
Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks is also interested in Wayne. Cuban has always advocated an international team and has a special liking for international players.
Moreover, the economic benefits that Yao Ming brought to Mosaic made Cuban extremely envious.
In addition, he had watched Wayne's performance in the Big 12 Conference Championship finals and believed that Wayne still had potential to be tapped.
He believes that with the Chinese market now fully opened, Wayne's career in Dallas will be more successful than Wang Zhizhi's.
The Boston Celtics are eyeing both Ohio State duo Wayne and Tony Allen.
Like the Trail Blazers, they have three first-round draft picks and have been considering the possibility of recruiting Wayne and Tony Allen at the same time.
Well, these teams all have one thing in common.
That is, they are all ready to use their first-round draft picks to bet on this Chinese student!
But the prerequisite is that Wayne can bring more surprises in the March Madness tournament.
On the surface, Wayne's mock draft ranking is only in the top three of the second round.
But in fact, his market situation may change drastically at any time.
Back on the court, after Wayne hit Bobby Jones head-on, Jones not only did not restrain himself, but instead head-on attacked the basket again.
But this time, before Wayne could make a shot, Joey Graham defended Jones himself.
Although Sutton Sr. did not specifically mention Jones before the game, it does not mean that the Cowboys players will let him do whatever he wants.
This is called despising the enemy strategically and taking the enemy seriously tactically.
Now, Artest agrees with Bird's comments about Jones.
That guy is either brave or simply stubborn.
If it were him, wouldn't it be a successful breakthrough if he knocked Graham down with an elbow?
After the offense failed again, the Huskies retreated quickly.
Wayne had just made a counterattack and dunked them, so they dared not slack off at all when retreating.
This time, John Lucas played a little trick with fake eye movements.
He looked in the direction of Tony Allen, but passed the ball in the exact opposite direction of his sight.
Although John Lucas is not participating in the draft this year, he is still playing with the goal of entering the NBA.
As he has average talent, he can only demonstrate his excellent ball distribution ability as much as possible.
Wayne received the basketball two steps outside the three-point line and made a three-pointer!
In early 2004, few inside players would attack in this way.
Although the Huskies also know that Wayne likes to shoot three-pointers, sometimes the inertia of thinking cannot be reversed overnight.
Subconsciously, Wayne's opponents still think that he has to at least stop the ball before shooting.
Because most inside players' shooting is very slow, giving people a clumsy feeling.
But Wayne is not like that. His shots are silky smooth and decisive, like a three-position forward.
This ultra-long-range three-point shot seems casual, but it is Wayne's regular scoring method.
Without any interference, Wayne rarely misses three-pointers, and this time is no exception.
"brush!"
The basketball went into the net and Wayne raised his arm and showed three fingers.
It was easy to get this score.
After seeing Wayne hit the three-pointer, Artest nodded approvingly.
"This kid has a bit of Lamar's vibe."
"Lamar? Which Lamar?" Bird propped himself up. It was a rare occasion that Artest said something that interested him.
"Of course it's my childhood friend Lamar Odom. Don't you think they look alike? They are both very versatile, both are tall and thin, both run very fast, and both shoot very well."
Artest shrugged, "It's a pity that his ball -handling and athletic ability are far inferior to Lamar's."
Artest knows Odom quite well. After all, the two played together on the street court when they were young and were teammates for four years in high school.
By the way, it was Artest who brought Kardashian and Odom together...
Is this the legendary pit brother?
Bird patted his thigh and said, "Yeah, Lamar Odom, why didn't you think of training Wayne in that direction?"
Odom averaged 17.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game this season. What else does he need?
In Bird's mind, there is another possibility for Wayne's template.
The player with a greater chance of success…isn’t this the most popular player in the draft?
Bird touched his chin. It seemed that he had to re-plan this year's draft plan.
If even Artest could see it, there was no way scouts from other teams could not see it.
The probability of picking up Wayne for free with a draft pick at the end of the first round is getting lower and lower.
Bobby Jones felt terrible when he saw Wayne hit a three-pointer after his dunk.
For someone like him who doesn't even know how to take a free throw, Wayne's shooting ability is simply incredible.
How come he is so accurate? He can shoot from two steps outside the three-point line. I'd be thankful if I could shoot from behind the free throw line...
"Don't be impatient, Bobby. I know you want the $500, but don't do anything rash. That Chinese guy is no ordinary guy."
After Robinson passed the half court again, he reminded Jones to calm down.
Although Robinson also has a playful and mischievous personality, he still knows what to do and what not to do on the basketball court, and he is not as stubborn as Jones.
Jones nodded, and this time he ran without the ball according to the tactics, without rushing to play one-on-one with the ball.
In this round, Roy finally caught the ball.
But as soon as he touched the ball, Tony Allen entangled him directly.
Teacher Tony just failed in his attack on Roy, and now he wants to reciprocate by giving Roy a tough defense.
Roy was not in a hurry and calmly passed the ball to Robinson who cut into the mid-range.
Although he is just a role player, Roy is the calmest Husky on the court.
Robinson caught the ball and shot it, making a quick stop shot.
But not everyone is as accurate as Wayne. Robinson's jump shot hit the rim and failed to score.
After all, Robinson is still a football player, and he has not yet made the decision to specialize in basketball.
Therefore, Robinson's basketball basics are very average, which leads to his poor shooting stability.
When he is on target, he can hit three-pointers in a row. But when he is off target, he can also play a symphony of ironwork.
He is a typical nervous player.
In fact, except for Roy, the entire Huskies team's outside players had very poor shooting.
If it weren't for this reason, they wouldn't have to rely on the play-in games to get a ticket to March Madness.
Nate Robinson's bad shooting seemed to be contagious, and soon the Huskies fell into a vicious circle of crazy missed shots.
In the next few rounds, the Huskies missed shots. Robinson missed his mid-range shot, and Roy missed two shots under the defense of Tony Allen.
The most exaggerated thing was Jones, who basically relied on luck to shoot. Under Graham's defense, he still missed all three shots!
Bang! Dang! Bang! Duang!
Watching the basketball being rejected by the basket again and again, Huskies head coach Lorenzo Romar covered his forehead with his hands.
Well, the old problem of missing shots has come back again.
In a blink of an eye, the Cowboys took a 9-point lead!
Big 12 Conference champion, ranked sixth in the United States by the Associated Press, it really lives up to its reputation!
If you perform poorly, the Cowboys will seize the opportunity and take you away.
But Romar didn't want to give up just like that. This was the March Madness tournament, an opportunity the Huskies had fought for five years to get.
This is also the first time he has led a team so far since he took office in 2002.
It would be spineless to back down like this.
So amid the endless sound of iron hitting the target, Romar calmly called a timeout.
Next, he will change the Huskies’ game strategy and make one last fight!
Wayne walked off the court sweating profusely. The pace of this game was much faster than usual, which doubled his physical energy consumption.
Even so, the Cowboys only led by 9 points.
The following games will only become more and more exciting.
March Madness is worthy of its name!
" Wade, you blocked the shot just now beautifully. They were suppressed and they started to shoot from the outside subconsciously. It's all thanks to you!" Old Sutton picked up the tactical board and walked towards Wayne, as if he didn't want to waste a second.
"Next, we will play zone defense! Wei, you must guard the three-second zone and don't come out easily. Believe me, we are not far from victory!"
After saying this, Old Sutton glanced at Lorenzo Romar who was busy in the other half.
This head coach, who only joined the NCAA Division I league in 2002, is just a rookie in Sutton's eyes.
He could already guess what Romar would do next.
Next, it’s Wayne’s turn to perform.
Wayne naturally accepted all of Sutton's arrangements. This old coach never makes any stupid moves.
When the game resumed, Sutton Sr. sat back, opened his thermos, and tilted his head toward his son.
"Sean, what's the NCAA single-game block record?"
"The record for blocked shots in a single game? 31 times, set by Manute Bol. In that game, he scored 32 points, 29 rebounds and 31 blocks. Although he didn't play in the Division I league, it still made Bol famous at the time."
Sean, who is the "NCAA Encyclopedia", answered immediately.
"Puff!" Old Sutton almost spit out the wolfberry water he had just drunk. 31 times in a single game?
Listen to what a human being does. Even more perverted than Wayne!
This is fucking outrageous!
"Okay... so what's the record for total blocked shots in a single March Madness tournament?"
"26 times, held by multiple players, what's wrong?"
"Hmm..." Old Sutton felt much more relieved after hearing this answer.
26 blocked shots in the entire tournament? That doesn't seem like a particularly outrageous number.
"Nothing, just seeing how far Wayne is from breaking the record."
"Break the record? He's only got one block so far today." Sean spread his hands in confusion.
Old Sutton didn't answer, but just closed the lid of the thermos.
He is confident in his next tactics and Wayne's abilities.
