Team boss O'Neal is still recovering from injury, and Malone, who averages close to 20 points per game, is injured again. The hidden danger of the Lakers' internal shortage immediately amplifies, and the main force Payton has a conflict with the head coach Zen.
When this happens, the Lakers will inevitably feel panic.
Even Du En had to worry secretly, not knowing how to resolve the conflict in the locker room next.
"Duen, what's wrong? Don't you welcome me?"
Anthony followed the Knicks and his party to Los Angeles, and found that Duan, who accompanied him, looked uninterested and absent-minded.
Duan briefly introduced the Lakers' current situation to Anthony.
After hearing this, Anthony smiled and said: "Brother, you are not a star! You are a first-year rookie, why are you worrying?"
The authorities were confused by the onlookers, but Anthony's words directly awakened Du En.
Du En suddenly realized: "Yes! I only have one million a year, why do I care?
Neither O'Neal nor Kobe are worried about the team's record. Why am I frowning and thinking hard all day long?
I just want to be the boss of the Lakers, but I'm not there yet.
Now I relax, just keep improving my statistics, and make it to the All-Stars, that’s it! "
Unlike other NBA players who enjoy themselves in the moment, Duan usually thinks more about his own commercial value and team influence.
This makes it easy to lead yourself to the position of the star in advance. In fact, Du En overthinks everything.
As Anthony said, Duan is only a first-year rookie!
At this time, James is still carrying Ricky Davis’ bags and tying his shoes!
Even if Du En planned to seize power early, it would take another year or two before he would have a chance to take over.
Abandoning unnecessary distractions and returning to his identity as a first-year rookie, Duen no longer cared about the team's record.
That night, Anthony became the number one victim of Du En's complete letting go and desperate efforts to gain points.
"Brother, didn't you say you're good at hand-to-hand combat? Why have you been avoiding me?"
Anthony was very surprised. Half a month ago, Du En was confronting him head-on. Why did he keep calling pick-and-rolls to drive to the basket today?
Originally, Anthony was still looking forward to tonight's game.
I feel a little uncomfortable now, probably just like nausea and vomiting.
"Melon, my teammates passed the ball to me, hoping that I could score!
I must admit that your defense is better than others. In order to score more efficiently, I can only try to avoid you.
There is no way, Shaq and Karl can't play, the team can only rely on me and Kobe.
And I have to help the team win games, and that's what it means for the team to draft us in the draft, isn't it? "
Seeing Du En speak so frankly, Anthony didn't know what to do.
In short, I think what Du En said makes sense, but I also feel that something is not quite right, but Anthony doesn't know where the problem lies...
While Anthony was confused, Duan was getting more and more excited.
"Dunn is so smart. His understanding of the triangle offense far exceeded my expectations."
The Zen master originally admired Du En very much, but unexpectedly, Du En has improved again in recent times!
Duen's improvement is not a sudden improvement in personal ability, but a very smart integration into the triangle offense, using the triangle offense to display his abilities and characteristics.
The triangle offense can amplify the abilities of stars, and Duane undoubtedly takes advantage of this.
Duan integrated both off-ball and ball-holding into the triangle offensive system. Not only did he perform better himself, but he also cooperated better with his teammates.
In addition, Karl Malone just retired from injury, and the Lakers need someone to absorb Karl Malone's part of the ball.
Kobe digested part of it, and Duen also took over the rest, so Duen's data also skyrocketed.
90 to 95, the Lakers defeated the Knicks with a 5 advantage.
Duan made 13 of 24 shots from the field, 3 of 6 three-pointers, 5 of 7 free throws, and scored 34 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Kobe, on the other hand, made 15 of 31 shots, 1 of 4 three-pointers, 8 of 9 free throws, and scored 39 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Although the Lakers won, the future prospects are still worrying.
It is impossible for Duan and Kobe to have full firepower in every game and score 30+ points.
If the Lakers want to stabilize the situation, they still have to make up for their shortcomings inside.
Time soon came to December 12, and the Lakers' hidden dangers inside were finally completely exposed.
The Dallas Mavericks, who had just been defeated by the Lakers not long ago, easily defeated the Lakers with an absolute advantage of 110 to 93.
Although Duane and Kobe scored 29 points and 41 points respectively in this game, they still failed to prevent the loss of the game.
Without waiting, the Los Angeles media analyzed the Lakers' internal and external troubles and badmouthed the Lakers' upcoming schedule.
The Lakers lost again in their next back-to-back games against the Trail Blazers.
The situation in the Lakers locker room has become even worse due to successive losses in games and the completely detonated public opinion.
This season, Kobe was unable to accept criticism from the outside world. When Kobe was criticized for the team's declining performance, Kobe had to transfer his pressure to the team.
Kobe began to take the initiative to communicate with O'Neal, hoping that O'Neal could come back as soon as possible.
But O'Neal firmly stated that his injury has not healed yet, and it will take at least a month.
Because of the poor record, there is really nothing Malone can do.
Moreover, there is no suitable veteran insider with a minimum salary on the market.
The Lakers management had to put pressure on O'Neal and even mobilized the media to force O'Neal to come back early.
However, O'Neal had already received guidance from Dunn and knew that this was his best chance to renew his contract in advance and get the last big contract of his career.
As a result, O'Neal was not afraid of boiling water and refused to change his words. He said that he would follow the pre-made comeback plan and wait until January to make his official comeback.
In this situation, everyone can only compete for patience to see who can't hold on first.
The Lakers can only continue to face the major Western teams with hidden dangers inside and conflicts in the locker room.
On December 19, the Lakers faced the Nuggets, the last-place team last season, at home.
97 to 102, thanks to the warmth provided by the Nuggets, the Lakers who were about to detonate the bomb breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the good times did not last long. Then the Lakers lost to the Suns and Warriors one after another. The original number one in the league suddenly fell to third in the Western Conference.
Next, the Lakers will face the Houston Rockets with Yao Ming at the Staples Center.
All I can say is that the scene that followed was a bit cruel.
In the first Chinese derby, Doon was quite serious.
Before the game started, Du En had a private meeting with Yao Ming.
Yao Ming was accompanied by members of Yao's team. They came together, hoping to persuade Du En to change his mind and return to prepare for the Athens Olympics after playing in the NBA this summer.
Du En still used the same rhetoric as before. It is immature now and needs to improve its strength and wait until 2006.
Many people don't know that there are many prerequisites for recruitment to the national team, one of which is that they must be domestically registered players.
Duan has not played in the domestic league and is not a registered player in the country.
This means that as long as the rules are not temporarily changed for Duen, there is no way to force Duen to play in the Athens Olympics.
The recent Wang Zhizhi incident has forced the men's basketball team to worry about international public opinion.
Therefore, when you come to Duen, whether to join the national team is not a call, but an invitation.
There is a saying that the 2004 Athens Olympics was a good opportunity for Duen to achieve results.
But Duen is worried that everyone's expectations are too high, and the opponents in the 2008 Olympics are so strong. Once the results decline, won't Duen have to take the blame?
Liu Xiang is undoubtedly the best representative of Chinese sports, but after he was injured and unable to run, the public opinion can only be described as shocking.
It can only be said that for this generation of athletes, they don’t have to participate in any Olympic Games, but they must do their best in this one at home.
The more famous you become, the more you fear cyberbullying. After thinking about it, Du En decided not to change his plan.
The people from Team Yao got Du En's reply and did not continue to pester him. They just asked for their contact information and seemed to be thinking of trying to persuade Du En again after some time.
Duen didn't take these things to heart, he immediately put them behind him, and then actively prepared for the next Chinese Derby.
