The previous training camp, which lasted for one and a half months, had already allowed rookies such as Ben Gordon to know how to play next to Duan.
After the Bulls training camp started, Duen took his younger brothers and played three team training games with the veterans.
He easily conquered the old guy who was inherited from last season and couldn't handle it.
Just when the veterans were convinced by Du En, they were ready to play beside Du En and hit the playoffs together.
The video of the Bulls training game was suddenly released to the public.
The veterans had a grudge against this and complained quite a bit, feeling that they were being used by Du En as a stepping stone.
Originally, it was already very embarrassing to be defeated by Du En with just a few rookies.
Not to mention, with the video exposed, fans all over Chicago now know that this is the case.
In particular, Du En didn't even need to exert a lot of effort. He just urged everyone to run, and then passed the ball a little to connect the teams and beat them to pieces.
Seeing their own embarrassment in the video, and hearing people constantly discussing them around them, the veterans were basically dead.
However, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who was the culprit, was very happy after receiving feedback from fans.
"I heard that Michael can randomly pick a few rotation players and beat the main players to nothing."
"Duane is also a championship player and a future star who can rival Kobe Bryant. Our Chicago Bulls can be saved!"
"Dunn is only 20 years old now, and he only played for the Los Angeles Lakers for one year! Michael is already 21 years old when he enters the NBA!
In the future, we can completely regard Duan as the rookie selected by our Chicago Bulls!
In my life, there is nothing more meaningful than growing up with Du En and witnessing with my own eyes Du En leading the Chicago Bulls to achieve a great renaissance! "
"I heard that Duan has made a commitment to the team to lead the Chicago Bulls to the playoffs next year! I believe Duan has such strength!"
The video of the Bulls' internal training game was secretly recorded. The pixels were quite high and the game looked good. This was obviously the work of the Bulls management.
Jerry Reinsdorf told his staff to do this mainly to save the Bulls' attendance and save his pocketbook.
The Bulls have the largest arena in the league, with 21,879 seats under normal circumstances. If front row seats are temporarily added, it can accommodate up to more than 23,000 fans.
Moreover, because it is located in Chicago, the third largest city in the United States, the Bulls never lack fans to watch games.
Even after so many years after Jordan retired, the Bulls have been rebuilding and have never been able to reach the playoffs, but there are still an average of 20,000 fans entering the stadium to watch the game.
Until last season, the Bulls had been poor for too long, and because the record was indeed too ugly, the team lacked players with star qualities.
Ticket sales dropped from 21,000 at the beginning of the season to 16,000 at the end of the season.
On average, the number of spectators in the 41 home games was only 19,000, an attendance rate of 90%.
Ticket prices have also dropped again and again, which is undoubtedly cutting Jerry Reinsdorf's flesh.
During the offseason, when the Bulls learned that Duane was on the shelves, why were they so eager to get involved immediately?
Mainly because of the commercial value of Du En, hoping that Du En can help him sell tickets.
Sure enough, before the preseason started, nearly half of the regular season tickets for the new season had been sold thanks to the video of Duan leading the rookies to defeat the team's veterans.
This also forced the Bulls operations department to work extra night shifts for several days, sitting on the floor all night to raise the prices of season tickets and tickets.
On October 5, the Bulls held a media day for the new season at the United Center and announced the core lineup for the new season with Duane as the team boss and two lottery picks, Ben Gordon and Luo Erdeng, as the focus of training.
Someone may ask, where are Dior and Josh Smith? It can only be said that there is a difference between a biological son and a newly adopted son.
Besides, he is also a biological son, but he is different from a legitimate concubine!
A lottery pick is a legitimate son, a first-round pick is just a concubine, and a second-round pick is a maid.
As for Tyson Chandler, although he is also the biological son chosen by the Bulls themselves.
But after all, the second elder brother could not compete with the fourth elder brother. Eddie Curry had already ascended the throne, and Tyson Chandler had long been reduced to the deposed prince.
Therefore, the Bulls management does not care that much about Tyson Chandler.
But it doesn’t matter, Du En said, I will take action! I am the only one who feels sorry for my brother!
Under Du En's care, Tyson Chandler has become Du En's younger brother.
Entered into the mode of going all out on the defensive end in advance, and enjoying the pie on the offensive end for a while, and always enjoying the pie.
Having said that, after half a week of running in and practicing in the training camp, the Bulls' starting bench lineup already looks decent.
In fact, it is mainly Duan who leads the Bulls' youth army and adopts a small-ball style of play. The other veterans serve as puzzle pieces and slowly integrate into the youth army's lineup and playing system.
After all, the previous month and a half of the training camp was not in vain. It was also due to Duan's advance preparations that reduced Scott Skiles' workload a lot.
However, Duen is only good at building an offensive system with himself as the core.
As for the more cumbersome but more necessary defensive system, it will be up to Scott Skiles.
All Duen can help is to use his own offense to speed up the progress of Luol Deng, Josh Smith and others in improving their defense.
Just come out after being called out for a long time! On October 10th, the Bulls' performance in the new season will finally be tested in the preseason.
However, the schedule is a little unfriendly to Bulls fans. On October 10, the Bulls will face the Celtics in their first away game in preseason.
Fans in Chicago need to watch this game through TV or online channels.
Facing the Celtics' lineup that made it to the Eastern Conference playoffs last season.
The Bulls sent out a pure rookie lineup of Ben Gordon, Duane, Luol Deng, Diaw, and Tyson Chandler.
Although Bulls fans believed in Duan's personal strength, Duan played with four rookies.
Among them is Tyson Chandler, the No. 2 pick who has been identified as a parallel import...
This makes Bulls fans very worried.
However, surprisingly, Tyson Chandler actually played well.
Tyson Chandler, whose fighting spirit and potential was stimulated by Dun, had faint signs of being a future DPOY boxing champion.
In the jump ball session, Tyson Chandler showed his true talent as the No. 2 overall pick, easily defeating Reeve LaFrentz, the No. 2 overall pick in 1998, and helping the Bulls win the ball.
Normally, the side that gets the ball will advance slowly and look for opportunities in positional battles.
However, after the Bulls got the ball, they quickly rushed into the frontcourt in a chaotic manner.
Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Diaw first rushed into the penalty area, then ran to the bottom corner, and then cut to the basket.
He seemed to be like a headless fly. He seemed to be working hard but didn't know what to do. It was obvious that he was a rookie who lacked game experience.
Originally, the Celtics set up a three-two zone defense in a very disciplined manner. Seeing the Bulls' rookies running around in a mess, they were able to beat the experts a little bit, and they didn't know how to defend.
Seeing Duan playing a pick-and-roll with Tyson Chandler in the high post, seemingly trying to use the screen to shoot, the Celtics naturally double-teamed him from the outside.
As for Tyson Chandler, who is down the line, he has no ability to attack independently. Just send someone over to keep an eye on him. There is no need to pay too much attention.
However, at this moment, Duan suddenly passed the ball after attracting the defense.
The ball did not fall into the hands of Tyson Chandler, but went up to Diaw in the corner.
As a power forward, Diaw pulled up to the corner and shot a mid-range shot. Naturally, the Celtics insiders needed to save from the penalty area and interfere.
As a result, Diaw took off and faked a pass. Tyson Chandler, who was standing under the basket, used Diaw to attract the defensive attention, sneaked to the basket to catch the ball and dunked directly with both hands.
All in all, the performance was very quick and skillful.
Obviously, this is not the first time that Dior and Tyson Chandler have cooperated like this.
The Bulls' seemingly disorganized offense and seemingly many ineffective runs are also meaningful.
After the zone defense is legalized, it will be much more difficult for stars to attack, and role players will get more and more offensive opportunities.
After all, not only the players defending the arrows need to watch the ball holder, but the defensive players in the zone defense position are also required by the coach to pay attention to the ball holder.
This makes it easy for rookies to make the mistake of always looking at the ball and missing the person behind them who should be guarded.
Passing and cutting has become more meaningful and efficient after zone defense became popular.
The Bulls are currently running a lot without the ball, which will quickly divert the attention of defensive players, thereby exposing one or two defensive loopholes.
Now Duan's passing is already at a super level, although because there are defensive players in front of him, he cannot pass the ball to any place he wants.
But with Diaw as the pivot and moving the ball, Duane's influence on the court will undoubtedly become greater.
As for the problem of running without the ball and wasting energy, the Bulls have so many rookies. If they speed up the rotation and send more rookies on the court, wouldn't all problems be solved?
Pass and cut, defensive counterattack, chasing three-pointers, misplaced singles, breakthrough points, three-pointers through screens...
Under Duan's leadership, the Bulls played fast, chaotically, but very well as a team.
It was the first time the Celtics encountered this kind of team that kept running and attacking, and could not keep up with the Bulls' fast pace for a while.
After playing for less than three minutes, due to the huge physical exertion and the defensive interference of the Bulls players, the outside shot was seriously inaccurate.
As for scoring inside, the Bulls are willing to let you rush to the basket and let you play in the low post.
However, Tyson Chandler was not a freeloader. Under Duan's constant encouragement, Tyson Chandler also worked hard to press the defense.
A rookie is allowed to make mistakes anyway. He is a parallel import anyway, and no matter how poorly he plays, it will not make his reputation worse.
It was this mentality that Tyson Chandler began to bottom out.
The Celtics do not have an All-Star level inside offensive player. It is indeed a bit difficult to rely on Reeve LaFrentz alone to defeat Tyson Chandler.
Even now Tyson Chandler is still not in his prime.
34 to 21, the Bulls, led by Du En, were a bit exaggerated in the first quarter and actually led by 13 points.
However, by the end of the second quarter, the Celtics were no longer surprised.
61 to 44, Duane only played 7 minutes in the second quarter, and the remaining 5 minutes were Ben Gordon leading other players on the court. The pace of the game was not as fast as Duane.
However, the Celtics players still couldn't adapt to the running and gunning rhythm of the Bulls' youth army.
After all, the Celtics players had just returned from vacation, and their bodies were as thick as a finger.
The Bulls' rookies are eager to prove themselves on the NBA stage. Like Duane, they can become stars within their rookie contracts.
Get favored by sneaker sponsors, sign a big contract, become a multi-millionaire, and don’t have to worry about it for the rest of your life.
With Duan as a benchmark around them, the Bulls rookies are naturally very motivated.
However, you can't win with motivation alone.
If you want to play run-and-gun, a key factor is that you must have a playmaker above All-Star level.
In the first half, the Bulls had Duen in charge. Duen organized the offense well. Even if he did not participate in the end of the offense and just passed the ball, he was still very powerful.
In the second half, Duan watched from the sidelines. The Bulls had no playmaker, and many scoring opportunities were wasted, even with Diaw in charge.
Because there is no offensive strong point to attract defense, it is impossible to mobilize the opponent's defense just by dealing cards.
As long as the defender pays attention, dealing cards will harm his teammates four-on-five, and the opportunity will turn into a trap.
Therefore, after running and gunning became a bit unbearable in the third quarter, the Bulls promptly adjusted to defensive counterattacks, with the star players mainly playing in singles and supplemented by passing and cutting.
Because Luol Deng, Josh Smith and others are still rookies, their bodies have not grown well, and the basket is not yet stable. They are more of a breakthrough attack style with the ball in the basket.
After the Celtics found their defensive focus, they quickly used zone defense to punish the Bulls' rookies.
Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni's offense is quite mature.
However, the former is easy to be named. If there are too many names, the offensive end will decline because the defense consumes too much energy.
The latter has not yet adapted to the NBA's three-point line, and has not even found the feeling of mid-range shots and long two-pointers.
If you just fight against the basket, you will also be sanctioned by the zone defense.
Therefore, by the time the fourth quarter ended, the Bulls were still 4 points behind, losing to the latecomers 103-107, the Celtics.
Bulls fans who watched this game were very optimistic about it, saying that the Bulls lost but Duan did not.
There is no doubt that the Bulls game with or without Duane is a completely different team.
Moreover, Duen is not relying on his own personal ability, but like Magic and Big O, using passing balls to drive the team.
Besides, it’s really not easy for the Bulls youth team led by Dunn to compete with a veteran giant like the Celtics. The playoff teams didn’t decide the winner until the last quarter, and in the end they were only four points apart. .
On October 11, when the Bulls and their team returned to Chicago, they received the hero's treatment. The entrance of the United Center was filled with fans who came to greet and cheer.
"We won't let you down for long!"
After getting out of the car, Du En made his promise in public.
Tomorrow night, the Bulls will face the New Orleans Hornets from afar.
After beating the Hornets, the Bulls and their team will fly to the other side of the ocean to play two games in China.
As for the other team, it's easy to guess, that is the Houston Rockets with Yao Ming.
Playing at home, and at the same time it is a Chinese derby, Duen must abandon the unspoken rules of the pre-season, and instead choose to play the whole game, so that the folks can enjoy it!
You know, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are both my brothers!
Then I got my first win of the preseason from them. Is this reasonable?
(End of chapter)
