From Durant's comments, Zhao Chen can know that he still cares about outside comments.
Especially the comments about the position of Thunder boss.
Zhao Chen and Durant had also talked about some news in the media that could create antagonism between the two.
But Durant was very generous at the time and said he didn't care. He also told Zhao Chen not to worry too much and asked Zhao Chen to focus on winning.
Durant was very sincere when he said it.
At that time, Zhao Chen felt that Durant was very boss-like, but now he feels like his character has collapsed.
To be honest, Zhao Chen is not yet qualified to challenge Durant, but Durant himself is too concerned and has a sense of crisis.
January 28th.
The Thunder defeated the Celtics at home, the score was 128 to 108, which was another big victory.
Durant, Westbrook, and Zhao Chen teamed up to score 81 points, of which Zhao Chen scored 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists.
The Celtics are currently in a rebuilding period. They can't even make the Eastern Conference playoffs, and they don't have a single All-Star player on the team. It's not surprising that they lost to the Thunder by a big score.
Two consecutive big wins made fans and the media look at the Thunder's Big Three with admiration. They felt that the integration of the Thunder's Big Three was accelerating.
Especially in one round, Zhao Chen intercepted Rondo's pass and launched a counterattack. Westbrook and Durant made quick passes. The two showed extreme speed. When Zhao Chen passed the ball, Westbrook Save the ball to Durant, who completes the finish.
The three scored the ball without dribbling, showing their superb offensive talent.
The first lineup is Durant and Westbrook's time, and the second lineup is Zhao Chen's time.
Zhao Chen's offensive ability takes full advantage in the second lineup...
The Thunder are getting better and better, and the media and fans are bragging about the Thunder's Big Three more and more.
In particular, there are many news boasting about Zhao Chen's brotherly relationship with Durant and Westbrook.
The three of them claim that they are all brothers. As for the boss? It doesn't really seem that important.
January 30th.
The Thunder ushered in a challenge from the 76ers at home.
The 76ers haven't changed much since the last time the two teams met. Their strength is weak.
The Thunder easily defeated them with a score of 108 to 98.
Zhao Chen continued to suppress McAway.
Zhao Chen played 38 minutes in this game, making 10 of 18 two-pointers, 5 of 10 three-pointers, and 6 of 6 free throws. He scored 41 points, 3 rebounds, and 7 assists in the game.
McAway played 37 minutes, making 4 of 14 two-pointers, 0 of 5 three-pointers, and 1 of 2 free throws. He scored 9 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 turnovers.
Zhao Chen's touch is not very hot. His main scoring methods are from the basket and three-pointers. The mid-range shot was not very accurate today.
The 76ers' inside line is not strong. Zhao Chen completed cuts or breakthrough layups many times. This is also the reason why Zhao Chen scored 40+ points tonight.
Durant only scored 21 points tonight, and the scoring gap was quite large compared to Zhao Chen.
Although it was a big victory, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Durant was a little unhappy. The media caught Durant looking at Zhao Chen. His body and language can be deceiving, but his eyes are not very good... ...
Zhao Chen didn't care about that. As always, he thanked the coach and teammates at the post-match press conference.
After the game, 76ers fans fiercely criticized the management, wondering why Zhao Chen was not selected in the draft.
Judging from the statistics and matchup performances of McAway and Zhao Chen on the court, it seems that Zhao Chen should be the 11th overall pick, while McAway is the second-round pick.
McAway's performance at the beginning of the season was okay, but now it is getting worse.
On the other hand, Zhao Chen is getting better and better.
It's not that McAway is too bad, but that Zhao Chen is too good.
Zhao Chen's outstanding performance is putting fellow rookies under pressure.
After this game, Zhao Chen was compared with James as a rookie.
As a rookie, James became the core of the Cavaliers' offense after entering the league. In the first game of his career, he scored 25 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds.
As the season progressed, James' status became more stable. James played 79 games in his rookie season. James won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month. The maturity and passing awareness that James showed on the court are very rare.
James averaged 20.9 points, 5.9 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks per game throughout the season, shooting 41.7% from the field and 29.0% from three-point range. James is the third-ranked rookie in NBA history after "Big O" Robertson and Jordan. A rookie player who averaged 20+5+5 per game this season.
With his outstanding performance, James was also selected to the All-Rookie First Team and was crowned the Rookie of the Year in the 2003-04 season.
Zhao Chen's scoring average this season has increased to 25 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds per game.
Zhao Chen is different from James. The Thunder that Zhao Chen joined is a strong team, one that is as strong as the top in the league. Zhao Chen's playing time was unstable and he was very quiet in the early stage. It was not until a month ago that he started to truly explode and stabilize his position.
In terms of average data per game, Zhao Chen is better than James, but in terms of personal influence on the team, Zhao Chen is worse than James.
Of course, Zhao Chen's status is not comparable to that of James, and James obviously has more fans than Zhao Chen.
Such comparisons brought Zhao Chen into trouble, and one of the forums where there were many Zhan Mi even trampled Zhao Chen.
The reason they defended James for not making the playoffs in his first season was that although he didn't even make the playoffs as a rookie, it was all the fault of his teammates.
The data of 20+5+5 is not amazing. Look at the last Tyreke Evans. Isn’t it just like everyone else?
.......
On the Internet, Zhao Chen's fan groups are also constantly forming.
But the combat effectiveness is obviously incomparable to those of Ke Mi and James.
Zhao Chen is often grilled on the barbecue by media fans, and he himself doesn't know this.
Of course, Zhao Chen didn't care about external comments.
As Zhao Chen's influence continues to increase, more and more things will happen to him.
For Zhao Chen, whether he is a fan or a fan, this is his influence. If it weren't for the All-Star voting window being closed some time ago, Zhao Chen's popularity would be enough to push him into the All-Star.
This also makes Aaron Mintz very confident when talking about endorsements.
Zhao Chen's requirements for endorsements are not too high and he should try to keep the contracts short-term. Zhao Chen believes that his worth will become higher and higher as his strength increases.
Especially the sneaker contract, Zhao Chen attaches great importance to. If the price offered by the endorsement brand is not high enough, Zhao Chen would rather wait.
Even if I lose a year of endorsement fees this year, I can’t let myself lose too much.
Aaron Mintz was also urgently helping Zhao Chen negotiate a sneaker endorsement contract.
There are many sneaker manufacturers looking for Zhao Chen to endorse, but most of the conditions are not the most favorable. It all depends on him to negotiate.
After the game against the 76ers, January is over.
The Thunder's experience in January was very difficult. They experienced two core injuries.
But fortunately, they returned to the league's first record.
Under such difficult circumstances, Zhao Chen managed to become number one in the league and stood out from the bench for the first time.
50+ triple-doubles, 60+ triple-doubles, 40+ contributions in multiple games!
Zhao Chen's single-month data is a crazy average of 36 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists per game!
The league also saw Zhao Chen's madness, and they also gave Zhao Chen the honor of the best player in the Western Conference.
