Among the players on the Pelicans, Jimmy Butler is the one Wang Zelin cares about most.
Butler, who had just finished his rookie contract, was traded to the Pelicans and signed a new five-year contract worth 100 million yuan with the Pelicans management, becoming another billionaire contract man in the NBA.
Of course, in addition to signing a big contract, what makes Butler happy is that he has finally become the absolute boss of an NBA team.
In fact, since Butler gradually grew up last season and became an all-around small forward averaging about 20+5+3+1 per game, the outside world often reported that Butler wanted to steal the team leader, and later even had conflicts with the team. Some players had conflicts.
However, the Bulls are Rose's team after all.
Even if Rose has been playing on and off in the past two or three seasons, this cannot reduce Chicago fans' love for this rose.
Until this summer, not long after the Bulls were rumored to be conducting a two-way trade with the Pelicans, Butler became the first main player to be put on the shelf.
After a brief moment of anger, Butler felt more relieved.
There is no place for me to stay here, I have my own place to stay!
It is with this idea in mind that Butler promoted the team's transactions and finally successfully changed the club. Now he has a big contract and tactical status.
Although he had just joined the Tihus and played only a few games, Butler found a long-lost sense of belonging.
From now on, he has to fight for himself!
…
During the warm-up session before the game, Wang Zelin took the initiative to say hello to Butler. The two chatted for a few words and then separated.
Before leaving, Wang Zelin specifically checked Butler's player evaluation, which was a full 85, reaching All-Star level standards.
Since last season, Butler's strength has basically reached its peak, with 20+5+3 in the regular season and 22+5+4 in the playoffs. What's even more valuable is that Butler is a star with excellent offense and defense.
Perhaps Butler's talent is destined to prevent him from becoming the boss of the championship team, but if he just lives with the Pelicans, he is strong enough, and at least he has the possibility of leading the team to the playoffs.
As for other Pelicans players, Eric Gordon was rated 83, Josh Smith was rated 81, Jrue Holiday was rated 79, and Perkins was rated 71...
I don’t know why, but the more he looks at this Pelicans team, the more Wang Zelin feels like he is watching the Grizzlies.
After carefully looking at the abilities of the opponent's core players, he realized that in the Pelicans' current starting lineup, except for Perkins, who has very little defensive ability due to his age, whether it is Butler, Smith or Horton. Ledi can definitely be called a defensive champion, and Gordon's defense is also above the same position, which is enough to cover up the shortcomings of insufficient interior defense.
No wonder he feels like he's watching the Grizzlies.
Judging from the strength on paper, the Pelicans can try to take the iron-blooded defense route. They have the potential to become another "shit stick" in the Western Conference after the Grizzlies.
After the game started, the battle became more intense than in the opening game. Gordon and Butler played very bravely in the face of strong opponents. They scored 31 points in the first half, with the former scoring 14 points and the latter scoring 17 points.
After halftime, the Pelicans trailed the Trail Blazers by only 6 points.
But in the third quarter, the Trail Blazers suddenly increased their defensive intensity. As the core boss, Wang Zelin took the lead in defense, and the Pelicans suddenly couldn't continue to score.
In this quarter, the Trail Blazers beat the Pelicans 28:12, directly opening the point difference to more than 20 points.
In the end, they also defeated the Pelicans 112-94 and won two consecutive regular season victories.
With two consecutive wins, especially two big wins, the Trail Blazers once again played as invincible as they did at the start of last season.
The next day, the Trail Blazers continued to play at home against the Suns.
The Suns, like the Pelicans, did not make the playoffs last season, but the difference is that although the Pelicans let Davis go this summer, they also got good bargaining chips and still have the potential to hit the postseason. race hope.
But the Suns are relatively weak.
The biggest news for the Suns this summer is probably that they poached former dopy and former champion center "Boxing Champion" Tyson Chandler from the trading market with a four-year, 52 million yuan contract.
After Chandler returned to the Mavericks last season, he made some progress and almost exclusively supported the Mavericks' interior defense. He played 75 times throughout the season and scored 10.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.2 blocks, with a shooting percentage of 66.6%. .
However, at the end of the season, in the battle for the final spot in the playoffs, the Mavericks ultimately regrettably lost to the Lakers. In this way, all Mavericks fans were disappointed with the team's hard work throughout the year.
Maybe it's time for the Mavericks to rebuild!
When the reconstruction plan was determined, the old Chandler became the first object to be abandoned.
The reason is very simple, because the Mavericks now have another young man with great potential, the former Trail Blazers player Adams. Between the choice of "Boxing King" and "Aqua King", the Mavericks management unexpectedly chose the latter. By.
This is also the reason why the Mavericks' one-year champion changed his team in anger. In the end, based on the principle of the highest bidder, Chandler came to the Suns.
However, apart from the introduction of Chandler, the Suns management currently has no eye-catching transactions.
Considering that the young guard selected by the Suns with the 13th overall pick in the first round this year has shown good potential both in the summer league and the preseason, if nothing else, the Suns will be in trouble this year. year.
First battle in November.
The opponent was still the weak Suns in the Western Conference. The Trail Blazers used their excellent defense to completely suppress the Suns. This game was easier than the previous two games.
Devin Booker, who was originally highly anticipated by Phoenix fans, was completely lost tonight. His personal data dropped from 14 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal in the last game to 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist today, which can be called a cliff-like decline.
"Wang, are we going a little too far? After all, I am still a child!"
Batum, who was responsible for guarding Devin Booker tonight, looked at Suns 1 who was already looking lost at the end of the game, and suddenly felt a little guilty in his heart.
"Really? I remember telling you that you had the most fun."
Wang Zelin glanced at Batum teasingly, and the latter smiled awkwardly, then turned and walked towards his new friend Barton.
In this game, the Trail Blazers had another high-scoring game, 119 to 90. The Trail Blazers easily defeated the Suns and won very smoothly, starting with their third consecutive victory.
Wang Zelin scored a game-high 32 points tonight, plus 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal.
It’s another day to clock out of get off work in the third period!
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