Woody is also being interviewed.
This was the first time he showed his Heat jersey to the media. A specially sent interview team was sent from China. One of the leaders was Su Qun, who had met Woody two or three times. The other one was not Yang Yi, but a man named Xu Jicheng. is a veteran reporter with similar qualifications to Su Qun, but this is his first time interviewing Woody.
After asking about some summer arrangements, he was not surprised to hear that Woody had gained weight this summer. He had noticed it when Woody appeared in front of the media just now.
"What a coincidence, Yao also gained weight this summer..." He would often tell Woody something about Yao Ming.
Thanks to him, the image of this "Little Giant of the East" gradually became much fuller in Woody's heart. It's just that he hasn't met Yao Ming yet.
Xu Jicheng asked a question that he was very concerned about. Woody just raised his jersey and he wanted to ask it when he saw the number 95 written on it.
"Woody, why did you choose this number?"
It’s no wonder he paid so much attention, it was because this number reminded him so easily of the “Nine-Five Lord”!
Woody was not surprised that they would have such an association. He originally chose the number with this intention. He simply said: "Give yourself some goals. I want to make a name for myself in this league!"
This is not "some tricks"!
Xu Jicheng muttered something silently in his heart.
But thinking about Woody's talent, I feel that having such a big ambition is not a bad thing. It is normal for young people to be a little arrogant.
On the way back, he said to Su Qun who was puffing away: "We have to translate the nickname of LeBron James more accurately, so as not to confuse him with Woody's nickname in the future! "
He is sure that Woody's number will definitely make domestic fans think, isn't "95 Supreme" the "Emperor"?
But when they translated for LeBron James, they already called him the "little emperor."
Can an alliance have two "emperors"?
To be more serious, "King" means king, which is similar to the king during the Warring States Period. The vassal kings of various dynasties belong to the party that ceded territory and cannot yet reach the level of "emperor"!
Su Qun understood what he meant and nodded with a smile: "Then let's call him King LeBron James, or translate it into king, or vassal king..."
Who cares about Xu Jicheng? Anyway, the nickname "Emperor" must be reserved for Woody...
"Let's not attribute the meaning of Woody's number to the emperor now. Let's wait until Woody has achieved some success."
Su Qun was convinced of this, and he really had to give Woody a fairly ample space to grow. Don't put so much pressure on him as soon as he came up. This kid was only about 18 years and 100 days old at full count.
The two of them were here to prepare for Woody's nickname. After finishing the interview, Woody walked towards the locker room, but saw Wade in the player tunnel. This guy looked hesitant. When he saw Woody, he saw him. Like a savior: "Wu, you're done with the interview!"
Woody thought something was wrong, but upon further questioning, he found out that this girl didn't dare to go back to the locker room alone.
"Who knows what gifts these veterans have prepared for us!"
With Woody on board, Wade felt much calmer.
Woody looked at him and wanted to complain, brother, you are 21, why are you acting like a girl?
Somehow, Woody thought of Magic Johnson's second son, EJ Jiang.
Just after pushing the door open and walking in, what Woody and Wade saw were two rows of people standing straight, with their heads held high and their chests held high, their fingers touching the seams of their trousers, as if they were standing in a military posture, and they didn't dare to show off their dignity.
Turning around, I saw a familiar little old man at the front of the queue: Pat Riley.
He stood aside and watched with a serious face. After Woody and Wade opened the door of their dressing room and changed their clothes, he said: "Okay, everyone, go back. Tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, At the training ground, if someone is late, run laps for me! If you are late for one minute, you will run 10 laps, do you understand me?"
"Clear!"
There was barely any separation and Eddie Jones led the response.
This militarized management is simply incredible!
After he left, Woody changed into training clothes and went to the arena. He still made an appointment with Mourning for a special basket training today.
"Hey, wait for me, wait for me!" Wade shouted anxiously, and he followed him out of the locker room.
"What do you mean? Are you going to punish them two?"
Russell Butler, the 45th pick in the second round last season, asked.
Brian Grant, one of the Heat's only two veterans with dreadlocks in the new season, replied angrily: "What the hell? Didn't you see that the old man came to stand up for the two of them in person?"
He had no ill intentions towards the two rookies, but he still felt that the rookie process had to go through a bit.
Eddie Jones said from the side: "I told you a long time ago that Pat values these two rookies very much, so you should stop tossing them!"
"What about the popcorn I bought? There's so much and I can't return it!" Butler asked again.
"I have an idea. I'll secretly get into the Caron car later and treat him as if I'm welcoming him again!"
Russell Butler suggested with a smirk that Caron Butler was drafted in the same year as him and both entered the Heat last year. However, Caron Butler's draft pick was higher, with the 10th pick in the first round. position, so even though he was 22 years old when he entered the Heat, he was still reused by Pat Riley. He played a total of 78 games in his rookie season, starting all of them, averaging 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
Since he was ranked low in the draft, he could only be used as a substitute, so this idea had some personal emotions involved.
Eddie Jones couldn't stand listening anymore: "Then welcome you again, your name is Butler anyway!"
Grant was not a fool and agreed at the time: "What a great idea!"
This is how Russell Butler understood a truth: Why bother Butler!
***
On the first day of training camp, Pat Riley introduced another new member of the Heat.
It was Haslem who played in the summer league with Woody and Wade in the summer.
After Woody and Dwight Wade retired midway, he continued to stay in the team to compete in the summer league. In the next 4 games, he averaged 15.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. With his positive game energy, Pat Lay Lee finally gave him a two-year base salary of 1 million, which was only 370,000 in the first year.
The money was a little short, but he was very excited and finally successfully logged into the NBA!
In addition to him, Pat Riley also used a basic salary contract with an annual salary of 690,000 to win "Streetball King" Rafe Alston.
Adding him, the Heat's 15-man roster only has one spot left.
Pat Riley would love to add another big man at the five...
Current Heat roster:
The forward positions include: Woody, Odom, Grant, Haslem;
The back line includes: Wade, Caron Butler, Eddie Jones, Alston, Russell Butler;
Just these 9 people are enough to satisfy the remaining four positions, and the competition will be fierce.
Only for the fifth position, Pat Riley does not have a suitable candidate.
The tallest player in the lineup is Odom, who is 2.08 meters tall and is a standard power forward height. But his style of play is more outside-oriented and he can rush for rebounds, but if you expect him to get stuck under the basket and beat people, that's a bit too much.
Pat Riley's favorite candidate for the fifth position is Grant. Although he is only 2.06 meters and is a bit "pocket" for the power forward position, he weighs 116kg and can defend against people.
But he is already 31 years old. Expecting him to last for 36 minutes in the fifth position is considered to be an overfulfillment of the task. Someone must cover the remaining 12 minutes. But training camp has begun. What "relics" can be found in the free market at this time?
After looking around for a long time, Wang Zhizhi, who is also a Chinese player like Woody, met the standard. He is 2.13 meters tall and looks very stocky. Just looking at the videos of Wang Zhizhi's past games with the Mavericks, Pat Riley can clearly see that this kid doesn't like confrontation at the basket and always avoids physical contact. This kept him from making up his mind.
One week into the training camp, there are gradually more training games.
Woody's performance on the training ground surprised him.
Especially on the defensive end, the high-quality defense brought by his ubiquitous figure can often allow his team to launch wave of defensive counterattacks.
Woody's help defense ability has indeed improved rapidly.
This thing relies on consciousness and physical fitness.
To put it bluntly, consciousness is an accurate judgment, which is related to experience and defensive thinking.
Woody's ability to understand tactics has increased significantly recently, and his physical fitness has increased rapidly. Therefore, he has made good progress in all aspects this summer, especially strength and his rebounding, but really Speaking of the aspect that has improved the most, it has to be his defensive ability!
Before the start of the training camp, his assist defense ability exceeded 80 points. As the number of team training games in the training camp increased and the accumulation of experience accelerated, the experience bar of his assist defense ability increased at a terrifying rate.
It’s almost 83 o’clock!
After the closed training camp, it should be no problem if it reaches 85 points.
Coupled with his excellent dynamic and static talents, without enough game samples as data support, his opponents will certainly find it difficult to guard against him, feeling like a ghost on the court.
This provides Pat Riley with a new idea.
If you really can't find your favorite No. 5 position, then you can find another forward player. Everyone can help each other defend. Can't we make up for the defensive gap without top defenders in the interior?
Pat Riley has never forgotten his vision of "five swingmen", but he also knows how difficult it is.
But after the team had Woody, he felt that this idea could actually be implemented first!
Half a month later, Odom, whose body fat rate reached his standard, joined the team for training matches. He became more convinced of this idea, and the reinforcement ideas in his mind began to deviate towards the forward line.
"I finally came to life!"
After playing the first training game, Odom felt inspired.
He didn't expect Pat Riley to be so ruthless. His body fat percentage was not up to standard and he was not even allowed to go to the training ground. He originally thought this was good and even went to the nightclub to have fun for two days, but when he saw Pat Riley Li Zhen just pretended that he didn't exist. He became anxious and ran to the gym on his own initiative. He exercised hard for half a month and finally got his body fat rate back to a level that Pat Riley was satisfied with.
His current evaluation of Pat Riley is just two words:
Destroy the wolf!
"Man, you have to comfort me, or introduce me to two female celebrities!" The first thing he did after returning was that he got involved with Woody again, but this time, he never mentioned that he would be in the team. Take care of Woody's stuff.
Um……
In this situation, he should take care of himself first and then take care of Woody!
"You're playing for yourself, man!" Woody was not disgusted with Odom's "self-acquaintance", but there was one thing he didn't understand. Why was he asked to introduce a female star?
Although he has had several scandals, they were all with Megan Fox, who is so transparent in the entertainment industry...
I really can’t tell who will benefit, right?
"Dude, didn't you know? There are media reports that Scarlett Johansson said you are a very attractive man!"
"ha?"
What Woody is more concerned about is:
Odom actually knows about Scarlett?
This should also be an 18th-tier young talent, right?
After listening to what Odom said, I learned that while Scarlett Johansson was filming "Perfect," her other movie "Lost in Translation" was released, and the response was very good, and her fame suddenly grew.
Various interviews followed, and it was also in these interviews that Scarlett talked about Woody. It's just that Woody started a rebounding training program with Mourning after he came out of the crew, so he didn't know this news.
There was Megan Fox before her and Scarlett behind her. It’s no wonder that Odom thinks he knows a lot of female celebrities.
In the third week of training camp, the Heat's starting lineup for the new season has gradually been revealed:
No. 1 Rafe Alston, No. 2 Eddie Jones, No. 3 Woody, No. 4 Lamar Odom, No. 5 Brian Grant...
Wade substitute!
It's not that his ability is not up to par, but that the Heat's lineup has changed a lot in the new season. Alston, Woody, and Odom are all new members who have joined the Heat.
A more experienced No. 1 position needs to be on the court. In this case, he will definitely not be able to play the No. 1 position.
As for the No. 2 position, Eddie Jones is more composed than him. Originally, Pat Riley thought about pushing Jones to the No. 3 position and letting Wade play the No. 2 position, but after a few training games, Later, he found that Woody's technical characteristics were more secure in playing the third position.
Whether it is "eating the pie" on the offensive end or assisting on the defensive end, standing on the wing is more conducive to Woody's performance.
Moreover, Grant at the fifth position is only 2.06 meters tall, and Odom's height is needed to fill up the inside height.
Woody's current height is over 2.05 meters, but it is still a little shorter than Odom, who is 2.08 meters tall.
After looking around, I have no choice but to let Wade come on the bench first!
In order to prevent Wade from having any ideas, Pat Riley looked around for him, patted him on the shoulder, and said affectionately: "Dwyane, this is also so that you can adapt to the intensity of this league more smoothly. , I believe that I will put you into the starting lineup soon, because of your performance..."
Wade really didn't expect that Pat Riley had already thought of this step for him, and he almost dropped the little pearl.
I, Dwyane, am so blessed in my life that I actually met such a good head coach!
He almost couldn't hold it back and called "Dad" directly.
First update today.
(End of chapter)
