March 10th, SuperSonics home arena.
Training here in the afternoon, Zhou Quan completed the sixth round of pull-up jump shooting training. His jump shot was improved to level 92 and his pull-up jump shot was level 86.
After dinner in the arena restaurant and returning to the locker room with his teammates, Zhou Quan saw Payton again.
"Iron Fist, you have to lose this time." When he saw Zhou Quan, Payton's eyes were filled with fire and his chin was raised high.
"Gary, I heard that you have a nickname recently?" Zhou Quan said with a smile.
His face changed, and Payton said hurriedly: "Glove, they call me Glove, Iron Fist, you can call me that too."
"Haha, isn't it called a shit bucket?" Rodman said with a strange smile.
"It stinks, haha!"
Darnell Walker covered his nose and matched well with the big bug.
"Don't scream, it's very rude." Payton glared at the two of them.
"Do you know how to be polite with your foul mouth?" Darnell Walker said with a shocked look on his face.
"Okay, let's call him Mittens."
Zhou Quan stopped his teammates. After all, the nickname "Shit Bucket" was too disgusting and hurt people's self-esteem. It was not the behavior of a gentleman.
Payton breathed a sigh of relief. If the Pistons bastards insisted on calling him a shit bucket, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't fight with Iron Fist and the others, right? Dameng and the others just gave a demonstration.
"Gloves, you won last time, it should be our turn this time."
Zhou Quan patted Payton on the shoulder, said a few words, and left with his teammates.
"Don't think about it, this is our home court, we are still the winners." Payton muttered.
That being said, the Sonics are currently only ranked fifth in the Western Conference, with a winning rate of 57.3%, and their record is somewhat inferior to the Pistons. He knows this.
Then he came to the locker room, where most of his teammates had arrived, and they quickly started changing.
"Is everyone here?"
Not long after, new head coach George Karl came in.
The SuperSonics changed a new head coach. Although the original KC Jones was very senior, held ten championship rings, and had led the Green Team to win two championships as head coach, he could not lead the SuperSonics, and the management could only Forced to change coaches.
The new head coach George Karl is just forty years old, young and strong. He has coached the Cavaliers and Warriors for four seasons with an average winning rate. Last season he coached 64 games with the Warriors and had a winning rate of only 25%.
However, the head coach's winning rate is closely related to the strength of the team's lineup, so the management only looks at the winning rate and is not the most important indicator of ability.
George Karl took over at the end of January, and it has only been less than two months, but the transformation of the Supersonics has already produced initial results.
His tactical style is fast, fast attack and defense, fast and fierce flank attacks, and fast defensive counterattacks. Although his style is not mature now, it has some appearance.
He values Payton very much because his tactics require a good point guard to execute. The point guard is the offensive engine and the most important part of his tactics.
"Gary, how much do you weigh now?" he asked.
"83 kilograms," Payton said.
"It's light, but you still have to gain weight."
Shaking his head, George Karl said: "Now there is Iron Fist, a super-heavy point guard at the No. 1 position in the league, with a tonnage of 95 kilograms. With your tonnage, you will be knocked away by him."
Payton instantly thought of John Paxson, the point guard next to Jordan. Iron Fist broke two of his ribs with just one impact.
He knew about Magic Johnson's interview and heard some rumors that some point guards on Eastern Conference teams have begun to gain weight.
This is simply unbelievable. Can a point guard force a player at the same position to gain weight? If it was a more intense confrontation inside, he would understand.
"I look at the media in Detroit and it looks like he's losing weight."
He said suddenly, thought for a while and then said: "I met him just now. His upper body does seem to be showing signs of weight loss, but it's not very obvious. It shouldn't be much."
"That's the best news."
George Karl said: “But even if he loses a few kilograms, it will still be around 90 kilograms, and he will not give up this advantage.
So Gary, you have to continue to gain weight and at least get closer to the ninety kilogram tonnage. Your naked height is 190 centimeters, which is 5 centimeters taller than his. There should be no problem reaching this tonnage. "
"90?"
Payton said with some doubts: "I'm not his door-shape body. I can't carry that much meat on my upper body. If I gain 90 kilograms, I will look a little bloated, and my speed and agility will be reduced."
"It has to be at least 88 kilograms. Your center of gravity is higher than him, and your muscle content is not as good as his. 88 kilograms is just barely enough, but it can increase your resistance. You will not be knocked down by a collision or passed by in a sudden move." George Carl said.
Payton nodded, 88 kilograms should be fine.
George Karl added: "His current technology is still very immature, but you should have noticed that he has huge tonnage and confrontation advantages.
This gives the Pistons a big advantage. Without switching positions to attack, they can often get a mismatch advantage at the first position because few point guards can block the iron fist. Facing other point guards, he has a borrowing advantage.
For example, when the Pistons play the Bulls, they will focus on the point guard. No matter how the Bulls switch defenses, they will focus on the point guard. This is an advantage.
Then wait a while, I think so, Iron Fist will definitely stare at you. It is difficult to block him with your current tonnage, and your defensive skills are not yet perfect. You will be a loophole for us tonight. "
Payton felt very sad and angry. When did he, who always focused on defense, become a loophole? Do you think he is the little idiot Jason Kidd?
After this period of study, he has mastered some defensive skills. Today, he needs to teach the rookie Iron Fist a lesson and let him know what soothing defense is.
George Karl finally said: "His current speed, how should I say, should be first-rate. He has just reached this level, which is almost the same as you.
If you are jumped by him in one step, it will be difficult to recover, so tonight you have to try not to be jumped by him in one step, and give your teammates time to flank him. "
"clear."
Payton nodded.
At eight o'clock, both sides announced the starting lineup.
Pistons: John Salley, Dennis Rodman, Ulrich, Joe Dumars, Zhou Quan
SuperSonics: Benoit Benjamin, Shawn Kemp, Michael Cage, Ricky Pierce, Gary Payton
At 8:30, the game officially started and the Pistons attacked.
"Damn, what did you just do?"
At the top of the arc, Zhou Quan used his elbow to push Payton away from him and glared angrily.
"Defend!" Payton said very naturally.
"What the hell!"
Is your defense just to touch and scratch me and then dig into my private parts? Zhou Quan was so angry that he directly cursed the country.
"Bang!"
Filled with anger, he immediately turned around, dribbled, and began to beat Payton with his back.
Peyton raised his right elbow horizontally, pressing it against Zhou Quan's lower back. His left hand was like a chicken claw, pinched Zhou Quan's soft waist hard, and then twisted it.
"hiss!"
His waist hurt, and Zhou Quan's strength was affected.
The next moment, he hit from behind again.
But this time, Payton suddenly removed his stool.
"Oops!"
Being shaken, he quickly stabilized his center of gravity, but at this time Payton had already stepped sideways to steal the ball from him.
It's just that Payton didn't succeed in stealing the ball. Because of Zhou Quan's body, he couldn't grab it with one step, and he couldn't squeeze the opponent. After taking half a step around, Zhou Quan had successfully stabilized his center of gravity, and just used his strength to knock him away. Pushed away.
When Zhou Quan regained control of the basketball, Payton was behind him again. Five seconds had been wasted. He quickly gave the ball to Joe Dumars on the right wing.
"Pa bang bang..."
George Karl applauded from the sidelines. Payton defended well this time.
