"Leo...Leo...Leo..."
The time came to September 27, and the Clippers team gathering day arrived.
A large number of fans gathered outside Memorial Stadium, chanting Leo's English name.
This is the first time that the old Clippers players have felt such enthusiasm from the fans. Even Odom has never been treated like this. Many people bought tickets to watch the Clippers because of his reputation as a "left-handed magician". During the team's game, I was also amazed by his amazing talent, but it is difficult to worship such a player, who is so heartless to the naked eye.
And a rookie who has never played in an NBA game has such high popularity.
envious! envy!
It's much more convenient to use a large arena as the training hall, and there are multiple business districts around it... The teammates don't feel good about it anymore.
Everyone was unpopular at first, but now they have a traitor among them!
"Boss, you are so popular!" Big Q exclaimed.
"Hey, I can't help it. I'm already very low-key, but some people are like fireflies in the dark night. No matter how they hide themselves, they are still so dazzling."
The teammates who were sore next to them said: Bah!
Whose is that blue sports car in the parking lot with light pollution when it starts up?
Da Q started filming aggressively: "Boss, you are good at everything, but you are too low-key."
Teammates: Vaco! Don’t be shy!
After the Clippers players gathered in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor to watch the enthusiastic fans outside Memorial Stadium, they were called by Gentry to take promotional photos for the new season.
Today, Gentry is extremely serious and meticulous in his work.
The players can understand that the team has undergone tremendous changes. The management team, from general manager to publicity to finance, has been cleared out. A professional basketball manager named Wally Walker, who served as the Blazers around 1990, came. General manager of the Trail Blazers, who single-handedly created the Trail Blazers' runner-up lineup in 1990 and 1992;
Walker went to the SuperSonics as general manager in 1995 and quickly helped the Sonics build a lineup that reached the Finals in the 1996 playoffs through minor repairs.
A very good professional manager, but also known for his ruthlessness, mainly targeting the management, coaching staff, and support staff. In those years, managers and staff of the Trail Blazers and SuperSonics were often fired for violating team regulations.
But he is extraordinarily humane to players, especially to veterans. When he was the general manager of the Sonics, the 33-year-old Schrempf's contract expired at that age, and he had been absent from work for more than 20 years in the previous two seasons. After a game, the free market was cold, and the SuperSonics management wanted to keep Schrempf, but most people suggested giving him a short-term contract worth 2.5 million for one year, with one year to play for another year. At that time, Schrempf was at his peak. Pippen's salary was almost the same, but he overcame everyone's objections and gave him a generous contract worth $10 million over three years.
Of course, the contract was worth it. In the next three seasons, Schrempf got rid of injuries and played at a very high level, averaging 16+7+4 per game in three years.
Drexler was able to hug Olajuwon's thigh because of his operation. During the two trips to the Finals, the two formed a deep friendship. By the end of Glider's career, the Trail Blazers had also lost the championship. Ability, he tried his best, and the final result was that he was fired.
Although this operation made Walker controversial and ostracized by some NBA team owners, let's just say he has no human touch towards the players.
With the arrival of such a "notorious" general manager, the remaining senior members of the team are in danger.
It has been so hard to find a good job in the past two years. Although Sterling was stingy in the past, it was often the case that one person would do the work of multiple people, such as an electrician working part-time as a chef. However, the NBA has salary regulations for staff to ensure that they serve the players. Due to the professionalism of the staff, it is difficult for them to find jobs with the same pay as now. Now they have to be more serious when working, for fear of being kicked out of the club.
This has no impact on Li Ao. Everything now is very new to him and has never been experienced before.
He happily went to take part in the publicity photo shoot, and then, except for Da Q, who took a photo with him with his front teeth exposed and smiled, everyone else was very reluctant to stand with him.
It is obviously the same team training uniform, but Li Ao has the style of an idol drama. He is sunny and cheerful, and he is tall, with broad shoulders and a strong chest. He looks upright.
When I got there, they looked like gangsters and gangsters. They were all crooked and cracked, mainly because they stood together to create contrast.
Whoever likes to take photos together!
However, the teammates did not expect that their violent handsome guy would be so shameless and forced them to take a group photo.
Everyone else broke free, except for poor Boykins, who was picked up directly by Li Ao and took a photo.
Boykins was so sad and angry, but what he hated most was that no one in the group of people who ran away came to save him!
The team took a group photo, and no one else could escape. Li Ao pushed three times and conceded three times, and finally stood in the middle. Two guys on the left and right who were smiling like idiots were Odom and Big Q. They were next to them. All the players silently left an empty space in the middle. Little O'Neal, who wanted the boss position, also gave up and stood aside...
…
On the 28th, the Clippers started training camp three days early.
This is relatively late in the NBA. Other teams basically gather in late September and early September, such as the 76ers and Spurs, who start arranging training for their players in mid-September.
But the Clippers have almost never started training camps in advance before. The earlier they start team operations, the earlier they have to start spending money.
Things are different now. Gentry proposed to start training camp early, and the new general manager immediately agreed. However, the time was too tight. The team's management and logistics staff had changed so much that they couldn't keep up even if they wanted to. The No. 25 talent was I barely scraped it together and spent two days getting ready, and then I was ready for the training camp on the gathering day on the 27th.
The task Gentry arranged today was the player ability test.
Li Ao was looking forward to it, but when it came time to measure his height, he was no longer calm.
"Why have I grown taller again?" Li Ao muttered to the teaching assistant, then opened the system and took a look. He was really 203 centimeters!
Larry LaRue, the assistant coach in charge of static data measurement, laughed: "You are only 19 years old. It is normal for you to grow taller. However, the physical examination at the beginning of the month showed that many of your epiphyseal lines have begun to close, and there is not much room for you to grow taller." , according to my experience, you can grow up to 0.5 inches or 1 inch."
"Please God, please protect me from growing taller, otherwise I will have to customize new clothes. I just ordered some new clothes a few days ago. They are so expensive and I won't be able to wear them any longer."
"Well……"
"Larry, keep busy, I'm going to do other tests."
"Wait a minute, your arm span hasn't been measured yet."
"You can fill it in as you like, no one will check it."
"Oh, okay."
Larry LaRue looked at the wingspan that Li Ao filled in when he applied for the draft, which was the length that Vivian remembered when she and Li Ao were comparing wingspans in October last year.
Vivian knew how much Li Ao had grown. The height written in the draft application was 201 centimeters, but Li Ao would tell her how much he had grown, but he did not tell her how much his wingspan was, so he wrote down the impression of 213 centimeters.
Then, Larry LaRue added a wingspan of 215 centimeters.
He was also an NBA player, the 17th pick in the first round of 1980. In his peak year, he averaged 20 points and 8 assists per game, and also won the Player of the Month award.
He came to Los Angeles in the last four years of his career. He first played with the Clippers for two years, and in the last two years he went to embrace Magic. Although he failed, he at least tasted the feeling of playing in the Finals. It was a dream come true. He was very I envy tall point guards like Magic because he is only 185 centimeters tall and has a wingspan of 188 centimeters.
Looking at the height difference of 6 feet 8 inches, wingspan of 7 feet 1 inch, weight of 218 pounds (99 kilograms), and wingspan of 5 inches (12 centimeters), Larry LaRue sighed, what a great static My physical condition is so enviable.
Li Ao looked at the system screen with two centimeters more height.
He hadn't noticed this before. When he went to get custom-made clothes, he had to buy clothes because of changes in his arms, shoulders, chest and abdomen, etc.
Fortunately, the doctor also said during the bone age test that he had no room to grow, so he didn't have to worry about not being able to fit into the clothes he bought.
"Name: Li Ao, English name: Leo.
Team: Los Angeles Clippers.
Age: 19 years old (August 1, 1981).
Height: 203 cm, wingspan: 227 cm.
Weight: 99 kg.
Overall rating: 77.
Physical fitness: Speed 91 (89 explosive acceleration), 86 strength (82 explosive power), 85 jumping (89 bullet speed), 92 flexibility, 89 physical strength...
Basic skills: 71 three-pointers, 86 mid-range shots, 88 layups, 65 hooks, 63 ball control, 82 passes, 87 steps back, 88 lateral moves, 87 forward circles, 70 strides, 75 turns, 71 emergency stops...
Skills: Hook 65, catch-and-turn shot 74, emergency stop catch and jump shot 70..."
What he is currently good at is still mid-range shooting, defense, and passing, but he has improved significantly compared to before.
In the past two months, my three-point shooting has improved significantly, and I have successfully broken through to a good level. With the full level of 'Catch and Shoot Expert', my catch-and-shoot three-point shooting can be raised to a good upper level of 76, and I can shoot in games.
But CIC's progress has slowed down.
After reaching the NBA level of excellence, it is difficult to improve even one point!
From July to September, in 3 months, the general will increase by 3 points.
After he was selected, his mid-range shooting in the evaluation report dropped from 88 to 83. It was not that his ability had declined. He was still an 88-level mid-range shooter at the NCAA level at the time. When he reached the top level of the NCAA, his improvement rate had slowed down. .
In the NBA, the improvement required to achieve the numerical increase in the system evaluation is greater than in the NCAA, and the improvement is naturally slower.
If it weren't for the level 3 training method, the mid-level investment package, and the full-level experience bracelet, it would be impossible to improve from 83 to 86 in one summer just by training.
After reaching an excellent level, actual combat + training is the best way to improve.
However, as long as his mid-range shot can reach 85, he can reach the top level with the full level of 'Catch and Shoot Expert'. Currently, he plays without the ball, and raising his mid-range shot to 86 is enough.
My physical fitness has improved a little bit again!
The muscle gain and weight gain went smoothly. His upper limbs were 'developing' at the time. Under the professional guidance of the trainer, he successfully gained about 6 kilograms of weight without any negative effects.
Combined with strength training, his strength increased to 86, his explosive power increased to an excellent level of 82, his speed increased to 91, his starting point increased to 89, his bounce increased to 85, and his bullet speed also increased to 89.
However, the flexibility dropped from 94 to 92, but he did not feel any impact. He ignored it for the time being and would add more when conditions allowed.
My physical strength once increased to 90, but after the weight gain was completed, it dropped back to 89... In other words, I may have just reached 90 at that time, but due to the increased exercise consumption caused by gaining weight and muscle, I fell below the top line again.
Li Ao opened the props section, with 5 basic attribute points.
The offseason is over and it’s time to use it.
He added 3 points to strength, raising it from 86 to 89, and his explosive power also increased from 82 to 85 with the increase in strength.
1 point is added to the bounce, the bounce is increased from 85 to 86, and the bullet speed is increased from 89 to 90 with the increase in bounce.
The last 1 point was added to the explosive power, raising the explosive power to 86.
The improvement of the three basic attributes of strength, speed and bounce can lead to the improvement of explosive attributes.
For now, in fact, adding bounce will bring greater benefits, after all, the bullet speed has reached the top.
But his static strength has reached 89, and if his explosive strength does not catch up quickly, when his strength reaches 90, his explosive strength will be less than 90. To increase his explosive strength alone, he will have to spend more basic attribute points.
This kind of addition was something he had thought of before.
Next, if he gets attribute points, his priority will be to increase his explosive power, raising it to the same level as his static strength. After that, he only needs to increase his strength to drive explosive power.
As for the speed, the maximum speed has reached 91 and the starting speed is only 89, so we can only do that for now.
For a catch-and-shoot player, not having the fastest start is not a big disadvantage.
As for the progress in other aspects, it is not so obvious. The bigger improvements are in mid-range shooting related skills and passing. After all, the time is only three months.
Turning off the system, Li Ao devoted himself enthusiastically to the team test!
…
Li Ao underwent a series of tests prepared for him by Gentry. Unlike the 'picky and picky' training for the Lakers, Li Ao took all the tests that were required.
This is not a draft trial, and there is no need to 'exploit strengths and avoid weaknesses'.
He needs to fully tell the team about his situation through team testing so that coaches and trainers can understand the situation so that they can better plan for his future growth direction.
Leave professional matters to professionals. He can just decide whether to accept the growth plan of the coaching staff.
After the team test, the coaching staff, trainers, and management members all discussed the two reports non-stop, with curse words coming out from time to time.
General Manager Walker asked: "Alvin, are you really not mistaken? This is a test report that was only two and a half months old?"
Gentry took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, while wiping the lighter he said: "Leo went from zero to MOP in 8 months. Wally, you are overreacting."
"Uh... Alvin, you held the cigarette backwards."
"Cough cough cough cough..."
These two test reports are both Li Ao's.
Mid-range shot, 10 points, 10 goals in each point, two groups in total. After training in the two groups, Li Ao scored 19 goals from 5 points, 16 goals from 2 points, scored all 2 points, and 17 goals from 1 point. .
Two major groups of tests, a total of 184 out of 200!
Moreover, one group scored 91 goals and the other group scored 93 goals, which is very stable.
Compared with two and a half months ago, there has been a significant improvement.
Gentry can be sure that there is no one on the team who can compare with Li Ao in the mid-range shooting.
Only Piakowsky in the team performed better than Li Ao in the mid-range shooting test on both sides of the baseline. Those two points are relatively worse for Li Ao.
What is even more eye-catching is the three-point test. This test is conducted more frequently. It was tested 4 times in total. For every 100 three-pointers, the number of hits was around 80.
Compared with two and a half months ago, there has been a qualitative improvement.
And just like the mid-range shot, it is very balanced from all angles!
The most exaggerated thing is Li Ao's increase in strength.
Gentry saw that Li Ao had gained more than ten pounds and his shoulders, arms, and thighs were thicker. He knew that their violent handsome strength must have improved, so he worked very hard this summer.
Not only Li Ao, Da Q has also worked hard in the past two months. His weight has increased to 221 pounds, and his strength has also improved significantly.
But compared with Li Ao, who entered the NBA at the same time and had similar strength at the time, Big Q's progress is negligible.
Gentry looked at Li Ao's strength test results and came up with the idea of letting Li Ao carry it when he met opponents such as Artest, Raheem, Madman, and Pierce in the regular season.
Odom and Maggette are still the strongest forwards in the Power team, but in terms of defensive ability, during the summer league, Gentry confirmed that Li Ao was the best outside defender in the team.
Although Li Ao's other abilities have yet to be developed, he is still a player with relatively single abilities, but he is only 19 years old!
Gentry has been working in the NBA for nearly 20 years and boasts that he has never seen any kind of genius.
Now he knows that there can be such a big gap between genius and genius!
…
The test was completed in the morning, and in the afternoon, Gentry led the team for a team meeting to explain the team's new tactical system. The work content for the next two days was also the same.
There are many new players joining this season, and most of the lineup has been changed, including 4 rookies alone.
In the first meeting, Gentry confirmed the team's positioning of Li Ao as the main outside scorer, O'Neal as the inside core, and Odom as the outside core.
Originally, Gentry was dissatisfied with Baylor for sending Maurice Taylor, a forward who averaged 17+6 per game, in exchange for the No. 10 pick in a bad year, but now he wants to thank Baylor.
The team's leading scorer left, and he made this arrangement, and the other players had no objections.
It is true that they are the team with the most first-round players in the league, but most of their powerful first-round players have been sent away. Most of their first-round players are definitely not bad, and they can even be said to be high-performance players with basic salaries, but they can The three core players are Li Ao, Odom, and O'Neal Jr., and the others are at most high-quality role players.
Gentry had a very positive work attitude and repeatedly explained tactics. Two and a half days passed quickly, and October arrived.
For the media day and makeup photo shoot on the 1st, many, many reporters came to the Clippers players this year, more than ever before.
And it's not entirely because of Li Ao. A large part of it is because of the previous turmoil with Sterling, so I came here to see if I could dig up any more information that could be exposed.
Including the domestic media that came to Li Ao, most of the questions were also asking this.
However, owner Caesar Kanter and general manager Wally Walker both spoke in advance and were prohibited from answering related questions.
Although Li Ao likes to chatter, he doesn't want to make a mess.
Therefore, during this media day, we often saw players and reporters looking at each other in silence...
On the 2nd, the Clippers started team training.
Head coach Gentry, offensive assistant Larry LaRue, and defensive assistant Norm Nickerson all supervise the players' training very seriously and even severely, as if anyone who doesn't practice well will get out.
In this atmosphere, most of the team members are focused and training hard.
Gentry felt the benefits of replacing most of the players.
Although he was afraid of Wally Walker's overly harsh style when he took charge of the team, from a coaching perspective, there were more benefits.
Now the team management, coaching staff, and trainers are all working actively. The whole team is like clockwork. No one dares to be caught by Wally Walker. The players can naturally feel this atmosphere and be affected. .
The new players are very active, and most of the old players are also active. Although the salted fish on the edge of the bench are still too lazy to stand up, since they are all on the edge, it naturally doesn't matter.
Li Ao is the fastest to adapt to the new tactical system, and his style of play is very versatile.
Second... is Odom. His style of play may be more versatile than Li Ao.
The first-round picks of the Clippers who entered the NBA in the mid-to-early 1990s are basically homeless players. Such players have a special characteristic: they can adapt to new styles of play quickly!
Life forces you to be versatile.
The ones that have been relatively slow to integrate are the rookies other than Li Ao. The NBA playing style is a bit different from the playing style in college. In the past summer, the two rookies, Big Q and Kenyon Dulin, worked hard in outside training, but mainly It's adapting to a very different three-point line.
To the surprise and regret of the coaching staff, O'Neal's tactical integration was also very slow.
The main reason is lack of ability!
The 22-year-old O'Neal still showed full of talent in the summer league, but he has received too little training in the past four seasons. He has talent but has not really realized it. He cannot meet the tactics of the Clippers coaching staff. Core tactical requirements.
However, plans always fail to keep up with changes. The Clippers coaching staff adjusted the importance of O'Neal in the tactics and increased Odom's inside role. After the adjustment, the team's tactical adjustment progress suddenly accelerated.
O'Neal Jr. was angry about this, angry at his own incompetence.
No comparison, no harm.
He feels that he has made a lot of progress this summer. Now that he has a chance, he is training harder than ever before.
But he saw Li Ao's more accurate shooting, stronger body, and better defense than in the summer league... He was shocked on the first day of team training.
Not only him, but his teammates who participated in the summer league together at the time collectively cursed.
If you don't do this, we agree to let everyone cook together... Well, they are different from them from the beginning.
The veteran players have truly accepted the fact that Li Ao is the number one outside scorer. Although they had no objections before, they always thought, 'Humph, I want to see how good a rookie is.'
Now they know, another young talent they have to hold on to every time they change teams.
As for the traditional art of bullying rookies by old players... They had heard that the little gangster Olowokandi was beaten into a coma during a fight with Li Ao and sent to the hospital.
However, although O'Neal was angry and unwilling, he accepted the role of a regular starter.
Here comes the inertial thought of the past four seasons - be okay, wait for the opportunity, the opportunity will always come.
And his situation is different from that then. As long as he becomes stronger now, the opportunity will really come!
Looking at that handsome teammate, the pride in O'Neal's heart emerged again - we'll see! The boss position is mine!
…
On the 8th, the Clippers had a day off and training camp ended.
After a day of rest, Li Ao flew to Denver with the team on the 9th.
Tomorrow, his first NBA preseason game will come.
On his first Clippers charter flight, Li Ao exercised his right to take his family with him.
The hospital assistant's aunt, Liam, Dean Teng, Henry Bibby, Jack and his girlfriend all boarded the team's chartered flight.
Originally, Li Ao called the old man, but the old man will go there by himself tomorrow afternoon and go directly to the game, and will stay at the Memorial Stadium to play cards.
Gentry looked at the group of people led by Li Ao and wanted to say something but couldn't.
This rookie really wants to take care of his family!
At first, he thought that Li Ao was deliberately making things difficult for them. Everyone could see that Li Ao looked down on them at that time and didn't want to join. He didn't expect that there was really such a need.
It's very... honest.
Even Dean Teng and Henry Bibby went with him because this was Li Ao's first NBA game. Although it was only a preseason game, he happened to be free, so he went to watch it together.
Tickets for the Nuggets' preseason games are cheap anyway.
The hospital assistant aunt and Liam and others booked a room in the same hotel as the Clippers. After arriving at the hotel in Denver, Liam went out with the physical therapist couple, and Dean Teng and Henry Bi This pair of old friends also went to visit tourist attractions.
After arriving in the NBA, Li Ao no longer had the accommodation treatment he had in college. He lived in a double room, but the same room was occupied by a big Q, so it was convenient for him to carry his luggage.
So Li Ao ran to the hospital assistant's aunt's room, plugged in the game console, and played a side-scrolling game together to recharge his batteries and prepare for tomorrow's game.
The climate here in the Denver Plateau will have some impact on athletes' physical strength.
At 10 o'clock in the evening, Li Ao got ready to go to bed early.
He was worried that someone would be snoring in the bed next to him tonight, but it turned out that Big Q, a round-headed guy, actually ordered a plateau takeaway and went to get a room on another floor!
It's... quiet.
After a night's rest, after lunch the next day, the Clippers came to the Pepsi Center and made simple preparations.
At 7:05 in the evening, Li Ao completed his 'perfect warm-up' and hastily ended his interview with Su Qun, and couldn't wait to arrive at the players' tunnel.
The atmosphere at the scene... emmm... was so-so.
Perhaps due to the preseason, the venue was not full.
Seeing Li Ao's excitement, his teammates thought about passing more passes to their violent genius. In the preseason, they were just for rookies.
There was no entrance ceremony. 20 minutes before the start of the game, players from both teams entered the court for final preparations.
When Li Ao entered the court, he could feel the players on the opposite side looking at him.
Odom also noticed this and reminded: "Leo, the other side is targeting you."
"What can I do? Being handsome makes people jealous easily. Don't pay too much attention to it. Just get used to it."
"..."
Odom was defeated and still had the urge to hit someone.
Do you want to find some teammates and join forces to rebel?
If you want to rebel, you should find some of the strongest teammates!
Strong teammates, our team seems to have several who played rugby when they were kids.
The football season has started several rounds. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles professional football team is not very good, but the football team at the University of Southern California is very good. You can go and see it when you have time...
Odom once again wandered into the sky, his thoughts kept diverging, and he didn't know where the end point was.
At 7:28 pm, Li Ao came to the court with Greg Anthony, Piakowsky, Odom, and O'Neal Jr.
He looked across and focused on a pitch-black player - Antonio McDyess.
Very strong, one of the three talented power forwards in the 1995 class, averaging 20+10 points per game. Many people think he is better than Rasheed Wallace.
Li Ao felt a bit pity. In his previous life, he had paid attention to this player who successively competed for the championship with the Pistons and Spurs but failed.
Who would have thought that a player who had almost no injuries in the first six years of his career would suffer an injury that destroyed his athletic ability in his prime period of 26 or 7 years old?
But stress injuries seem inevitable for a power forward who is only 206 centimeters tall and relies on running and jumping ability.
It is different from Li Ao's impression that McDyess was skilled in mid-range and long-range shots when he was with the Pistons and Spurs.
In the Nuggets scouting report he got a few days ago, McDyess had almost no long-range shots and could make mid-range shots. However, last season, he only shot 33% from the free throw line and only 40% from close range. Of the field goal percentage, 70% of the points are scored at the basket and free throws.
Withdrawing his attention, Li Ao looked at the other four starters on the opposite side, Van Exel, Voshon Leonard, Reeve LaFrentz... and James Posey, whom he longed for!
It was my first NBA game to encounter such an opponent, Li Ao liked it!
At 7:30, the referee blew the whistle to start the game.
McDyess beat O'Neal to win the jump ball, and the Nuggets attack first!
Van Exel played in singles from the outside, faced Greg Anthony and took a three-pointer... It was ironclad.
but!
McDyess circled around O'Neal, jumped up quickly, pushed back the ball that popped up, and succeeded in the dunk!
In the transition between offense and defense, Greg Anthony advanced steadily to the frontcourt and handed it to Odom who was pulled to the top arc.
Odom pulled McDyess out, and Li Ao used the cover to run on the wing.
Odom broke through McDyess and passed the ball to Li Ao, who cut in from the left.
McDyess showed his amazing short-distance burst of acceleration, quickly rushing from the right side of the three-second zone to the left sideline of the three-second zone.
But Li Ao received the ball and passed it immediately!
McDyess quickly turned around. When he rushed over, he saw LaFrentz, the hat-scrubbing man, also rushing towards Li Ao.
O'Neal Jr. caught the ball under the basket and was not afraid of McDyess' defense. He was so excited that he raised the ball with both hands and smashed it towards the basket...
In!
O'Neal dunks from behind!
The target of the dunk was McDyess, who is known for his defense!
…
…
I won’t update tonight for the time being, and I won’t continue to stay up late. I wrote it at about 3 o’clock last night, and today’s update plan is completely messed up. The 8,000-word chapter will make up for Xiaofeng’s inner debt to her friends.
Please vote for recommendations! Thanks!
(End of chapter)
