Su Feng followed the team to Salt Lake City, which was his first 'away trip'. The Bulls compete in this year's Rocky Mountain Summer League, the NBA's oldest summer league.
The NBA has a total of four summer leagues operating this season, namely the Rocky Mountain Summer League, the Southern California Summer League, the Orlando Summer League, and the Boston Summer League.
Some teams will sign up to play in two of the leagues.
The Bulls signed up for just this one this season.
Also fighting with them are the Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, and New York Knicks. It is worth mentioning that the Pacers and the 76ers formed a team.
The summer league is not an officially organized game in the NBA. It is a team formed by the team through negotiation, so the team's big-name stars and important rotation players will not participate.
Its significance is to allow the team's bench players to get more playing opportunities, to allow the team's young people to adapt to the NBA in advance, and to examine undrafted players.
The biggest star on the Bulls team participating in summer league is Eddy Curry.
After being rescued, he quickly regained his mobility.
He came to the summer league not because his tactical position in the team was unimportant, but because the team wanted him to lose weight.
Eddy Curry is the core of the Bulls' rebuild.
Therefore, the hotels he stayed in were all deluxe single rooms. Su Feng and Hinrich lived in a double room.
The NBA has distinct levels. Super stars are treated differently, core players are treated differently, starters are treated differently, main rotations are treated differently, rookies are treated differently... fringe players are even worse.
Each player has a corresponding tag.
Eddy Curry is privileged in every way, and the Bulls have someone dedicated to him.
Although Su Feng and Hinrich are newcomers, they have received guaranteed contracts. They also have staff services. Assistant coaches will follow up with their data. Trainers will also develop training plans for them, and nutritionists will work with them based on their physical data. Provide nutritious meals.
In terms of life, Su Feng and Xinrich's treatment is similar.
However, at the tactical level, Hinrich is more than one level above. Su Feng is positioned as a role player, and his upper limit is team rotation. The Bulls don't expect him to become a superstar and change the team's destiny.
Hinrich is positioned as the team's outside core and the number one organizing point guard. Therefore, the coaching staff arranged 17 tactics for him. The most important purpose of this Bulls summer league is to train Hinrich and make Hinrich smoothly transition from NCAA core point guard to NBA core point guard.
In the first game against the Jazz, Hinrich played the entire game. He showed great adaptability. Although his running and jumping ability is relatively average, his endurance is very good and his tactical completion is very high. His basketball IQ earned the praise of Ron Adams, the team's chief assistant.
In the whole game, Hinrich scored 15 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
After the game, some media said that Hinrich has the style of Stockton. They are both white point guards and have a stable playing style.
Su Feng scored 8 points in this game. He took 7 shots and hit 3 goals.
The defensive intensity of the summer league is higher than that of the NCAA, and he is still adapting.
Su Feng actively defended in this game, like a desperate Saburo.
Ron Adams felt that Su Feng's move was a fearless move, because Su Feng's defensive effect was not as good as expected.
After the game, he even said bluntly: "Su! You should focus on offense. With your physical condition, don't expect to become an elite defensive player."
Although Sufon received a ton of talent from Jay Williams and a super strength gift from Eddy Curry. But in general, his physical fitness is definitely not good in the NBA where talents are gathered.
But that's why Su Feng worked hard to defend.
Because defensive confrontation is the most effective way to improve the integration of talents in his body.
Therefore, Su Feng just nodded.
And then continued to do so in Game 2 against the Mavericks.
In the second game, Hinrich scored 9 points, 13 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Su Feng performed better in this game than in the previous game. He played 16 minutes, took 5 shots, hit 3 three-pointers and 1 two-pointer, and scored 11 points. Very efficient. In addition, he also had a steal, which was made by Mavericks rookie Josh Howard.
Unfortunately, after this steal, Su Feng was replaced by Ron Adams.
Otherwise, Su Feng would like to add some talent to Josh Howard.
In the third game, Su Feng's playing time dropped sharply to only 6 minutes, because Su Feng was still "defending desperately" after playing. While that's not a bad thing, Ron Adams didn't like the idea of Su Feng taking his words for granted, so he benched Su Feng and exercised his powers as acting head coach.
In the next five games, Su Feng didn't get any chances. He only played for a few minutes and was put on the bench.
Hinrich has been producing steadily, averaging 13.6 points, 7.8 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.
His future was widely favored by the media, and everyone praised the Bulls for making a perfect choice with the seventh overall pick.
Su Feng rarely appears in the American media, and there is not even criticism. Everyone thinks...that's what a second-round pick should be.
"Su, tomorrow night is the last summer league game. I will help you apply to Ron to give you more playing time."
Eddy Curry said to Sufon in the hotel room.
His weight loss during this period has been pretty good, and he has lost 16 pounds, which is below the warning line set by the trainer.
"Thank you, Eddie." Su Feng thanked him sincerely.
He now needs to fight to support the game. Only actual combat can make him improve. If he does not have playing time, he will stagnate.
However, he and Ron Adams couldn't talk at all. Adams was on the team and only talked about tactics with Eddy Curry and Hinrich. No one else was allowed to enter his room.
In the NBA, the situation of ranking based on seniority and looking at others' choices is even more serious than in China.
"Su, I think your strength is quite strong. Since you like to defend so much, you should try to use your strength to hit your opponents and knock them over. This is much more cost-effective than following your footsteps."
Eddy Curry and Su Feng chatted: "It's better to be able to prevent them anyway than to get passed by them. You have to be good at using your own strengths."
Curry's defense has always been criticized, and it's similar to that of a high school student.
However, his words gave Su Feng an enlightenment.
yes?
Why should I compete with them? I directly use strength to fight against them and force them to perform more talent moves, so that the talent integration in my body will be faster.
Su Feng patted his head and he became happy. Why couldn't I figure out such a simple thing before?
That evening, Su Feng accepted interviews with domestic media in the hotel conference room.
Although Su Feng's status in the Bulls is not high now, in China, he is the number one defender in the NBA. Everyone has high hopes for him and hopes that he can soar into the sky and become a Chinese defender.
