No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 127 - 90. This 17-year-old genius is worth their full effort to cultivate!_2

With confrontational dribbling, Zhang Yang was far from Felton’s level, but in fast breaks without resistance, he was much quicker than Felton.

The game eventually ended in a loss, 95 to 103, with the Bobcats losing to the Magic by an 8-point margin in their second preseason game. frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

But in the preseason, winning or losing isn’t important... Even losing regular season games isn’t a big deal.

What’s important is the performance of the rookies.

Felton, facing Francis and Nelson, played even better than he did against Joe Johnson and Tyronn Lue.

In his early years, Francis relied on his enthusiasm and physicality; despite his lack of defensive skills and awareness, his overall defense didn’t lag behind.

Now at only 28 years old, Francis’s offense had already begun to decline, most likely from too many bumps and bruises, and his defense had deteriorated significantly.

Jameer Nelson, quite a strong point guard at 183 cm and 90 kg, but Felton had better physical attributes and could overpower Nelson.

Felton played 25 minutes tonight, scoring 12 points with 4 out of 9 field goals and 4 out of 5 free throws, adding 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 steal; his overall performance satisfied the coaching staff.

Zhang Yang, on the other hand, surprised Jordan and the coaches!

He hit 4 out of 8 shots, including 2 out of 5 from mid-range, 1 out of 2 layups, and 1 out of 1 counter-attacks, with no free throws, scoring 8 points.

The shooting percentage wasn’t actually very good, buoyed by that fast-break dunk.

But facing the Magic, who had much stronger defense than the Hawks, maintaining a similar shooting percentage with regular shots was already commendable.

Under Stevenson’s defense, his scoring was significantly less, but it wasn’t because his shooting percentage dropped, rather the number of shots decreased.

The defensive end was also acceptable; he was able to closely follow shooters without the ball.

Zhang Yang didn’t insist on shooting 15 times tonight just because he shot that many times in the last game; he knew what he had to do. If there was an opportunity, he took the shot; if not, he made sure to space the floor well. He didn’t get discouraged like some rookies do when they don’t get the ball.

Their 17-year-old high school player was different from other 17-year-olds. Although he might not be able to provide much help to the team, at least he didn’t drag them down, which was already more impressive than some of the 20-year-old guards on the team!

Not only that, but after the first game, Bickerstaff had pointed out that Zhang Yang didn’t allocate his energy well; tonight, an improvement was seen in the offensive end, pacing his runs better.

He played one minute less, as both DeShawn Stevenson and Kenyon Dooling, whom Zhang Yang matched up with, were very active on offense and didn’t just stand around like Childress.

...

In the next fortnight, the Bobcats played 5 more preseason games.

They played against the Miami Heat on the road on the 16th, the Magic on the road on the 18th, the Nets on the road on the 20th, the Bucks at home on the 23rd, and the Pacers at home on the 25th.

Playing against the Heat and the Nets, the Bobcats won, as these two teams, with very mature play styles, didn’t let their starters play for long. O’Neal, Wade, Kidd, and Carter just made a brief appearance before resting and didn’t come back, simply giving a nod to the fans. The teams were testing the strength of role players and assessing the abilities of training camp contract players, and they were caught off guard by the Bobcats.

When playing against the rising Magic and the Bucks, teams that treated every game as a training opportunity, the Bobcats got a beating.

The Pacers were a special case: they had a strong lineup and a good coach, with mature play style and a sound tactical system... but none of the players seemed to want to play seriously, with mutual discontent, and stars like Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Jermaine O’Neal had all requested trades and were in a tanking state...

After 7 preseason games, the Bobcats had 4 wins and 3 losses.

To the management and coaching staff of the Bobcats, the outcome of the games didn’t matter.

What they cared about was the improvement of the players.

Okafor seemed not as good as his rookie year.

Having bulked up to 127 kg, his rim protection greatly improved. Against the Heat, he blocked O’Neal’s first hook shot of the game... infuriating O’Neal who then hammered down a powerful dunk on the next play.

But Okafor’s impact on defense beyond close range diminished, and his shooting touch also suffered due to the sudden increase in strength. Last season, his long two-point shooting percentage was 34%, not great but somewhat threatening. During these 7 preseason games, his long two-pointers were 3 for 12, just a 25% shooting percentage, a drastic drop.

Gerald Wallace made huge progress: in the 7 preseason games, he averaged 18 points and 5 rebounds, with an impressive 60% shooting percentage. His ability to finish at the rim on drives and cuts improved significantly, though his free-throw shooting was terribly bad. Over these 7 games, he averaged 10 shots and 6 makes from the field, and coincidentally, 10 free throws and 6 makes...

Although Felton had many issues, his style was mature, and he was able to make the most of his abilities upon entering the NBA, generally meeting expectations.

The coaches were most concerned with Zhang Yang’s performance in each game.

There were surprises, some dissatisfaction, and even some headaches.

His tactical awareness was genuinely good, and his off-ball movement was truly outstanding; not just for a 17-year-old, but many 27-year-old pure shooters weren’t as good as him in this area, and he also had the potential to attack with the ball.

During the 3-game road trip, where it wasn’t suitable for regular training, the coaches saw Zhang Yang take the time to practice his triple-threat stance, although he couldn’t use it in games due to lacking complementary techniques... but when Ingles reported Zhang Yang’s progress to Jordan daily, Jordan himself was silent for several seconds.

The weakness was also real; he would hit 4 out of 8 against the Magic, but facing the defense of White Chocolate and Payton from the Heat, he dared to score only 1 out of 5.

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