No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 145: Mid-term trading will inevitably involve growing pains, but the road ahead is wider!
Chapter 145: Mid-term trading will inevitably involve growing pains, but the road ahead is wider!
Jordan felt that the old man did this on purpose!
Why use another high schooler as an example? It must be intentional!
Jordan held back and asked, "Is there a chance to get him?"
Bickerstaff replied, "They’ve got a glut of centers, and last year they drafted another high schooler with talent on both offense and defense. If they need a point guard, I think there’s a good chance."
Jordan said, "Then you go and talk to them, I won’t get anywhere if I go."
Bickerstaff confirmed, "Right."
"The sooner the trade is completed, the better. We can’t let Gerald get injured so easily, and by making the starting point guard spot available for Raymond, it creates more opportunities for Jack to initiate fastbreaks. Even though his success rate isn’t as high as Brevin’s, handling it himself will get him more practice, and his response on the fast break is good enough."
After finishing his words, Jordan stood up and left, fearing he might lose his temper and beat the old man to death with a stool.
At the beginning, Jordan had valued the old man for his ability to coach defensive big men, evidenced by his insight in picking Mutombo fourth overall for the Nuggets in ’91 (despite Mutombo claiming to be 25 at the draft, media speculated age fraud, suggesting he was close to 30, which made other high-ranking teams wary of betting on how many years he could play in the NBA). The old man’s scouting acumen was commendable, and he even helped the Nuggets craft a lineup that took down the Black Eight Supersonics... Jordan was damned fooled!
...
At 7 PM, the Charlotte Bobcats faced the first game of the second month, against the New Jersey Nets.
This season the Eastern Conference had one super team and three strong teams.
The super team was the Detroit Pistons.
Having reached the Finals twice in the last two seasons and winning the championship once, people thought Larry Brown was extraordinary.
But when Philip Saunders arrived, Pistons fans realized Junk Brown hadn’t fully unleashed the team’s potential. The team could maintain the league’s top defense and produce an above-average offense. Last season’s Finals loss was due to not keeping up with the supernatural offense. Under Saunders’ lead, they were now aiming for a dynasty.
The Pistons began with a 9-game winning streak, ended the first month with a record of 14 wins and 2 losses, breaking franchise records and ranking first in the league, leading the Eastern Conference by a wide margin.
The three strong teams consisted of three clubs that could each claim at least 50 wins, with the Nets being one of them.
This season, the Nets’ Kidd, Richard Jefferson, and Carter were known as the ’Trident.’
In reality, it was more like Kidd pushing the others forward.
After Carter faced consistent undercutting in Toronto, his abilities declined sharply. By the 02-03 season, he could only average 20.6 points per game. In the 03-04 season, following his cousin Kobe’s approach, he increased his shooting attempts by three per game but only managed to increase his scoring by two points, with his shooting percentage plummeting from 45% to 41%. By the 04-05 season, the Raptors had given up on him, and he was down to an average of 15.9 points per game.
By Kidd’s side, Carter revived as a top scorer, averaging 25 points in the first month with a shooting percentage of 47% and a three-point percentage of 42.5%, both career highs.
Richard Jefferson was ’the masterpiece’ of Kidd.
A defensive forward who traditionally either drove straight to the basket when holding the ball or relied on cuts and spot-up jumpers without it, Kidd managed to feed him to an average of 20 points per game, securing a five-year, 60 million US dollar contract extension. This made a certain former Bulls small forward quip that Jefferson should split his salary with Kidd.
Today was another day the Bobcats were without their top two players.
Today, the core of the Bobcats was Brevin Knight, pushing for speed and trying to counter the Nets, but to no avail...
But Zhang Yang, Felton, Anderson, Karim Rush, and Jumaine Jones did one thing well—they limited Kidd’s rebounding opportunities.
In the first half of the opening quarter, Kidd grabbed four rebounds, two offensive and two defensive, looking set to bully Brezec and notch a big triple-double with Gerald Wallace and Okafor out.
Zhang Yang wasn’t having it, he gathered Big Fat Joe’s rookie crew and Gerald Wallace’s fighting team, decreeing that whoever was near Kidd on offense should crash the boards, forcing Kidd to box out, and whoever was near him on defense should tenaciously block him out.
Through their concerted efforts, they ’defended’ Kidd to just 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 17 assists.
Zhang Yang had a standard performance tonight, going 4-for-10, including 1-for-3 from beyond the arc, plus perfect free throws at 3-for-3, scoring 12 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing out an assist, and making a steal.
Although they lost the game 97 to 106, the Bobcats still had bright spots—Brevin Knight spearheaded fast breaks, recording 11 points, 2 rebounds, 15 assists, 3 steals, and saw his minutes reach a new high, even cutting into Felton’s playing time.
Felton, unusually, wasn’t sulking about reduced minutes, making Zhang Yang suspect something fishy was going on.
But Zhang Yang didn’t inquire further, trusting that if Big Fat Joe was keeping his cool, it must be a ’good’ thing.
He soon received a task personally arranged by Jordan—work on his passing, at least be accurate during fast breaks, and stop having more turnovers than assists.
Actually, his passing wasn’t problematic in terms of accuracy or timing, but force, anticipation, and chemistry with teammates still needed improvement.
In the following games, Felton’s time on court was limited to about fifteen or sixteen minutes per game, while Brevin Knight’s minutes shot up from the previous twenty-five or six to over thirty a game.
Against the Kings, the Bobcats narrowly won with a score of 94 to 89.
The Kings’ lineup looked luxurious, with Bibby, Brad Miller, Peja, Bonzi Wells, and Shareef Rahim all at the peak of their careers. Kevin Martin, a late first-round pick in ’04, displayed extraordinary offensive talent, and Francisco Garcia, Kenny Thomas, and others also showed solid skills.
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