The defenders' next opponent was the Utah Flash, where Zhou Xuan had also been and was also rejected by the coaching staff.

The Development League also has a tight schedule, with 16 teams playing 56 games each in the regular season, eight teams making the playoffs, and a best-of-three knockout format. There are only 3 regions, which are divided into the Central Division, the Southwest Division, and the Western Division. Unlike the Lakers, who lead the West, the Defenders have a very poor record in the NBDL, with a 13-27 record of 16 teams in three divisions, sitting in the bottom of the Western Conference and 15th in the entire Development League. To make the playoffs, you have to win 80% of the remaining games.

can't help the team reach the playoffs, and no matter how beautiful Zhou Xuan's data is, it's not very convincing. But this is also a helpless thing, they fell too far behind in the early stage, a good offense is only one aspect, the defensive intensity cannot be improved, and there are only 16 games left for Zhou Xuan's performance.

The treatment of the development league cannot be compared to that of the NBA, and the away games are all economy class on the plane. The thin man Kruger and Zhou Xuan sat together. Zhou Xuan asked, "Do we often have to fly to play away?" ”

"No, there are fewer away games, usually teams in the same district, and they will fly back and forth until the playoffs, as long as you are close to the car." Kruger's height will feel a little narrow when sitting in economy class, and Zhou Xuan has no problem.

Today, Kruger, who usually loves to laugh, looks a little melancholy. Zhou Xuan said curiously: "You seem to be in a bad mood?" If you have anything on your mind, why don't you tell me? ”

Since his English has improved, he especially likes to talk and chat with people, just like Tencent has just launched a QQ account and a group of people are typing frantically.

Kruger sighed: "The team has a bad record right now, it's definitely not going to make the playoffs, and I don't have anything to do when the regular season is over." I have an older sister and four younger brothers, and in April I had to go home and look for a job. ”

Kruger went to college as a basketball student and participated in the draft, but he was undrafted and was not considered a cultural person. Blacks symbolize the other side of the United States, where many people are homeless, have guns, smugglers, and sell drugs. Zhou Xuan suspected that he was sitting with a future drug dealer and a big arms dealer.

"What are you going to do?"

"Probably going to repair used cars, or sell auto parts, my family is in Detroit, the economy is sluggish, if only I could play in the NBA." Kruger smiled wryly.

The summer of 2007 was triggered by the sharp increase in defaults and the credit crunch in the subprime mortgage industry in the United States, which caused shocks, panic and crises in the international financial markets.

This year, Washington, Detroit, and more and more U.S. cities are experiencing the impact of an economic crisis. Many people in Los Angeles are also suffering. There were also many people in the place where Zhou Xuan lived before who were unemployed. California's unemployment rate is said to be nearly 10 percent, with one in 10 people unemployed. Moreover, many government employees and teachers are unemployed, and these occupations used to be regarded as iron rice bowls. Another person went to an insane asylum because he lost all his money in the stock market. This uncle saw that the Citigroup, which was fifty or sixty dollars at the beginning, now fell to less than one dollar, and the pressure was really terrifying.

California Governor Arnold. Schwarzenegger was a tough guy on the silver screen, but failed to become a political hero. It is said that he is trying to be the "terminator" of bureaucracy, to make them "vaporize", to debunk the "true lies", not to let the people be "indirectly harmed", and to make the entire state government lean and efficient. However, none of this happened. The fact is that California's fiscal deficit is even worse, and Arnold is in a mess.

From the perspective of the Chinese, the difficulties of Americans are not serious, but Americans are different, they have always spent tomorrow's money today, have no savings, and once they lose their jobs, they will be dumbfounded. The situation of the Chinese is better, and many immigrants have done everything from serving dishes to washing cars...... Later, although they all did decent jobs, if the situation forced them, it was not too difficult to endure hardships again, and they could always get through it. It's just that when I left my family and business and crossed the ocean to the United States, what did I do so hard?

Detroit is even more serious and has become known as the Near Death City.

Last month, there was a well-known news that Detroit held a house auction in which a two-bedroom apartment sold for $1. 1 US dollar is about 7 yuan, and if you can eat a hamburger in Beijing, you can take 3 subway trips. In Detroit, you can even buy a house. If you spend $20,000, you can live in a villa in Detroit.

The former Motor City is now the most bleak symbol of the U.S. economic downturn. Whether or not to save the auto industry has been debated in Congress for half a year and is still undecided, because people are worried that how much money to throw into the bottomless pit of the auto industry will be wasted.

On the streets of Detroit, vacant houses are everywhere. As the U.S. auto industry declined, factories closed, people moved out, and crime rose. The metropolis, which was originally designed to have a population of 3 million, is said to now have a population of less than 500,000.

Kruger also came to Los Angeles to try his luck. Compared with him, Zhou Xuan felt that his life was not so hard. His parents can earn money by working in China, although there is pressure, but they can still live, and he does not have so many siblings to take care of.

Zhou Xuan asked, "If you go to work in the summer, won't you be able to practice?" It's hard to be in shape, and it's even harder to become a professional player in the future. ”

"In order to support my family, I had to work without work. It's basically impossible for me to get into the NBA at my level. If we can make the playoffs and get a good place, we can get some bonuses at the end, but this team, alas, doesn't talk about it......"

Hearing Kruger say this, Zhou Xuan's pressure also increased. Not only does he need money, but he also needs to use his wins to increase his draft odds. Many people envy the high salaries of NBA players, but ignore that there are only 400 people in the world who play in the NBA, and the money is not so easy to make.

Now he can stay in the United States, but it's hard to run out of money in the offseason, and maybe he has to find a place to work. It is easier to make money in the United States than to work in China, and if he works a little harder here, the money borrowed by his family can be repaid quickly, and his parents can suffer less.

After getting off the plane, everyone first found a hotel to stay in, and then went to the home of the Utah Flash. In the away game, I didn't even have to take the steps to get used to the venue, so I went straight to play in the afternoon, and returned to Los Angeles the next day with a night's rest.

NBA games are generally held in the evening, and the staff on the home side will provide food for the players, and if they feel bad, they can ask the caddie to help them buy them, or bring them themselves. The Development League arena is small and doesn't provide food and drink, it's like a practice game.

It's normal for the NBDL to be unnoticed as a subleague. In China, not many people pay attention to the secondary leagues, like football only watches the Chinese Super League, the first division is rarely in the news, and the second division wants to appear in the sports news, unless the players gather to fight again, and the young players are killed by the coach again...... Basketball people only watch the CBA, and not many people know about the lower level of the game.

In the locker room, Zhou Xuan changed his clothes and said loudly to a group of lifeless teammates: "Big brothers, shoot a little accurately tonight, I will pass the ball to you, and let's brush the data beautifully together!" ”

"Are you addicted to breaking records and want to break it again today?" Darius laughed.

Everyone else laughed, and Payne, Tucole, and the others all teased Zhou Xuan a few words. He is the youngest player in the entire development league, and many people treat him like a child.

In fact, Zhou Xuan said these words after thinking about it. He has been in the team for the shortest time, and although he played well in the last game, he doesn't have much confidence to speak, and others won't listen to him. If you want to boost morale, you can only use this quirky way. It's to be honest and to be able to speak to your teammates. I am young, and the coaching staff will not blame me for saying the wrong thing.

After everyone was ready, Leonard began to talk about tactics, and Zhou Xuan still started, and the change was to let Kenk, who can shoot three points. Aki started in place of Cherrick, a powerful power forward who had poor shooting. Sambo. This is a tactic arranged for Zhou Xuan, the No. 4 position can be withdrawn from the inside line, and it is easier for him to play.

The Flashes have small home stands and few spectators, and the good thing is that the defenders don't feel much pressure on them and don't feel like they're playing away at all.

Before the start of the game, Leonard called Zhou Xuan to his side and said lightly: "Mitchell talked to me before, I will help you arrange tactics, how far you can play, it depends on your ability." ”

"Thank you, Coach." Zhou Xuan understood Leonard's kindness. He wants to be drafted, and now the remaining 16 games of the NBDL regular season will decide his fate.

Zhou Xuan walked onto the court, and after seeing his opponent, he was reassured, this defender was one meter eight tall, shorter than him, and he didn't look very strong, which was his favorite type. The defender's name is Richard. Yang, a graduate of Gonzaga University, was selected in the 2005 draft because of his physique and height.

The Flashes are currently ranked fourth in the league and are much stronger than the defenders, having played once before, with the defenders losing by 31 points.

The core of the Flashes is three players, power forward Herbert. Hill, who was drafted by the Jazz with the 55th pick in the second round last year, came to the Flashes without getting a signing.

Center Killillo. Feshenko, the 38th pick in the second round, was selected. HEIGHT 216CM, WEIGHT 136KG, UKRAINE FOURTH PLAYER TO SUCCESSFULLY LOG INTO THE NBA, TALL AND STRONG WITH ROUGH SKILLS. There is Memet. Oku is there, Fesenko doesn't have many opportunities to show his talents, and he's still a lazy problem player. I don't train actively and like to go to nightclubs.

Morris. Almond, 25th pick in the first round. When the two sides met at the end of January, Almond set an NBDL scoring record with 53 points. He hit 19 of 34 shots and made 12 of 14 free throws, making Rice, who scored 52 points in last year's finals, a record for Rice. Almond has scored more than 50 points in a single game twice, after scoring 51 points in a game on December 21 last year.

After the players from both sides came out, Zhou Xuan paid special attention to Almond, whose muscles were strong and explosive. Looking at Darius, who was opposite him, he was obviously much slack. Feshenko is half a head taller than Payne, stronger and has a clear advantage.

It's hard to win today's game.