On May 24, Li Liang got up early in the morning.

Yesterday, he accompanied Wei Dazhi to pose for a photo.

One moment running on the streets of Los Angeles, the next shooting basketballs in the gym, the next lifting dumbbells at the gym, the next eating at the restaurant.

The kid wrote a script for his own documentary and shot the footage according to the script's plan.

Although Li Liang did not dare to compliment Wei Dazhi's photography level, he still supported him as a friend, after all, this is the news person to be used by the queen in the future.

After finishing the shooting, Li Liang controlled his diet at night and did not enter the system for training, he needed a lot of energy.

So when he woke up on the morning of the 24th, Li Liang felt in good spirits and full of strength.

He took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and kicked Wei Dazhi out of bed.

The two went out for breakfast, and Zhu Shu was already waiting for them downstairs.

She booked a taxi two days in advance, as the audition was held at a UCLA arena, far from Inglewood.

After getting in the car, Zhu Shu looked at Li Liang and said, "How is it, do you have confidence?" ”

Li Liang grinned and said, "Of course, with your support, I am absolutely confident." ”

As a novice agent, Zhu Shu's various auxiliary work is already quite in place.

Wei Dazhi, who was on the side, heard the conversation between the two and made a "vomit" expression, he had already faintly smelled the stench of dog food.

The car took 405 Avenue and drove for more than 40 minutes to arrive at UCLA, a prestigious NCAA school.

In terms of the total number of championships, only UCLA in the entire NCAA can beat Kentucky, where Li Liang graduated.

This school, which has given birth to many legends, has been in decline in recent years.

Since 1995, he has never touched an NCAA championship trophy.

The status of a prestigious school in the NCAA has also been surpassed by Kentucky, Kansas, Duke and other schools, and it is no longer the first choice for some talented players.

Even so, in recent years, UCLA has produced excellent players such as Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook, and the famous school heritage still exists.

In Los Angeles, the Lakers and ULCA are inextricably linked.

In the summer, Lakers players often practice at UCLA arenas, and Lakers often borrow UCLA arenas to hold training camps and tryouts.

Their own new training hall was still being planned, so the tryout was scheduled at UCLA.

The taxi stopped in front of the UCLA Coliseum, and Ryan West was already waiting for them at the door.

Seeing Li Liang, West took the initiative to shake hands with him.

For Li Liang's trial, Ryan is already full of expectations.

It's not that Li Liang is so important, in fact, this trial was arranged by West himself.

The Lakers management only informed them and learned that there was such a person who came to try out, and they were not interested in knowing who it was.

A giant like the Lakers has a high eye, and the talented players who have been there in history are like the stars of the summer night.

The players who come to tryout every summer are like carp across the river, after all, the Lakers have been prosperous in the NBA for a long time, cultivating batches of fans.

Among the stars in the league now, there are many who grew up watching the Lakers' ball.

How could a small NCAA bench who came for a tryout for a second-round pick or even a 10-day short contract get into the eyes of Lakers management.

After being eliminated by the Thunder in this year's playoffs, the Lakers are already mulling a big trade to breathe new life into Los Angeles.

There's no time to care about the of drafts and tryouts.

So, Ryan West single-handedly contracted it.

As a scout for the team, he is still very responsible.

He doesn't care about trades, but the draft and tryouts are his job and something has to be done.

The Lakers' scouting is really not good, they don't have a high draft pick, and they are forever doing the job of digging gold in the.

Ryan West hopes that he hasn't looked away, Li Liangneng is a piece of gold wrapped in dung!

Of course, after calming down in the past two days, West also reminded himself not to get up too much hope.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

A few years ago, the Lakers tried out another Chinese player, Sun Yue, during a group tryout.

He showed good athleticism during the tryout, and he didn't fall behind in the ball-handling confrontation with black players.

Later, the Lakers selected him with second-round picks, but unfortunately Sun Yue didn't get much opportunity with the Lakers.

His offensive and playmaking superiority with the ball is useless in the intensity of the NBA.

However, his holes on the defensive end are exposed, and once he is on the court, he is the weakest link.

One offense and one defense is basically a side effect.

This is not only the reason why Chinese players, but also many European players cannot survive in the NBA.

The offensive advantage is not obvious, and the defensive disadvantage is too prominent.

Unless you can be like Nowitzki and Yao Ming, you can be almost inexplicable on the offensive end.

Able to be the heart of the offensive tactics while not holding back on the defensive end.

Otherwise, NBA teams would rather have unknown black players than well-known overseas stars.

The reason why Ryan West is optimistic about Li Liang this time is undoubtedly because he likes his defense.

He only hopes that Li Liang's defense in New Jersey is not an accident.

Li Liang followed Ryan West into the gym, and the Lakers' tryouts in the gym were all waiting for him.

The night before yesterday, Li Liang summoned Darius Morris in the [Personal Training Center] and asked him about the process of the Lakers' tryout.

So at this time, Li Liang had a bottom in his heart and did not panic at all.

In addition to Wei Dazhi, there were also two other reporters from local media in Los Angeles.

The NBA has always been very open to the media, and it can be said that every detail of every team has an obligation to show to the media.

Generally speaking, if it is a trial for a big-name rookie, it must be a noisy and crowded crowd.

If it's an ordinary rookie, seven or eight media outlets also have it.

Like Li Liang, I don't know where it came from, he is still a Chinese, and it is not bad to have two of them.

Many Chinese fans tend to overestimate the commercial value of Chinese players in the NBA, believing that whichever team has Chinese players will increase the commercial value opportunity.

So if there are Chinese players going to try out, it will definitely attract media attention.

But the reality is actually very cruel, if a Chinese player does not have the strength, his treatment is the same as those nameless American players, or even inferior.

Because the basketball world is extremely realistic, fans only recognize strength, and the same is true for Chinese fans.

Only if you are a Chinese player with strength and at the same time, Chinese fans will support you, otherwise only by virtue of being Chinese, there will be no bonus except for more attention.

With a population of more than one billion people, who is not unique?

Li Liang is clear about this, so there is no media to interview, which is too normal.

This allows him to concentrate on the tryout.

Li Liang took off his sports jacket and warmed up for half an hour under the leadership of the trialist.

Body stretching, switchback jogging, catch-and-shoot shots, figure-eight circle layups.

These are the basic warm-up items for basketball, and Li Liang does it very smoothly.

From this, it can be seen that this guy is at least a professional basketball player.

After the warm-up, the official trial program began, and at this time, except for Wei Dazhi, the other two reporters were invited out of the training hall.

Formal trials will avoid media interference, and at the same time, specific projects will be kept confidential to prevent some players from engaging in "targeted examinations".

Of course, this is also unavoidable, otherwise many teams will not be blind.

The first event Li Liang conducted was a four-way running test.

The Lakers' tryout is called Tim Di Francesco, a white man with a big beard.

He set up four sensors in a square three-second zone, and then let Li Liang stand in the upper left corner.

"I'll give you commands, forward, back, left, right, and then you make the corresponding moves. During the movement, your hand must be open and touch the sensors at the four corners to be considered successful. Have questions? ”

"Nope."

This is a test of a player's ability to move around the pitch, including lateral movement and longitudinal movement in a defensive position.

Because in Ryan West's scouting report, Li Liang's strength is defense, so his defensive movement ability must be tested.

This is completely difficult for Li Liang, at this time, his outside defensive ability has reached the basic level of the NBA.

Those players who have not been baptized by NBA intensity, except for star newcomers, will be difficult to score under Li Liang's confrontational defense.

So, what Ryan West sees in his rookie training camp isn't luck, it's strength.

Sure enough, Li Liang did a good job of running in all directions.

West, who was on the side, could quickly see Li Liang's test data through his laptop.

"It's good, it's pretty good, his level of movement, for his height, it's pretty good."

Ryan West was relieved to see the real data in front of him, and the data doesn't lie.

He still remembers Sun Yue, who came to the Lakers for a tryout, of course, at that time he was not a scout for the Lakers, but a Grizzlies.

The Lakers' archives have Sun Yue's data, who is also about 6-foot-9 tall, and Li Liang's defensive movement ability is much stronger.

After the four-way running test, the next item is the reaction speed test.

There are still four sensors, different heights, arranged in front of Li Liang in turn.

The sensor is equipped with a red, green and blue warning light, and when the light is on, wave it in front of the sensor with your hand to turn it off.

"Four sensors, each with a light on, wave your hand in front of it, count once. You want to be as soon as we test your reaction time. "Di Francisco said.

Li Liang nodded, he had practiced this test the night before, and all kinds of facilities were available in the [Personal Training Center].

This is still a test of defensive ability, and in defense, Li Liang will not disappoint.

In the five-minute test, Li Liang reacted quickly every time, and almost passed as soon as the light turned on.

After all, the sudden appearance of Artest can rush over and make fouls, which is a small case.

Ryan West looked at the data sheet in his notebook, a little smug in his heart, and it seemed that he had made the right mistake.

This Bruce Lee is really energetic on the defensive end, and he is definitely qualified to play the position of substitute small forward in the team, and there is no problem in going up and fighting for 10 minutes.

With the 60th pick, if you can pick a rookie who can go up and fight for 10 minutes, Ryan West will be considered to have overfulfilled the task.

The league should also give him an award for the best dung digger in recognition of his contribution to excavating talents.

After that, Di Francesco examined several basic qualities of Li Liang, all of which were related to defense.

The tests were carried out one after another, some of which Morris did not mention the day before yesterday, and they were carried out very carefully.

After completing the defense-related tests, Di Francesco gave Li Liang a questionnaire and asked him to fill it out in ten minutes.

Li Liang looked at it, and it was all a multiple-choice question about what to do when encountering various situations on the field.

For example, the timing of the bag, the choice of supplemental defense, the marking of quick retreat, and so on.

This is not difficult for Li Liang, you must know that he is Kentucky's gold medal water dispenser!

Every day I sat beside Kalipari and listened to him, and the mouse in front of the Buddha seat listened to the chanting scriptures.

After completing the questionnaire in ten minutes, Ryan West said: "Very good, good performance in the morning, and an hour and a half of tryout in the afternoon, keep up the good work." ”

It turned out that this trial was divided into morning and afternoon, which shows that West attaches great importance to Li Liang, after all, this is the dung he digs.

Of course, if Li Liang does not perform well in the morning, the trial in the afternoon will be cancelled directly.

Li Liang knew that he was already halfway there.