In the East, the Pistons are still an admirable team, but the current Pistons have gradually followed the old path of the previous Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers had a glorious period of almost six years, and then the dynasty collapsed because of salary space.

In fact, if Richard wants to help the Trailblazers, he can still help the Trailblazers continue to be brilliant.

But after helping the Trail Blazers, the previous Pistons couldn't have risen.

After all, there are actually so many newcomers every year, if they are all caught by Richard, this is also a scene that Richard does not want to see.

After the Pistons gave Yao Ming and Clark a maximum salary, they couldn't even sign an additional maximum salary, and their strength may gradually decline in the next season or two.

……

In mid-December, the final game of Rondo's fifteen games was against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tonight is the home court of the Lakers, and Richard will lead the pirates to Los Angeles a day early.

With the completion of the two-month schedule, in fact, the strength of each team can be seen clearly.

With the addition of Big Ben this season, the Lakers' weak interior line has been greatly strengthened.

Under normal circumstances, Kobe Bryant would be able to lead these Lakers players to the playoffs, and now he has an All-Star book of the year, and his record has soared directly to the top three positions in the West.

At the moment, the Lakers are only one win away from the Suns, who are second in the West.

It is worth mentioning that Kobe Bryant changed his jersey number this season.

Previously, when Kobe Bryant was with the Trail Blazers, he used the No. 33 jersey, which was the number of the jersey his father wore in high school.

Later, after coming to the Lakers, because Abdul-Jabbar's No. 33 jersey was retired, Kobe Bryant chose No. 8.

This number also means the same to Kobe, which is the number of his jersey when he was a child in Italy.

And this season, it may be because he failed to enter the playoffs last season, which stimulated Kobe, so he directly replaced the original No. 8 with No. 24.

This number 24 is Kobe's jersey number in high school, but in the interpretation of fans, this number has other meanings.

For example, there are 24 hours in a day, and this number means that Kobe Bryant thinks about training all the time......

For example, Jordan is No. 23, and Kobe Bryant chose this number, which means that he will surpass Jordan in the future.

Generally speaking, players change their jersey numbers in two situations.

The first is transfers, for example, James wore No. 23 in the Cavaliers and No. 6 after arriving with the Heat.

The second is also related to transfers, where a big-handed player is traded within the team, and people have to use their original number, and if this number is occupied by a cannon fodder player, the cannon fodder player must give it up.

It's still relatively rare for a player like Kobe to change numbers on the same team, of course, Kobe is not the only one, and he can still count how many players have done this.

The league also has rules for this, if a player wants to change the number of the same team, he must play for this team for more than four years, and Kobe Bryant must meet the conditions......

……

Richard was actually a little curious about what Kobe Bryant's No. 24 meant, but he didn't ask Kobe......

The meaning of the jersey number, this thing is actually not of much value, everyone has their own opinions, and even some fans make some messy interpretations.

For example, Jordan's No. 23, in the interpretation of fans, has a very simple meaning, that is, 2 3 consecutive championships......

For example, James's No. 23, in the interpretation of fans, is slightly more complicated, 2 represents being kicked bald twice, and 3 represents three decisions.

As for the No. 6 jersey in the Heat, it is interpreted as six Asian ......

As soon as I heard it, I knew that this was definitely James's black fans doing something.

……

At eight o'clock in the evening, the pirate crowd will begin to enter.

Richard is still quite relaxed, and the Piccaneers are now firmly in first place in the East, four wins ahead of the Pistons, who are second in the East.

And with two months left before the All-Star break, the Pistons basically have no hope of catching up.

Four wins may not seem like much, but judging from the current chances of the Buccaneers winning, unless the Pistons can play a win rate of more than 85% in the next two months, they will not be able to threaten the first place in the East for the Pirates.

The Zen master coached the Lakers this season, and right now he's standing across the court looking at Richard.

Seeing Richard's indifferent appearance, the Zen master felt an indescribable sense of grievance in his heart.

The reason is simple, because the Lakers team is almost the home base of West Lafayette right now.

The top three players in the team are all West Lafayette players.

Kobe, Big Ben and Odom.

In fact, the Zen master was not very inclined to introduce Daben at the beginning, and he was ready to hook up with Yao Ming......

But Kobe Bryant is obviously closer to Big Ben, so he has been putting pressure on the management to hope that the team can take Big Ben.

For this reason, Kobe Bryant and the Zen master fought openly and secretly for a long time.

However, this open and secret battle ended with Yao Ming renewing his contract with the Pistons, and if Yao Ming did not come to the Lakers, the Zen master naturally had no choice.

Fortunately, after Big Ben joined the team, the chemistry was quite good, and the team's record soared, and now it has the initial strength to compete for the championship.

Richard also saw the Zen master looking at him with a strange expression, and nodded and smiled at the Zen master.

"Rajan, tonight is the last game of the bet, do you know how many points you are behind Paul now?" Richard smiled and looked at Rondo.

Rondo nodded gloomily, "Coach, there are still 104 points left......"

Basically, Rondo has already lost the bet.

But even though it was doomed for now, Rondo still scared Paul out of a cold sweat.

In the fourteen games that Rondo played in the past, Paul was stunned that this kid of the same height as himself could average 7.6 rebounds per game.

The average assists per game and steals per game data are not as good as themselves, but the gap is not too big......

If it weren't for Rondo's offense, Paul felt like he would have had a hard time tonight.

But now he is relieved, with a gap of 104 points, Rondo does not even have a 1 percent chance of catching up.

Rondo was obviously aware of this, and his eyes were a little unsightly.

You must know that 20 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists add up to only 100 points, and as for steals and blocks, if you can get four points in a game, it is already quite an excellent performance.

Even if Rondo gets five defensive stats tonight, he's still close to Paul's 80-point gap, which requires Rondo to play a superstat of 20 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists......

It's impossible to think about.