When he heard that his name was not in the starting lineup for the new season, Thomas Jr. was bloodless.

Being kicked out of the starting line-up speaks for itself.

Either it means that he has fallen out of favor with the manager, or it means that the team doesn't need him anymore, at least he doesn't need to play so much time.

Thomas Jr. was puzzled, what was wrong with him, obviously his performance last season was quite outstanding, as a rookie with a 60th pick, he averaged 12.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game......

No one can fault such a data.

But even so, such a good performance still failed to secure himself in the starting position......

Richard glanced at Little Thomas's expression, and sighed in his heart, feeling a little sorry for Little Thomas.

Last season, according to the lineup at hand, Richard was ready to use Stevens' offensive system, and now he still plans to do so, but because of the addition of Egg Chaser Green, from the perspective of the team's interests, Thomas Jr. will definitely not be able to put it in the starting lineup.

In this situation, Richard is considering whether to trade Thomas Jr.

Of course, if you stay in the team, it's not impossible, if you stay in the team, Thomas Jr. can lead the substitute lineup to open up the situation.

After thinking about it, Richard was still reluctant to sell Thomas Jr. and decided to wait until the end of the season.

Last season Richard didn't expect much from the team, and this season it won't work.

This is his third year at the helm of the Clippers, and he can't do another round.

Although the current Clippers lineup is still a little far from winning the championship, Richard must lead the team as far as possible in the playoffs.

After a whole month of training in September, the effect was quite good, mainly because the starters were quite familiar with the tactical system, plus Leonard and Thompson had grown in strength after a season of training.

Generally speaking, the shooting percentage of players in their rookie season will be more embarrassing, such as Kemba Walker, who was sold by the Warriors before, his performance in his rookie season was quite embarrassing, but since the second season, the shooting percentage has been visibly improved.

This is the case with many players, such as Durant, who also had a relatively low shooting percentage in his rookie season......

Thompson is definitely an outlier, starting with a league-leading shooting percentage, averaging 15.1 points per game last season, shooting 44.1% from the field and 41.7% from three-point range.

With such a level of shooting percentage, many professional shooters may not be able to play in their entire careers.

The reason why such a high shooting percentage is only 15 points is actually related to Thompson's lack of experience.

As a newcomer, the ability to find opportunities is definitely not as good as that of a veteran, and after this season's training, Thompson must have made great strides in this area.

Richard is still very optimistic about Thompson, and in the next season, Thompson will definitely usher in a wave of explosive periods.

Under normal circumstances, Thompson's shooting percentage in the first few seasons with the Warriors was quite perverted......

Never before has his career three-point shooting percentage been below 40 percent!

He averaged 12.5 points per game in his first year with the Warriors, and improved to 16.6 points in his second year......

Now that Thompson is on the Clippers, it is estimated that the improvement will certainly not be small, and Thompson is likely to average more than 20 points per game in the new season.

……

On October 3, the preseason began.

There is nothing to see in a game like this in the preseason, and after six preseason games, the Clippers have a 3-3 record, and Richard doesn't care much.

What really matters is the rest of the regular season.

Whether the Clippers are mules or horses this season should be pulled out and slipped.

……

Stern is already completely retired, and after Xiao Hua took Stern's position, he gave Richard a big gift as soon as he took office.

The league's official opener is for the Clippers to take on the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers at home!

The Lakers are definitely the hottest team in the league today, winning the championship last season, and this season they brought in Howard and Nash, and almost all fans in the league are staring at them tightly, looking forward to the start of this game.

In this way, the ticket sales of the Clippers' home court can be imagined.

This is definitely a big gift from Xiao Hua to Richard, and if you really want to talk about it, in fact, this game is more suitable for the Lakers and Spurs to play.

But if Xiao Hua arranges it like this, no one will find fault, after all, the Lakers and the Clippers have faced each other in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, and Richard has a lot of fans, and they also want to see what Richard's third season when he takes over the Clippers, and what the Clippers are at the moment.

Fans are all very familiar with Richard's coaching career.

Coaching the Trail Blazers, he won the championship in his third season, and he won the championship as soon as he won it.

Coaching the Pistons, he started winning championships in his second season, and he won two championships in one go.

Coaching the Pirates, he started winning championships in his third season, and won four championships in one go.

On the whole, the team led by Richard can start to show the strength of winning the championship in the third season, and the Clippers will not be an exception at the moment.

……

Before the start of the game, both sides warmed up.

Kobe Bryant is in a pretty good mood, and the team has brought him two big hands, which gives Kobe Bryant plenty of confidence to defend his title.

"Boy, you have to work hard tonight, if you don't work hard, it is estimated that the game will enter garbage time in less than three quarters." Kobe Bryant walked past Leonard, patted Leonard on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Leonard giggled......

Throughout the offseason, Leonard stayed at Richard's house and went to practice every day.

Richard also specifically contacted Kobe Bryant and asked Kobe to take Leonard with him when he practiced at four o'clock in the morning......

As a result, according to Leonard, Kobe Bryant was a liar, he arrived at the training ground at 3:50, and didn't see Kobe's shadow until 6 o'clock.

After this offseason, Leonard looks strong and looks more intimidating on the defensive end with his long arms and big hands.

Seeing Kobe quusing with Leonard, Richard couldn't help but smile at Kobe and said, "So confident? If you lose for a while, it's ugly. ”

"Lose? Impossible, Coach, I can't think of anything you Clippers can do to win our Big Five! Bryant laughed.

Richard smiled bitterly and waved his hand, now that Kobe is in a good mood, he won't stimulate him, it is estimated that after playing the first two months, there will be times when he cries.

……

"Doot toot!" The referee blew the whistle for the start of the match.

The two sides began to appear, and Kobe Bryant saw that the Clippers let Sun Yue start on the stage, and couldn't help but say hello to Sun Yue.

He and Sun Yue have a good relationship, the two have played against each other in the international arena, and now they are playing in the same city, plus Richard's relationship, so the two will also come out to get together from time to time.

Nash couldn't help but feel pain on his face when he saw the Clippers put Sun Yue in the No. 1 position......

If Thomas Jr. played the main control, he wouldn't be too worried, but now Sun Yue will be difficult to deal with.

In terms of height, Sun Yue is 15 centimeters taller than Nash, and in terms of speed and strength, the 38-year-old Nash is completely at a disadvantage......

He felt that even with the help of his teammates' pick-and-roll, it was difficult to find a comfortable shot, and it was not impossible for him to be accidentally blocked by the No. 1 player with the height of No. 4 in front of him.

Nash's career highlight wasn't with the Suns, but during the two years he spent under Richard.

In those two years, Nash had the only two championship rings of his career.

……

The referee blew the whistle, the center players on both sides jumped the ball, and Howard's physical fitness was still the top of the center, and Horford failed to jump to win, allowing the Lakers to get the ball in the first offensive round.

Nash slowly advanced the ball to the frontcourt, he was so old that he couldn't be fast if he wanted to, if he really wanted to play quickly, then he probably couldn't stand it after 25 minutes.

Sun Yue spread her arms and stayed a step in front of Nash.

At such a distance, if Nash shoots, he can jump up and jump at any time to interfere or even block.

And if Nash uses his teammates to block and dismantle, the distance of this step is enough for Sun Yue to bypass the blocker.

After Nash got to the frontcourt, Gasol pulled out of the high post and helped Nash make a pick-and-roll.

didn't wait for Nash to make a move, Sun Yue had already bypassed Big Gasol and was not out of position at all.

Richard stood on the sidelines and nodded with satisfaction, not to mention, in the past few years, Sun Yue has really improved a lot at least on the defensive end.

In the Clippers' ample playing time, plus participating in various large-scale international seasons, Sun Yue has accumulated quite a lot of defensive experience, and now the old Nash is quite smart in defense.

Nash naturally can't make a move, how can he make a move in this situation?

The bounce itself is not very good, and at the age of 38, he shoots against a player who is 206 cm tall and is in his prime, isn't that a gift block data?

A through ball that Nash passed the ball to Artest, who was running off the ball.

At the moment, Artest is also starting to play more without the ball.

After receiving the ball, Klay Thompson, who was opposite him, immediately resisted Artest and did not give him space to shoot.

Under normal circumstances, Artest is actually not so irritable, and he will not directly elbow people on the head because of such a defense......

(Harden: MMP?) Are you sure? ）

Seeing that he had no room to shoot, Artest was ready to pass the ball to Kobe.

But what he didn't expect was that his rougher pass this time was directly cut off by a long arm.

After Leonard cut the ball, he immediately made a long pass to Sun Yue, who immediately turned his head and started a big counterattack.

Leonard and Thompson followed closely behind, heading for the frontcourt.

Kobe Bryant and Artest also immediately desperately returned to defense, as for Howard, Da Gasol and Nash, their ability to defend quickly and counterattack is almost negligible.

A 3-on-2 situation was directly formed in the front court, Sun Yue didn't dare to hold it up, and after the ball entered the three-point line in the front court, he immediately gave the ball to Leonard.

And Leonard watched Kobe and Artest pounce on him, and without saying a word, he gave the ball to Thompson, who was standing outside the three-point line.

"Huh!" Thompson hit a three-pointer straight shot.

……

"Awesome! It's amazing! The Clippers' defensive counterattack ability is simply a must! Barkley couldn't help but praise this offensive and defensive round.