It's a tradition every season that ESPN writes forward-thinking articles for every team. And their articles are usually very professional and very convincing.

But this preview of the Grizzlies has caused a lot of doubt among Memphis fans. A team that made it to the Western Conference Finals last season made such a big change this summer that it only got a C+ rating!?

It's incredible!

However, the author of this article, John. "My ratings are absolutely free of any personal emotion, absolutely objective and unbiased. Maybe Memphis fans think that the Grizzlies' additions this summer will take the Grizzlies one step further, but it's likely that their changes will cause the team to decline even further. Iguodala doesn't necessarily fit the Grizzlies, and Stevens doesn't necessarily play well in the NBA. Nick. Yang and Aizeli? They don't even have to make it to the Steady Wheel! ”

Hollinger didn't regret it in the slightest, and still stuck to his point of view. Undoubtedly, this made the local Memphis fans even angrier.

But no matter how angry you are, you can't go to someone's house and beat someone up. The only way to do that is to show enough performance in the new season to prove your strength.

The strong smell of gunpowder in the new NBA season has already filled Memphis.

Meanwhile, within the Grizzlies, players were angry with the preview. After all, who wants to be looked down upon?

Thankfully, however, the players were not blinded by anger, but turned their anger into strength and squandered sweat in the training gym.

Over the course of a week, under strict diet control and intense training, most of the players have returned to their original shape.

A week later, Stevens began to schedule tactical training. People on the outside world are worried that Stevens will completely overhaul the Grizzlies' system, resulting in a serious decline in the Grizzlies.

However, Stevens did not completely abolish Hollins' system, but only added something of his own to the original system.

First of all, in terms of the starting lineup, Stevens hasn't changed much. The only change was to put Iguodala in the starting line-up to replace Toney. Alan.

Next season, the Grizzlies will start with Conley, Iguodala, Link and the Black and White Bears. Link and Iguodala are in an uncertain position, and depending on their opponents, they may be free to switch between the number three and number two.

The tactical drill went very smoothly because Stevens did not force a change in everyone's playing habits.

For example, Iguodala doesn't have to play the role of an attacker now, and he won't force Conley to score. Link can now concentrate on attacking because both playmaking and defense have someone to help him up.

And off the bench, the Grizzlies players found that everyone had a chance. Stevens has no prejudice against anyone, and he's willing to let everyone play and try it.

'Every player has their own value, so everybody has a chance to play. These are Stevens' exact words.

Standing by the office window and looking down, Grizzly boss Robert. Pera is very happy with the team's form.

"It looks like Stevens gets along really well with everybody."

"Stevens is a good coach and he knows that the best way to earn the trust of his players is to make them comfortable in the game. Judging by the effect of confrontational training, the team's offense has become more fluid without regression in defense. And you know, Stevens is a very good pretty. His ATO is very efficient, which helps a lot in key battles. Grizzly Bears General Manager Chris. Wallace is also very happy with the Grizzlies' form, and he believes that his and Pera's efforts this summer will not be in vain.

“ATO？” After listening to Wallace, Pera frowned, a little confused.

"ATO is an abbreviation for the word 'after a timeout' and refers to a coach's ability to help a team score crucial points through tactical set-ups during a timeout. Stevens is a genius at the point, and he developed a myriad of brilliant tactics at crucial moments during his college years. Last season, we lost to the Thunder, basically in the key rounds did not bite, unfortunately lost. But this year, you won't see that again. ”

"Really? I hope so. By the way, the team is about to start preseason, right? When the time comes, I'm going to see how that guy named Hollinger ends. "Young Robert. Pera laughed wickedly, and he was already starting to feel the joy of owning an NBA team.

In mid-October, the NBA preseason season begins. Now, the preseason is not just a game for the team to grind in the lineup, but has become a weapon for the league to attract money. Various overseas competitions emerge one after another, and the competition between NBA teams and other basketball league teams is frequently staged.

But the Grizzlies obviously do not have such a good treatment, although Link is popular in Chinese, but the brand value of the Grizzlies team is not high enough. So this year, the Grizzlies can still only play preseason games on American soil.

The Grizzlies are not weak against four teams in this year's preseason, including the Bulls, Jazz, Pacers and Heat.

Among them, the Bulls and the Heat are both Eastern dominant-level teams. Although there is no Rose on the Bulls' side, the foundation is still there, and the strength is still strong.

Not to mention the Heat, who are the defending champions last season, and fans think that whoever runs against the Heat will die.

As a result, the Grizzlies, who have never performed well in the preseason, actually played a wave of four consecutive wins in the preseason this time!

The 10-point victory over the Heat in the last game made the entire Memphis City crazy!

"I can see that the Grizzlies have improved a lot, from the individual to the whole! Gasol Jr. is even older defensively, and he's now the Grizzlies' well-deserved patron saint under the basket. Randolph is back in good form, playing four games in pre-season and scoring 20 points in three games! Link and Iguodala are very well connected, their switch of defense makes the Grizzlies' flanks indestructible, and their beautiful passes make the opponent unguardable! Plus, Conley has become a bit more experienced this year, he's improved every year, and this year is no exception! ”

Hubi. Brown has a very high rating of the Grizzlies after four games. It can be seen that Stevens has a perfect control of the team, and under his hands, everyone in the Grizzlies can play their own value.

And Link is not as standing still as the media said, in the face of LeBron. James, Link is getting more and more at ease. Although in this game, James only played 15 minutes. But this still can't hide Link's light, and James has been forced to force his shot by Link several times, which is not easy.

After winning all four games, a reporter approached Hollinger and asked him if he had made a wrong prediction. This time, Hollinger's rhetoric was, "Everyone knows that a preseason win doesn't mean anything. Hit the Bulls, the Bulls don't have Rose. Playing the Jazz and the Pacers, people are just honing their lineups. Against the Heat, none of the Big Three played more than 15 minutes. If the Grizzlies win them, can they really prove that they are strong? ”

Meanwhile, a few days before the start of the regular season, there was another explosive trade in the league.

On October 28, the Houston Rockets sent Kevin Brown. Martin, Jeremy. Lamb, as well as a future draft pick, was traded from the Thunder to acquire last season's Sixth Man of the Year, James. Harden, Kerr. Aldridge, De Quinn. Cook and Raza. Hayward.

It is said that Harden played poorly in the Finals last season, so the Thunder took the opportunity to reduce the price of the contract extension. After all, the Thunder are not a big team and cannot afford to pay exorbitant salaries. And Harden thought he could get a bigger contract, so he refused to renew his contract with the Thunder early.

In the end, the two sides broke up unhappily.

With Harden destined to stay for another year, Thunder general manager Presti had to take the initiative to trade Harden in order to stop the loss in time. In the final moments, Harden was traded for several players for the Thunder.

In this way, the Rockets have finally found the core of their dream team. Since Yao Ming's retirement, the long rebuilding of the rocket has finally begun to bear fruit.

The explosion a few days before the start of the new season*** is very rare in the entire history of the league. After all, the game is going to start, and under normal circumstances, no one will move the lineup.

Therefore, this deal between the Thunder and the Rockets has caused an extremely heated discussion among fans and the media.

Looking at the news of Harden joining the Rockets, Link, who was sitting in the locker room, shook his head helplessly, "Now, Hollinger may say that we can't even pass the first round." After all, the rocket has risen. ”

Link was laughing on the surface, but he was secretly ruthless in his heart.

Pre-season results don't say anything?

Okay, the Grizzlies play their first game away on October 29 against the Los Angeles Clippers. At that time, Link is confident that he and his teammates will tear off the last fig leaf of Hollinger.