Paul's talent and immediate combat power exceeded Liu Mang's expectations.

"Chris Paul, Ability Rating 82, Offense 84, Defense 78, Passing 90, Three-Point 65, Shooting 86, Layup 87, Speed 94, Power 86......"

This ability evaluation is actually a rookie!

The focus is on CIC!

When Liu Mang watched the live broadcast of a game of the Hornets, he felt that Paul's half-volley shooting after the breakthrough was very accurate, and the small forward who was about 20 centimeters taller than him could also have a shooting rate of nearly 40% in the middle distance.

Liu Mang predicts that Paul will become a first-class star after his rookie season!

However, when Liu Mang thought that Paul, who was in the third grade in the 07-08 season, could compete with Kobe Bryant for MVP and be selected for a second defense, he felt that this seemed normal!

Liu Mang believes that before Paul's cartilage rupture in his left knee and the devastating injury of the meniscus appeared in 08, when his explosiveness and speed had not declined, he should have a James-level talent.

James is in the third grade, and he is not to the point of competing for MVP!

Of course, a large part of this is because James was only 21 years old at the end of last month, Paul was 20 years old in his rookie season, and the two are only five months apart, and James entered the NBA two years earlier.

Liu Mang feels that it's a pity, why is Paul in the west?

If the Hornets hadn't moved west, they would have played Paul more than a year.

Natal Position Suppression Mission Goal 2: The NBA2005 draft is a rare year for point guards, making rookie point guards feel unbeatable.

Liu Mang looked at this task, originally just wanted Paul to feel the "warmth" of the NBA, but Paul is a bit powerful!

Superstar For ordinary starter-level stars, that is, stars before the 70-79 ability evaluation, if that star is not the kind of player with a single function, such as pure defense or something, the superstar can basically crush the opponent.

But if you have the quality of a quasi-first-class star in the 80s, then there's a chance to do something.

Liu Mang called Maddie and Prince, Josh Smith, and Kwame Brown to his room, plus Iguodala, to discuss how to play with him...... No, how did you fall in love with Paul, except for Prince, the other people were all "colleagues" of the same company, and they had to take good care of their little brother when they fought for the first time.

……

When the Eagles came to Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma City fans went crazy, and when Liu Mang and Maddie and others appeared on the street waiting for the scheduled taxi, they attracted a large crowd of onlookers, and then, the traffic jam was ......

In the summer of August, New Orleans was hit by a hurricane that turned New Orleans into ruins from a very wealthy seaside tourist city in the southern United States.

New Orleans is rebuilding, and the Hornets spend the next two seasons in Oklahoma City.

The Hornets have a miserable season this season, on the day the Hawks came to Oklahoma City, that is, No. 2, playing the Mavericks in the first game of a back-to-back and the No. 3 against the Hawks.

Since China's Chinese New Year falls in January this year, the Eagles' January schedule is more brutal than in the past three years, and there must be plenty of games for Chinese fans to watch and drive ratings.

After re-igniting fan enthusiasm with the Lakers' highlights, there are 16 more games left in January, multiple back-to-back.

The Hawks played the Hornets and the Timberwolves back-to-back, and the Hornets were originally used to let the Hawks consume before playing the Timberwolves, so that the game between the Hawks and the Timberwolves was more intense, Liu Mang and Garnett, the superstars of the two teams are still very attractive.

The Timberwolves only have Garnett, so the league has to create a little trouble for the Hawks so that the Timberwolves at home can have a little more advantage.

Unexpectedly, the Timberwolves really collapsed, worse than last season, and the Hornets became a strong team, competing for seventh and eighth in the West in the third echelon.

The Hornets have been treated as a win-winning slump this season, and it's a pitiful schedule, playing the Mavericks and Hawks back-to-back......

In the afternoon, Liu Mang discussed it with a few teammates who might play a role in defending Paul, and then rested for a while, and at 6 p.m., Liu Mang and Maddy, Kwame Brown, Iguodala, and Josh Smith went to the Ford Center, a temporary renovation of the stadium, to watch the Hornets and Mavericks play.

Originally, Prince was called to watch the game with Jason Terry, Rasheed Wallace and others, but when they came to Oklahoma City for the first time, most of them chose to go shopping, and they couldn't play at night, but they could still go to play in the afternoon.

Knowing that he is invincible, Liu Mang is ready to study on the spot how Paul can bring a team that was second to last in the league last season and first in the West to the ninth place in the West.

Liu Mang and others got rid of the overly enthusiastic fans and came to the Ford Center Arena, the Hornets staff were already waiting, Liu Mang asked Schwartz to make a call, and the general manager of the Hornets immediately agreed to give the ticket.

When the group arrived at the Ford Center Arena, it was already half past six, and when the ticket was checked into the stadium, the entrance ceremony of the two teams was about to begin.

The fans at the scene were very enthusiastic, Goose City has never had a team in the four major leagues, although it is only a temporary team now, but the fans are still very excited and enthusiastic, Liu Mang and others came to the sidelines and were discovered, the scene began to be restless!

The Hornets were unlucky but lucky, because last summer, Nike and AirJordan held an event together, Liu Mang took Paul to promote in the domestic imperial capital and magic capital, similar to the summer of 2004 with James, so that some domestic fans know Paul, Paul played so coquettish in his rookie season, and it also attracted a lot of attention in China.

Paul's image is also very good, and he is valued by David Stern, and when interviewed by Chinese reporters about who can pose a threat to Liu Mang in the future, David Stern always puts Kobe, James, and Paul on his lips, and Paul is becoming more and more well-known as a number of times.

The Hornets' back-to-back games, although none of them were broadcast live in the United States, happened to be broadcast live on Tuesday and Wednesday, and both games were broadcast live on the Imperial Channel.

Liu Mang and others met today's commentator of the Imperial Court Station, Xu Jicheng of Xinhua News Agency, on the sidelines.

"Coach Xu, long time no see, will you come to broadcast our game live tomorrow?" Liu Mang went up and took the initiative to shake hands and asked.

"Ou, Ace, I just said that Purple Qi came to the east today, it turned out that Ace you came to watch the game on the spot, of course, I grabbed the opportunity to broadcast your game live tomorrow, I can't always let Director Zhang enjoy the fun of watching your game live!" Xu Jicheng said with a smile.

"Coach Zhang must have been a little depressed lately, Kobe Bryant...... No, it was the Zen master who lost again, and I got four doubles. Liu Mang had a little excitement of saying bad things about people behind his back.

"Haha, Ace, when Director Zhang heard this, he was going to deny that he was a Kobe fan, oh, the player is going to enter, and I want to do a pre-game interview." Xu Jicheng saw that the lights were dimmed, and the spotlight had hit the tunnel of the away team's players, so he said sorry and went to the home team's bench to wait.

The NBA has stipulated that since 2006, the head coaches and players of both teams can be interviewed before the game, during the intermission, timeout, etc., and the interview must be approved by the head coach.

There were cheers from the visiting players as they played, and the Mavericks have played well this year, returning to third place in the West after the Lakers' loss to the Hawks, with a 24-11 record half a win ahead of the Lakers.

Oklahoma City fans are enthusiastic about the Hornets, but they don't see the Hornets as their real home team, and when the strong teams visit, they are completely neutral and can cheer for whoever they like.

Nowitzki's appearance was greeted with loud cheers from the fans.

The home team players entered, and Chris Paul was the first to come out, immediately sparking cheers again.

Paul isn't the best player for the Hornets right now, and the Hornets' best player is David West of Generation 03, a strong contender for the Most Improved Award.

Paul is definitely better than David West in terms of role, but he is still a rookie, so he kept a low profile and didn't grab the boss position at the beginning.

But...... Liu Mang and Iguodala saw Paul, who ran out to high-five the substitutes, and their eyes widened.

The training uniform Paul was wearing was a little different from the others, and it was actually labeled with a number!

And it's not the number 3 jersey Paul wears, it's a two-digit number.

5 on the right chest and 8 on the left chest......

Liu Mang and Iguodala glanced at each other and quietly came to the Hornets bench, and Paul came out to be interviewed by Xu Jicheng.

Xu Jicheng was also curious about what these two numbers meant on his chest.

"No. 58, this is Ace's encouragement to me, he wants me to be a player like Kidd and Bryant, and I am ready to make this my goal, as a sign, to motivate me to move forward, and one day I can be Ace's opponent like Kidd and Kobe." Paul said very seriously.

On the one hand, it is true that this is used as a motivation to motivate himself, on the other hand, everything that has something to do with China can attract the attention of Chinese fans, Paul and Schwartz discussed, and decided to do this, and on the other hand, Liu Mang is going to watch the game tonight, Paul knows, although Paul does not plan to change the jersey, he likes No. 3, but from the training uniform to meet Liu Mang, Paul is still willing to do.

Today is a bit of a rush, Paul was going to ask the team's cloth department to use the embroidered Chinese red color above his ball to get this number.

When Liu Mang heard this, he and Iguodala quietly disappeared while the lights were still on......

Liu Mang returned to the bench and muttered: "If you are still abused for 58 points one day in this world, don't blame me!" I didn't do it......"

……

After the players of the two teams finished playing, Paul and David West, two Hornets stars, Nowitzki, Stackhouse, Crawford and a whole bunch of Mavericks stars came to greet Liu Mang, Maddy, Kwame Brown and others.

There are top players from the current team who come to watch the game, and the players of both teams are very motivated.

However, when Paul and Liu Mang embraced, he felt that Liu Mang was a little too enthusiastic, as if he "owed" him, and Paul was a little puzzled......

There wasn't much suspense in this game, and the Hornets were beaten by the visiting Mavericks.

From the beginning, the Hornets were no match for the Mavericks, and there was a big difference in strength between the two teams.

But Paul's performance is very eye-catching, and he can't be seen as a rookie at all, with a steady style of play, accurate mid-range shots, and strong passing.

By watching the game live, Liu Mang knew why Paul could have an 82 ability evaluation and be hailed as the successor of Kidd and Nash.

It's too comfortable to watch Paul play, he has excellent scoring ability, but he doesn't just care about his own offense like another 183 player in his rookie period, and organizes the offense tightly and organized, if it weren't for his teammates who were just the team that won the bottom of the West last season, only David West improved from averaging 6 points to 18 points per game, Paul has no other helpers, not even a few pitchers, the Hornets would be better!

Maddie, Iguodala, and Josh Smith all praised Paul's playmaking offense, but from a playmaking perspective, the trio agreed that they were better than Liu Mang.

But...... Liu Mang saw Paul's style of play that almost held the ball and didn't let go, and felt a little regretful.

This style of play can ensure the team's lower limit, but it is difficult to make a difference in the playoffs!

But...... It's really good-looking!

The Hornets are very smooth in their cooperation, except for the lack of outside shooting, there are no other shortcomings, a big center who eats cake under the basket, a few pitchers, and Paul is a passer, David West, a player who excels in mid-distance singles, can quickly rise!

But it's still far from it, and the playoffs are still a problem.

At the end of the third quarter, the Hornets were 61-80, 19 points behind the Mavericks, and there was basically no possibility of a comeback.

Paul has put on his training jersey and probably stopped playing in the fourth quarter, Paul got 9 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and only 1 turnover in the third quarter, which is a perfect performance for a rookie, but it is garbage time.

Liu Mang, Maddie and others didn't plan to watch garbage time, and after saying hello and saying goodbye to the stars of the two teams, they left.

Leave early to avoid traffic jams.

When he returned to the hotel, Liu Mang made a taxi alone, and after getting in the car, he dialed Schwartz's phone.

"Jeff, I'll send you a few lists in a moment, and you can suggest a reinforcement from the Hornets management."

"Bringing in reinforcements for the Hornets?"

Liu Mang heard Schwartz's puzzlement, and said with a smile: "Well, I don't think Chris's helper is good enough, he is so good, how can there be no good helper." ”

Liu Mang is really great at himself, selflessly building a good lineup for Paul.

Schwartz on the other end of the "......" phone heard this, and he didn't believe it from the bottom of his heart, but he couldn't think of why, so he could only think that Liu Mang wanted to make Paul's record better, and make money with more popularity.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Mang sent Schwartz the names of several players he felt were suitable for the Hornets but would not affect his own.

Separated from my teammates, that's what it is.

Liu Mang wants to make the Hornets a-stirring stick in the West, so that a certain No. 8 player will have another difficult opponent when he competes with him for MVP in the future, Liu Mang feels so excited when he thinks about it......