The Memphis knew before last season that the Grizzlies would move to Memphis in the summer of 2001, so they were focused on the 2001 draft.

If you want to say that those people in the small green house in 2001 were regarded as future All-Star candidates from the beginning, there is only one one, that is, Pau Gasol of Barcelona.

When the Wizards hell picked the first high school player in history, and the Bulls also went to the first high school player in history, Memphis fans fell into ecstasy.

Although Kwame Brown and Tyson Chandler are the kind of super-talented men who are so talented that they are explosive, it is unlikely that they will be lost by physical fitness and defensive awareness alone.

But whether the talent can be cashed in is not an easy matter, and in 2000 the Grizzlies had already gambled on talent once, not Mike Miller, who was a beep in college, and Stromayer Swift, a super body maniac.

At this point, the Grizzlies dismissed the idea of betting on talent and selected a real future All-Star Gasol after the two teams did not want Gasol.

Memphis fans have been expecting their own Gasol to win the first Rookie of the Year in franchise history since the first game of the season.

At the beginning, there was really no one who could stop Gasol, who could reach the excellent level of the high-pick rookies in the eighties and nineties this season, Gasol averaged 18+8 per game in the rookie year, and the top three picks in the eighties and nineties were not too bad, and the top was a little far behind, but at least it was the excellent one.

Who knew that Liu Mang's sudden rise to prominence, which is now averaging 15 points per game, began to threaten Gasol's evaluation among professional media people.

In the end, the voting for the best rookie is the vote of the media and professionals, when the data crushing degree is not so big, especially when the most important average points per game gap is not so large, the victory or defeat of the two rookies is likely to become the biggest influencing factor!

Elsewhere they don't care much about this year's Rookie of the Year, just as they do last year's Rookie of the Year Mike Miller. But Memphis care! This is the first award they have just received from the first team in the four major leagues in history!

This is reflected in the local media in Memphis, where there are five or six hundred thousand people, and what is going on with the Grizzlies is the biggest news for sports fans.

On the afternoon of the 16th, the Eagles came to the FedEx Arena sponsored by FedEx, the largest company in Memphis, and were surrounded by reporters.

Playing the Lakers was asked for an interview by the media, and it is not a big deal for the Hawks not to accept interviews, anyway, there are two topical figures of the Lakers who can be interviewed.

But playing the Grizzlies, the most popular of the two teams now, is Liu Mang.

The only one of these two teams to make headlines in newspapers and magazines across the United States this season is Liu Mang.

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In the pre-game interview, Liu Mang was taken by Coach Kruger to participate in the pre-game interview.

When he arrived at the interview hall, Liu Mang was surprised that it was crowded with reporters!

Not only Memphis, but the whole of Tennessee is tightly around Memphis, and a lot of media has come.

Although it was a team interview, the first shot was really fired on Liu Mang.

"Liu, what do you think of today's game?"

Liu Mang answered this kind of question honestly: "We will win." ”

Liu Mang is here to answer very honestly, but the media here is basically inclined to the Grizzlies, and most of them are Grizzlies fans, so it's uncomfortable to listen to.

Don't be so direct! Doesn't it mean that the Chinese are very introverted?

Liu Mang was so direct, and the reporters who originally wanted to write about the Chinese's first salute and then soldier were not polite.

"Liu, what do you think of the Grizzlies as an opponent?"

"Memphis is a great place to be, and the Grizzlies are definitely going to be a great team one day, but not now, we're stronger."

"You're about to play against the Grizzlies' Rookie of the Year favorite Pau Gasol, is there any pressure?"

"Of course, Paul is the best interior player in our rookie class, he's going to be an All-Star in the future, he's going to win championships, but we've got better interior players, and Theo is going to use his muscles and strength to defend the interior."

Originally, the media at the scene were very unhappy with Liu Mang, but Liu Mang's answer to this question suddenly made people very happy.

It is indeed a bit difficult to ask a rookie Gasol to deal with Ratliff, a famous center who is likely to be the best defense this year and is now averaging 3.6 blocks per game, which does not sound good, but the Gasol that Liu Mang said earlier will be an All-Star, and the most important thing is that he will win the championship, which makes them feel that Liu Mang is not very arrogant.

It's just that Liu Mang didn't say a word, and it wasn't in the grizzly bear to win the championship......

Many media have died down, Liu Mang's answer is enough to make fans happy, and then asked a little bit of the Hawks' tactical arrangement, how to deal with the twin star combination of Gasol and Jason Williams, and other common questions.

Still, at the end of the pre-match interview a few minutes ago, someone asked a topical question.

"Everybody thinks you and Pau Gasol are going to be the best rookie candidates, who do you think you're going to win Rookie of the Year or Pau Gasol?" A reporter with glasses asked.

It stands to reason that when the two sides have entered a pleasant interview time, the reporters from the Hawks will not take the initiative to stir up trouble on the road, and the media of the home team will not deliberately offend the opposing team, after all, the Grizzlies are the bottom three weak teams in the league.

Liu Mang was also a little surprised, today he has strictly followed Coach Kruger's instructions and accepted the interview honestly.

Originally, Liu Mang wanted to scare a wave of grizzly bears, but seeing Coach Kruger's cannibalistic expression, he estimated that if he did everything like when he was in Seattle, the coach who took care of him the most would probably have a heart attack.

Originally, Coach Kruger didn't want Liu Mang to be exposed, not that he didn't want Liu Mang to become a star, and he didn't want Liu Mang to be famous, the key is that Liu Mang's mouth continues to fire like this, and it is estimated that he will offend the other 28 teams in the league!

As a coach, Coach Kruger knows a little better than others that it is difficult for a player to stay on a team forever, especially a team like the Hawks with a strong utilitarian owner, one of the most managerial players who will squeeze players, and it can be seen that he sent him to the Clippers when the essence of human movies still had trade value.

As a famous local college coach in Atlanta, Coach Kruger knows very well that if Liu Mang's future benefits to the team do not meet the previous efforts, it will be difficult to say what will happen after that.

So Coach Kruger doesn't want Liu Mang to offend so many opponents, maybe which team will be Liu Mang's next home that day.

The previous questions, Liu Mang answered casually, praised the opponent, and said that he was a little more powerful on his side, all of which were polite answers.

But on the issue of the best rookie, Liu Mang is starting to have ambitions!

Liu Mang didn't have much luxury for this reward before, thinking that it was not as easy as winning the best sixth person.

But when he arrived in Memphis yesterday afternoon and felt the enthusiasm of the Memphis fans for Pau Gasol to win the Rookie of the Year, he felt a very different feeling.

It's not that there is no chance!

And as those TV media, fans, and professionals say, this is an award that rookies only have one chance to win in their lifetime!

If you look closely, the logo of this reporter's microphone seems to be the media in New York, as if he and the Knicks are not so harmonious! After losing to the Knicks in the last game, it seems that the report from New York is a shameless rookie!

This time, Liu Mang's expression became very serious: "Best rookie? Of course it's me! ”

"You mean you're better than Pau Gasol? Will you win this rookie of the year contest? The reporter from New York resolutely continued to dig the hole.

"Why not? There's always someone to win, why not me? ”