From the shadow of the Raptors leaving his distant cousin to the Magic, Maddy led the Magic to the playoffs in his first solo season last season, which had not been in the playoffs for four years.

After O'Neal left the Magic, the Magic went from being a powerhouse second only to the Bulls in the East to a fish belly, and Anfernee Hardaway was reimbursed after playing 50 games in the first year after O'Neal left, and never returned to the top after that, and was traded by the Magic to the Suns in 1999, and the Magic completely became a fish belly.

In 2000, the Magic brought in Grant Hill and Maddy, as well as free agent Tim Duncan, and since Duncan was a rookie signed before the 1998 shutdown with only three years and no parent team priority extension clause that was only stipulated in 1998, the Magic are expected to form the Big Three.

At that time, Magic head coach Doug Rivers and the Magic owner went to San Antonio to talk to Duncan in detail, Duncan had already agreed to go to the Magic at that time, but when Duncan was about to agree to sign a contract, he asked: Can I take my girlfriend and family on a team charter flight when I play away? Airfare is a bit expensive.

Then Rivers said no.

And then there was no then.

From the newspaper asking if O'Neal was worth 100 million in the newspaper that year, to not giving Duncan's girlfriend and parents air tickets in 2000, the management of the Magic team is simply amazing!

Rivers' no-can't be true.

For the Magic, it is not only the operation is amazing, but also the luck is enough, just signed a six-year, 80 million contract with Grant Hill, who played 4 games last season and was reimbursed for the season.

In fact, at the beginning, the Magic team had Maddie, Grant Hill, and Duncan, because at that time, basically no one regarded Maddie as a giant, and they wanted to find the dual core of Grant Hill and Duncan, but I didn't expect that one did not come and one was reimbursed.

This is probably the only "lucky" thing in Maddy's unlucky year last season, that is, there is no star-level teammate, he has become the absolute core of the Magic team, if Grant Hill is here, Maddy just changes team to be Pippen, but Grant Hill is reimbursed, and Maddy's talent can be shown.

Averaging 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5 assists per game, Maddie went directly from the average star who averaged 15 points per game next to Carter, to become a first-line superstar in the league, stepped into the ranks of superstars, won the Most Improved Award, and at the same time surpassed Carter in the second team of the All-NBA team, and it only took one season to prove that he was better than his distant cousin!

But Maddy's bad luck is real, after last season, Grant Hill recovered from injury, and the Magic saw that they had two superstars, and what more Duncan wanted, and then brought in large-scale reinforcements, bringing in Darrell Armstrong, the Celtics' quasi-first-class point guard Dee Brown, and the team's 2000 selection of the weakest rookie of all time, Mike Miller, also grew.

Seeing that the new season is ready to take off the 76ers...... Grant Hill is reimbursed again.

Dee Brown was also reimbursed.

The championship lineup?

Inexistent.

Originally, the Magic should have sent out the starters this season with super outside combinations such as Dee Brown, Maddy, and Grant Hill plus Pat Garrity and John Amici, two blue-collar insiders, and even it was possible to get Duncan back with a few more tickets, and there were three starter-level substitutes on the bench, such as Darrell Armstrong, Bo Outlaw, and Mike Miller, as well as Patrick Ewing, a veteran, which is basically the first team in the East!

Even if it is the weakest rookie, it is also the best rookie, and it is not so easy to average 11 points and 4 boards per game in a rookie year...... For the 2000 rookie.

If the Magic were the place where Grant Hill and Dee Brown were to reimburse the previous lineup, the Hawks could say no and the win you would have taken.

In fact, even the current lineup of Darrell Armstrong, Maddy, Mike Miller, Pat Garriti, and John Amic is no worse than the Hawks.

……

If Kobe Bryant is a poisonous snake that can only hide in O'Neal's shadow at the beginning, Carter is a wyvern who shines in the league when his head comes out, and Iverson is a rebellious lone wolf, then Maddie is like an elf who is unhurried and casual.

Putting aside the honors of his career, the current Maddie is like the James who has dominated the East for many years that Liu Mang will see in the future, everything is tepid, and he gets scores, rebounds, and assists casually.

Also as a top player in the league, Raheem was suppressed in all aspects when he was facing Maddy, and Maddie seemed to have no strength at all, and he scored 15 points in the first quarter.

Liu Mang looked at Rahim who was abused to death, maybe he still took winning as the first goal in his bones, Liu Mang felt a pain in his eyes, if you really want to talk about it, Rahim's talent is also top-notch! Why is it so miserable every time you meet a superstar?

If Liu Mang knew what Raheem was thinking, then the Grizzlies, who trained Rahim to become a top star averaging 23+10+3 per game, would not trade him away and tear him down and rebuild.

It's Jason Terry and Darrell Armstrong who are more likely to see the rivalry between the former Sixth Man of the Year and the future Sixth Man of the Year going back and forth.

On the inside, both teams are blue-collar, just watch the outside play, grab rebounds and guard the basket.

At the end of the first quarter, as expected by the media before the game, the Magic team had an all-round advantage in strength, and the Hawks still trailed the Magic team by 6 points 21-27 despite the main team playing the first quarter.

The Hawks are doing well in other positions, Jason Terry and Darrell Armstrong, the two best players to play the sixth man, are on par with each other, Mike Miller is well defended by Dean Grove, and Dean Grove's playmaking and scoring ability are average, and he is also guarded by Mike Miller.

The interior line is all blue-collar and has no offensive performance, which is also half a catty.

As far as Maddie is concerned, the Hawks were completely blown up, Maddie not only played Raheem to death on the offensive end, but also defended Raheem to his knees, if it wasn't for Jason Terry's 3-pointer in the first quarter, the Hawks would have scored miserably!

Coach Krueger was really speechless about Rahim, three of the four games in the opening season were blown up by the top players on the opposite side, the first game against the Rockets against Francis, who should be inferior to him in terms of data and strength, was blown up, and the second game was against Iverson...... Iverson scored 25 points in a single quarter, and the third game was okay, the other party had nothing to compete with him, and finally got a tough wave to score 37 points, and this fourth game met Maddy......

Can't you fight for some gas!

One of the things that coach Krueger is most dissatisfied with about his team is that there is no player who can play the absolute core, and there is no person who can lead the team forward.

Rahim, the strength is okay, but he has no heart, and he will be exploded when he meets a superstar.

Jason Terry, he has the heart and strength, but he doesn't have the team spirit, he just does it when he goes up, and he is easy to target.

Others...... It's all role players.

It's okay for this squad to win some games and make the playoffs, but it's too difficult to become a popular team like the owner thinks!

If you want to say that the hottest player in this team right now...... Coach Kruger looked at Liu Mang, who was eager to try and look forward to playing, and saw Liu Mang's shining eyes, it seems that the most star-studded player in our team is this product, this guy who is now famous in the United States because of his extremely obscene style of play, this rookie who can always become an X-factor, is also his disciple.

After thinking about it for a while, Coach Krueger made the personnel arrangement for the second quarter: "Ace, Jason, Alain, Ila, Nazr you play. ”

"Roger!" Liu Mang pulled off the training clothes he was wearing outside and was about to walk on the field.

Playing in regulation time for two games in a row, that is, moving from the water cooler manager to the rotation player! There is no room for Liu Mang not to be excited.

Seeing Liu Mang walking on the court like that, Coach Kruger's face was black: "Ace, you come back to me!" ”

"Huh? What's wrong with the coach? Liu Mang asked suspiciously.

"Tactics! I haven't even laid out the tactics yet! "Coach Kruger has a headache, that Liu Mang was so stable in college, what's wrong now!

Liu Mang looked at Coach Kruger's face darkened, and came back with a smile......