Chapter Twenty-Eight: Singles and Defenses

It is customary in the training camp of the Dream Team that the white vest will basically be the future starting lineup during the team's internal game, and the blue vest will be the substitute lineup.

But given the U.S. team's terrifying individual prowess, even if their bench members are combined, it's a star-studded all-star lineup.

Coach K Sr. greets the point guard of the blue team on the court, Derrick. Rose is out for the time being, and Rose, who has just returned from a serious injury, is using this training camp to get back into shape. However, his performance in training these days has always been good and bad, and Rose, who wants to avoid another injury, seems to be unable to find a rhythm that suits him.

Seeing Addison, who was wearing a blue vest, come onto the field, the members of the dream team didn't say anything. Everyone knows that this rookie was brought in by CoachK, although many players are dismissive of this Chinese rookie, but no one wants to cause trouble for themselves in front of the old K.

Addison glanced at the players on the field, and now the lineup of the white team is center Anthony. Davis, power forward Kenneth. Faried and three backcourt players, James Brown. Harden, Stephen. Curry, Carey. Irving.

The blue team's lineup is center forward Andre. Drummond, power forward Mason. Plumlee, small forward Rudy. Gay, shooting guard DeMar. DeRozan also has point guard Addison. Quiet.

After receiving Plumlee's serve, Addison slowly dribbled the ball through the half court with a calm face. Just before coming to the three-point line, Rudy on the wing. Guy beckoned for the ball, but the boy looked at the two teams as if he hadn't seen it.

Guy gestured twice, seeing that Addison was unmoved or annoyed, and simply began to run around the half. He just wanted to see if this rookie had the guts to be the team's main control, and if he passed the ball over as soon as he beckoned Addison, Guy would look down on this yellow skin even more.

At the top of the arc, Addison looked at Carey standing in front of him. Irving, who is a typical point guard with a strong offense and weak defense, is eager to try his hand at playing alone, but he knows exactly what his responsibilities are on the court.

Raising his hand to call for Plumlee to cover, the Nets' sophomore forward has a height of 2.11 meters and a physical quality that is very rare among whites, and what is even more commendable is that his high jump shot ability is very stable, and he is quite suitable for blocking and pick-and-roll tactics. This is also the reason why Coach K recruited him to the dream team, and he is also an alumnus of Addison, also produced by Duke University.

Plumlee ran out to cover, and Faried had to follow him for fear of his opponent's high position, while always ready to switch to Addison.

However, the Chinese boy only moved a little with the help of the blocker, and then suddenly threw the basketball high towards the inside with a shake of his right hand, and Faried, who was completely unexpected, did not have time to reach out to intercept the high toss pass.

At this time, a tall black figure under the basket suddenly rose to the ground, stretched out his long arm to easily grab the basketball thrown over, and pressed it into the net basket!!

Andre. Drummond let out a painful breath as he fell back to the ground, and behind him was Anthony with a somewhat helpless expression. Davis. Drummond gestured at Addison for a great pass, the boy had spoken to the big man for the first time since he entered the camp.

The old K coach on the sidelines couldn't help but smile, although there were many excellent point guards in this training camp, but in his eyes, if he talked about the overall situation and imagination of the court, the leading point guards of these various teams may not be as good as Addison, who is still a rookie.

Clever passes like this, pretending to use pick-and-rolls, but actually creating aerial opportunities for their interior teammates, may be Stephen Brown. Curry and Carey. Owen couldn't have imagined it. While they are both excellent, they don't see so much on the field......

In just a few seconds, Addison analyzed that with Plumlee's high post ability and Irving's consistent behavior on the defensive end, Faried would 100% follow up and prepare to switch defenses, which completed the first step of the plan. And Anthony under the basket. Davis's best fit is actually a power forward, he is 6'10" tall and weighs just over 100 kilograms. Facing Drummond, who weighs 127 kilograms and is equally physical, Davis will definitely not be able to withstand the opponent in the basket position.

Sure enough, the moment Addison sent the basketball away, Drummond just stuck Davis firmly behind him, and easily completed the empty dunk.

Analyzing all the actions of opponents and teammates in less than two seconds, Addison's on-court thinking ability is at the top of the pyramid even in the top leagues......

Curry whistled, and he felt that the rookie who had been asking him for shooting tips yesterday now seemed to suddenly show his sharp fangs, and a faint chill was rising.

***

Harden sends the ball to Kyrie. Owen, the white team has possession of the ball in the rotation of the three backs, and this time it is clear that it will have to be handed over to Owen.

The Cavaliers' star point guard quickly dribbled the ball across the halfcourt, and he was a little inexplicably excited in the face of Addison, who was waiting for him.

Before entering the NBA, Kyrie. Irving is one of Duke's brightest stars and the absolute no-brainer for the No. 1 spot on the Blues.

And last year, he heard that his alma mater had another point guard who had risen to become the starting point guard of the Blue Devils as a freshman. Quiet. Many people refer to him as 'Irving's successor', and many commentators even consider Addison to be a more pure and helpful point guard than Irving.

All this made Owen full of interest in this rookie, and now they are finally facing each other on the court, and there is still two people standing on the sidelines...... Owen wanted to prove a lot, so he chose to singled Addison.

The old K on the sidelines frowned, he was not very happy with Owen's choice. During his time with Duke, he was critical of Irving's sometimes overly individualistic choices on the court, a talented young man who was too fond of playing alone and too keen on scoring, and who didn't have the right understanding of the point guard.

Even though Irving's offensive prowess has been well proven in the top leagues, his penchant for individual offense has often been caught by opponents, and many times Irving has always had a glamorous stat while the Cavaliers have lost badly.

Not to mention Carey. Irving is Addison's best defensive type – not top-notch physically, with flashy and delicate ball handling and a well-rounded individual offensive ability...... The Chinese boy's long arms and strong physicality are specifically designed to deal with this type of opponent.

But Irving, of course, hasn't realized this yet, and his continuous crotch dribbling is getting faster and more irregular. Addison, on the other hand, stood expressionlessly in front of the three-point line, carefully staring at the opponent's waist and shoulders, ready to make a prediction.

Owen bobbed his shoulders and then sprinted to the right, and Addison followed with a half-step sideways, but his left foot was not on target. Irving's right hand quickly struck the basketball from the crotch and slammed it to the left. Addison's left foot, which did not stand firmly, allowed him to shift his center of gravity immediately, retreat a little and then quickly move sideways to block the opponent's breakthrough, and Addison had an absolute advantage in the battle of instant explosive power.

The first moment of physical contact between the two people, Addison immediately got close to him, and the force transmitted from his upper limbs made Carey. Owen was taken aback. Although Owen's 85kg weight is not strong, he thinks he is at least better than the skinny rookie in front of him. It's just that after really confronting him, the strength of the opponent's upper limbs made him almost unconsciously deviate to the outside, and the rhythm of the breakthrough was directly scattered.

Owen lost space to break through after being held up closely, and he could feel the rookie sly start to put pressure on his knees and lower back, and such hidden small movements would often be ignored even if the referee saw it. In desperation, Irving had to dribble and retreat outside the three-point line, but Addison followed closely but did not fully stick to prevent the opponent from breaking through again.

Seeing that the offensive time came to the last 8 seconds, Irving suddenly held the ball and leaned over to temporarily give himself a space to make a reluctant shot, and then hit the ball back to his right hand from behind, and stepped back to shoot a jumper outside the three-point line.

Addison stepped forward to block it in time, and the affected Irving smashed the ball and popped up, which was jumped high by Drummond to grab the rebound, and then immediately passed to the point guard. Who told Addison to just give him a beautiful air catch, Drummond knew very well what it meant to be a 'grateful gift'.