On September 26, 2006, the Rockets officially announced the 2006-2007 season training camp schedule today, with a "media talk" event on Tuesday local time and the first public training session at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday......

Members of the Houston Rockets gathered on Wednesday at Toyota's Center Court to begin preparations for the NBA preseason that begins in October.

On this day, in addition to Yao Ming, who represented China in the World Championships, Battier who represented the United States, and Spanoulris, who shined in the World Championships, the Rockets players will come to the arena, including several trial players.

After the preseason, the Rockets were only able to keep a 15-man roster. That is, several people will be laid off. According to Hayes's trajectory, it will be Ryan Bowen, who can only defend, white forward Casey Jacobson, 2.11m center Hayaz, and Coronna Azubuuk, who will be firmly established in the Warriors.

The layoffs have largely nothing to do with Hayes, who has been promised by Jeff Van Gundy to be the starting power forward. Everything was going so well, but now, Hayes was feeling a little nervous. This tension is not unfounded. During this time, although he has been practicing hard, he has neglected the most important part of wanting to improve his basketball level, that is, actual combat! Lately he's been playing without a defense in front of him.

There are quite a few street courts in Houston, but Hayes has a twist in his heart and is a little reluctant to play wild ball, so he never goes. He was worried that the people who played street ball were too rough, and if he got injured in that kind of place, it would affect the training camp that was about to start, and he would not lose it.

At half past eight, Maddie finally arrived. A sleepy-eyed appearance appeared on the court, smiling and greeting everyone.

Hayes' heart beat even harder to see Maddie, the first time he had seen an NBA All-Star player so close. Like a dream, he's going to play with these guys soon, will he be able to keep up with them? With so many words and promises to Jeff Van Gundy, is he going to impress everyone today or be beaten back to square one?

Hayes's body was trembling slightly, and he couldn't tell whether he was nervous or excited, as if he had lit a fire in his heart, spread it, and burned his whole body!

In the NBA, a player's "enemy" is not only the opponent. There are many NBA rookies who hit the "rookie wall", on the one hand, due to the lack of physical fitness and the ups and downs of competitive state, and on the other hand, from psychological pressure. Now, Hayes feels a bit of a "hit the wall".

After the players were assembled, Jeff Van Gundy stepped up and said something similar to a pre-war mobilization. Then the players started to warm up under the leadership of the assistant coach, and after the warm-up, the players were divided into red and blue sides and began to practice in 5v5 groups.

Jeff van Gundy split Hayes and Alston in the blue team, while the other three were Luther Hyde, Novak and Padget. Their opponents on the red side are Mutombo, Juwan Howard, Maddy, John Lucas III and just transferred Kirk Snyder.

Before the start, Jeff Van Gundy gave the blue side a special tactical briefing. When it comes to defense, he plays zone defense, and Hayes plays as an inside center. The offensive tactic is that Hayes blocks Alston in the front court, Alston breaks through, attracts the defense and plays by himself, or passes the ball back to Hayes, and then Hayes decides whether to shoot or pass to the other three pitchers.

As soon as Alston saw his own lineup, he felt that it was difficult to play, and as soon as he heard the tactical arrangement, he immediately fell into the woods - did the breakthrough not make Hayes shoot or divide the ball? Attacking with Hayes as the core? Could it be that today we are going to practice all the rebounds? Could it be that Jeff Van Gundy drank too much last night and hasn't woken up yet?

I have to say that Hayes came to the training ground to practice, and the secrecy was really well done. Aside from security guard Kevin and head coach Jeff Van Gundy, no one knows he's capable of shooting. He doesn't let people see him practicing shooting, just to make people ignore him during the game, so that he can get open shots. He scored very strongly today and wanted to prove himself by scoring it.

When he was about to play, Jeff Van Gundy called Hayes to his side again and whispered: "Now that the zone is in defense, didn't you say that our team can focus on the outside and running and shooting?" Let's try it out today. It's up to you to perform. ”

Hearing him say this, the pressure on Hayes was even greater.

Everyone has moments of nervousness, but there are many ways to express themselves.

For basketball players, when someone is nervous, they will lose their vitality, they dare not shoot when attacking, and they can't stretch out their hands when defending; There are also people who make mistakes when they are nervous, get capped, stealed, and played, which is not a good thing; There is also a kind of people, who usually think very highly of themselves, and they will not accept anyone when they initiate ruthlessness. When this kind of person is under a lot of pressure and feels nervous, he will only look at the basket and have no teammates.

Kobe Bryant and Iverson are such people. So every season, they will have a few convulsive games, a thirty or forty shots, when they feel good, they will score 50 points, and if they have a bad hand, they will shoot a few poor balls.

Coincidentally, Xuan Feng also belongs to this type of person. Although he has become the always low-key Chuck Hayes, there are certain things in his bones that cannot be erased by the occasion and circumstances.

The race is on.

Hayes and Mutombo jumped the ball, he played basketball for many years, and this was the first time he had jumped with someone.

As soon as the referee threw the ball, Hayes jumped up, fluttered twice in the air and fished nothing, and began to fall along with the basketball. Mutombo, on the other hand, is as stable as an old monk. His current bounce power does not exceed 10 centimeters, and with only his rich experience in jumping balls and exaggerated arm span, the moment the basketball is thrown and falls, he throws the ball to his side on tiptoe.

Hayes and the others had no choice but to quickly return to the defense.

Kirk Snyder received the incoming ball and immediately passed it to Maddie. Maddie dribbled slowly across the half court and began to organize the attack. Poor fringe man John Lucas III, in the name of a point guard, was so gorgeously ignored.

Maddie dribbled a few times, and jumping at a 60-degree angle on the right side was a three-pointer, and the person who defended Maddie was Hyde, and when Hyde saw Maddie jump, all he could do was to stand in place and raise his arms and defend with his eyes. And Mediche has been for a long time, and the hand feels a little rusty, and the ball smashes on the basket and pops up. Hayes saw the ball bounce in the other direction and wanted to rush for a rebound, when Mutombo's tall body blocked in front of him, and he didn't jump, holding the ball in his arms with one hand.

Hayes sighed that being tall was good, and quickly stepped forward to resist Mutombo and prevent him from turning easily under the basket. Mutombo passed the ball back to the outside and back into the hands of his team-mate.

This time John Lucas III finally received the ball and took a few strokes to transfer the ball to Kirk Snyder. Snyder was excited about his first training session, took his back with a bit, turned around and used his speed to pass Padget, who was a cut above him.

"I'll hit the first ball!" Snyder threw the ball complacently at his beautiful turn. Unexpectedly, a macho man came out of nowhere, waved his big hand, slapped the ball on the rebound, and the rebound ball was picked up by Novak.

"Good fight, Chuck!" Jeff Van Gundy shouted from the sidelines.

The person who blocked the block was Hayes, who had watched countless games of Snyder in the Rockets and knew that this guy had a brain and couldn't pass the ball nine out of nine, so he was ready to wait.

Snyder was embarrassed, and glanced at Hayes with an unkind face. Hayes didn't want to get into trouble with his new teammate, even if the opponent was a substitute, so he smiled back. But he forgot what he looked like, and almost disgusted everyone around him.

Alston dribbled through the half, and Hayes immediately stood at the three-point line to block him, successfully stopping the emaciated John Lucas III. After the rotation switch, it became Howard who defended Alston. Alston took one step past Howard and stepped on the three-second line to make a soul-destroying throw. This kind of throw is difficult to defend, but the shooting percentage is also relatively low. In addition to shooting three points, Alston had the best bite. It was these two iron-striking skills that earned him the nickname "Nerve Knife". Sure enough, the ball bounced twice on the rim and landed in Mutombo's hands.

"Raff, tactics. Pay attention to tactics. Jeff Van Gundy yelled at Alston from the sidelines.

Jeff Van Gundy was hell-bent on getting Hayes to catch the ball and shoot. If Alstom doesn't cooperate in the next round, Jeff will be angry and the consequences will be serious.

Red's offense in this round was still very simple, and Maddie received the ball and hit another three-pointer. Hyde's sharp-eyed defense may have an effect on the Chinese men's football team, but it will definitely not work in the NBA.

Hayes felt a little helpless, there was really no one on his side of the five who could defend Maddie. The height to keep up with the speed is not enough, and if the height is enough to defend, Maddie is about to break through. Before multiple injuries, Maddy's 1-on-1 offensive level was definitely in the top five in the league. Hayes has many skills that imitate Maddie, especially the jump shot after the start of the move, which seems to be not difficult, but as long as it is used properly, it is a trick and eats all over the world.

Alston dribbled to the front court and Hayes stepped forward again to block for him. This time, Alston broke through and put the ball back in Hayes' hands. Hayes's hair was almost gray when he waited for the ball, and immediately after receiving the ball, he stepped back and made a three-point line jumper, all in one go. His movements are similar to Maddie's, except that he jumps shorter and is also hollow into the net.

"Good!" Jeff Van Gundy was waving his fists on the sidelines, like a Hayes fan.

Except for Jeff Van Gundy, everyone in the stadium was stunned. Some of the people who knew Hayes so well that they played in the summer league with him began to rub their eyes and wonder if they were dazzled.

Hayes was quick to show everyone that they weren't dazzled. Alston cut off John Lucas III's ball and advanced to the front of the court to pass to Hayes. Facing Howard who hurriedly returned to defense, Hayes stepped down and changed direction to shake Howard, moved to the right and made a pull-up jump shot, hitting two points. At this point, all the members of Team Rocket went crazy.

The others thought it was incredible, and Hayes was so excited that he almost forgot to breathe.

"Is that what it's like to be in the NBA with a star and a player? It's so cool! If I can keep that touch, maybe I can be a star too. Hayes thought to himself.

In the defense, Hyde slapped Hayes on the back and shouted, "Damn! Did you take a stimulant today? Quasi-like a mutant, I haven't heard from you for a month, and I went to X Academy to practice? ”

"Hmm. Please call me Wolverine in the future! Hayes laughed and took his position on the inside line.

This time, Howard, a veteran who had just been humiliated, took the initiative to ask for the ball and hit a half-hook shot at a 45-degree angle, hitting Novak, a rookie who had just joined the NBA.

In turn, the blue side attacked, and Alstom passed the ball to Hayes. This time, Howard took the initiative to defend and vowed to save face. Last season, Hayes was still a kid who poured water on his bag, and he couldn't get used to seeing his opponent so arrogant, and he was determined to prove that he wasn't old.

And the implementation proves that Howard is really old.

As if he didn't see Howard in front of him, Hayes caught the ball and made a shot. Howard immediately jumped up to block it, only to find that Hayes had just raised his arm and leaned over, his feet still on the ground.

At the same time that Howard's body landed quickly, Hayes jumped up, hit Howard's arm with his left hand, and pushed the ball out with his right hand. The ball didn't go in, but the referee's whistle blew. Howard fouled and made three free throws.

Tom Hibberd, the first assist of the Rockets, looked at Jeff Van Gundy with his mouth wide open and said, "This is the surprise you called me to say?" Who did you ask to train him like this? How does he play like a defender? ”

"I trained it myself. Hahaha. He threw thousands of balls a day, and he did it for months. What do you think? Jeff Van Gundy laughs. He hadn't been so happy in a long time.

Hayes didn't know that Jeff Van Gundy took the credit for his shot. The kind of cheating foul just now is not just about practicing pitching, players must have a good awareness, and when they feint, they can't deceive the opponent by one point faster, and they can't make fouls if they are slow. It is precisely because Xuan Feng has been playing as an ace scorer that he can practice this style of playing to make opponents foul.

While the two coaches were chatting, Hayes had already made three free throws, all of which were hit. The crowd was stunned again. Jeff van Gundy called a timeout and the red team replaced Mutombo with Ryan Bowen. The intention is to see if Ryan Bowen can limit Hayes.

Hayes scored 8 points in a row? Maddie was inspired by Hayes' performance and got serious and began to ravage Hyde in various ways on the offensive end, and then the blue team switched to Casey Jacobson to defend and was also ravaged.

Maddie was invincible, but the score between the two sides did not pull away. Because Hayes keeps scoring. Both of them went it alone after receiving the ball, turning an ordinary team training match into a battle of points!

Ryan Bowen has defended Nowitzki, largely because Nowitzki's style of play mainly relies on height advantage and mid-range shooting feel, as long as he entangles Nowitzki, makes him unable to shoot comfortably, and affects his feel. When Xuan Feng played in China, he could only play defender, which was limited in his physical condition. Now he's Hayes, what size is Hayes?

Alston had never trusted Hayes before after a couple of attacks. Find a way to get the ball into his hands.

After being targeted by Ryan Bowen, Hayes gave up his outside shot, switched to the sides of the box to ask for the ball, and practiced back play on Ryan Bowen, and he used the famous trick of "Big Mouth" Charles Barkley - "Arch Ass". Even if his ass is not as big as Barkley's, it is almost the same, and his movements are also decent, and in a few strokes, Bowen will make a fortune on the red and white board that he doesn't know from east to west.

Hayes made two consecutive hooks with his body to the basket and made a foul, hitting both free throws. After only 3 minutes of play, Ryan Bowen was off the court and sitting. His only effect when he came on the pitch was to boost Hayes' confidence.

Hayes was substituted off for the break after playing 12 minutes, and his stats were even better than Maddy's, shooting 5-of-7 from the field, 1-of-2 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. Finished with 16 points, a block, no rebounds and no assists.

Tom Hibberd and Jeff Van Gundy both had their smiles from ear to ear.

Seeing Hayes coming over, Tom Hibber immediately stepped forward and asked, "Chuck." Are you ready to switch to small forward? With 16 points and not a single rebound, that's not your style. ”

"Hehe, that has to have a rebound, Maddie is too accurate today, what can I do?" Hayes gave the reason he had come up with, took a bottle of water and stood next to Jeff Van Gundy, and said, "Jeff, I didn't disappoint you, did I?" ”

With 16 points in the first quarter of the game, if Jeff Van Gundy isn't satisfied, who can't get into his eyes? Jeff Van Gundy laughed: "The offense is good, but the defense in this area is too bad." ”

"Big brother, it's Maddy who attacked, and he scored 13 points in 35 seconds against the Spurs. Do you think we have anyone on our side who is good at defense? Now he has only scored 14 points in the first quarter, which is already remarkable. God was moved to cry. Hayes didn't expect that he could be so powerful after merging the consciousness of the two, and he was in a huge mood, and when he was happy, he even used advertising words when he spoke.

"Don't be happy. They didn't expect you to shoot to score so many points. When you play for a while in the regular season and other teams are eyeing you, can you still shoot like that? Jeff Van Gundy pouted and poured cold water on Hayes. I thought to myself, 'I have to hurry up and make a proposal to the above and renew the contract with this kid.' Otherwise, it is likely that you will not be able to keep it after this season. ’

Hayes didn't know what Jeff Van Gundy was thinking, so he quickly patted his chest and said with determination: "Don't worry, I've been addicted to shooting in the team's training." When it comes to official games, I make defending my main task. With Yao Ming and Maddie, I won't force the pitch if it's not a particularly good opportunity. ”

Jeff Van Gundy nodded in satisfaction, sat Hayes next to him, and began to talk about the situation on the court. The two laughed and laughed from time to time, looking like brothers, and they were envious of the marginal players around them.

Not only the fringe players, but also the main players who were substituted off the game were also very strange, and everyone had to come over and ask a few questions, without exception, to know how Chuck Hayes, the "10-day short-term job" last season, practiced and improved so quickly.

Jeff Van Gundy replied on behalf of Hayes every time: "Work hard! Assiduous! He hasn't been anywhere this holiday, he's been practicing shooting, I've watched him improve with my own eyes, your talent is not bad, if you work so hard, you will be invincible a long time ago! ”

The players who participated in the training camp took turns to play, and none of them played particularly well. Hayes has been keeping an eye on one person, and that's Corunna Azubuuk. He could see that Azubuuk, like him, really wanted to show himself in front of Jeff Van Gundy, and as soon as he received the ball, he would not pass it out again and go straight to the basket. His speed is fast and his breakthrough is also sharp, but he doesn't grasp the timing of his shots well, and he often shoots in a hurry and hits iron frequently.

Hayes knows the future, doesn't want to watch Azubuuk, a good seedling, run away, and is bent on keeping him in the rockets. Hayes wants to talk to him as soon as possible to make him more stable, otherwise it will be difficult to recommend Jeff Van Gundy for this performance.

After a short break, Hayes was sent on again. This time, Jeff Van Gundy consciously put him and Howard in a counterpoint.

In the first round, Hayes almost blinded the crowd. After asking for the ball on the edge of the three-second zone, he took his left foot as the axis, shook his shoulder to the right, took the ball to the right, then stepped out with his right foot, braked immediately after landing, switched to the left with the ball in his right hand, then walked with his left foot, then moved his right foot, stepped over Howard's defense, and hit a layup.

This move is the signature of NBA legendary center Olajuwon - "Big Dream Steps". Although Hayes was a copycat version of his own practice, it was enough for Howard to drink a pot.

The BLU side has been instructed by Jeff van Gundy to play Hayes firmly in attack. As a result, Hayes continued to use his footwork and physical advantages on the inside to put on a good show on Howard.

Howard couldn't defend himself, and the offense was equally miserable. He can't do it with strength, and he can't squeeze into the three-second zone under Hayes's muscles. When it comes to footsteps, he's not as old as Hayes now. Without offensive means, Howard had no choice but to pass the ball or shoot with Hayes sealing his hand in his face to fight for character. If you have a good character, you will enter the ......

The result of the alignment is a big surprise, the Rockets' main power forward last season, the veteran Howard, who has been mixed in the NBA for 10 seasons, was completely blown out by Hayes, a rookie with a team-wide base salary of 660,000, at both offensive and defensive ends.

Jeff Van Gundy later switched to backup center Hayaz for defense, and Hayes, who was at an absolute disadvantage in height, began to move outside jumpers again, blowing Hayaz into the flesh. In this day's training session, he was as "incomprehensible" as Maddie in the offense.

At the end of the practice match, Howard lost face and scratched wildly, and there was a sentence that everyone agreed. The quote was: "I think Chuck Hayes is better suited to play small forward." ”

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