Chapter 18: Apprenticeship with Barkley

"To get into "Superstar Moment", the first is that you have to have a certain physical condition, and the second is that you have to love basketball from the bottom of your heart, and those who just play basketball to make money will never achieve it! Thirdly, you have to be focused on the game, and most importantly, your own emotions, your desire to set goals, and often the people who get into 'Superstar Moment' are some paranoid," Barkley explained

Many great players in NBA history have been able to enter the "superstar moment" in one season or several seasons, first of all, the basketball god Michael Jordan, his "superstar moment" season is many, many, but here we want to mention Jordan's 87-88 season. This season, Jordan won the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards, reaching the peak level on both offensive and defensive ends, and it was also Jordan's second season with a 35+ average score, but this season's Jordan is very different from the Jordan of the previous season. This season's Jordan is not just satisfied with becoming an ordinary NBA superstar, but wants to become a superstar who can win championships, and the desire for championships and superstars has become the key to inspire Jordan's "Superstar Moment"!

Kobe Bryant's "Superstar Moment" was that crazy 2005-2006 season. He averaged 35.4 points per game this season and also went down in history with 81 points. The first person in the league deserves to be the first in terms of strength. Let's take a look at Kobe's evolutionary history, since winning the championship in the new millennium, there was no rest in the offseason, gaining weight, and strengthening low-post ability, Kobe Bryant began to break out in the following season, that is, this season, scored his first 50 points, reflecting the potential of a top scorer, but because of compatibility with the team, it finally converged a lot. In the 2002-2003 season, the average points per game reached 30 points for the first time, and the arsenal gradually became complete. Then in the 2005-2006 season, the physical aspect was at its peak, and the technique was also the most proficient. If Jordan's game was easy, Kobe's 2005-2006 season was completely unstoppable. Even Jordan praised Kobe Bryant as the player with the highest scoring rate when his body was lost, who else can guard against Kobe this season? For the Lakers to regain the strongest team in the league after leaving O'Neal, it became the key to inspire Kobe Bryant's "Superstar Moment"!

Flash Wade's "Superstar Moment" was the 2006 Finals, and Wade's performance can definitely rank in the top five of all the finals individual performances. Although the referee's decision and other aspects are debatable, no one can deny that no one in the series Mavericks can guard Wade. Wade's mid-range shot and breakaway tore through the Mavericks' defense and knocked out the opponent's heart, a lightning-fast player, shuttling around the corner of the court one by one, there is nothing to say, 36 points per game, great series. At that time, although Wade was one of the outstanding talents of the golden generation in 2003, the outside world's attention to Wade was not as high as that of the little emperor James and the little melon Anthony, Wade did not feel that he was worse than them, so winning the championship that they did not have proved his strength became the key to inspiring Wade's "Superstar Moment"!

Magic Johnson's "Superstar Moment" was the 86-87 season, Johnson averaged 23.9 points and 12.2 assists per game, and won his first MVP. He also beat Bird for the first time in regular season performance. After that, he went all the way to the Finals, and as expected, he met the Celtics, and the Finals Magic beat the Celtics' little hook. There was also a hiccup before the season that inspired the Magic's "Superstar Moment", the '85-86 Western Conference playoffs, where the Lakers lost to the Rockets, and then the Celtics defeated the Rockets in the Finals to win the championship. After losing to the Rockets in the '85-86 playoffs, the Magician's nickname changed from MagicJohnson to TragicJohnson. "Tragic" means "tragedy", and the magicians of the time stared at this nickname desperately to prove themselves, and this became the key to the magician's "Superstar Hour"!

When it comes to Magic, we have to talk about Big Bird Bird, Bird is a very special player, he makes people realize that a player of this height can play so many positions, from the dirty work of grabbing rebounds to the delicate work of organizing the team, almost all of them can be perfect, and Bird's career has been very stable. "Superstar Moment" runs through Bird's entire career, but because Bird's physical fitness is only the average level of the league, or even below the average of the league, Bird has not played many monster-level statistics! But judging from his entire basketball career, his data is at the level of a monster, and it is completely impossible to see that Bird has suffered a back injury or a finger injury!

Barkley's words touched Beasley a lot, what he played basketball for, whether he really loved basketball, and what kind of achievements he hoped to achieve in the field of basketball!

Just when Beasley was deep in thought, Barkley spoke again at this time: "When a player turns on "Superstar Moment", he will make his own strength 100% to 120%, but "Superstar Moment" has many areas, and some people can shoot extremely accurately after opening and can even ignore the opponent's defense, such as Maddie and Miller moments in 35.13 seconds; Some people turn it on and it's incredibly fast, like Iverson in 2001; Some people's breakthroughs will become extremely powerful, like Ben Wallace, the big shark who smashes rebounds! Some people are even very sensitive to the smell of rebounds after turning it on, just like the big worm Rodman! ”

After saying that, Barkley saw that Beasley was still pondering, looking sad! It seems that Beasley is really caught up in thinking, thinking about his future career, thinking about his goals!

"I want to be the best interior player in the NBA, the strongest interior player in history, and the best player in NBA history, and not one of them!" Beasley suddenly said loudly.

In fact, Beasley has never thought that he will surpass Jordan, the god of basketball, Jordan is an epoch-making figure, heroes create the times, the times create heroes, the NBA has made Jordan, and Jordan has promoted the NBA. Jordan may not have the dominance of Chamberlain or the rings of Russell, but he is the god of basketball in people's hearts!

At first, Beasley just wanted to become a basketball superstar, because basketball superstars can make a lot of money that ordinary people can't earn, and then live a good life! But Beasley plays more and more basketball, and slowly Beasley not only plays basketball to make money, it seems that basketball has become a part of life, since he has come to this world, he will definitely give it a fight, whether he can surpass Jordan or not, but if he doesn't even have the courage to surpass, then what qualifications are there to talk about really loving basketball!

"Very good, boy, yes, I have determined my goal so quickly, but it is useless to be a strong king, a man has to rely on action!" Barkley said

"Yes, Mr. Buckley!" Beasley was not called Mr. Buckley, nor Mr. Jazz, but Mr. Buckley! The teacher is not a random thing, the old saying is that one day is a teacher and a father for life, which shows the importance of a teacher!

"Okay, boy, I'll hone your inside skills during this time!" Barkley said happily that Beasley's words were very good for Barkley!

"Thanks, teacher, but can you teach you some experience when you enter Superstar Hour!" Beasley said that compared with the low-post interior technology, Beasley still hopes to enter "Superstar Moment" as soon as possible!

"The thing of "Superstar Moment" has to be understood by yourself, if it can really be taught, Jordan's son would have already ruled the NBA, not a league gangster who is still in the inferior league!" Barkley rolled his eyes and said, he thought that "Superstar Hour" was a free throw, and he would teach it!

After listening to Barkley's words, Bies looked at Barkley with suspicion, as if he was wondering if Barkley had entered "Superstar Moment", if so, it stands to reason that there would be no championship in this life!

"Stinky boy, I'm the great Sir Charles, the strongest man on the planet, I entered the "Superstar Moment" almost every season in my life except for a few seasons, and in the 1992-93 season, I played the highest 110% of my career, otherwise I can win the MVP, you must know that era is Jordan's era, how difficult it should be to get a piece of the pie!" Barkley said disgruntled when he saw Beasley's skeptical eyes

Hearing Barkley's explanation, Beasley's skeptical eyes were a little better, but it still did not subside, and he secretly said in his heart that if you can always play 110% of your strength, it stands to reason that the championship will be appropriate!

"Although I started "Superstar Hour" and became the strongest man on the planet, that guy (Jordan) also started "Superstar Hour" and exerted 120% of his strength to become the strongest man in the universe!" Seeing Beasley's suspicion, Barkley continued, his expression looked very lonely and said, although Barkley looks like a person who has no heart and no lungs, but the championship is the regret of his life, the biggest scar on his heart!

That season, Barkley averaged 25.6 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, shot 52 percent from the field, and averaged 5.1 assists per game to earn the regular season MVP and be named to the All-Star Game for the seventh straight year. In the playoffs, Barkley helped the Suns reach the Finals for the first time since 1976, but lost 2-4 to the Bulls and missed out on the championship. Barkley averaged 26.6 points and 13.6 rebounds per game in the playoffs and 27.3 points, 13 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game in the Finals. In Game 4 of the Finals, Barkley had a triple-double of 32 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. The superman-like Barkley had no choice but to run into a god-like Jordan. In addition, many people in that era entered "Superstar Moment", but both Shengyu and He Shengliang!

"Teacher, don't worry, I will help you fulfill your wish!" Beasley saw the lonely Buckley and could feel the pain in Barkley's heart, so he comforted him

"Stinky boy, if you can't become the strongest existence in NBA history, don't say it's my apprentice!" Barkley came back to his senses and said with a smile

Over the next few days, Barkley and Beasley agreed to practice at four o'clock in the morning at Barkley's basketball gym.

"Stinky boy, maybe your dribbling is good, and your step-back jumper is okay, but in my opinion, your basic skills under the basket are quite poor, maybe you often study the videos of the older generation of legends inside, but you don't really understand the inner essence!" Barkley pointed out Beasley's shortcomings directly

It's hard to draw the skin of a tiger and draw bones, this is the truth, Beasley only learned to paint the skin, but this skin is very good, and even some laymen think that Beasley has already painted bones, but in fact it is still much worse than painting bones!

"You have to start with the most basic positions under the basket!" Barkley said

Beasley didn't say anything because he learned the basics, but he readily agreed, which made Barkley very satisfied, some stars in the league can become superstars but disappear in the NBA because of arrogance and complacency, such as the Lakers' little shark Bynum in the previous life, although the physical condition is quite good, but because of arrogance, I feel that what the Lakers' basketball legend Abdul-Jabbar taught him has completely learned, which led to leaving the NBA at the peak and becoming a family of scissors and blowing Matt!

"If you want to get stuck under the basket, you need to use a left turn or a right turn to get the opponent stuck and get the ball to play alone. Generally speaking, when you are ready to play singles, if the ball is on your right hand, try to use your right foot as the axis to make a left back turn position; If the ball is on your left hand side, try to pivot with your left foot and make a right back turn. ”

Barkley let Beasley practice after explaining, Barkley called a nanny of his own as a passer, and Beasley needed to receive the ball under Barkley's interference, Barkley retired for some years, but its strength did not regress much, Beasley was tossed by Barkley enough, many times the basketball was not received by Barkley, and even sometimes Barkley's big ass could not catch the ball!

That's it, such a basic action, Beasley and Barkley practiced all day, during which Beasley did not complain, nor shouted tired, Beasley's progress Barkley also felt extremely terrifying, this guy just spent so much time, he learned the basket card position so well, sometimes I used some small movements, but still couldn't stop him!

The next day, Beasley learned to play the ball and protect the ball, the next ball is the moment when you want to attack and drop the ball on the ground, confirm that the defender's defensive position is not appropriate and immediately get off the ball and shoot the ball, so that not only the success rate is high and there is no need to spend a lot of time to show the so-called skills in basketball, although the skills are pleasing to the eye, but their use value can not be proportional to appreciation!

Ball protection is a very important basic skill under the basket, and the backframe singles need to use more non-dribbling arms and non-dribbling shoulders to protect the ball; In the case of one or two times at most, the non-dribbling hand naturally stretches out to protect the ball, which can not only pluck the ball through the hand of the absolute hand, but also has the function of feeling the opponent's position. Secondly, the shoulder protects the ball, and the ball should be played in the low back frame, unless the direction of the person has been confirmed, the lateral dribble is rubbed out of the proper position and timing of the shot; Therefore, the forward movement of the opponent on the side and the shoulder of the non-dribbling side opens the way, so that the ball is protected by your body.

With the start of the regular season getting shorter and shorter, Beasley has to train with Barkley in addition to practicing with the team, and the last few days, in addition to spending a little time consolidating what he learned in the previous days, are practicing skating and dribbling!

The sliding step dribble is generally called the crab step, which is the action of the lateral dribble in front of the head, and the sliding step dribbling of the low back frame is purely for protection and then waiting for the opportunity to move, rather than paying attention to the speed of dribbling; Left and right turn dribbling is to find that the opponent's defense's body center of gravity is deviated at the moment when we use the left hand or right hand to dribble, and then quickly turn and dribble to take advantage of the weakness. Beasley's Dream Top is an evolved version of the slide dribble, but Beasley's Dream Top relies more on his own dribbling skills to confuse defenders, and cannot read the deviation of the opponent's body center of gravity.

PS: Everyone has their own "Superstar Moment", there are all walks of life, for example, today's chapter is completely my "Superstar Moment"!