After the end of Summer League, the Raptors' roster is almost finalized.

The reason why the team was determined so early was mainly to give the players more time to prepare for the next new season.

The Raptors are aiming for a three-game winning streak, which is a very difficult task from a historical perspective.

Therefore, if you want to win three consecutive championships, you must have everyone put their heart and soul into preparing for the new season.

After the summer league, the Raptors have Wu Di, DeLong, Granger, Oden, and Milicic on the roster.

It is no surprise that these five men are still in the starting lineup under Collins in the new season.

And in addition to these five, Monta Ellis, Louis Williams, Nate Robinson, Masingotatt, Xue Yuyang, Paul Millsap, Richmond Charles, Reggie Evans, Matt Barnes, Latril Spreville.

These 10 people form the bench lineup for the Raptors to hit a three-peat.

Among these players, there are many players who are looking forward to big contracts and are more likely to be reused by a certain team in the future.

However, this season, they are both willing to play together and hit the triple championship, after all, if successful, it will be a chance to make a name in history.

In the Raptors' bench list, Xue Yuyang, Reggie Evans, and Richmond are obviously the substitutes in the bench, and if they want to have a performance in the new season, or expect to get playing time, then they need to prove themselves with a table.

Therefore, in the new season, the Raptors' intra-team player competition may be a factor that will guide the team to play better.

With such expectations. The days passed. And the new season is slowly being able to see a little trace.

For the Raptors. The coaching staff of Collins, Gary Payton and James are discussing the biggest obstacle to achieving a dynasty this year, and that's where they need to work the most.

The end result of the negotiation was quite unanimous, and that was defense.

Gary Payton insisted that if the Raptors want a triple championship this season, then the defense definitely deserves to be strengthened.

In this regard, not only the coaching staff agreed, but also the players said that this is the most worthwhile part of the effort.

Obviously, this makes it felt. The Toronto Raptors share a common understanding of the goal of a three-game winning streak.

Under the guidance of such policies and goals, all the players of the Raptors began to focus on defense under the command of the coaching staff.

Defence is indeed a big problem, and that's the most noteworthy.

Wu Di feels that this year, the Raptors will encounter the biggest obstacle of other teams, and whether they can achieve a certain degree of defense is very crucial.

Although most of the Raptors' players have some defensive ability, or some people's individual defense can be called top-notch.

Sometimes, however, 1+1 is obviously difficult to equal 2. What the Raptors need is a defensive system.

After discussions with coaches such as Collins and Gary Payton, the Raptors finally decided to use a defensive system based on man-to-man defense, supplemented by amoeba defense and shrinkage defense.

The reason for choosing to mark the man defensively. This is mainly due to the fact that the Raptors players are younger and more athletic, and in this condition, there is no reason for the Raptors to use other defense.

In fact, in the previous two seasons, the Raptors' default defensive system on the court was similar to mark-to-man defense, but because it was sometimes accompanied by some freely changing joint defense, the Raptors' defense was not so clear to the outside world.

Although that kind of defense made the Raptors champion in the previous two seasons, Collins still felt that the Raptors' defense needed to change.

Part of the reason Collins decided to use man-to-man defense for the new season is that the Raptors have so many players to play that he can keep his players on the line of high-intensity pressing to win. That way, all the players will be guaranteed playing time.

Of course, in some special games, man-to-man defence may not be effective.

As a result, Collins also used two other types of support defenses, which were mainly aimed at certain special periods of time or certain special aspects of the game.

The amoeba defensive system is actually a defensive style that Coach K appreciates very much, and although it is a little too risky at times, it still works very well in some moments.

Amoeba defense is a gambling style of defense that, if rotated well, can lead to steals and fast breaks. Most of the time, amoeba tactics are not suitable for building a team's main half-court defensive system. But if you are a surprise player, you can use it at any point in the game to interrupt the opponent's rhythm and force the opponent to make mistakes.

Using amoeba defense, in a way, is a very suitable way of defense for the Raptors, and in this regard, it is mainly to be able to take into account Wu Di's athleticism.

Wu Di is the league's best defensive player, and with his incredible athleticism, his defensive counterattack is extremely feared by many teams.

And the amoeba defense is completely suitable for Wu Di's defense.

Because, in most cases, if the Raptors successfully press and make mistakes, then Wu Di can take the lead to help the team complete a defensive counterattack.

It can be said that this kind of defense is Wu Di's favorite, because, if it is for personal consideration, this kind of defense can make Wu Di play better on the court and be more efficient.

As for the shrinking defense, Collins they chose this defense entirely as a backup.

It can be said that the shrinkage defense is completely behind the Amoeba defense in terms of the frequency of use by the Raptors in the new season.

However, Collins opted for a defensive tactic of shrinking the defense mainly to avoid being completely passive defensively when the players were really lacking in fitness at certain times.

That said, shrinking defense will come in the new season when the Raptors have problems with rotation.

……

After the defense is established, the coaching staff of course starts to organize the players to practice. In the meantime. Collins they are completely strict with their players. They want their players to be able to get to grips with this set of defence more quickly and then be very well prepared for the new season.

So, in the two months of August and September, when some teams were still busy with the roster for the new season, the Raptors had already begun to work the team.

Naturally, this kind of active effort has attracted the attention of the whole world.

Obviously, everyone understands that the Raptors are working so hard as if they are trying to build a dynasty.

Of course. The situation of the Raptors is also seen by other teams, which makes them also full of urgency to prepare for the start of the new season.

In the competition between teams, it is clear that the Raptors are in the lead.

For the Raptors to train their players on defense, the media can naturally find out.

However, the Raptors' defense has always been no big secret, after all, once the new season starts, it can still be discovered.

This defensive system, built by the likes of Collins and Gary Payton, has been called the "Raptors system."

This statement comes from the experts of the ESPN column, who feel that the new "Raptors system" is completely tailor-made for Wu Di's defense. In such a defensive system. Wu Di's individual defense and defensive counter-attacks will be maximized.

Therefore, these experts believe: In the new season, Wu Di's defensive tally and counter-attacking scoring will increase, and at that time, Wu Di has every chance of achieving the honor of being the best defensive player for a second consecutive year.

This situation has been recognized by many people, after all, Wu Di is now the first person in the league's public image, under the protection of privilege, as long as he plays well enough in the new season, then those major honors will obviously be considered for Wu Di for the first time.

Of course, this summer, at the beginning of the new season, the most attention is paid to the Raptors' focus on defense.

After learning such news, fans suddenly thought about the Raptors' defense.

All along, fans have been completely intoxicated by the Raptors' dominance, and after two consecutive championships, they have not considered what the Raptors are lacking in at all.

And now, when the Raptors look at themselves and start to rigorously hone their defense, the fans are totally going to give it a thumbs up.

Obviously, in the eyes of fans, such a Raptors, such a momentum, they are completely going to establish another dynasty after the OK combination.

In such a situation, experts will still look at the Raptors' defense count more often.

Although the Raptors won the championship in the previous two years, their defense can only be considered in the middle of the league.

And it is also very magical to be able to win two consecutive championships in the end. In this regard, the reaction of the world can be felt from the Raptors when they won two championships.

Obviously, at that time, not too many people were optimistic about the Raptors winning the championship, because the Raptors' daily games did not give people the possibility of winning the championship.

However, the Raptors still won consecutive championships, and in this regard, it is also the reason why Wu Di is completely popular all over the world.

Obviously, when a player's individual ability is terrifying, it is natural to lead a team to become a legend, but that continuity is obviously short-lived, so this is also one of the biggest obstacles for the Raptors to continue to win championships.

Therefore, the Raptors are so prepared now, and they do not completely rely on Wu Di's outburst, which is also the reason why it has been unanimously praised by the world.

In the eyes of fans, if the "Raptors system" is successfully established, then the Raptors will really become a dominant team, and at that time, Wu Di was relatively easy.

Of course, with the team's own strength guaranteed, coupled with Wu Di's personal ability, the possibility of the Raptors winning three consecutive championships seems to be the highest.

The Raptors' approach made the world more confident that it would continue to win championships, so before the start of the regular season, the Raptors ranked fifth in the new team power rankings released on the NBA's official website, second only to the Magic, Nuggets, Lakers, and Grizzlies.

In terms of season predictions, the Raptors are far ahead of the championship, and it is clear that the situation at this time is that both the public media and fans are unanimously optimistic that this year's Raptors can achieve three consecutive championships.

If it was placed in the beginning, the establishment of a dynasty was something that Wu Di did not dare to think about at all, because it was out of reach for a Chinese boy.

But. In the present day. Five years have passed since his career. With two championship rings in his hand, he has become a popular NBA signature figure all over the world, which makes Wu Di feel like he is in a dream in his heart.

However, people are always in the process of growth, especially when a person achieves so much.

When Wu Di won the championship in a row, his self-confidence became stronger, and at the same time, he also hoped to win three consecutive championships and become a talented player who surpassed Jordan at the same age, after all. Surpassing Jordan has always been the dominant trend in the league today.

Obviously, the current Wu Di, his plan is to win three consecutive championships at the age of less than 27, at that time, even if he announced his retirement on the day of the three consecutive championships, he will definitely have a place in the top 20 in the Hall of Fame.

Therefore, Wu Di, who is always self-motivated, very much hopes to realize his seemingly very close dream. Of course, in order to realize this dream of his own, he is also working a hundred times harder than before.

All summer. After the Raptors' training camp opened, Wu Di could always be seen in the arena of the Air Canada Center. The field and the power room seem to have become his home.

Seeing Wu Di working so hard, Collins was also a little worried, after all, he didn't know the magic of Wu Di's body, and all he knew was that Wu Di suffered an injury that was so severe that he was almost about to be reimbursed in 05.

Wu Di acquiesced to the Corinthian trainer's daily practice of following him, after all, he tested himself like this, and he had to reassure people other than him.

Wu Di's desperate training to improve himself will naturally appear in the field of vision of fans in the form of headlines, and the fans can be said to be more supportive of Wu Di in this situation.

And that kind of support is slowly turning into a frenzy.

The media is praising Wu Di for working so hard as the first person in the league, but these media also pointed out that Wu Di is the most important factor in the Raptors' three consecutive championships, and he should pay more attention to himself, after all, in today's league, there is no player who can compete with him.

However, Wu Di is unwilling to relax himself, he wants to continue to work hard and increase his dominance.

In Wu Di's view, if he can't maintain his dominance, then there will definitely be young talented players who will catch up and become the same players as him, including James, Wade, Anthony and so on.

After winning the two crowns, Wu Di hopes more in his heart to become the Michael Jordan of this era and become an unshakable ruler. Therefore, he does not want anyone to be able to catch up with him, therefore, he wants to continue to improve himself.

Wu Di's body is protected by the body of a god of war, steel knees, and diamond ankles, and he is not worried about what will happen at all, so this is the reason why he is relieved to exercise frantically.

When Wu Di is more and more committed to improving himself, time always flies.

In the blink of an eye, the pre-season has arrived.

According to Collins' arrangement, Wu Di's main players all chose to take a break, which surprised the outside world.

In the preseason, the Raptors started Ellis, Louis Williams, Sprewell, Millsap and Masingotat, while Matt Barnes also started two games in place of Sprewell.

In addition, Nate Robinson, Richmond Charles, Xue Yuyang, and Reggie Evans are the main rotation players.

Although the Raptors played entirely off the bench in the preseason, the table is really not to be underestimated.

After 8 preseason games, a group of Raptors bench players have a 6-2 record, which has made the media report many times.

Obviously, when a team's bench is so firepower, the true strength of the Raptors is also extremely curious.

It is worth mentioning that Ellis was very good in the preseason of the 07~08 season, he was able to contribute 22.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game, and the shooting rate could reach 45%.

Ellis, the team's leading scorer, is also considered an All-Star potential player because of this preseason trip, and at this time, there are also rumors that a team wants to offer Ellis a new contract after his contract ends.

The Raptors chose to ignore this, and obviously, this could be a rumor that the opponent deliberately released to disrupt the Raptors.

In fact, even Ellis left because of a new contract. The Raptors didn't care at all. After all, Wu Di is only holding a contract with an annual salary of 10 million.

In such a situation. There are also many fans who can't help but laugh and joke, even Wu Di only gets an annual salary of 1000w, so there should be no player in the league today who can get an annual salary of more than 10 million.

When public opinion gradually rose and seemed to be about the issue of annual salary, Ellis stood up and spoke, and his honesty made it clear that this was nothing more than a rumor.

"To be able to play for the Raptors at this stage. That's my privilege as a player. I didn't want to join another team, and no team gave me that intention. As a player, I naturally want to get paid more, but I don't care about that. The Raptors players like Wu and I are very good brothers, and we hope to win more championships together." That's what we care about.

And, as you said, Wu Cai gets a salary of 1000w, so the rest of the league's players should be millions at best, so I think my salary is quite appropriate.

So, if there is someone who wants a raise. So let's wait for Wu Di to sign a new contract this year. ”

As Ellis said, Woody is facing new contract issues this year. This is something that the Raptors have been a headache for.

Obviously, with Wu Di's current ability, he must get the highest salary.

However, if Wu Di gets the maximum salary, then from the 08~09 season, the Raptors will face the problem of salary space.

From the perspective of the current Raptors players, there are quite a lot of annual salaries of more than 10 million in the future, so if Wu Di gets the top salary first, then signing other players in the future will become a big problem.

Therefore, Wu Jiao wanted to give Wu Di an average salary, but that was obviously impossible.

As a result, Wu Di's contract renewal has become a big problem that plagues the Raptors this summer, and without finding a way, this matter has been dragging on.

For this matter, in fact, the outside world has maintained considerable attention, after all, Wu Di is a superstar in the league, and if he wants to renew his contract at present, it will definitely be able to arouse the attention of fans.

……

When the time came to the end of October, when the new season was about to begin, the league issued a new document in response to Wu Di's contract renewal.

This is a new Wu Di clause, and it is also the third clause made by the alliance against Wu Di, which is quite unexpected.

The new Wu Di clause stipulates that if a player has a situation similar to Wu Di, if he is an All-Star player, and wants to sign a new contract with his parent team, he must renew his contract with the maximum salary.

The "situation similar to Wu Di's" mentioned in the clause is something that most players can understand. After all, Wu Di's maternal grandfather is the owner of the Raptors, and Wu Di's contract renewal is obviously a big problem, because it will make people feel that they are making their own money.

This clause, after being issued, is also considered to be the right thing to do.

It's not that it's aimed at Wu Di, but with the development of the NBA, more and more players have begun to work around the NBA after retirement, and there are also some superstars who hold team shares or even the owners of a certain team after retirement. This situation will obviously continue in the future, and as the saying goes, the tiger father has no dog, if the future owners of these superstar-born teams, his descendants want to enter the league to play, then there will definitely be Wu Di's situation, therefore, the promulgation of Wu Di clause, it is also imperative.

Actually, really speaking, Jordan is also an example.

This year, it was reported that Jordan's son will likely enter the NBA to play, and considering the identity of Jordan's Bobcats owner, if Jordan's sons play for the Bobcats in the future, will there be Wu Di's situation?

Of course, if Jordan's son can't become an All-Star, then the league will definitely introduce new provisions to regulate player contract extensions.

Obviously, Wu Di's situation is only an early manifestation of the phenomenon of future alliances, so Wu Di's new clause is considered a reasonable approach.

Under the affirmation of the society, the issue of Wu Di's contract renewal seems to be a foregone conclusion.

After all, it is impossible for Wu Di to sign another middle-class contract if there are any more injury problems.

Under such circumstances, Wu Di's contract renewal with the highest salary is also a foregone conclusion, so Wu Di signaled Wu Jiao to arrange the renewal of the contract, and then announced it.

On October 28th, the day before the start of the 07~08 season, the Raptors officially announced that they had completed the contract extension with the team's star Wu Di, with a contract period of five years.

……

After Wu Di's contract renewal was completed, the NBA regular season finally officially kicked off.

In the first game, the Toronto Raptors' opponent was the Los Angeles Lakers, the opponent of last season's Finals.

After 4 months, the two teams played each other again, which also caused a storm of fans, and the fans of both sides had a fierce confrontation in words.

Before the game, Wu Di explained in an interview that this scenario happened.

"Fans on both sides want their teams to win, and that's where we are.

But for me, what I enjoyed more was being able to play against Kobe, who was a great player with a terrible mind.

I wanted to win, he wanted to win, and that was our biggest disagreement in this game.

In this game, I think we're all going to give it our all. ”

After Wu Di's explanation, Wu Di and Kobe Bryant's first meeting in the 07~08 season began.

It has to be said that Kobe Bryant is a legendary player, although he cannot surpass Jordan again, but it has to be said that his impact on fans in some aspects is extremely far-reaching.

Again, Wu Di is actually a fan of Kobe, but he prefers to defeat Kobe, because that is what he has always desired.

In the past few seasons, the battle between Kobe Bryant and Wu Di has been quite intense, and as the best scorer in the NBA at the moment, every confrontation between the two can naturally trigger a worldwide viewing frenzy.

And this time, naturally, there is no exception.

At the beginning of the game, Kobe and Wu Di didn't talk too much, this is the mentality of two players in their prime, from Kobe's point of view, even if Wu Di defeated him with a luxurious performance in the finals, he still won't be so honored to be conquered by Wu Di.

At the beginning of the first quarter, Kobe Bryant showed a very strong desire to attack, but after he scored 8 points in a row, he was lost by the Raptors' defense. Wu Di repeatedly used defensive counterattacks to demoralize the Lakers, and at the end of the first quarter, the Raptors led the Lakers 24-19, while Kobe Bryant contributed 10 points, but made 5 turnovers.

In the second quarter, Phil Jackson strengthened Garnett's acting role, and the Lakers, guided by his selfless style of play, began to slowly find the feeling of offense, but because of the Raptors' defensive pressure, the success rate of the Lakers was not too high. At the end of the second quarter, the score was 53-46, and the Raptors led by seven points.

In the second half of the game, it was time for the two sides to finally decide the winner.

The Raptors' oppressive man-to-man defense consumed too much energy from the Lakers' players in the first half, and in the second half, the Lakers were even less efficient, shooting only 28.5% from the field in the third quarter, and the Lakers trailed 13-22 in the first quarter.

Speaking of which, the Lakers' defense is also quite good, but in this game, the Raptors' defense completely disrupted the Lakers' offensive rhythm, making it difficult for Kobe Bryant to maintain offensive efficiency.

In the fourth quarter of the decisive game, Wu Di achieved a performance of 7 three-pointers in a single quarter, and this magical performance directly helped the Raptors completely defeat the Lakers.

Wu Di hit 13 three-pointers in this game, which allowed him to break Bryant's record of 12 three-pointers set in January '03.

It is worth mentioning that Kobe Bryant and Wu Di are in the table of this ball.

When the game ended 110-87, the season opener between the two sides in Staples was also over.

In this game, Wu Di contributed 60 points, 7 rebounds, 6 steals, 2 assists and 1 block.

Bryant, on the other hand, contributed 33 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists, but he had 10 turnovers. (To be continued......)