Chapter Seventy-Four: Rookie Challenge

Before the start of the most eye-catching All-Star Game, the All-Star Rookie Game will be the first to unfold the basketball beast.

The NBA All-Star Game, also known as the NBA Rookie Challenge, is one of the major games of the NBA All-Star Weekend. The first edition was held in 1994. The current game is between the rookie team and the rookie team of the previous year, and the assistant coaching team of the league's 30 teams will select the best nine rookie players at that time in January to form the rookie team.

Compared to the All-Star Game, the All-Star Rookie Game is more like a warm-up.

The first-year rookies on the team are: Zhang Kong (Cleveland Cavaliers, center), Yi Jianlian (Milwaukee Bucks, forward), the Rockets' older rookie Luis Scola, the top pick Kevin Durant (Seattle SuperSonics, guard), the eye show Al Horford (Grizzlies, forward), Juan Carlos Navarro (Grizzlies, guard), Jamario Moon, Jeff Green (Celtics, swingman), Mike Conley (guard, Grizzlies), Rajon Rondo (Celtics, guard)

The sophomore rookies are: Bagyani (Toronto Raptors, center), Jordan Famar (Los Angeles Lakers guard), Aldridge (Portland Trail Blazers, forward), Brandon Roy (Trail Blazers, guard), Paul Millsap (Utah Jazz, power forward), Ronnie Brewer (swingman, Utah Jazz), Rudy Gay (Grizzlies, swingman), Gibson (Cleveland Cavaliers, guard)

From this rookie list, it is not difficult to see that the Grizzlies youth army that once shocked the league in the future has begun to take shape, and there are as many as four rookies selected by the Grizzlies in the two rookie teams, and in addition, the Cleveland Cavaliers have two, the Milwaukee Bucks have one, the Houston Rockets have one, the Toronto Raptors have two, the Celtics have two, the Los Angeles Lakers have one, the Portland Trail Blazers have two, and the Utah Jazz have two. The Grizzlies have almost twice as many rookies as other teams.

Paul Gasol trade rumors have come out, the Bulls, Lakers have sent offers to the Grizzlies, if nothing else, after the All-Star break, Paul Gasol leaving the Grizzlies is a sure thing, Grizzlies management is determined to rebuild, and Rudy Gay is the new core they want to erect after Pau Gasol leaves.

To be honest, Rudy Gay at this time is really full of confidence, but in his second season, he has been able to average 20 points and six rebounds per game, although the shooting percentage is a bit low, but the Grizzlies are very optimistic about his future and think that he is likely to become a super scorer like Tracy McGrady.

In this regard, Zhang Kong could only laugh!

He is well aware that Rudy Gay, a super rookie full of potential, has not improved at all in the following seasons, and his three-point shooting percentage has been declining while various statistics have not improved. So much so that in the end, the Grizzlies chose to give up Rudy Guy and sent Guy to the Raptors in one or two years, completely rebuilding the team around Gasol Jr.

The All-Star Rookie Game is headed by two of the best assistant coaches in the East and West, and this year, the team with the best record in the West is the New Orleans Hornets, who have won 42 games and a 33-9 record under the leadership of Queen Bee Paul. The team with the best record in the East is the Cavaliers, who have won 30 of their 41 games and sit in first place with a 30-11 record.

Therefore, the first-year head coach is the assistant coach of the Cavaliers, Ralph Larry, a person Zhang Kong knows very well. This is good news for Zhang, because then he doesn't have to worry about his playing time at all, and Larry Ruff will take care of everything for himself.

Sure enough, as soon as Larry Raff came up, he had the momentum to arrange the main tactics of the interior attack, which naturally made some of the rookies in the backcourt slightly dissatisfied, of course they would be dissatisfied, the All-Star Game is a show, to put it bluntly, it is a stage to show itself to fans all over the world, on this stage, as long as the performance is good, the commercial value will be greatly improved. Even in the tactical position of the team, it may be given some preferential treatment.

When it comes to matters of vital interest, Ralph-Larry is now clearly showing a posture of favoritism, and they will be dissatisfied with it in their hearts. But no one objected. Don't think it's because of how high the quality of these rookies is, and they are willing to sacrifice themselves to fulfill others, but Zhang Kong's strength surpasses them too much.

As an All-Star starting center, Zhang Konglai played the rookie game with them, which is already condescending in the eyes of many people, and the pressure on these rookies is even greater.

After all, strength is the capital that determines everything.

Zhang Kong didn't say that I didn't want to play, let other people have more opportunities to hold the ball or something...... This kind of fake Mr. Morality appearance, Zhang Kong has never been able to do it. Moreover, the All-Star Rookie Game is also an important part of Rich Paul's superstar journey.

If possible, Zhang Kong not only wants to participate, but also to win the rookie MVP, it is best to create an unprecedented rookie game data record, so as to have the greatest publicity effect, and this matter is also related to Zhang Kong's contract.

Because of the optimism about Zhang Kong's future potential, Rich Paul chose a floating contract instead of a dead amount when signing an endorsement contract, although there is a minimum amount, but how much money Zhang Kong can really live depends on his performance on the field.

For example, in the newly signed Hummer contract, Zhang Kong will increase the contract amount by $500,000 when he plays in the rookie game, and the live rookie game MVP will increase by another $1 million, and when he starts in the All-Star Game, he will increase his money by $1 million, and he will win the All-Star Game MVP with an increase of $1 million, and he will win the MVP of the regular season with an increase of $5 million, and he will win the honors of scoring king, rebounding king, steal king, block king, and assist king, and win the MVP of the finals......

In addition, it also includes when Zhang Kong plays a variety of anti-sky data, such as continuous 20+20, 30+30 and so on...... AMP is also very willing to sign such a contract, the better Zhang Kong performs on the field, the more money they need to pay, but on the other hand, the better Zhang Kong performs, the greater the influence, the greater the influence, the more beneficial the promotion of their products, which is the result of mutual benefit for both parties.

Zhang Kong has just made a big gamble, this short gamble of the century has made him the richest type of NBA player, but no one will be afraid of more money, and now in the next big gamble, Eisenhouse is helping Zhang Kong long gold and crude oil futures in March, if all goes well, Zhang Kong will step into the ranks of billionaires.

However, no one is disgusted with more money.

Starting lineup, Larry Love fielded a lineup of center: Zhang Kong, power forward: Luis Scola, small forward Jeff Green, scoring guard Kevin Durant, and point guard Mike Conley.

The starting lineup is basically based on the performance of the players so far this season, with the only exception being the point guard, and in terms of performance, Rajon Rondo, who has grown rapidly around the Big Three, is now ahead of No. 5 rookie Mike Conley in terms of performance.

But out of personal considerations, Larry Ruff finally chose to send Mike Conley as the starting point guard, after all, the six-overtime battle between the Cavaliers and the Celtics was too deep, Rajon Rondo was still injured in this game, and almost missed the All-Star Game.

Larry Raff also didn't want Rajon Rondo to retaliate and not give Zhang Kong a pass.

The starting lineup of the sophomore team is the lineup of center: Bagyani, power forward: Aldridge, small forward: Rudy Gay, shooting guard: Brandon Roy, and point guard: Gibson.

and Bagyani's jump ball, Zhang Kong won easily. At the beginning of the season, the Raptors' Bagyani once caused some trouble for Zhang Kong, a projection center who always stands on the three-point line and rarely enters the interior to fight, in order to defend him, Zhang Kong's rebounds in that game dropped a lot.

But now, Zhang Kong, who has gradually become accustomed to the intensity and cooperation of the game, has long since stopped taking this 06-year-old champion show in his eyes, and the two are not at the same level at all.

Jumping the ball, Zhang Kong easily flicked the basketball over Bagyani's head to his own half. Mike Conley advanced with the ball, because it was an All-Star Game, the defensive intensity on the court was not high, Conley dribbled and advanced very easily, and when it came to the half of the sophomore team, seeing that Zhang Kong stood on the three-point line and did not mean to ask for the inside line, he hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to hand over the basketball to Zhang Kong.

When he received the basketball on the three-point line, Zhang Kong was a little surprised.

If it was just an ordinary rookie, Mike Conley must have chosen to break through on his own at this time. Then wait for the opportunity to break through the ball and stage an aerial relay, or score a do-it-yourself score.

But Zhang Kong......

Unconsciously, at least among the rookies of this year, Zhang Kong already has an extraordinary influence because he is too powerful.

However, since it was passed to himself, then there was no reason to pass back to the past, and when he saw that there was no one in front of him to defend, the second grade did not seem to have the intention of rotating defense, and there was an empty piece in front of him, Zhang Kong did not hesitate, standing half a step behind the three-point line, jumping gently, the basketball was raised high above his head, and his eyes locked on the basket......

Shooting......

In today's NBA, if you ask the league's 30 teams what they are most afraid of, a large percentage of them will answer rebounding. Indeed, his rebounding is so powerful that he has not only broken many rookie records, but in many cases the statistics have gone straight to the prehistoric era.

But if they were to be asked what they were afraid of Zhang Kong, it would definitely be a shot, not a low-post offense!

Although Zhang Kong's low-post offense is very powerful, but because the experience is not very sufficient, in the choice of low-post offense, he is not yet as comfortable as those old players to choose the best way to attack, his low-post offense is mainly based on the tough low-post singles that squeeze away the defenders, supplemented by foot-shaking, although the power is very great, so big that many people can't defend without wrapping up, but in the offensive selection, he often makes some choices that make people who know the ball shake their heads.

With his tough power, he can still score those goals, but it will undoubtedly be difficult!

But the jump shot is different, with Zhang Kong's height and extremely high shooting point, his jump shot is difficult to be defended, at least the outside players have no way to defend at all, and the ability to shoot is even the inside players are looking forward to sighing, once the tall player throws away, the opponent must expand the defensive range, and the price of expanding the defensive range is the emptiness of the interior defense......

To be honest, Zhang Kong didn't take the All-Star Rookie Game very seriously, if it was the All-Star Game, it would naturally be a different matter, but playing with a group of rookies who were mostly still on the bench, Zhang Kong felt that he didn't need to take it too seriously.

The basketball sliced through a graceful parabola in the air, and after reaching its highest point, it reluctantly crashed into the basket after losing momentum.

Three points!

Zhang Kong shook his fingers, well, it feels good.

In that case, you can try to shoot a few more three-pointers today. The first-year team retreated very slowly and carelessly, after all, it was just a performance game, and most of them were thinking about how to play more beautifully later, Bagyani saw the opportunity, and advanced quickly with the ball all the way, Zhang Kong watched him run past him, stretched out his hand, and didn't care, so it didn't hurt to let him perform......

All the way into the restricted area, Bagyani was about to dunk to show his outstretched hand, but a hand stretched out from the side was a non-stingy foul action that directly knocked down the basketball in Bagyani's hand.

Facing the referee's whistle, Scola raised his hand blankly to signal that he had committed a foul. Subsequently, he ruined Roy's performance with a foul that did not hesitate when he was performing a dribble.

Scola seems to be out of place in the All-Star Game, and the Argentine 'actor' seems to have no idea what the All-Star Game is all about. Two crisp fouls also allowed Larry Love to replace Scola with Yi Jianlian.

The next time he attacked, Zhang Kong was still standing on the three-point line, and Mike Conley passed the ball, and he also caught the ball and shot, almost completely thinking of himself as a big three-pointer. And it's outrageous, because Bagyani and Aldridge are both standing on the inside, and the sophomore team's outside line, in terms of height, can be said to be none. He was happy to shoot from the three-point line.

PS: Let's send 4,000 words first.