(I'm a little busy today, only one more, I'm sorry, I'll try to make up for it tomorrow depending on the situation.) ）

As the time comes to the end of October, the NBA preseason is all over, and the regular season is coming, which also represents the official start of the 09-10 season last year.

On October 28, the Magic kicked off the regular season at their home court, Amway Arena in Orlando, against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Last season the 76ers were in Iguodala with Andre. Miller and a group of other players successfully broke into the playoffs, and although they were eliminated by the Cavaliers in the first round, they also showed a certain level.

But in the new season, the 76ers have some problems.

First up was Andre, the main point guard last season. Miller's departure from the team, don't look at Miller's career is not obvious, but he is also a player who has won the season assist king, and he has outstanding organizational and strategic skills.

Replacing Miller as the 76ers' starter was the original sixth man, Luis. Williams.

Future Louis. Williams is recognized by many fans as a famous bench bandit, but now he is not half a point worse than Miller. Williams is an offensive scorer, not very good at passing, and has averaged less than four assists per game in his career.

According to the original historical course, the 76ers' regular season record this season is only 27-55 and the bottom of the league, which is completely uncompetitive.

Against such a team, the Magic naturally won very easily.

120:106, the opening win is simply beautiful.

The 76ers were seriously lacking in quality interior line, so Howard easily scored 21 points and 15 rebounds, including 7 offensive rebounds, in 29 minutes of play, and completely exploded the 76ers' interior line.

The Magic team also played very well on the outside, with five players scoring in double figures, and surprisingly, two of the three players brought in by the team in the offseason scored in double figures. Lawford scored 15 points, Channing. Frye made 3-of-5 three-pointers and scored 11 points in the game, and even Ariza hit two three-pointers to score six points.

The starting lineup that the Magic team sent in the game was also a bit intriguing.

Point guard Nelson, scoring guard Afflalo, small forward Wang Chao, power forward Qian Ning. Frye center Howard.

Jamal has the third highest paid player on the team. Crawford actually sat on the bench at the beginning of the game and played role player Afflaro off the bench.

Of course, throughout the game, Crawford's playing time was much higher than Afflaro's, playing 30 minutes almost as long as Wang Chao.

On the other hand, Afflalo, who started as a shooting guard, only played 20 minutes, and even if he played a slight increase compared to last season, it was clearly not the normal playing time that a starting shooting guard should have.

"Pseudo-starter."

This word can't help but come to the minds of many people.

In the NBA, this is not uncommon, and there are many teams that have some functional players in the starters, mainly responsible for some specific tasks on the court, and it is the players on the bench who really take on the responsibilities of his position.

The most typical case in the league is Manu of the San Antonio Spurs. Ginobili, as a substitute, played only a little more minutes than the team's starting point guards, and he had more balls and shots on the court than most starters, second only to Duncan and Toney. Parker.

"Do the Magic want Crawford to be like the Spurs Ginobili?"

"That's a good idea, Crawford's scoring ability and explosiveness are very outstanding, he is a famous nerve knife in the league, if he comes on the bench, maybe it can work wonders, but how did the Magic coaching staff convince Crawford to be willing to play Afralo off the bench?"

In fact, Crawford was also very unhappy when he learned that his team wanted to play as a substitute in the new season, but the strong dragon did not suppress the snake, and he was the newcomer.

It wasn't even the team's head coach who made this suggestion to him, but Wang Chao.

Facing the league's top star who won many honors last season, such as scoring title, Finals FMVP, First Team of the Year and All-Star MVP, even if Crawford has played some commendable performances in previous seasons, he is still half a head short.

And Wang Chao did not directly threaten, but knew that he was reasoning and emotional, and helped Crawford analyze it in detail.

Crawford's style of play is dominated by attacking with the ball, as speed and dribbling are his strengths.

But in the Magic team, there are not many opportunities to give him to attack with the ball, because the core of the Magic team with the ball is Wang Chao.

Last season, Wang Chao has proven his success after switching from traditional off-ball play to attacking with the ball, as evidenced by the fact that he averaged 32.6 points per game this season, beating a group of competitors to win the scoring crown.

In the new season, the Magic team will inevitably continue to let Wang Chao attack with a lot of balls, and there is no Crawford share at all.

But if Crawford comes off the bench, it's different, in the bench time, the Magic team's ball is basically his, and Wang Chao also personally promised to ensure that Crawford's average playing time will not be less than 30 minutes per game, and the number of shots is at least 12 times, if enough offensive efficiency can be guaranteed, it is not impossible to average 15 shots per game.

This commitment will be recognized by the whole Magic team, and the head coach will support it.

Then Crawford was intrigued.

If it is really as promised by Wang Chao, Crawford will be the second scoring point in the Magic team, even above Howard, after all, Howard has never been the main scoring point of the Magic team, and his average of 12.4 shots per game last season could only rank fourth on the team.

When he was traded from the Warriors to the Magic, Crawford had a certain psychological preparation, in this championship team, he will definitely not have a lot of shots like he did when he was in the Knicks and the Warriors, but if he plays according to Wang Chao's advice, his statistics will not be much behind compared to the previous two seasons, and even because the opponents he faces are mainly based on the opposing bench players, the scoring will be easier, which will help improve the scoring efficiency.

So, after some struggle, Crawford simply agreed, which also made head coach Stan. Van Gundy was a little surprised.

He really didn't expect that Wang Chao would persuade Crawford to play as a substitute so easily.

Don't look at the name of the sixth person, it sounds good, even if it sounds good, it can't avoid the result that it is just a substitute.

If it's a player who has just stepped into the league or has a bad career and is eager to prove himself, it makes sense to take the initiative to be willing to play as a substitute.

Crawford has tasted meat, averaging 20.6 points per game in the Knicks in the 07-08 season, and 19.7 points per game in the Warriors in the 08-09 season.

"Wang Chao, this guy, although he is only 26 years old, but his wrist is really powerful, the general manager of the team, and the new players are all obedient to him......"

Van Gundy thought so in his heart, and secretly decided to try to avoid direct conflict with Wang Chao, otherwise even if he is the head coach of the team, I am afraid he will have to drink a pot, not to mention anything else, in case Wang Chao flips the table again, and he can only keep one, the team will most likely let his head coach leave the class early.

……

In the Magic's first win over the 76ers, there was another somewhat surprising thing, that is, Wang Chao's play in the game.

In this game, because the Magic team established a score advantage early, Wang Chao did not play too long, and scored 27 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists in 30 minutes of playing time.

There is nothing wrong with 27 points, after all, he is the scoring leader who averaged 32.6 points per game last season, and the efficiency of this score has not decreased in the slightest compared to last season.

There is nothing wrong with 3 rebounds, Wang Chao, who mainly plays outside, although he has a height of 2.06 meters, but the rebounding is really not good, and he also moved from the big forward to the small forward position in this game, so he has no chance to grab rebounds.

But those 8 assists ......

Although the strength of the 76ers is indeed a bit weak and did not allow Wang Chao to show enough level, many fans who are familiar with Wang Chao found clues in the game.

Wang Chao's passing and assisting ability seems to have become stronger.

In the past, Wang Chao basically more than 80% of his assists came from cooperating with Howard's blocking, and his interaction with other teammates was not particularly frequent.

But in this game, Wang Chao passed the ball many times to assist his teammates, and even showed a back pass in a breakthrough pass, the action was chic and elegant, the angle and strength of the pass were just right, and the basketball was directly sent to the hands of the vacant players.

But such a top-level guard-like pass made Barnes, who received the ball, stunned for a moment, and as a result, he subconsciously raised his hand to shoot and missed, wasting Wang Chao's second pass.

In fact, during the preseason, Wang Chao revealed in an interview with reporters that he had practiced passing hard in the offseason, and his level had been greatly improved, and the Magic team's passing strategy in the new season could be fully picked up.

But at that time, not many people cared about this matter, after all, the rhetoric before the game, and the taciturn after the game were played out almost every day in the league.

Every player will say that they have grown a lot before the start of the new season, how hard they have worked in the offseason, but how many players have really made great progress?

But now it seems that what Wang Chao said seems to be true.

This was also confirmed in the next two races.

On October 30, the Magic defeated the New Jersey Nets away, and Wang Chao scored 25 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

On November 1, still on the road, the Magic defeated the Toronto Raptors 125-116.

In this offensive battle, Wang Chao slashed 31 points, 2 rebounds and 11 assists.

(End of chapter)