The Bulls' training camp won't officially open until mid-September, but Xu Yong, who is back in Chicago, is not alone.

Because every year before the start of the training camp, there will also be other players who report in advance.

Xu Yong met those people on his first day at the United Center training hall.

The guys who joined the Summer League, Johnson, Gibson and Richard, are all here, and as newcomers and fringe players, they need to do more than others to get a chance to play in the new season.

However, the appearance of one person surprised Xu Yong.

One of the king's first half of his rivals, the Sultan basketball hall master, Deng Yingqiao, and Luol Deng.

A hot knowledge, Deng is actually in the same class as James.

James was the first high school student in the class of 2003, and Deng was second.

It's just that unlike James, who participated in the NBA draft after high school, Deng chose to enter Duke University and played for a year before entering the NBA.

Perhaps because of his university experience, or perhaps because he was born into a political family (his father was a national minister and deputy prime minister of Sudan), Deng came across as very cultured and extremely friendly.

Even Xu Yong thinks so.

Speaking of which, Deng also won both the NBA Ethics Award and the Kennedy Citizen Award, which is fundamentally different from other players.

Of course, that's off the field.

In the training camp before this training camp, Xu Yong still felt the toughness of this top small forward on the court.

Deng played tough on the court and felt suffocated defensively.

In other words, this is also the first time that Xu Yong has experienced the strength of the NBA's top defenders.

It's not just talent, it's the perfect combination of skill and experience.

Although Jordan was also very skillful before, after all, he was forty-six years old, and he couldn't compare with a player like Deng who was at his peak.

Seo Yong had a hard time scoring in front of him.

But it was precisely because of this that Xu Yong was excited.

The sunspots say that the summer league is not worth mentioning, and Xu Yong actually knows this better than them.

This is also the reason why he was not a little proud after scoring 48 points, but went to Olajuwon to practice his back for the first time.

Although he practiced in Tempe for a summer, whether it was DeRozan and Harden, or later Butler, the defensive level was limited.

Those trainings are more about making him proficient in movements, and the real improvement is still to fight against players of Deng's level.

Deng didn't feel much at first, and Xu Yong looked similar to the feeling he felt when Rose came to the team last year, with good health, but his skills were more jerky.

But as the training progressed, he began to notice that something was starting to go wrong.

Xu Yong's progress is too fast!

The day before, he turned his back and made a layup and was destroyed, and the next day he was already able to score a dummy step-back jumper.

That damn feeling that he seems to be an experience baby, even he feels weird.

So much so that by mid-September, Xu Yong could already talk to him in one-on-one offense and defense.

It's not that Xu Yongkai is hanging, but that he is strong in confrontation, coupled with excellent dry pulling and breakthrough techniques, his back can be connected to these technical actions after being tempered by actual combat, isn't it just a lone ape carriage turning into a double-wheeled carriage and taking off.

Of course, one-on-one and one-on-one are two different concepts, because in the game you will encounter pinching and assisting.

Those are the keys that really determine whether this technology is successful or not.

But this was enough to surprise Deng, as well as to look forward to it.

He has been playing in the NBA for five years, and he has already gotten out of the category of "young Deng", but has begun to enter the rising period of his career, and it is the time to make results.

They lost seven games against defending champions Celtic last season and the future is worth looking forward to.

As a result, the Bulls sent away two of last season's main players in a trade in the summer, which was directly from scratch.

Even if he is as honest as him, he will inevitably lose his heart.

But Xu Yong's performance has swept away his frustration.

And there's Gibson.

Although Gibson is a rookie and doesn't seem to have a ceiling, he is very mature in all aspects and is the kind of player who belongs to the rookies.

And he also has a very consistent mid-range jumper, which may have made him a better place for Thomas.

So it is equivalent to Salmons being replaced by Xu Yong, and the new season is worth looking forward to.

It was at this time that the Bulls' training camp officially began, and everyone except Rose, who would be a little late due to an ankle injury, arrived.

Seo Yong also got a glimpse of the Bulls' lineup.

And then he felt that Emmm ...... It can't be said to be average, but it does have a spread of 100 million pips.

At point guard, sophomore Rose ⊕ the main man, Hinrich off the bench, and then Jeniro Pargo and Chaki Atkins on the bench.

Hinrich was the No. 7 pick selected by the Bulls in '03, but he never played and became a substitute last season, averaging only 9.9 points and 3.9 assists per game.

As for the two on the bench, Pargo is 500,000 when you play the operational game of Vantesi Basketball Manager.

Atkins was traded to the Bulls in the offseason.

After completing the No. 1 pick, the Bulls turned around and traded with the Thunder with an expiring contract of future second-round pick Gaydon Thomas, in exchange for Atkins and Damion Wilkins to fill the backcourt.

Then the main body of this deal is actually Wilkins, Atkins, as a 35-year-old defender who is less than 1.8 meters tall, can stay until the start of the season is still unknown.

However, in this configuration, it is already the best of the five positions of the Bulls.

In terms of scoring guards, Xu Yong, like Rose last year, is likely to start directly, and his substitute is Wilkins just mentioned.

Of course, this Wilkins is not Bi Wilkins, he is the nephew of Dominic Wilkins, the "essence of human cinema", who is 29 years old this year and is in his prime.

It's just that this peak height is a bit low.

He was in his fifth career with the Thunder last season, averaging 5.3 points per game for the team.

The only good thing is that he's a full-sized swingman and defends well.

Then, what was left on the bench was Lindsay Hunter, the No. 10 show that only hardcore fans had heard of, but from 1993.

He will be 39 years old in December this year......

At small forward, Lore Deng is the main force of the iron fight, James Johnson is likely to be the substitute, and he is competing with the veteran Tim Thomas.

The power forward was the worst, with rookies Gibson and Darius Sanguela competing for starters, and Chris Richard, who was left on the bench because of his impressive summer league performances.

As for the center, last season's bench, a third-year student who averaged 6.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, is likely to be the starter, the veteran Brad Miller will be the backup, and on the bench is a 2007 No. 59 pick Aaron Gray, and a famous garbage contract created by the Knicks Jerome James.

This lineup, Jordan shook his head when he saw it, and the others ran away with a bucket overnight.

But it's not that Foreman can't do it, it's that the mess left by his predecessor is really bad.

You must know that if you go back three years, the Bulls are still fifth in the East, and in the summer, Kobe Bryant shouted that he wanted to join the team.

But in the past three years, except for Deng and Xin Liqi, who failed to cultivate, the rest are all over.

After ho ho ho is over, he still leaves a bunch of garbage contracts.

A glance at the salary list may be able to deeply understand.

The Bulls now have Brad Miller at 12.25 million in salary, Deng at 10.37 million in second, and then Hinrich at 9.5 million.

The top three, except for Deng, are all unworthy.

But this can at least be played, the fourth and fifth in the team, Jerome James at 6.6 million and Tim Thomas at 6.47 million, this is a pure garbage contract.

And then you know, except for Deng, all of the Bulls' main players next season are still on rookie contracts.

It's no wonder that the outside world thinks the Bulls can't make the playoffs. I don't think you're doing it for the sake of Deng and Ross's face.

Of course, Xu Yong didn't think much.

Historically, Jimmy Butler can complete the Black Eight with a group of undrafted picks and premium contracts and reach the Finals, and they have a somewhat similar lineup, not to mention that level, there is still a lot of hope of making the playoffs.

You must know that the overall strength of the east in recent years has been weak, and there are only a few strong ones.

And he knows that neither Rose, nor Noah, nor even Gibson are stronger than their seemingly thin NBA resume.

Of course, the most important thing is that after being able to play with Lore Deng in training camp, he is also looking forward to how he can play on the real NBA court.