Jokic, in love with tea.

Xu Yong just gave it casually, but he didn't expect to create a [Serbian Tea Master].

But the good thing is that it's real tea.

Tea is similar to coffee, which can refresh the mind, and to a certain extent, it can also promote gastric juice secretion and fat dissolution, and then play a role in assisting weight loss, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

However, Xu Yong also reminded Jokic that although the tea is good, he can't drink too much, and if he drinks too much, he is prone to kidney problems.

This is the advice of a human being in the golden pill period before he was reborn.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is mid-September, and the mini-training camp before the Bulls has come to an end, and the results are remarkable.

When Thibodeau arrived at the team and started the official training camp, after seeing the players in this state, it seemed redundant to say that he as a head coach would not do anything more.

So on the first day of the training camp, he skipped the basic training and went straight to the full-field tactical drills.

Then he was pleasantly surprised to find that the two cores of Xu Yong and Butler had actually improved again.

Butler has enriched his breakthrough skills, before his breakthrough was basically all about grabbing the first step, but he added European steps and small throws, which made his breakthrough lethality significantly enhanced, and his ability to retreat and jump shots was also much more stable, obviously the result of a lot of training, God knows how he did so much in one summer.

And Xu Yong's sudden enhancement to the ability to support the low-post singles that can support the tactical launch made Thibodeau sure that he did seem to be a little redundant.

The core of the team keeps getting stronger without even urging him, so what else do you want him to do?

But just as it was time for the official training, there was a small episode.

That is, in a single quarter of confrontation for several days, the bench team won the substitute team.

Bench: Dellavedova, Holiday , Artest, Kyle Anderson, Jokic.

Subs: Hinrich, Foyer, Ennis, Prince, Hawes.

Part of the reason for this is the form of the substitute team.

In fact, since last season, the performances of Hinrich, Foye and Hawes have been declining compared to before.

In addition to Hinrich's age, Foye and Hawes are more due to lack of playing time.

This is also something that can't be helped, the Bulls' iron triangle is at its peak, especially there are two physical monsters, the bench has limited playing time, and without enough playing time, the player's condition will decline.

The rest of the bench is that the Bulls' bench strength is underestimated.

Needless to say, the Bulls signed him to play in the rotation, and his excellent form, the coaching staff can already rest assured that Hinrich will play as the third bench.

Showing surprise were Anderson and Jokic.

Anderson's defense, three-pointers, and even his form on the court give the most immediate impression that he's totally ready to play.

And Jokic, although his performance is not good, he has been continuously beaten against Foye on the defensive end, but he has a particularly good sense of rebounding, and can always successfully predict the landing point of the ball, and more importantly, the offensive end of the ball is over his hand, and he can find the person with the best chance at the first time.

In other words, he's not the data emperor, but he's the one who can make others better.

These are talents that can't be reflected in one-on-one and can only be shown in the full-court confrontation.

Xu Yong watched amazingly off the court, and it was not for nothing that Jokic was able to surpass Sabonis and Divac to become the most passable big man in NBA history, and this talent, just like Durant has the coordination that should not belong to his own height, belongs to something beyond [general perception].

This kind of episode made the competition for the Bulls' rotation suddenly fierce.

As a result of this competition, the Bulls won seven games and seven straight games in the preseason, and they also outscored their opponents by nearly 20 points per game.

That's not to say that the Bulls are stronger than last season, or how ruthless they are, because the Bulls, as in previous seasons, only played the first half of the game and played the second half off the bench.

And then the reason is that in this substitute play, in order to compete for opportunities, the substitutes are riveting their strength.

And then judging by the results, this competition is benign.

At the end of the preseason, ESPN ranked the strength of each team for the new season.

At the top of the list is the Cavaliers...... The opponent of the opening game, the Thunder.

ESPN's analysis is that when the Thunder have Kevin Durant, James Harden, Dwight Howard, and Sergill Ibaka, it's hard not to put them in the first spot, and this will be the best time for Kevin Durant to reach the top.

If you swap Durant for James in this analysis, and swap the remaining guys for the other Big Three of the Cavaliers, you'll find out how familiar he is.

The Bulls are the defending champions in second place ahead of the Cavaliers.

The Warriors, who won the Western Conference in the regular season last season, also finished third ahead of the Cavaliers.

The Mavericks looked strong anyway, still riding above the Cavaliers and in fourth place.

It may be a little hard to believe to say, but the Big Four of the Cavaliers are directly in fifth place!

ESPN: This is a vivid interpretation of what is called yesterday's Britney, today's Mrs. Niu.

To be honest, the Cavaliers' lineup on paper this year is unprecedentedly strong, coupled with a run-in season, it is not too much to properly top three, or even rank first.

But unfortunately, when the Cavaliers needed James the most, James was abandoned by Nike, so he naturally had no chance with those.

Xu Yong opened social media after breakfast that day, drank the tea made by Jokic, and almost didn't laugh.

"Spicy Chicken ESPN, Nike's dog, blind with your eyes open!"

"Has ESPN ever predicted accurately? previously predicted that the Bulls would be eighth, didn't the Bulls win the championship? ”

"It's better to look at ESPN than TNT, and look at TNT this year...... Fack, how is the first of TNT's predictions to be the Bulls?! ”

"TNT is Xu Yong's dog, or do you have to watch FOX, I'm Tefak, why is FOX the first Warrior?"

"Anyway, when the Cavaliers, Heat, and Pacers were ranked first before, why didn't I see you calling? Feng Shui took turns with the elder brother. "Comment from "Los Angeles Nation".

"Poor king, just abandoned by the mainstream media." From the comment of "KBfnas".

"The peak gives birth to hypocritical users, and the twilight witnesses true believers."

"You mean the 30-year-old King's Twilight? Be careful I report you! "From the comment of" Knight Loyal Guard ".

……

"What's so funny?" Jokic probed curiously.

Xu Yong handed him the phone.

Jokic choked on a cough after watching it for a while, and he hasn't even started social media yet.

"It's a pity that we didn't fight knights in the opener." After taking the phone handed back by Jokic, Xu Yong said with a little pity.

James had received so many benefits before, including those rules, in the final analysis, it was Nike's influence on the league, and now that influence has suddenly disappeared, James is afraid that he may not get the whistle he wants by kneeling on the court all night.

"We can see." Jokic said seriously.

Xu Yong was stunned for a moment, and then laughed, this can indeed be had.

Their season opener is on the second day of the season against the Lakers, and the first day can really be watched in the spotlight.

In addition to James and the Cavaliers, he also wants to see what the Thunder's roster will look like this year.

In history, the Warriors have gone straight to 73 wins this year, assuming that the Western opponents become stronger and the Warriors still work hard, but in the end, if they don't break out of the West, they will be more comic than the Cavaliers last season.

"Boss, I think I'm ready now." Jokic put down the teacup and said, because Anderson kept calling Xu Yong Boss, he has changed his words now.

Both Adams and Anderson looked at Jokic curiously, and Jokic has indeed changed enough in the past two months.

Xu Yong put away his smile at this time, and then said very seriously: "You have to be prepared for not having a chance to play, this is a champion team, and it will take a process." ”

Based on Jokic's eldest child's temper, Xu Yong felt that it was necessary to remind him, lest he feel frustrated by then.

"Yes, I didn't do much last year, but this year I think it's going to be different." Anderson on the side nodded.

Jokic was somewhat disappointed to hear that the last two months have been two of the hardest training months of his life, and he has had some performances in the preseason.

"Be patient, opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared." Xu Yong comforted.

Jokic nodded, pouting again and continuing to drink his tea.

That night, several of them, except for those who lived in two villas, Butler also drove over.

Speaking of which, Butler is still quite good, after signing a 5-year salary with the Bulls, he advanced his salary in advance, in addition to buying a house for himself, he also bought a new house for his adoptive parents, and then gave Xu Yong a Ferrari worth more than 700,000 yuan, in return for his car delivery and the help he has given him over the years.

At this time, I also prepared a lot of snacks to eat while watching the game.

Xu Yong, Butler, Adams, Anderson, Jokic, a group of people sitting on the couch with a bunch of snacks on the coffee table, and then waiting to watch the game, this scene would be excellent news material if it was filmed by the media.

Before the start of the game, it was time to bet again, but there were many people today, and they didn't bet like last time, but Xu Yong was the banker, he bet on the Cavaliers to win, and then opened a 1-2 handicap, and others bet casually.

"Senior, I want to bet on the tens of millions left in my bank card." Butler was eager to try.

"If you're not afraid to work for me for your entire career." Xu Yong began the trash talk session.

In the end, everyone bet, Butler bet the most, $50,000, Adams bet 5,000, Anderson 1,000, and Jokic pressed a bag of old banzhang.

After they finished this bet, it was time for the appearance ceremony over there, and they looked at it while eating snacks.

The game was played in Cleveland, and both sides used regular starters.

Thunder: Harden, Robertson, Durant, Ibaka, Howard;

Cavaliers: Irving, J.R. Smith, James, Davis, Love.

However, during the home ceremony, Xu Yong noticed a detail.

Davis made a big circle, and you could feel his muscles even through the screen, and Lefu ...... Directly become a male model.jpg.

Speaking of which, the Cavaliers played poorly last season, except for run-ins and injuries, these two interior players have not been determined who will play four and five.

But from this detail, it can be seen that this is to determine that Davis played five and Love played four.

After all, Lefu still responded to Bosh's prediction and lost weight and squatted in the bottom corner.

When the opening ceremony ended, when the starting lineup was played on the screen, as Xu Yong judged, Davis did appear in the C position.

That's good for the Cavaliers in the short term, but not necessarily in the long term.

Davis's glass attribute Xu Yong still knows a little, if you really let him carry the No. 5 position for a long time, he must be reimbursed for the season.

The game started quickly, and Howard jumped possession for the Thunder.

Then, Xu Yong just picked up a squid ring and stuffed it to his mouth, and his movements stopped in the next second.

Howard is actually playing a pick-and-roll for Harden?

Did the two years of devastation in Los Angeles smooth out his edges and corners, or did he just come to Oklahoma to make a show?

The answer came soon after the pick-and-roll, as Harden misplaced Davis and just took a step forward with the ball and threw it out.

The ball flew over the basket, and Howard had already crashed past JR and took to the air, which was an empty dunk to score the first goal of the Thunder's career.

Harden at his peak was arguably the league's best scoring guard, and he could feed Capela to be a quasi-All-Star center.

When he thought of this, Xu Yong was suddenly surprised to find that Capela was sitting on the bench of the Thunder team at this time, and this Thunder team was the plus version of the Rockets team?

And then in the next round, the scene of their anticipation immediately appeared.

The Cavaliers pulled away to let James burst, and James was blown by the referee in the first round of breaking through Durant!

There was an inexplicable silence in the door of the room, followed by laughter.

Except for Xu Yong.

Xu Yong didn't want to laugh, but he had to hold back, after all, in front of the younger brothers, he still needed to remain a little reserved.

But when James received a warning whistle from the referee and saw James' black question mark face in the camera, he still couldn't hold back and laughed along with the others.

Although he had long expected that James might lose his privileges, he didn't expect it to be so miserable and be so targeted at the beginning.

He had only seen a technical foul in the CBA before, and this was the first time he had seen a stall being blown up.

This referee is too much.

And as the game progresses, the tendency to make that penalty becomes more and more obvious.

Even in a time when James and Ibaka had a ball dispute, the referee blew the ball for the Thunder, but after the slow-motion replay, it should be the Cavaliers' ball.

Finally, after a defensive hat chase was whistled for a foul, James broke out, he took off his braces and shouted at the referee, and also sprayed the referee after the referee ignored him: "If you can't do this, just change someone, you look like an amateur referee!" ”

Because now there are microphones on the players' clothes, this segment is directly broadcast.

Then, the referee gave him a T.

Butler slapped his legs with laughter.

But after such a set of combos, James is really honest.

Xu Yong has the impression that Xiao Hua, who was once forced to be anxious because of the penalty issue, had an evaluation of James, saying that he was a [spoiled child].

In a sense, this evaluation is quite appropriate, many abstract things in this world only appear after being connived.

But now, the maintenance of capital is no longer, the spoiling is no more, and the dishonest can only be honest.

But don't say it, James played well after being honest.

This is also reasonable, James is a star after all, even if the hard power can't reach the first echelon, just with his historical level of physical fitness, the strength is also above the All-Star, in that classic sentence, you are in the NBA to brush points, give you the opportunity you also have to have the ability to brush up.

Not to mention that he has had a lot of balls in his hands since he entered the league, and his skills have improved even if they have not improved much.

On the other hand, on the Thunder team's side, as the Cavaliers gradually adapted to the referee's penalty scale, there were many problems.

For example, although Harden sent a stunning empty pass at the beginning, his overall state was not good, and there were many mistakes.

He didn't listen to Xu Yong's advice, but he was obviously prevented by [Best Defensive Player] Kardashian.

Fortunately, Durant's performance is still brave, and the two sides are inseparable.

Finally, the final decisive moment came, the two sides were tied, and Durant had the chance to kill the ball.

He took a shot from the 45-degree three-point line against James' defense, and the ball smashed out of the frame, but the referee's whistle blew immediately.

James didn't hit Durant's hand in this ball, but the referee blew James for a defensive foul!

James's reaction was particularly funny, he wanted to spread his hands, but perhaps because he thought of the situation he was being targeted tonight, he lifted it halfway up and immediately put it away, and finally could only spit out the braces and bite them to his mouth, shaking his head helplessly there.

Durant made all three free throws to kill the game.

A big battle, but the final protagonist is the referee, which no one expected.

Because of this referee, Xu Yong lost tonight's bet, and he needed to pay a total of 112,000 dollars, plus 2 packs of old banzhang.

"I really should have bet my tens of millions." Butler said with a smile when the results came in.

"And senior, if you meet the Cavaliers again next time, how about you look at the other side?" Then when Xu Yong went to the room safe and took it out to everyone, Butler didn't forget to add. [Note 23]

"Boss, will the referee be so biased in our favor the next time we play the Cavaliers?" Adams asked a very real question.

Xu Yong thought for a moment, then shook his head.

In tonight's game, the opening blow was clearly sending a message that James no longer has privileges.

Or in other words, James got a 13-year, 200 million Adi endorsement contract that originally belonged to Harden, as well as that iconic car of shoes, but he also inherited the [differential treatment] that originally belonged to Harden.

But the result of this game, the final penalty of the final ball, is more of a demonstration of Durant's promotion to the top of Nike.

The Bulls, who don't have that trait.

Moreover, Xu Yong didn't like that either.

Obviously, he can win by strength, but in the end he depends on the referee, even if he wins, it will not make him happy, from this point of view, it is not a bad thing that he did not sign Nike in the first place.

"At least we're fair." Xu Yong opened his mouth and replied, how many times he had won against James with 5 to 8 before, and he was looking forward to what the situation would be like when the two faced off again under fair conditions.

……

After the game between the Cavaliers and the Thunder, Jammy made a fuss on social media, and they were about to give Xiao Hua's old mother a greeting, but the final result was that the league issued a referee report, saying that there was no problem with the penalty in the last 2 minutes of the game, including Durant's killer shot at the end: James did not hit, but he violated Durant's shooting cylinder.

James' subsequent voice was very interesting, he did not dwell on the final decision, but said: The victory or defeat is not decided by the last two minutes.

The implication is that there were also penalty issues in the first 46 minutes.

As a result, his voice, like other protesting players in many previous seasons, has been thrown into the sea and has not received a response from the league.

The buzz didn't last long, as the next day, the Bulls-Lakers game was about to begin, which was also the season-opener for both sides.

Although Kobe Bryant did not say before the season that this was his last season, as Xu Yong thought, with the return of Gasol, the outside world is full of expectations for them this season.

And on paper, the Lakers really have a chance to make it back to the playoffs in the West this season.

The game was in Chicago, and the United Center was particularly lively on this day, with the big names on the scene, and even Jordan, who had not appeared in the NBA for a long time, came to the sidelines.

Before the players from both sides entered, the lights focused on the center of the arena and the Bulls' championship ceremony began.

This year's championship ceremony was unique in that the players did not enter early, but waited in the players' tunnel, as if waiting for the surprise to be revealed.

The familiar and classic prelude to "Sirius" began to sound, and Xu Yong swayed his body a little unconsciously.

If the NBA is compared to a war, they won on the night of the championship, and now is the time to bestow the award, especially this championship means a lot to him.

"I've heard Mike [Malone] say that this year's championship rings are going to be special." Butler leaned over to Xu Yong's side and said.

"What's so special?" Xu Yong, who stopped moving, turned his head and asked.

Butler shook his head, he had only heard.

Xu Yong gave him a roll of the eyes, this wave was purely appetizing.

At this time, the outside ring award has already arrived at the player.

Rose was the first to play, and then Foye...... The finale is Butler, and the finale is Xu Yong.

Everyone else was just a simple name, but when it was Seo Yong's turn, the live DJ stretched the pitch.

"Now, from Arizonada State, a 6-foot-9" small forward...... Xu ~ Yong! ”

When Xu Yong trotted out of the players' tunnel, the cheers of the audience reached the climax of the award ceremony.

Xu Yong came to Xiao Hua and took the championship ring from the other party.

It was at this time that he discovered that what Butler had heard was true, and that this year's ring was indeed unique enough.

It's not a single ring, it's a "9" shape, except that the lower part is close to the ring itself.

In terms of cost, because there is no blue diamond that was set into numbers before, this ring may not be higher than the previous two, but this shape design can definitely give full marks, not only full of directionality, but also unique enough.

On a whim, Xu Yong directly put the ring on his hand and raised it above his head.

There was a tsunami at the scene, and a large number of fans stood up and applauded and cheered, and the cheers soared into the sky.

At this moment, Jokic poked his head out and looked curiously at the ring in Anderson's hand.

Anderson noticed Jokic's gaze and handed the ring to him, and Jokic looked at it closely, with love in his eyes.

The first time he saw a championship ring in reality, he didn't expect it to be so beautiful.

"Don't be envious, you'll have it soon." At this time, Anderson, who was in a similar mood to Jokic, put away the ring under Jokic's reluctant gaze and placed it carefully.

Listening to the conversation between the two, Butler showed an expression that the two of you had never seen the world.

The on-site staff gave the microphone to Xu Yong.

He needs to make a short speech before the championship flag is unveiled.

"When they brought me to this city in 2009 under a lot of pressure, I was like, I'm going to bring a championship to this city, and now we've done it three times, but that's not enough, we need your support, thank you all for your support."

When Xu Yong's voice fell, next to the flags of the 2010~2011 and 2011~2012 seasons, the flags of the 2014~2015 seasons were slowly unveiled with scattered fireworks around them.

Once again, the United Center group was filled with overwhelming cheers from the fans.

After a long time, the cheers of the audience fell, and the scene also entered the warm-up session.

Xu Yong greeted some familiar people on the sidelines one after another at this time, including Jordan, of course.

Jordan's body has been completely blessed, although it has only been two years, he is no longer the one who can fight with Xu Yong at the beginning.

At this time, Kobe Bryant also came here and hugged Jordan and Xu Yong one after another.

"If I have time, I won't miss your game."

Jordan said something very meaningful after hugging Kobe.

Although Kobe Bryant didn't say it, he could feel that Kobe's current state was very similar to when he was in the Wizards, and he really watched one less game.

That's what drew him to the scene tonight, in addition to witnessing the Bulls' ninth championship award ceremony.

"Then I can see you often in the past two years." But Kobe Bryant apparently doesn't think so.

Jordan laughed and shook his head when he heard this.

Xu Yong couldn't help but be a little puzzled when he heard this, Kobe's words were that he would continue to play for another two years, at least definitely not this season.

This high fighting spirit can't help but make him a little self-doubting, is his memory skewed again, Kobe Bryant will retire next season?

(End of chapter)