The 2013 draft was held at the Barclays Center in Barublin at the end of June.
The biggest winner is undoubtedly Anthony Bennett, who was unexpectedly selected as the No. 1 pick in 2013. Before, he had not received rumors of No. 1 pick like Noil Noah and Alex Len.
But no matter what, the outcome is now decided, and he has become the Canadian player with the highest draft pick in NBA history.
Why did the Cavaliers, who had received two No. 1 picks in three years, unexpectedly choose Anthony Bennett instead of the previous favorite? This choice successfully aroused the curiosity of the fans.
This has led to the Cavaliers' high expectations for Anthony Bennett. The Cavaliers' last forward player was the No. 1 pick, and his name was LeBron James.
In choosing Anthony Bennett, it is possible that the Cavaliers want to cultivate the next James.
Perhaps, the root cause of Anthony Bennett's subsequent collapse as a rookie has been laid foreshadowing at this time.
For the Trail Blazers.
Due to the accidental regular season record last season, the draft picks dropped from the 10th pick in the first round in the original history to the 12th pick in the first round. This just replaced the atmosphere that should have been the Thunder's, and they just happened to be selected again.
The "immature version" of Aquaman Adams who was supposed to be selected by Detonator.
The second player selected by the team was Mike Muscala, who was selected with the 39th pick in the second round. He is also an inside player and is 2.11 meters tall.
Mike Muscala is a technical insider. His technical style in college was: skilled in low-post offense, accurate in mid-range jumpers, and blue-collar. He only had the ability to finish at the basket and had no shooting or low-post abilities. Adams was just the perfect shape.
They complement each other. After a period of training, the two of them will be the inside combination of the Trail Blazers' rotation lineup in the next few years.
The former's peak numbers were 7 points and 4 rebounds, while the latter's peak numbers were 13 points and 9 rebounds. With just a little polish, this offense and defense combination can be enough to support the Trail Blazers' bench lineup.
It just so happens that Garnett joins the team, and if Adams and Mike Muscala can withstand Garnett's vicious attacks, they will definitely grow faster than players of the same generation.
The poor Wolf King has not yet decided where to live in Portland, but his final playing career has been clearly arranged by the hateful capitalists, just to extract his residual value.
Let’s go back to teasing, let’s get down to business.
An old player like Garnett, who is also a former league superstar, is about to retire, and more or less hopes that there will be younger generations who can inherit his skills and that he will be able to play for so many years in vain.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be some “Jordan’s successors”, “Kobe Bryant’s successors”, “T-Mac’s successors” popping up every year...
The qualifications and potential of Adams and Mike Muscala are definitely not as good as those of the Wolf King. However, as long as they can learn a few skills from the Wolf King, they will be able to use them throughout their playing careers.
In short, what you learn is what you earn!
…
As the first preseason game of the 2013~204 season, China Tour has been heavily publicized by both the league and China’s local media.
Considering the grievances between the Trail Blazers and Clippers last season, such as the battle between the old and new alley-oop cities; and considering that the two teams are still solid playoff-level teams this season.
Therefore, the biggest promotional theme before the game is "2013~2014 Western Conference playoff preview!"
For Wang Zelin, he is about to play in front of his fellow villagers, so he must win this ball, and he must win it beautifully!
According to past practice, preseason games are mainly about finding players' touch, or allowing the body that has been on vacation for a long time to adapt to the rhythm of the game again. Under normal circumstances, the main players will consciously play for about two quarters and then hastily.
Leave.
According to the concept of working as a worker, Wang Zelin does not plan to work overtime in the first preseason game. If possible, he also hopes to play two quarters of more than 20 minutes and rest.
But we also need the cooperation of the Clippers!
If the other party doesn't cooperate...
Haha, we are not afraid of trouble!
…
3 p.m., Wukesong Gymnasium.
Fans came to the stadium one after another, and the players prepared to warm up off the court.
Adams changed his jersey and came out, walked into the arena, and saw his Big Three talking leisurely on the basketball court.
"Hey! Mike, I'll do one!"
Adams calmed down his nervousness, ran over, caught the ball from Mike Muscala, took two steps, and jumped for a dunk.
As a result, it was deducted!
The ball flew towards Wang Zelin, he picked it up and passed it back to him. He threatened with a serious look on his face: "Rookie, are you nervous? You can dunk an empty basket. Do you still want to play when the game comes?"
Aldridge smiled and said: "Don't be too nervous, just play how you normally play when you get on the court."
Wang Zelin looked at the player list again.
Point guard: Damian Lillard, Mo Williams, who was signed with a two-year, 5.6 million yuan contract some time ago.
Shooting Guards: Will Matthews, Connett Lee
Small forward: Nicolas Batum, Will Barton, Alexander Pavlovich
Power forward: LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Garnett, Mike Muscala
Center: Wang Zelin, Steve Adams, Joel Freeland
These are all the players for the Portland Trail Blazers this season.
There are still two players short of the full 15-man roster, and the Trail Blazers still have room for reinforcement.
When he saw Mo Williams at the point guard position, Wang Zelin felt that life always comes so unexpectedly.
The other party "must pass it on"!
When playing with Yi Jianlian in the Nets, this guy has been the target of condemnation from countless Chinese fans.
Unexpectedly, the famous "Mo Bu Chuan" has now become his teammate.
Subjective opinions aside, objectively speaking, as a scoring point guard, Mo Williams is a typical offensively strong and defensively weak player.
Of course, when the Trail Blazers management signed him, they didn't expect him to defend at all. They brought him here just to enhance the offensive firepower of the bench.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The bench gangster is the role that fortunately the Trail Blazers need to play.
Mo Williams, who averages 12.3 points per game, is paired with Connett Lee, a top player with balanced offense and defense at the shooting guard position. The team's second lineup already has enough firepower.
From the lineup point of view, with the lineup unchanged, although the second team lost defensive engineer Mike Roberts, they have inside substitutes Adams and Mike Muscala, especially Adams, who will be the Thunder center in the future. His talent is incredible.
Much better than Mike Roberts.
We also have Mo Williams, whose singles ability is enough to bluff people, to join. Anyway, this guy only needs to let go of his swing in the second team, and he will make money when he swings with momentum, but if he can't swing it... Anyway, it is only about 2 million a year.
Just a basic salary!
On the contrary, once this league bum can play well in the Trail Blazers, whether he stays on the team as the sixth man or is used as a trade bargaining chip, it will not be a loss no matter what.
In this lineup, he, Lillard, and Will Barton are only in the second year of their careers. The combined salary of the three of them is less than 10 million. The team can enjoy the rookie bonus.
There are also Aldridge with 14.15 million yuan, Garnett with 12.44 million yuan, Batum with 11.3 million yuan, Matthews with 6.88 million yuan, plus other positions.
The total for all members is only 65.38 million yuan.
The NBA's salary cap for the 2013~2014 season is 58.679 million yuan, which is still a long way from the luxury tax payment limit.
In other words, if the management wants to do something, it can easily get a maximum salary contract by just saving a little bit, and sign the top players in the league, even if it means paying some luxury tax.
After all, the team's owner is notoriously wealthy. In order to help the team's competitiveness in the Western Conference, later generations directly chose to ignore the existence of the luxury tax and overstep it, so they were repeatedly fined.
But people don’t seem to care!
"The team seems to be stronger this year. Is there any hope of touching the finals floor?"
…
…
…
4 pm.
The Trail Blazers, who have the only NBA star in China, are about to play a game with another NBA powerhouse, the Clippers, in Kyoto, successfully igniting a domestic basketball storm.
In addition to ordinary fans, many entertainment stars came to watch the game, as well as Dayao and some Blue Association executives, as well as some of Wang Zelin's national team teammates.
NBA aspect.
In order to ensure the authenticity of NBA games, two living treasures, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, were also invited here to provide commentary.
"Hello everyone, my name is Charles Barkley!"
"Hello, viewers, I am definitely Smith!"
"Welcome to the live broadcast of the Trail Blazers vs. Clippers game..."
There were translators in the audience to help them convey their meaning.
"Now we invite members of both teams to come on stage!"
"Let's take a look at the lineups of both sides first."
Clippers lineup:
Point Guard: Chris Paul
Shooting Guard: Willie Green
Small Forward: Jared Dudley
Power Forward: Blake Griffin
Center: DeAndre Jordan
"Let's take a look at the Blazers' lineup again. It still looks the same."
Trail Blazers lineup:
Point Guard: Damian Lillard
Shooting Guard: Will Matthews
Small Forward: Nicolas Batum
Power Forward: LaMarcus Aldridge
Center: Wang Zelin
"The lineups of both sides are very strong!" Kenny Smith said with emotion.
"Yes, both teams have made reinforcements this summer. The Clippers' biggest reinforcement is the signing of the Suns, who averaged 12 points per game last season; the Trail Blazers signed Kevin. It can be seen that,
They all want to make further breakthroughs in next year's playoffs!" Barkley continued.
"Without further ado, Charles, let's talk about it as usual, who do you want to bet on who will win this game?"
Kenny Smith challenged.
"Definitely the Portland Trail Blazers!"
Buckley replied confidently.
"Oh why?"
Sure Smith asked.
After listening, Barkley began to analyze his point of view: "This is Wang's first time playing an NBA game in his hometown. I don't think he will hand over the victory to the Clippers."
"Then you mean, the Clippers are weak!"
"..."
When the two were having a verbal spat, the camera came to the court.
The referee kicked off, and Wang Zelin suppressed Jordan and grabbed the first ball.
Xiao Qiao lowered his head and immediately returned to defense, as if he was not satisfied with his performance.
Lillard advances with the ball.
Paul moved forward. This was a duel between the old and new generations of point guards in the league.
Paul is about to enter his thirties. Although he has lost his powerful explosive power due to injuries in his early years and has gradually changed from flying and flying to floor style, he is still at the peak of his career.
The number one point guard in the league, well deserved!
It's just a preseason game. Coach Terry Stotts didn't deliberately arrange any tactics, he just let the players do whatever they wanted on the field.
Of course, frequent lineup rotations are inevitable.
For the coaching staff, there is no need to be competitive in such a game. It is better to seize several preseason games to conduct tactical drills for the regular season.
Facing a league superstar like Paul, Lillard was a little nervous last year, but this year he is not at all nervous.
Quickly shake Paul off in disguise, make a pull-up jumper, and miss!
But Lillard didn't look depressed at this time, because...
Sharks come out of the sea, dragons come out of the abyss!
Jordan was about to take off and angrily grabbed the backboard when a yellow arm appeared on his head, and then ~ "Bang!"
Wang Zelin pressed the rebounded basketball back into the basket with one hand.
2:0!
"nice shot!"
Wang Zelin's dunk made the famous fans at the scene very excited.
It is worth mentioning that in order to cater to the Chinese elements, the main body of the jerseys of the Portland Trail Blazers players during this trip to China are mainly red, supplemented by some white stripes.
Inevitably, the entire stadium turned into a sea of red!
Come back.
Paul holds the ball.
Like a jump shot that was enough for Lillard, Paul drastically changed direction and passed Lillard, directly breaking through.
However, Lillard followed the defense too quickly, and he decisively passed the ball inside to Griffin.
Griffin was in a deep position, pulled up on the spot, and dunked easily.
The next moment, there was a clang, and as Griffin violently hit the basket, the backboard sank violently.
"oh!!!"
"ah!!!"
At Wukesong Arena, exclamations suddenly erupted.
Griffin ignited the audience with his violent aesthetics.
Griffin landed and glared at Aldridge fiercely.
The white monster is going crazy!
"Blake's physical energy is so explosive. He was born to attack the basket!" Kenny Smith praised.
"Don't forget, there is a beast standing opposite! I believe he will reply to his opponent in the next round!"
After Barkley finished speaking, the camera showed Trail Blazers No. 36 on the court.
What will he do?
Trail Blazers offense.
"Damien!"
Near the paint area, Wang Zelin called out to Lillard and made a gesture to ask for the ball.
Lillard advanced to the frontcourt, when Batum cut into the wing from the left wing, and he stuffed the ball over.
Batum took a few steps to the right wing and hit a lob at the right moment. The ball went into Wang Zelin's hands.
With his back leaning against Jordan, Wang Zelin pushed hard. The former was still shaking Wang Zelin's power, which seemed to have become much stronger...
The next moment, amid the sharp screeching sound of his sneakers, Wang Zelin leaned over and immediately started to break through.
He poked to the left and shook DeAndre Jordan, then immediately poked to the right. Wang Zelin rushed past from the right and entered the paint area.
After one step, Wang Zelin's figure suddenly rose, and with a bang, his whole body was already hanging on the basket.
"That's it!"
"Nice buckle! Your Majesty!"
The whole audience burst into cheers, this was the scene they had dreamed of.