If he weren't playing basketball, Pau Gasol would probably be a great doctor.
His mother, Marissa, is a doctor. Influenced by her mother, Pau Gasol entered the University of Barcelona to study medicine in 1998. In the same year, he became the star of the Barcelona youth team and led the team.
Won the European Youth Basketball Championship.
At this moment, Gasol truly realized that it was time to put aside his dream of becoming a doctor, and he needed to focus more on the development of his basketball career.
In the 2000-01 season, Gasol was already a well-known talent in the European basketball world. He averaged less than 24 minutes per game, but contributed 11.3 points and 5.2 rebounds, and won the La Liga championship with the team.
Not only that, the 20-year-old Gasol can already use his seven-foot height to completely overwhelm the opponent's inside players, and scouts from the NBA have already coveted his talent.
During the three seasons he played for Barcelona, he became the top all-around player in the Spanish league, and his team-oriented playing style and selfless style of play made him the type of overseas player that NBA teams are most eager to acquire.
In order to be able to play in the NBA of his dreams, Gasol paid US$1.65 million in breach of contract compensation out of his own pocket.
In this way, Gasol began his NBA career in Memphis.
In his first season in the NBA, although his statistics were very good, there was always a rookie in the same class standing in front of him. In order to create a gimmick, the league even deliberately pitted the two against each other.
This is what Gasol said in the interview.
When Gasol put on a black jersey and ran out of the tunnel, deafening boos erupted from the United Center. In the eyes of Bulls fans, Gasol was simply overestimating his ability to compete with Lu Yu for Rookie of the Year.
Even though Lu Yu hasn't been playing well recently.
Gasol also felt faintly unconvinced in his heart. He felt that he was no worse than anyone else, especially among the rookies of the same year, he believed that he was the best one.
His originally calm heart suddenly had the idea of fighting because of the boos.
He wants to be the Rookie of the Year.
"Hello everyone, I am your old friend Yu Jia. Today I will bring you the game between the Chicago Bulls and the Memphis Grizzlies at home."
Yu Jia, wearing a navy blue suit, sat upright in the commentary position and said with a smile: "The person I am explaining to you today is Teacher Xu Jicheng. Hello, Teacher Xu."
"Hello, Yu Jia." Xu Jicheng smiled.
"Although the Grizzlies have the second-to-last record in the Western Conference, they have been in good momentum recently and have won two games in a row. On the contrary, the Bulls have dropped to sixth place in the Eastern Conference due to a three-game losing streak."
Yu Jia briefly introduced the current situation of the two teams.
Xu Jicheng next to him sniffed and added: "Although the Bulls still have the advantage in terms of strength, now the teams in the league have studied the Bulls thoroughly, because their shortcomings are too obvious, so
Losing is a matter of time."
"The Bulls have indeed been losing recently, but I personally think it's not Lu Yu's problem, but the weakness of the forward offense that is holding the team back. You can't ask Lu Yu to organize the team's offense without giving him the equipment."
A strong scorer, even if Lu Yu has to stand up and score, being both a father and a mother, no one can guarantee that he will always do well," Yu Jia analyzed.
Xu Jicheng smiled: "So the Bulls have been caught in the shortcomings of other teams, and now they are like a frustrated little daughter-in-law, with hooligans all over the street bullying whoever they catch."
"Both sides have now emerged from the locker room... You can see that the one who is warming up is our Lu Yu. Last month, Lu Yu performed well, won the Rookie of the Month, and led the team to great success, but
Since mid-December, the team has gradually begun to lose games and has lost three games in a row recently. I don’t know if the Bulls will make changes this time.”
Before Yu Jia finished speaking, a string of English letters appeared on the big screen. Xu Jicheng took one look at it and smiled.
"I just want to tell you about this. Voting for the All-Star Game has begun. You can vote for your favorite players online. Of course, I am here to canvass votes for our Chinese players, especially Wang Zhizhi and Lu Yu.
I really hope this is an All-Star Game with two Chinese players," Xu Jicheng said.
The NBA All-Star Game was first held by the National Basketball Association on March 2, 1951 and evolved into an annual exhibition game for NBA stars.
Every year, two teams composed of the best players from the East and West regions hold a game to determine the winner.
After evolution, the contemporary All-Star Game has developed into the "All-Star Weekend", which lasts for three days.
Yu Jia picked up the information downloaded by the staff and took a look at it, and said with a smile: "At first glance, I saw the names of Wang Zhizhi and Lu Yu, who we are familiar with, on the list. They are both first-year players this year.
In the NBA, Wang Zhizhi’s inclusion in the All-Stars as a substitute player is probably not enough, but as Lu Yu is the absolute core of the Bulls, I don’t think it’s a big problem to get into the All-Stars..."
"It's hard to get into the Eastern Conference All-Stars." Xu Jicheng said solemnly: "Regardless of the situation in the league in the past two years, the West is strong and the East is weak. This is because the Western Conference has stronger interior lines. If compared to defenders, the Eastern Conference has a lot of talented defenders.
"
"When you say that, it's true that the only center in the Eastern Conference that can take a shot is Mutombo." Yu Jia nodded and said.
"So it seems that it is much more difficult for Lu Yu to become an All-Star in the Eastern Conference than in the Western Conference. There are too many star players on the defensive line in the Eastern Conference today, such as Iverson, Kidd, Jordan, Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, and Carter.
And Andre Miller, the assist leader this season... But I think Lu Yu still has a good chance of being selected. After all, there are so many of us, one person and one vote can send Lu Yu to the All-Star... Oh, the game begins.
Already..."
The two commentators were obviously more interested in canvassing votes for Lu Yu. Xu Jicheng ignored the start of the game and continued: "If Lu Yu enters the All-Star Game, he will be the first Chinese player to enter the All-Star Game... Beautiful, Lu Yu."
A pass assisted Artest to hit a three-pointer from the corner... I am here to help Lu Yula canvass for votes. If you have time, please go to the Internet to vote for them... Okay, let's take a look at the results of both teams.
Starting lineup.”
They finally put the commentary on the game.
However, the fans watching the game at this time were obviously not paying attention to the game. Many of them had already turned on their computers or rushed to the Internet cafes.
"Where are you going?"
"Go vote for Lu Yu!"
"What to vote for?"
"The voting for the All-Star Game, no matter what, Lu Yujin must be the starter this year!"
"Wait for me, I'll go too!"
Lu Yu doesn't know that fans across the country are voting like crazy for him to be a starter in the All-Star Game. He is now facing the Grizzlies' iron-barrel defense.
Pau Gasol seemed to have taken medicine, constantly helping Williams to double attack him. The most annoying thing was that his teammates had no touch at all. Even Chandler's rebound shot under the basket could miss the basket.
.
Just three minutes into the first quarter, the opponent was beaten 15:4.
Cartwright reluctantly called a timeout.
Lu Yu glanced at the dazzling lights above his head and frowned tightly. His mind had been thinking about the team's recent problems.
"coach……"
Lu Yu turned to look at Trenton Hassell. Hassell stood next to Cartwright at some point.
"Coach, I think I can try playing point guard and let Lu Yu play shooting guard." Hassell said seriously.
Cartwright and Lu Yu were stunned at the same time.
What surprised Lu Yu was that since he became the team's point guard, because his teammates' scoring ability was weak, he would choose to open up the situation through his own offense, and this kind of offense was that Lu Yu advanced from the backcourt to the frontcourt.
Then break through, distribute the ball, or use a pick-and-roll to pass to Miller or Chandler who stays in the high post.
However, this method has been targeted by other teams recently, and some teams even started to attack Lu Yu before halftime.
This resulted in Lu Yu's threat being greatly reduced.
The team's defense has always been fine, but the problem is the offense.
At the beginning of the season, everyone was used to this style of play, and even Lu Yu had unknowingly become accustomed to this style of play, because Lu Yu has always been in control of the team, and even if Lu Yu lost these games,
They did well, so everyone thought that the reason for the loss was due to the lack of ability of other players.
No one would think about whether the problem was with Lu Yu.
Cartwright frowned slightly and asked, "Tell me what you think."
Hassell nodded and said: "I only thought of this issue after watching a video of Lu Yu playing at Gonzaga recently. Lu Yu played as a shooting guard at Gonzaga, and Gonzaga's point guard dribbled the ball.
In the half, it relieves a lot of pressure on Lu Yu, and the opponent will hesitate to choose whether to double-team Lu Yu, after all, Lu Yu is without the ball at this time."
"Without the ball?" Cartwright's eyes twitched: "I understand what you mean..."
This is a bit like the situation when the 76ers asked Iverson to switch to shooting guard. That season, Iverson switched to shooting guard, broke the embarrassing situation of being double-teamed, and ushered in a scoring explosion.
But that was when zone defense was not allowed last season, which meant that players without the ball were not allowed to be flanked.
The reason why Iverson is struggling this season is that although he still plays shooting guard like last season, with zone defense, even if he is without the ball, he will still be flanked.
That's why Cartwright never considered this aspect.
But Hassell's words made Cartwright suddenly wake up. Lu Yu was flanked when holding the ball and being flanked without the ball. There were two completely different concepts. Being flanked while holding the ball required Lu Yu to break the double team, either by breaking through or passing the ball.
Passing the ball out requires time to handle the ball, and this time is enough for the opponent to make adjustments.
As for the double attack when there is no ball, the basketball is on the other side, which is a situation of more hits and less. If the opponent does not double hit, the ball will be in Lu Yu's hands, and it can form a one-on-one situation in an instant.
This was also Cartwright's initial suggestion to Floyd, asking the team to find a guard who could shoot and organize, put Lu Yu in the shooting guard position, and lead the team to win like Jordan did.
The only problem now is Trenton Hassell's lack of shooting ability.
If Hoiberg is allowed to play point guard, his shooting ability will be there, but the foundation of the team, defense, will be reduced.
Given the trade-off, Cartwright decided to let Hassell try playing point guard.
Artest is always ready to respond on the strong side, and if Hassell hands the ball to Lu Yu, he will try to move it to the weak side to stretch the opponent's defensive formation as wide as possible.
The television cameras focused on the players from both sides who were about to take the field.
At this time, Xu Jicheng remembered to introduce the starting players of both sides, "Both sides still played their respective starting players. This time the Bulls' timeout did not have any player changes, but I don't know if there were any adjustments to their tactics.
"
"Let's take a look at the Grizzlies' starting roster."
The director promptly called out the Grizzlies' lineup.
Point Guard: Jason Williams
Shooting Guard: Brevin Knight
Small Forward: Shane Battier
Power Forward: Pau Gasol
Center: Lorenzen Wright
"The backcourt combination is Jason Williams and Brevin Knight. This Grizzlies team has Kapau Gasol on the offensive end and Battier on the defensive end. This lineup configuration does not count.
Good, but definitely not bad, and the offense and defense are fairly balanced. Their record this season is not good, because the players are relatively young."
Xu Jicheng continued: "We can think back on the games the Bulls have lost so far. Whether it is the Lakers, Celtics, Raptors, or Timberwolves, these teams have a common characteristic, which is a balanced offense and defense... When the Bulls
If the team's offense cannot be opened up, Lu Yu's threat will naturally decrease, so the offensive end will naturally be affected... And the offensive capabilities of these teams are not weak, and there will not be a situation like the Bulls that cannot score.
With one thing going the other way, it is inevitable that the Bulls will lose."
"Does Coach Xu think the Bulls will lose this game?" Yu Jia asked quickly.
Xu Jicheng looked at the game screen with worried eyes: "I think... I might lose..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Bulls' first offense after the timeout made Xu Jicheng's throat feel like something was blocked, and he seemed to hear a crisp sound in his ears.
