Lu Yu's activity not only changed many fans' understanding of NBA stars.
It also allowed Wu You and other street ball players to find their future direction.
The atmosphere of Chinese streetball suddenly reached its peak many years ahead of schedule. Not only did a group of outstanding streetball players emerge, but in the future, a group of streetball players would move from the streets to the professional path.
Of course, this is something.
On August 15, Lu Yu had quietly returned to Chicago.
He and Kobe Bryant's street ball activities in China were also filmed and uploaded to the Internet by Kobe's colleagues. It spread in the United States and became an Internet sensation, causing heated discussions among countless fans.
American fans have always known that many NBA stars go to China for activities in the summer. In their understanding, the stars go to China to make money.
It wasn't until the video of this event came out that they discovered that the players were really promoting basketball, and basketball really has no borders.
In fact, this incident is very embarrassing. As far as Adidas is concerned, they are just going to make money, but they didn't expect to be messed with by Lu Yu. The cold persona they originally wanted to set up for Kobe Bryant didn't stick to it. In the eyes of Chinese fans,
Instead, Kobe became a fool obsessed with basketball.
In order to compete with Lu Yu to win or lose a goal, the two even quarreled on the court.
Fans who saw it discovered that the event in the video was not an Adidas China tour event at all, but a temporarily organized street ball event.
Some basketball experts said that such activities have seriously affected the image of NBA stars in the hearts of Chinese fans. The NBA went to China to promote itself, but as a result, the players lost prestige in the hearts of fans.
However, many fans believe that NBA stars are also human beings, and they also have their own shortcomings. Only by showing the true side of the players can they gain more fans' love.
Both sides had a huge quarrel.
At this time, NBA President David Stern is also thinking about this issue. When players go to China for activities, do they need to use big names to prove their superiority? Should the personalities of the stars be mainly down-to-earth, or should they establish a certain personality?
The image of some players as lone heroes.
Just like Iverson last year, he was established as a lone hero.
He originally wanted to develop the Chinese market and what kind of character to set up for Lu Yu. Lu Yu lost to the Lakers last year. It would be best if he could set up the same lone hero character as Iverson, or make some slight changes. The difference is pretty much the same.
This meant, but Lu Yu’s activity gave him some different inspirations.
Who said you have to have this kind of persona that stands thousands of miles away from the fans?
Being able to mingle with fans like Lu Yu is certainly not a joke like O'Neal's, but rather makes fans feel that this is a fan who really likes him, and a star that makes fans feel that he is not so far away.
The league is planning to vigorously develop the Chinese market and push the NBA to Asia, and Lu Yu is undoubtedly the best choice.
As for Yao Ming, he has just entered the NBA, so it remains to be seen, and Wang Zhizhi is a bit too boring. As for Battelle, maybe his level is still a little lower. The most important thing is that they are not as handsome as Lu Yu, who is good at playing and good-looking.
He is handsome and approachable, he is simply the most perfect high-quality idol.
Another point is that Lu Yu is a defender.
Stern has been trying to find an outside star as the face of the league these years.
Since Jordan retired, the entire NBA has entered the center era. In recent years, the slogan of all teams is that the center wins the world. There have been many outstanding big players in the league, such as O'Neal, Duncan, Nowitzki, etc.
Nate, but the box office and ratings of the entire league have been deteriorating.
With these inside players, the team can win, but the ball is not played very well.
If the ball is not played well, the ratings will naturally be bad.
He decided to adjust the scale of the whistles for the referees. The whistles for illegal defensive use that started last year must be strictly enforced to prevent outside defenders from pulling their opponents with their hands. In this way, the defenders will have enough room to display.
Stern didn't know that because of his decision, in just a few years, it would become increasingly difficult for the entire NBA to produce outstanding inside players.
In the future, after players of Kobe's generation retire, the U.S. team's dominance in the world of basketball will plummet without an insider.
This kind of decline is not like this year when the American team was defeated by other countries.
The failure of the US team this year is entirely due to the fact that they only sent the second or third team of the US team, while other countries in the world such as the Chinese men's basketball team, the Yugoslavia men's basketball team, the Argentine men's basketball team, and even Spain in the future have begun to slowly rise.
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But as long as the U.S. team fields a lineup of Mengba’s caliber, the U.S. men’s basketball team will still be the dominant player in the world of basketball.
But what about after Mengpachi?
The Dream Team lacks interior dominance, and even if it gathers all the top players in the NBA, it is still difficult to guarantee its dominance.
After the news emerged that the rules had been tightened, O'Neal was the first to be dissatisfied.
Originally, the area attack had already limited the strength of his center, but now it gave the defender such an advantage, and his defensive tasks in the interior became increasingly heavy.
"I think the emergence of this rule will allow small players like Iverson to dominate the entire league!"
He didn't know that it was not Lu Yu, a small guard, who ruled the league, but Lu Yu, a perimeter player with the skills and speed of a small man but a big body.
Of course, Tracy McGrady and Kobe also took advantage.
But when they met Lu Yu at the same time, they could only regret their entire careers.
At this time, Lu Yu didn't pay much attention to the rules. He spent all his time with Anne Hathaway and Charlize Theron.
After running away for so long, the two of them have calmed down a lot.
But Anne still felt a little aggrieved.
When Lu Yu saw that he couldn't go on like this, he said with a face: "If you feel wronged, you can choose to abandon me."
"I, I can't bear to..."
Annie raised her head, with tears in her eyes. She was already wronged, but her heart was broken when Lu Yu bullied her like this.
Lu Yu helped Annie wipe away her tears, and then pinched her little cheek: "I know, and I can't bear to leave you. You go back to your room now, and I'll go out and have a cigarette."
In fact, he couldn't bear to leave anyone.
Anne nodded obediently. She also wanted to go back to the room to calm down. When she returned to the room, she suddenly found that the room was filled with roses and a huge teddy bear.
For Lu Yu, it is natural for a woman to coax her when she feels wronged, and any man is no exception, but the method of coaxing each woman is different.
For example, Anne needs to prepare herself carefully.
Another example is Charlize, she just needs to smoke and drive the car faster.
Annie sat blankly in the room, confused. She didn't know if she should forgive Lu Yu. She wanted to be angry with Lu Yu. After all, Lu Yu had a different relationship with the girl named Jessica without telling her.
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But she couldn't let go, especially since she liked Lu Yu.
Suddenly, she was a little confused. Lu Yu went to smoke a cigarette. Why did it take so long?
Cartwright has been troubled these days.
His mind is filled with preparation issues for the new season. The team has new players, tactics need to be adjusted, and how to play in the new season. He reached the finals last season, and if his performance deteriorates this season, he will be the only one who takes the blame.
The core point is that Lu Yu will not change. Otherwise, Lu Yu would not even be able to sleep well these days when he played in the World Championships.
He was afraid that Lu Yu would be injured at the World Championships.
Lu Yu is the core, but the tactics still need to be adjusted. Boozer performed well in the summer league, which made him seem to have found the answer to the team's power forward position. Although he did not lead the Bulls to win the summer league championship, Boozer
With a true shooting percentage of 65% and excellent defense, Cartwright knew that the power forward position was his.
But here comes the problem.
Boozer is not the only newcomer to the team, but also the highest-paid player on the team, Hamilton, who was just traded from the Wizards.
He is here. In theory, he is the starting shooting guard. He can serve as a substitute for Lu Yu, but is it a bit too luxurious to use a scorer who averages 20 per game as a substitute?
What's more, he was a substitute for Lu Yu, so what was Crawford doing?
He doesn't think Crawford has been reduced to playing second substitute. Knowing Crawford's ability, it would be no problem to start in another team.
In fact, in Lu Yu's previous life, many people believed that Crawford was only the sixth man, and many even believed that Crawford was not as strong as Ginobili.
This idea is wrong.
In terms of personal honors, Ginobili does have enough championships, the best sixth man, and even the Spurs owe him a Finals MVP. Even the American Dream Team failed in Argentina led by Ginobili.
Under the team players.
But many NBA players have said that Crawford's personal strength is definitely not inferior to Ginobili.
Especially after retiring, Arenas said in an interview: "If you only refer to personal scoring ability, Crawford is a better player than Ginobili."
Whether this sentence is right or wrong, it is enough to show that in the eyes of many NBA professional players, Crawford's personal abilities are outstanding.
He can be a substitute, but he will definitely not be the second substitute.
So Cartwright's previous idea was that Hamilton would play shooting guard and let Lu Yu play in another position. Lu Yu could choose between two positions.
One is a point guard.
Lu Yu plays point guard, Hamilton shooting guard, Artest small forward, Boozer power forward, and Brad Miller center.
This lineup is okay, but it also has a lot of problems. If we play like this, Richardson will have to serve as a substitute for Lu Yu, so the lineup will lack a stable outside shooter.
Artest can shoot three-pointers.
But only in the bottom corners.
There he has the highest shooting percentage.
The second one is the small forward.
Lu Yu plays small forward, Richardson plays point guard, Hamilton shoots guard, Boozer plays power forward, and Brad Miller plays center.
This lineup seems to Cartwright to be the most reasonable.
After putting together such a lineup, the substitute lineup also includes Crawford, Artest, Charles Oakley, Tyson Chandler, Trenton Hassell, and Ron Moser.
Such a lineup first ensures that both the starters and substitutes have sufficient defensive strength, and the offensive firepower is absolutely overwhelming.
The only question is, if Lu Yu is still the core and plays small forward, then he must be an organizational forward. What type of organizational forward will he play?
Since the small forward was separated from the forward, the small forward's task is to score and defend.
As the game changes, due to the different characteristics of the players, the small forward position has seen the emergence of organizational forwards who can not only score, but also organize.
Among organizational forwards, there are those who work as a pivot in the low post, with Bird as the representative, and there are also ball-handling forwards, with Pippen as the representative.
These two are two directions.
Among the many organization forwards, one of the first ball-holding organization forwards was named Paul Pressey.
No one knows Paul Pressey now, but in the mid-1980s, he shocked people when he appeared on the court as a ball-holding forward. He demonstrated the tactical system brought by the ball-holding forward.
It gave everyone and made everyone clear that the power brought by a ball-holding point forward is great. When Pressey was the team's organizer, the Bucks won the division championship twice and once.
By the time we reached the Eastern Conference finals, our results were very good.
In the 1982 draft, the Bucks selected Pressey with the 20th overall pick in the first round. Pressey had very good physical fitness, could jump and dunk, had long arms, and was of good size. He was 196 meters tall. At that time,
He is considered one of the best outsiders in the era. It is precisely because of this that the Bucks selected Pressey.
Coming to the Bucks is not good news for Pressey, because the Bucks have several good defenders, such as Mark Johnson, Moncrief, and Bridgeman. The existence of these people gives Pressey a chance.
There are definitely not many, and there is little room for growth.
Sure enough, Pressey averaged 19.3 minutes per game in his rookie season and only averaged 5.9 shots per game. Such years lasted for two seasons.
During the 1984-85 season, Don Nelson, later known as the "mad scientist", began to think of ways to position Pressey.
He didn't want Pressey to be just a substitute. He wanted Pressey to start. But there was no 3-back tactic at that time. Pressey had to make a transition if he wanted to play. Harris, the assistant coach at the time, gave Pressey an idea.
, let Pressey play point forward.
After thinking for a long time, Nelson made a bold decision to let Pressey play small forward and let him hold the ball a lot as the team's offensive organizer.
This move was very bold at the time, because at that time, when small forwards had to organize, they almost always sat low like Bird, and then made pivots to guide air cuts and control the offense.
Nelson made a bold decision, and Pressey made it right.
From then on, Pressey began to hold the ball in the half court or during counterattacks, delivering cannonballs to his teammates. The Bucks also began to play a tactic in which the center would cover the defenders, Pressey would pass the ball in the high post, and the defender would catch the ball and shoot jumpers.
Moreover, after Pressi passes the ball, he can pass the ball to the center better, because Pressi is taller, has better vision, and is positioned closer to the inside. At the same time, he can also cut directly after passing the ball, which is full of impact.
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On an overall level, Pressey serves as an organizer, allowing the Bucks to have more passing points, reverse the ball faster, and counterattack faster.
Pressey's starting appearance not only added new tactical content to the Bucks, but also added new offensive firepower and defensive capabilities. Pressey's offensive ability can be sudden and shooting, and the sudden burst is very lethal, and the mid-range shot is also very accurate.
, Pressey will also receive passes from teammates to complete the mid-range shot. The important thing is that Pressey's efficiency is not low, and he is a full threat.
During his two years as a substitute, Pressey also developed good defense and was often able to effectively limit the opponent's offense.
Pressey's playing as an organization forward has brought a lot of improvements to the Bucks, and it has also allowed people to see the benefits of forwards holding the ball in organization, allowing more teams to start trying forwards to take on organizational tasks.
Around the beginning of the NBA league in the 1990s, the function of forwards began to penetrate into the scheduling and organization that was originally mainly responsible for point guards. Rare but excellent organizational forwards began to be active in the league.
Over time, the task of controlling the ball or organizing is no longer the exclusive domain of point guards. More and more forwards, large and small, who are good at organizing have occupied the position of the team's top organizer.
For example, Grant Hill before he was injured.
For example, Cartwright's old teammate, Scottie Pippen.
Cartwright thought for a long time and decided to call Pippen over and ask Pippen to teach Lu Yuyan by example. He was really worried that Lu Yu couldn't play an organizational small forward.
