In late September, after the summer league ended, the Magic's pre-season training camp officially opened. With Rashard Lewis returning from his vacation, all members of the Magic team were gathered together.
After carefully looking at the Magic's current lineup, Adrian really felt a little scary.
Kevin Love. Although Love's record with the Timberwolves has never been very good in later generations, because of the huge contrast between his own beautiful statistics and the Timberwolves' record, Kevin Love once had a reputation as a data brush. But in fact,
, to be able to be a data brusher, you must have at least two brushes, a keen and terrible sense of rebounding and a shooting ability that can reach beyond the three-point line and win the honor of the three-point king in the All-Star Game. This is a double-double.
It's as easy as eating and drinking.
If Kevin Love shocked the eye with his statistics, then Marc Gasol covered the basket with his defense. As a traditional defensive center, Marc Gasol was good at all defensive methods and could once defeat all opponents.
The opponent's shooting percentage dropped below 40%.
The partnership of Marc Gasol and Kevin Love, if these two insiders can work well together, the effect of one offense and one defense will definitely be far greater than one plus one equals two.
Although Adrian knew that these two insiders might be lost to the Magic last season, when these two people actually appeared on the Magic's player list this season, or even appeared in front of him, Adrian still
I felt waves of dizziness.
"Hello Ed, I'm so glad we can be teammates. I'm your fan."
On the opening day of the training camp, Kevin Love, who appeared in front of Adrian, did not have the domineering look of the later 'Wolf King' at all. Instead, he looked very shy. He looked quite nervous and uncomfortable under Adrian's burning gaze.
.
"Don't be nervous Kevin. I'm very happy to be a teammate with you." Patting Love on the shoulder, Adrian smiled and said: "I also watched your game in college, and I have to say that you played really well.
Awesome, you are definitely one of the best rookies this year. I believe you can definitely create a world of your own in NBA."[
Adrian's lie came out of his mouth. He had never watched Kevin Love's college game. He usually had too many things to be busy with. How could he have time to pay attention to college basketball? It's just that Adrian
It's true that Ann watched Kevin Love's game, but... that's in the future.
On the other hand, Kevin Love was praised like this by Adrian. His face clearly showed excitement.
Adrian couldn't help but shook his head secretly in his heart. After all, he was still a young man who had just walked out of a pure university campus and had not yet learned to disguise himself. Thinking like this, Adrian naturally forgot that he was also a young man.
fact.
Compared with Kevin Love, Marc Gasol is quite comfortable. After all, although like Kevin Love, he has just entered the NBA, Marc Gasol has already participated in the Olympics and has seen all kinds of things.
All kinds of big scenes.
After everyone arrived, head coach Stan Van Gundy first asked the new players to introduce themselves and the old players to express their welcome to the new players. Then he signaled to Adrian that it was his turn to speak.
It's time."
"I'm very happy to have the opportunity to get together with you. This next season, next season, and even the next season. We will all be teammates who work hard together." Speaking in front of so many people, Adrian said early
This is not the first time, so he quickly entered the state: "Last season, we achieved the best regular season record in the history of the Magic and reached the Eastern Conference Finals in the playoffs. But.
Are we satisfied with this? Of course not..."
In the new season, the Orlando Magic has and can only have one goal.
That's the championship.
Last season, after acquiring Adrian in the second half of the schedule, the Magic made rapid progress, achieving the second best record in the league in history with 62 wins, and made it through the playoffs all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
It created the best record in playoff history in 13 years, and finally lost to the championship Celtics.
This season, the Magic's lineup has been strengthened. They signed Kevin Love with the fifth pick traded from the Grizzlies in the draft, and also signed Marc Gasol. The Orlando Magic
Changing the shortage of interior manpower last season, it has established a substantial team with five generals including Kevin Love, Marc Gasol, Kwame Brown, Marcin Gortat, and Paul Millsap.
Inside lineup.
On the outside, the Magic did not make much adjustments, but they signed Michael Pietrus and Shaun Livingston from the zyou market. They have made great progress in both offense and defense. Michael Pitt
Russ has proven his strength with his performance during his rookie contract period, especially his defensive strength. And the biggest hidden danger of Shaun Livingston, the tall point guard known as the second Magician, is the terrifying
Injuries. If he can get rid of the troubles of injuries, at least Shaun Livingston will have enough strength to play a good backup point guard position.
No matter how you look at it, the Magic have become stronger than last season. If the Orlando Magic's goal this season is not to win the championship, let alone others don't believe it, the media doesn't believe it, and even the Orlando Magic themselves don't believe it.
.
"This year, we are in good shape. The Celtics won the championship last year, but they are old, and last year was their last glory! The Los Angeles Lakers are also good, but after they dealt with their own mess,
Before this happened, they would not have been our opponents!" A disdainful sneer appeared on Adrian's lips: "As for teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, and Houston Rockets, I don't pay attention at all."
Surprised, even a little unbelievable!
Even Stan Van Gundy was shocked by Adrian's arrogance. Stan Van Gundy couldn't help but feel a little worried. Adrian looked a little too arrogant...[
"This year, the Celtics can't stop us. The Los Angeles Lakers can't stop us either. If anyone really stops us from launching a championship challenge, then it can only be us!" Adrian asked loudly: "You guys
Will you allow yourself to block the road to the championship?!!”
"No!!!" Kwame Brown took the lead in howling. Under the leadership of Kwame Brown, the others started shouting.
"Whoever dares to stop us from winning the championship, we will kill them!"
"No one can stop us!"
"We are the strongest!"
Seeing everyone's enthusiasm being aroused, Adrian nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, guys. I heard it. Like I said, the only thing that can stop us from winning the championship this season is
It’s just us. I don’t want to be defeated by myself because of carelessness and indulgence, so in training, we must work hard to bring out all our abilities.”
"Don't worry Stan, I'm calm." Faced with Stan Van Gundy's concerns, Adrian smiled and said: "Strategically, despise the enemy, and tactically, pay attention to the enemy. This is what the great man of China, Mao, said
, I won’t really despise those guys because of what I said just now, I’m just cheering up my teammates to give them more confidence in hitting the championship. After all, I am a leader.”
Adrian smiled and said: "If even I don't show confidence and ambition for the championship, how can others have enough confidence?"
Hearing what Adrian said, Stan Van Gundy immediately let go of his worries. What Stan Van Gundy was most worried about was that Adrian lost himself in the success of last season and became arrogant.
Now that he saw that Adrian was completely calm and sober, he felt relieved.
No matter how difficult the previous game is, as long as Adrian can stay calm and clear, there will be no chaos in the Orlando Magic. This is the importance of Adrian to the Magic at this moment, not only as the core of the tactics, but also as the core of the tactics.
It is the Dinghai Shenzhen.
The training started in a fiery atmosphere, and Adrian quickly felt the power of the current Orlando Magic. To be precise, it was the changes brought about by Kevin Love.
Kevin Love has a standard inside figure. At nearly 260 pounds, he looks like a majestic brown bear. Although his thick thighs drag down his absolute speed, he looks very strong in small-scale movements.
Flexibility, and more importantly, his touch and shooting ability are completely outside level.
Like Rashad Lewis, who is also 208 centimeters tall, Kevin Love can definitely unleash his firepower from beyond the three-point line. When the two big three-pointers Kevin Love and Rashard Lewis go outside,
As soon as the line stopped, what Adrian saw was the almost empty inner line that had been pulled by the two people.
Not to mention anything else, just the ability to pull the opponent's inside players away from the basket during the offense provides huge convenience to the Magic's offense. Adrian can rely on his breakthrough ability to attack the opponent's basket.
The inside line is overwhelming! After reaching the inside line, looking back and passing the ball, you can easily find two tall targets outside the three-point line!
On defense, Kevin Love also showed off his terrible sense of rebounding. He doesn't jump very high, but with his excellent rebounding sense, he is always able to seize advantageous positions one step ahead and create opportunities for himself.
Fighting for rebounds creates better opportunities, and his thick thighs can ensure his efficiency in blocking. When he squats down, even Marcin Gortat has a hard time driving him away.
Although Michael Pietrus' performance is not as amazing as Kevin Love's, it is definitely eye-catching. Especially in terms of defense, his strong body and not slow speed can completely suppress most opponents.
The second position player will not suffer against the third position player. In terms of offense, his ball-handling attack power is not very strong and efficient, but the Magic itself does not need him to do ball-handling offense. With Adri
It would be a joke if Ann's Orlando Magic still needs other players to carry out a lot of ball-handling offense. Coordinating with xng's high and low air cuts when Adrian breaks through is what the Magic need Michael Pietrus to do.
In this matter, Michael Pietrus did a pretty good job. Although there were several mistakes, they were just coordination errors caused by unfamiliarity with each other. As the training and competition progressed, it must have been like this
There will be fewer and fewer mistakes, and there will be more and more cooperation.
Relatively speaking, Marc Gasol's performance was much worse, but he also showed his uniqueness in defense, especially in low-post singles defense. On the offensive end, he grasped the timing of pick-and-rolls.
Marc Gasol's performance was particularly brilliant.
Time passed unknowingly, and October soon entered. In the Orlando Magic, the preseason war also quietly started.
The Magic have six preseason games to play this season, namely the home game against the Hawks on October 7th, the home game against the Bobcats on October 9th, the away game against the Bobcats on October 16th, the away game against the Heat on October 19th, and the away games against the Hawks and October 21st.
Play against the Grizzlies at home on March 23rd.
On October 7th, the Amway Center was bustling with people! (To be continued...)
