Paul got 12 assists, but the Hornets lost by more than ten points, which was a rare occurrence last season; Paul scored the second-highest 30 points in the ga, which, even in last season, was a bad on for the Hornets. When Paul scores 30 , it’s mostly a sign that the Hornets are in trouble...
In this ga, Zhang Yang saw Paul’s current predicant.
Unlike the future Gui Gui, who wants everything, Paul is passive; the team needs him all the ti.
Paul has to hold down the fort and step up to solve problems during clutch monts. The first half was fine, he was consistent the whole way, but in the third quarter, he started tailing off, and by the final quarter, he was completely exhausted, yet he had to persevere and try his best with a weary body.
This was even more dangerous than the predicant Zhang Yang had analyzed before the ga. Perhaps only the future peak Gui Gui could carry this team without collapsing from exhaustion; Paul’s stamina clearly isn’t that good.
After the ga, Zhang Yang returned ho and browsed the news.
As the first month of the season concluded, one of the hottest topics was related to him, Zhang San—Number 3 star showdown.
This month, the four most famous number 3 players in the league faced off against each other once, for a total of six hot gas.
The player with the best record was Iverson, winning all three gas against him, Zhang San, Paul, and Cheek. Not only did he have an advantage in head-to-head records, but his team also had the best results, moving to a 12-4 record after a four-ga winning streak at the end of the month. In the West, only the Mavericks and the Lakers have better records, positioning them in third place, ahead of the Grizzlies and the Trail Blazers.
The second-best was him, Zhang San, who won against the other two opponents except for the ga against the Nuggets.
But in terms of stats, Iverson was at the bottom. Zhang Yang and Wade were competing for scoring king, and Paul was contending with Deron for the assist king; Iverson averaged only 21 7.
The reason for Iverson’s declining stats is well understood: with two teammates averaging 25 points, the three of them can’t each take more than 20 shots per ga.
What surprised everyone was that Iverson seed happy to accept the current style of play and the number of shots. Since last season’s All-Star Weekend, there have been rumors that Iverson would be unhappy with fewer shots. However, Iverson is the one among the "three guns" who most frequently professes liking this team.
Zhang Yang saw a comnt—"When The Answer chose to join the Nuggets, he was already prepared to sacrifice."
That makes sense, but it’s undoubtedly hindsight. The comnter probably speculated the Nuggets would implode because of Iverson back then, and there was no such "objective view" at the ti.
Zhang Yang took a look at the first month’s performance standings.
In the East, the Cavaliers took off, losing only two gas this first month, to the Bobcats and the Raptors, with a 13-2 record leading the East and also the league overall.
The Magic were 12-4 in second place, the Bobcats 11-5 in third, the Hawks 10-5 in fourth, the Bulls 10-6 in fifth, the Celtics 9-6 in sixth, the Heat 8-7 in seventh, and the Raptors 8-8 in eighth...
In the West, the Lakers and Mavericks were both 12-3, the Nuggets 12-4 in third, the Grizzlies 11-5 in fourth, the Trail Blazers 10-5 in fifth, the Spurs 9-7 in sixth, the Jazz 9-7 in seventh, and the Warriors 9-7 in eighth...
The West’s first-month standings were noticeably different from Zhang Yang’s preseason expectations.
The Mavericks acquiring Billups and Saunders was expected to help them rebound, but the speed surprised him.
Billups’ ability to control the ga brought more help to Nowitzki than Kidd currently could!
Zhang Yang watched a Mavericks ga live and noticed that the Mavericks’ playing style had been adjusted compared to the past two years, but was still largely based on an isolation play flow.
Integrating his own ideas step by step on the existing system to ensure current strength is Saunders’ coaching style.
The Hawks and Celtics unsurprisingly rose up, but the Bulls fell significantly.
Primarily, it’s Big Ben’s steep decline; he turned 34 in September, a little over two ters tall, and still a short athletic inside player, always at risk of collapse. And it ca just as expected; he’s only played 10 gas this season, averaging 2.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per ga.
The most significant decline is in stamina; last season, Big Ben averaged 31 minutes in regular gas and 35 minutes in the playoffs. This season, he’s averaging only 23 minutes per ga and can’t handle more.
Conversely, Joe Smith, who entered the NBA a year before Big Ben and plays a substitute role, has perford better this season than last, averaging 19 minutes and getting 6.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.8 steals, and 0.6 blocks per ga... But the role of the old top pick pales in comparison to Big Ben’s impact last season.
With the power forward position dropping significantly in strength, the Bulls didn’t play Yao Ming much more, reducing his playti by another minute and his shots decreased, giving more opportunities to the 27-year-old Hinrich and 23-year-old Luol Deng, lowering Yao’s scores but slightly increasing his rebounds.
Zhang Yang, upon checking the Bulls’ changes, couldn’t help but appreciate the benefits of having championship experience—he could see the benefits of the Bulls’ adjustnts: reducing Yao Ming’s burden, hoping to smoothly endure the salary explosion of one to two years following the championship. By the ti Big Ben’s contract ends, Yao Ming would only be 30 years old, and such a dominant center, if kept healthy, should have at least a four-year championship contention cycle.
And by that ti, Hinrich and Yao Ming would be in their pri, Luol Deng in his peak period, with salary space available, the attraction to premium players would be evident.
Zhang Yang opened up his team’s hopage. Their 11-5 record indeed was a bit worse than he predicted. It seed okay, resembling a 55-win season, but their first month’s schedule was quite easy; besides playing the Cavaliers and the number 3 star showdown, there were no other strong opponents, yet they still lost five gas.
gas, averaging 105.3 points, much lower than last season, with large fluctuations; however, allowing 98 points per ga, they have successfully reduced it to below the league’s average line, showing results in their defensive system.
Others spend years slowly rebuilding or focusing solely on defense like the Grizzlies or Cavaliers, or solely on offense like the Nuggets. If the Bobcats wanted to do that, it would be easy for them—last season, they could have managed it within a year.
But they tried last season, focused solely on offense. Even if the Suns didn’t falter, they played hard offense, still falling short against Nash, Marion, and Stoudemire’s Suns, which didn’t even count as top three favorites for the championship;
Focusing solely on defense, they can’t reach last season’s Bulls, this season’s Cavaliers and Grizzlies, and the playoff version Lakers’ intensity.
They can only advance together, striving for top-tier offense and defense, united attack and defense!
...
December 1st, a new month has arrived.
After lunch, Zhang Yang arrived at the arena to prepare for the evening’s ga eting.
Since the ga against the Nuggets, the Bobcats are on a 6-ho-ga streak.
The Bobcats’ early season schedule is relaxed, not only with mostly non-top-tier opponents but also many ho gas—out of 16 gas including the opener on October 31, 9 were at ho. The first two months total 30 gas, with 18 ho gas.
The eting quickly ended, without even pre-ga training, and the next ga’s opponent was briefly discussed... Tonight’s opponent is the Pistons.
However, the Big Brother Group still held a small casual eting, emphasizing points to watch out for in tonight’s ga, but there weren’t many due to the Pistons focusing on grooming Noah and playing poorly to get draft picks.
The small eting soon turned into a chat.
Felton: "Jack, did you see the monthly award list?"
Zhang Yang: "Didn’t see it, anyway, we’re not getting any."
Felton then briefed on the monthly awards announced in the morning.
Mayo received the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award; Rose beat the Rockets’ Lopez, the Clippers’ Westbrook, the Timberwolves’ Love, to take the Western Conference Rookie of the Month award.
Jas and Anthony won the Eastern and Western Conference Player of the Month awards respectively.
Van Gundy and George Karl each received the Eastern and Western Conference Coach of the Month awards.
After speaking, Felton joked, "I thought Howard would get Player of the Month, but instead it was Jas."
Zhang Yang: "Jas getting it is normal, he perford very well. Boss, don’t wear tinted glasses."
Felton: "I know he deserves it, but Howard should be a bit better, I feel Howard will take MVP DPOY. Every ti after a Magic ga, the news is full of his defensive highlights. I think his defense is stronger than Wallace’s back then!
Moreover, look, Anthony and Carl won Player of the Month together, Van Gundy also got an award, but Howard didn’t—a bit strange."
Hill interjected: "Maybe it’s because Jas and Anthony being awarded together is more newsworthy.
Also last season when compared to Jack and Paul, Jas didn’t seem that outstanding, earlier Wade won the championship, Bryant was called ’the world’s best player’ in the Olympics, so the league might show more favor to Jas in less contentious awards, after all, he’s the league’s main star with the most resources invested, since the Cavaliers’ winning streak to the top of the league, the league’s official website hasn’t changed photos, it’s always been his portrait."
Zhang Yang: "I see, no wonder he’s been the league’s top spotlight star for more than a decade, Grant you know so much!"
Hill swiftly hooked Zhang Yang’s neck, initiating the Choking Skill: "You could criticize more directly!"
Zhang Yang: "Cough cough cough, almost strangled! Cough, why wasn’t your movent this fast when playing?"
By 7 PM, the Bobcats hosted the Pistons in a back-to-back ga.
Although affected by stamina, the Bobcats still easily defeated the Pistons 107 to 96.
After trying for several gas, Carlisle, despite constantly complaining about Zhang Yang’s overly flamboyant playstyle, chose to accept it and determined the overall offense-defense adjustnt direction.
Zhang Yang didn’t disappoint, in the back-to-back gas, he defended the opponent’s ball-handling core Harris well while scoring 37 points on 12-for-26 shooting, opening the new ga month!
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