Chapter 143 This is a robbery-style transaction

This game is the Knicks away against the Hornets. Before talking about the game, let’s talk about the Hornets’ starting lineup.

They are Peja Stojkovic, David West, Tyson Chandler, Chris Paul and Maurice Peterson.

These players are actually quite strong, but calling them top-notch is a bit of an exaggeration. However, they are still able to achieve the current record of 25 wins and 12 losses, ranking third in the Western Conference.

The reason lies with Chris Paul.

这家伙是这支球队的轴心，也是这支球队的粘合剂，他不断利用自己分享球的能力去帮助队友变得更好，让这帮球员爆发出了1+1+1+1+1＞5的水平。

It can be said that without Chris Paul, there would be no Hornets.

Let’s take a look at their performance in this game.

During the jump ball phase, Eddy Curry lost to Chandler, who was taller than him, and the Hornets got the first offensive opportunity.

After Paul dribbled the ball across half court, the Hornets played the double screen, which is what they are best at and what they like best, with David West and Chandler helping Paul with the screen. At this time, they had many options.

They might let David West catch the ball and shoot from the mid-range after setting a screen, or they might let Chandler slam dunk, or they might pass the ball to Peja on the outside and let him make the enemy pay with his accurate shooting, or of course they could let Chris Paul end the round directly.

It can be said that the whole process is unpredictable. As long as the defensive players lose their focus for a moment, the Hornets will immediately make them pay the price.

In the first round, Paul made a ground pass to Chandler who was following closely. Chandler is currently at the peak of his career, averaging 11.8 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game, a double-double, so he scored steadily after receiving the ball.

The Hornets therefore took the lead!
Zheng Yang then took the ball and launched the attack. The player defending him was Peja, Zheng Yang's old rival. He had dealt with him many times when the opponent was on the Kings.

But Zheng Yang is now much stronger than he was back then. Peja alone can't stop him and is easily passed by Zheng Yang in one step.

After entering the restricted area, he had an aerial confrontation with Chandler who also jumped up to try to block the shot, and then shot in a pull-up shot.

In terms of aerial confrontation alone, Zheng Yang is definitely a top-tier player in the league. He also has very strong core abilities and rarely suffers physical imbalance, so his shots are not greatly interfered with.

2: 2!

In the next round, the Hornets used double screen again, but this time David West's mid-range shot missed.

If he was playing against other teams, Zheng Yang would definitely choose to rush to the opponent's half quickly, then wait for his teammates to pass the ball and then quickly break and score.

However, due to Chandler's strong ability to grab offensive rebounds, as mentioned earlier, he averaged 11.7 rebounds per game, including 4.1 offensive rebounds.

In addition, Big Ben is really short, so Zheng Yang chose to stay in the backcourt to protect the backcourt rebounds in this game.

Anyway, for Zheng Yang, the difference between positional warfare and fast break is not that big, it just consumes a little more physical strength.

……

In the end, the Knicks narrowly defeated their opponents. Zheng Yang made a near-game-winning shot in the last 5 seconds, leaving the opponent only 0.9 seconds to attack.

The Hornets' alley-oop tactic failed, the game time ended, and the victory belonged to Zheng Yang.

In this game, Zheng Yang scored 30 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, achieving one of the few triple-doubles in his career.

His teammate Crawford played well in this game, scoring 28 points and 4 rebounds. With the help of Zheng Yang, Crawford has made rapid progress this year and is now able to average 20+ points per game. Although he has not proven himself in the playoffs, at least in the regular season, he is already Zheng Yang's trustworthy right-hand man.

There is a high probability that he will be selected as an All-Star this season. After all, the Knicks are currently one of the most popular teams in the league. Coupled with the huge market and the championship last season, it should not be difficult for him to be selected.

Soon this year's All-Star lineup was announced. There is no doubt that Zheng Yang is still the All-Star vote king.

The starting lineup for the Eastern Conference is Zheng Yang, James, Bosh, Jason Kidd and Howard.

The substitute lineup includes Wade, O'Neal, Crawford, Ray Allen, Pierce...

In the West, there are Carmelo Anthony, Iverson, Yao Ming, Duncan, and Kobe.

The substitute lineup includes Stoudemire, Nash, Paul, David West...

Before the All-Star Game began, on February 2, a deal that also shocked the entire league was made.

The Lakers sent Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McGee, two first-round draft picks in 2008 and 2010, and the signing rights of Pau Gasol's brother Marc Gasol to the Grizzlies in exchange for Gasol and a 2010 second-round draft pick.

If you want to describe this deal in one sentence, Popovich's words "This is a robbery-style deal" are the most appropriate.

It's like exchanging a few pennies for a few hundred dollars.

If you don’t believe it, you can look at what the Lakers gained and what they lost.

The Lakers got Pau Gasol, whose current personal data can be maintained at the level of 20+8+3. Although his performance as a team leader is average, with the team being eliminated in the first round every year and not winning a single game in the playoffs for three years, he also has no personal honors to show for himself.

But if you change his team position from the leader to the second, you will find that his performance is so competent and there is nothing wrong with it.

The Lakers sent away Kwame Brown, the biggest bust No. 1 pick before Bennett, who has little defensive ability and basically can't do anything else.

The Grizzlies wanted him not because of his ability, but because of his expiring contract of 900 million US dollars.

At the end of the season, the contract expired and Brown left, signing with the Pistons for 2 million for two years. In his short career with the Grizzlies, he only played 800 games, averaging 15 points and 3 rebounds per game.

Aaron McGee, who is 35 years old this year, announced his retirement immediately after learning that he was involved in the trade, without playing a single game.

Javaris Crittenton, the tough guy who dared to bring biu biu biu to the locker room two seasons later and had a fight with Arenas.

However, at that time he was still a rookie who had just entered the league, the 2007th pick in the first round of 19.

After the trade, he played 28 games for the Grizzlies that season, averaging 18 points in 7 minutes per game. Although his shooting percentage was a bit low, he still had some potential as a sixth man. However, shortly after the start of the next season, the Grizzlies, Wizards and Hornets made a three-way trade, sending Crittenton to the Wizards and a second-round pick to the Hornets in exchange for a 2010 first-round pick.

After analyzing the above three people, you will find that although the Lakers sent this and that, in fact, these are all scraps and are of no use to the Grizzlies. Of course, the Grizzlies also got the draft pick and the right to sign Gasol, which later helped the Grizzlies build a black and white double evil lineup, but these things are still unknown. You can't just take a one-dollar lottery ticket and say it has a chance to win a million-dollar reward, and just use it as a million.

So after analyzing it over and over again, you will find that the Lakers really robbed the Grizzlies.

Moreover, the Lakers have an advantage that other teams do not have, that is, the general manager of the Grizzlies at the time was Lakers legend West. There is no need to say much about this guy's relationship with the Lakers and Kobe.

Shortly after the transaction took place, the other party resigned due to illness.

Because this deal happened so quickly, the Grizzlies just announced that they wanted to rebuild and put Gasol on the shelf, and the next second they successfully traded with the Lakers. In addition, the gap between the trading partners was too big.

Therefore, Popovich, Rockets head coach Adelman, Suns head coach D'Antoni, Celtics head coach Lee, Hornets head coach Byron Scott and others all expressed their dissatisfaction online, believing that this deal broke the balance of the league.

Not only that, several coaches teamed up to complain to the league and demanded the cancellation of the deal because there must be some shady dealings involved.

However, West is also an old fox. Since the other party dared to do it, they must have completely eliminated all traces. Therefore, there was no follow-up investigation results.

No matter how angry those coaches are, they can only accept this reality.

After the trade, the All-Star Weekend officially began.

This year, Zheng Yang did not choose to participate in any other events except the All-Star Game. The league did invite him to participate in this year's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, but Zheng Yang, who had already won the Slam Dunk Contest, was not very interested in defending the title, so he rejected them.

This year's All-Star Game was ultimately won by the Western Conference. Anthony, who made 17 of 10 shots and scored 24 points and 7 rebounds, ultimately won this year's All-Star MVP.

This is also his first All-Star MVP in his career.

After the All-Star Game, the regular season continues.

After the All-Star Game, the Knicks suffered three consecutive losses, two of which were upsets to the league's bottom teams.

Zheng Yang, who has always been very sensitive to the atmosphere in the team's locker room, noticed something wrong, so after training one day, Zheng Yang kept everyone back.

"Guys, it's been a while since I've stood here and talked to you in this way, but I'm not optimistic about the current situation of our team, so I think we have to talk, or I want you to know my thoughts.

After winning the championship, this season, although our current record is pretty good and we are able to stabilize at second in the Eastern Conference, our performance on the court has been more up and down compared to last season.

You all know what I mean. I mean that we lost some games that we shouldn't have lost, and were pushed to the brink of victory by our opponents in some games that we should have won. This is not our style last season.

I know the reason. After the Celtics gathered the Big Three and Gasol went to the Lakers, no one had any hope of us defending the title.

Everyone thinks we can't beat them, and I think you all think the same.

But my philosophy in life has always been that everything is possible.

There is no way I would give up the fight for the championship because I am afraid of my opponent. That is a cowardly act and a shameful thought to me.

So I solemnly tell you here that this season, our team's goal is to win the championship! We want to defend the title and prove to the entire league that we are still the best team.

So starting today, from now on, I hope you can wake up from your relaxed state and fight for me on the court with all your strength."

After Zheng Yang's serious speech, everyone began to correct their attitude. Perhaps before this, they had some other ideas, but from this moment on, everyone in the team was working hard towards defending the title.

All of this stems from Zheng Yang and his personal charm. He does not force you or drive you to do things, but uses his words and deeds to constantly influence and motivate you.

Rondo, who was listening to Zheng Yang's speech, instinctively felt a sense of relief in his heart.

A real man should be like this!

Rondo never thought about being a younger brother for life. His dream is to become the boss of a team like Zheng Yang. When he is speaking, no one below dares to do anything small or just shake their heads with disdain.

Of course, this dream is still far away for him now. After all, he is still very young. As long as he is given a few more years, when he grows up and Zheng Yang starts to decline, he can eventually replace Zheng Yang.

Before Rondo had time to be happy, he suddenly realized something was wrong. How old is Zheng Yang?

He seems to be only... 22 years old?

For a moment, Rondo's eyes were filled with confusion!
……

Now that the team's goal has been set on defending the title, all parties need to work hard for it.

For the team's general manager, the most important task at the moment is to trade for reinforcements. The Celtics have the Big Three, and Gasol from the West has joined the Lakers. If you don't trade for reinforcements, it will be very difficult to defend the title.

But the problem arises again. There are no players suitable for the Knicks in the free market now. The Heat recently re-negotiated the trade of O'Neal with the Smiling Assassin.

But people haven't figured out how much O'Neal is worth yet, and are still thinking about two first-round picks plus Eddy Curry.

Unless the Smiling Assassin's head was hit by a car, there is no way he would make this deal with the other party.

If this deal goes through, his title of the league's best general manager will be reclaimed by the fans.

Good players cannot be traded, and ordinary players are of no significance to the Knicks. Therefore, before the trade deadline, the Knicks still failed to make any trade reinforcements.

The Smiling Assassin told Zheng Yang the news with some guilt. He felt that he was wasting the other party's peak period. When the other party was fully capable of challenging for the championship, he was unable to provide him with any help.

Zheng Yang didn't care that much.

"It doesn't matter if we don't have reinforcements, in fact our team is good at both offense and defense, and the players on the bench are good enough, so we are not completely without chances.

Next, it’s up to us!”

(End of this chapter)