Chapter 21 Script
With Nash, the Mavericks' offense was naturally initiated by him. Before he came to the Suns, his scoring potential had not been fully tapped, but his agile passing had already amazed the world.

But this time, when he dribbled across half court, trouble arose.

At this moment, the other four players on the court except him seem to be good scorers. Hiss~ Who should I pass the ball to now?
Josh, who was playing such a rich battle for the first time, finally decided to pass the ball to Nowitzki in the inside. Grant, who was defending him, came up closely. Although he was not as tall as the driver, he was not thinner than the driver.

After Nowitzki failed to score after two hard shots, he suddenly turned around and used his height and wingspan to score the ball.

The Mavericks took the lead and won by two points.

Then it was the Heat's turn to attack.

As Jones is the strongest player on the Heat, it was natural for him to take the first shot.

Originally, the opponent against him was Zheng Yang, but a basketball game is not a one-on-one match. Unless there is a personal grudge, no one is willing to take on such a tough challenge.

So who is the soft persimmon?

Obviously Nash is a good choice.

Therefore, after getting the screen, Nash switched defense to Jones, who accelerated past him. Before the help defense arrived, Jones easily made a layup.

2:2 tie!

When Nash dribbled across half court again, he encountered the same problem again.

Who should the ball be given to?
After a while of running, Zheng Yang ran into an open space, and Nash passed the ball right after him. Zheng Yang took the ball and shot, and the basketball went in steadily.

Since preseason scores are not counted towards career totals, Zheng Yang's long two-pointer was not his first two points in his career.

But the audience in the stands still gave the team applause and cheered for their team's rookie.

But when it was the Heat's turn to attack, Grant in the interior knocked Nowitzki away and made an easy layup.

This is not the small ball era of more than a decade later. The centers these days are basically tough and strong inside players like O'Neal and Grant. Given Nowitzki's physical talent and playing style, it is indeed difficult to defend them.

If this Mavericks team were put in a dozen years, and faced players like Benjamin Embiid and Joel Embiid in the interior, Nowitzki would be able to hold his own, and the team's weakness in the interior would not be so obvious.

But this is obviously nonsense.

As of now, the Mavericks have big problems with their interior defense, and they can't find a solution. They can't just summon an interior player.

So in the next half of the quarter, you will find a very strange scene.

Nash always seemed a little hesitant when dribbling across half court, because he really didn't know who to pass the ball to, as if everyone could score.

But on the other hand, the points they had just scored against the Heat would be taken back by the opponent immediately, so after almost half a quarter, neither team had widened the gap.

The reason is very simple, the defense of this starting lineup is too poor.

Nash himself is a defensive loophole on the court. Although Finley and Fat Head Tuo’s defense is not very bad, they are not players who are good at defense.

As for Nowitzki, his defense when he played as a power forward was indeed not bad, but when he played as a center, he really had no way to deal with such dark, tough and rough inside players.

Therefore, the best defender in the whole team is Zheng Yang.

After all, he received Jordan's strength. Jordan himself is a player with both offensive and defensive capabilities. In addition to his excellent physical talent, as long as he is willing to defend, he can still defend very well.

Just now, Jones played one-on-one against him twice and wanted to say to him, "Rookie, welcome to the NBA," but under Zheng Yang's defense, this sentence was not delivered as he wished.

If the players can find the problems, then naturally old Nelson can also do so. In fact, he had already anticipated this situation.

He has said it long ago that basketball is not a game of 1+1=2 or >2. When you randomly stack the lineup without considering the chemistry between the players, you will definitely suffer the backlash.

He does believe in the run-and-gun tactics, and does believe that offense can bring championships, but he doesn't want a run-and-gun team with a weak defense.

Instead, it is a strong running and gunning team that can attack or defend.

Since there is no way to solve the problem, try to make it less obvious.

Old Nelson began to arrange his troops. It was rotation time, so he called Nowitzki and Finley down and replaced them with Big Ugly and Second Ugly, and let Fat Monk play center.

Not to mention, this lineup is pretty good. The big ugly and the two ugly players are not bad at defense and have a good sense of helping defense. They can not only help Nash with defense, but also besiege and block Grant in the interior.

As for offense, the team's offensive core became Zheng Yang.

There is no other way. Among the five people on the field, only he and Fat Toutuo have the ability to attack independently. However, Fat Toutuo consumes a lot of energy in defense, so he can only rely on him to maintain the offensive firepower.

Although it was his first NBA game, Zheng Yang performed very well, and he had a very good touch today, so he did not silence the team's offense during the operation of this lineup.

But this lineup is not without problems. First of all, the team is too young, and being young means it is easy to make mistakes.

Another problem is offense. You can't guarantee that Zheng Yang will always have such a good touch. Once he fails to make a shot, the Heat can immediately sound the clarion call for a counterattack.

So the "mad scientist" continued his deployment...

He kept adjusting the lineup, but still couldn't find the best option.

But in the process he also discovered one thing, no matter what lineup, Zheng Yang can fit in perfectly.

There's no way, this guy's adaptability is too high. In terms of offense, he can play with or without the ball, and can play both fast breaks and positional battles.

In terms of defense, he can defend from the one to the three positions, and the effect is quite good. If he were a little stronger, he might be able to defend the four position.

A player like this can always produce good results no matter who he is paired with.

As time passed, the game slowly came to an end. Although the Mavericks' starting lineup had defensive problems, in the subsequent rotation process, the Mavericks with deeper lineup still widened the score difference to more than ten points.

In addition, this was just a preseason game and the Heat did not have a strong desire to win, so the Mavericks easily won the victory in the end.

Zheng Yang played for 18 minutes in the whole game, the longest playing time among both players, and scored 9 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 27 blocks and 9 steal, with 3 of 2 shots and 1 of 13 free throws. Wade of the Heat played a lot of time in this game, but his touch was not good and he only scored points.

The season got off to a good start, with rookie Zheng Yang performing so well that everyone was in a good mood, except old Nelson, who kept frowning and saying nothing.

……

The Mavericks played a total of six preseason games, and except for the first game against the Heat and the last game against the Raptors, they lost the other four games.

Although it was not a crushing defeat, the record of 2 wins and 4 losses is still a bit embarrassing for this four-star Mavericks team.

Since we lost, we have to find someone to take the blame, and the team's rookie is a good choice.

But considering that Zheng Yang played poorly in the third game and only scored 9 points, while scoring 20+ points in the rest of the games, it is a bit unreasonable to make him the scapegoat.

Dachou and Erchou did not have much playing time, so it is obviously unreasonable to let them take the blame.

In the end, the media had no choice but to choose old Nelson. How could this guy not understand basketball? He couldn’t even play well with four All-Stars. How could he be capable?
If you can't do it, go home quickly and let Nash be the head coach. That guy has a smart mind and must be a good candidate to be a head coach.

Nash: How about letting me try it?

Old Nelson, who is used to the media's ridicule, doesn't care about it. Those media grew up eating shit, so let them say whatever they want.

……

With the preseason over, the regular season is about to begin!
If you are a fan who follows the NBA, you will find that there have been a lot more reports about Zheng Yang and James in the past half month.

Many well-known media people are discussing these two kids who both came from Akron. Who is better?

Kenny Smith, a well-known TNT commentator, nicknamed "The Jet" during his playing days, patted his chest in front of the TV and said.

"James will definitely be the best player in the 03 class. As for the kid you mentioned, believe me, in less than two months you will find him waving a towel by the water dispenser."

Buckley, a colleague standing by, shook his head.

"No, no, no, Kenny, you are wrong! Zheng is the best player among these players.

We have all seen his preseason performance. In these six preseason games, he averaged 21 points and 7 rebounds per game. On the other hand, what about James? Have you forgotten that he only averaged eight points per game in the first three preseason games?
I admit that he has good physical fitness and can perform many beautiful dunks in the air, but his shooting is so bad that he even smashed the Cavaliers' basket crooked.

As for Zheng Yang, his physical fitness is also very good, but his offensive means are so comprehensive. Do you know who I think of when I see him playing?

That’s Michael, and he’s just as capable as Michael.”

"Charles, you think too much. How could that guy be Michael?"

"Then let's make a bet. If Zheng Yang doesn't win the best rookie award at the end of the season, I will belly dance here with my bare butt.

If LeBron James doesn't win Rookie of the Year, you're the one doing the belly dancing."

Barkley, who loves to bet, started betting again. Kenny Smith smiled and nodded, then said proudly.

"Charles, I never saw you win a bet."

……

Why does everyone compare Zheng Yang with James during this period?

This story has to start with Mr. Stern.

If the NBA wants to expand its influence, it definitely needs its own facade. So who would be the best person to be this facade?
When Michael was there, there was no doubt that that person could only be him.

After he retired, Stern wanted to promote "Jordan's successor" as a facade, but due to injuries, this plan failed.

Kobe, who built the Lakers dynasty with O'Neal, seemed to be a good candidate, so the league began to promote him again.

But after the Eagle County incident during the offseason, it was clear that he was no longer suitable to be the face of the NBA, and Stern decided to pick one out of this rookie class.

James, who had become famous in the United States early on, was a good candidate. In addition, he liked to listen to music, read catalogs and exercise at the same time, and he presented a good image in front of the media. Therefore, Stern did not hesitate too much and finalized him.

So how should we praise him?
Stern began to write a script. A CEO who can't do marketing is not a good CEO. The so-called fateful duel, the battle of inheritance, who is Jordan's successor...

These kinds of stories are scripts that Sterne wrote!
This time, he decided to use a Chosen One script. He wanted to choose another person from this year's rookies and make him the villain in this script.

James is the protagonist in the script.

The protagonist steps over the corpses of the villains and finally ascends his own throne.

So who is the villain?
Zheng Yang is the best candidate. The two are from the same place, played against each other in high school, and there are various controversial topics between them.

In addition, Zheng Yang's strength is also impressive, and using him as the villain makes the story very interesting.

Now that the script has been written, it's time to let the media do their job.

Therefore, during this period of time, the media has been guiding fans to compare James and Zheng Yang to add popularity to them.

The bet between Barkley and Kenny Smith made the matter even more popular, and fans became curious about who was the best among them.

Want to know the results?
Then let them compete on the same stage!

The first game between the Mavericks and the Cavaliers is scheduled for mid-November, and many fans are looking forward to that game.

But the Mavericks now don’t think about the focus battle in half a month. They have to get through the current hurdle first.

Which level is right now?
Naturally, it is the first game of the season, Mavericks vs. Lakers!

　I feel like I wrote the first game of the regular season very well. I feel like I wrote the feeling I wanted, but I don't know if you will like that style. I really want to post it right away, but I can't. There are still one or two chapters ahead, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to see it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)