Pick Westbrook

Chapter 38 Beast Artest
Sacramento, Sleep Train Arena.

Kings players entered the field one after another.

Li Lai was obviously taken aback when he saw one of the familiar players enter the field.

"The Beast—Ron Artest."

At this time, Artest has not changed his name to Meta-Ford-Artest, nor has he used the name of the later generations, kindness-world-peace.

He's still that Artest.

Artest walked into the arena with a shaky complexion, and numbly raised his hand to signal amidst the occasional voices of fans in the audience.

"Let me think of the words Kings fans like to say, trash, fun, cowards, get the hell out of Sacramento."

Artest pursed his lips, pretending not to care and said: "You can say whatever you want."

Artest has been in this Kings team for almost three full years, and until now the fans here have not accepted him.

Insulting is already the lightest process, not throwing a water glass and pouring water on his head, which is already very good.

"The Kings haven't made the playoffs in three years."

Artest can't help but think back to the glorious years when he was in the Pacers. At that time, the Pacers were very strong, and he was also very strong.

But since being traded to the Kings by the Pacers, Artest has lived a life like tonight every day.

"Practice, go to the game, listen to the fans swearing, then score 17, 8 points, then the game is over, go home."

tsk~
Artest spat.

This is all his life for the past three years!
"Three years, when will this day be the end?"

"How would the Sacramento fans know that I was the first person in the NBA to get DPOY as a small forward before coming to the Kings!"

Such an honor has never been achieved by Pippen, Artest's template.

After complaining a few times, Artest quickly calmed down his inner excitement.

He knows, can't blame these fans.

If it weren't for the Auburn Hills Palace incident and the irrational brawl, how could there be so many things now.

Sacramento fans will not deliberately provoke him by throwing water glasses.

But the only thing he can't tolerate is that after the end of that season, the Pacers personally traded him.

"I've given everything for this team and I'm willing to risk my career and my fortune and you want to trade me?
And I want me to give you a decent game at the end, let me apply for a deal myself, so as to preserve your hypocritical faces and leave a good impression on the hearts of other players. "

Even if Artest would become an even more annoying sinner after doing so, and would be considered by everyone to be an escaped, cowardly coward, he still did it without hesitation.

Because, that was the team he had fought for.

on the field.

Game start.

Kings starting lineup: point guard Benno Udrih, shooting guard Kevin Martin, small forward Artest, power forward John Salmons and center Brad Miller.

After seeing this lineup, Li Lai couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

What is the pattern in the west now, all the heroes are rising together!

As far as the lineup of the Kings is concerned, let alone in the West, even if they come to the East, they may still miss the playoffs.

Brad Miller, a center who is very good at passing, is called the tallest point guard by later generations of fans.

But his shortcomings are also obvious, that is, he can't protect the frame and his defensive ability is too low, making it difficult to complete the job of an inside player.

The king's reuse of Brad Miller is to reproduce the miracle of the Princeton system.

But obviously, Brad - Miller is not Chris - Webber.

He couldn't do what Weber did.

Another player, John Salmons, can attack and defend well, and is a typical chaotic master.

But because of the lack of talent, even the Kings management knows that he is not the person that the team needs to find on the road to rebuilding.

As for Kevin Martin, he is a very talented player on the offensive end. He is even better than Maurice Williams in terms of independent offensive ability.

Excellent data of 25 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the peak season!
It's just that while getting this data, Kevin Martin's shooting rate is only 41%, and he still needs a lot of holding the ball, and he can't drive his teammates to transform into the team's overall offense.

This makes Kevin Martin's data in each game look like Kobe and Iverson, the league's top scorer.

But if you take a closer look at the high-level data, especially the point difference when you are on the court, you will find that Kevin Martin always loses more than ten points in every game.

"It's no wonder that the Kings have been slow to build a team with Kevin Martin as the core. They see it clearly."

And the rest of the Kings' talent is even worse.

That's why they plan to completely break the boat this season and completely tear down and rebuild the team.

"There is not a single person in the entire Kings team that is not for sale!"

Yi Jianlian successfully jumped the ball from the center line, and the Bucks made the first wave of offense.

Westbrook borrowed an easy-to-link single block on the outside, and Brad Miller was completely left behind.

Just as Westbrook was about to hit the basket, Artest appeared calmly in the penalty area to help defend.

Westbrook was taken aback.

"The speed of changing defenses and the awareness of assisting defenses are really amazing!"

Facing Artest's almost bull-like body, Westbrook obviously felt a great defensive deterrent.

So he didn't choose to attack the basket by himself, but gave the ball to Marshall who was open in the corner.

But just as Westbrook jumped up to pass the ball, Artest stepped forward and intercepted the ball in the air.

"The Kings are on the fast break!"

Kevin Martin relied on his own speed, received a pass from Artest and made a solid fast break layup.

Kenny Smith, who finally saw the Bucks' offense deflated, exclaimed loudly at this time.

"Prevent it!"

Barkley resumed his cynical look, laughed and said, "Offense is the Bucks' only key to victory.

If this is restricted by the Kings, they have no chance of winning at all. "

Li Lai on the sidelines agreed with Barkley's statement.

From the summer league to the present, the core of the Bucks' success is offense.

It's not that he can only arrange offensive tactics for the team, but that the team has no one who can defend at all.

Just like cooking, you only have a white radish in your hand, and you will never be able to cook chicken, duck, fish, abalone and sea cucumber.

Among all the Bucks' current players, none of them can defend, including Westbrook.

"He is still just instinctively using his physical talent to defend."

So if you insist on letting the Bucks players defend crazily, it will be a little bit different than the gain.

"Admittedly, the Bucks' best defense is probably George Hill." Li Lai smiled wryly.

game on the field.

The Bucks' offense was constipated throughout the game, scoring only 12 points in the half quarter.

Li Lai had to call a timeout, and re-arranged a corner double-cover tactic for the team.

Yi Jianlian and Villanueva will pick and roll outside players at the same time, and then there will be two vacancies in the outside three-pointer and the inside penalty area at the same time.

The last chance came to Yi Jianlian, who scored with a dunk from the basket.

Li Lai originally thought that after scoring in this round, the next offense of the Bucks would definitely return to the previous state.

But who would have thought that next, Artest seemed to be fighting wits with him, and once again restricted all the Bucks' offenses.

"Now the team doesn't have the strength to solve everything in singles, so facing such a master defensive player, if you still want to rely on offense to solve everything, it's a bit too unrealistic."

Li Lai shook his head and sighed.

He finally understood why the Suns turned into soft-legged shrimps as soon as they reached the playoffs.

As far as the defensive strength of the playoffs is concerned, how many tactics can you play easily?

And the Suns also don't have an unsolvable singles strong point on the offensive end.

So in this case, if they can't score goals and can't defend their opponents, it's no wonder they don't lose the game.

When he looked at the player Artest again, Li Lai's eyes felt hot.

"It's a pity that such a player stays in the Kings."

(End of this chapter)