I just want to play healthy basketball

Chapter 323 Veteran reinforcements, winning streak in the new season!

With the advent of the preseason, the Bucks once again felt the playing atmosphere of the new season.

After He Ligang arrived at the Bucks training ground, the Bucks, rookies and veterans alike, continued to charge towards the championship with a clear attitude.

On November 11, the opening station of the NBA2-04 season, the Bucks played against the Lakers.

After recuperating during the offseason, Kobe, who was injured in the playoffs before, is now able to warm up on the sidelines. As for whether he can officially play, that's another matter.

In short, for an important game like the opening game, as long as Kobe is not injured so badly that he cannot get out of bed, as the boss of the Lakers, he must also sit on the sidelines in a suit and tie to cheer for the Lakers.

Of course, Kobe would definitely want to play this game if he could.

The Lakers were the team most likely to threaten the Bucks in the West last season.

The Lakers' Big Three configuration is indeed one of the most championship-competitive teams in the league.

It's a pity that the Big Three of the Lakers fought off the Spurs with GDP as the core, but they were taken advantage of by the Kings.

The king's strength is slightly inferior, and he reached the finals with a bit of luck. On the contrary, he achieved the great feat of the Bucks' three consecutive championships and the dynasty.

The Lakers this season are still a strong team in the Western Conference. Before the start of the preseason, Kobe emphasized at the press conference that he will definitely return this season.

After all, if Kobe doesn't return, the Big Three of the Lakers can't hold on anymore.

During the offseason of this year, Garnett's contract expired. Originally, the Lakers still had to worry about the newly formed Big Three lineup, because Garnett felt remorse and switched to another place and was in a disadvantageous situation where the building collapsed.

Fortunately, Garnett is also frustrated, and Los Angeles does have enough attraction for stars.

Garnett chose to renew his contract with the Lakers, and compared with the previous contract, he took the initiative to cut his salary.

However, in any case, Garnett's new contract is also the league's top big contract.

It is also a maximum salary contract, and Garnett's contract is much larger than Kobe's.

It is worth mentioning that Kobe has one year left on his contract, but during the offseason, Kobe has the right to implement player options.

Kobe can join Garnett as a free agent and enter the free market to test the waters.

But the combined contracts of the two are close to 3500 million, and no team in the league has enough salary space to eat them both in one go.

Eat the two of them, because the team's salary space is almost filled, and the remaining players can only have the basic salary contract, so the team does not have to worry about paying too much luxury tax.

And this also means that if Kobe and Garnett want to test the free market, they will either go separately and go to two different teams.

If you want to play together, you can only stay with the Lakers and renew your contract through the bird rights cap.

In fact, Kobe has the right to execute the player option and then renew his contract with the Lakers in advance, but Kobe did not do so.

Bryant retained his player option to play out the final year of his current deal with the Lakers.

This means that during the offseason next year, Kobe may leave on his own, leaving the Lakers to go to another team that has a chance to compete for the championship.

Of course, Kobe's character is unlikely to do so.

Then the only possibility is that Kobe didn't want to lock up the Lakers' salary space prematurely. After eating three maximum salaries, there was no possibility of signings.

To a certain extent, Kobe has to finish this season before deciding whether to significantly cut his salary and renew his contract, so as to consider for the Lakers to win the championship in the next few years.

It is for this reason that this year is very important to the Lakers.

If there is no way to solve the dominant opponent of the Bucks in the regular season, then the Lakers must further strengthen if they want to win the championship with their current team in the next few years.

And if the team wants to strengthen, it is essential to expand the salary space and sign in.

However, some teams don't need to expand the salary space at all, and the signings are doing very well.

In the previous offseason, the Bucks selected three veterans.

Steve Smith, although he has only participated in the All-Star Game once, is one of the members of the Dream Team [-] and Dream Team [-].

As a two-meter-old shooting guard who is good at shooting, even if Steve Smith no longer has the talent of his youth, he can still help the Bucks occasionally score a few goals.

During the offseason, the Bucks let go of some rotation shooters, so it is also appropriate to sign a few star veteran shooters with game experience with the veteran's basic salary.

In addition to Steve Smith, the Bucks also recruited Jim Jackson and Tom Gugliotta.

Jim Jackson is a well-known prodigal son in the league. He once averaged more than 90 points per game in a single season in the 25s.

However, he has a grumpy temper and a fateful life. He suffered injuries when he reached the peak. Since then, the flying style has gradually changed to the floor style.

Therefore, Jim Jackson has never won a big contract in his life, not even a mid-level contract.

It was also because of injuries and personality problems that Jim Jackson became a well-known player in the league, a thorny player who refused to obey discipline, and kept wandering in the league.

However, Jim Jackson is ready to withdraw from the league after eating the basic salary contract in the first two years and go outside.

This time he got the sign of the Bucks, Jim Jackson voluntarily gave up the opportunity to renew his contract with Mosaic, and ran the Bucks to win the championship.

After all, he was also a person who dreamed of picking up stars back then. If he could get a championship ring before retiring, that would be a good thing.

No matter how bad it is, if you leave the league, you will go bankrupt, and there is still a championship ring that can be sold at the auction house, which can last for a while.

As the saying goes, when a person is about to die, his words are good.Jim Jackson, who is ready to leave the league, is not as disobedient as before.

Besides, Tom Gugliota shot a white power forward with three-point shooting during the NCAA period. Although he is a bit unacceptable in the NBA, as a power forward who floats outside and shoots, he is still very sure of the mid-range.

Tom Gugliota entered the All-Star Game at his peak. Although his strength has declined a lot, it is mainly physical.

Shooting mainly depends on technique. Perhaps physical confrontation affects shooting percentage, but there is no need to worry too much about this aspect in the Bucks.

Players who have played in the Bucks know that playing next to He Li, there is no need to worry about shooting space, there are plenty of open spots!
Having said that, the Bucks reinforced three wing veterans with shooting ability during the offseason, which is enough to make up for the lack of Bucks shooters.

With the growth of Kwame Brown, Boozer, Wade and others, the Bucks will have greater advantages inside and outside the line.

In fact, in this opening game against the Lakers, there is no need to wait for He Li to make a move. The Bucks and the rest of the Bucks can easily take the Lakers away with a few waves of force.

Wade's breakthrough and Boozer's mid-range shot are already decent. In He Li's view, the Bucks just lack a forward player like Yi Jianlian who is quick to move and has a strong ability to attack the basket.

However, it may not be easy to beat James to the Bucks.

Joining if you can't beat it is not what James is good at. James is better at grouping.

Some things still have to wait for the back waves to do.

Of course, He Li felt that James would act soon.

Otherwise, the East will continue to be ruled by the Bucks. Even if James becomes bald and stronger, he will not be able to solve the Bucks with peak He Li and Wade.

Not to mention that the Bucks also have Kwame Brown, Boozer, and every year, easy-to-use and cheap star veterans.

"So, it's really difficult to have a future A-Zhan."

He Li feels that even if Wade's rookie contract ends and the Bucks take Wade's second contract, the Bucks may still be the overlord of the Eastern Conference.

If James continues to stay in the dark east, I am afraid that nothing will work.

It is even possible to become the next Karl Malone before He Li hugged his legs to win the championship.

Closer to home, the opening game between the Lakers and the Bucks ended with a score of 92 to 114. The Bucks repelled such a powerful opponent as the Lakers with a 22-point victory.

In this game, He Li played a total of 16 minutes. He made 11 of 6 shots, 6 of 3 three-pointers, 1 of 1 free throw, and scored 16 points. His scoring was still efficient and his performance was still good.

Having said that, the Bucks can relax the game while playing healthy basketball and self-cultivation in He Li. I have to say that this is an excellent momentum to win the championship, and it is a pretty good sign.

After the opening game at home, the Bucks will move to other places in the next schedule.

But even in the away game, the Bucks played no differently from the home game.

Because enough fans have accumulated during the three consecutive championships, no matter which away game the Bucks go to, there will be many supportive fans to support them.

Basically in an away game, even if the away fans are in a disadvantageous situation or even lose, the Bucks will not be too exciting, and some people will even cheer along.

Only in a few conservative areas, fans are relatively extreme.

His hero, my enemy.Because there is only one championship every year, the Bucks have become their target.

Of course, even so, the Bucks still maintained a relatively high offensive state, winning one game after another.

However, when the opening game won 9 games in a row, some accidents still happened.

Karl Malone's old injury has relapsed and is expected to miss two weeks, 5 to 7 games.

Repeated battles, several seasons of playoffs, and poor training during the offseason will reduce the player's ability to resist injuries in the new season.

Some people were originally iron men, but the years make them old.

No one thought that Karl Malone would be the first injured Bucks in the new season.

Fortunately, the impact is not great.

This season, Karl Malone officially made way for the Bucks' inside teenagers and became a member of the Bucks' veteran bench.

In fact, it acts as a rotation substitute and limits the playing time of veterans such as Karl Malone. This is also to better protect this group of precious veterans.

However, the general will inevitably die before the battle.How can players not get injured when they play on the court?

It is said that after Karl Malone was injured, the Bucks continued to maintain a winning streak and accumulated regular season wins.

It wasn't until after the [-]-game winning streak that they were a guest in Minnesota that they accidentally lost to the Timberwolves led by Milicic.

The Timberwolves have changed a lot in the past two years. The Timberwolves led by Milicic continued to draw lottery picks because they failed to make the playoffs.

With the accumulation of ball picks, the Timberwolves have gradually become full of talent.

And this kind of talented team, sometimes accidents, robbing the rich and helping the poor, is also very possible.

Of course, the Bucks' loss this time is mainly related to the climate, at least the Bucks think so.

Minnesota in December was already icy and snowy. Some time ago, the Bucks had just finished playing the Heat. During this period of time, they suddenly came to Minnesota. They were suddenly not acclimatized, and the physical discomfort was reasonable.

But black players are not resistant to cold, once the wind blows and catches typhoid fever, they will die immediately.

Fortunately, the cold was just a cold, and no flu developed inside the buck.

It was only a small group of people who were frozen and caught a cold. After leaving Minnesota, the Bucks once again started their winning streak.

It's a pity that just after three consecutive victories, they were attacked by the Mavericks again, losing 18 points.

Originally, the point difference was heading towards 20 points, and the one who almost lost the championship even lost face.

Fortunately, He Li played a little more in the fourth quarter and scored three three-pointers, helping the Bucks narrow their disadvantage to less than 20 points.

But in the end lose or lose.

In the situation where the scores in the first three quarters were too disparate, He Li wanted to reverse the game by himself, which was really impossible.

After losing to the Mavericks, the Bucks' luck dropped suddenly.

The original 18 wins and 2 losses made the Bucks hope to hit the chances of winning the regular season again.

But in the next 10 games, the Bucks only won 5 games, which immediately dampened their enthusiasm.

The [-]-[-] split with everyone is not mainly because the excitement of the Bucks' first wave of winning the championship has passed.

The main reason is that the Bucks have become the public enemy of the league, and all teams are proud of defeating the Bucks.

Some core players of the team, in order to be able to prepare for a battle with the Bucks, will even take a game or two off to make adjustments.

In order to avoid excessive consumption and preserve his strength for this season's playoffs, He Li did not play too much time in the first half of the regular season.

Basically, after a game, He Li only played 20 to 24 points.

However, He Li maintained his health in such a way, but still failed to avoid injuries.

The time has come to February 2th, and there are still two weeks before the start of the All-Star Weekend.

When the Bucks were playing against the Pacers, He Li assisted Artest with the ball for a layup, but was knocked to the ground by Artest's bull rush.

The referee did not blow the whistle wrongly. It was indeed Artest who violated He Li's cylinder.

The Bucks also won the game, but He Li was knocked over by Artest and hit the floor with his right shoulder.

In fact, I didn’t feel much during the game, but after the game, I developed redness and pain symptoms of shoulder muscle contusion.

He Li used the panel to see that it was only a minor injury, and it didn't take long to recover from the injury.

But He Li, an iron man armed to the teeth with protective gear, finally got injured again after being injured in his first season as a rookie.

Although the shoulder did not affect He Li's personal performance and the team's record, the pain caused by the injury also made He Li uncomfortable for a while.

In the All-Star Game, He Li's shoulder was basically healed, but in order not to leave hidden dangers, this All-Star Game did not make any big moves. He Li was not prepared to participate in the three-point contest and the dunk contest, and gave the opportunity to others.

As for the All-Star Game, He Li did not lack the All-Star MVP, but Kobe and Garnett played more excitedly.

Thanks to the influence of He Li's effort and lack of effort, this Western Conference All-Star team finally won the All-Star Game.

In the end, Garnett got his wish and became the All-Star MVP, and Kobe, who had just returned from injury, could only compliment Garnett a few words.

After the All-Star weekend, the Bucks started a new round of winning streak.

But because the Bucks have lost 9 regular season games in the first half of the schedule, the Bucks did not take 72 wins as their regular season goal for this season.

The real goal of the Bucks is to reach the playoffs with all healthy members.

(End of this chapter)