am i proud?

Chapter 13
Many Chinese fans' impression of the Heat is estimated to be in the "Big Three" period from 2011 to 2014.

再早一点的球迷也许还记得，2006年韦德在总决赛中的表现堪称“天神下凡”。在0:2先输两场的情况下，他率领热火连赢4场拿下了总冠军，场均砍下34.7分7.8篮板3.8助攻。

In fact, the Heat have been a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference as early as the 90s, and have never missed the playoffs since 1995.

The Heat joined the NBA when the NBA expanded in 1988. They also entered the NBA with the Orlando Magic, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets (now the New Orleans Pelicans). The Heat were assigned to the Midwest Division.

In the first few years, the Heat's performance was mediocre. Except for one playoff in 1992, they were hovering in the lottery zone at other times until the "magic fortune teller" Pat Riley became the head coach of the Heat in the 1995-1996 season.

Pat Riley traded the "team soul" Alonzo Mourning, as well as the "Beatles" Tim Hardaway, Chris Gatlin, Walter Williams, Tyronn Corbin and Tony Smith, who are very entertaining.

Pat Riley instilled a "defense first" philosophy in the Heat, making them one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

In the 1995-1996 season, Pat Riley made it to the playoffs in the first season of coaching the Heat. However, in the first round, he encountered the Bulls with 72 wins in the season, and unfortunately lost.

In the 1996-1997 season, the Heat achieved an impressive record of 61 wins and 21 losses in the regular season, and entered the playoffs with the first score in the Atlantic Division.They eliminated the Magic in the first round, and then defeated the New York Knicks, but the Heat still lost to the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The biggest "enemy" of the Heat in the NBA is the New York Knicks. This is not just because Riley has coached New York. In the 1997-1998 season, the two teams played full of gunpowder in the playoffs. In the end, Mourning fought with Larry Johnson. Van Gundy was also injured because of dissuasion.

In the following seasons, the Heat have been in the playoffs, but the team never made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

After the 1999-2000 season, Mourning was diagnosed with severe kidney disease, and he had to leave the game.Coupled with the fact that Hardaway, the team's second leader, began to decline, the Heat also began to decline.

In the 2000-2001 season, Pat Riley traded Jamal Mashburn, PJ Brown, Tim James, Rodney Buford and Otis Thorpe, and traded for Anthony Mason, Eddie Jones, Ricky Davis and Dale Ellis from the Hornets (this person was directly waived), and signed insider Brian Grant for $4 million in four years. The team's strength was finally maintained.

Of course, a few years later, one of the things Pat Riley is most proud of is that he listened to Spoelstra's suggestion during the offseason and signed Wang Dalin, an 18-year-old Chinese boy.

If he hadn't adopted Spoelstra's suggestion at that time, he might have regretted it for the rest of his life!

September 2000, 9, team assembly day.

Wang Dalin came to the team's training hall early in the morning. Seeing that the arena was empty, he couldn't help smiling proudly.

In this training hall, he has been fighting day and night for more than 50 days.

During this period of time, he dribbled, bench-pressed, ran back and forth, took off from the rebound, and shot... again and again, performing boring training day after day.

If there is no reward stimulus after completing the task, God knows whether he can persist.

Fortunately, he persevered and completed all the training tasks.

At this time, Wang Dalin's personal ability has undergone earth-shaking changes compared to when he was undrafted in mid-June:

66 close range shots, 61 cutting layups, 58 cutting dunks, 55 standing dunks, 43 post-up hook shots, 37 post-up fadeaways, 79 mid-range shots, 69 three-pointers, 74 free throws, 33 post-up moves, 69 passing accuracy, 62 passing vision, 58 ball handling, 68 dribbling speed, 73 receiving ability, 65 inside defense, 42 outside defense, 48 steals, 73 blocks, and 70 interference shots 47, 58 offensive rebounds, 66 defensive rebounds, 72 lateral agility, 71 speed, 61 acceleration, 73 strength, 61 jumping, and [-] stamina."

"Comprehensive Durability 99"

"Potential Value: 99"

"Equipment Skill: One Leaf Obstacle (Level A)"

"Comprehensive ability value: 76"

In addition to back attack and outside defense still stretching hips, all other abilities have improved to varying degrees. In 2000, a young draft year in the draft, he even dared to say that he was the No.1 among rookies!
That's right, Wang Dalin does have this confidence at this time!
“状元”肯扬.马丁新秀赛季尽管场均12分7.4篮板和1.9助攻，可他场均上场时间高达33.4分钟，投篮命中率只有44.5%，罚球命中率也只有63%。

Just this offensive efficiency?

Although it cannot be said that Martin is the "parallel import champion", but among the NBA's previous champions, this kind of performance can only be ranked in the middle and lower reaches.

Wang Dalin believes that if he averages 25 minutes per game in the Heat this season, he will definitely be able to play a performance not inferior to the "No. [-] pick".

Not to mention anything else, at least he doesn't think he averaged 1.9 assists per game, right?

Wang Dalin ran a few laps, did some warm-up exercises to stretch his limbs, and then took the ball and shot.

Just after shooting a set of 25-ball spot-up three-pointers, two people walked in from the entrance of the arena, namely Anthony Mason and Brian Grant.

"Hey, boy, you came early!" Grant just greeted him with a smile, and immediately showed surprise, "Hey...how did you become so strong, kid?"

Mason was also surprised: "Wow... Are you taking hormones?"

During this period of time, Wang Dalin practiced hard, and his body has naturally changed to a certain extent, especially his arms are obviously thicker, and his chest muscles have also bulged a lot.

He weighed only 100KG when he first crossed, and with a height of 211CM, he was really a bit thin.

Now his weight is 103KG, although he has only gained 3KG, but after removing the lost fat, he has gained at least 6 or 7KG of muscle inside and out, and his figure does look a lot stronger.

Wang Dalin hastily received the ball and came over to say hello to the two "old seniors". They fought side by side in the summer league, and their relationship is really good.

The three of them then chatted about their experiences after parting while shooting.

Mason took his wife and children to Europe for a trip, while Grant bought a farm on the outskirts of his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. He rides horses, fishes, and BBQs every day, and lives a leisurely life.

Hearing that Wang Dalin spent every day in the training hall, Mason laughed and said, "No wonder you have grown so strong!"

Grant also nodded and said: "Young people should be like this, lazy guys can't play in the NBA!"

It was close to 9:[-] in the morning, and the players came to the arena one by one, and they all took the ball and practiced at will.

Jones, Brown, Green, House, and others whom he had seen in the summer league before all came, and Wang Dalin also saw a very familiar person——Bruce Bowen!

That's right, before this guy went to the Spurs, he played for the Heat for two seasons, and this is his second season with the Heat.

A few minutes later, when Mourning and Hardaway walked into the arena, everyone stopped and greeted the two.

Although due to injuries, the state of the two of them is not as good as before, but they are still the leaders of this Heat team!

Not long after, the coaches also came. Spoelstra was obviously taken aback when he saw Wang Dalin, and then he whispered something to Pat Riley.

"Okay, everyone, come and assemble!"

Following Spoelstra's order, all the players hurried over and stood in a row, like a queue in an army.

Pat Riley's team is very disciplined, this situation can not be seen in other NBA teams.

Most of the players have gone through the offseason for several months, and their condition is naturally not very good, so today's training is basically focused on recovering their bodies. Everyone first ran laps, followed by a few rounds of back and forth running, leapfrog and so on. There was no training with the ball.

More than 2 hours of training passed quickly, and Riley gathered everyone to announce the end of today's training, and the next training will start at 2 pm the next day.

Everyone packed up their things and prepared to leave. Wang Dalin also packed up briefly and was about to leave when suddenly a deep voice said, "Hey, rookie, it seems that you forgot. You still have one important thing to do!"

It was Mourning who spoke, and everyone gathered around, with inexplicable smiles on their faces.

Grant kindly reminded: "Wang, what Alonzo means... we are a little hungry for breakfast today, and we all want to try the donuts from Old Locke's!"

"That's right!" Hardaway laughed, "And Eddie and Ernest, I'll leave the task of buying donuts to you three rookies, can you meet the request of us old guys?"

Wang Dalin hurriedly nodded in agreement, but he said in his heart: "I knew it... I heard that rookies in the NBA will be bullied by veteran players, and it is true!"

Eddie House and Ernest Brown quickly nodded in agreement.

The three walked out of the arena together, and House asked, "Who is Old Locke?"

Brown shook his head to express that he didn't know, but Wang Dalin smiled and said, "I know, follow me!"

(End of this chapter)