NBA: I am the god of basketball

In fact, some media have imagined the possibility of Wang Chao joining the Jazz.

After all, there are only a few championship-less teams in the NBA, and only a few of them have enough salary space to sign Wang Chao.

Although the Jazz are not the most popular among them, they are at least within the consideration range.

However, although there have been predictions by the media before, not many people believe that Wang Chao dares to consider the Jazz. He is really not afraid of losing.

Unlike teams such as the Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans and Minnesota Timberwolves, the Nuggets want draft picks but no draft picks, and salary space but no salary space. Mike Conley's big contract locks the team to death. Can't move.

Now the team has gotten rid of the burden of Conley, but the result of taking out two first-rounders is to exchange for a Westbrook with a larger contract amount and longer tenure.

To put it bluntly, although Conley's contract is rubbish, as a point guard, he is still very good. He has the ability to shoot three-pointers from long range, is defensive, and has rich experience in pick-and-roll cooperation. He is more suitable for Wang Chao's ball-handling ability. A solid traditional point guard with a big core style.

Westbrook is different.

Although the statistics are extremely luxurious, the playing styles of Westbrook and Wang Chao obviously conflict. If Wang Chao attacks with the ball, Westbrook's role on the court may not be as strong as Conley's. After all, his three-pointers are too good. It's too bad to be able to function as an outside shooter, and on the defensive end, Westbrook's performance is not necessarily better than Conley.

If you simply compare Westbrook and Conley together, Westbrook is definitely stronger, no doubt.

But if the two team up with Wang Chao, based on rational analysis, Conley may be more suitable for Wang Chao.

Moreover, basketball is a team game. In addition to Wang Chao and Westbrook, at least three starting players and several substitute players with sufficient strength are needed.

Among the Jazz's current lineup, the only ones that can be taken a look at are Aaron Gordon and Jordan Clarkson, who were just traded, and these two are only slightly passable in terms of strength, not that outstanding.

The first is Aaron Gordon, who averaged 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season. His career averages are only 12.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. As a power forward, he is too short and thin, relying solely on his dynamic talents such as good jumping and explosive power. He only has 100 points. With a weight of [-] kilograms, he is completely unable to protect the basket in the paint.

Jordan Clarkson is not much better. He averaged 15.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game last season. The only thing that is more respectable is that his 46.4% field goal percentage and 36.8% three-point shooting percentage are not so good. He serves as A team's starting shooting guard can be used, but it is only a role player. Don't expect him to play a dazzling and exciting performance.

As for the other players on the Nuggets, there is no need to even mention them, and they are not worth looking forward to at all.

Even Wang Chao, with such a team, cannot continue to win the championship, right?
But in Wang Chao's view, everything is possible.

The NBA 2020-21 season is also affected by the epidemic, and the schedule has changed to a great extent. The first is that the offseason of the season has been drastically shortened.

19-20赛季夺冠是在10月21日，而新赛季的开始时间则是12月23日，一共只有两个月的休赛期时间，节奏相当紧凑。

In the little time left, the Jazz can only use the little remaining salary space as much as possible, relying on the appeal of Wang Chao, an evergreen champion, to attract all capable veterans to join.

I have to admit that Wang Chao still has some attraction.

Shortly after Wang Chao joined, the Jazz signed the No. 1 player, Carmelo Anthony, who successfully won the championship with the Clippers with Wang Chao last season.

This player in the same class as James and Wade is currently 36 years old, but he still has gas in the tank.

In the Clippers last season, Anthony was the team's starting forward. Although his average playing time was only about 26 minutes per game, and a lot of time was taken up by Harrell on the bench, but in the limited playing time, Anthony could He averaged 14.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for the team, shooting 44% from the field and 40% from the three-point range.

Relying on his efficient performance, Anthony finally reversed his reputation of losing with the Lakers in 19 and won the first championship of his career as he wished. He has no regrets.

After the free market opened in the offseason, many teams offered him an olive branch, and some teams offered him an offer of 800 million a year.

But after Anthony heard that Wang Chao had joined the Jazz, he did not hesitate to join with a basic salary.

His total career salary is as high as 2.6 million U.S. dollars. Naturally, he is not short of these 800 million. His main purpose of joining the Jazz is to return the favor. Wang Chao helped him realize his dream, making him have no regrets in his career and freeing himself from the Lakers. The blame for cancer is that he joined the Jazz with a basic salary and the current lineup is poor and lacks fighting ability. He helps Wang Chao, which can be regarded as reciprocating a favor.

Wang Chao's old teammate Howard also had the same idea.

Howard basically has little playing time with the Clippers because Lopez's strategic position is too important.

But winning a championship with the Clippers made Howard clearly realize that hugging Wang Chao's thigh is the easiest way to win the championship.

He currently has four championships in hand. If he can win another championship with Wang Chao, Howard, who has five championships, will become the center with the third most championships in the history of the NBA, second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Russell. Well, this honor will not come in vain, and the Jazz are indeed lacking in every position, especially center. There is no one at the moment.

When it comes to Anthony and Howard taking the initiative to defect, Wang Chaozhen is willing to accept them all.

安东尼未来两年，也就是20-21赛季和21-22赛季，作为替补球员都能打出场均13+4左右的数据，底薪绝对是物超所值。

As for Howard, although he later had the experience of going to Bayan Bay to live and play, at least Howard, who switched to the 20ers in the original 21-76 season, could still contribute 17.3 points and 7 rebounds while averaging only 8.4 minutes per game. As a substitute blue-collar worker The center has no problem protecting the rim.

The joining of the two will definitely be a big help to the Jazz at this stage.

But after that, another player agent took the initiative to contact the Jazz management, which was surprising.

That is Cousins ​​​​who was traded to the Cavaliers as a bargaining chip by the Lakers.

The Cavaliers originally had Embiid on the inside. They chose to trade Drummond in the middle of last season in order to form a twin tower with Embiid inside, but the actual results in the playoffs were not good.

And when they traded for Cousins, they also took a fancy to Cousins' shorter contract period.

After acquiring Cousins ​​in the trade, the Cavaliers negotiated a buyout agreement with Cousins.

Obviously, Cousins ​​was unwilling to be abandoned by the Lakers. Although a ruptured Achilles tendon is a major injury that can affect the entire career, it does not mean a 100% death sentence.

There are many cases in the league of players who have returned to play well after rupturing their Achilles tendons.

Cousins ​​is also a little hard to accept that the Lakers are so cold-blooded and almost can't wait to trade him away from the team.

So when he learned that Wang Chao would join the Jazz, Cousins ​​had a bold idea.A bold idea like another time and place.

Ever since, a few days after Anthony and Howard announced that they would join the Jazz, the Jazz officially announced again that Cousins, who had just reached a buyout agreement with the Cavaliers, would join the Utah Jazz on a one-year, $1 million contract.

The announcement of this news immediately caused a strong shock in the league.

Cousins ​​is useless, and a ruptured Achilles tendon injury puts his future in doubt, but even so, Cousins ​​is not a player who can be dismissed for 400 million.

This contract is so cheap that it is almost a reduction in value.

But after all, Cousins ​​chose to join the Jazz, not the Warriors who had won two consecutive championships and almost had the most luxurious lineup in the league's history, so the response was much smaller.

What's more, the different time periods lead to different repair and recuperation times for Cousins' injuries.

In the original time and space, Cousins, who was injured at the end of January 18, spent 1 months recuperating and recovering before he could adapt to NBA-level competition.

In this time and space, Cousins ​​was injured in September of 20. Even if we continue to calculate based on the 9-month recuperation period, Cousins ​​will not be able to return until May at the earliest, and if it is a little later, he will be back in June. It's even July.

Due to the impact of masks, the NBA's 2020-21 season schedule has also been adjusted. It will enter the playoffs in mid-May, and the entire schedule, including the finals, will end on July 5.

The best result is that Cousins ​​​​can return and play with the team in the playoffs. If he is not lucky, he may not have a chance to play throughout the season.

For both the Jazz and Cousins, this signing is tantamount to a big gamble.

Wang Chao was indifferent to this.

If Cousins ​​can return to his form with the Warriors, this signing will not be considered a loss.

In the 18-19 season, Cousins, who returned from injury to represent the Warriors, played 30 regular season games, averaging 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Although it is far from the previous average of 20+10 per game, as a player. The inside player was good enough, but it was a pity that the injury struck again, preventing him from continuing to play.

In the following seasons, Cousins ​​was injured and bounced around many teams. Although he did not play many games, in the limited playing time, statistics like 10+5 were still easy to come by.

From this point alone, Wang Chao feels that he can take this risk. Anyway, 400 million a year can't buy it, and he can't be fooled. Even if Cousins ​​​​can't play in the game, it won't be a big loss for the Jazz. After all, here At the beginning of the year, 400 million couldn't sign any outstanding players.

As a result, in the first month of the free market, the Jazz quickly assembled a lineup that seemed to be barely scraping by.

There are Russell Westbrook and Jordan Clarkson at the guard position.

At the forward position, there are Wang Chao, Aaron Gordon, and Carmelo Anthony.

The centers include Howard and Cousins.

Although the lineup is not particularly luxurious, it is still remarkable. As long as Wang Chao is strong enough, it is not impossible to lead the Jazz to win the championship.

Moreover, although the Jazz's lineup is stretched, there are still one or two that are pretty good, such as Jeff Green and Royce O'Neal at the forward position.

As for the stronger opponents in the 2020-21 season, so far, there are only two teams that can make Wang Chao feel threatened. One is the Golden State Warriors in the West. The Lakers compete with each other. Although the Lakers won the game, they They lost even more, and they just destroyed Cousins, a big inside man.

On the other hand, the Warriors, although Thompson was also injured, it was just a skin injury. He was full of energy after a week or two of rest. The team's lineup was not affected at all. Curry, Thompson and Green are all present, and Ingram is also growing steadily. , there are even two players in the lineup, Jordan Poole and Kevin Looney, who can perform well in the future.

Such a Warriors team is definitely not weak, and can even be compared with the Warriors team that won the championship again in 22.

As for another strong opponent, they are the Brooklyn Nets in the East.

Last season, without Paul and Durant, Jokic and Booker made great progress. Although they stopped in the second round of the playoffs, their strength has been demonstrated.

Although the Nets have no obvious changes in their lineup in the new season, Durant will return from injury.

Even if Durant, who returns from injury, can show 80% of his peak combat effectiveness, the Nets' strength will be quite terrifying.

On the inside, Jokic organizes and supports the whole team, and on the outside, Durant + Booker attack.

The only weakness of such a team is probably that its defensive ability is not strong enough.

Durant's explosive power has been significantly weakened after his injury, and his defensive ability is no longer what it used to be. Moreover, even at his peak, Durant's defense was only above average. Booker and Jokic are not players who are good at defense. Although the Nets' offensive firepower is extremely strong, their defense is not very good.

All in all, the new season is quite challenging for Wang Chao.
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In early December, Wang Chao officially arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, to participate in the filming of the Jazz's makeup photos for the new season, and held a brief press conference.

At the press conference, a reporter asked a question that many people were very curious about.

"Why did you choose the Jazz as your next stop?"

Many people want to know this question. There are still several teams without a championship. The situation of the Jazz is definitely the worst among the teams. There are obviously better choices. Why did Wang Chao choose the Jazz?
Then they heard the answer from Wang Chao.

"The reason is very simple." Wang Chao said with a smile: "Salt Lake City is very close to Los Angeles. It only takes less than two hours to fly back. It is convenient for me to go home to spend time with my family. In comparison, several other teams It’s all too far away, so I won’t consider it for now.”

Reporters: "..."

Jazz management: "..."

This reason of Wang Chao was the first time even the Jazz management had heard of it. Only then did they finally understand why Wang Chao took the initiative to find them. It turned out to be because it was close to home.

It seems that location is really important to NBA teams. (End of chapter)