NBA: Duncan feels uneasy coaching Warriors

Chapter 223 The battle for the new generation of centers?
The Clippers have won two consecutive games, and they were all won by Jokic as the core.

The biggest difference between a big ball market and a small ball market is that if a player performs well on a team in a big ball market, his influence will rise very quickly.

For example, Lin Crazy played the best performance of his career in New York and went directly to Times Square, which was very influential.

But think about it, if Lin Crazy played in a place like Charlotte, no one would even pay much attention.

At most, I just know that there is a guy in Charlotte who has been playing pretty well recently, and that's it.

Including Giannis Antetokounmpo, when he was in the Timberwolves last season, although he performed very well from the beginning, he still did not attract much attention.

It's all because the Timberwolves hit the winning streak that they attracted attention.

This is why it is difficult for small ball markets to attract big-name stars. The exposure received by the same performance is not at the same level.

In a big market like Los Angeles, there is also Ballmer taking over to build momentum, and championship coach Su Chen joining the team.

The Clippers are now exposed in the standard major market, and even the number of live broadcasts provided by the league in the United States is among the top.

And that's because the Clippers haven't shown their true strength. The only stars are George and Lillard.

In his rookie season, Jokic performed like this with the Clippers as a second-round pick. If he continues to perform, it will be another star-making game.

Of course, Jokic still needs more games and more tests to prove his strength.

For example, the next game against the Kings, the Kings' star player with great momentum, DeMarcus Cousins.

Los Angeles.

Staples Arena.

Tonight, the Staples Arena is full of Clippers fans. Although the opponent for tonight's game is not a very strong opponent.

The Kings were third from last in the Western Conference last season. Judging from the record, the attention should not have been so high.

But the Kings' star player, Cousins, is a tough guy.

This is a good comparison for their newcomer Jokic. The direct conversation between the two can also show what level Jokic is.

Su Chen on the sidelines also saw Cousins ​​practicing on the opposite side.

Cousins ​​has been in the league for many years now, and this season is the season when Cousins ​​reaches his peak. He will enter the All-Star this season and be selected to the All-NBA second team.

There's a lot to say about Cousins.

For Suchen, Cousins ​​is an emotional center and an all-round offensive player.

Cousins' emotionality has both positive and negative sides. Sometimes his emotionality can help him become a truly super center that combines offense and defense, but sometimes it can make him a top man.

At the same time, being emotional will also have an impact on his multi-faceted offense.

Cousins' offensive methods are not so much multi-faceted, but actually a bit mixed.

You can see many of the signature moves of famous centers in Cousins, such as the king-step hook, turn-over jump shot, rabbit jump shot, high and low post inbounds, change of direction jump shot and many other methods.
When he gets emotional, he uses a variety of moves.

Strike frequently and then strike frequently.

Of course, when emotions are positively affected, these moves can be scored with good touch, which makes Cousins ​​look like a super center.

But his problem is that he has a lot of skills, and he is just a loser with just one skill.

Regarding the anticipated Jokic vs. Cousins, Su Chen didn’t have much to worry about.

Cousins ​​is not an efficient scorer. As a center, his shooting rate does not reach 50% all year round.

Although Embiid is despised by many people, they ridicule Embiid for being weak.

But compared with Cousins, if we talk about data, Embiid's mid-to-long-range shooting percentage and efficiency at the basket are much higher than Cousins.

Although it is a regular season data, Cousins ​​does not even have the data of his peak entering the playoffs.

When the Warriors entered the playoffs, they were already role players. Although they started 5 games when the Warriors entered the playoffs, their average playing time of 16 minutes per game was not even as good as some role players.

Later, when the Nuggets entered the playoffs, he also played as Jokic's substitute.

Although many people are now optimistic that Cousins ​​will overwhelm Jokic in this game, and even as a contemporary young center, Cousins ​​may always suppress Jokic.

But in Su Chen's eyes, these two are not on the same level.

Even if Cousins' touch explodes this time, Cousins ​​is still just an inefficient scorer and has never made the playoffs in his career.

Cousins ​​has also partnered with powerful players in the Kings, including Gay, Rondo, Collison, Hield, Evans and others.

If the players the Kings partner with don't have any powerful star players, then the next partners with the Pelicans should at least be a playoff configuration.

The thick-eyebrow brother at his peak, Holiday in the prime of his career and selected to the defensive first team, this is already the configuration of the small Big Three.

Jordan Crawford, Stephenson, and Moore are also very good role players.

With this configuration, they can't even make the playoffs, which is enough to prove that inefficient scorers like Cousins ​​inside are not of much help to the team.

As for making the playoffs with the Warriors, that's not his credit at all.

Curry, Thompson and Durant's lineup, does it have a lot to do with him entering the playoffs?

I no longer think too much about Cousins.

At this time the game also started.

Clippers starting lineup: Nikola Jokic (C), Nicolas Batum (PF), Paul George (SF), Reggie Jackson (SG), Damian Lillard (PG)

Kings starting lineup: DeMarcus Cousins ​​(C), Jason Thompson (PF), Rudy Gay (SF), Ben McLemore (SG), Darren Collison (PG) )

The Clippers' starting lineup remains unchanged.

Although Su Chen had plans to put Reggie on the bench to increase his firepower, Su Chen wanted to let the rookies on the bench brush up, so he did not put Reggie, who needed the ball, on the bench.

Su Chen still wants to build a forward group, and now the team has a lot of small guards.

But this rookie class doesn't have that many outstanding forwards, and small guards are cheap, so the only option is to get more small guards.

However, Su Chen looked at the Kings' starting lineup and was a little greedy for Guy.

Gay is no longer an expensive player. Although Gay has averaged 20 points per game in seasons with both the Grizzlies and Kings, no team regards him as a treasure that is not for sale.

In other words, the Grizzlies train rookies and have illusions about Gay. After a few seasons of training, other teams use Gay as a mercenary.

Gay's positioning is actually somewhat similar to Cousins.

Both are inefficient scorers.

There is a reason why two 20+ scorers on the same team cannot win 30 games in a season.

Guy's singles have an unpretentious beauty.

Low emotional intelligence means relying purely on talent and poor skills.

But this also proves how talented Gay is. He can produce an average of 20+ per game all year round just by relying on his talent.

With a height of 2.03 meters and a wingspan of 2.21 meters, Gay is the perfect small forward.

At the same time, Guy's running speed and jumping ability are both extremely talented, making him a perfect superstar.

It's just that when he debuted with the Grizzlies, he didn't develop good discipline and polish his skills.

What impressed Suchen deeply about Gay was actually Gay's career with the Spurs.

Although Gay's points per game with the Spurs dropped by almost half, it was the best season of his Spurs career, and his plus-minus value actually increased.In fact, it turns out that when Gay calms down and focuses on defense, he also polishes his jump shot.

He can also be a very high-quality small forward.

It's just that Gay was already established at that time, and his talent also declined with age.

If Gay makes his debut with the Spurs, the Spurs may be able to get a slightly weakened version of Kawhi in advance.

Of course, these are not important to Su Chen.

The important thing is that Gay can still change. With Gay's talent, he can relearn defense and reach a defensive level above the national level.

At this time, Gay's physical talent is still enough for him to complete some offenses.

If you can get Gay over, use it first this season, and then throw it into the [summer training camp] during the offseason to strengthen it.

It’s not a bad idea to use it as George 2.0.

Thinking like this, the game has been played for a long time.

Gay and Cousins, two inefficient scorers, are on the same team, and they basically give it to whoever gets the ball.

At the same time, Collison is also a point guard whose scoring is greater than his organization. After the two big brothers on the team took action, he followed suit.

Their team's victory relies on a burst of touch. If the touch explodes, they can even beat some strong teams.

But Cousins' touch tonight can only be described as average.

Facing Jokic, Cousins ​​was not very comfortable.

Among Cousins' many offensive methods, the most efficient one is launched through the back.

Although Cousins ​​​​is also very strong, Jokic not only has strength but also tonnage, so he cannot take advantage at all.

Originally, in this small ball era, centers and interior players were losing weight and increasing their speed, but Jokic simply did not follow that trend.

He still takes the path of a heavy center, which is a pain for Cousins.

It was originally an inefficient singles game, but facing Jokic's defense, the efficiency was even lower.

On the other hand, Jokic doesn't have much pressure to beat him.

At the same time, the first-hand organization made the Clippers' offense smooth and smooth.

With the two offensive points of Lillard and George, the Kings do not have the defensive resources to target Jokic.

With an already weak defense, where is there enough defense to target the Clippers' offensive resources?
Originally, fans thought this would be a wonderful battle for the future first-line centers.

But looking at the whole game, Jokic has a strong presence, while Cousins' frequent misses in singles hurt the team.

This doesn’t even look like a level player.

In fact, Jokic is only 80% of his peak, and Cousins ​​is already almost 90% of his peak, but this is a problem with the way he plays.

One is able to lead the team to the championship and achieve MPV level himself, while the other is mediocre in the playoffs and is only known as a data brush.

The way the two watch the game is naturally different.

The strength of the two teams is not at the same level, and the King, who is a underdog, has no explosive touch. It is normal for the two teams not to play.

Even the substitutes of the two teams are quite different.

The Kings' substitutes are Landry and Cassby, who have limited offensive capabilities.

Looking at the Clippers' bench, Su Chen used the two-guard firepower of Dinwiddie and Clarkson to attack, and Capela also acted as a pick-and-roll tool for them.

Defensively, Craig and Barnes are also above-average defenders, and their defensive backup firepower is more than enough.

Not to mention a substitute for the King.

competition is over.

Clippers 103:82 Kings.

Jokic once again had a triple-double in this game, with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

George and Lillard steadily provide 20+ output.

This seems to have almost become the Clippers' winning formula.

George and Lillard are responsible for scoring points, while Jokic is the scoring organizer.

Although Cousins ​​was inefficient, he still scored a high score of 29 points, but he only took 25 shots.

Some of these are points scored against pure rookie Capela.

This shooting rate is actually not enough to look at from the outside, let alone the inside.

Moreover, there is a big problem with the shooting rate of the inside line. It is such an inefficient offense from the outside line. The inside line can also use rebounds to create a secondary offense.

And Cousins ​​​​himself is an insider. Sometimes he shoots as soon as he shoots, but no one helps him grab offensive rebounds.

Seeing Cousins' performance, Su Chen didn't find it strange.

Speaking of which, when the king originally invited him, he didn't want to agree because of Cousins.

Rebuilding with Cousins ​​and Gay as the core of the team, how should they be matched to win the championship?

Pair them with Curry James' thick eyebrows. If they throw the ball at the smoking ball, they may not win the championship.

The Clippers started with three consecutive victories, all of which were won by Jokic as the core, which immediately caused a sensation on social media.

[The counterattack of the second-round pick, Jokic proved himself in three games. 】

【King of Draft!Suchen compares the draft last season with this season. 】

[17+11+10>29, there is no suspense in the battle for the new generation of centers! 】

The Clippers surprised many people by acquiring a superstar prospect.

For Clippers fans, it is naturally extremely joyful.

If Jokic grows up, plus Lillard and George, the Clippers will have the Big Three who can compete for the championship.

For other teams, the pressure is greater.

Some players who score high scores will be said to be eating dumplings, but through Jokic's performance in these three games, Jokic's organizational talent cannot be explained by eating dumplings at all.

Whether it is a long pass that covers the entire field or a variety of difficult behind-the-back passes without looking at anyone, it has been able to accurately find openings in a wide range.

These are not things you can just throw away while eating dumplings.

Even Paul, the top traditional point guard in the league today, has almost the same level of organizational ability.

Many people are wondering if Paul had not been traded.

What kind of spectacle should the combination of two top passers look like?

However, this also relieved other teams. If Paul teamed up with Jokic and added George, the competition pressure on the Western Conference teams would be too great.

The scene when Lillard was suppressed by Paul in the first game is still fresh in many people's memories.

(End of this chapter)