super small forward

Chapter 15 15. The end of the season 1
Kupchak didn't find the contact information of Liu Ren's manager. Thinking about it carefully, this kid doesn't have a manager!Only then did he understand why no one had used the fact that Liu Ren was Chinese for publicity for two years, and he hadn't heard of Liu Ren's endorsement contract.

The playoffs are about to start, and he can't directly discuss this matter with Liu Ren. Although he didn't expect much in this year's playoffs, he can't lose too badly.

When Gasol and Kobe were reimbursed, Kupchak did not expect to win the playoffs, but now it seems that the momentum is good. The Spurs under the new system have not been soft in the playoffs once or twice. Winning them It is not impossible.

Now people's impression of the new Spurs is still in the playoffs in 11 and 12. The first time was being black eight, and the second time was being turned 0 to 2 in the playoffs. Puchak is still thinking about a black seven in the playoffs, so as to save the face of the Big Four who almost couldn't make it to the playoffs.

If Liu Ren knows Kupchak's thoughts, he can only send it. The Spurs lost in the playoffs in 11 and 12. In Liu Ren's opinion, it wasn't a poor performance or a system problem, but a lack of a necessary element for the Spurs to win the championship in the new century, a top defensive small forward!
Leonard has not been traded in 11. In 12, Leonard was too good. He was beaten by Durant. This year Leonard has the ability to be the best defensive player, and the super defensive player who sees whoever he sees is coming soon players.

What the Spurs are most afraid of now is a team that is far ahead of them, such as the Thunder, Lakers, and Grizzlies. The Thunder's Durant, the Lakers' fighting spirit Howard, and the Grizzlies' Randolph The Spurs can't handle the player who has an absolute advantage in the matchup and often wields a sledgehammer.

Not only was Kupchak upset, but the Spurs general manager Buford also had a big head. He failed to get the contact information of Liu Ren's agent despite a lot of connections.

After receiving the poaching instructions from Popovich, Buford stayed in Los Angeles and watched the game between the Rockets and the Lakers. Liu Ren's talent was no worse than Leonard's!It should be said that it is much better than Leonard!That kind of adaptability on the field, the reading ability and destructive power of the opponent's defense are amazing, and his physical fitness is simply explosive.

Buford has always admired Popovich's vision, and this time he admired it even more. As for Liu Ren, his shooting seems to be a bit bad, especially when he made less than [-]% of his free throws. But does this matter?Duncan also has a free throw percentage in the early [-]s, but now he can't practice to more than [-]%!
For young players, free throw difference is not a problem at all. Liu Ren's greatest strength lies in the destruction of the opponent's defense. Any team needs this kind of player, and he can partner with almost any type of player.

A pitcher needs Liu Ren to attack the inside to attract the defense, a point guard needs this kind of rusher who uses his running position to tear apart the opponent's defense, and a center needs a helper who can help grab rebounds after he blocks the opponent's inside...

And if you have good physical fitness, you will have talent in defense. Even if the defense is really bad, you can be trained to play a good defense when you come to Popovich.

The best thing about Popovich, in Buford's view, is not the tactical system, not the on-the-spot command, but his defense!

Defense is more a matter of attitude. Popovich came out of the army and is best at correcting players' attitudes. Even Dior, a player who was used to defensive attitude by D'Antoni before, came here and became an insider. barrier.

Compared with these two, Morey breathed a sigh of relief. Although he is good at calculating, he is also good at building relationships with other teams. He went directly to ask Kupchak for contact information. Kupchak once When trading Jordan Hill, he owed Morey a favor. Kupchak directly said that Liu Ren did not have an agent. After Morey reported to the pressure mountain, the matter disappeared.

When the player is still under contract, the management of other teams is not allowed to have direct contact with the player about the transfer.

If the Rockets want to make an offer to Liu Ren, it will have to wait until the free market opens.

On April 2013, 4, after a few days of rest, the Lakers went to San Antonio to start this year's playoffs.

Liu Ren knew that this year's playoffs was a series in which the Lakers completely fell out of the ranks of strong teams.

Howard's attitude determines the future development of the Lakers. Trying to keep Howard is the key to the Lakers' next team building, but Liu Ren knows that Howard is absolutely impossible to stay. This playoffs will be Howard in the Lakers. The last few games.

Things were a tragedy from the very beginning, and in the current situation, Howard has no intention of playing in this team no matter what.

The Lakers will eventually suffer a disastrous defeat against the Spurs in this round of the playoffs. Although Liu Ren is unwilling, he can only admit this.

Now that he knew that the Lakers would definitely lose, Liu Ren could only accept it. He realized that the most important thing he had to do now was not to care about Howard's affairs, but to work hard for his next contract.

If you want to get the next contract, you have to do it yourself!
"What the hell, Howard's leaving is none of my business? I'm sure I'll have a lot of playing time in these few games. If I can play the kind of data that Wells played for the Spurs that year, I won't worry about the next contract. Plus I am Chinese, and I think the Lakers will definitely not let me go, otherwise they would not trade Jeremy Lin in a year." Thinking of this, Liu Ren became less worried.

What should come will eventually come. Liu Ren kept training in anxiety to prepare for the playoffs, and the game came as scheduled.

Sure enough, as Liu Ren expected, after the game against the Spurs, Howard was completely out of shape, and the inside defense was gone. The Spurs broke into a sieve. Duncan seemed to be 27 years old instead of 37 years old, and tortured Howard to death.

So Liu Ren didn't think about passing the ball from the very beginning of the game. He took the ball and rushed inside when he had the opportunity, constantly broke through the basket to score, and made crazy shots to score points.

If the Lakers want to win, they have to start the game from Howard. Howard has no fighting spirit, no defense, and was blown away by the old man Duncan. The Lakers lost the first game without any suspense.

霍华德10投2中拿到6分9板，刘仁23投9中拿到22分。

After learning about the situation of the Lakers, Popovich beat the dog in the water. First, he created public opinion before the second game, which was still in San Antonio. on the countertop.

There is no shortage of Lakers fans in San Antonio. Various sports forums and social media are full of abuse against Howard and attacks on his attitude towards the game.Howard, who is so active, naturally knew these things very quickly. Seeing that the public opinion was all criticizing him, he became more depressed and lost his fighting spirit for the game.

Although the absent-minded Howard scored a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in the second game, he made 6 free throws at the beginning of the second half.

The Lakers suffered a two-game losing streak.

(End of this chapter)