unfinished glory

Chapter 99 Unlock New Skills

After staying at home for a few days, Li Chongxiao got on the plane in a hurry.

On the plane from Pengcheng to Beijing, some basketball fans met him and posted it on the forum.Just when everyone was looking forward to it, there was news that he got on the plane to the United States.

This move made many domestic fans feel disappointed, but at the same time worried about the upcoming Asian Championships.

In Yao Ming's surgery, it is unknown whether he will return to the team. Another superstar also stated that he will not play in the Asian Championships. The national team is now leaderless.

Seeing that the Asian Championships may lose the championship, the Basketball Association, which has spent a lot of effort to hire foreign coaches, is a little panicked. What makes some people feel uneasy is that the Internet is getting more and more developed, and the cover can no longer be covered. Their impression is that one month is not as good as one month.

If the championship is really lost, it will involve several hats, so some people began to seriously consider the suggestion made by the foreign coach Yunus to recall Wang Zhizhi.

After several rounds of mediation, finally in mid-July, after the subdued Dazhi publicly published a letter of confession, the Bayi team accepted the wanderer again.

At the same time, the Basketball Association announced that Wang Zhizhi will return to the national team and will train with the team and participate in this year's Men's Basketball Asian Championships.

This exciting news really reassured the fans, not only for this summer's games, but also for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which was also a big surprise.

Compared with Wang Zhizhi, Tang Zhengdong was not so lucky. Although he was also selected for the national team, the Basketball Association has always been ambiguous about whether to let him play in the United States.Until the start of the Asian Championships in September, there was no clear statement.

In desperation, Tang Zhengdong can only announce that he will still play in the CBA for one season, and then try to enter the NBA next season.

The Nets are also a little disappointed. Their insiders are mediocre. They really hope that Tang Zhengdong can come over soon to see if there is any training value.In addition, their attention is average, and I hope that more news figures will be in the team.

……

Throughout the summer, although the Huaxia basketball team without Yao Ming did not have such absolute dominance, it was still not comparable to other Asian countries.

The returned Wang Zhizhi became the core of the team, averaging 16.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, leading the Huaxia team to easily win the championship. It also proved that even players on the NBA bench are not something that any team can resist.

Tang Zhengdong also performed well. He has always been criticized for being lazy and unmotivated. After being selected by the NAB team, his whole mental outlook has taken on a new look.

Yunus, who had repeatedly criticized him before, has also changed his opinion of him.

Not long after Li Chongxiao arrived in the United States, he sent him a videotape of Duncan's training, and told Tang Zhengdong that his current ability to play in the NBA was a bit uncertain, and it was best to follow scientific training methods and reorganize his style of play.

Yao Ming has also sent encouraging messages to the national team through the media many times, "injured", and immediately sent congratulations for winning the championship.

In fact, Yao Ming's operation was relatively minor, and he soon returned to normal, but most of the time, he was doing hard training.

In addition to correcting the minor problems in the offense, such as habitually collecting the ball and being easy to be cut, the training of mid-range shots, hooks and throws has also been strengthened.

In addition, in terms of body, the muscle structure has been slightly modified to make the weight distribution of the body more even.

The last is the most important physical training. After a lot of hard practice, Yao Ming is confident to increase his playing time to about 35 minutes.

These are all personal improvements. He is a little dissatisfied with the team's signings, but because of the restraint of the Huaxia people, he is unwilling to say anything.

This season, there are still a few good players on the market, but the Rockets are as blind as they are, indifferent.

Not to mention Joe Johnson, who broke up with the Suns peacefully and went to the Eagles, and got an annual salary of tens of millions.

For a poor team like the Rockets, one is that they don't have enough bargaining chips, and they can't satisfy the opponent's dream of pursuing a high salary and being the boss.

Shareef Abdul-Rahim, Van Gundy Jr. doesn't like his defense.

Larry Hughes' price is too high, and the Rockets can't afford it.

In the end, it was Li Chongxiao who "helped" and got Finley from the Mavericks for them.

After the Mavericks owner Cuban introduced the "amnesty clause" in the NBA, in order to save some luxury taxes, he ruthlessly pardoned "Mr. Mavericks" Michael Finley, who had played for the team for 9 years.

Finley, who entered the free market, suddenly became a favorite.Not only are powerful teams such as the Timberwolves, Bulls, and Rockets pursuing, but even championship favorites such as the Suns and Heat have also thrown olive branches.

Originally Finley's favorite team was the defending champion Spurs, but the Spurs already had Li Chongxiao and did not make an offer.

In Popovich's team building policy, the team must give priority to making room for Li Chongxiao's growth. In the new season, Barry and even Bowen and Ginobili will make concessions, and it is impossible to promise Finley playing time.

Finley felt that the Suns, who were greatly weakened, were still unable to break through the blockade of the Spurs, and he didn't think he could adapt to the role of the Suns, so he declined his friend Nash.

Between the Rockets and the Heat, seeing that the Heat are crowded with people in all positions, after weighing, the Rockets who can give themselves a starting commitment only need to pay 500 million for two years.

Then there are inside players. The Rockets did not pursue the supersonic free agent Jerome James and Mourning, who was given up by the Raptors, but chose the Grizzlies free agent Stromile Swift, and then with Mu Tombaugh signed a two-year extension.

Going around, there are still no substitutes and blue-collar insiders ready for Yao Ming, and the clay figurines are also three-point fire.

Later, when Yao Ming was negotiating a contract extension with the Rockets, he rejected the second maximum salary contract offered by the Rockets without hesitation.

After several rounds of negotiations, Yao Ming consulted Li Guoqiang's opinion, only accepted the 2+2 maximum salary contract offered by the Rockets, and got the player option for the 07~08 season.

……

As for Li Chongxiao, the Spurs implemented a team option worth $64 without hesitation.

They also don't need to talk to Li Chongxiao immediately about contract renewal, because Li Chongxiao has only been in the NBA for two years after the next season. He is a restricted free agent, and the Spurs have the priority to renew his contract.

And the labor agreement revised this year added the "Arenas Clause", which will help the home team avoid the dilemma of brain drain due to the inability to match the offers of other teams.

Li Chongxiao was very willing to stay with the Spurs. He pushed the contract matters to the business team, and plunged into the training hall by himself.

Last season, he was favored by Popovich for his defense, and unexpectedly won the honor of the second defense.In the new season, with the further improvement of physical fitness and strengthening of strength, the defense will be further improved.

But offensively, he's still far behind.

At the beginning of last season, he got a lot of opportunities by relying on his precise fixed-point shooting.As the game progressed, he developed the skills of running without the ball and catching and shooting.

After the All-Star Game, air cutting has gradually become his regular skill.

However, these are off-the-ball offensive modes. In the playoffs, he showed the ability to jump and break through after the pick-and-roll, but the application is not yet mature.

This holiday, he chose to strengthen these two skills. One is to be able to create shooting space through dribbling or fake moves when facing defensive players.

The second is to make breakthroughs a regular skill, to be able to break through most outside players one-on-one, and to be able to correctly handle the ball after the breakthrough, whether to attack the basket or pass the ball.

Since he came to the United States, he has never stopped practicing dribbling. Now his ball-handling ability is no less than that of ordinary point guards, and the rest is used in actual combat.

In this way, time passed day by day during training, and in a blink of an eye it was time for the team to train again.

(End of this chapter)