Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Los Angeles.

In the training stadium.

Today's training has ended. The Lakers players sat together and chatted. Zhuang Yu was still practicing his jump shots on the court, but that did not stop him from listening to his teammates talking nonsense.

"I heard that people outside were not optimistic about us and thought we could beat weak teams like the Suns and the Hawks, but it's not that easy to beat the Suns."

"Really? Where did you hear that? I heard that Team Rocket is having an internal conflict. Can they be our opponent in their current situation?"

"Where did you hear this from? The Rockets are having internal strife, isn't it just a lack of coordination? Westbrook and Harden's playing styles do overlap somewhat, and both need the ball, so it's normal to have some conflicts over the ball, but it shouldn't be a strife, right?"

"Haha, it's not because of this, I heard it's because of Kevin Love."

Hearing this, the players were all stunned.

What’s going on? What does the Rockets’ internal strife have to do with Kevin Love of the Cavaliers?

"Fuck, you can't, right?"

Zhuang Yu's heart moved, and he thought to himself, could it be that Westbrook took what he said casually to heart?

When they were training together, Zhuang Yu casually mentioned, "Why don't you come to our Lakers, Love?" But everyone knows that the Lakers don't have enough chips to trade Love, nor is there any need to. It doesn't mean that the more stars a team has, the stronger it is.

Just look at the Warriors before.

There are so many stars, it is called a "five-star lineup", but what is the final result?

Didn’t they still fail to win the championship?

Having more stars has advantages, but also disadvantages.

With more stars, the team's on-paper strength will naturally be stronger, but once there are too many stars, the tactics on the court and the distribution of the ball will become a problem. If they work well together, like James + Davis, the effect of 1+1>2 can be achieved; but if they don't work well together, it will become a situation like Westbrook + Harden.

But unexpectedly, Westbrook seemed to have listened.

You Lakers don’t need Love, but we Rockets do!

If we bring Love in to form a Big Three, wouldn't that bring us closer to the championship?

Nance pretended to be mysterious and said, "I heard that it was because Westbrook wanted the Rockets to trade Love to form a Big Three to challenge the championship. But Harden didn't want to, so the two were very unhappy."

"Is this really happening?"

"No, why doesn't Harden want to trade Love? It would be good for the Rockets to form a Big Three."

Everyone asked, the gossip fire in their hearts burning.

Zhuang Yu was a little amused and helpless. It was really because Westbrook wanted to get Love here. Was this his fault?

If I hadn't said those words at the beginning, would this not have happened?

Nance sneered and explained, "Why doesn't Harden want to do that? Because if the Rockets want to trade for Love, they have to offer something that will make the Cavaliers excited. No matter who they trade, Capela or Eric Gordon, it may not be enough. They have to add one or two more, or future draft picks, such as Daniel House, or... Harden certainly doesn't want to do that. He has a good relationship with the people around him."

Anderson also joined in, frowning and asking, "Just because of the good relationship? Are you going to give up the championship just to keep these people by your side?"

"Of course it's not that simple." Clarkson was quick-witted and quickly reacted. "First of all, everyone knows the relationship between Love and Westbrook. They are good brothers. Once Love comes to the Rockets, he will definitely stand on Westbrook's side. Who will be the boss of the Rockets at that time, Harden or Westbrook?"

"Don't you understand yet?"

"Once Love comes to the Rockets, he will threaten Harden's position as the leader of the team."

Everyone was stunned.

Clarkson added: "Moreover, Capela, Gordon, House and others have been working with Harden for quite some time. They will consciously cooperate with Harden in the game. Otherwise, how can Harden play such gorgeous personal data? If these people are sent away and replaced with Love, it will not only threaten his position as the team leader, but also affect his personal data."

"Harden had impressive personal statistics in the previous two seasons, but he still failed to win the regular season MVP."

"Hehe, the regular season MVP has probably become a major concern for him."

"He is clearly aiming for the regular season MVP this season. He just wants to win the regular season MVP. How can he be willing to sacrifice his team status and personal data?"

Now everyone really understood.

Wow, there are so many tricks in there.

Zhuang Yu couldn't help but secretly exclaimed "Wow", what Clarkson said sounded like a palace conspiracy, does Harden really have so many tricks up his sleeve?

Regardless of whether Harden has so many ulterior motives, Zhuang Yu thinks it is very likely that he and Westbrook have a conflict over Love.

Of course, maybe Harden feels that Love has reached the end of his career and cannot be considered a true "giant," so even if he were to be brought in, he might not be able to win the championship.

Or maybe he thinks the Rockets' current roster is enough to win the championship.

Nance Jr. chuckled and said, "That's the thing anyway. The internal strife is real. The Rockets are struggling to take care of themselves right now. They haven't solved their internal problems yet. How can they compete with us?"

Suddenly, everyone laughed.

Zhuang Yu couldn't help but say, "Don't take it lightly, the Rockets' lineup is still very strong."

A group of teammates nodded to show that they understood.

......

Houston.

The atmosphere on the Rockets team is still not very good.

Harden and Westbrook are still in conflict, which makes the other members of the team feel very uncomfortable being caught in the middle and not knowing what to do.

Should we let them choose sides?

Most of them are still willing to stand on Harden's side. After all, Harden was already the boss of the team before Westbrook came.

What's more, Westbrook advocates using some players as bargaining chips to trade for Love. No one wants to be traded to the Cavaliers as a bargaining chip, so there is some aversion to Westbrook.

This is not only reflected in the game, but can also be seen in their daily training.

For example, at this moment, the Rockets are conducting internal team confrontation training.

Harden and Westbrook were in the same group. When Harden broke through and passed the ball to PJ Tucker, Westbrook ran back to PJ Tucker to ask for the ball. However, Tucker didn't seem to see him and didn't pass the ball. Instead, he shot a three-pointer against the defense.

The result was a miss.

Westbrook looked a little ugly.

He thought the ball should be given to himself, who had a better chance and stronger ability, instead of Tucker shooting the three-pointer himself.

"Hey, you should pass this ball to me," Westbrook said to Tucker.

"Okay, I understand." Tucker just agreed.

The same situation occurred in the next round. Tucker still did not pass the ball to Westbrook, but gave it to Capela for transition.

After several passes, the basketball finally returned to Harden's hands.

Harden made a three-pointer.

Westbrook opened his mouth, but the ball went in after all, so he didn't have much to say. He just felt suffocated and depressed.

He is not stupid and knows why his teammates are like this.

But he is not doing this for himself. He just wants to make the team stronger and realize his dream of winning the championship. What's wrong with that?

But where there are people, there is the world, and where there is the world, there are grudges, love and hatred, closeness and distance, this is inevitable.

As for the championship?

Everyone wants to win the championship, but what if someone is traded and the Rockets actually win the championship?

Then the person who was traded would be the unlucky one.

After a training match, the players came to the sidelines.

Head coach Mike D'Antoni clapped his hands and gathered everyone in front of him. His eyes swept across Westbrook and Harden's faces, and in the end he could only sigh secretly. He had done some coordination, but it seemed that he did not play the role he should have.

But now the priority is the next game.

"We will play the Lakers in the next game," said coach D'Antoni. "The Lakers are missing Lopez and Rose, which is good news for us. But from the previous two games, the Lakers adjusted very quickly. They have quickly completed the adjustment of the main lineup and the substitute lineup, as well as the change of tactics."

"Obviously, they are still very strong."

Hearing this, the players' expressions turned serious.

Looking back, if they hadn't met the Lakers in the playoffs, if they had been able to defeat the Lakers, maybe they would have won the championship by then.

That was the closest they had ever been to the championship, but unfortunately they lost to the Lakers and failed to make it to the finals.

Nowadays, when talking about the Lakers, many players still feel resentment in their hearts, but at the same time there is also a lingering haze.

After all, the Lakers won the championship for two consecutive seasons.

This team is terrifying.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Coach D'Antoni was a little unhappy. He said in a deep voice: "Do you think we can't beat the Lakers when you heard about them?"

"No."

"of course not."

Everyone refuted.

I can't admit it, I can't give in.

"Humph."

Coach D'Antoni snorted and continued, "I hope we can win this game. The opportunity to play against a strong team like the Lakers is rare. If we want to win the championship this season, we will most likely face the Lakers again. We need to treat this game as a preview of the playoffs and a test for us."

"If we can't even beat the Lakers without Lopez and Rose, then how can we talk about challenging for the championship?"

Hearing this, everyone was shocked and perked up.

Yes, if they can't even beat the Lakers who are missing two key players, what qualifications do they have to talk about winning the championship?

Coach D'Antoni then made a detailed analysis of the Lakers' current situation and made targeted arrangements.

When everything was over, everyone dispersed.

He specifically called Harden and Westbrook over and gave them some instructions individually, hoping that they could put aside their differences and concentrate on the next game.

The two agreed in unison, but Coach D'Antoni wasn't sure whether they could do it in the actual game.

I just hope I can do it.