Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Zhuang Yu was speechless, thinking to himself, have you forgotten that we are rivals? You ask me to give you some advice, isn't that just making things difficult for myself?

But thinking about the relationship between himself and Westbrook, and seeing Westbrook like this now is really a bit uncomfortable, and taking a step back, even if Love really joined the Rockets, it may not necessarily make the Rockets a championship team.

Last season, the Warriors had a five-star lineup, but they were still defeated by us in the end, didn’t they?

Are you still afraid that the Rockets will form a Big Three?

Zhuang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "First of all, this is just my own opinion. I personally think that trading Love to the Rockets will help reconcile the conflict between you and Harden. If it's just you and Harden, then the ball rights between you will never be evenly divided. But if there is another All-Star player, you will each need to share some of the ball rights, so the difference between more and less won't be that big."

“And then there’s the question of who’s going to handle the ball in the clutch moments.”

"Your playing styles overlap too much with Harden's, so there's not much difference whether you handle the ball or Harden handles the ball at critical moments. In other words, you don't have many tactical options."

"But if you have Love, you will have more tactical options, and you can have more changes in the handling of key balls."

"Let me give you another example."

"For example, in today's game, Harden didn't choose to pass the ball to you at the end, but what if Love was there?"

"He may think that if he passes the ball to you, you will play the same way as him and will have to force a shot in the end. But if Love is next to you, the situation will be different. He may still not pass the ball to you, but he may choose to pass the ball to Love and let Love shoot a three-pointer."

Hearing this, Westbrook's eyes lit up.

If you think about it carefully, it seems to be true.

If Love were there, it would indeed be possible to better reconcile the conflict between him and Harden.

Just as Zhuang Yu said, the conflict between him and Harden is not emotional, but more stems from reality, because the two people's styles, positions, and playing styles overlap too much.

The solution to this problem is to either separate the two people or introduce a third person - a triangle is the only way to be stable.

Seeing Westbrook's eyes glowing, as if he was more and more excited about the trade for Love, Zhuang Yu shook his head and said, "Brother, I think you may not have thought about one thing."

what?

Westbrook looked at Zhuang Yu with a face full of curiosity. He really admired Zhuang Yu now. Although he was not even older than himself, he had a very thorough understanding of things.

Especially the understanding of basketball.

Zhuang Yu said: "I think if the All-Star player you want to trade for is not Love, Harden may agree."

what?

Westbrook opened his mouth, a little stunned.

But he is not stupid. It is better to watch the fire from the other side of the river than to be in the middle of the situation. After Zhuang Yu said this, he immediately understood and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It seems to be because of the relationship between Love and me. In fact, I really don't think so much. I just want to make the team stronger. In my opinion, Love is the best candidate. He is an excellent inside player and he can also shoot three-pointers."

Zhuang Yu said: "I believe you."

But Harden obviously doesn't believe it.

This is the problem.

In fact, in Zhuang Yu's opinion, the Rockets now have two ways to solve this problem. Either put aside Love and find an All-Star level player, or a quasi-All-Star level player to serve as the Rockets' No. 3 player.

A candidate Harden can accept.

Either Westbrook can have a good talk with Harden and the management, and make some sacrifices on his own initiative.

For example, he lowered his status in the team, made it clear that he was willing to assist Harden, be Harden's assistant, and make some adjustments and changes in his playing style.

For example, reduce personal offense, stop pursuing it, and focus more on defense and organizing offense...

Of course this is very unfair to Westbrook.

After all, this is a regular season MVP, a player who has averaged a triple-double for three consecutive seasons, one of the league's top stars, and at the peak of his career. How can he be willing to be a foil and a supporting role for others?

So Zhuang Yu didn't say these things.

After all, this is Westbrook's own business and the Rockets' business. As Westbrook's friend, Zhuang Yu is willing to provide him with some opinions and suggestions, but when it comes to Westbrook's personal interests, Zhuang Yu still has to consider it.

He couldn't persuade Westbrook to make sacrifices. What if Westbrook listened to him and made sacrifices, but still failed to win the championship?

In short, the future is uncertain.

Everything is possible. It may get better or it may get worse. It all depends on the individual. It is best for people around you not to interfere.

After saying this, Westbrook fell into a long silence.

Zhuang Yu didn't say anything else.

After a few minutes, seeing that Westbrook was still thinking, Zhuang Yu stood up and said, "Let's go, go back and think about it slowly, I'm going back to the hotel."

Westbrook came back to his senses: "No, I haven't drunk the wine yet?"

Zhuang Yu glanced at the cocktails on the table and curled his lips in disdain: "This stuff is colorful, who wants to drink it? I'm drinking medicinal wine now."

what?

Westbrook opened his mouth, looking confused.

But Zhuang Yu really didn't lie to him.

Zhuang Yu was really drinking the medicinal wine, which Yang Jinsong brought to him from China. It had no special effect, but could relieve fatigue.

For Zhuang Yu, competition and training are very tiring, and drinking some medicinal wine appropriately is good for the body.

Of course, the taste of medicinal wine is really incomparable to cocktails. Foreigners definitely can't get used to it, but Chinese people like it.

However, Zhuang Yu seriously suspected that the Chinese people's love of drinking medicinal wine had nothing to do with health preservation, but was all for the purpose of strengthening their virility.

Five thousand years of cultural heritage, Chinese studies have a long history, and Chinese medicine is extensive and profound...

Most people don’t understand it at all. Who has the time to study it? Do you understand what has been passed down for five thousand years?

But as long as you tell him "zhuangyang", he will prepare anything for you to eat.

From things grown in the ground to things eaten by animals, as long as they can be linked to these two words, they will definitely be on the Chinese diet.

Why did Zhuang Yu think so? Because Yang Jinsong was also drinking the medicinal wine, and he seriously suspected that Yang Jinsong was drinking it for the "Zhuangyang" effect.

But he tried it himself and found that it did help relieve fatigue.

As for Zhuangyang?

I definitely don't need it. Having sex seven times a night is no problem. Who wants that thing?

......

The next day, Westbrook approached the team management again, hoping that the team management could bring in Kevin Love.

To this end, he even threatened to leave the Rockets.

In fact, the Rockets management also wanted to strengthen the team. They called coach D'Antoni to discuss the matter. Coach D'Antoni said that he was happy to accept this matter, and he also believed that Love's arrival would be helpful to the team.

In addition, Coach D'Antoni also said that it does not have to be Love, and it can be replaced by another All-Star level player, but it would be best if it is an inside player.

Coach D'Antoni thought of this.

The reason why Harden was so opposed was because it was Love. If it was any other All-Star player, maybe it would be fine.

But where can they find another suitable All-Star level player at the moment?

Even if there is such a candidate, would he be willing to come to the Rockets?

Compared to getting other All-Star level players, it is obviously easier to get Love through a trade.

The Cavaliers are in a rebuilding phase, and nothing is unsaleable to them. Given the relationship between Love and Westbrook, he will definitely be willing to come to the Rockets.

After some discussion, the management decided to do as much as possible to persuade Harden to make this happen.

After all, if the team fails to win the championship, they may lose not only Westbrook, but Harden may also leave.

Zhuang Yu naturally didn't know all this. The next day after the game with the Rockets, the Lakers would rush to their next away game to face the Spurs.

......

The Spurs' lineup has not changed much this season, with Aldridge and DeRozan still as the core, but there have been some adjustments in personnel rotation and lineup.

For example, Rudy Gay is now playing more as a substitute and has fallen out of the starting position, while Bryn Forbes, Dejounte Murray, and former Nuggets player Trey Lyles, who was signed this year, have received more opportunities and have been promoted to the starting lineup.

But the effect is not as expected.

The Spurs are going through a transition period.

The combination of Aldridge and DeRozan has not been able to produce a good enough effect, largely because the competitive state of veteran players such as Aldridge and Rudy Gay has declined.

DeMar DeRozan, on the other hand, has maintained his usual stable level, but he is obviously not one of the league's top stars, and it is difficult for him to carry the entire team on his own.

In the past dozen games, the Spurs' record has been somewhat poor, far worse than last season, and they are currently ranked fourth from the bottom in the Western Conference.

You should know that the Spurs do not have any serious injuries, and several key players of the team remain healthy.

This is somewhat unreasonable.

It can only be said that the Spurs are in the painful period of transition from the old to the new. Even if the lineup has not changed much and the players remain healthy, their strength is still shrinking.

......

The Spurs' home court is the AT&T Center.

The game has entered the fourth quarter, and the Lakers are leading by 12 points.

"Requesting a timeout."

The Spurs called a timeout.

During this timeout, the Spurs made personnel rotations and started to replace their main players.

After replacing their main players, the Spurs launched a wave of attacks and narrowed the gap to 5 points.

But the Lakers soon widened the gap again.

It was Holiday who broke out this time. He hit two consecutive three-pointers from outside the three-point line, helping the Lakers to widen the gap.

It is worth mentioning that both of these three-pointers came from Zhuang Yu's assists.

The fact is, Zhuang Yu played very well today as well, and not just in assists. So far he has scored 27 points, plus 9 assists and 6 rebounds, almost a double-double.

After scoring 55 points in the previous game, Zhuang Yu was still efficient and outstanding on the offensive end in this game. With a few minutes left in the game, it would not be a problem for him to score 30+.