Chapter 539: The Situation in the West, the Trading Period and Sloan’s Resignation

After the All-Star Weekend, all NBA teams take a day off.

Ye Si took advantage of this day off to increase all the basic attribute points he could improve.

The Seattle SuperSonics players did not go on vacation during this day when the entire NBA had a day off.

The NBA official holiday is a holiday, but for teams like the SuperSonics that have pursuits this season, a holiday does not mean rest.

Those Seattle SuperSonics players who did not participate in the All-Star Weekend voluntarily stayed with the team to train during the All-Star Weekend.

After all, at the end of the half, the Seattle SuperSonics' record was 43 wins and 8 losses, while the Spurs, Lakers, and Nuggets ranked behind the Seattle SuperSonics all had 41 wins and 11 losses.

The gap between the Seattle SuperSonics and the Spurs, Lakers, and Nuggets is not that obvious now. What's more, before the start of the All-Star Game, the Seattle SuperSonics were not in that good shape.

The Seattle SuperSonics had just found a 'loophole' by the Jazz in the game before the All-Star Game.

In this game against the Jazz, Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan chose to target Durant during the game when he could not find a loophole in Yes.

Under the defense of the Jazz's squat point guard Fisher, Durant couldn't even catch yes's strongest passes in history, causing a lot of mistakes to yes in the game.

That is to say, after the game against the Jazz, the league's schedule entered the All-Star stage.

Otherwise, Durant's weakness will be exploited crazily by the strong teams in the league!

Not every team in the league has a fighting player like Fisher.

But at the same time, there are also more aggressive defensive players in the league than Fisher!

Because the morale of the Jazz has collapsed, and the thinking of the team's young players and the team's head coach is obviously not unified, they were unable to seize this opportunity and were eventually defeated by the SuperSonics.

But other strong teams are not like the Jazz. Because the team's leading players and the team's head coach have conflicts, they give the Sonics a chance.

There have been rumors of conflict between Jazz head coaches Jerry Sloan and Deron Williams this season.

The main rumor is that Deron is dissatisfied with Jerry Sloan's tactics and believes that his status in Jerry Sloan's tactics is too low.

He needs more freedom to fire, to play, to play freely.

Jerry Sloan never cared about it at first. These complaints about Deron were just complaints about the team's poor performance and wanting to make changes.

So Jerry Sloan has always been saying good things about Deron.

But after the game against the SuperSonics, Jerry Sloan finally understood that Deron was not dissatisfied with the team's record, but was really dissatisfied with him, his tactics, his basketball philosophy, and his basketball Dissatisfaction with the concept.

During the All-Star Weekend, almost all the news in the NBA is being washed by yes, and no one will pay attention to what is happening with the Jazz now.

According to some media reports, before the All-Star weekend break, the Jazz held an internal meeting. During this internal meeting, Deron and Jerry Sloan once again had a fierce argument.

It was rumored that some of Deron's words in the quarrel deeply stung Sloan. Some of them were about the runner-up and Malone. He even bluntly said that Sloan was outdated and could not lead the team to success. Such words made Deron angry in the end. As a son, Sloan, who was reluctant to scold or throw him, yelled at Deron: "Do you want me to leave the team now!"

According to news reports, when Jerry Sloan's basketball dream was ridiculed by his favorite disciple and the disciple who had placed all his hopes in it, and when Deron hurt him the most, he did not scold Deron.

The internal meeting of the Jazz ended with Sloan shouting these words and Deron slamming the door out without saying anything.

As the head coach of the SuperSonics, Nelson is different from others.

He did not pay all the attention to yes's wonderful performance during the All-Star Weekend like ordinary fans or ordinary NBA practitioners.

yes is his disciple, of course he will pay attention, but as the team's head coach, he needs to be responsible for the team's future.

His status in the NBA is higher than Jerry Sloan, there is no doubt about it.

But Jerry Sloan's status with the Jazz is definitely higher than his status with the SuperSonics, and much higher.

But Jerry Sloan was forced by Deron Williams to yell at the end of the Jazz: "Do you want me to leave the team now!"

With Old Nelson's IQ, how could he not understand Jerry Sloan's sadness when he shouted these words.

This is begging for mercy, this is begging for mercy from Deron Williams.

Jerry Sloan was so insulted by Deron, and he finally hoped that Deron could stop himself and obey.

I hope that with the help of so many years of training, I can continue to pursue that dream with him.

If Deron is willing to step back from the brink, is willing to retain Sloan, still has a little bit of affection for Sloan, and is unwilling to let Sloan leave, he will be obedient and listen to Sloan's arrangements in the next game even if he is just pretending.

But if Deron Williams is still unwilling to obey in the next game, he will not give Sloan even a little superficial cooperation and a glimmer of hope for the future...

Old Nelson didn't know how Sloan and the Jazz or Deron would end up when things happened here.

But one thing is for sure, if he really wants to leave then, it will definitely be Delong.

Therefore, according to his understanding, the management of many teams in the league are already staring at the Jazz, which seems to be about to collapse.

The Jazz were once a promising young team, just like the SuperSonics are now.

For such a promising team to collapse like this after facing such setbacks this season, this is something that many people have never thought of.

But Nelson knows very well that this is the characteristic of a young team.

The scene happening now between Jerry Sloan and Deron has also happened to him.

When they were with the Warriors, he and Chris Webber were exactly the same as Jerry Sloan and Deron now.

The final result was that he left the Warriors and Chris Webber was traded.

Nelson doesn't want the same things that happened with the Warriors or Sloan with the Jazz to happen to his Sonics.

Therefore, he will be very cautious about the current SuperSonics, even if there is a slight problem.

Young teams really cannot withstand such a big setback before they are fully mature.

If the SuperSonics still lose third place in the Western Conference with a record of 43 wins and 8 losses in the first half of the schedule, are eventually surpassed by the Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets and fall to seventh place in the Western Conference, and are finally defeated by the Suns and Rockets in the first round, then this pair of SuperSonics In other words, this is a collapse, a huge collapse!

The game between the Sonics and the Jazz before the All-Star Game made Nelson very wary.

Of course, Ye Si was also very vigilant.

Although Durant's current confrontation ability has been improving, it is not yet good enough to deal with entangled defenses like Tony Allen and Fisher.

When Durant faces these defensive players, his playing style needs to change.

When facing these players, it would be quite dangerous if his style of play is still to simply pick up the ball and build a turret.

He will make a lot of mistakes, and with Durant's sensitive character, he will also be irritated and lose his mind.

Like Nelson, the SuperSonics' third position in the Western Conference this season is the Leafs' bottom line.

Especially since he has set his goal to compete for the championship this season, he cannot lose the third position in the Western Conference.

Judging from the game between the SuperSonics and the Jazz before the All-Star Game, the SuperSonics have a high chance of being surpassed by the Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets in the second half of the schedule.

According to what he heard from Anthony during the All-Star Game.

Before the start of the game between the SuperSonics and the Jazz, Nuggets head coach George Karl's goal for the Nuggets was to fight for six!

At that time, George Karl felt that the Nuggets, Spurs and Lakers would definitely not be able to pull the Sonics from the third position.

Instead of doing this, just take the sixth position!

Sixth can play third. The SuperSonics' hard power is the weakest among the top seven in the Western Conference. With the strength of the Nuggets, it is almost impossible to beat the SuperSonics in the playoffs.

But after the game between the Sonics and the Jazz, according to Anthony, George Karl excitedly announced to the team that there would be no holiday for the All-Star Weekend, and the players who did not participate in the All-Star Weekend were all preparing for the second half of the season. prepare for.

This posture is already preparing for a third-place tie-breaker!

From feeling that the tiebreaker was hopeless to feeling that there was a huge opportunity in the tiebreaker, the reason for this change is already very clear.

The Nuggets now feel like they see an opportunity, and certainly so do the Lakers and Spurs.

"Yes, I have some ideas about Kevin that I need to ask for your opinion on."

On February 19, 2008, after the Seattle SuperSonics' morning training, the team's head coach, Nelson, approached Yes.

This was not a surprise. He knew that Nelson would definitely think of ways to break the situation during this period.

After two seasons of cooperation, Yes has great respect for Nelson's tactical ability.

In the past two seasons, Nelson has solved too many problems that the team encountered in the game.

And this time, Ye Si was not surprised by the solution Nelson gave to Durant's problem.

Because this is also the solution that Yeas thought of after getting 90% of layup potential from Durant.

"Rajan, let's go have dinner together after training!"

It's time to eat!

After Rondo threw the iron in his hand fiercely, he glared at Millsap with an unhappy expression.

Didn't you see that the second master is busy now?

Rondo looked at Ye Si, who was chatting with Nelson not far away, and then at Durant, who was doing one-legged circle and mid-range shooting training not far away. The expression on his face was quite unhappy.

After the All-Star Weekend, this Du Shiwu became even more distasteful to him!

Before this All-Star Weekend, this Du Shiwu usually had the same cold and cold face as him.

This coquettish bitch has gone to great lengths to imitate him.

This has always made him quite unhappy. He knows yes, but he wants to imitate him, follow his path, and follow his path to the point where he has nowhere to go!

And what about after this All-Star weekend?

This guy actually has a smile on his face!

This guy actually doesn't imitate him anymore!

What does it mean?

Do you feel that the second master is no longer worthy of your imitation?

Do you think you can still be loved by yes even if you don’t imitate the second master?

Do you think that now that you have walked all the way for the second master, and now that the second master has no way to go, you no longer need the second master’s path?

In short, he now feels that this smiling Du Shiwu is even more annoying!

Isn't it just extra practice?

You suddenly practiced so hard after the All-Star Weekend, and the second master will do the same!

It depends on who you think worked harder when the time comes!

Seeing Rondo and Durant looking serious in the air, Millsap and other Sonics players on the other side had a bit of a hesitation on their faces.

Of course they would have sided with Rondo without hesitation in the past.

But now, they can no longer do this, and Durant is now a teammate they recognize.

Although their relationship with Rondo is definitely better than Durant.

But they won't be allowed to follow Rondo and target Durant.

"KD, championship, you have changed after this All-Star break."

Sessions looked at the big man with a smile on his face in surprise, with a somewhat surprised expression on his face.

How could he still laugh when being stared at by Rajan like this?

Is this still the ‘Du Dudu’ that I knew before, who was blaming the sky, the earth, and the air?

Durant is such a sensitive person. After this All-Star weekend, Rondo's competition with him became more and more fierce, and he could certainly feel it.

If it was before the All-Star Weekend, he would still care, but now, he doesn't care at all.

He is the only one on the team who knows yes' current championship dream!

He is the only person designated by yes who can win the championship trophy with yes by his side!

He is destined to stay with yes for his entire career!

Only after Durant learned about Ye Si's dream during this All-Star Weekend did he know what goal he was pursuing and what he needed to care about and protect.

What is Rondo? What about Millsap, Milicic, David Lee, and Barea? They were just passers-by, cats and dogs around him and Ye Si.

Durant realized it, completely realized it, trained hard, and insisted on improving himself. As long as he thought of him standing next to Ye Si and lifting the championship trophy that he dreamed of together with Ye Si, his blood boiled!

Fight? Fighting each other? Haha, he now... has the stars and the sea in mind!

"KD, yes and Mr. Nelson are calling you over there!"

Sessions, who was admiring the proud expression on Durant's face, saw the team's assistant coach waving to Durant not far away, but Durant just said "hey hey" on his face without noticing. , Sessions quickly reminded.

Yes and the head coach are calling me? !

The Durant Alliance, who was thinking about the future stars and sea with Ye Si, came back to his senses excitedly and ran towards where Ye Si and Nelson were standing.

Seeing Durant so excited, whether it was Sessions, Rondo or other Sonics players, they all looked envious.

yes and Mr. Nelson really value Durant.

And Durant did not disappoint these two people.

Although praising Durant's overall shooting rate of less than 40% is stable, it is like scolding Durant.

But this is indeed a fact. Durant is indeed a better and more stable player next to yes.

Durant is indeed not good enough, but they are worse than Durant.

Especially in this All-Star Game, after comparing the performance of Durant and Yi Jianlian in this game, they think this way.

At the beginning, they always felt that it was better to choose Yi Jianlian than Durant.

But in the All-Star Game, what kind of data are Yi Jianlian's and what kind of data are Durant's?

When Yi Jianlian didn't challenge Garnett crazily at the beginning, he didn't even hit 20%.

And what about Durant?

His shooting percentage is as high as 50%!

They are all the same opportunities, all open opportunities created by yes. Durant told the world with his performance that he didn't know it compared to others. At the very least, when compared with Yi Jianlian, he is now more deserving. The second pick.

Of course, no one knows whether Yi Jianlian will be better than Durant after being trained by Yes for most of the season.

But they have been training around Yes for more than a season, and they are not as good as Durant, who has been training for half a season. Some clues can already be seen from this.

It can be seen from the All-Star Game that Durant's strength is far superior to Yi Jianlian, but it is not clear whether Durant's potential is superior to Yi Jianlian. After all, the training environment of the two is different.

But their strength and potential are comparable to Durant's, and they are inferior in both strength and potential.

Let’s sort out Durant’s performance next to yes this season.

Whether it's the Christmas game or his performance in Yes's ten-game winning streak, Durant is the most stable and trustworthy player around Yes, much more trustworthy than them.

Even in this year's most exciting game in NBA history, when the two teams actually played in the All-Star game, Durant's performance was quite stable. He scored 30 points on 13 of 26 shots. This performance was definitely worthy of his All-Star status. Location.

Before the start of the All-Star Game, the whole world was mocking Durant's All-Star status, but after the All-Star Game ended, such voices could be said to have disappeared.

You can say that Anthony will perform better if he is in Durant's position and gets so many opportunities. However, this person is Anthony. This is not an All-Star, this is a superstar!

Just because the superstar is better than Durant does not mean that Durant is not good enough. It can only mean that Durant is not good enough!

So they are really envious of Durant being so highly regarded by yes and coach Nelson. Apart from envy, there is only envy, no jealousy and no hatred.

After all, if they really have enough potential and strength, they can be like Durant now.

Yes, it’s not like they haven’t given them a chance. Even Sessions, who is ranked at the bottom of the team, has a lot of opportunities in the team. As long as he can show Durant’s strength and potential, Sessions can also be like Durant is the same now, but none of them has shown Durant's growth.

This is normal. They are all ordinary people. Although Durant is an ordinary person compared with other super rookies, no matter how ordinary he is, he still has the potential to be a top-20 pick. And the rest of them are either parallel imports or late in the first round. Or a second-round undrafted rookie.

To put it simply, they are O'Neal's grandmothers, and Durant is at least O'Neal's mother, who is slightly stronger than them.

Amid the envy of his teammates, Durant came to Ye Si and Nelson with excitement and joy.

After Nelson and Yes said something to Durant, these Sonics players who looked at Durant enviously now had surprised expressions on their faces.

Because after Nelson and Yes said something to Durant, Durant looked like he was blinded!

After Yeas and Nelson left, Durant was still there.

Seeing Durant like this, the SuperSonics players looked at each other and quickly walked up.

"Kd, yes, did Mr. Nelson say anything to you?"

Seeing Durant like this, to be fair, they are really worried now, not only worried about Durant, but also worried about themselves.

Because the transfer deadline is coming soon!

If Durant was traded, how could they survive!

No one in the Sonics wants to leave the Sonics right now!

Therefore, even Rondo is looking at Durant with a worried look.

"Yes and Mr. Nelson said... I, I can hold the ball more in the game, attack more actively, and be more open on the offensive end..."

After Durant finished speaking in a daze, it was now the turn of the surrounding Sonics players to be confused.

Durant, who averages more than 30 shots per game, is not open enough on the offensive end? !

Seeing how confused his teammates are now, Durant really wants to say, but there is one thing he hasn't said yet, that is, yes, he actually hopes that he can hold the ball more and hit the basket, and don't be afraid of making mistakes!

yes is the person who hates mistakes the most. Even yes himself is not allowed to make mistakes in the game.

And what about him?

He actually became the only SuperSonics player with "unlimited fire rights," "unlimited ball rights," and "unlimited mistakes rights"!

He originally thought that yes would treat him as Pippen and he would be very happy.

However, yes actually regarded him as Jordan!

What kind of trust is this!

Thinking of this, Durant let out a long breath.

"Even if I am the real Jordan, I am still the Jordan who assists yes!"

After the NBA All-Star Weekend, the second half of the game kicked off on February 19.

The Seattle SuperSonics will host the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Memphis Grizzlies' current record is 39 wins and 13 losses, which is actually not that far away from the SuperSonics' 43 wins and 8 losses.

The difference is only 4 and a half games.

After the Sonics were outplayed by the Jazz, theoretically the Grizzlies had a chance to overwhelm the Sonics.

Therefore, regardless of the SuperSonics' current record, which is ranked third in the Western Conference, in fact, after the regular season, the SuperSonics' record may be beaten to seventh in the Western Conference!

The Seattle SuperSonics' current record is 43 wins and 8 losses. They can only guarantee that they will enter the playoffs after the regular season, but cannot guarantee that they will enter the top six.

This is terrifying in the history of the NBA.

From here, we can also see how brutal the West is this year.

This game between the Seattle SuperSonics and the Grizzlies at home is the last game of the night.

Before the game against the Grizzlies, Yeez and the SuperSonics also watched the games of his three competitors, the Spurs, Nuggets, and Lakers.

In the sprint time of more than a month in the future, the Seattle SuperSonics will have a lot of time to pay attention to the games of other competitors like now.

Of course, other competitors will also pay attention to them.

When Sonics players watch these rivals play, they expect them to fall behind.

When these same teams look forward to the Sonics playing, they also look forward to the Sonics failing.

In tonight's game, whether it was the Lakers, Nuggets or Spurs, they all defeated their respective opponents.

The Spurs were the first team to play after the NBA restarted today. Their opponent was the Eastern Conference underdog Bobcats. In this game, the Spurs easily defeated the Bobcats 95-65. The Bobcats were defended by the Spurs led by Duncan and Bowen throughout the game. It’s difficult to even score in the system.

The Bobcats' shooting percentage in the entire game was only 25%!

After watching this game, Ye Si could clearly feel the shock and admiration in his teammates' eyes when they looked at him.

Being able to defeat a team like Bowen on your own is absolutely incredible!

The more terrifying the defense of Bowen and the Spurs is, the more it reflects the greatness of yes.

At the same time, the more terrifying yes's offense is, the more it reflects Bowen's greatness.

yes and Bowen, these two are truly legendary opponents fighting like gods!

Yes and Bowen are indeed the greatest outside opponents in history, surpassing Jordan and Payton!

Regarding the looks in his teammates' eyes, Ye Si didn't show anything. He could only say that after Bowen learned how to play in the dream game, Bowen's defense of not losing his position and his dominance in the face of those who could not grasp his weaknesses were It's really strong. In this game, the three Bobcats guarded by Bowen shot 5 of 20 from the outside.

After the Spurs defeated the Bobcats, the next game was the Lakers and Hawks. The Lakers also won at home with a score of 122 to 93.

The next game between the Nuggets and Celtics is the game that the Sonics are most looking forward to. Unlike the Spurs and Lakers, the Nuggets are the most likely to overturn tonight.

But the final result disappointed the Sonics.

The Nuggets defeated the Celtics 124-118 at home.

"Anthony is so cruel in this game!"

"No, it's not cruel, it's crazy!"

After watching this game, the Sonics players looked at Anthony on TV with their mouths agape.

Even Ye Si was quite surprised.

Especially when watching the comparison of free throws between the two teams on TV, 49 to 28!

The Nuggets got a terrifying 49 free throws in this game!

Among them, Anthony's number of free throws in this game was 25!

What is the concept of 25 free throws in a single game?

In NBA history, the player with the most free throws in a single game is O'Neal with 31, followed by Chamberlain with 28.

Anthony's 25 free throws in a single game are the most free throws made by a player from outside in a single game in NBA history!

Yes knows Anthony very well.

After all, Anthony has been his competitor since childhood. Anthony relied on his own efforts to defeat the Garfield Five who were still immature at the time.

Ye Si has an almost deep understanding of Anthony's style of play and Anthony's characteristics.

Whether in high school, college or in the NBA, Anthony has never played like this in any game!

Fans who know the NBA and Anthony know very well that Anthony's characteristics in the game are triple threats, pull-ups, or some cool breakthroughs.

Anthony's physical fitness is quite outstanding. In his rookie season, Anthony took 8.1 shots at the basket, while James's number was only 5.9.

A rookie player can average more than 8 shots per game at the basket, which is quite terrifying. What's more, he has a 54% shooting rate.

But in the following season, James took more and more shots at the basket and became more and more aggressive.

Anthony's shots at the basket are showing a declining trend.

It wasn't until last season, after Yees entered the NBA and was stimulated by Yees, that Anthony stopped this downward trend. The number of shots under the basket returned to its peak, reaching 9.4 times, with a shooting percentage of 65%. At the same time, Anthony also stopped the downward trend. Had the best season of his career.

For James and many inside players, the number of shots under the basket does not mean that much, but for an offensive kaleidoscope player like Anthony, the number of shots under the basket means a lot.

Offensive Kaleidoscope players have a lot of offensive methods.

The more attacks you have, the more options you have.

The high-spirited and explosive offensive kaleidoscope will choose more high-spirited and explosive offensive methods.

Kaleidoscope, who has a Buddhist style of play, will relatively choose a lazier offensive method compared to the Buddhist style.

Anyway, I know everything and am not bad at anything. Why am I so tired and working so hard? It is better to be happy and play basketball happily.

Anthony is the second type.

No one may believe it, but Anthony has been in the NBA for 5 seasons. Maybe his hardest work was in his first season.

Anthony's physical talent is very outstanding. He has a strong body and secondary jumping speed that are very rare for outside players. In addition, his offensive methods are extremely rich.

If he moves more under the basket instead of doing more cool pull-ups from the outside, his impact and threat to the game will be very great.

Just like this game with the Celtics.

When Garnett's center was restrained by Nene and Camby, the Celtics couldn't find any point to deal with Anthony in the paint.

In this game, Anthony almost got everything he asked for!

When Anthony's inside threat increases, his outside threat will also increase, and his ability to create opportunities for teammates will also increase. Even if his passing is not good, he still has Billups beside him!

This directly led to the fact that in this game, the Celtics, who ranked first in the Eastern Conference, were almost beaten by the Nuggets in Denver!

The point difference between the two teams doesn't seem to be very big, that's because the substitutes led by Jr. Smith are so tough!

41 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 turnovers and 5 fouls...

This is Anthony's data for this game.

What Yeas values ​​most is not Anthony's scoring, but his other statistics.

12 rebounds included 7 offensive rebounds, and 4 of the 5 fouls were offensive fouls when the basket was in position.

"Is this the latest mythical beast, the desperate melon?"

Very strong indeed!

The Nuggets who worked hard to bring the Nuggets gave Ye Si and the SuperSonics players a big shock.

And that's not the biggest shock.

The biggest shock today is that after the Warriors defeated the Jazz 129-105 in an away game, the Jazz head coach announced his resignation during an on-site interview.

"My time is up and it's time to leave."

What kind of desolate and lonely figure is that?

Ye Si saw despair...

True despair...