Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

There was still no miracle in the game, but the defeated Pacers were not without gains.

Pacers fans looked at Qi Tian walking back to the locker room with a bitter look on his face, but their hearts were full of joy.

A first-year rookie scored 15 points in the fourth quarter with a very high shooting rate, three-pointers, layups and fouls. He was proficient in everything.

Such explosive scoring power definitely exceeded all fans' expectations.

This is already the team's only consolation after losing by a huge score.

"Hey, it looks like we have found another treasure?"

"As I said, our team has huge potential, but we have an inexperienced coach, so Qi Tiantian didn't show it."

A fan's shouting immediately triggered a counterattack from the people next to him:

"What, you want a second-round pick to start over George Granger?"

"Of course that's impossible, but when he comes on as a substitute, give him more of the ball!"

The enthusiastic fan replied weakly.

"It's not impossible..."

On the other side, Granger and others were also happy for Qi Tian, ​​but they had to face the Eagles back-to-back the next day, so after a short break, they got on the plane back to Indiana.

The coaching team is still making intense preparations on the plane.

They have become accustomed to the tight schedule and heavy tasks.

Danbok said happily:

"Although we played poorly today, we did not gain anything."

The harvest he was talking about was naturally equal to the sky.

Vogel also nodded with satisfaction.

If Qi Tian has entered the team's rotation with his strength before and has met the team's expectations for his second-round pick, then now Vogel needs to seriously consider whether Qi Tian can be regarded as the future of the team.

.

The team's performance is indeed poor, but this can be adjusted.

Today he was able to score 18 points in the fourth quarter. With some training, can he average 18 points per game in the next one to two seasons?

You must know that this season, there are less than 10 players averaging more than 20 points per game. Even if the score is relaxed to 18 points, there are still no more than 20 players.

If Dan Bok, who is in charge of the team's defense, is an idealist, then Jim Byrne, who is in charge of the team's offense, is a standard realist. He immediately poured cold water on him:

"Don't be too idealistic. Let's not talk about the team's rotation problem. After all, Qi is only a second-round pick. It's hard to say how much talent he has that can be tapped."

Danbok couldn't tolerate him contradicting him, so he said:

"Bern, I know your character, but even you can't deny that Qi Tian's performance in today's game alone is enough to give us a lot of resources, right?"

This was true, and Jim Byrne finally nodded in agreement.

But Vogel was reminded by Jim Byrne's words.

Rotation? Yes, the problem is rotation!

The Pacers' current outside resources are indeed overflowing seriously:

Collison is a qualified point guard, but the team-first style of play is not very suitable for the current Pacers;

Trading a first-round pick to acquire George Hill as Collison's substitute was a preparation made by team president Bird.

But the reason why George Hill left the Spurs was because he wanted to be a starter. If you trade him now and let him continue to play on the bench, Hill himself may not be willing.

It is almost an open secret of the team to choose one of Collison and George Hill.

The overlapping positions of George and Granger have made the Pacers very entangled, so much so that they asked George to switch to shooting guard. Now that Qitian has appeared again, how will the rotation be arranged then?

Although Price did not perform well as a backup point guard, no one can say that if he is given time, he will definitely not play well. The same goes for Stephenson and Deng Tai Jones...

A bold idea suddenly came to Vogel's mind:

Maybe you can mention it to the president and pair up two potential rookies Collison and Qi Tian to trade for an available insider?

The idea was quickly rejected by Vogel himself.

Collison and Qi Tian are both in their rookie contracts, and their salary quotas are not large. Although the Pacers still have enough room under the salary cap to trade for a player with a salary of close to 8 million, but inside players are so scarce now.

, where to trade a potential insider and let him come to the Pacers to play as a substitute?

You know, Hibbert is also waiting for a big contract.

"We still have to cast a wide net and find a suitable character to build a team around Granger."

Now Vogel has determined the next direction of the team's development, but before that...

"The next step is to consciously shift the offensive responsibility towards Qi Tian and try to use his abilities as much as possible."

Hill has proven himself in the playoffs. Even if his data is reduced a little, no one will underestimate him.

Vogel concluded, then added,

“But don’t go all out!”

He can count on these young people to give him a bigger surprise in the playoffs!

"clear!"

The assistant teachers said in unison.

Brian Shaw is particularly happy. The training of rookies is very effective, which at least proves that his work has not been in vain.

Today's Pacers game started so early that they returned to Indiana at 5 p.m.

"Go back and rest. We will meet at Bankers Life Arena at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning."

Considering that tomorrow is the second game of back-to-back games, Vogel asked the players to go home and rest.

George grabbed Qi Tian who was about to go back and hugged his neck.

"Seven, do you have anything going on next?"

"Go back and rest."

Qi Tian had become accustomed to George's shoulder-to-back approach, so he also put his hand on the other person's shoulder and said,

"What, you're not going to the nightclub with Lance?"

"Hey, of course I'm going!"

When George mentioned the nightclub, his eyes lit up. He looked at Qi Tian and said,

"But, this time, I plan to take you with me!"

"You performed so well today. As the eldest brother, I have to take you to relax!"

Qi Tian has not been very gregarious since he came to the team, mainly because he remembered his father's warning that "sex is like a steel knife for scraping bones", so apart from dinner parties and various community activities, he did not go to nightclubs.

"Forget it, I..."

Just as Qi Tian was about to refuse, he was interrupted by George:

"Hey, don't worry, I'm treating you!"

Unlike Qi Tian's slightly shabby rookie contract of RMB 540,000, as a first-round pick, George's salary in the first year reached RMB 2 million.

Seeing that Qi Tian still wanted to refuse, George continued to persuade him:

"You don't have to do anything else, just go and have fun with us, no one will force you!"

"How about you watch us drink?!"

If he refused again, it would appear that Qi Tian was too old-fashioned. He thought for a moment and nodded.

"That's it, let's go back and sleep for a while, then we'll meet at eight o'clock in the evening!"

George made an appointment with him, turned around and got into his car.

Before the main meal, he had to have an appetizer.