I’m Really Playing Basketball

As a rookie on the edge of the lottery, Devin Booker was selected by the Warriors with the eighth pick, which was definitely a huge surprise for him.

In particular, the Golden State Warriors were the NBA champions last season. They need a city, a city, results, and a boss. For a rookie, this is definitely the perfect place to go.

Therefore, after Devin Booker was selected by the Warriors, Devin Booker, who shook hands with David Stern on the stage, could definitely be said to be smiling from ear to ear.

After the draft, Devin Booker excitedly told the people around him: "I'm going to play with God, and I'm going to play with Kobe!"

As a senior fan of Xiao and Comey, for Devin Booker, this day is definitely his happiest day.

On the other side, UCLA guard Norman Powell, who was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the 29th overall pick in the first round, was equally excited at this time.

But unlike Devin Booker, who was selected by the Warriors, it was a surprise, but Norman Powell was more excited.

As the star of UCLA, he is a player that Jerry West has long inspected. After all, as a California star, as a local leader of California and a California team, how could he ignore it.

What's more, the Warriors also have a UCLA senior, Matt Barnes, so Norman Powell already knew that he would be selected by the Warriors.

However, even though I knew that I would be selected by the Warriors for a long time, it is still incredible that I was actually selected, and it was still a first-round selection.

Norman Powell showed his very good shooting skills when he was in the NCAA. In addition, his defense in college was also outstanding, coupled with his good athletic ability, he is a player that Jerry West is very optimistic about. .

His height is 1.94 meters, his wingspan is 2.1 meters, he can jump 83 centimeters on the spot, and 103 centimeters on approach. Whether it is static talent or dynamic talent, he is very good.

And his scouting report also shows that he has extremely strong athletic ability, strong explosive power, and a strong body. He is like a steam train on the court. On the offensive end, he is very aggressive and his defense is also extremely good. Aggressive, as an opponent, he has almost no shortcomings and is very difficult to deal with.

For such an excellent rookie, how could Jerry West be so sure that he would fall so far behind?

Of course, this is because, as a shooting guard, his height is only 1.94 meters, which is too short, and as a combo guard, his ball control and vision passing are not enough.

Just like those 2.03-meter power forwards who are embarrassed to be able to do three or four, a 1.94-meter shooting guard like Powell is also a little embarrassed.

So, historically Powell even fell to the second round...

In this time and space, Powell's draft expectations are not high.

However, these shortcomings of his are not considered shortcomings for the Warriors. Isn't it just that he is a little short, and isn't it just that he is a little worse at controlling the ball? What does this have to do with it.

What Chen Xiao is best at is cultivating players' ball-handling and defensive abilities. With a wingspan of 2.10 meters, if this was placed at the point guard position, he would be like a smaller Luo Ge.

Luo Ge is 1.96 meters and has a wingspan of 2.17 meters. He is simply a nightmare for defenders in the entire league.

Powell has the potential to be a player like Rogo.

Although his static talent is worse than Luo's, and his golf IQ is definitely not as good as Luo's, his athletic talent is much better than Luo's.

The future is worth looking forward to.

In this year's draft, the Warriors selected two guard rookies, Devin Booker and Norman Powell.

The Warriors didn't use the Warriors' second-round pick, but sold it.

After the draft ended, the Warriors' various operations continued.

The most important thing for the Warriors this offseason is to renew Klay's contract. Klay's contract with the Warriors is simple. Klay will definitely renew with a maximum salary, and the Warriors are also willing to extend Clay with a maximum salary.

In the end, the Warriors and Klay officially announced a five-year, 146 million maximum salary contract on July 1st.

Among the entire 11th draft class, there are only three players with maximum salary extensions. One is Kyrie Irving of the Nets, and the other two are Klay and Leonard.

Considering their draft picks and Irving's genius status in the American basketball world, Leonard and Klay are definitely quite honored and proud of this wave.

Except for Leonard and Klay, other rookies in the 2011 class, such as Kanter and Kemba Walker, do not have maximum salaries.

To be honest, looking at the current situation, the only three stars with superstar potential in the entire 11th class are Irving, Leonard and Klay.

Not to mention Klay’s Buddha’s arrival in the playoffs, Irving has been a popular talent in American basketball since he was a child, and Leonard, when he played against the Warriors in the playoffs, he fell in love and killed each other in a series. , is also a classic, Leonard is definitely a player with superstar ability.

Therefore, if the Spurs are unwilling to give Leonard a maximum salary, I am afraid there will be a bunch of teams rushing to get it. After all, Ron Howard Jr. is there.

Moreover, after Duncan and Mai Zi announced their retirement, the Spurs team is already preparing to build a team with Luo Ge and Leonard as the core. In the future, the team will also be handed over from Luo Ge's hands to Leonard's hands. .

The characters of Duncan, Luo Ge, and Leonard are almost carved out of the same mold, so many people say that Duncan was the Spurs for the past 20 years, Luo Ge was the Spurs for the current 20 years, and Leonard is the Spurs for the past 20 years. It's the next twenty years of the Spurs.

There is a sense of Buddha in the past, Buddha in the present, and Buddha in the future.

Well, they are all stone Buddhas, so there is nothing wrong with them.

With Clay's contract extension, two rookie players selected by the Warriors this year, Devin Booker and Norman Powell, also signed four-year rookie contracts with the team.

At the same time, two of the Warriors' fringe players, Bazemore and Charles Jenkins, left the team for free.

Ibaka, Bazemore, and Jenkins left.

Curry Jr., Devin Booker, Norman Powell are coming.

The Warriors' team lineup continues to be maintained at 15 people.

However, there will be some slight changes to the team's structure.

Among these fifteen players, Chen Xiao is still the only well-deserved leader.

Jokic, thick eyebrows, Beal and Clay are the core players of the team.

Lopez, Dragic, Curry, Gobert, and Livingston will be important rotation players for the team.

The 36-year-old veteran Barnes was demoted to substitute players like Novak, Ding Yanyuhang and Devin Booker.

Rookie Powell became the team's water cooler keeper.

In fact, next season, the roles of Novak and Matt Barnes in the team will also undergo some changes.

These two veterans won't see a lot of time next season.

The two's time may be used by the Warriors to focus on developing new stars like Ding Yanyuhang, Devin Booker and Powell.

In short, for the Warriors, as long as Chen Xiaohe's four cores and five rotations are there, then the Warriors' deconstruction will not change.

The key now is whether any of the Warriors' five major rotations will choose the same path as Ibaka.

In fact, Jerry West's concerns are not unreasonable, because Dragic and Livingston did submit trade applications to the team after the free market opened.

This is actually not what Jerry West expected, because their contracts expire next season, and both of them want to use their performance and data next season to sign a generous contract.

For example, Dragic hopes to go to a team that can only play the main and core role, put up good statistics, and get a big contract. If he stays with the Warriors as a substitute this season, then his next contract will probably be At most, it is a contract that is better than the full mid-level salary. This is definitely not Dragic's pursuit.

The same is true for Livingston. As a former little magician and genius, he has always been ambitious.

After the Warriors won the championship and are now highly sought after, he hopes to regain his former glory, and he certainly does not want to waste his time with the Warriors to earn a minimum salary.

This is normal. Therefore, after listening to Chen Xiao's opinions, Jerry West followed Ibaka's example when it came to their pursuit.

It is up to the two of them to decide which team they want to go to.

In the end, Nash Dragic Jr. chose to return to the Raptors, and the Warriors and Raptors completed the deal. The Raptors used the team's backup veteran insider Chuck Hayes and two first-round draft picks in 2016 and 2018 as bargaining chips. The Raptors traded for Dragic.

After the Raptors acquired Dragic, they immediately announced that they had signed a five-year, 80 million contract with Dragic.

It can be seen that Nash appreciates his apprentice very much. He does not need Dragic to perform for a season and directly gives him a big contract. Maybe his performance next season will be worth more than this contract, and maybe he will lose more, but this It was the trust in Dragic, Dragic was still very moved.

By the way, the 33-year-old veteran Chuck Hayes the Raptors acquired in exchange is already on the verge of retirement, and his contract will expire next year.

As for Livingston, he chose to go to the Suns. The Suns used their 2016 lottery-protected first-round pick to trade Livingston away.

At this point, only Lopez, Gobert and Curry are left among the Warriors' five important rotation players.

And this also means that the Warriors' other substitute players or the water cooler keeper Powell will have more opportunities.

As the defending champion, and the defending champion who won the finals strongly, the Warriors must be very attractive.

Now there is a vacant spot. Although they cannot offer a big contract, they can indeed add a veteran for the championship.

But whether it was Chen Xiao's former teammates Lu Wei or Jordan Hill who were willing to take the initiative to vote, Jerry West refused.

This is not because they are not strong enough, but mainly because they do not destroy the team's chemical reaction.

Let's put it this way, there are a lot of young people in the Warriors, and young people do need teachers to guide them, but is there a better teacher in the world than Chen Xiao?

In addition to Chen Xiao, Novak, Barnes and even Lopez are all people who can be teachers for young people.

The Warriors have no shortage of veterans.

Moreover, the 14 players currently owned by the Warriors basically cover both inside and outside. It seems that there is indeed no shortage of players.

It can't be said that the Warriors are missing a Kobe, a Rose, a Durant, and Wade, but even Lou Williams and Jordan Hill don't seem to be enough.

For the current Warriors, although several important players such as Ibaka, Livingston and Dragic have left.

However, the team's five starting framework has not changed.

Curry can fill the vacancy left by Dragic and Livingston. Chen Xiao is very confident in his apprentice, and Jerry West has no reason not to be confident.

As for the vacancy left by Ibaka's departure, this is indeed difficult to fill, but Jordan Hill is definitely not the right person. He is also a jumping person. One person is willing to do the dirty work for the team, and the other always likes to be in the team. On the offensive end, the shooting statistics are high, but the defense of the two is not the same at all, and the style of play is also different.

When the time comes, don't bring in a rat turd that ruins the team's atmosphere, otherwise the gain will outweigh the loss.

The decision-making power for the future of the Warriors still lies in Chen Xiao's hands. After Jerry West solicited Chen Xiao's opinion on his ideas, he also received Chen Xiao's support.

At this point, the Warriors' framework for next season has basically taken shape.

Chuck Hayes, the mascot, doesn't count.

Next season, the Warriors' lineup will consist of Chen Xiao, Big Eyebrow, Klay, Beal, Jokic, Lopez, Curry Jr., Gobert, Devin Booker, Ding Yanyuhang, Powell, Matt Barnes, Novak and other 13 players.

With 13 players who can fight, this lineup is actually not bad.

Matt Barnes and Novak just don't want to leave Chen Xiao. The current strength of these two veterans is still good, and they are completely sufficient to be a substitute.

Time passed in July, and Chen Xiao had returned to China. At this time, Chen Xiao was already practicing in full swing with players from the Chinese training team and outstanding representatives from Chen Xiao's basketball school in Chen Xiao's training camp.

Since Chen Xiao became the head coach of the Chinese team, he returns to China every offseason to train more than 100 potential young players to solidify the foundation of the Chinese men's basketball team.

This year is no exception. Moreover, the Chinese men's basketball team has the goal of the Asian Championships this year. Of course, the goal of the Chinese men's basketball team in this year's Asian Championship is to compete for the championship. After all, this year's results will determine the qualifications for the Olympic Games.

Although it was to determine the qualifications for the Olympics, Chen Xiao still defied public opinion and continued without any sign of any NBA player participating.

Instead, with a group of young people under the age of 22 from Chen Xiao Basketball School and some young players from other CBA teams and CUBA teams, they easily defeated the Philippines 100-88 in the final and won the final championship.

This year's Asian Championships in China Star City are from late September to early October. After the Asian Championships, Chen Xiao returned to the United States without stopping.

The Asian Championships ended on October 3, BJ time, and when Chen Xiao returned to the United States, it happened to be October 3, United States time.

At this time, the training camps of various NBA teams have been open for more than half a month, and even the preseason games of the new season are about to begin.

The 2015-2016 NBA season has also begun, and so has the defense of Chen Xiao and the Warriors.