NBA: Start with 2 billion, buy the Knicks

Chapter 258: Harden’s five moves make him invincible! Will James join if he can’t beat him?

"I've read it almost 300 times."

"As expected of you!"

Jiang Chao and Harden shook hands and smiled. Drawing fouls is also an ability, and it can also be said to be a way to protect oneself.

Jiang Chao has long said to Harden that as long as you don't think about drawing fouls from the beginning, it is not considered opportunistic. Your ability to draw fouls can only make your opponents more wary of you, which can make your shots smoother.

It is also an ability to prevent opponents from coming up to fight.

In fact, it was Kobe's way of drawing fouls, and he was aiming for the basket to reasonably create a 21-point opportunity.

For professional players, it may be just a slight forward lean and a raised hand.

Moreover, the ability to draw fouls is Harden's special skill. Whether it is a breakthrough or a three-pointer, he is like a magnet and always has a way to make the opponent's hands touch him and cause a foul.

It is impossible for Jiang Chao to kill Harden's ability. His iron arm will still come in handy.

There is no need for Jiang Chao to teach you this. Read the referee manual thoroughly, understand the circumstances under which the referee will call a foul, and use the rules to reasonably create opportunities for fouls and free throws. This ability will still make the opponent very disgusted if it happens from time to time.

For example, Wade, who is fierce on defense and likes to jump and block shots, if we encounter him next season, we will have to let him experience the feeling of not daring to move after five fouls.

But now seeing Harden looking so excited, Jiang Chao feels a little regretful...

You must know that this move is the biggest double-edged sword. Later, Harden kept using it and the black fans kept scolding it.

Then if others dare to say that Harden should practice free throws at that time, Harden will definitely feel that they are ridiculing him, and he may even scold him directly.

If someone in future generations dares to say such things to Brother Deng, Brother Deng may immediately fall out.

"There are four more moves!" The first move was passed by the boss. Harden wanted to do something useful, but the first move was just a free throw. He practiced it every day.

"Here we come, step back, blah blah blah!" Jiang Chao immediately launched his killer move.

"What? Didn't Curry teach this before?"

"His is a beggar's version of the retreat step that is only suitable for him. He only takes one step back. Yours is the deluxe and enhanced version of the package, which is even better!"

"Okay, come on!"

Harden has no doubts about Jiang Chao's words because the boss is so capable of teaching students according to their aptitude.

"Come and watch my demonstration."

Harden's step back is Harden's unique skill.

Although the step-back shooting technique has existed on the basketball court for a long time, Harden is the only one who has brought this technique to its peak level.

After Jiang Chao recalled a wave of memories, he first introduced Harden:

"Actually, the goal of a step-back shot and a fadeaway shot is the same.

This is all to make room for the shot and prevent the opponent from using skills to interfere with the shot.

But in comparison, fadeaway shooting requires athletes to have higher physical fitness requirements, while stepback shooting requires athletes to better grasp the rhythm of dribbling.

In fact, this is completely different from Harden's current spring man style of play. Now Harden doesn't use the suspended ball to step back at all. Instead, he uses Curry's crotch pull-back step to shoot more jumpers, and the effect of the step back is average.

, most of them use the absolute height of the jump shot to complete the shot.

So what Jiang Chao taught this time was really refreshing to Harden.

Because it’s Rocket Den’s killer move.

Harden was a well-known floor-playing player in the Rockets at the time.

There is no need to praise him too much for his excellent dribbling rhythm and defender's excellent offensive reading ability. It is difficult for players guarding Harden to judge which direction Harden will attack.

The excellent rhythm makes Harden's movements slow, but the defender has no time to react in a short period of time.

Harden's historic ability to draw fouls also helps his step-back skills.

After all, Harden's steps back are basically used to shoot three-pointers. It is very easy for defenders to risk blocking shots and Harden to get to the free throw line and easily score three-pointers.

Therefore, Harden's defense will basically not block shots and will only be interfered to a certain extent. This is the most unsolvable part of Harden's defense.

In fact, in his previous life, Thunderbolt was famous in the league for his excellent "European Step".

However, if such an offensive method is often used, it is easy for the defender to predict the route, causing the attack to fail.

What's more, it consumes a lot of physical energy and may even lead to injury.

So in order to avoid this problem, Harden began to use the step-back technique after taking a historic elbow and gaining weight in the Rockets.

Moreover, his step back is in compliance with the rules but completely different from other players. For a while, it even caused the whole league to learn to make mistakes.

Compared with Harden's current step back, the previous step back can only be regarded as a traditional step back.

At his peak, Harden has interpreted taking a step back into various modes.

In addition to the traditional mode, he also has a lateral retreat mode and a double step-back mode.

This is what Jiang Chao wants to teach Harden!

Get Harden’s hardest move!

"Watch it!"

"ok!"

Harden winked at George's agent, and the agent quickly came over with a camera and helped Harden film it.

Boss Jiang Chao’s personal training course is something you can’t teach twice.

Brother Chao said that you can take photos as you like. Anyway, these moves can only be played well by the superstar himself. He just drafted them himself. The players will find the feeling after practicing by themselves. After all, they are their own moves. He just

Just helping to unblock the bottleneck.

"Come!"

Jiang Chao held the ball and asked Harden to defend in actual combat, and then started the action process under Harden's defense:

Lower your center of gravity, dribble back and forth at least three times, and then immediately start trying to get rid of the defender.

Once the breakthrough is successful, it will be much easier to score. But in most cases it is difficult to directly use speed to get rid of the defender in front. Just like Jiang Chao is facing Harden now, it is impossible to get past Deng with speed.

And even if there is a taller player under the basket to defend for the second time, the peak Deng brother usually retreats.

"Keep an eye on it."

When Harden dribbles past and advances to the nearest defender, contact has usually occurred.

His other hand will be attached to the defender's waist.

He took advantage of the situation, using his supporting foot and this hand as a support point, and took a step or two back diagonally.

Generally, if the defender's waist fulcrum is slightly touched, he will lose his center of gravity and give up defense.

If he's not careful, he may even be knocked down or knocked out of his stride.

After this time and time again, Harden has formed a distance of at least two meters from the defender. Even an elite defender needs at least one second to return to the defensive state, and this second is enough for Harden to adjust his posture and aim at the basket.

, the time of projection.

Jiang Chao easily made a move, and a secret force made Harden give up the defense directly!

“Wow??”

Harden was dumbfounded, is this okay??

"It's not over yet, let's see how I combine it with the first foul."

Normally, if the defense has a chance to make up for it, it is most likely a "trap" designed by Harden.

Because Harden's step back often ends at the edge of the three-point line, this footing must be intentional.

When some defenders take advantage of Harden's adjusted time to make up for the defense, Harden usually takes the initiative to cater to the defenders and waits for an opportunity to start a three-point shot, thereby causing a three-point defensive foul.

"However, I don't recommend you to use this more. It will also affect the rhythm of your team. It is equivalent to the other 8 people on the field watching you 1v1, and then going to the free throw line. There is no rhythm."

"Understand!"

"To summarize."

"You improved and upgraded the step back!"

Harden recalled a while while holding the ball.

The first way Jiang Chao improved was to simplify the fake action of breaking through and suddenly retreat directly after dribbling, which is also called a direct retreat step in offensive mode.

The second way to improve is to take two steps back after attacking the breakthrough.

Although Harden's movements were not very fast when he did it by himself, his body was slightly tilted back when he stepped back. Most people take off vertically. In addition, after taking two steps back, it is impossible to cover him unless you step forward.

If Harden is touched, there is only one result, which is a foul.

Harden was asked to make three free throws, so under normal circumstances, he would not dare to lean on Harden easily.

The third way to improve is that the foot movement is not limited to retreating, but tends to move sideways, making it difficult for the opponent to freely control the direction.

"Boss, have you changed it too much?"

Jiang Chao rolled his eyes at him and thought, didn't you create this yourself? His answer was very simple. It was what Harden himself said in an interview:

"The reason there are so many different variations is to accommodate different defenders and scoring situations on the court."

It’s not without reason that Harden continues to lead the Rockets in scoring.

If you are willing to learn and research, you will naturally get good rewards.

In those years, it was his weird stepback that led to a lot more stepbacks on the wild court. Many bastards had their ankles removed. At one point, he imitated Allen Iverson and changed direction, and Kobe Bryant leaned back.

Curry's 3-pointer was amazing.

At that time, Jiang Chao, like many secret denizens, specialized in using the "Seven Rules" to get ahead of others:

Big data shows that when Harden chooses to pass or step back, he usually moves forward with the rhythm of 7 times of dribbling under the crotch. After 7 times, he must make a move...

"I see, let me try. If you take two steps back faster, the referee won't even be able to tell if it's a small step."

"As expected of you, that's the theory. As long as you don't brag, you can do it."

Jiang Chao couldn't help but give him a thumbs up. He is indeed a top student in the basketball world. Brother Deng can draw inferences from one example.

In later generations, it is true that many of his top ten shots were taken 18 steps back by Tianlong, but the referee on the court felt that it was smooth and did not call it. And the most outrageous thing is that stars such as Curry and Embiid did the same thing on the court.

All the actions were blown away.

The originator is the originator of Guan Gong's show of swordsmanship, and the originator is the one who can avoid being blown away!

Jiang Chao gave Harden a final demonstration and summary.

This step back seems very slow, mainly because Harden has enough space to shoot and the defender has given him enough time, so it seems that there is no need to do it so fast.

However, what makes defenders unable to block the basketball is not the speed, but the gap in space.

Jiang Chao suggested that Harden choose to take a step back near the three-point line. The only purpose is to make defenders fear "three-point fouls."

All technical movements in basketball complement each other. The step-back is indeed a very clever technique, but it does not mean that this technique is invincible. Everything depends on the opponent's defense.

"Okay, I will definitely practice this trick!! It feels very useful!"

"Nonsense! Can what I teach be useless?"

After getting used to stepping back, Rockets not only was not injured, but also received full honors.

Although many fans don't like his playing style, from a professional perspective, he is definitely a wizard with a very good basketball IQ.

On the opposite side, Paul George was actually distracted while practicing, because Jiang Chao has also taught Harden for too long. He is worthy of being the Knicks' current starting shooting guard. The level of training is different.

This gave George the illusion that if he joined the Knicks, would Jiang Chao have more to teach him?

Isn’t this expected to be high?

To be honest, he can't do this step back because he is not a player who leans back.

Although the skill of step-back shooting has existed on the basketball court for a long time, George has never seen this kind of skill taught by Jiang Chao.

The step-back shot is actually the same as the fade-away shot, which is to use skills to free up shooting space for yourself and prevent the opponent from interfering with the shot.

But in comparison, fadeaway shooting requires higher physical fitness of athletes, while stepback shooting requires athletes to better grasp the rhythm of dribbling and shooting.

And George is also a master of ball control. He discovered that Jiang Chao actually asked Harden to dribble a series of dribbles to find rhythm before taking a step back. This is very rare. Does this mean floor flow?

You must know that Kobe Bryant, Jr. Smith, and others who are doing step backs all directly hit the ball and then step back, including Harden, who used the same method in last season's game. There is no such thing.

"How about I practice too?"

"Forget it, I'll practice pulling my crotch back."

George asked himself and answered, let’s meet Jiang Chao’s request first and then talk about it...

…

Here Harden repeated the practice several times to get a feel for it, and Jiang Chao also patiently acted as his defender.

As long as Harden is proficient in this, he can easily beat everyone on the other side and complete the three-point shot without assists. The opponent can only bet on Harden's step-back shooting percentage.

This move was later studied and imitated by many NBA players.

For example, Doncic's step-back three-pointer was already well practiced before Jiang Chao crossed over.

"The third move is the European step."

After Harden basically made no mistakes, Jiang Chao started teaching the next movement, which is the European step that Harden has used a lot now.

This is Harden's killer move when he breaks through. His idol is Kobe, but because he is left-handed, he uses the left-handed Argentine God of War Rabbit to break through. Manu's snake step is no longer as spiritual as it is, but the European step is still the same.

Very good.

"This move is used in conjunction with the retreat step."

Before Harden steps back, he always uses a series of ball possessions to find his rhythm.

It is very difficult to choose players to defend him. In addition to Harden's step-back three-pointer, he also needs to guard against Harden's European step.

At this time, the defender needs to lower his center of gravity. When Harden suddenly steps back, his reaction will naturally be a little slower. Therefore, players guarding Harden's three-pointer can usually only watch as Harden completes the shot.

Those who defended themselves in the paint to prevent Harden from breaking through could only watch as Harden slipped under his armpits.

"I have been studying this, watching Ginobili's route, and developing my own unique European step."

"Okay, then I won't teach you much about this. Let Messina call Manu to teach you personally when you have time."

"Okay! The Spurs just happened to be out. I'll go train with Manu in a few days!"

"Okay, let's teach the fourth and fifth moves together in the end."

Jiang Chao's final teaching is complementary to the previous one, and is also the most commonly used tactic of the Rockets' strongest combination in later generations: Harden and Capela!

"Come on, come on!" Brother Deng is like a sponge, absorbing water crazily.

The fourth move: Breakthrough throwing!

"I don't use this very much. I like shooting." Harden curled his lips in disgust after hearing the throw. In the eyes of their shooting guard, the throw is a scoring technique for small point guards, because no matter how fast a small man shoots,

This is not worth the fact that they are short, and their quick throw makes them willing to use this action. Shooting guards prefer to shoot jumpers in front of big centers.

"I know, but you have to practice."

This is a stunt that Harden developed in the late Rockets. If the step-back three-pointer is a weapon to avoid outside defense, then the floater after the breakthrough is what Harden can do when facing the big man protecting the basket inside.

The most effective scoring method.

Harden's footwork is considered top-notch in the NBA, so in one-on-one situations, he can often easily break through defenders, and at this time, inside players sometimes come up to help defend.

Harden, who does not have an advantage in terms of height at this time, can frequently use floaters to cause damage.

Jiang Chao didn't demonstrate much about the previous dribbling process, but he said that if he meets a tall center, he doesn't have to think about dunking or forcing a layup to show off his youthful spirit like he did last season.

Throwing is also a good choice.

Data shows that Harden's field goal percentage in the 2016-17 season was 34.1%, which was only better than 26% of players.

By the 2017-18 season, his shooting percentage increased to 42.1%, which was already better than 64% of players. Entering the 2018-19 season, Harden's shooting percentage increased again, reaching 47.3%, which was better than 64% of players.

75% of the players.

This is the great thing about Harden. He is not naturally good at every skill, but he is willing to polish them through time and hard work and turn them into his own deadly weapons.

What Jiang Chao is doing now is to let him polish it in advance!

"OK!"

Harden was actually a little dissatisfied at this time, until Jiang Chao told him the fifth move!

The fifth move: Throw the ball and feed the cake!!!

The first four moves are all personal skills, and this move is just like the move behind George, which is technical and tactical. It requires the cooperation of your teammates, and you face the big center in the pick-and-roll or after you personally pass the opponent's perimeter.

If the big center is fast enough to pounce, you can challenge with a toss, or you can see your own inside line cut and then directly throw a high toss pass into the sky, and start the alley-oop!

This action is the most confusing for Harden to do, because his throwing and throwing movements are exactly the same. No one knows whether he is passing or throwing. At this time, the probability of the tactic being used is very high.

"I like this, I can practice it!" Harden shook his left hand and kept throwing it.

In fact, he has his own system. Because Harden is a left-handed general, the alley-oops he gives will be on the right side where the interior players like to stay. It happens that his strong side hand is given to the interior strong side hand, and the interior line will feel very comfortable.

.

Queen Kaiser was fed like this in his lifetime. Although later Trae Young also knew this tactic, he was also a right-handed general and the number of successes was much less.

"I wonder who the cake king of the Knicks will be?"

Harden: "I guess it's Ibaka, haha."

"Go ahead and come to me next season after you become an alien."

"Okay!! I'll start practicing now!"

"Hey George, come on one!"

"Get up!"

Harden rushed directly to the frontcourt and threw a pass to Paojiao. Paojiao's top jumping talent jumped into the air and hit the frame with both hands. This was Harden's pass. It was so comfortable!

George smiled and said: "Taught you a few tricks, brother?"

Harden smiled mysteriously: "If you get these five moves, you will be invincible!"

"What are you talking about! You guys practice separately!"

"Okay..." The two smooth backcourt superstars, who have never worked together before, looked at each other sympathetically, and Harden practiced hard before retreating in the first half.

"This brat."

Why does Jiang Chao let Harden train to become an alien? Because he also expects Harden next season to be as unstoppable as he was in the mvp season!

This meme comes from the always harsh Fox Sports guru Skip Bayless, who later had a famous saying when Harden scored 50 games:

"Now, James Harden is like an alien with effortless superpowers. It's really unfair for a human being to try to guard against him. He can play with them in any way he wants, unstoppable."

…

Jiang Chao, who has been teaching here for two hours, changed into a T-shirt and came to the office to make a cup of coffee and take a rest.

The latest news came from the TV. The Heat were trailing the Cavaliers 1-3, but the Cavaliers still won by 23 points tonight.

While Jiang Chao was drinking coffee, Su Qun, the head of the International Pioneer Newspaper, called and wanted Jiang Chao to give a speech about the Heat's big deficit and publish it tomorrow.

Jiang Chao was still very generous at this time:

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, we can't win the championship after passing it? At least we can enter the finals."

This is half true and half false, and there is not much irony in it. After all, he does not want to see the three giants get together next year.

If they are really united, he doesn't necessarily say that the Knicks can really beat a team with three peak All-Stars.

He really hopes that the Heat beat the Cavaliers in the semifinals. In that case, James, a businessman, shouldn't have the reputation of joining only if he can't beat him, right?

It's a pity that the Heat failed to live up to expectations. It seems that the Heat's teaming up next year is an inevitable rhythm in history...

Then Jiang Chao really needs to make preparations early.

"Speaking of which, please send someone to draw lots soon. If I get the top pick, how much safer will it be for me?"

Jiang Chao made a phone call to D'Antoni while drinking coffee and cigars.

"What??? Big Bird refused my request?"

"Yes, he said he did it himself and only believed in himself."

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

Unknowingly, it’s already reached 6,000 words. Can it be counted as an extra update? 12-1, I still owe 11 updates~