One Guard

July is the most relaxing time for players, and it is also the peak period of free agency and the transfer market. Just when people were speculating on how the Celtics, who were frustrated last season, would strengthen, their moves shocked the entire league.

The Celtics officially announced that they will send Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Yiyang's old friend "Jet" Terry to acquire three future prospects in 2014, 2016 and 2018 from the Nets. A first-round pick and the expiring contracts of Gerald Wallace, Evans, Shengria and Humphries.

This huge deal involving eight players and three first-round picks represents the complete end of the Celtics' legendary giant era. And three first-round picks and a bunch of expiring contracts also mean that the Celtics have officially entered the rebuilding stage!

The Nets hope to win a championship quickly, while the Celtics have begun rebuilding purposefully and plannedly. The first step of their reconstruction plan is to clear out the veterans whose wages and abilities no longer match, and the second step is to find a head coach who can replace Doc Rivers and serve as the team's new vane.

When the Celtics announced the appointment of Brad Stevens as the 17th head coach in Celtics history for a six-year, $22 million deal, people thought Ainge was crazy. A wealthy team like the Celtics was handed over to a young man with no NBA coaching experience.

Celtic fans were so heartbroken that they even burned Celtic jerseys at the gates of North Shore Gardens in protest. When all the teams in the league are chasing big names, the Celtics are actually planning to rebuild. This is naturally difficult for Celtics fans who are used to winning to accept.

Yiyang saw the news on TV. Although he had known for a long time that Stevens would sign with the Celtics, when he actually saw that familiar figure appearing in the NBA media reception room, he still felt... Somewhat incredible.

Four years later, the three giants who were on the Bulldogs are now part of the NBA. It's just a pity that the three of them are now on their own.

"I'm afraid you and Mr. Bullard will meet often in the future." Looking at Stevens on TV who was answering reporters' questions, Wen Xue muttered to the side.

"Even if we meet, we meet as opponents. This alliance has become more and more crazy." Yiyang shook his head. He never thought that one day he and Stevens would become opponents. If they really met as opponents on the field, how would they feel in their hearts?

Although it is less than two months before the vacation starts, Yiyang is already looking forward to next season. The addition of Rudy Gobert, the recruitment of Stevens, and the mysterious lineup prepared by Carlisle... next season is really full of too many unknowns and fun.

Of course, the O'Brien Cup also attracts Yiyang all the time.

But before all this, Yiyang must rush back to China to join the Chinese national team, and then fly to the Philippines together to participate in this year's Asian Men's Basketball Championship.

For an NBA regular season MVP-level player to participate in the Asian Championships is unprecedented in the Asian Championships and is likely to be unprecedented. Because of this, this Asian Championship has received extremely high attention.

Yiyang fans are all over the world, and there is only one reason why they pay attention to the Asian Championships, to watch Yiyang play!

Just one player has brought an incredible amount of attention and traffic to the entire Asian Championships. What Yiyang has accomplished is beyond the reach of even Yao Ming back then.

The Asian Championships itself was not difficult for Yiyang. The Chinese team went all the way and no opponent could put pressure on the Chinese team.

Yiyang is not only capable of scoring, but he can also mobilize the enthusiasm of others in the team.

In this way, the Chinese team easily defeated its old rival Iran in the final with a complete victory record, and won the Asian Championship title as everyone expected. Yiyang averaged 23 points and 13 assists per game, making him a well-deserved MVP of the Asian Championships.

When Yiyang stood on the podium and raised his gold medal and the huge Asian Championship trophy, the guy only had a faint smile on his face. The Asian Championship championship is just a warm-up for Yiyang on the way to the O'Brien Cup.

Although the level of the Asian Championships is not high for Yiyang, it has played a role in allowing Yiyang to maintain his physical condition. After the Asian Championships, the time has come to August 11. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the holiday has passed.

Yiyang did not slack off and immediately contacted Brickley to start his unstoppable summer training. Last year, Yiyang took Vignali to train with him and made Brookley eat a lot of dog food. This year, Yiyang took Gobert, who had officially signed with the team, to follow him, giving Brickley a big "whale".

Initially, Brickley wanted Gobert to increase his mid-range shooting. If you can have a big man who can shoot next to Yiyang, his power is self-evident. But contrary to expectations, the French center's shooting training results were very poor, and Gobert's shooting was simply terrible. Even when practicing without anyone guarding him, the sound of iron was continuous.

After that, Brickley changed his training plan. He asked Gobert to temporarily put down the basketball, and then threw the lanky French "tower" into the strength training room.

Rather than letting this guy do some unrealistic shooting training, it would be better to build him into a real defensive tower!

The hips are a major target area for Gobert, and strengthening them takes pressure off his knees and ankles and increases his ability to fight physically in the paint. Brickley never wanted him to look like Hercules or even Dwight Howard. He doesn't want Gobert to sacrifice mobility and flexibility to increase strength. Most of the strength training consists of a series of mobile exercises using light weights and resistance bands. For example, there is a set of 15 minutes of regular key training aimed at imitating the actions that Gobert would do in the game: he would do defensive slides with resistance bands strapped to his knees, holding light dumbbells to imitate one-foot dunks and dunks. Other jumping actions, etc. The goal is always to maintain a unique body shape for basketball, not to get fit.

To put it bluntly, finding a perfect balance between flexibility and confrontation is what Brickley is racking his brains to do for Gobert.

Back then, Brickley was able to train Yiyang to become stronger. It is not difficult to transform Gobert with a better foundation now.

After changing the training plan, Gobert's progress has also become rapid. The guy is getting stronger every day, but his flexibility remains unaffected. His body is very well-balanced, not that muscular, but he won't fall over at the first touch like before. Seeing Gobert sweating in the weight room day and night, and then practicing with Yiyang afterward, Brickley felt a little incredible. In order to become stronger and to shut up those who don't think highly of him, Gobert seems willing to do anything.

"Anyone who can come with you is a fucking monster!" This is Brickley's evaluation of Yiyang and Gobert. The two of them never seem to know what it means to be tired.

Maybe this Frenchman, who was only selected with the 27th overall pick, can become a blockbuster without being favored like Yiyang back then.

These two guys have terrifying perseverance that most people don't have. Maybe another super duo will be born?

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Yiyang and Gobert are seizing the time and sparing no effort to strengthen themselves in order to strive for higher honors. Carlisle and Cuban are not idle either, but their battlefield is not in the training hall, but in the transfer market.

When Murphy chose to retire and Kaman joined the Lakers for $3.18 million a year, the Mavericks currently have only Gobert as a pure center. But even so, Cuban has no further contact with Howard and Al Jefferson.

Howard joined the Rockets after failing to see the Mavericks' sincerity. Jefferson himself was very eager to come to Dallas, but in the end, the signing was dissuaded by Carlisle.

"Al Jefferson is an offensive five position, and his skills in the low post are indeed very mature. But we already have Dirk, who is an excellent interior scoring point. What we need now is a player who can defend A center like Tyson. And defense, this is exactly the weakness of Jefferson who is slow and too short. So, I think Al Jefferson is not the person we are looking for either!"

"Then where can I find a center with excellent defense? Howard and Jefferson are the two best centers in this year's free agent market." This feeling of not being able to spend money makes Cuban very depressed. Qu.

"No need to look, we have Rudy Gobert!"

"You want me to count on a rookie!?" Cuban looked at Carlisle in disbelief. He really couldn't regard Al Jefferson as a player on the same level as Gobert.

"Aren't they rookies back then?" Carlisle smiled. Sometimes, rookie players can indeed plug and play.

"But we have so much salary space this summer, we can't use it all to sign role players."

"Don't worry, Mark. Do you have to worry about not being able to spend the money? I have a candidate here. Even if he is a star, he is more suitable for the team than Al Jefferson."

"Who!?" Cuban asked impatiently.

Carlisle smiled mysteriously. Carlisle had been paying attention to this guy for a long time...

※※※

Facing the early morning sunshine, Yiyang and Gobert completed their morning jog without stopping. After the two guys came back panting, Brickley had prepared a glass of milk, an egg and a piece of bread for each of them.

"Are you still teaching me how to pass the ball today?" Sitting at the dining table, Gobert and Yiyang chatted word by word. Having been with Yiyang for so long, the two have turned from strangers into good friends. It's not often that a rookie and a star develop a friendship before the season starts.

"Of course, like I said yesterday, you are still too anxious when passing the ball. If you face double teams in an NBA game, your kind of passing will only lead to mistakes." Yiyang said while using his hands. For example, he does not expect to turn Gobert into a passing master, nor does he even expect him to have strong support capabilities. As long as Gobert doesn't miss the ball at every turn, that's enough.

"When passing the ball, you must be calm. You must first think clearly about who you want to pass the ball to..." Yiyang suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Because he found that Gobert was not listening at all, but was staring at the phone intently.

"What's wrong Rudy?" Yiyang knew that Gobert was not the kind of person who didn't know how to respect others. He looked at Gobert's phone screen curiously, but Gobert suddenly put the phone in front of Yiyang's eyes.

"Look! We have new teammates!"

Yiyang held Gobert's hand steady and focused his eyes on the glowing screen. There have been countless NBA transfer news these days, but this piece of news made the corners of Yiyang's mouth curl up slightly.

"Four years and 48 million, Andre Iguodala officially joins the Mavericks!"

That guy Carlisle is doing a great job...