One Guard

With the start of summer training camp, the new NBA season is about to resume. Before the start of the new season every year, various TV stations invite experts to make predictions for each team in the new season. Although based on past experience, most of these predictions are far from reality, but fans just love to hear those predictions. Pundits are talking nonsense to fill the boring time before the start of the season when there are no games to watch.

This year, ESPN has made a prediction ranking as always. This time, the experts learned their lesson and didn't say stupid things like "the Mavericks can reach the playoffs as a victory." They improved the Mavericks' ranking this year, placing them in the fourth position ahead of teams such as the Lakers, Spurs and Grizzlies.

Yes, fourth in the Western Conference, this is the highest expectations experts have for the Dallas Mavericks. After a summer of reinforcements, experts predict that the Mavericks will be ranked one spot lower than last season.

There is no way, why did the Mavericks sign guys this summer who are not famous enough? Although Iguodala is an All-Star, compared with a name like Howard, he does not have enough weight.

The Clippers hired popular championship coach Doc Rivers, so experts put the Clippers first in the Western Conference. The Rockets got Howard, so they were ranked second in the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder have two big names with both fame and strength in Durant and Westbrook, so even though they were eliminated by the Mavericks last year, they still ranked third in the Western Conference. What about the Mavericks who brought in Iguodala? Fourth in the West, why? Iguodala's reputation is not as loud as the above. People don't think Iguodala can bring any qualitative changes to the Mavericks.

In this era of superstars and giants gathering together, the combination of Yiyang + veteran driver + Iguodala does look shabby on paper. The Mavericks are not the worst. Look at the San Antonio Spurs, who did not make any big moves in the summer. They were actually ranked sixth in the Western Conference.

Last season, the Spurs overcame many difficulties and fought their way out of the Western Conference, where they entered the Finals and faced the Heat. It's such a team, but it's only ranked sixth in the Western Conference! This shows how stupid the predictions of these so-called "experts" are actually!

Carlisle threw the newspaper aside and smiled contemptuously. This predicted ranking is indeed the same as before, with no reference value at all. It’s fine if they put their team fourth in the Western Conference, but put the Spurs sixth in the Western Conference? I'm afraid these guys don't watch the same NBA as everyone else.

Carlisle drank the rest of the coffee in one gulp, forgot about the ridiculous predicted ranking, and opened the office door.

On the basketball court, the players are actively preparing for the game. Everyone is performing their duties and conducting different training programs. The entire training hall looked lively, and this busy atmosphere made Carlisle feel a lot more fulfilled.

tomorrow,

The NBA preseason will officially begin. Although it is not an official game, it is also a good opportunity for the players to warm up. However, Carlisle does not intend to show its true strength in these preseason games. Keeping your strength in the real battle is the wise choice.

So in the next half month of preseason, the much-anticipated Dallas Mavericks played a total of seven games, but only won two of them. This result is completely different from the soaring Rockets and the comfortable Clippers.

Although Carlisle did not play many main players in the preseason and was experimenting with various tactics and exploring the depth of the bench, reporters don't care why you lose. They don't care about the process, they only care about the final result.

"Last season, under the leadership of Yi, the Dallas Mavericks miraculously achieved third place in the Western Conference and reached the Western Conference Finals. It can be said to be very miraculous. But miracles mean that this cannot be replicated often. Look at them The preseason performance, I think the Mavericks may be in a very embarrassing situation this season."

"With 2 wins and 5 losses, I am not surprised at all by the performance of the Mavericks in the preseason, because they are a team of this level. Do you want them to return to the top? Wake up, this is no longer a problem that can be solved by a single-core team. It’s time!”

"Neither Iguodala nor Nowitzki can be considered the core in the true sense. In fact, the Mavericks are still a team with only one superstar. Last year, the Lakers still couldn't play with four superstars. Standing out in the Western Conference, the Mavericks want to compete for the championship with this lineup, and I have to say that Mark Cuban is really a bold visionary."

Unsurprisingly, experts are surprisingly unanimous on the Mavericks. When he was interviewed by reporters at the end of the last preseason game, when reporters asked Yiyang what he thought of the experts' comments, Yiyang just spread his hands with a meaningless look on his face.

"From the time I joined the league until now, people have commented on us like this before the start of every season. You ask me how I feel? I feel nothing because I'm used to it." Yiyang said coldly, then turned and left. He is neither angry nor excited. In the fourth year of his career, Yiyang has become accustomed to these things.

After a dismal preseason, the outside world's comments on the Mavericks have been declining. But within the Mavericks, they were not demoralized by this. Because everyone knows very well that in these seven games they are just training, not competing.

People only saw the Mavericks' five losses, but no one saw the huge pressure they brought to the opponent when they defended with all their strength. They didn't see the Mavericks' extremely smooth offense when Yiyang was on the court. They didn't see Nowitzki's comparison with the previous ones. He is in better shape this season, and he has not seen Gobert's body, which is almost stronger than when he was drafted.

Failure in the preseason is nothing. When the real battle begins, Yiyang and his team will make the entire league realize the terror of the Dallas Mavericks!

※※※

The start of the new season is approaching day by day, and the Mavericks' training is becoming more and more systematic. This almost rebuilt team has formed a basic system and is running very well.

Originally, Carlisle selected a bunch of players who were suitable for the team and Yiyang. It is not difficult to mash them into a ball.

On October 29, 2013, the NBA opening game officially started. But this year, the Mavericks were not scheduled to play in the opening three games by the league. The first game of the new season for the Mavericks will start one day after the opening game on October 30.

Therefore, on the night of the 29th, Carlisle announced the end of training early and asked the players to go back and have a good rest in preparation for the actual battle the next day.

Almost all the Mavericks players went home to rest after training, even Yiyang, who liked to practice extra, was no exception. He has practiced enough this summer. Tonight, he just wants to recharge his batteries and do a big job tomorrow!

Since the Asian Championships, Yiyang has not played a formal game, and the leading defender of Dallas has long been thirsty. And in tomorrow's game, Yiyang will wear his first-generation signature shoes for the first time, which undoubtedly makes him look forward to more.

Yiyang drove home early and was about to call Vignali when he realized that he had left his cell phone in the dressing room.

With no other choice, Yiyang had no choice but to return to the American Airlines Center Arena before dinner. It seemed that I was really too excited and didn't care about anything except the competition.

Walking directly into the player tunnel from the underground parking lot, Yiyang passed the training hall and walked to the team's locker room. But just as Yiyang passed the training hall gate, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Because, he vaguely heard the sound of a basketball hitting the floor inside.

Yiyang curiously opened the door of the training hall. He did not expect that there would be someone on the Dallas Mavericks team who was more interested in training than him.

When the door opened and the brightly lit stadium appeared in front of Yiyang's eyes, the guy training on the field did not exceed Yiyang's expectations. It was indeed him!

"Rudy, aren't you going home yet?"

The tall Rudy Gobert is standing on the free throw line, practicing his free throws tirelessly. Seeing Yiyang coming in, the French center just smiled slightly, and then got back to doing his own thing.

Yiyang seemed to have traveled back to four years ago and saw himself at that time. However, at that time, he was obsessed with honing his skills from beyond the three-point line.

"Why didn't you tell me if you wanted to practice more?" Now that he was here, Yiyang simply walked over to Gobert and sat down.

"Seeing that you were in a hurry to go home today, I didn't call you." Gobert replied to Yiyang, but the movements of his hands did not stop.

"Is it because you are too nervous? So you don't want to leave the court." Even for Yiyang, who is about to start his fourth professional season, tomorrow's game makes him very excited, let alone his first year entering the league. Gobert.

"No, it's just...I don't want to mess up tomorrow's game. Because it's my debut, and...and our opponent is the Atlanta Hawks!"

Gobert seemed to get angry when he mentioned the words Atlanta Hawks. Yiyang smiled, it turned out that it was because of this incident.

In this year's draft, the Hawks have two consecutive first-round picks, No. 17 and No. 18, and in previous trials, they also promised to use one of these two picks to select Gobert.

However, the fact is that Gobert was not selected by the Mavericks until the 27th overall pick. If it were not for the Mavericks, he might even fall out of the first round. The Atlanta Hawks undoubtedly wrote a blank check to the highly anticipated Gobert.

It wasn't that Gobert was eager to play in Atlanta, but that he was abandoned by the Hawks, which made Gobert feel slighted and disrespected.

Since you didn't think highly of me from the beginning, why did you make those beautiful promises? If you think I'm not worth a mid-first-round pick, then tomorrow, Gobert will prove how stupid the Hawks' selection was.

And this is why Gobert chose No. 27 as his jersey number. He constantly reminded himself of the humiliation he received in the draft and channeled that anger into strength. Now Gobert has no games to play, so he vented his emotions on the training ground.

Seeing Gobert's performance, Yiyang couldn't help but smile. This 21-year-old French center is really full of passion.

"Go back and rest, Rudy." But Yiyang did not encourage Gobert to continue training, but urged him to go home.

"Listen to me, save your strength, let's beat those bastards together tomorrow!" Why can't Yiyang understand the humiliation of being looked down upon? Until last season, few people in the league were willing to admit that Yiyang would become a superstar.

Respect is earned by yourself!

After Yiyang finished speaking, he stretched out his fist. Gobert smiled and bumped fists with Yiyang.

The new season has just begun, and the two "Avengers", one inside and one outside, are already preparing to do some big things...