Superstar Athletes’ Black Tech Systems

Ryan West was sitting on a chair on the sidelines, with his legs crossed and a pen in his mouth, watching the more than 20 players on the court doing their best to express themselves.

He has a well-known surname in the NBA.

His father is the famous Lakers star, the prototype of the legendary NBA-LOGO portrait, Jerry West.

But judging from the appearance, it is difficult for people who are not very familiar with the two to recognize that this is the son of Old Jerry.

Ryan West was born to Jerry West and his second wife. In appearance, he inherited more from his mother, with only high browbones and deep eyes, especially like his father.

Ryan inherited his father's shadow and has been recruited by the Memphis Grizzlies as a team scout since 2002.

He sat in this position for 8 years, and came to the Lakers in the 2009-10 season, and his position was also a scout.

This season, after the team owner's son Jess Bass served as the scouting director, the past scouting team was cleaned up and two rookie scouts were abandoned.

Ryan West, as the son of a celebrity, of course was not purged, he stayed.

The Lakers' scouting is mainly divided into two parts.

One is a college scout, who is mainly responsible for finding new recruits in college.

One is an international scout, responsible for intelligence on overseas newcomers.

These two parts are managed by the old Lakers scout Irving Thomas.

He has been a college scout for the Lakers since the 2001-02 season.

And Ryan West doesn't belong to either part.

He reports directly to Jess Bass for scouting any potential rookies.

Of course, for the Los Angeles Lakers, since they traded Divac to Kobe in 1996, they have never gotten a high-ranking draft pick or a heavyweight rookie.

After all, the Lakers with Kobe and O'Neal have been contenders for the championship for a long time. What's the use of draft picks?

This season, the Lakers have given away their 2012 first-round pick and second-round pick in two transactions.

All they have left is a 2012 second-round pick traded from the New Jersey Nets in 2010.

It was a three-way deal between the Nets, the Rockets and the Lakers. The Lakers cleared Vujacic's contract and took two second-round picks by the way.

Among them, the second-round pick in 2012 was acquired from the Bucks when the Nets cleaned up Chris Douglas Roberts.

As for the 12-year second-round pick of the Bucks, it is not the Bucks' own. It is one of the licks that the Bucks got from the Bulls when they traded Salmons with the Bulls in 10 years.

Therefore, this second-round pick actually belonged to the Chicago Bulls, and it came to the Lakers after three rounds.

The second-round draft picks are in reverse order of record, the higher the record, the later the pick.

Unfortunately, in the regular season of the 2011-2012 season, the Chicago Bulls' record was the first in the league.

So the pick of this lottery is the 30th in the second round and the 60th overall.

That is, the last position in the draft!

Then choose Nima?

By the 60th place, the daylilies were all picked away.

This also means that the Lakers will have to do nothing in the draft.

But whoever you can fancy, others will also fancy, and then choose him away.

If it's something you don't like...you don't even like it, then don't read it.

In short, this pick is too embarrassing, and there is no trade value.

The so-called tasteless food is a pity to throw it away, and the last pick in the second round is even difficult to eat without taste.

You can't eat it at all!

Especially for a giant like the Lakers, there are countless No. 1 picks, No. 2 picks, and No. 3 picks in history, and the bottom of the second round...

Of course, the work of scouts will be busier because of this.

Because the Lakers don't have a top draft pick, they need to go to this kind of mid-lower training camp to shop for treasures.

First, to determine who the 60 candidates will be, and second, to inspect this batch of newcomers.

Some of them will definitely lose the election, and they can still get a few short-term contracts at that time, and they may be able to find treasures.

However, Ryan West does not have great hopes for this, which is obviously related to the tradition of the Lakers.

As a wealthy family, located in the center of Hollywood on the west coast, the Lakers have never lacked stars, so naturally they don't have the habit of digging gold in the cesspit.

Bad teams like the Spurs, Rockets, and Thunder are not afraid of getting dirty or tired, so they like to do this kind of work.

Lakers? Sorry, it's not necessary.

Before coming, Ryan West already had a main target, Darius Johnson Odom of Marquette University.

NBA teams will not wait until the training camp to start scouting players. As early as in college, every NCAA game is a battlefield for scouts.

Johnson-Odom is a typical older rookie who has strength in college but struggles to survive in the NBA.

Height, weight, age, these hard indicators are the shackles that players like Odom cannot break through, so they can only hover near the NBA's goal line.

The Lakers mainly took a fancy to his vitality on the defensive end and his relatively strong immediate combat power.

The position of the Lakers point guard has been a big problem in the past two years. In March, they just traded away the old point guard "Old Fish" Fisher.

The guard Darius Morris, who was selected in the 2011 draft last year, was not used satisfactorily.

A stocky guard like Odom is indeed more in line with the Lakers' employment needs and strategies.

It was only natural that West came to investigate him.

And he just defended for the first time, and his performance did not satisfy West.

The opponent used his body to press directly to the inside and scored on the head.

He was up against the 6-foot-3 Marcus Damon, and there are countless point guards in the NBA who are taller and stronger than Damon.

The past two years have been a period of blowout for high-quality point guards. Rose, Curry, Wall, and Irving are more brutal than each other.

Odom is...

West turned to think that the Lakers only had the No. 60 pick, so he knew he couldn't ask too much.

Don't even think about a 6-foot-6 guard like Fournier with excellent physical measurements, ball handling and shooting.

Immediately afterwards, he saw that Ratliff was deflated under Li Liang's defense.

Pretty tough, pretty perfect defense, didn't give Ratliff a chance.

After Ratliff passed the ball, Damon caught the ball and made Odom's center of gravity float.

Odom is too anxious, eager to prove himself.

Damon dribbled the ball directly into the three-second zone from the middle, like a hot knife cutting butter, extremely smooth.

Just when Damon was about to take advantage of the trend for a layup, a strong force came from his hand.

With a bang, the ball in Damon's hand was smashed away!

It was Li Liang who defended from the right.

Damon didn't expect Li Liang to strike so fast, he didn't protect the ball well, and it was exposed in front of Li Liang.

Of course Li Liang would not be soft-hearted.

He has cut off the ball of James, Durant, and Jordan. Just a Damon, just holding the ball like a watermelon and wanting to layup?

Go dreaming!

Li Liang, who successfully steals the ball, puts the ball in his arms and passes it to Fournier on the outside.

"This kid, it's interesting."

Seeing Li Liang's two successful defenses in a row, West began to turn his attention to Li Liang.

West found Li Liang's physical test report and glanced at it. It was relatively mediocre, but there were no major shortcomings.

Especially considering that this is a Chinese student player, it is not bad to have such physical fitness.

Looking at his school information, it turns out that he is from Kentucky, this year's champion.

West remembered, he watched that game, the kid who made a free throw at the last moment.

It's a water cooler through and through, and it's useless except for free throws. How can it feel good to defend?

West decided to continue to observe to see if the two goals just now were luck.

And Li Liang quickly proved with practical actions, luck? Can you ship one for me?

There is no such thing as luck in defense.

Fournier also felt a little surprised. This Bruce Lee has a good defense.

After getting the ball, he wanted to cooperate with Li Liang, but found that Li Liang didn't come to respond at all.

He goes beyond the three-point line, stops there, and then does nothing.

So Fournier took the ball and did it himself.

He has a great ball-handling feel, is quick, and has a great shot.

Kim English is not his opponent. Fournier didn't use his body, but purely relied on technical changes and turning to get inside.

Toss, hit.

In the next round, when the ball was in Li Liang's hands, Fournier and Odom pulled away to see how Li Liang would play.

As a result, Li Liang didn't fight by himself at all.

He threw the ball to Odom and let Odom handle it.

"This guy, doesn't want to attack, or can't attack?" Ryan West wondered.

He looked through the information again, and saw that Li Liang's overall evaluation was not high during the trial training with the ball.

From the looks of it, this kid knew what he was doing, and made use of his strengths to avoid his weaknesses.

Sure enough, Li Liang then concentrated on defense.

Offensive with the ball?

I'm not good at it, I don't feel it, I won't.

The two sides played back and forth, Fournier and Odom are both good.

And the three Missouri brothers have an excellent tacit understanding and cooperate seamlessly.

After fighting, the three brothers discovered that this Bruce Lee was not a persimmon at all.

He is the toughest stubble among the three people on the opposite side, and he has almost no chance in one-on-one singles!

The three-on-three game is different from the whole game. There is no fast offensive and defensive transition, and there is no such thing as a fast break.

In addition, there are few people and a large space, so there is less cooperation and more one-on-one opportunities.

Everyone is taking this opportunity to try to show their individual singles ability.

Only Li Liang, who kept sabotaging, his defense was really good.

Although in the system, his [Perimeter Basic Defense] is only 60, but this is the NBA standard.

This group of rookies at the middle and lower levels have not really experienced NBA-level defense.

Li Liang is different, he has already played many NBA games in his dream, defending super rookies all the way, and even singled out against Jordan.

His defensive progress not only comes from the direct addition of the system, but also from the experience and confidence accumulated in virtual and real confrontation.

The two complement each other, and it can even be said that without his sweat and energy in the confrontation, the system will not give him bonuses!

The improvement of the system score is just a simple number, but Li Liang's gains in the virtual and real confrontation are far more than that.

"Foul! Foul, you fouled!"

When Ratliff was attacking the basket with the ball, Li Liang slapped the ball away.

Li Liang's hand touched Ratliff's forearm with this ball, which was not very obvious, but Ratliff yelled a foul.

No way, if he doesn't call a foul, will he still have a chance to perform?

Li Liang raised his hand, said nothing, foul it.

The Missouri trio made a fast serve from the baseline, and Ratliff retreated to the three-point line, caught the ball and shot a jumper!

He can only shoot jumpers, and dare not attack Li Liang one-on-one.

"Shua!"

After hitting a mid-range shot, Ratliff felt relieved and finally scored!

It's so fucking difficult!

Why is this Kentucky's water cooler defense so strong?

No wonder the University of Kentucky won the national championship this season. It turns out that they have such a deep bench and such a strong drinking fountain?

The three Missouri brothers feel that they seem to have a new understanding of the strength of the NCAA.

No wonder they were eliminated in the second round. It turns out that there are people beyond people, and there is a sky beyond the sky.

Ratliff scored, but this kind of unsuspecting mid-range jumper has no value in the eyes of scouts.

Li Liang has not scored so far, because no one passed the ball to him, he has been squatting in the bottom corner and growing mushrooms.

It was originally a three-person team that was put together. Everyone was both teammates and opponents. They didn't keep the ball in their hands and play by themselves.

On another possession, Odom steals the ball from Damon.

His defensive strength is still very strong. He is familiar with Damon's routine and can always defend once.

Odom himself held the ball beyond the three-point line, and then made a strong breakthrough with the ball!

He was stunned by Damon several times today, so he should find some ground at least.

When he got to the inside, Damon stuck to Odom, because there was no referee, the two sides moved a lot.

Ratliff let go of Li Liang and came to help defend.

Odom made a forcible pull-up and a jumper with a little fadeaway!

miss.

West on the sidelines shook his head, 188 tall, but not good at speed.

In an NBA-level confrontation, such explosiveness and speed simply cannot tear apart the defense.

The ball bounced off the rim and the three grabbed one.

No one grabbed it, the ball flew out directly.

It flew beyond the three-point line and landed in Li Liang's hands.

This is Li Liang's chance, and he hasn't scored yet.

45 degree angle to the right.

Li Liang took the ball without too many preparations. He didn't even aim, so he just threw it!

The ball flew in a high arc and went through the net.

hit.

An easy three-pointer is still the standard distance in the NBA.

After scoring the goal, Li Liang touched his nose and felt that he was not sweating much.

Playing like this is really comfortable, defense + three-pointers, easy + enjoyable.

Li Liang was relaxed and happy, but Ryan West felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Because he felt that after Li Liang hit the three-pointer, the other scouts around him were focusing on Li Liang.

"Oops, isn't this guy good? If we want to choose, we can't grab anyone, so we have to do something."

Ryan West has a strong interest in Li Liang.

But the Lakers' pick determines that if other teams are interested in him, they can't grab anyone.

We must act first!

Although Ryan West did not inherit his father Jerry West's talent for playing, he has hereditary decisiveness in doing things and is quite like a father.

He already had an idea in his mind, no matter what, he had to give it a try.