The rest is just noise

Because of Kobe, the Summer League game between the Lakers and the Chinese team turned into a grudge match.

The 17-year-old young genius wants to have a real showdown with his teammates at the same position in front of the head coach.

But in fact, he really found the wrong person.

Liu Yuqing is not the kind of player who can bring fun to people in one-on-one matches.

In fact, the player in the Chinese team who can really compete with Kobe in terms of competitive strength is Hu Weidong.

Gong Shuai asked Liu Yuqing to stand on two to defend against three, and Hu Weidong to stand on three to defend against two.

When Kobe kept confronting Liu Yuqing, he inadvertently allowed Hu Weidong to create a breakthrough in him.

After all, Hu Weidong is also a player who can average double figures in points per game in the NBA. In the national team, he has been given a higher tactical status, so he has exerted greater power.

Unlike Hu Weidong, Liu Yuqing basically plays like a role player.

He makes three-pointers from outside;

Use teammates' screens to run and then catch and shoot;

Even the occasional offense with the ball is conducted on the premise of calling a pick-and-roll to play small and large.

The only time he faced a one-on-one challenge in the game was when the Lakers defended the Chinese team to the point where they couldn't turn around their tactics and were forced to take the ball when someone had to break the game.

In that round, Liu Yuqing hit Nash out of position, directly devoured the Canadian defense with a back-up shot, and then made a standard turn-over jumper to score for the Chinese team.

Liu Yuqing is the kind of player that coaches like the most.

Play the ball reasonably, not selfishly, and be able to use your energy when you need to exert yourself.

Louis really doesn't understand why he is marginalized in Atlanta, so that people mistakenly think that he is a trouble-making locker room bomb and parallel import.

Due to Liu Yuqing's lack of aggression, Kobe gradually turned his attention to Hu Weidong. The arrogant high school student then had a duel with the Chinese team's outside core that was regarded as a classic by future fans.

In the end, Kobe Bryant scored 35 points and Hu Weidong also scored 30 points.

At the same time, Liu Yuqing quietly scored 25 points.

The Chinese team lost to the Lakers by 12 points.

Although their outside line is very strong, they cannot form coordination with the inside line. Everyone is playing their own ball.

Gong Shuai's management and control method that pays attention to factions and strictly prevents the emergence of small hills in the national team has obviously affected the team's chemical reaction.

The players from the Lu Academy cannot cooperate with several other local elites in the national team.

Even people from the Lu Department have very limited understanding of each other.

Like Kang Chengbiao, who was in the third phase of his stay in the United States, and Hu, who was in the first phase of his stay in the United States, Liu never called.

Although it has the largest number of active NBA players in the world outside the United States, the Chinese team, which is suffering from serious internal friction, can only play 70% of its strength.

It is often difficult for such a team to achieve results that match their strength.

After the game, young talented defender Lin Junwu publicly complained that he did not have the ball.

Gong Shuai naturally has to strictly stop this kind of behavior: "Young players always want the ball. They have great personalities, but as a group, we cannot only think about ourselves."

Seeing the national basketball team like this, Louis felt that the goal of securing eight points and competing for four points might once again remain at the level of slogans.

This made him inexplicably angry.

It's really unpleasant to see this kind of team that is obviously very strong but unable to exert its full strength being restricted due to various reasons.

Unable to change this situation for the time being, Louis can only turn his attention to the Lakers.

Kobe is undoubtedly the star of Summer League.

Today is his first game as a Lakers player, and the media and fans gathered at the game.

During the game, people kept shouting his name.

In contrast to Kobe's popularity, no one cares about Nash and others.

As a rookie to the Lakers, fans and the media simply ignored their existence.

On the one hand, this is a good thing.

Without the excessive attention of the media and the excessive expectations of fans, it can help them show their strength.

On the other hand, it also reflects the public opinion's disfavor for this new batch of Lakers players.

Kobe at least still has the gimmick of being the number one high school student. Do others like Nash, Rose, Wallace, etc. have anything special worth mentioning?

A very old white Canadian who can't defend anyone?

A short, blue-collar 4 with a lot of energy but a serious lack of size?

Or is it the pure No. 5 who signed up to be 2.08 meters tall but may actually have bare feet of less than 2 meters?

However, as the Summer League progressed, Nash's brilliance as a talented point guard gradually became unblockable.

Speaking of which, Nash was the latest rookie to join the team. He had no time to do many things and started playing games without even having the opportunity to train with his teammates. On the court, Nash played completely by instinct, like a bird that was let out of its nest.

The little puppy is running around.

With his amazing ball sense, organizational instincts, imagination and creativity, Nash began to conquer the hearts of fans.

Lakers Summer League coach Rick Carlisle praised Nash in his report to Louis: "As long as you watch Steve's game, you will know that he is an extraordinary talent.

Kobe is different, Steve is already a mature player, like an evolved version of Mark Price!"

As a result, the Lakers summer league team began a competition for team leadership.

Kobe was a person who never knew how to give in. Even if he had to compete with adults who were five or six years older than him, he would not back down at all.

Nash's outstanding leadership made Kobe realize that he had to learn to dominate the ball. If he couldn't compete with Nash, how could he compete with Benjamin Wilson and the others in the future?

Kobe began to take possession of the ball and actively directed his teammates, telling them what they should do and what they shouldn't do.

Nash never thought about competing with Kobe. Since the opponent wanted the ball, he would give it up and use one-handed shooting to make a contribution even if he didn't have the ball in his hand.

This scene made Louis frown.

He could really see the desire to control everything in Kobe's eyes.

Just like Wu Xiubo's classic look back at Lang Gu in "League of Military Advisors", just by looking at his eyes, you know that this guy is not a creature in the pool.

In the qualifying match against the Pistons, Kobe unleashed his offensive firepower and scored a game-high 38 points to lead his team to victory, allowing the Lakers to enter the knockout rounds with the top ranking in the conference.

"As long as I stand on the court, I just want to win." Kobe told the Los Angeles Times. "If the team needs me to be a leader, I will take on the responsibility of the leader, no matter what the situation is.

As long as I see something wrong, I will tell my teammates what I think, just like Benjamin who always speaks out to teammates who perform poorly, I like straightforward communication."

Finally, he said something that made Louis laugh: "For me, the responsibility of the core players is to always keep teamwork in mind."

teamwork……

These four words have nothing to do with Kobe, who averaged 22 shots per game during Fila's summer league.

It’s not that he is alone, he just plays like a typical high school student. When he gets high, he can do anything and get whatever he wants. If his performance doesn’t go well, he will habitually choose to fight alone to find his rhythm.

Like Garnett, he once dominated high school basketball. People like this skip college directly and enter the professional arena. They will not be humble just because they are playing professional games.

They still have the same attitude of "I am invincible in the world".

This was just summer league, and Carlisle wasn't going to tell Kobe what true teamwork was.

Summer League is a stage to test the players' abilities.

A player who plays well here may not necessarily become a star, but if he plays poorly, there will be a question mark on the player's immediate ability.

Louis was surprised and delighted by Kobe's performance. What was pleasant was that this kid had good fighting ability, but what was shocking was that this guy was simply the master of the selfish Generation X.

The advantages and disadvantages of this generation are all extremely reflected in Kobe.

However, Lakers executives were pleased with Kobe's performance.

The star quality that Jerry Buss and Jerry West desperately wanted to see was clearly evident in Kobe.

In the Philadelphia League finals, the Lakers will face the Pistons again.

Kevin Garnett came to the scene to say hello to Kobe, and they had the following conversation.

"Man, how are you doing?" (Garnett)

"Man, I can do anything on the court, you should see my game, this level of competition is a piece of cake for me!"

In the final, Nash sent out 12 assists, helping Kobe score another 30 points. Ben Wallace's interior defense was the basis for the Lakers' victory, but the applause and cheers belonged to Phila Summer League MVP - Kobe Bryant.

He said confidently and arrogantly: "I just did what I did in high school, and it was not difficult at all."