Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

On September 9, the Bulls training camp opened again, and the Bulls players returned to Chicago one after another and reported to the United Center.

Judging from the size of the Bulls players, this year is obviously much better than last year.

Except for Duane and Jokic who are big and strong and slightly out of shape, the rest of the players basically look like they have trained hard for a summer and have bulging muscles and are in good shape.

The rookies are ready and there are no major issues with the team's main players.

Judging from the training results after the start of the training camp, Curry and Wiggins not only did not lose their figure, but they trained hard in the summer, strengthened their physical confrontation, and improved their shooting stability throughout the day.

Wiggins does not have the shooting talent of Curry. If he wants to ensure his shooting ability after gaining muscle, he must rely on long-term and persistent shooting training to cultivate muscle memory.

Nowadays, even basketball civil servants like Wiggins use their vacation time to work overtime and improve their shooting skills.

What reason do the Bulls have for not striving for the championship this season?
"We Back!"

At the same time as the Bulls' final photos for the new season were released, the team's operations officer also took the initiative to reveal the goal of this season to the outside world - that is to return to the championship sequence.

Other teams certainly wouldn’t dare to say this at the beginning of the season; at most their goal would be to make the playoffs.

However, the Bulls have the confidence to say that our season goal is to win the championship.

Local fans in Chicago, as well as fans in North America and around the world, are also willing to believe that the Bulls are not bragging.

After all, in the past decade or so, the Bulls have created many miracles under the leadership of Duane. The Bulls are now the most dominant and influential team in the NBA.

Even though Jokic has been in charge in recent years, the Bulls' competitiveness is still unique in the league.

What's more, Durant has not retired yet and Curry still maintains an All-Star level.

In crucial games, Durant and Curry were able to return to the court for a limited time, bursting out with superstar or even superstar-level strength, demonstrating a powerful game influence that is among the top ten in history.

It is also because of this foundation that the Bulls can use their return to the championship sequence as a gimmick to attract local, foreign and even overseas fans to watch the game at the United Center in Chicago.

By then, with the substantial increase in ticket revenue this season, the Bulls management will be able to ignore the impact of the luxury tax.

They can even consider picking up some veterans whose contracts have been bought out but who still have gas in the tank in the upcoming free market.

Of course, it's too early to think about this.

The preseason hasn't even started yet, so it's still unknown how the regular season will turn out.

What's more, a mid-season tournament has been added this season.

Whether the Bulls are capable of competing for the championship and whether they should recruit players and strengthen the team in the middle of the season all need to be tested through game after game, and the newly released mid-season game is undoubtedly a good opportunity.

Time flies by very quickly, and it’s May 10nd in a blink of an eye.

The Bulls finished the preseason with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss. Overall, the Bulls were in good shape at the beginning of the season.

Unfortunately, today is different from the past.

The Bulls cannot play in the NBA season opener as they have in the past.

The two teams representing the Eastern Conference this year are the defending champion Bucks and last season's Eastern Conference Finals opponent, the Celtics.

Obviously, the Bulls and the Bucks are very close to each other, so the league can easily arrange for the Bulls and the Bucks to play the opening game.

All I can say is that as the old is replaced by the new, business is business.

The NBA is in urgent need of establishing a new image. Although Tatum's personal strength is much worse, his team, the Boston Celtics, is a legitimate "yellow flag".

In addition, in the NBA, a black league, Tatum looks quite white, which is even more politically correct for the city of Boston and the NBA, where white people firmly occupy the top positions in the league.

However, judging from the results of the opening game, Tatum is indeed the most suitable American player to serve as a front man at this stage.

The newly crowned defending champion Bucks lost to the Celtics by 6 points despite further reinforcements in the summer.

Tatum, the leader of the Celtics, seems to have evolved after a summer of hard training. He made 26 of 14 shots, 11 of 5 three-pointers, and 8 of 7 free throws, efficiently scoring 40 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

He has good physical strength and is durable. As a star player, he is willing to humble himself and do the dirty and tiring work. When his touch is good, he can go all out on the offensive end. He has excellent ball control ability and can create better scoring opportunities for his teammates.

In short, Tatum seems to have officially entered his peak period at this stage. He is not only good at both offense and defense, but can also do many things on the court that cannot be reflected in the statistics.

Perhaps from the perspective of personal strength, Tatum does not seem to have reached the top three level in the league.

However, his team leadership and game influence have already shown superstar levels. Overall, there is really no American player stronger than Tatum.

But foreign players like Antetokounmpo and Jokic are the most dominant players in the NBA right now.

All I can say is that this is a matter of time and fate.

It’s not that foreign players are too strong that Tatum cannot be the face of this league.

In this era, if a tall person stands out among short people and becomes the face of the NBA, he or she will inevitably be compared with the superstars of the same generation and even of past eras.

Despite such pressure, Tatum was not defeated by public opinion.

Of course, perhaps it is also because of the care of the league. Tatum has faced all kinds of bumps and bruises, but he has still risen to the challenge and continued to show quasi-MVP level in the game, with extremely eye-catching performances.

It is also because of Tatum's evolution that the Celtics this season, led by Tatum, seem to have been reborn and have demonstrated strong dominance in the Eastern Conference.

Whether it is the defending champion Bucks or the Bulls who have rejoined the championship race, they can hardly compare with the Celtics.

Time flies and it is November soon. The competition officially enters the mid-season schedule.

Competition system reform has always been a work content that the league officials have paid more attention to in recent years. In the past few years, the playoffs and All-Star Weekend were reformed, and now it is the turn of the regular season.

The mid-season tournament format is similar to the NCAA tournament, because there are only 30 teams participating, so the schedule is basically concentrated within one month, similar to the March Madness of the NCAA tournament.

The first half is the group stage, and the second half is a single-game knockout stage.

Except for the extra game between the two teams in the final stage, the results of all other games were counted in the regular season.

In general, it makes the early stage of the regular season, which is usually slow to start, become an exciting and thrilling one-month schedule.

After the baptism of the mid-season games and the competition with strong teams, the teams that realize their own lack of strength can also discuss with other teams as soon as possible about the targets of signings, fill in the gaps, and improve the strength of their own team so as to better enter the playoffs.

As for those teams that see no hope of making the playoffs or even competing for the championship, they can also trade away useless stars or role players who are of no use but take up salary space as soon as possible and start to rebuild as soon as possible.

In short, a month-long mid-season tournament will allow each team to more quickly identify its own strengths and problems, clarify the goals for the next stage of the regular season, and then make planned adjustments.

The Bulls did not show much desire to compete for the championship in this month's mid-season game. They just regarded the strong dialogues in the mid-season game as a preview of the playoffs and carried out training plans in advance.

In the knockout stage, the Bulls ran into the Celtics and eventually stopped in the semifinals.

It’s not that the Bulls look down on the “carpet” that symbolizes the mid-season championship and intend to let it go.

Instead, the league is indeed supporting the Celtics, intending to use a new championship banner to revitalize the Celtics, who have been dormant for more than a decade and have finally stopped playing badly in recent years and want to compete for the championship.

In fact, as a top team, the Celtics are not short of this mid-season championship banner.

To some extent, the league wanted to increase the value of the mid-season championship, so it had to find a powerful club to put it on a pedestal.

In today's NBA, the only big teams that are considered to be powerful are the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, and the Knicks, who are just a bit more popular than the rest.

The Knicks may be rich, but they have won too few championships. In recent years, they haven't even made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. They have been in a slump for many years.

The situation of the Lakers is similar. After Kobe retired, the Lakers were silent for a while. Otherwise, the gambling companies cooperated with the NBA and the Lakers became rich again. The Lakers could not even recruit superstar-level players.

However, the Lakers do not have the strength to compete for the championship at this stage.

Therefore, with the Bulls having won too many championships in recent years and still rebuilding in the past two years, it is extremely reasonable for the league officials to seek help from the Celtics and let the Celtics gild the mid-season championship.

The fact is, after the Celtics won the mid-season championship, they were also ridiculed for a while by many veteran stars who had long retired.

After all, the Celtics management really hung the mid-season championship banner over the TD Garden with a fake smile, hanging it together with 17 championship banners.

The former top team in the league was thus shrouded in disgrace.

However, in return, the league also gave the Celtics a whistle that was unique in the league.

Tatum was originally afraid of being attacked by defensive players. Now with the support of body hair whistle, his shooting threat and shooting accuracy have been greatly improved. His personal strength has reached a high level. His average points per game has suddenly increased by three or four points. He is expected to challenge the scoring champion this season.

Not only that, Jaylen Brown also received the blessing of the superstar whistle, which made people sigh that peak Wade is back on the court, and even a shooting-enhanced version of Wade.

As for other role players, it's not that they are untouchable, but an increase in the number of free throws will always make their statistics rise, and their enthusiasm for playing the game will also be greatly improved.

Gradually, the Celtics became a team that stood out in the league, and the Bucks and Bulls in the East, as well as the Mavericks, Thunder, and Grizzlies in the West, were all unable to catch up. (End of this chapter)