First in scoring

Chapter 425. The Signs of Sun Tian

Granger, the 25-year-old young core scorer, already has the ability to average 25+ points per game;
Roy Hibbert, a 22-year-old who graduated from college, is not very strong in terms of combat power, but he has a solid defensive foundation in college and has reached the end of his training cycle. Based on his performance of 15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks in 1.2 minutes per game, the media predicts that he will become an NBA starting player in 1-2 years. This is based on the precedents of talented centers who played in college for 3-4 years and then entered the NBA.
The 19-year-old rookie DeRozan is more talented than the previous two. Since the beginning of the season, he has averaged 18 minutes per game, 8.2 points, 3 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Influenced by someone, he started practicing three-pointers in his senior year of high school. Although he is not accurate yet, he can shoot and score from any position. He is nicknamed "Kobe's successor" and is predicted to become a main scorer in one to two years of training.

The three key positions of shooting guard, small forward and center all have extremely talented young players. The Pacers remind the Bobcats coach and players of the talented Pacers at the beginning of the century.

The current problem of the Pacers is that their point guard Ford has too many injuries, and their scoring and offensive organization methods are limited; Troy Murphy, the power forward, is a little soft and his defense is too poor...

However, both of them are currently in their prime and have good trading value.

When Zhang Yang studied the Pacers' data since the start of the season, he found that the Pacers were intentionally reducing the playing time of two rookies, DeRozan and Hibbert. The playing time of the two is just enough for a rookie to adapt to the NBA game. It doesn't seem like a non-playoff team with mature core scorers arranging playing time for talented rookies.

And it is not for the purpose of letting Granger play more and take more shots. Granger's average playing time is only 36 minutes and his number of shots is only 19 times per game.

Zhang Yang compared the Pacers' statistics from last season and discovered the reason - with the addition of talented rookies on the inside and outside lines, the number of shots taken by Ford and Murphy, whose number of shots should have decreased, increased instead!
Ford averaged 9.8 shots per game last season and 12.3 per game this season, and his scoring increased from 12.1 points per game last season to 14.9 points per game;
Murphy averaged 10 shots per game last season and 12.2 per game this season, and his scoring increased from 11.9 points last season to 14.1 points.

Zhang Yang is familiar with this operation. Their Bobcats team had done it in the past two years. That's how the great Jack got the jack.

The Pacers' goal should be to allow the two players to demonstrate their abilities to their trading partners. Also, increasing the shooting rights of players who should not have increased shooting rights will help improve the draft pick's ranking.

Zhang Yang estimated that with Bird's operational ability, if he started to execute this plan, then he would definitely have a target and it would most likely be accomplished, but the person might be different... Perhaps it was because Ronaldinho played for the Pacers, and he was looking forward to what the Pacers would look like after their rise.

...

At 7 pm, the Bobcats' away game against the Pacers began.

Pacers starting lineup: Ford, Dunleavy, Granger, Murphy, Hibbert.

Bobcats starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Pietrus, Millsap, Okafor.

Hibbert beat Okafor to win the jump ball, and the Pacers attacked first!

The first attack was for the boss, Ford advanced across half court and passed the ball to Granger.

Something happened that made Granger very upset. The person guarding in front of him was not Petrus, but Zhang Yang!

But we had no choice but to fight hard, after all, it was the first attack of the game.

Facing Zhang Yang's close defense, Granger broke through to the right elbow area. His signature shot was blocked by Zhang Yang, but he had another trick - stop suddenly, lean over, dribble to the left hip, enter the three-second zone and shoot from close range...

Unable to break free of Zhang Yang's close defense, Granger was forced to lean back and take a close-range shot, but it missed!
Granger has a superior physique, but average athletic ability. If Durant learns this move, it will be difficult for Zhang Yang to interfere.

Another big flaw in Granger's technical moves is that the pre-swing is too large and the moves are too obvious, making them very easy to be predicted by opponents with good defensive awareness.

What a coincidence! Zhang Yang is one of the players with excellent defensive awareness.

Okafor protected the defensive rebound and prepared to pass it to Zhang Yang, but Granger actively delayed Zhang Yang's receiving the ball after he missed the shot, and Hibbert, who moved to the long two-point area on the left, led the team to retreat.

The fast break opportunity was not good, so Felton came in to receive the ball and fought a positional battle.

It can be seen from the Pacers' retreat that they have begun to build a defensive system around Hibbert and Granger. This was the case with the Pacers when Bird was the general manager. They took one step and looked three steps ahead and made preparations in advance. Their rotation plan was to increase the trading value of Ford and Murphy. As for improving the draft pick order, it was just a by-product. The head coach received instructions to try his best to win on the basis of giving the two more playing time and more shooting rights.

When the Bobcats attacked, Felton crushed Ford and broke into the inside.

Ford was indeed fast and he did not lose his position, blocking Felton's left front.

Felton broke through to the low post on the right side and stopped suddenly. Ford immediately stood in front of Felton...blocking Hibbert who came out to defend.

Felton used Ford to block Hibbert, stepped back and shot a close-range jump shot...and it went in!
As a rookie, Hibbert still needs to work on his facial expression management, his dissatisfaction is written all over his face... Ford's defensive awareness not only doesn't help, but also makes things more troublesome!

When it was the Pacers' turn to attack, Granger did not continue to play alone, but instead moved out to cooperate with the opponent.

It's not that he is really afraid of Zhang Yang's defense. He is 203 cm tall barefoot and has a wingspan of 217 cm. His strong shots at critical moments are almost impossible to be interfered with. But now is not the time to ignore the shooting rhythm and gamble on the feel.

But after the game started, Granger realized something was wrong - bad boy, this is not a national team game, why are you trying so hard in close combat and defense?

While fighting with Zhang Yang, he observed other teammates and discovered that Dunleavy and Murphy were also facing hand-to-hand defense from Pietrus and Millsap!
Only the oversized Hibbert did not encounter physical defense. Okafor simply blocked Hibbert from cutting to the basket at will.

Granger immediately understood why Zhang Yang was guarding him tonight.

In the first ten games, Zhang Yang did not defend the opponent's top scorer. One reason was to train Pietrus and Afflalo, and the other was to reduce Zhang Yang's physical exertion.

Hand-to-hand combat is a war of attrition. Since it is a war of attrition, we must use the strongest defensive outside line to defend against the opponent's strongest offensive outside line.

Although Zhang Yang is not well-known for his defense at present, as a direct opponent, Granger already believed that Zhang Yang was the strongest one-on-one defender of the Bobcats when he played against the Bobcats last season.

As for the lack of fierce confrontation between Zhang Yang and Zhang Yang in the last round, it was because Zhang Yang was good at position movement and shot interference in single defense. Now that he is defending without the ball, confrontation naturally arises.

Putting all that aside, Zhang Yang's strength was also greater than Granger thought! It didn't seem like a player who was nearly two meters tall with shoes on but weighed only 200 pounds!
Those players who are of the same height and weigh about 100 kilograms are no more capable than Zhang Yang in confrontation!
On the other side, at the top of the arc, Felton's defense of Ford is different from Zhang Yang's defense of Granger. He is good at close combat and pressing forward to defend Ford.

As one of the thinnest players, Ford has long been accustomed to being physically suppressed by his opponents. He used his flexible steps to create space and successfully passed Felton and broke into the inside!

The Bobcats retreated very quickly, forming a three-man encirclement. Ford's miniature body meant that he had no chance to shoot after breaking into the shooting area, and his passing vision was also blocked.

Ford ran around the basket, and just as he was about to force a shot, he saw Hibbert moving to the high post and quickly passed the ball to him.

Hibbert caught the ball on the right side of the free throw line and shot a jump shot... "Snap"...

Zhang Yang rushed up from the right sideline and slapped the ball away that had just left Hibbert's fingertips!
Zhang Yang was stunned for a moment and almost lost his balance when he landed. After he found his feet, he immediately rushed out, picked up the ball in the center circle, and launched a counterattack!
The Pacers were completely unprepared to defend against the fast break this time. Dunleavy and Ford slowed down after chasing out of the three-point line, watching Zhang Yang counterattack with a two-handed dunk to score two points, then run back to pick up the ball and serve.

Hibbert, the shooter, other Pacers players, and even Zhang Yang, who blocked the shot, did not expect to be able to block it. Hibbert's mid-range shot is like Yao Ming or Big Z catching the ball and shooting from mid-range, and his wingspan is better than the two. He is a little shorter but his shooting point is about the same height. With those two in front, since the start of the season, opponents have generally chosen to give up when they see Hibbert catching the ball and shooting from mid-range or long-range positions, as the inside players cannot make up for it and the outside players are too short in height.

Since the start of the season, Hibbert's mid-range shooting percentage has reached 40.1%, his long two-point shooting percentage has reached 45%, and his close-range shooting percentage has also reached 43%. His touch is softer than it looks.

Zhang Yang rushed forward just because he was unwilling to give up, trying to see if he could scare Hibbert and affect the opponent's shooting rhythm. Unexpectedly, he was really blocked!

After Zhang Yang finished dunking, he took advantage of the opponent's running back to the backcourt to pick up the ball and serve. He quickly ran back to his own backcourt and pulled Pietrus, Millsap and Okafor and said, "That big guy's shooting speed is like slow motion. When he receives the ball and shoots, try to make up for it. Even if you can't block it, you will probably interfere!"

As for why Felton was not called...Felton's bullet jump was so strong that it was impossible to interfere even if he was close to his face.

After Zhang Yang made on-the-spot commands on the defensive end, the Pacers' offense, which had already been slow at the start, became even worse.

Okafor believed in Zhang Yang's judgment. Knowing that Hibbert's shooting speed was slow and the guards could effectively defend him, he was more decisive in shrinking and double-teaming others. He deliberately left Hibbert open and gave the opponent a chance to pass the ball from the outside, and his teammates would defend Hibbert and shoot.

In the next two rounds, Hibbert's open shots were interfered by Pietrus and Millsap's help defense. The Pacers did not score a single point in the first four attacks. When the Pacers attacked again, Ford broke into the inside and saw that Hibbert was open and did not dare to pass the ball. He chose to shoot a layup against Okafor's help defense... and was fanned away!

Millsap grabbed the ball and passed it to Zhang Yang, who started a fast break and hit a three-pointer!
The Pacers called a timeout!
The Bobcats took a 9-0 lead at the start!

At the Pacers bench, seeing Hibbert surrounding the head coach, Bird said to assistant coach Frank Vogel with a troubled look on his face: "Roy's flaws are still exposed. The defensive sense of the opposing bad boys is too sharp. I thought we could delay it for a while to give Roy more time to adapt to the rhythm of the NBA."

Vogel worked as a video editor for the Celtics around 2000, and later worked as a scout for the Lakers and Wizards. He was spotted by Bird last summer and signed as a scout. During this summer's summer league, he became an assistant coach. He does not have a clear assistant coach position and does all kinds of work... In other words, he is an all-rounder who is being trained to become a head coach.

Vogel responded: "Roy is good in everything. He has height, bounce, and a soft touch. He can make hook shots and mid-range shots like Yao Ming and Ilgauskas, but his shooting speed is too slow.

I tried to help him adjust during the summer league, but as long as he sped up his shooting action, he would lose his accuracy completely and become very anxious, which would affect his mood during the game. I tried again in the preseason but finally decided to give up because this defect could not be corrected.

However, there are few teams that rotate defense as fast as the Bobcats. Roy shoots slowly, but at least he has the ability to shoot from mid-range and can shoot from all positions within the three-point line. In most cases, he will not be a drag on the offense. "

Big Bird shook his head and said, "That's right. We chose him for his defense. As long as he's good enough on offense, that's fine. We already have Danny and DeMar. Roy's offensive potential is limited, so we just need to bring in a power forward with strong independent offensive capabilities.

But there is one thing to note, his mental quality is too poor, he started to get anxious after missing two shots, you should communicate with him more."

Vogel felt bitter when he heard this, but he still agreed. As a reserve head coach, if he couldn't even take on this little job, he might be a reserve forever.

But Hibbert's psychological quality is very difficult to deal with.

It has something to do with his growing environment. Hibbert is a "real black man". When he was a child, he played golf and tennis, and played piano and violin... In high school, his height soared to 210+ cm. After the head coach of the school team, Dwayne Bryant, begged him to join the basketball team, and he really started to get in touch with basketball. He was granted a charter before graduating from high school, and trained with the Georgetown University preparatory team and participated in exchange competitions. In his freshman season, he became the core center... He has been surrounded by flowers and applause since he was a child, and his ability to resist frustration is quite poor.

Vogel felt a little upset when he saw Granger patting Hibbert on the back and saying something, and a smile broke out on Hibbert's bitter face... Hey!
Granger, who had just finished comforting his younger brother, suddenly felt a chill - was the air conditioning in the stadium turned up too high tonight?
...

After the timeout, the Pacers made adjustments on offense... Go ahead, boss!

The head coach of the Pacers is Jim O'Brien. He has poor coaching ability, but he is very good at cultivating outside talents. Anthony Walker and Pierce were both trained and grew rapidly during his time as an assistant coach with the Celtics.

After Bird drove Carlisle away, he immediately decided to rebuild and signed Jim O'Brien to train Granger. Jim O'Brien played an indispensable role in Granger's rapid growth last season.

Jim O'Brien has strong execution ability. It is difficult to let him lead the team to achieve results, but when it comes to the "product exhibition" work given by Bird, he can eliminate all external interference and strictly implement Bird's plan.

Facing Zhang Yang's defense, Granger tried not to go inside to avoid being double-teamed. He started to play from the outside, facing Zhang Yang's interference, giving up the rhythm and using his height and wingspan advantage to make strong shots. The Pacers quickly broke the scoring drought.

But this is not a bad thing for the Bobcats, but a good thing!

Their wing defenders can engage in melee combat with the Pacers' wing defenders to their heart's content. They don't care whether Zhang Yang can be defended or will be beaten. They focus on melee combat to pave the way for the second and third lineups' defense.

Granger, who has entered his peak period, is indeed very capable, a bit like his draft template T-Mac, and his strong shots without rhythm can guarantee good accuracy.

In response to this, Zhang Yang's method was to respond with a fierce singles attack together with Felton!
Felton played very steadily. He would shoot when he had the chance and pass to his teammates when he didn't have the chance.

Zhang Yang is different...

After the timeout, the Bobcats slowed down the pace of widening the gap. When the difference was just over 10 points, the two sides fought back and forth for a while, but the pressure on the Pacers players increased instead.

The starting lineup's playing style will affect the opposing wing shooters, and the Bobcats will definitely be affected as well, so just throw it!

Zhang Yang defends Granger, and the one defending Zhang Yang is naturally Granger.

Letting Ford or Dunleavy defend Zhang Yang is equivalent to giving away points.

Every time Granger defends Zhang Yang's dribbling attack, he has a question mark in his head - is it really true that our offensive tactics are not working and we can only use stars to play one-on-one?
At 6 minutes and 44 seconds in the first quarter, Felton broke through but was blocked by Hibbert and had no chance, so he passed the ball to Millsap, who passed it to Zhang Yang who ran around the three-point line to the top arc.

Murphy moved in advance to defend Zhang Yang who received the ball. Zhang Yang turned around and jumped towards Murphy who was rushing towards him, using the opponent as a cannon and took a three-point shot... and hit it!
The Pacers called a timeout, 24 to 9, the Bobcats' lead reached 15 points!
After the referee blew the whistle, Zhang Yang and his teammates celebrated excitedly. He was very excited about the shot, and his teammates were also very excited watching!
The Pacers players were all numb, especially Granger who was defending Zhang Yang alone, and Murphy who came to provide backup defense.

In the previous ball, if Zhang Yang had reacted a little slower, turned around a little slower after receiving the ball, or jumped a little slower... Murphy might have blocked it. The ball almost flew past Murphy's fingertips!
Who the hell plays basketball like this!

Kobe and Billups wouldn't dare to be so reckless, right?

Bird, Vogel, Carlisle and others were also confused. Is this how basketball is played?

Carlisle was relatively better. He said to Vincent beside him: "Did Jack have any misunderstanding about our defensive adjustment plan? I kind of regret saying that."

Vincent: "It's true that Jack seems to play like this because you said 'The offense of the starting lineup is up to you'... But he can make the shot, so it should be okay, right? I don't quite understand the thinking of a scorer of his strength, do you understand?"

Carlisle: "...I feel like you're scolding me."

On the other side, DeRozan, who was called on the Pacers bench and was about to play, was also stunned.

Ronaldinho: This is the youngest FMVP and the youngest scoring champion in history, Zhang San? Is my third brother so fierce?
(End of this chapter)