Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 337 People Need to Pay for Their Choices
Seeing Wade's smile, Hansen reached over and opened his arms to give him a big hug as he walked over.

"Do you need to warm up?" After meeting each other, Wade went straight to the point.

Han Sen shook his head, took off his coat, and then started a one-on-one game with Wade.

Apart from their on-court clashes, the two haven't fought like this off the court for many years.

Of course, Wade was no match for Hansen now, but he kept fighting until he ran out of energy.

Time seemed to have gone back to 8 years ago, except that the two people's positions were swapped.

After the duel, the two sat on the sidelines. Wade handed the water to Han Sen: "I heard you have a breakfast club?"

From what he said, he wants to join.

Han Sen subconsciously glanced at Wade's knees.

Wade followed Han Sen's gaze, patted his knee, and said proudly, "I'm having a second spring with it now."

Of course, he can no longer have the explosive power of his peak period, but he can still maintain a breakthrough threat.

That doesn't come from bursts, but rhythm.

In other words, before, Wade's knee adapted to Wade, but now, Wade adapts to his own knee.

Han Sen nodded. Since Wade was so motivated, he certainly had no reason to refuse.

"I thought you would refuse to report." Han Sen continued.

"I actually thought about not being able to come here." Wade said with emotion, "I have lost to you so many times. If I still lose after joining you, I can retire right here."

His words were very true. For him, although he joined passively, it was a road with no turning back.

After all, it was equivalent to conducting a variable experiment, and he was the one who was finally tested out.

"But you still came, because you think we can win?" Han Sen said with a smile.

“Yes, but not all.”

Wade's answer surprised Han Sen.

"After being your opponent for so many years, I also want to experience what it's like to be your teammate."

Han Sen was stunned for a moment, then he laughed and put his hand on Wade's shoulder.

After putting away his smile, he said seriously: "Trust me, you will like that feeling."

On the second day of training, Wade, Korver and Covington all reported to the locker room under the guidance of Lu.

Han Sen stood up and opened his arms to Wade again.

Yesterday's hug was a reunion between friends, but today it was a welcome as a team leader.

Although Wade is no longer at his peak, his fame is still there, and Hansen has given him a lot of support.

Covington was very good at seizing the opportunity. After the two hugged, he took the initiative to greet Hansen and introduce himself.

Korver, on the other hand, waited until they finished talking before finally smiling and walking up to shake Hansen's hand.

Putting aside his strength, his arrival has made up for the team's declining appearance after Irving left.

The intensity of the Cavaliers' training session today was particularly high.

One trade for three people is a big change for the team.

Moreover, these three are rotation-level players. Wade will be the starting player, and Covington will also challenge Tucker for the starting position.

A stable environment is one of the important reasons why the defending champions performed poorly in their defending season, and this deal directly gave rise to intra-team competition among the Cavaliers.

Whether that makes the Cavaliers better or worse, only time will tell.

Malone was particularly strict today, and even the newcomer Covington was scolded.

After the training, Han Sen couldn't help but chat with Lu.

After the conversation, he took out his cell phone and looked at it, his expression slightly speechless.

"For me personally, as I sit here today, I am certain of one thing, which is that I want to be in a place where I am welcome, not a place where I am tolerated and disliked by others, or in other words, I did not feel respected enough before."

The Bulls held a press conference for Irving this morning, and this is what Irving said at the conference.

Does anyone on the Cavaliers disrespect Irving?
When Owen wanted to leave, both management and Hansen hoped that he would stay.

As for disdain, it is nonsense. If he really disliked Irving, he would have left the Cavaliers as early as last season.

Of course, if the reduction in tactical status is understood as disdain and disrespect, then it makes sense.

It’s no wonder that Ma Long reacted so strongly.

The Cavaliers' opponent that night was the Bucks.

Although the Bucks failed to get Irving in the previous trade, they have gradually grown through the draft and trades over the years.

The trident of Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Parker is leading the Bucks back to the playoffs.

Because the new players had just arrived, Malone did not arrange for them to play.

Irving and Dunleavy, who were traded before, are both rotation players, which means that the rotation of ten players has been reduced to eight players, which is a test for the Cavaliers.

The Bucks are also eager to try, wanting to seize this opportunity to defeat the Cavaliers and become famous.

Antetokounmpo, in particular, frequently attacked the Cavaliers' inside line after the opening.

Because his playing style is similar to James, his popularity in the United States has skyrocketed. He was selected as an All-Star starter just after he scored 20+ points.

Nike is now lagging behind UA in the competition for new players. They have adjusted their strategy and begun to shift their focus to existing players, such as Irving and Antetokounmpo.

They also started to create a character for Antetokounmpo, first giving him a domineering nickname: The Greek Monster.

What follows is a touching story: Antetokounmpo sent all his salary to his family during his rookie period, so he forgot to save money for a taxi and could only run back to the stadium. Fortunately, he met a kind fan who gave him a ride back to the stadium.

He has a monster body but a warm heart. This contrasting character of "beast face but human heart" is very likable.

Led by Antetokounmpo, the Bucks beat the Cavaliers 8-2 at the start, showing great momentum.

Malone then deployed a 2-3 zone defense.

This defensive style, which was able to effectively limit James in the past, achieved certain results on Antetokounmpo, but it was not as good as expected.

Antetokounmpo's playing style is similar to James, but his playing style is very different.

He had not started to gain weight significantly at this time, and his offense was mainly off-ball cutting. Even when he was attacking with the ball, his breakthroughs and turns were very flexible.

Moreover, with his height of 2 meters, wingspan of 11 meters, and excellent athletic ability, he is like a big spider on the defensive end and has a strong presence.

Seeing this, Malone did not hesitate and directly used his killer move, launching an attack around the pick-and-roll between Hansen and Jokic.

At this time, Antetokounmpo felt the "love" from the No. 1 player in the league. He was teased by Han Sen after the pick-and-roll.

His athletic ability and physical talent were unable to find a point of force in the face of Han Sen's fake moves, so he could only jump around.

In order to attract new players, UA also invited Antetokounmpo to participate in Hansen's summer training camp.

But it is obvious that both the young Antetokounmpo and the current Greek monster are still too young in front of Hansen.

Although the rotation phase was not as smooth as before, after extending the playing time of Hansen and Jokic, the Cavaliers secured the victory in three quarters and eventually defeated their opponents 106-90.

Although Wade did not appear on the court, he looked very excited throughout the game and stood up and applauded his teammates from time to time.

He has been playing hard for the Bulls this season, but the team is only ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference, with the Bucks just ahead of them.

As a result, even with a few fewer rotation players, the Cavaliers still won so easily.

He understood a little bit what Han Sen said that night: Lie down, I will help you win.

"Han is the greatest basketball player in the world. Our tactical goal is to make it easier for him to shoot. No one will be treated differently, and there is no such thing as being respected or not respected."

Malone is a vengeful person. He responded to Irving's remarks very directly in the post-match press conference.

After this statement was exposed by the media, it quickly led to an escalation of public opinion.

You should know that the outside world was full of curiosity about the inside story of the "Cavaliers trade of Irving".

Although Irving admitted at the meeting that he left the team after requesting a trade, his subsequent remarks that he "didn't get enough respect" indicated that he was forced.

Now Malone has responded again, and as a result, fans are becoming more and more curious about the "truth".

This also makes the Cavaliers' home game against the Bulls two days later a highly anticipated game.

Silva must have been smiling so hard after seeing the news these days that he couldn't suppress it.

Originally, the period before the All-Star Game every year was the time when the league received the least attention, but the Cavaliers' move directly brought fans' attention back.

If the Cavaliers hadn't played a game against the Bucks before, fans would have thought this was a script he arranged.

However, there are actually quite a few such transactions in the NBA, but this time it happened to the defending champion and it is more eye-catching.

The day after the game against the Bucks, Wade practiced three-pointers alone after the training session.

Wade's three-point shooting is a mystery, or maybe he is the same as Kobe. If you look at their statistics, one is close to 30% in his career, and the other is just over 30%. They are totally the best.

But a very realistic question is: If they are left open outside the three-point line at the last moment, would you dare to let them go?
Even without critical moments, even in normal offense, the probability of defensive players giving up three-pointers is much lower than giving up James.

They can shoot, but that offense is the least efficient way to score compared to the other weapons in their arsenal, so they don't spend time on it during normal practices.

And shooting is always directly linked to the amount of training.

Even Han Sen now has to spend a lot of time on shooting training every day.

Of course, Wade can't suddenly train his three-point shooting to elite level, but he can improve his stability a little.

Of course, more important than that is the attitude Wade showed. He knows the role he plays in the Cavaliers.

On the day of the game, Malone announced the team's starting lineup, and Wade was included in the starting list.

This is a choice that seems expected, but is actually unreasonable.

Theoretically speaking, it is not wise to put Wade in the starting lineup when the Cavaliers already have TT in their regular lineup.

Because Hansen held the ball and played pick-and-roll with Jokic, it meant that Tucker was the only one on the court creating space.

This is completely contrary to the arrangement of the "one star and four shoots" tactical system.

Malone's arrangement is obviously related to Wade's attitude after joining the Cavaliers.

On the night of the game, the Quicken Loans Arena was packed, and even the Big Three of TNT came to the scene.

This originally ordinary regular season game has now become a real focus of attention.

When the players from both teams entered the stadium before the game and the camera turned to Irving, there was a burst of boos.

"They shouldn't treat Kyrie like this." Kenny Smith continued his rational character, but he was obviously trying to bring up the topic.

"If he hadn't said those words, I believe he would have been greeted with applause and cheers tonight, but unfortunately he didn't control his mouth." Barkley quickly got to the point, but it always felt weird when these words came out of his mouth.

"Kyrie is still young. When he retires and looks back on these things, he will find that what he is doing now is very childish, because you cannot predict what will happen in the future. Maybe one day you should return to where your dream began, but you will find that you no longer have the chance to go back." O'Neal said this with more emotion.

Last summer, Garnett and Stoudemire were a good contrast. Garnett chose to return to Minnesota to end his career, but Stoudemire could only stay in New York.

Of course, young Owen couldn't hear any of this.

All he could hear was the annoying hissing sounds around him.

At this moment, as if the booing was not enough, a spectator in the front row shouted at Irving on the court.

Han Sen turned around and found that it was a female fan.

"Kaili, you're a deserter!" Although she was a female fan, she spoke rudely.

Owen turned back.

"Answer me!" The female fan continued to speak but failed to make Irving turn his head again.

"Answer me, did you run away?!" the female fan refused to give in.

Owen finally turned around, his face clearly showing displeasure:
"I helped you win the championship, but now you are ungrateful!"

He pointed to the boos around him.

"You asked for it!" the female fan showed no sign of weakness.

"It was Han who won the championship for us, no matter if he was by your side, DW or someone else!" At this time, the male fan next to her also joined in.

"Shut the fuck up!" Irving swore rarely, then turned and left.

After returning to the bench, he took the towel handed to him by the staff and held it tightly.

He originally only felt grateful to Han Sen, but at this moment, a slight change occurred in his heart.

He knew that in order to make these voices disappear, he had to do one thing, and that was to defeat Hansen.

This was what he was destined to do after he made the choice to leave.

Han Sen didn't know what was happening on the other half of the court. He was communicating with Wade.

He doesn't have time to pay attention to how Irving is doing now, but is trying to make Wade perform well in his Cavaliers debut.

There's more than one person with something to prove tonight.

(End of this chapter)