Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 398 Small Forward Han Sen

When it came to the beginning of October, the curtain fell on the Kings training camp and the annual media day began.

Although there were some minor incidents in the training camp, every player seemed very excited at the media day.

We can get a glimpse of the clues from some of the words said by the players during interviews.

"This is the year with the most reporters I've seen since I came to Sacramento," Stan expressed his genuine excitement.

The agreement he had previously reached with Lu was a compromise, because Hansen's tough attitude made him realize that if he didn't do what the coaching staff said, the only result would be that he would be traded.

Going to a new team and starting over would be very bad for him who is in his contract year.

But at this moment, he personally felt the changes in the Kings and realized that staying with the Kings was the best way out for him.

"That doesn't matter to me anymore, I have bigger goals."

When reporters expressed their dissatisfaction with Mitchell's loss to last season's Rookie of the Year on Media Day, Mitchell had mixed emotions.

After losing to Simmons at the awards ceremony last season, Mitchell expressed his dissatisfaction on social media.

Simmons is just on a better team. He has Jimmy Butler and Embiid by his side, but Mitchell's teammates are Gay and Sabonis.

He lost to Simmons, just like Anthony lost to James.

Not to mention Simmons is essentially a second-year player.

However, his remarks did not attract much attention from the outside world. After all, Simmons is a media darling and is in a big city like Philadelphia, while he is in Sacramento, in a graveyard like the Kings.

However, the new season has not yet begun, and the media has now begun to speak up for him.

Mitchell is well aware that it wasn't the media that changed its mind, but the Kings.

To paraphrase O'Neal, players go to big cities for a bigger platform, but Hansen himself is the biggest platform.

Wherever he goes, it means that place will become the focus of attention of the media and reporters.

This kind of focus will make players excited about the current situation and look forward to the future.

After the media day, the curtain of the new season was officially opened, and the first game to start was the preseason.

The Kings' first preseason game of the new season will be against the Rockets.

Although the Rockets lost in the Western Conference Finals last season, management renewed the contracts of Paul and Capela this summer and tried to retain the team's main lineup as much as possible.

In addition, they also signed Carmelo Anthony, who was previously traded to the Hawks by the Thunder and then bought out.

This has something to do with their change of owner. Last season, Alexander, who was known for being stingy in the league, finally sold the team to Tilman Fertitta because of his age.

Of course, what is more important is that Hansen's departure from the Cavaliers, like Jordan's first retirement, has made other teams show the strongest desire for the championship in the new season.

Because everyone is very clear about Hansen's strength, maybe one day Hansen will make a comeback with the Kings just like Jordan did when he made his first comeback, and the window for them to win the championship may only be one or two years.

This preseason game was played at the Kings' home court.

Then, it was Sacramento fans' turn to really feel the difference in the new season.

NBA preseason games are similar to warm-up games. In most games, the main players only play half the game, so tickets for preseason games are very cheap.

Take the Kings for example. The lowest ticket price for last season's preseason games was $5, which is almost free.

But even so, the number of fans who went to the stadium to watch the game was very limited, basically just the size of a small number.

But this year, tickets for this preseason game were sold out shortly after they went on sale, and the tickets still on the market are all in the hands of scalpers.

Compared with the less intuitive commercial manifestations of commercial investment, this polar reversal in ticket sales is the most intuitive.

When the Kings came out of the player tunnel of the Golden One Arena, they saw a packed audience, which stunned the former Kings players.

"Are we playing in the finals?" Sabonis couldn't help but sigh.

"That's our goal." Mitchell was the first to recover from his shock.

The NBA is a job for players, but who doesn’t want to show themselves on a bigger stage and in front of more fans?

Money is the biggest motivation for players to play, but it is not all.

There was no opening ceremony for the preseason game, and after the warm-up, the starting lineups for both teams were announced one after another.

Rockets: Paul, Harden, Anthony, Tucker, Capela
Kings: Hansen, Mitchell, Tatum, Sabonis, Stan

The victory or defeat in the preseason is not important, it is more about running in the lineup.

Hansen's position in this game was the same as when he was with the Cavaliers, both were the number one position.

After the game started, the Kings quickly fell into a disadvantage.

The Rockets' quick offense and defense transitions made it impossible for the Kings to keep up with the pace.

It is obvious that compared to the Kings, the Rockets are the more mature and stronger team.

On the other hand, the new players of the Kings are still adapting to Hansen's presence, and they always pass the ball to Hansen.

Mitchell, the only one who dared to fight, didn't perform well against Paul's defense.

Although the Kings' rookies are good, there are too many of them, and none of them have the talent of Jokic.

After the first quarter, the Kings trailed the Rockets by double digits at 18-30.

It is worth mentioning that the league has implemented a 14-second second offense system in the new season, which means that the offense time for grabbing an offensive rebound has returned to 24 seconds, but now it has become 14 seconds.

This will greatly increase the offensive rhythm on the court, which will be another bonus for a team like the Rockets that is good at transitioning between offense and defense.

In the second quarter, Lu made some adjustments to the lineup. He replaced Sabonis with Hield in the main stage of the second quarter.

Doing this is to follow the Rockets' offense and defense transition, which is a passive adjustment, but the effect is good.

Hansen also made some efforts in this quarter, scoring 14 points in a single quarter, helping the Kings narrow the score to 48 to 54 before halftime.

The atmosphere at the Golden One Arena continued to be high during the second quarter.

Although it was a preseason game and the Kings were always behind, the momentum of catching up and the pressure they put on their opponents were things they had never had in the past.

In other words, although the Kings had many new players in the past, people could not see any hope. But now, they finally have that vibrant feeling.

In the second half, the main players of both teams did not continue to play, and the bench players and even marginal players played the entire second half. The Kings eventually lost the game 100-110.

There was no post-game press conference in the preseason, and the players returned to the locker room after the game.

Han Sen did not go along because Lu was discussing a problem with Han Sen before the game was over.

Lu plans to let Hansen play more at the small forward position in the new season.

In fact, during the training camp, when Hansen asked Lu to throw Stan into the bench, he was trying the "Death Five" lineup.

He previously served as an assistant coach for Malone in Cleveland, so he naturally highly praised this tactic.

And the Kings' configuration is also very suitable for this. Whether it is Stan or Sabonis, they are both capable of playing the fifth position in a five-small lineup, the only difference is that one is good at defense and the other is good at offense.

Then there is the key power forward, Tatum.

Tatum is the most embarrassing type of player in the NBA: a neither good nor bad player. Well-known players of this type, such as Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley, were powerful weapons in the NCAA, but basically did not make a name for themselves in the NBA.

Because their characteristics are very similar, they all lack speed at the No. 3 position in the NBA and lack confrontation at the No. 4 position.

However, Tatum has better talent than those two, and one thing that cannot be ignored is that he was born in a more suitable era.

In this era, it is not only the top centers that are dying out with the rules, but more accurately, the top inside players. Those low-post killers in the inside are rare.

This situation gives players like Tatum room to survive at the power forward position.

In fact, the Kings used this lineup when they were chasing points in the second quarter: Hansen, Mitchell, Hield, Tatum, and Stan.

During this period, Hansen played the number one position on offense, but he was competing against Anthony on defense, and the defensive effect was quite good.

However, position adjustment is not a simple change of position, but will also be accompanied by tactical changes, which is why the two people need to talk for so long.

Han Sen certainly supported Lu's idea.

In other words, just as he had thought when he exchanged his wingspan talent, he had long been eager to play as a small forward.

Lu's proposal was exactly what he wanted.

Of course, whether this will work in the end will only be known after the regular season starts.

Time passed quickly and it was late October. The Kings finally ended their preseason journey with 10 wins and 4 losses.

It was at this time that the league officially announced the first team strength list of the new season.

The Celtics top this list.

Although they lost Avery Bradley this summer, the quality of their backcourt defense has not declined significantly because they already have Smart on the team.

Moreover, as a reinforcement for the inside line, they also signed Greg Monroe with a mid-level contract, and their overall strength increased instead of decreased.

The Warriors ranked second on the list.

Although the preseason games are not of much reference value, the coordination between George and the Warriors was perfect.

As for Cousins' departure, in addition to entrusting important tasks to Kevon Rooney, the Warriors also signed back old player Bogut.

The Pelicans are in third place.

Although they were swept by the Cavaliers in the finals, the good news is that the Pelicans' lineup is at least stable.

And their most important signing this summer was Avery Bradley, who took the Pelicans' defensive quality to a higher level.

The Rockets, 76ers, Cavaliers, and Bucks ranked 4th to 7th.

The Kings ranked eighth.

Compared to the rankings of Han Sen’s previous teams, this position is relatively low.

But if you consider this is the Kings, it's actually on the high side (the Raptors are ninth).

You should know that the last time the Kings made the playoffs was 13 years ago, in the 2005-2006 season, when Artest was still the leader of the Kings.

They haven't made the playoffs since.

But now, because of Hansen, they are ranked eighth in the league and fourth in the Western Conference.

This has also further increased the expectations of Kings fans for the new season.

The Kings' opening opponent is the Cavaliers.

Silva's game arrangements are becoming more and more like Stern's.

The Cavaliers' championship ring award ceremony, Hansen's first return to Cleveland after leaving the team, was full of topics.

Just as the Kings arrived in Cleveland, a large number of fans showed up at the airport to greet them.

They held up signs welcoming Han Sen home, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

In August of this year, Hansen took time out from training to return to Cleveland to attend the unveiling ceremony of his sculpture.

Compared to his time with the Grizzlies, choosing a statue for his time with the Cavaliers was much easier.

Because his most famous nickname here comes from O'Neal back then: the Technical Desk Terminator.

So his statue is the one that jumps onto the technical table, points his fingers at the ground and shouts “This is my house”.

And the annotation below the statue is this sentence.

So the fans' enthusiasm is completely understandable, because although Hansen has gone to another team, Cleveland will always be his home.

"If it were me, I would definitely not be able to leave fans like this." Mitchell couldn't help but sigh after seeing such a scene.

"So none of us can become him." Sabonis looked at Hansen's back with admiration.

Ordinary people simply don't have the courage to leave a championship-contending team and join a rebuilding team.

Even if there are people who have this kind of courage, there is a high probability that the new team will convert the newcomers into combat forces immediately.

"He is the real king." Mitchell nodded in approval. That is also Hansen's nickname in Sacramento now.

But what Mitchell didn't notice was that Tatum subconsciously frowned when he said this.

Jokic called Hansen as he got into the car after leaving the airport.

He had already prepared dinner and was waiting for Han Sen to arrive home.

Jokic is the happiest one when Hansen returns to Cleveland.

This past summer, Jokic signed a big contract and he also bought a villa in Cleveland.

The location of the villa is not far from Hansen Manor.

Although Hansen also bought a manor in Sacramento, he still kept the manor he built in Cleveland.

Natalia prepared standard Serbian cuisine for Hansen, including Balkan kebabs, pies, and fish, which were all what Hansen had eaten when he and Jokic went to Serbia.

In addition, there is a small sausage called chevapi and a dessert called baklava.

You can definitely tell that this was carefully prepared.

Ajali and Natalia were chatting happily, while Hansen and Jokic were talking about this summer.

"Luka is a very special player." Jokic also talked about the guy who also came from the Balkans but had a completely different personality from him.

"He always told me it's a lot easier to score here (in the NBA) than in Europe," Jokic said, laughing and shaking his head.

(End of this chapter)