Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 62: I Don’t Think Kobe Is the Best Player in the League

Hansen was prepared to lose his starting spot, but in the next back-to-back game against the 76ers, he still appeared in the starting lineup.

Of course, the same applies to his treatment on the court, he still doesn't have many opportunities to perform.

It seems that James still wants to keep Brown as the head coach.

After all, where can you find a second coach who is so obedient?

Other coaches are labeled as "run and gun master", "Zen master", "tactical master", but Brown is a "nanny-type coach".

Although it was still not fair, this result was much better than Hansen expected.

At least by staying on the court, he can still fight for opportunities.

Receiving shots, defending against counterattacks, and taking on tough tasks... although these game contents are difficult, they are not bad things for him now.

After all, he urgently needs these to improve his abilities.

Not everything was the same as it was against the Celtics, though.

The biggest difference came in the fourth quarter, when Hansen's rotation time was extremely abnormal.

As the starting shooting guard, he would be sent into the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter, then leave the court after playing for 6 minutes and would not play again.

At first he thought it was just a coincidence, but it happened again in several games.

Even Kalil's ESPN article titled "Why a team's best defensive player is sitting out late" didn't change that.

This move is extremely insidious.

Basketball games require teams and players to play well for 48 minutes.

But for the fans, unless there are some strong confrontations, most of the time they just watch the opening and the end.

Especially the final decisive moment, which is the part that fans love to watch the most.

But now, Hansen can't play directly, which greatly reduces his exposure in front of the fans.

As a result, Han Sen's big heart and performance like the buzzer-beater against the Magic in the opening game also had no chance to be displayed.

Moreover, the fans’ reaction was not as big as before. After all, although the rotation time was different, Han Sen had been given enough playing time.

从11月15日到23日的这一周时间里，骑士队经历了两次背靠背，把凯尔特人算在内打了6场比赛，战绩5胜1负。

The loss was to the Mavericks, and the wins were against non-playoff opponents such as the Bucks, 76ers, and Kings.

What a prosperous and peaceful scene of Southern Tang.

Han Sen always sat on the bench at the last moment, which made him speechless.

Since the Cavaliers don't want to use him well, why don't they just trade him?

It can't be that James loves and hates him, right?

Is he really that important to James?
On December 12, Hansen celebrated his 23st birthday in Cleveland.

The next day, he boarded a plane to Los Angeles with the Cavaliers.

After getting on the plane, James' trainer opened a box, which was a gift from James to his teammates, a pair of customized Beats noise-isolating headphones.

These headphones don’t look cheap, and there is a picture of James on the box.

Apparently this is the product he endorses.

Han Sen put on his eye mask, unpacked his headphones and put them on his head, then began to recuperate.

[23VS24] is a topic that Stern started to hype as early as 2008, but even if he tried his best over the years, he still failed to make it happen.

In the end, he couldn't stand it anymore and directly arranged it to the Christmas war.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that the attention to this game will be unprecedented.

It was already night when they arrived in Los Angeles. Hansen did not go to rest directly like other teammates. Instead, he asked Kalil, who arrived earlier, to do a pre-match interview with him in the hotel lobby.

Early the next morning, a report titled "I Don't Think Kobe is the Best Player in the League" came out.

Since Kobe led his team to win the championship this year, his status as the best player in the league has been recognized by the outside world.

So the title alone is enough to catch people's attention.

"I don't think Kobe is the best player in the league because the Lakers' championship last year lacked substance."

This was Hansen's answer when asked how he was going to deal with the best player in the league.

"They were forced into a Game 7 by the Rockets. If Yao hadn't been injured by Kobe's collision, the Rockets would have won the series."

The first argument he put forward was the buzzer beater.

This view was hotly discussed by countless netizens last year, especially his mention that Yao Ming was injured because of Kobe.

Because this also involves the topic of intentional and unintentional.

"If KG hadn't been injured, the Lakers wouldn't have been their opponent either. You have to know that the Celtics without KG still played the Magic until the seventh game." The second argument Hansen immediately put forward was also a hot topic among netizens before: It was too easy for the Lakers to beat the Magic in the finals.

"So who do you think is the best player in the league?"

"Of course...Tim Duncan."

"TD is the youngest FMVP since Magic Johnson. He has 4 championships, 3 FMVPs, and 2 MVPs. You can't ignore him just because he's low-key. If he played in Los Angeles, I believe he's already catching up with Michael Jordan."

"I know you might say TD is old, but what I want to say is that people say this every year, and TD is still one of the top five players in the league. In fact, many people may have overlooked that TD is only two years older than Kobe."

The arguments are clear and well-documented, and Hansen's views, while unconventional, are also thought-provoking.

Although if you look deeper, you can still find some problems.

For example, when Han Sen determines who is the best player in the league, he uses a purely honor-based approach.

But in fact, honors are not directly linked to player strength. It is an accumulation process. In addition to strength, it also depends on who has better teammates and who plays longer.

For example, taking the issue of injuries, the Celtics didn’t win the championship in 09 because KG was injured, so the Lakers didn’t win the championship in 08 because Bynum was injured?

Including Yao Ming's injury, if we were to talk about all these injuries, we would probably never be able to finish talking about them in a day and a night.

But does this matter?

It doesn’t matter, as long as it seems logically self-consistent, it will naturally make people think deeply and will naturally spread.

Especially Kobe fans, his largest fan group, will inevitably attack him.

Everything is for the black fan value.

But it’s not all for the black fan value.

After playing against the Celtics, he felt that his [Light Steps] had improved rapidly and he could even see the bottleneck.

The progress of this breakthrough talent was much faster than he expected.

This also made him more aware of the importance of high-quality competition.

But strong enough opponents don't come every night, especially in the Eastern Conference, so when we meet the Lakers, we must take advantage of them.

Especially Kobe.

In addition to his MVP-level offensive prowess, Kobe also has 9-time All-Defense defensive prowess.

Moreover, this guy is notoriously paranoid on the court.

Although he is not as truthful as Durant, he might remain indifferent when this kind of news is released?

Of course, Hansen followed the team throughout the game on the day after the news report and would never be a lone wolf.

There are extreme James fans among them, and the group of Kobe fans is even larger, and the number will only increase.

……

On the evening of December 12, the Staples Center was packed.

There are two stadiums in the NBA that never have trouble selling tickets: one is Madison Square Garden, and the other is the Staples Center.

Therefore, although the Buss family, who regards the Lakers as their main industry, is one of the poorest owners in the league, it will be difficult for them to go bankrupt as long as the NBA exists.

The scene was filled with a strong Christmas atmosphere, but some of the signboards standing there were still particularly eye-catching.

"Fxck 77"

"77, you know nothing about football"

"KB recognized as the best active player"

……

Han Sen was projected onto the LED screen by the photographer as soon as he appeared in the stadium, and the audience booed.

This Christmas battle was originally a fateful battle of 23VS24 created by Stern, and there was even a gimmick of OK reunion. However, no one expected that the first person to steal the show would be the rookie Hansen.

This also made two people in the stands shake their heads. One was Stern who was present in person, and the other was Ferry, the general manager of the Cavaliers who came with the team.

Han Sen naturally enjoyed being the center of attention.

He hasn't done anything yet, but the rate at which his anti-fan value is increasing is already catching up with when he scored 2+1 against Tony Allen.

As expected, 60 billion Ko fans are so terrifying.

But just when he was feeling proud, he suddenly felt a chill on his back.

This feeling is much stronger than when I was in Oklahoma.

Han Sen turned his head and saw a pair of cold, snake-like eyes staring at him not far away.

(End of this chapter)