Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 142: When any media discusses the regular season MVP, they should add

As October approaches, all major media outlets are beginning to look forward to the new season.

As the defending champions, the Indiana Pacers are ranked first on most media team strength lists.

Even ESPN, which always likes to stir up trouble, did not deliberately rank them behind other teams for the sake of gimmicks. Instead, they said rationally: "Reggie Miller's retirement will not affect this team in any way, because Ron Artest is back, and most importantly, they have Suwan. The 20-year-old Suwan will bring us more surprises than the 19-year-old Suwan!"

On July 7, Suwan’s 1th birthday, ESPN even published a special news headline, imagining Suwan’s future.

The last person to be treated like this by them was LeBron James.

In second place is the Miami Heat.

Shaquille O'Neal's weight loss, Wade's third season, and Pat Riley's series of god-level operations in the summer... All of the above, combined, are the reasons why the Miami Heat ranks second on the combat power list.

In fact, many media have placed the Heat at the top of the new season's power rankings.

TNT commentator Marv Albert said: "I don't mean to disrespect Suwan and the Indiana Pacers, but if I don't put the Heat first, it would be disrespectful to the OK combination. Everyone knows what the OK combination brought us over the years."

But his words caused dissatisfaction from the Los Angeles media:

"Anyone who thinks that the K in the OK combination can be easily replaced, let the facts speak for themselves!"

Next in third place on the power list is the Phoenix Suns.

Joe Johnson's move to Atlanta did not make the Suns fall out of the list of favorable contenders for the championship in the new season because they added Stephen Jackson, the "championship wing".

Some Phoenix media are superstitious: "Stephen obviously has some qualities, just like Robert Horry, who helped the team win the championship with the Rockets and the Lakers. Stephen will surpass him."

The Rockets unexpectedly ranked 7th.

The reason is that many media believe that their unexpected breakthrough in last season's playoffs will accelerate the team's becoming stronger.

in particular……

Yao Ming!

Sports Illustrated ranked Yao Ming 7th among the top ten players to look forward to in the new season: "We all know that players in their contract year tend to explode. Yao Ming is in such a period. He refused to renew his contract with the Rockets in advance and wants to use the fourth year of his career to prove whether he is worthy of a maximum salary. This makes his performance in the new season worth everyone's expectations!"

By the way, Su Wan ranked first on this list:
"What else is there to say? He won the Finals MVP at the age of 19, the first person since Magic Johnson. Is there anyone more worth looking forward to than Suwan?"

The Mavericks ranked 13th.

Most media believe that their best result will be the second round of the playoffs, just like last season.

I'm coming!
Texas Classic: Mavericks are weak, Rockets are strong, Spurs are...

Well, this season's Spurs are no longer about whether they are old or not, it's about having no one.

ESPN ranked them 27th:
"No disrespect to Tim Duncan, but we all know what Gregg Popovich is going to do, and that's how he got Tim Duncan."

In addition, ESPN also ranked the NBA player strength list.

This fresh list immediately attracted a lot of traffic and attracted everyone's attention.

They also know how to play it. Every day they announce the rankings of a part of the players, from the back to the front. On the first day they announce 1 people, on the second day they announce 50 people and so on, decreasing in sequence. On the last day they announce what they think are the top ten players of the new season.

Su Wan ranks 9th on this list.

He is second only to Dwyane Wade at the two position.

What caused controversy was Kobe's ranking, as he ranked 12th.

Okay, this is ESPN!

As we all know, ESPN has a completely different attitude towards Kobe and LeBron, and has always looked down on him. ——ESPN has always been able to take advantage of Kobe's traffic.

LeBron James ranked 10th, and here’s what they said:
"We believe LeBron can be ranked higher, but at least for now, he can't be ranked ahead of Suwan."

In addition, they also announced the list of candidates for the regular season MVP, and they ranked Suwan fifth, which also caused some controversy. The reason is very simple, Suwan is only 5 years and 20 months old, and the NBA has never had such a young regular season MVP.

The league also announced the schedules for each team in the new season during this period.

The Indiana Pacers will open their season at home against the Detroit Pistons.

David Stern is really good at letting his "mortal enemy" witness the first championship banner in the history of the Pacers.

On the same day, there will also be the "Western Conference Finals 2.0" between the Suns and the Rockets.

Do you think this is the end?
On the second day, there was the "03 Showdown" between Dwyane Wade and LeBron, and the "scoring battle" between Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant.

To be honest, there are indeed many superstars in this period, and any random arrangement will result in a matchup that will attract a lot of traffic.

As Su Wan expected, after the CIC reached 80 points, several more CIC-related techniques appeared on his technical panel:
Bounce mid-range shot, pull-up jump shot, fade away mid-range shot, floater shot and step-back mid-range shot, as well as catch-and-shoot.

Among them, the jumping mid-range shot is an ordinary mid-range shot, which is also the shooting method that Su Wan can use to his full potential. The potential value is also high. The two data are: 78 and 94 respectively.

Pull-up jumper: 70 (85);
Back: 55 (80);
Throws: 42 (85);
Step back: 35 (85);
Catch and shoot: 13 (80);
Among the other items, catching and shooting is his lowest ability.

He also rarely runs into open space to catch the ball and shoot.

In addition, he rarely uses floaters and step-backs.

He usually uses the fadeaway jumper in "The zone" mode.

In addition to the standard mid-range shot, the pull-up jump shot is what he uses most frequently, and he also practices it during normal practice.

Then there is no doubt.

Next, he will focus all his energy on training related to change-of-speed breakthroughs and quick-stop jump shots, striving to hone these two techniques to the "ace" level as soon as possible.

I don’t know which star this playing style resembles.

On October 10, the preseason of the new season officially arrived.

David Stern specially arranged for the Pacers and Rockets to return to China to play the "China Derby".

Before the game, Su Wan chatted with him for a while.

Su Wan was very happy that Yao Ming was willing to listen to his advice and was not in a hurry to renew the contract.

Of course, this may also have a lot to do with the attitude of the Houston media.

They have been urging Yao Ming to bow his head and agree to the offer made by the Rockets management. At this time, Yao Ming cannot agree to it for any reason. If we really wait until next year...

Then the free market may be about to experience an "earthquake".

Yao Ming did not play, but Su Wan played for more than 30 minutes and scored 28 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

But after the game, his expression was not excited, but a little lonely.

I don’t know if it was because of the “China Game” or his title as the Finals MVP, but no matter how he provoked the Rockets players during the game, they pretended not to hear him.

Really are……

Not interesting!
Back in Indiana, in the Pacers' second preseason game, Suwan tried again, scoring 25 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. The opponent was still unwilling to accept his "trash talk", which made him feel a sense of urgency.

There's no way, you guys forced me to do this!
After the second preseason game, Su Wan opened fire indiscriminately: "These new players in the league are really boring. Why don't they dare to respond to trash talk? Why are you playing basketball if you are so timid? Isn't it better to go home and grow corn?"

He originally wanted to say cotton, but luckily he changed his words quickly to "corn".

This bombardment did have some effect.

In the third preseason game, the Pacers faced the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rashard McCants, one of the "North Carolina Four", who picked 14th in the first round this year, launched a tough counterattack against Suwan's "trash talk".

then……

There's no after that!

He averaged 13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3 assists in the first two preseason games, but he didn't even get 3.6 points in this game. Suwan scored a terrifying 21 points, 34 rebounds and 31 assists in 5 minutes and 6 seconds, allowing the "champion guard" who had just won the NCAA finals to see the difference between him and the NBA "champion guard".

McCants still hasn't recovered after the game.

Su Wan praised him in front of the media: "He proved that he is different from other newcomers. At least he has a mouth!"

McCants, who was originally very depressed, straightened his shriveled chest when he heard what the reporter said, and looked proud as if to say:

Even though this buddy played badly, he won the "Su Wan Recognition Award"!
To receive such an honor at such a young age, what will his future be like?

After constant ridicule and instigation from the media, a 183cm man in New Orleans could no longer hold back: “I’ll let him know that the freshmen of the 05 class are not what he said they were.”

New No. 1 pick Bogut also said: "If he dares to try to challenge the Bucks' inside line, I will definitely let him know how difficult it is!"

Very good, there is something interesting to watch!

Unfortunately, after McCants, Su Wan met another group of "cowards" and he couldn't even curse them for a long time.

Since he couldn't get a higher zone value, he lost interest after the fourth preseason game and stopped playing.

Seeing that Suwan had almost played enough, Rick Carlisle began to use a large number of new players and rookies, letting them play to find their form and to get used to each other.

The Pacers lost the next two games at lightning speed.

In the end, all 6 preseason games were played. They won all 4 games that Suwan played and lost the other 2 games.

The record is 4 wins and 2 losses.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the best record in the Eastern Conference preseason, winning all six games.

The Cleveland media was so excited that they wanted to cry. This was how they wanted to feel.

In the 32 minutes and 45 seconds that LeBron was on the court, he averaged 32 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7 assists per game. The exaggerated average data and domineering performance on the court made them feel like they were back to the 03-04 season that was full of infinite expectations.

Zhu Fangyu also made his debut in the preseason.

Mike Brown seemed to trust him very much and gave him a lot of playing time. In the end, after 6 games, he averaged 11.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

The media who have watched his games all believe that he cannot become the next "Su Wan" and it will take time for him to reach the star level of Yao Ming.

Danny Ferry said: "You can't expect every Chinese CBA Finals MVP to be Su Wan. Yao's rookie season performance was not good. Zhu, like Yao, needs time to adjust and run in slowly."

LeBron James praised Zhu Fangyu and said, "Sometimes, the right partner is more important. Zhu and I are a good match!"

This touched Zhu Fangyu, and he felt that LeBron was a good person even more.

Su Wan’s temper is still too bad!

Facing the media, he also confidently said: "I still need some time to find my form!"

On October 10, the opening game of the 28-05 season officially kicked off.

The Indiana people were so excited that they almost sang:

I have waited for a long time until today, and I have finally realized my dream after dreaming for a long time~
at last!

Finally!
They can finally see the championship banner hanging above Conseco Fieldhouse.

From joining the NBA in 1976 until this year, they have waited for this day for 29 years!
Therefore, the atmosphere at Conseco Fieldhouse tonight is completely that of the playoffs.

All Indiana players present spontaneously wore the uniform gray uniforms distributed by the Pacers during last season's playoffs.

Two hours before the game started, the entire auditorium was filled with a "gray" atmosphere.

Larry Bird finally couldn't help it. He said to Walsh, "Can't you choose a more hopeful color?"

The reason why we haven’t won the championship for so many years has been found!
Walsh said: "This is called an all-consuming mudslide!"

Fuck you!
If Bird hadn't seen the media reporters approaching, he would have cursed out loud.

Su Wan was also interviewed, and the reporter asked him about the controversy over the regular season MVP. Su Wan said: "I think any media should include my name when discussing the regular season MVP in the new season. My age is not a problem, and my performance on the court will break all doubts."

Another question: "If you can't play today, are you worried about the team losing on this championship night?"

Su Wan said: "I have great confidence in my teammates. I believe they can make this championship night a success."

The combination of Artest and O'Neal is first-rate in the entire league.

Coupled with the "enemy BUFF", even without him, he believes that he can have a great chance of winning against the "Piston Five".

What's more, how can one boost others' ambitions and destroy one's own prestige?
Second update.


(End of this chapter)