Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 25 The most dazzling newcomer of the 04th class

The public opinion war between the two sides has been fierce in the past two days.

McGinnis saw it.

He was on the Cavaliers last season, and he knew very well what would happen if he stood on the opposite side of LeBron James. The Cavaliers management was ruthless, sending away Ricky Davis, a high-quality player who averaged 20.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.6 steals per game with an annual salary of only 500 million.

Need I say more about what happened to Su Wan?
So he firmly believes that he can continue to start.

However, when Paul Silas announced the preseason roster, he was stunned.

Not only was Su Wan not treated coldly, he also secured his starting position.

Is it possible...

LeBron's team lost the public opinion war, and now the management's public relations has also failed?
He didn't know.

The only thing he knew was:

LeBron James' supreme and unshakable position in the Cavaliers has been broken. Even though he is still the absolute core of the Cavaliers, Suwan still has his position.

A very clear signal:

After Suwan got the ball, Paul Silas started shouting on the sidelines, asking his teammates to run according to Suwan's command.

Suwan has completely established his position in the Cavaliers.

All of this was not easy to come by. Public opinion wars are not easy to fight. And public opinion wars do not always work. Imagine if Su Wan was always reported to have quarrels with his teammates, even if he won every public opinion war, the outside world's impression of him would not be very good.

It's just that LeBron James was too domineering before, and he had no room to survive. He had to start this war.

The aftermath of war is:

LeBron no longer had a friendly smile on his face.

To be precise, after that unpleasant conversation in the locker room, LeBron never took the initiative to talk to him again.

Of course, this may not be a bad thing.

So that he wouldn't have to force a smile every time to deal with LeBron's hypocritical enthusiasm.

Looking at LeBron James' entire career, he has not really treated any teammates as his brothers. They are all "temporary friends" who are discarded after use. They are worse than "Li Zhuang white meat" and "kid noodles". It is too tiring to be hypocritical with such people.

He feels he can learn from Michael Jordan in this regard.

The atmosphere within the team was not harmonious during the "Bulls Dynasty". Many teammates only played with Jordan on the court and could not say a word to him for half a year after they left the court. However, they won two "three consecutive championships".

The depth of friendship will not affect the performance on the field.

As long as LeBron is willing to play well and give up the idea of ​​enjoying the glory alone, he will definitely play well and will not focus on working hard for the "zone value".

The preseason started a week after the two had a public opinion war. At this time, the outside world was still discussing the fact that LeBron held the ball 33.5% of the time per game. Even if he was a point guard, this percentage was too high. So in the six preseason games, LeBron James played very reasonably. He passed the ball to his teammates when he should, and passed the ball after the pick-and-roll when he should. Among the sophomores, there is no one more mature than him.

This is probably an important reason why many fans later disliked LeBron:
He has the ability to distribute the ball well and the ability to defend well, but sometimes, in order to show off himself, he just doesn't play well, let alone on the defensive end. He would rather do nothing than to slack off.

In 6 games, he averaged 21.6 minutes per game.

别看出场时间不多。每场比赛可以拿到15.5分5.5篮板6.5助攻1.75抢断1盖帽。投篮命中率为46.4%，三分球命中率为35.1%，罚球命中率75%。

His physical progress can be felt in almost every shot.

His explosiveness is stronger and his breakthroughs are sharper.

But to be honest, there is another off-court factor in LeBron's improvement:

At the end of September, the league officially announced the abolition of the hand-check rule.

The new regulations require that defensive players cannot use their hands to touch or interfere with the player who breaks through before the free throw area, otherwise it will be a foul.

As soon as this change came out, there were voices saying that this was a sign that David Stern was promoting LeBron James.

Because this rule change is purely to make it easier for outside breakthrough players to attack the basket.

Su Wan didn't think in the direction of LeBron.

In his opinion, even if David Stern really had an intention, LeBron was only one of David Stern's intentions. He really wanted to support LeBron, otherwise he would not have vigorously promoted "23v24" later. But his greater intention was to encourage breakthroughs.

The biggest difference between Adam Silver and David Stern is that both of them value offense, but Silver only cares about scoring, and he thinks that a game where both sides keep scoring and scoring goals must be fun, while David Stern thinks about how to make the offense look more intense and more confrontational.

The cancellation of hand-checks may seem to reduce the confrontation before the free throw line, but the number of breakthroughs has increased, and the confrontation during breakthroughs has also increased. This is called "confrontation relativity":
The less confrontation, the more confrontation.

The confrontation on the move looks more exciting than a sumo-style confrontation between two people, and the scene will not be so bloody, reducing the output that is not suitable for children.

In addition, from the statistics of Kobe, McGrady, LeBron and Wade, four representative players, on their shooting percentages last season, it can be seen that LeBron is not the biggest beneficiary, but only one of the biggest beneficiaries:

Kobe's shots at the basket only accounted for 36.4% of his shots, and his goals at the basket accounted for 47.8%; McGrady's shots at the basket accounted for only 27.8%, and his goals at the basket accounted for only 34.1%; James' shots at the basket accounted for 42.9%, and his goals accounted for 57%; Wade's shots at the basket accounted for 56.1%, and his goals accounted for 64.3%.

The real rule change specifically for LeBron started with the new traveling violation rule in 09.

Suwan is also a beneficiary of the cancellation of the hand-check rule. Having experienced hand-check defense in the summer league, he felt like a sandbag weighing dozens of pounds was removed from his body during the preseason.

再加上勒布朗认真打球，每场比赛都能给他送出好几次恰到好处的妙传。他可以尽情展现自己的天赋。每场比赛34.5分钟的上场时间，他场均可以拿到24.5分7.5篮板5.5助攻2抢断！

While Dwight Howard was still struggling with whether he should continue on the path of the "Wolf King"; when Shaun Livingston, known as the "second generation of Magic Johnson", was still thinking about why his passing intentions were always easily seen through by the opponent; when Philadelphia's highly expected "Little AI" was still making up for Allen Iverson in various defenses, cooperating in completing empty cuts and making the big guy smile, Su Wan had already made himself the most dazzling "star" of the 04 class!
"See? See? I've said it before. As long as you give him the ball, he will shine the brightest. This is not just in the summer league or the preseason, but also in the regular season and the playoffs. He is that kind of player. The key is that you have to trust him, give him opportunities, and... educate him with encouragement!"

Brandon Malone had a look on his face that said "see, I told you so", but in fact he was also shocked and happy. He believed that Suwan would still be the most dazzling rookie in the 04 class after entering the league, but when he really did it, the feeling was different.

Danny Ferry also straightened his back in front of the Goodwin brothers: "See? This is the best helper I chose for LeBron. If he doesn't want to stay in Cleveland in the future, then listen, this is all your own problem! We have done everything we can to make LeBron's helper feel at home in Cleveland."

(End of this chapter)