From four consecutive losses to three consecutive wins, although this seems to be the style of the Spurs coached by Popovich, it is undeniable that this is a sign of bottoming out.
Among them, Jiang Hao from China has become the most noteworthy player in this three-game winning streak.
He scored 21 points against the Memphis Grizzlies, 20 points against the Washington Wizards, and scored 20 points again against the Toronto Raptors.
After 3 games, he averaged 20 per game. Is this the level of a player with a two-way contract?
There is no doubt that people are lamenting that the Spurs are going to find a treasure again this time.
The Spurs themselves felt the same way, so they didn't let Jiang Hao wait too long. The day after he returned to San Antonio, general manager RC Buford brought good news about his contract extension.
"There is no doubt that you have proven your strength to everyone through three games. We need you, so, Jiang, take a look. This is the new contract we have given."
Buford then handed a stack of materials into Jiang Hao's hands.
"A one-year, low-salary contract worth $5,738.62 million?"
The type of contract was similar to what he expected, but the amount was too small. Jiang Hao looked at Buford.
"Maybe you don't know much about this year's basic salary contract, but in fact, the quotations we gave are completely in accordance with the rules, because you have not played in the league for more than one year, so you can only get so much.
"
According to Buford, he planned to sign Jiang Hao with a three-year contract worth $3.5 million, but his proposal was not agreed by Holman.
In Holman's view, Jiang Hao's performance in these three games was indeed outstanding, but he mostly relied on 3-pointers to score, and he did not show the team greater potential.
Of course, Buford knew that this was just Holman's stingy rhetoric. He and Popovich had discussed it and it was entirely possible for Jiang Hao to improve in an all-round way. He has great potential.
Of course, both Buford and Popovich can only follow Holman's wishes in the end, after all, he is the boss.
"Okay, I agree"
Jiang Hao has not struggled with this for too long. He is now confident and has no worries about his next contract.
The most important thing at this stage is to stabilize and take advantage of every opportunity to improve yourself. As long as your abilities improve, do you still worry that no one will give you a big contract next summer?
One day later, when the Spurs officially announced the conversion of Jiang Hao's two-way contract into a regular NBA contract, it caused a certain sensation in the outside world, especially across the ocean in China.
Since Yao Ming retired and Yi Jianlian returned to the CBA, there have been no Chinese players in the NBA for a long time. This has made many Chinese people who follow and support Chinese basketball very worried.
Last season, the Houston Rockets selected Zhou Qi with No. 43 in the second round, and the Memphis Grizzlies selected Wang Zhelin with No. 58 in the second round, giving the Chinese people hope again.
But it is a pity that Zhou Qi did not log into the NBA until this season. Although he signed a four-year rookie contract with the Rockets worth more than 5 million US dollars, until now, Zhou Qi seems to have not received D'Antoni's recognition and playing time.
There are very few, and his own adaptability to the NBA seems to be less than ideal, which has led to more and more people not being optimistic about his future in the NBA. As for Wang Zhelin, the Grizzlies have never contacted him again.
A few months ago, when the Spurs unexpectedly selected Jiang Hao with a second-round pick, many people actually paid a lot of attention to Jiang Hao. After all, it was the Spurs.
But everyone knows the story later. The world is as dark as crows, and the Spurs are not philanthropists after all. They did not give Jiang Hao a two-way contract that seemed to have no future until the new season was about to start.
Although some domestic media still pay attention to Jiang Hao, to be honest, this kind of attention is just routine.
And all this, until this past week, the situation changed dramatically.
Jiang Hao is like a super genius who "came out of nowhere". He scored 20 points in three consecutive games, completely causing a sensation in the domestic sports circle.
Up to now, the headlines of major domestic sports media are all about Jiang Hao, and the news that the Spurs converted Jiang Hao's two-way contract into a regular contract quickly topped the Weibo hot search list.
"Who is Jiang Hao?"
"Ncaa North Carolina starter"
"Is he the next Jeremy Lin?"
"After the Chinese player Jeremy Lin staged "Linsanity" in 2012, Jiang Hao is likely to stage "Jiang Crazy""
In short, Jiang Hao is popular, and he is completely popular in China.
However, Jiang Hao, who is far away in San Antonio, does not know all this.
Although he also has a domestic social media account, he has not logged in at all during this period. After signing a new contract with the Spurs, he was not in the mood to pay attention to the various reactions on the Internet, but couldn't wait to come.
Training hall.
Because when signing the contract yesterday, Buford told him that the coaching staff would officially start coaching him. For example, Chip Englander would be his ball-handling and shooting coach, and he could also ask Uduka for some defensive tips, etc.
.
"Jiang, try to catch the ball like this, push your thumb hard, but never touch the ball with your palm..."
Englander is very professional and has enough patience with Jiang Hao. At the beginning, he even taught Jiang Hao the correct posture of holding the ball step by step.
And Jiang Hao's learning talent also made England feel incredible. He was shocked in his heart. Why did Jiang Hao, who was so talented, almost become an undrafted player?
"Because I'm from Asia, I'm yellow, I'm not an insider, and my data in the NCAA can only be considered average. That's why." Jiang Hao's self-deprecating answer made England feel ashamed.
This is so inappropriate. Maybe he has to make suggestions to the scouting department and stop treating Asian players so carelessly.
………
After Jiang Hao finished training with the team in the afternoon, he did not leave the training hall. Instead, he practiced alone until after nine o'clock in the evening and left the training hall.
"Xiao, let's celebrate together"
After returning to the rental house, Jiang Hao took the initiative to find Sean and paid off all the rent arrears. Although he had not received a cent from the new contract he had just signed, at least the two-way contract had been paid today.
.
"Oh, great, congratulations, Jiang."
A week later, Sean was a little excited when he saw Jiang Hao again. He scored 20 points in three consecutive games. Is this still the down-and-out Chinese boy he knew?
Although he has been telling Jiang Hao that he will definitely be able to establish a foothold in the NBA, there is obviously more encouragement in it.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Hao actually did it. From a two-way contract to a formal contract, many people in San Antonio now know Jiang Hao. This is really unbelievable.
Chapter completed!