In New York in September, the weather finally started to get a little cooler.
However, as summer gradually goes away, the rain also decreases, and the dry air makes people feel a little uncomfortable.
But the Barclays Center is still in full swing.
And as the season approaches, more and more players join the training.
If head coach Lue hadn't been away, you would have thought that the Nets' training camp had started early.
After the day's training, a group of people, led by Lin Ying, played a team dunk contest.
Participants include: Lin Ying, Durant, Anunoby, Brooks, Caruso.
Judges: Kobe, Carter, Grover, Zhou Qi.
Grover has now gone from Lin Ying's personal trainer to the official trainer of the Nets.
As for Zhou Qi, you read that right, he is now deeply loved by his teammates in the team.
Today's dunk contest will start soon, and the first one to appear is Caruso.
The 23-year-old young player immediately performed a 180° turn and dunk.
Even though he has a bald head, he is only a 23-year-old boy, and he looks fair and clean, but his physical fitness is not bad at all.
After Crusoe, Anunoby appeared next.
Anunoby's body flexibility is poor, but the young man can really jump. A big windmill made both Kobe and Carter score 9 points.
In comparison, the dunks of Brooks and Durant who appeared next were a bit unremarkable.
Especially Durant, who threw himself in and dunked in the end and barely made the dunk.
Anunoby has also become the temporary front-runner.
When Lin Ying made his final appearance, other team members also cheered and whistled.
This is not because Lin Ying is the boss of the team, but because Lin Ying is the former dunk king.
Lin Ying didn't mean to give in. In this kind of entertainment competition, the most important thing is the atmosphere.
He directly played a difficult game, a 360° turn on the board after sprinting.
This action made others exclaim in surprise.
However, Lin Ying's final attempt ended in failure.
This time it wasn't because he wanted to, but because he really didn't succeed.
This entertainment game was just an opportunity, and the final dunk champion in the team was given to Anunoby.
Carter and the others also held an award ceremony. Carter held a Gatorade bottle in his hand. They tore off the outer packaging of the bottle, wrote "Champion" on it, and awarded it to Anunoby.
The young man is also very excited. Although this thing actually has no value, it is a rare experience for a rookie to get the attention of the team's boss.
At the end of the award ceremony, Kobe suddenly asked Carter to dunk one as well.
Kobe has been recovering for more than a month and has almost recovered.
The intensity of his training is too intense for others, but his body has already adapted, so he recovers quickly.
This wave of "extra games" also brought the atmosphere of the training camp to a climax, and even Lin Ying became interested.
The showdown between the two old guys is still very interesting.
Because we had just finished training, there was nothing to do in the warm-up. Kobe started dribbling the ball a few times.
A sprinting folding dunk was much less difficult than Lin Ying's previous one, but Kobe's movements were still very elegant, and he dunked it in one go!
This also caused a burst of whistles from the sidelines.
Lin Ying put his thumb and index finger in his mouth and blew the whistle hard for Kobe.
This dunk is Kobe's official announcement of his return!
Although it is impossible to return to the top, there is great hope to return to the level of last season!
It's also a comeback. The time for retirement is short, so the recovery is really fast!
After the dunk, Kobe also gave Carter a "provocative" look.
The competitive spirit is engraved in your bones!
Carter was familiar with Kobe. He smiled, moved his body, and then walked directly to the three-point line.
Judging from this posture, he is preparing to play a difficult game just like Lin Ying in front of him.
This also instantly made others full of expectations.
Lin Ying had failed in playing difficult games before, and her appetite was whetted and unsatisfied.
And what's even more exciting is that this is Carter, the former "F" and now the old Carter.
Old Carter is now 40 years old, older than retired Kobe. Can he do it with his old arms and legs?
Carter started sprinting. His pace was very steady. He was still active on the B stage at this age and could still play rotation. He must have two brushes.
After taking a step into the free throw line, he took a step into the air and then stuffed it directly under his crotch.
Appeared, Carter's classic crotch!
Moreover, it’s still a big windmill on the crotch!
Although his height has dropped from his peak, he still has the ability to complete this action, and it is still silky smooth!
"Bang!"
The moment the ball was smashed into the basket, the atmosphere in the training hall instantly reached a climax.
Anunobi and the others were so excited that they rushed up and yelled at Carter.
Young guys are easily excited, but when they first got into basketball, it happened to be the time when "Uncle Carter" was performing various dunks in front of the TV.
How could it not be exciting to see "F" take off again now?
After Carter broke through the "containment" of the boys, he rushed to Kobe and yelled in response.
Lin Ying looked at Kobe beside him, who was bent over with laughter, and then at Carter, who was high-fiving the boys after yelling. He suddenly felt that the new season was so exciting.
Not only to have the opportunity to complete the dynasty, but also to be able to play with such two legends. That experience will definitely be great.
And this is really an opportunity. Before this, let alone playing with Kobe Carter, it was very rare to play with one of them.
…
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is late September, and training camps for each team are starting one after another.
As in past years, EP began to evaluate the strength of each team in the new season before the start of the preseason.
In this evaluation, the Nets ranked first!
First, the Nets
We have no reason to underestimate a team that has completed two consecutive championships, especially when this team retains most of its core players. Basically, they even signed Kobe!
Yes, we don’t know what kind of state Kobe will be in when he comes back after retirement, but we should still remember that the last time Kobe played was only half a year ago, which will make people full of expectations for his comeback.
And in addition to Kobe Bryant, the Nets have also introduced powerful players such as PJ Tucker in the free market. We have every reason to see the birth of a new dynasty team in the new season.
As long as they stay healthy.
Expected: Bradley, Kobe, Durant, Lin Ying, Jokic;
Expected rotation: Rose, Ariza, Carter, PJ Tucker, Nene;
Second, the Lakers
Putting the Lakers in this position will definitely be controversial, after all, they haven't played a game together yet.
But when a team has Chris Paul, Anthony Davis and James, it's really hard not to put them in this position.
And in addition to the Big Three, they also have high-quality role players such as Tyson Chandler, Seth Curry, Isaiah Thomas, and Ed Davis.
They will need to adjust, but they will definitely impress people in the new season.
Expected: Paul, Seth Curry, James, Davis, Chandler;
Projected rotation: Isaiah Thomas, Jordan Clarkson, Kyle Kuzma, Ed Davis, Zubac;
Third, the Warriors
Losing James will cause a huge loss to the Warriors' strength, but fans in last season's Finals saw one thing. Even without James, the strength of this Warriors team cannot be underestimated.
And this summer, in addition to retaining core players, the Warriors management also brought back the strongest signing they could get: Gordon Hayward.
Hayward is an underrated All-Star player, and his technical characteristics, especially his personality, fit the Warriors very well, which is very important.
Curry will win the second championship of his career next season? This is not impossible to happen, just as we did not expect them to win the championship and win 73 games before.
Expected: Curry, Thompson, Hayward, Green, Pachulia;
Expected rotation: Livingston, Casspi, Iguodala, Speights, McGee;
Fourth, Spurs
If not for injuries, we would have witnessed an earth-shattering series in the Western Conference Finals last season.
But the good news is that Leonard has fully recovered this summer, and the Spurs also added strong players like Gasol and Gay in the summer.
The Spurs' strength in the new season is even better than last season, and their performance is worth looking forward to.
Expected: Parker, Green, Leonard, Aldridge, Pau Gasol;
Projected rotation: Patrick Mills, Dejounte Murray, Bryn Forbes, Kyle Anderson, Davis Bertans
Fifth, Menglong team
Although the Menglong team has not been able to take a further step, their strength has been steadily improving.
This past summer, they received the most important signing: Isaiah Ibaka (uninjured version).
Before Ibaka, the power forward position had always been the Mongolian team's biggest weakness, and now they have no weakness.
Causing the most trouble for the Nets in the East? Maybe he is the dark horse next season.
Expected: Lowry, DeRozan, Siakam, Ibaka, Valanciunas;
Projected rotation: VanVleet, Norman Powell, J. Myers, Jakob Poeltl, Lucas Nogueira;
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Sixth, forest cheerleading team
The Timberwolves made a controversial choice this summer. They gave up Rubio and signed Rondo instead.
Rubio has been criticized for not having a three-point range, and Rondo's situation is not much different from his.
But the difference between Rondo and Rubio is that he has leadership and championship genes, which is exactly what the Timberwolves lack now.
Next season will be interesting for the Timberwolves. If it goes well, they will move up a level in the Western Conference; but if it doesn't go well, they will still encounter the same problems as last season.
Expected: Rondo, Harden, Batum, Towns, Capela;
Expected rotation: Lou Williams, Mohammed, Bjelica, Dieng, Bogut;
Seventh, Hornets
Eighth, Pelicans
It takes a lot of imagination to put the Pelicans in this position, because they theoretically have the biggest losses of the summer.
But in fact, they have a very competitive lineup. The question is just how much Cousins ​​can recover from injuries next season.
If we can see a Cousins ​​with 80% strength, then the Pelicans will be very competitive in the Western Conference, and the future is promising.
Expected: Holiday, Jaylen Brown, Paul George, Mirotic, Cousins;
Projected rotation: Eowan Moore, Ian Clark, Darius Miller, Dante Cunningham, Solomon Hill;
…
As soon as this list came out, the topic of the new season was immediately aroused.
Although there are still pre-season games and there is still at least a month until the official start of the season, there are too many topics here.
In the overall situation where the Nets, Warriors and Lakers are competing for hegemony, established teams like the Spurs cannot be ignored, and the strength of emerging teams such as the Denver Nuggets, Timberwolves, and Pelicans has also been underestimated.
The intensity of the new season will be much greater than expected, and it is not as easy as imagined for the Nets to complete their dynasty.
However, in this wave of ranking predictions, some fans noticed a very detailed issue, and this issue was also mentioned by the Big Four in the TT program.
Carter, was automatically ignored.
It doesn't seem like a big deal for a 40-year-old veteran to be ignored, but the problem is that he is Carter.
Among the four giants of TT, there are many Carters who have interacted with him, especially Tracy McGrady who raised this issue and showed dissatisfaction emotionally.
He is McGrady’s old cousin!
Although the two brothers did not get along very happily when they were in Menglong, they are old cousins ​​after all, and at this age, the conflicts in their youth are worth recalling.
And regarding this issue, several people in the commentary box had a good debate.
Barkley believes that there is something wrong with EP not mentioning Carter, because Carter's current state has not been greatly affected by age. He can still be the winner of the game at certain moments, such as a killer three-pointer.
O'Neal also believed that ignoring Carter would be the most dangerous thing to the opponent's morale.
Only Smith thinks this is harmless, because players have to admit that they will grow old, and a 40-year-old veteran will have a very limited impact on the game.
Their controversy has also attracted a lot of discussion on social media.
Because compared to Kobe, Carter is actually the most regretted by fans, because he should be at least as high as Kobe, but his life has been bumpy because of Bowen's three consecutive shots.
So unlike Tracy McGrady, the fans' discussion is not so much that they think EP is unfair, but more that they hope Carter can exert his final strength in the Nets.
After all, just like Anunoby and the others on the training ground, many of them grew up watching Carter's dunks.
Chapter completed!