After Anthony Mason Jr. was injured, he immediately went to the hospital for examination accompanied by the team doctor.
The results of the examination were terrible. Mason's injury was a ruptured biceps and he would miss the entire 1998-99 season. Now Warriors center Dampier became famous because he tore the largest biceps in the league.
Luck will not always be on the side of the Sonics. In the past two seasons, no core players of the Sonics were seriously injured, which is an important reason for achieving record-breaking results in the regular season. Their lineup is deep and outperforms the entire league.
Yang Jian and Payton are both iron men and have huge physical advantages on the outside. However, the Sonics play small ball tactics in an era where there are many long men, and Mason, who is 201cm tall, suffers a lot.
Although Mason's arms are thick and powerful, it is not a joke for centers that are half a head taller than him to swing their elbows. Mason's style of play is mainly based on hand-to-hand combat inside, so he is more likely to be injured.
This is very similar to the situation of Amare Stoudemire of the Suns in the parallel world. No matter how athletic Stoudemire is, no matter how fierce his style of play is, he still suffers from playing the defensive end of the center with a power forward body. He soon after leaving the Suns
He is useless and has accumulated a lot of injuries.
In a parallel world, Mason's style of play has great hidden dangers, and he averages a lot of playing time per game. He averaged more than 40 minutes per game when he was 34 years old with the Heat, and averaged 38.3 minutes per game the next season. The price of Mason's bravery was later due to a heart attack
Died of exhaustion at the age of 48.
After joining the SuperSonics, Mason's playing time has been greatly reduced. Last season, he only averaged 29.6 minutes per game, sharing playing time with his teammates. Mason's pressure has been greatly reduced, but injuries during games are natural and man-made disasters that cannot be avoided.
All major media have reported that Mason will be out for the season, and experts have expressed their disapproval of the Sonics' ability to defend their title.
The starting post of the best defensive second team was retired, and it also lacked high-post organization and shooting points. Barkley has retired, Sam Perkins has left, and the SuperSonics suddenly lost three important post players from last season, leaving only newcomers.
And blue collar.
Some people even believe that the SuperSonics' current interior lineup is the worst in the league.
Ben Wallace was an undrafted player, and Brad Miller would also have been undrafted if the Sonics didn't draft him in the end. Osella Harrington was a blue-collar guy, and Schrempf was a guest player at the 4th position.
He's a small forward.
Teams that want to compete for the championship have seen hope. If the SuperSonics' inside line is so bad and they can't win, then they will never win the championship in this life. Don't worry about other opponents, the SuperSonics will definitely strengthen their inside line in the summer.
line-up.
On the 10th, the SuperSonics challenged the Warriors in back-to-back away games, easily winning 4 consecutive games 101-82.
Four SuperSonics players scored in double figures. Yang Jian played 36 minutes and scored 34 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 steals.
Yang Jian's performance shocked many people, it was so comprehensive.
What should the SuperSonics do if they are short of major generals inside? The answer is that Yang Jian retreats to the penalty area at any time to grab backcourt rebounds, and then advances with the ball to launch a counterattack.
In back-to-back games, Yang Jian still rushed forward, and his physical strength was extremely unreasonable. Starks obviously did not recover well. He was beaten when defending Yang Jian alone, and had to be double-teamed by his teammates.
Ben Wallace also became the highlight of the team. He was the starting center and guarded Dampier. Dampier played 20 minutes and made 0 of 4 shots and 0 of 4 free throws. He scored 0 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls.
Dampier was the 10th overall pick in 1996, and Ben Wallace was undrafted in 1996. With such a gap, as long as the two of them "match up their picks", Ben would win.
When Yang Jian runs without the ball and plays pick-and-rolls with the ball, he also goes to Dampier's side, mislocating him. SuperSonics' interior offensive ability has dropped to the extreme, but Yang Jian still plays the same when mislocating the high center.
Moreover, the Sonics' interior defense is not hopelessly bad. Ben Wallace and Othella Harrington start together. The biggest problem is that they can't open up space, not defense. Schrempf plays as a guest at the 4th position or Miller comes on.
, the offense will be better and the shooting will be wider.
After the game, Yang Jian was asked by reporters about the team's lineup.
Yang Jian sighed: "It is true that the depth of our lineup is incomparable to last season. In addition, the shortened season schedule is tight and there are many newcomers in the team. It is difficult for us to play this season. But it does not mean that we are not good at playing. I will
Try your best to lead the team to win.”
The reporter asked: "Do you expect the team to trade for better teammates?"
Yang Jian shook his head and said with a smile: "It's not just about who I want to be a teammate with. I will definitely have to sign players inside. Now I guess I can only find undrafted rookies in the free market."
It is impossible for Yang Jian not to be depressed at all. He desires to win 4 consecutive championships more than others. As long as he wins this season, his historical status will increase a lot.
He can accept not winning the championship, but the lineup is indeed not good. In the future, he will still have the opportunity to win four consecutive championships. Jordan can lead the team twice to establish a dynasty, and he believes that he can also do it.
The reporter asked: "Many fans are dissatisfied with the signing operation of the SuperSonics management in the summer. Experts have rated the SuperSonics' signings at the lowest level. What do you think of this?"
"I don't think my teammates are bad, they have potential, they just need some time to adapt to the game and accumulate experience. I believe in the management, no one can predict the team's injuries. I will not complain, I will only find ways to solve the problem
, win games with the current lineup."
Of course Yang Jian won't complain. He believes that anyone who complains about his teammates' poor performance is because he is incompetent. Even if his teammates are really bad, there are ways to make them better. Or he can just do it himself and use his personal abilities.
Solve the problem.
Teammates were full of praise for Yang Jian during interviews. At this time, he was the only one in the league who still had the confidence to lead the team to win. Everyone believed that as long as Yang Jian was here, the Sonics would not become an underdog.
The most energetic person was Ben Wallace. He scored 4 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. He performed very well on the defensive end.
He said that he was very excited to protect the Sonics' restricted area even though he had to fight tooth and nail.
For Ben, this season is a good opportunity to become famous. He can get stable playing time and have the opportunity to prove his worth. After this season, he will be in a contract year and is likely to get a big contract.
The same goes for Osela Harrington. Both of them will work hard on the court. But it is a fact that the SuperSonics are empty inside, and there is no qualified starter at the 4th position. Harrington is a blue-collar player, and Schrempf is a guest player.
Rashard Lewis made the roster this time, and only played for a while in garbage time, still playing as a small forward. He was too thin, and he suffered a lot when playing the 4th position and couldn't guard anyone, so he couldn't help the team much for the time being.
.
The good news is that after the game against the Warriors, the Sonics got two days off and then played against the underdog Nuggets at home. Then they had another two days off and played against the Jazz at home.
The Sonics' schedule in the early stages of the game is not tight, and the management has enough time to invite insider players to come to the team for trial training. However, the Sonics' schedule is also a trap designed by the league, with it being loose at the beginning and tight at the end.
If the Sonics play back-to-back games in the second half, it will affect the physical strength of the players in the playoffs. Moreover, there are many newcomers in the team, and there is a high probability that they will hit the rookie wall, and the second half of the game will be very difficult.
Yang Jian saw the alliance's intention to suppress him, but he was not depressed about it.
He has won three consecutive championships and can afford to lose. On the other hand, this season is also his best chance to win three consecutive regular season MVP awards.
Once he wins three consecutive MVPs, he will be closer to the number one player in NBA history. Because this is something that Jordan and LeBron James cannot do.
When James was with the Heat, he was elected MVP after only finishing fourth in the league in the 2011-12 season. He easily won the MVP title the following year with the best record. If he had finished among the top three in the league in the 2013-14 season, he would have been able to win three consecutive games.
mvp is comparable to Larry Bird. Unfortunately, his record is only fifth in the league, missing his personal milestone.
The Sonics are missing a starting big man, and the inside lineup is recognized as weak throughout the league. As long as Yang Jian plays super statistics and leads the team to the best record in the league, he does not believe that the league dares to give the regular season MVP to others.