The Lakers' first preseason game will be against the Golden State Warriors on October 5.
This game is also the first game since the Warriors lost Durant. Although the Warriors' Big Three of Curry, Thompson, and Green are all in good health due to the butterfly effect, the lack of Durant still makes the Warriors
Although the team's strength has plummeted, it can only be ranked fourth in the championship odds list before the new season, inferior to the Nets, Clippers and Wang Feng's Lakers.
As the opponents eliminated by the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals last season, the Warriors and Lakers can be regarded as enemies and are extremely jealous when they meet. However, as a preseason game, neither side has done anything serious, and it is just a symbolic exchange of ideas.
Wang Feng, Butler, Curry, Thompson and others all played less than 20 minutes, and it was mainly the team's substitute rotation players who performed on the court.
In the end, the Warriors won the game relying on a deeper and richer reserve base.
An unimportant preseason game exposed another problem of the Lakers, that is, the bench lineup is much weaker than last season.
Last season, the main offensive points of the Lakers' bench were Rose and Kuzma. They were a guard and a forward. They could also cooperate with each other in pick-and-rolls, and they performed very well.
However, in the new season, Rose was poached with a high salary, and Kuzma was promoted to the starting lineup. Even though the Lakers have Clarkson, Seth Curry and Poole on the bench, their level is obviously not as good as last season, especially
It's Jordan Poole, as a first-year rookie, whose level is far from comparable to that of Poole who can provide Curry with firepower a few seasons later.
But having said that, although the strength of the bench lineup has been reduced, the strength of the Lakers' starting lineup is much stronger than last season.
Wang Feng serves as the starting point guard, making up for the Lakers' only shortcoming on the court. The current five starting positions of the Lakers all have three-point shooting capabilities, including two inside players Kuzma and Lopez.
While the offensive firepower is extremely strong, the Lakers can also maintain super mobility and defensive intensity. Their overall strength is unique in the league.
Although the starting lineup did not perform much in the first preseason game, it still brought some peace of mind to the originally uneasy Lakers management.
After the failure of the first preseason game, the Lakers took a flight to China. Under the arrangement of the league, the Lakers' next few preseason games will be held in several cities in China. This is also a further step for the league to cooperate with China.
Make a linkage attempt.
This is obviously a win-win situation.
As the number one player in China, Wang Feng has an unprecedented reputation in the country. When Wang Feng plays a pre-season game in China, a large number of fans flock to it, and the event is unprecedented.
However, no one expected that in such a heated atmosphere, the breaking of a piece of news would be like pouring cold water on a raging flame.
The general manager of the Rockets, Mo Gou, still acted like another time and space, and posted remarks on his Twitter that were enough to make everyone in China angry.
In just one night, the NBA went from being a basketball game with extremely high attention and ratings in China to being the one that everyone is clamoring for.
CCTV Sports urgently stopped all broadcasts of NBA games. At the same time, the NBA's preseason games in China were also temporarily suspended. A series of activities of the Lakers and Nets that had arrived in Shanghai were also cancelled.
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The Internet is full of all kinds of criticism against Morey and the NBA, which involves bottom-line issues and is intolerable to any Chinese.
Less than two hours after Morey's remarks were published, Wang Feng's multiple personal social accounts at home and abroad were updated with a 10,000-word long article denounced Morey's behavior. The words were so fierce that using curses to describe it is not an exaggeration at all. Even this long video
At the beginning of the article, Wang Feng called the other party "Mo Gou" mercilessly, showing no intention of holding back at all.
As a former senior Chinese keyboard warrior, Wang Feng is well versed in the various techniques of trolling, and his scolding is extremely destructive, which has made many Chinese fans applaud.
However, just ten minutes later, league officials urgently contacted Wang Feng, hoping that he could delete the long post posted on social media to reduce the situation and reduce unnecessary conflicts.
Wang Feng chuckled twice and hung up the phone.
As a time traveler, he is very aware of what the NBA will do in this matter.
"Is this the so-called freedom of speech? Morey can say it, but I can't. I'm just a bunch of double-standard dogs."
In fact, Wang Feng has long been aware of the attitude of the NBA and what countermeasures they plan to take, so even though he received the call, he did not feel angry because of it, but was very calm and even thought about what to do next.
Plans were made with Team Yao’s PR team.
On October 7, Morey spoke out again amidst the overwhelming verbal criticism. On the surface, it seemed like he was apologizing, but in fact, he was just forced by pressure to separate himself from the NBA, and he only took responsibility for the announcement in his personal capacity.
Speech and bear the consequences.
In the early morning of October 8, the NBA president also made a public response to this incident and expressed that he respected Morey's right to freedom of speech and supported him.
The NBA president's remarks can be regarded as a final conclusion to this matter.
In response, CCTV Sports announced that it would cease all cooperation with the NBA, including but not limited to the live broadcast and broadcast of NBA preseason, regular season, playoffs and other related events.
Immediately afterwards, Wang Feng's public relations team also issued a statement that Wang Feng would refuse to participate in the NBA preseason games and all subsequent regular season games between the Lakers and Houston Rockets to express its disapproval of Mo Gou's relevant remarks and the league's handling of the incident.
protest.
Wang Feng chose to fight head-on, but as Wang Feng's team, the Lakers, were caught in the middle and expressed their discomfort.
This guy was really shot while lying down.
The Lakers had to stand up and publicly express their support for the league's support for free speech and Wang Feng's actions to speak out for his country.
Often there is nothing that can be done about this kind of thing. Mo Gou feels happy all by himself, but the result is disgusting for everyone.
There is no way. After all, the NBA is a business alliance affiliated with the United States. Their position determines that it is impossible to support China in this matter.
The Lakers, as a team in the NBA, are the same.
Everyone was affected by this incident.
The NBA has lost a lot of business cooperation with China, especially the Rockets. Due to Dayao's relationship, a large part of the Rockets' commercial income comes from China. With Mo Gou's remarks
Hey, the Rockets' commercial income will be discounted by at least half.
Wang Feng estimated that Mo Gou voluntarily resigned from the position of general manager of the Rockets one year later, and I am afraid it was not entirely his own idea.
After all, even if the Rockets boss is under pressure from various politicians in the United States and does not dare to take any direct action on the surface, he must hate Mo Gou, the broom star, in his heart.
(Due to some 404 reasons, I am a bit constrained in writing this paragraph. I dare not write it too directly and in detail. I will briefly describe the protagonist’s attitude and actions and then skip it.)
…
After Wang Feng publicly stated his refusal to participate in all preseason games, he negotiated with the team, left the team directly, and took a plane to the United States. The Yao team communicated with the team and contacted many talk shows in the United States.
As a country that advertises free speech, it does have some conveniences, such as when you want to scold someone.
After the Mo Gou incident occurred, many talk shows scolded him, including many retired NBA players and media reporters, who all caught Mo Gou and scolded him.
The league needs to act based on the wishes of the American government, but they are not embarrassed at all. They are even eager to use this incident to make them more popular. If they can win the favor of Chinese fans, they will have the opportunity to visit China again.
It's better to make a circle of money.
That's right, I'm afraid not many of these people who criticize Mogou are really doing it because of the incident itself, but for various purposes.
But no matter what their purpose was, they at least scolded Mo Gou and disgusted the other party.
Wang Feng's move was for this purpose.
Not everyone can match Wang Feng's ability to curse. If Mo Gou saw the relevant talk show clips about Wang Feng, he would probably be pissed to death.
Of course, even so, some influencers will still be dissatisfied and question Wang Feng.
"What are you doing? Other stars have refused to cooperate with the NBA. As a representative figure of Chinese basketball, you, Wang Feng, just missed a few preseason games and the regular season with the Rockets and that's it? You should announce your withdrawal directly.
The NBA should refuse to continue playing in the American league!"
This kind of person is a typical person who can stand up and talk without pain. He can accuse others from the moral high ground, but when it is his turn, he may not be able to do anything.
Wang Feng did not quit the NBA, certainly not because it would bring him huge financial losses.
Wang Feng is no longer short of money.
The salary he has earned in the past few years is enough for him to live a lifetime, and even if he does not play in the NBA and returns to the domestic CBA, Wang Feng can still earn a lot of money.
But this is too cheap for the other party.
Wang Feng withdrew from the league, and it was he and the Lakers who suffered the loss of profits. It had no impact on Mogou at all.
But in the NBA, Wang Feng can disgust this guy in various ways. Participating in talk shows is just one part of it, and there are many more opportunities in the future!