It is common for Thompson to perform poorly at the beginning of a new season.
Even later, his slow start is one of his shortcomings. In the first few weeks of every game after the start of a new season, his performance will be ups and downs. When he feels hot, his scoring efficiency is even higher than Curry's, but when he is in poor condition,
It’s also very frustrating at times.
This actually has something to do with Thompson's short offseason training time.
Thompson, who is nicknamed "Buddha" in China, is not as stoic as he seems. The naive-looking Thompson is a nightclub expert no less than Harden. He likes to go to nightclubs to smell bad.
Hey, I change my girlfriends as often as I change my clothes.
Throughout the summer offseason, what Thompson did most was to take a group of girls on a yacht to go fishing on the sea. He was a sure winner in life.
Therefore, every time a new season starts, Thompson's competitive status will decline as his body is exhausted for various indescribable reasons.
But I have to admire that top stars are top stars. As long as they train hard for a period of time, they will quickly find their form and perform brilliantly on the court.
During this period, Wang Feng had a rare opportunity.
A lot of hard training in the summer, coupled with the competition in the Asian Championships, kept Wang Feng in good condition. Although it caused some fatigue, but after strengthening the physical ability value to 90, the physical burden has been maximized.
alleviate.
Wang Feng performed well in the first three games, surprising head coach Cole.
He never expected that in just one summer, Wang Feng would actually develop mid-to-long-range shooting, and his efficiency would be so stable.
Although Wang Feng has shown it in the preseason before, the defensive intensity in the preseason is completely different from the regular season. Now Wang Feng has proved that even in the regular season with higher defensive intensity, his mid-range shot is still stable.
Under this situation, Cole was not stingy and continued to arrange tactics for the next game, providing Wang Feng with many opportunities to take action.
On November 2, the Warriors defeated the Grizzlies by 50 points at home 119:69!
Curry clocked out at the third level as usual, but Wang Feng, as the starter, still got some playing time in the fourth quarter.
In the end, with 30 minutes of playing time leading the team, Wang Feng made 8 of 14 shots and scored 23 points!
"Why... why is this happening?"
Barnes, who was also on the court during the fourth quarter, looked at Wang Feng with despair in his heart.
The team had a big lead and had entered garbage time early. The head coach actually put Wang Feng on the court and asked other players to pass the ball to Wang Feng to help him score high points.
Anyone who is not a fool will understand that Cole is training Wang Feng and building his confidence.
At this moment, Barnes was heartbroken. He knew that he had no chance.
Wang Feng, this little-known undrafted player, has completely surpassed him in just over half a year!
"If this continues! Next summer... no! We must submit a transaction application as soon as possible!"
A few days later, Barnes' agent approached Warriors general manager Myers and tactfully expressed that Barnes was frustrated and dissatisfied with the current position of the team and hoped to seek a trade to other teams.
Miles was not surprised by this.
In fact, he has been thinking about this issue recently.
Originally, Barnes was one of the important puzzle pieces in team building. He had good potential and could fit well with the play style and small ball tactics of Curry, Thompson and the Splash Brothers.
But they now have a better candidate Wang Feng.
Wang Feng has stronger perimeter defense and more accurate three-point shooting than Barnes. Now he has even developed the mid-range, and his efficiency is as good as or even better than that of Barnes!
There is no suspense about which one to choose between the two.
In fact, Barnes performed well in the preseason and got some opportunities for him.
In the first few games of the regular season, although Barnes came on as a substitute, he also played a lot of playing time, even close to 30 minutes at one point.
However, his performance was very disappointing.
In the opening game against the Pelicans, he made 3 of 12 shots from the field, and his shooting percentage in subsequent games only remained around 40%.
Most of the time when Barnes came on the court, he faced substitute players from other teams. It should have been an opportunity to grab points and widen the gap, but in most cases he failed to seize the opportunity.
Renewing Barnes' contract next summer is not cheap at all, and now that he can't see anything better than Wang Feng, what reason does the team have to keep him? Trade Barnes away from the team before his contract expires.
Exchange for more and better chips is the right answer.
…
Soon, every team in the league knew the news that the Warriors had put Harrison Barnes on the shelf, and many teams were very interested.
Although he lost to Wang Feng in the intra-team competition, as a potential rookie, Barnes still has a lot to offer.
Excellent physical fitness, excellent defense and rich offensive methods make Barnes extremely valuable to train. If given enough ball rights, it is possible to perform at an All-Star level.
As a time traveler, Wang Feng knows this best.
According to the original historical process, after the rookie contract expires next summer, Barnes will sign with the Dallas Mavericks with a maximum salary of 94 million US dollars over four years.
Then in the 16-17 season, as the main core of the Mavericks, Barnes averaged 19+5 per game for two consecutive seasons. Although not particularly outstanding, his performance was barely worthy of his contract value.
Wang Feng learned about the news that Barnes was put on the shelf from his agent Bill Duffy.
When he heard the news, Wang Feng was surprised to find that he was not relieved at all.
It stands to reason that if Barnes is traded away from the team, his position as the starting small forward will be completely stable, and he should be very happy.
But in fact, Wang Feng found that he was very calm about this, as if it was just a trivial matter.
Indeed... to the current Wang Feng, Barnes is actually no longer a threat. Even if he continues to stay with the Warriors, there is no chance of regaining the starting position from Wang Feng.
In mid-November, after being put on the shelf, Barnes was finally traded away from the team after some bargaining.
The team that won Barnes was somewhat beyond Wang Feng's expectation. It was still the Dallas Mavericks.
In order to acquire Barnes, the Mavericks paid two future second-round draft picks, some cash compensation, and a blue-collar center, the famous bad guy Zaza Pachulia.
Although it is a little surprising, it makes sense if you think about it carefully.
If the Mavericks are willing to pay a maximum salary of US$94 million over four years for Barnes in the future, they must be very optimistic about his potential. It is not surprising that they paid a small price to acquire Barnes six months in advance.
It's just that the Warriors actually got Pachulia in advance because of this, which is a coincidence.