Chapter 142 141. Special training begins
Zhang Yang was so surprised!

But it wasn't because of the selection of Millsap.

Millsap, who has just entered the NBA, is now pointed at as a starter. When James sees this, he will smile and rush the Bobcats' inside line into a sieve.

Millsap's All-Star performance came after he moved to the Hawks in 2013 to play under Budenholzer. He was 28 years old at the time and had his peak performance between the ages of 28 and 32.

Millsap performed very well in the tryout. He is strong, has good athletic ability, and has an excellent wingspan of 217 cm. He has a good footwork foundation in the interior, a good sense of rebounding when facing the basket, a tough style of play, and solid screening.

His shortcomings are also obvious. He is short, and his judgment of the landing point of the rebound when he turns around with his back to the basket is poor. As a short inside player, he has poor ball-handling skills and is prone to mistakes. He is brave in defense but his skills and basic skills are not good enough. In the 5-on-5 training match on the day of the tryout on the 5th, there were 20 fouls in 5 minutes that would be called even in the playoffs.

Millsap exposed these flaws in college, and they were quite serious, otherwise he wouldn't have fallen to the second round when he averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game in college.

Millsap should be a good substitute in his rookie year thanks to his secondary attack ability, screening ability, and defensive enthusiasm, but that's all.

What really surprised Zhang Yang was the trade for Nazr Mohammed.

They finally have an experienced veteran! Muhammad was a member of the 05 Spurs championship team!

During the live broadcast, the commentator didn't care who the Bobcats selected, but was still talking about the Spurs' money-saving operations and analyzing the reasons why the Spurs wanted Brezec.

Brezek's annual salary is 275 million. He is 26 years old and in his prime. Last season, he was in the starting lineup and played in 79 games. He averaged 23 minutes per game, scored 8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and had a shooting percentage of 51.7%. Considering that the Bobcats made it to the second round, he is considered a "low-salary, high-performance" player.

Brezec is always tough when facing European inside players, and the commentator sees this as the reason why the Spurs took a fancy to him. The Spurs had just been defeated by the team led by Europe's No. 1 basketball superstar.

In the series between the Bobcats and the Cavaliers, Brezek played very well, averaging 4 points in 12.5 games, ranking fourth in the team, higher than Felton's score, which confirmed this statement and made him a little famous during the playoffs.

There is another reason, which may be the most important reason. Muhammad's salary in the 05-06 season was 525 million US dollars, and it will increase by 10% next season. He averaged 6.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, which is too expensive for the Spurs.

The Spurs' salary this year is 6290 million, just below the luxury tax threshold. If they keep Muhammad, they will most likely have to pay taxes next season, which is unacceptable to the Spurs owner.

Even Duncan took a pay cut to renew his contract. In order to avoid paying taxes, Popovich persuaded Duncan to sign a contract extension with a starting salary of 1740 million and a total of 4 million over four years.

Given Duncan's age and veteran designation clause, even with the salary cap of the 05-06 season, he could get a four-year contract with a starting salary of up to $1856 million and a salary of more than $4 million. According to the expected salary cap increase, if Duncan renews his contract after the free market opens and the new salary cap is announced, his total salary over the four-year contract could be as high as $8500 million.

Muhammad's salary is nearly twice that of Brezec. The deal was completed because the Bobcats have nothing else but a large salary space. If Duncan had not renewed his contract with the Spurs, the Bobcats would still have some room left over for their maximum salary offer.

Zhang Yang remembered that Muhammad would join the Bobcats in the future, but he didn't remember when he would join. He got to know Muhammad during the 09-10 season when Gerald Wallace was selected as an All-Star and a member of the All-Defensive Team.

It first happened during a live broadcast of a game between the Bobcats and the Nuggets. He saw Muhammad helping Larry Brown explain offensive tactics to the players during a timeout... That's right, letting a defensive blue-collar center explain how to play offense to the players, the senior's offensive attainments were so fascinating.

At that time, the commentator said that Muhammad was one of the best locker room leaders in the NBA. The Bobcats spent 3 years and 1900 million US dollars to get him. He said that he was a teammate that even Duncan expressed respect for.

Zhang Yang took out a small notebook and wrote down the names of teammates who were confirmed to stay, newly selected players, and teammates who were traded.

Point guard: Felton, Rondo.

Shooting guard: The handsome grown man, Alan Anderson.

Small forward: Gerald Wallace, Matt Carroll.

Power forward: Okafor, Millsap.

Center: Perkins, Muhammad.

Zhang Yang looked at the names of his five teammates in the frontcourt with a frown on his face.

Muhammad, Millsap, Perkins, Okafor, Gerald Wallace, regardless of their strength and age, their defense is tougher than the other!

Was Bickerstaff provoked by the Pistons? Or was he provoked by ESPN to specially set up a lineup to deal with that player?
Not to mention, the toughness of this inside line is increasingly giving off the feeling of a bad boy army...

After muttering inwardly for a while, Zhang Yang seriously analyzed this frontcourt combination.

If these five players are the main rotation in the frontcourt, if nothing else, their impact in the interior will be very strong!
This is good for his high-post shooting, Felton's long-range singles, and Carroll and Anderson's long shots.

Yes, he must have been overthinking it. He was definitely not going for that person, definitely not.

The back line defense is a little weak. Rondo and Millsap are in a similar situation. They are too young at the moment. Their strengths are obvious, but they also have many weaknesses. It will take time to develop them. However, Rondo's growth cycle is probably shorter.

After the analysis, Zhang Yang felt a little sad.

If three teammates come, at least three teammates will leave, and there will definitely be more teammates leaving.

They received a lot of attention when they made it to the second round last season. Just like Brezek became a hot commodity, the value of Kareem Rush, Jumaine Jones and Keith Bogans also increased.

Zhang Yang learned from Jordan that these teammates all wanted to get more playing time when negotiating contract renewal.

But Alan Anderson has shown the potential to become a high-quality 3D player, and Matt Carroll is the best pitcher on the team. Playing time will definitely be given to these two, so it will be difficult to keep those players.

Melvin Eli directly stated that he did not want to renew his contract and wanted to test the free market. Jordan has announced that he will give up the matching rights of his parent team, making him a completely free agent.

Bernard Robinson and Voskuhl, the strength of these two teammates, they should not appear in the NBA. Only a newly established team like the Bobcats can sign such players in the first year of the team... It's not absolute, maybe these two can start if they go to the Lakers.

What hurt the most at the moment was that Brezec left.

Although this giant center is a little soft and can be bullied by anyone, he is dedicated and hardworking, and we have cooperated for such a long time.

Zhang Yang did not control this emotion, he chose to accept it. In the future, teammates will definitely come and go, and the current 10-man main roster may not all be suitable, and there may be trades... After a long time and seeing more, this part of his heart will naturally harden.

...

On July 7st, the 1-05 season officially ended, the offseason began, and the free market opened.

Before the end of June, the Bobcats successfully reached a two-year, $6 million contract extension with Jumaine Jones, the team's second-top three-point shooter last season.

Jumaine Jones played 76 games last season, averaging 6.1 points per game, and averaging 39.1 three-pointers per game with a 1.3% three-point shooting rate. Zhang Yang was very happy to hear the news. They successfully retained Jumaine Jones, and their inside line finally became a little softer.

In the eyes of the media and fans, they were very successful last season, and he was of course happy that his teammate who had achieved "success" together could stay.

It’s a pity that Kareem Rush and Keith Bogans were not retained.

After the free market opened, the Pacers immediately offered Kareem Rush a two-year, $2 million contract. After Rush informed the Bobcats, Jordan refused to match the offer, which was higher than expected.

Keith Bogans even got a three-year, $3 million contract from the Magic, which Jordan also did not match. The third choice for small forward and shooting guard was really too expensive.

Zhang Yang thinks the most interesting team is the Magic. The Bobcats originally selected Bogans from the Magic. Now Bogans has completed his rookie contract with the Bobcats, and the Magic paid more money to get him back.

I don’t know whether to praise the Magic’s draft picks or complain about their operational capabilities.

Soon, the Bobcats signed Derek Anderson and Othella Hannington.

Zhang Yang checked the information of his two new teammates.

Derek Anderson, the 97th pick in the 13 draft, was a very capable player when he first entered the NBA. With a height of 196 cm, he played as a point guard. However, he suffered a serious knee injury before the end of his rookie year, and his athletic ability dropped significantly. He returned in the second half of his sophomore year and switched to playing as a floor-based shooting guard, but his performance was not as good as his rookie season.

But after transferring to the Clippers in his junior year, he averaged 16 points per game with his hard-earned solid skills. In the summer of 00, in pursuit of the championship, he rejected a big contract and signed a one-year short contract with the Spurs, with a salary of US$1 million. He averaged 220 points, 15.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 3.7 steals per game. He ranked second in scoring and assists in the Spurs, and first in steals. But unfortunately, he met the invincible OK combination in the playoffs... After that, Derek Anderson chose Bread and joined the Trail Blazers with a 1.5-year, US$6 million contract... He was seriously injured again after playing for two years and was cut by the Trail Blazers in the summer of 4870.

Last season, Derek Anderson won the championship with the Heat. He played 23 games in the regular season, averaging 5.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, which looked okay, but his shooting percentage was 30.8%, averaging 5.7 out of 1.7 shots per game. He played 8 games in the playoffs, averaging 3 points and 1 rebound per game, with a shooting percentage of 30%.

Othella Hannington, the first pick in the second round of the 96 golden generation, is a 1 cm short center who averaged 206 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in the regular season last season and was abandoned in the playoffs.

Zhang Yang felt that these two signings were made for the veterans' experience, and he had little hope for their abilities.

Zhang Yang looked at the roster. There were 13 players, 8 of whom were returning from last season.

It was an effective operation. Apart from selecting Rondo and Millsap in the draft, they also used one of the few high-quality trading chips in their team, Brezec, to exchange for Muhammad.

What remains is to sign veterans, which means that the team should still focus on developing four core players and make improvements around them.

It was not as spectacular as expected, but it was not bad either. After all, they did not have the conditions to attract good players and did not have many chips to operate.

At the moment, they at least have a good lineup structure, with starters and main substitutes in every position.

The power forward position has the best depth, with three inside players with different styles: Okafor, Millsap, and Jumaine Jones.

Derek Anderson and Othella Hannington, if they have to play, the former can play the first or second position, and the latter can play the fourth or fifth position.

Bickerstaff is still looking for free agents to fill the remaining two positions. As for Zhang Yang, he had already started special training with Jordan on June 6th before the free market opened.

Also participating in the special training were Felton and Gerald Wallace.

But if Jordan wasn't the one to teach them in this special training, they would have been useless.

Gerald Wallace and Zhang Yang were happy to play one-on-one with Jordan, but they were reluctant to be taught by him. Only Felton was looking forward to it.

The legendary trainers Tim Grove and Englander took them for special training this time.

Jordan looked at Grove and Engelland and felt like he was back in his dream more than a decade ago, when he trained every summer with the help of Grove and Frank Hamblen, who was known as the "league's number one shooting coach" at the time.

Zhang Yang was very excited when he heard that Grove was coming to help them train, but the training content was different from what he expected. The main reason was that his training was different from that of his two teammates - physical training!
Starting at 6:8 in the morning, I first do an hour of anaerobic and aerobic strength training, have breakfast at 9 o'clock, and continue two hours of physical training from 11 to o'clock.

In the afternoon, with the help of Englander, Zhang Yang conducted 2-3 hours of anti-fatigue shooting training and 1 hour of passing and controlling training even though his body was already tired.

The training time is about the same as usual, but it is much more tiring!

Based on his age, Grove arranged his physical training to be one day of practice and one day of rest.

On the day when he didn't do physical training, Grove had him practice the basics of defensive footwork, and the amount of shooting and passing training in the afternoon would also be reduced.

In fact, Grove originally planned to let Zhang Yangchun rest on the day of training and resting. Although Zhang Yang's physical strength is worse than Felton and Gerald Wallace, his recovery ability is better than these two players in their 20s.

In addition, Zhang Yang’s existing defensive foundation also surprised Grove!

After the first defensive training session, Grove exclaimed to Jordan and Engelland: "I watched the videos you gave me. I thought Jack was just good at defense and had a good sense of disrupting shots. I didn't expect that he also has a good foundation in defensive footwork, even better than many college graduates!"

Englander responded: "Jack's defensive foundation is very good, but he is too young, and his confrontation and physical strength are not good, so we usually let him defend wing shooters. He is also very smart and knows that he has advantages in defending the basket and the wing. Occasionally, when he encounters a situation where he needs to defend alone, he will choose to use his arm span to interfere with the opponent's shot and block the middle to prevent the opponent from breaking through the line."

Grove: "He is indeed a smart and hardworking kid. He must have trained very hard. It is rare for him to have such good shooting basics and so many techniques at the age of 18, and to have laid such a defensive foundation."

Jordan looked strange when he heard this. Englander hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "He works very hard, but he doesn't have much time to practice his skills and defensive footwork. He usually learns a new skill in a few days, but after he has mastered it, he reduces the training time of the new skill."

Grove: "Why? Don't you stop him from doing this? It's worse to know nothing than to know everything but be good at nothing!"

Engelland: "He felt the same way, so he spent most of his practice time working on shooting and the skills that he was good at and used most often in the game.

He said that defensive footwork, triple threat offense... these are just things he thought he could use occasionally, so he learned them first, but he didn't invest too much time in them. It's easy to learn, but it's hard to master them. For him right now, the input and output are not proportional."

Grove: Huh?
He looked at Jordan, who turned his head away and didn't want to talk.

Well, it seems to be true!

He remembered that ESPN had promoted the idea that Zhang Yang started playing basketball at the age of 15 in the 10th grade of high school, was elected California Basketball Player of the Year at the age of 16 in the 11th grade, and entered the NBA less than a month after he turned 17... He thought it was just a legend at first. Zhang Yang was definitely very talented, he had no doubt about that, but it shouldn't be as exaggerated as the legend said.

I didn’t expect that Zhang Yang’s talent was even more exaggerated than the legend!

　Asking for a monthly ticket! Please vote for recommendation!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)