I am Really an Insider

In the summer of 2004, people's eyes were on Athens.

The slogan for this Olympics is simple: "Welcome home."

The Olympics returned to its birthplace.

At this time, with the Olympic fever spreading around the world, no one would care about the basketball game going on in a small basketball stadium in the Rocky Mountain area of ​​Salt Lake City.

But for a small group of people, the game is more attractive than the Olympics.

On July 17, in the opening game of the Rocky Mountain Summer League, the Utah Jazz faced the Indiana Pacers.

When Chris Humphries, the Jazz's 14th pick in the first round, came on the court, he found that the reaction from the fans was not too enthusiastic.

And dozens of seconds later, when the Pacers' Wayne came on the stage, the fans at the scene became restless.

Humphries curled his lips. After all, this is considered a home game for the Jazz.

As a result, Wayne's popularity was completely blown away!

As the MOP of the Final Four, Wayne's fan base in the United States is indeed stronger than when Chairman Yao first came.

Well, better than most rookies in the same class.

Although Humphries is this year's lottery goalkeeper, few Salt Lake City fans have seen him play before.

On the contrary, it is Wayne, who has already made a name for himself in the two games of the Final Four that were broadcast nationally.

I have never seen the scene of Wayne hitting the key ball while leaning back over Okafor's head, so I am embarrassed to say that I am a true fan.

Besides, when watching summer league, fans watch the players, not the teams.

Therefore, although most of the people present were Salt Lake City locals, they still favored Wayne more.

"I really envy you, Wei." Behind Wayne, an undrafted center named John Edwards looked at the restless crowd around him and sighed.

"It's nothing, it's a small scene." Wayne shrugged. This small gymnasium, with just a thousand people, couldn't make any waves in Wayne's heart.

I remember when Awei was playing elite basketball in Minnesota.

Ahem, that’s an exaggeration. It happened two months ago.

Wayne felt very relaxed after coming on the field. In addition to the fact that the scene was not big, it was also because Wayne had already made full preparations for the summer league!

After finalizing the sneaker contract with Nike, Wayne devoted himself to training.

Mancias, who was recruited by Wayne, has also been implementing Wayne's weight gain plan.

A few days ago, when Wayne went to Salt Lake City to train with the team, he did not forget to take Mancias with him.

Well, other people were jealous after seeing that.

At such a young age, I have a personal trainer!

Of course, what most people are more jealous of is Wayne's $28 million sneaker contract.

As the media said, 90% of these players who play in the summer league will never make so much money in their lifetime.

There is no doubt that Wayne is the biggest player in this game.

At this time, Mike Brown, the assistant coach of the Pacers and the head coach of this summer league, who would later work as a nanny for Mousse in Cleveland, was pretentiously writing and drawing on a tactical board.

It looks like his drawing is very complicated, but in fact he only says: "When you can't open the situation, give the ball to Wayne."

As for how to give the ball to Wayne and how Wayne plays after getting the ball, that is none of his business.

Well, there is no doubt that the offensive tactics of Mike Brown, the defensive coach, are so simple and crude, and they are similar to those of coach Lu in the future.

Give the ball to the strongest person, that's not shabby!

And the summer league is really not very tactical.

Just look at the summer league rules.

A player will not be off the field until he receives 10 fouls, just to allow the players to perform as much as possible.

Of course, that also means summer league can be pretty rough.

The cost of fouling has been reduced, and no one will be polite.

In this way, Wayne officially entered the NBA Summer League.

Strictly speaking, this is not an NBA game. Because at this time, the Rocky Mountain Summer League is not officially recognized by the NBA.

Although 11 teams participated, it could only be regarded as a training match organized by these teams themselves.

It wasn't until 2007, when the NBA introduced the Las Vegas Summer League, that the Summer League could truly be regarded as one of the official NBA events.

And in terms of player strength, this game is also far from the NBA.

Most positions are filled with undrafted players and fringe players, and the level is not very high.

So after taking the field, Wayne was extremely calm.

The tension and excitement I imagined were completely absent. .

He doesn't know most of the people on the court anyway, and he doesn't have to cooperate or build relationships with his summer league teammates.

Wayne's goal is simple - just work hard to play his own game.

Wayne, wearing jersey No. 99, put his hands on his hips and looked at Humphries opposite.

The young man is still young and looks promising for the future.

Hey, you said that as a young man, why do you have to get involved with Kardashian?

As for Wayne's number 99, it actually doesn't have any special meaning, he just wants to be unique.

At first, Wayne thought about wearing his father's number. Later, Tony proposed exchanging college numbers with Wayne.

Wayne thought about it and finally chose 99, which he liked.

99 is so easy to remember, and you are not afraid of "colliding" with others. It can become one of your own special symbols in the future.

If Wayne were forced to give an explanation for a number, then it would be this number that turned six.

Besides, George McCann, the first-generation NBA superstar, also wore No. 99.

In this era where everyone loves number 23, it is such an ancient beast that I, Wayne, imitate.

This B style that did not follow the trend suddenly changed.

After the referee threw the ball into the air, the Pacers' 2-meter-13 John Edwards won the ball.

Wayne hurriedly ran forward, but stopped when he was outside the three-point line, with no intention of going inside to gain position.

In addition to Wayne really likes to position outside the three-point line, the Pacers also have requirements for Wayne.

After discussing with Bird, Carlisle decided to develop Wayne's ability to play the three position starting from the summer league.

So, they told Mike Brown to let Wayne attack from beyond the arc.

Mike Brown also truthfully conveyed this idea to Wayne yesterday.

Wayne was so happy, now he could legitimately shoot three-pointers to gain points!

But in the first round, Wayne didn't catch the ball.

Because the point guard on the Pacers' side is an unknown guy.

During yesterday's confrontation training, he had a team-high record of three blocks in 10 minutes by Wayne.

Today he still does not believe in evil and continues to make breakthroughs.

As a result, the Jazz's No. 16 rookie Kirk Snyder received the first big gift of the game.

A big risk completed the defense.

"Hey, today's point guards are so swollen." Mike Brown sighed, and the ball was almost invisible.

Therefore, in the summer league, how to balance personal performance and team performance is also an art.

Sometimes, being too humble makes you unable to express yourself, but being too independent can actually lower your worth.

The Jazz immediately counterattacked, and they were determined to regain their home court advantage.

As a result, when the Jazz guard was preparing for a layup, the basketball in his hand was ruthlessly slapped from behind.

Suddenly, the small arena exploded. The fans came just to watch Wayne perform!

"Wocao, we actually caught him!" Seeing Wayne's desperate pursuit and success, Mike Brown called out to Wardfa.

This moving speed doesn't look like a serious power forward!

He seemed to see Artest chasing others on the court.

Wayne chased the ball so aggressively that after landing, he fell directly into the audience due to too much inertia.

What a fight!

Since getting the "Man of Steel" badge, Wayne is now not afraid of falling at all.

As long as he could risk it, he didn't have to worry about whether it was safe when he landed.

Just rush hard and that's it!

In just one round, many people on the Jazz team looked ashen.

He was so high, yet he could still pursue and defend so quickly.

Is this guy Garnett?

Garnett in summer league? This game can't be played!

Is it interesting to come to Novice Village with a maxed-level account?

Interesting, so interesting!

Wayne was having a great time.

He climbed out of the crowd and returned to the court as if nothing had happened.

The Jazz guard was stunned. He swore that as long as Wayne was on the court, he would not be able to enter the three-second zone!

After the Jazz's foul ball was sent out, Kirk Snyder hit a three-pointer, and Wayne collected the rebound and completed a beautiful defense.

Snyder is similar to Mr. Tony, with excellent defense and hip-reaching shooting skills. He falls into the category of crooked skill trees.

It was the first time today to play a game with the NBA's three-point line distance, and Snyder had no accuracy at all.

After Wayne won the basketball, Tou Tie Wa relied on himself to play the point guard, not Bi Lian who raised his hand to ask for the ball.

But this time Wayne didn't kill him, he chose

Control the ball for half the game!

Don't tell me, Wayne's movements were very impressive when he took possession of the ball across half court.

Dribbling the ball while giving instructions with gestures.

In fact, Wayne doesn't know how to direct the offense now, and the Pacers' offense has no tactics at all.

He gestured just to ask everyone to pull away.

Then, people saw a tall power forward with long arms controlling the ball for half the court like a point guard, and facing off one-on-one with another power forward outside the three-point range.

Mike Brown has a headache, your style of play is so novel, it’s hard for me to accept it!

Humphries stood ready, knowing that the MOP standing in front of him was not easy to mess with.

The hot man in front of him can compete with Okafor on the offensive end, and he can also fall back and hit shots in front of Okafor.

Humphries would never underestimate his opponent unless he was mentally ill.

In reality, there are not so many tricks to forcefully underestimate the enemy and get slapped in the face.

Humphries retreated one step inside the three-point line. He was more afraid of Wayne's breakthrough than shooting.

After all, this is the NBA's three-point line, no matter how accurate Wayne is,

"brush!"

"Huh?" Before Humphries' inner theater had finished, he heard the sound of the net rolling behind him.

Looking back, Wayne scored.

It turns out that Wayne and the NBA's three-point line can connect almost seamlessly.

"This doesn't make sense!" Humphries said with a black line on his face. I am also a lottery goalkeeper after all, so give me some face.

As a result, in the next round, after being defeated by Yan, he took another big risk from Wayne.

Wayne is so generous.

"Here I go, the difference in height and wingspan is too big. It's a risk." Seeing Humphries beating Wayne and being bleeding, Mike Brown really felt like he could go back to the hotel to rest.

What difference does it make whether or not you want this coaching bench?

Originally, the biggest threat to the Jazz was Humphries, but judging from this round, he had no chance at all.

Humphries is a low-post offensive post who has yet to shoot.

Being blocked by Wayne in the low post, he was basically useless. He couldn't fight, and the Jazz had no chance of winning.

Wayne got the basketball and once again controlled the ball for half the game.

The assistant coaches joked: "Replace everyone else. Wayne is enough."

Humphries started to steal the ball, but Wayne flexibly passed Humphries with a change of hands.

Wayne didn't expect that he could shake Humphries away so easily, so he suddenly accelerated and went straight to the basket.

Wayne picked up speed very quickly, and acceleration in the early stages was his strength.

So much so that when he entered the three-second zone, the Jazz center had not yet reacted.

Why did this tall guy come in?

What about the Humphries?

Just like that, Wayne dunked with both hands.

After blocking the shot, he dribbled the ball for a breakthrough and dunk. Garnett's reputation in Indianapolis was officially launched!

Mike Brown wiped the sweat from his forehead. At first, when Carlisle said he wanted to train Wayne to play the third position, Mike Brown was not optimistic about it.

But now, he has changed his mind.

Even though Wayne is 2.11 meters tall, he seems to be more suitable to play small forward than power forward!

After all, Wayne's low post skills are very average, and he is also a bit thin, so he might not be able to handle it inside.

But breakthrough, acceleration and shooting have indeed reached the standards of a small forward.

Peja, the guy from the Kings team next door who is only 3 centimeters shorter than Wayne, shines in the third position. He was fourth in the MVP rankings last season!

Arranging positions based on height may not always be the best choice.

Think about it, if the Pistons were pushed to the second or third position, the picture would be simply

Mike Brown began to feel that Wayne's plasticity might be beyond imagination.

In this game, Wayne finally took over the ball and used the small forward method to confuse Humphries.

In the end, the score was settled at 108-92, and the Pacers, under the leadership of Wayne, achieved their first win in the Rocky Mountain Summer League.

Among them, Wayne alone scored a double-double with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks, and even made 4 of 5 three-pointers.

Few rookie players can hit this kind of shooting rate when they first touch the NBA three-point line.

In the first game of the summer league, Wayne performed perfectly.

It’s still unclear whether Wayne’s $28 million contract with Nike is a myth.

But at least it won't be a joke.

After the game, Mike Brown pushed up his glasses and called Carlisle.

"Get rich, get rich, this time we really got rich!"

Well, Wayne's performance made the Indiana assistant coach completely forget about Al Harrington.

Little did they know that when Harrington first left, Mike Brown complained a lot.

Men, they all like the new and hate the old.