Chapter 647: Chapter 200: This Is Fate, Unavoidable (Part 2)
There are only 445 player spots in the NBA. During the training camp stage, it’s estimated that only 30 to 50 spots might be left for players with training camp contracts to vie for. In most cases, strong teams prefer to leave one spot open, which means possibly only about 30 spots are available for players with training camp contracts to contend for, while there are at least 150 players on training camp contracts. However, these 150 training camp contract spots are likely all fiercely contested by thousands of free agents registering for training camps.
For many players, this might really be the last chance to enter the NBA. By next year, they might not even get a chance for a training camp contract.
It’s just that at this time, one person feels a bit comfortable in his heart...
"Why doesn’t anyone notice how hard I’m training?"
O’Neal is unhappy again.
During the 12 days of training before the official training camp time, he’s really been training hard. Zhang Hao trains every morning and afternoon with two hours of personal training and an hour of small group coordination training with teammates.
O’Neal trains two and a half hours every morning and afternoon. Moreover, after teammates had gradually become familiar with small group coordination training, he actively participated, helping Kenny Anderson and the Magician, Doug Christie, James Robinson, and others practice passing to him, and aiding Kenny Anderson, the Magician, Barkley, and George Lynch in training for two different tempo fast breaks...
The training effect has indeed been great. He had never been so serious and regular in technical training before, and he felt a significant improvement in the details of his hook shots and spins.
However, what he wanted more was for others to praise him for his hard training...
Yet, in the early training period, Zhang Hao did not arrange any training for him, and when Del Harris returned and saw O’Neal training on his own, he just left him be.
As long as O’Neal is on the court, no matter how the tactics are applied, they are surely built around O’Neal. Perhaps at times, O’Neal isn’t the endpoint of the tactic, but everything revolves around his inside threat, and his playing style is very simple, making it easy to develop tactics around him without him having to compromise too much. Sometimes, just by standing in one spot, they can devise tactics around him.
So in training, apart from O’Neal’s voluntary involvement, he’s been ignored.
It’s not that he’s not important; it’s that he’s too strong, a strength that’s particularly distinctive and usable...
Also, O’Neal has a famous trait from his four years with the Magic—he doesn’t like to train.
This was the point the Orlando media attacked O’Neal most for last season.
In everyone’s perception, O’Neal is an unmotivated person.
So, when teammates were fully absorbed in training mode, no one noticed O’Neal silently working hard on the side.
But he can’t go around saying it
This made him feel very hurt, and then on October 4th, he pushed himself hard again in training, trying to attract others’ attention, and then, during a spin move, he slipped on his own sweat on the floor...
...
...
Early the next morning, Zhang Hao came to the gym to ask assistant coach Kurt Rambis about O’Neal’s fall and hospital visit yesterday. Taking the detailed diagnosis report of the X-ray and MRI scans that Kurt Rambis handed to him, he glanced at it and immediately felt an urge to explode on the spot.
"Muscle strain caused by fatigue? It requires 6-8 weeks of recovery? Wasn’t it just a fall? How did it end up being so serious? Wait, muscle fatigue? What has he been doing?"
Kurt Rambis responded, "Because of his large weight and great stamina, when the training load is high, his stamina keeps up but the physical burden is too much. Yesterday afternoon’s fall was just the trigger; at any time muscle strain could lead to injury."
"Training? Didn’t we not arrange much training for him? We only set up routine training, and he even slacked off in strength and stamina training, only doing it two or three times over more than half a month."
"Indeed, we didn’t schedule much for him, nor did we manage him closely, but I watched the surveillance last night. He’s been training at the facility longer than even you Aix."
"..."
Unexpected, indeed unexpected, Zhang Hao never expected such a situation to happen!
It truly was unforeseen!
This Lakers team is clearly much stronger than the original timeline’s Lakers when O’Neal joined. In terms of star power and having two all-NBA first-team players, three all-defense players, plus Ron Harper, they are no less than the Bulls.
The gap with the Bulls lies in the top-tier strength where the Bulls have Jordan and in their teamwork harmony, even though the Lakers’ training progress is promising, they’ve yet to undergo formal match integration.
But the Lakers definitely have championship opportunities, even when facing the Bulls.
So, when the Magician suggested that Zhang Hao take responsibility for assigning training tasks during the early start of the training camp, the first priority was O’Neal’s health.
Who would have thought, O’Neal still went and trained on his own!
This can’t really be blamed on O’Neal; it’s never wrong to train hard.
But he’s injured!
After Kurt Rambis detailed everything to Zhang Hao, he returned to the head coach’s office.
After receiving O’Neal’s detailed check-up report last night, Del Harris had sleepless night.
O’Neal, a core player in multiple tactics and the team’s strongest player in self-directed offense, was injured, which clearly shattered their initial plans.
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