Chapter 649: Chapter 201: Bodyguard in Place
"I promised to play for another year, you said you’d take me to win the championship..."
"I thought the Lakers traded me back to assist Aix..."
Indeed, no one noticed how hard O’Neal trained every day. After learning about it, many people on the Lakers were curious to check the surveillance footage, and they found it was true. In 12 days of training, O’Neal had the largest training load!
However, despite the injury, O’Neal’s endurance shocked everyone—132 kg and able to train like this!
O’Neal got injured, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.
Barkley’s thick skin, well, can’t do anything about that either.
Zhang Hao indeed isn’t the core player type but rather a puzzle piece player, and there’s nothing to refute about that.
The Magician and Kenny Anderson now feel speechless; they’ve become the supporting pillars!
By the next morning, Del Harris held a team meeting to announce the adjustments to their gameplay in response to O’Neal’s absence. Unfortunately for them, they saw they’ve truly become the absolute tactical core players.
While making adjustments, Del Harris considered Barkley’s ideas. If there’s no other option, Barkley would undoubtedly be the tactical core. With Barkley’s career average of 4.1 assists, using him as the inside tactical core is entirely feasible.
But there are other players who can be core players. Given Barkley’s blatant reliance and his approaching 34th birthday in four months, plus with O’Neal’s recent injury as a fresh example, Del Harris decisively chose Kenny Anderson as the tactical core, the Magician as the second tactical core.
In the tactics, Zhang Hao’s role involves working with teammates, running positions to create pressure, catching passes to take shots, secondary handling, and taking responsibility for scoring under pressure...
With Zhang Hao around, any teammate with a bit of sense can play better, but Zhang Hao isn’t the tactical core.
This is crucial for Zhang Hao; he’s more adept at this kind of role rather than being forced to take center stage.
Not everyone can accidentally become a superstar when thrust into the spotlight like the future Tracy McGrady.
...
O’Neal’s regular season injury might keep him sidelined for up to a month, and this situation excites the Lakers’ training camp contract players. They feel they have a chance!
For players on the fringes, the best opportunity they can hope for really is when a main player gets injured.
However, by the morning of October 6th, the Lakers announced the early termination of all training camp contracts.
Then the Lakers signed Ben Wallace, a Washington Bullets training camp contract player and this year’s undrafted rookie, with a fully guaranteed minimum salary of 250,000 US Dollar for one year plus a second-year team option totaling 580,000 US Dollar.
Originally, Ben Wallace had entered the Washington Bullets training camp and had received a 10-day short contract.
But last night, the Lakers offered such a guaranteed minimum salary, and the Bullets chose not to match it.
Although the announcement of signing Ben Wallace happened this morning, later than the early termination of training camp contracts, the decision was actually made earlier.
O’Neal’s injury inevitably leads to a decline in overall strength, and even when O’Neal returns, there’ll be a painful adjustment period for reintegration, so it’s essential to play better in the early season.
As the saying goes, seeking fortune amidst risk, Del Harris, being an old fox fond of experimentation, decided to start the formal integration stage directly from the preseason to avoid the situation where formal integration just starts at the regular season, and O’Neal returns, causing yet another integration phase.
Starting the main lineup right from the preseason might let opponents figure out their gameplay at the start of the regular season, and then there’s the issue of having too short an adaptation period, with risks of injury...
But Del Harris chose to take a gamble.
At worst, he could rely more on young players like Kenny Anderson, Zhang Hao, George Lynch, Jason Williams...
Then, during another team meeting on the morning of October 6th, Kenny Anderson realized he finally became the absolute core of the team again. Moreover, he achieved this among the stars surrounding the Lakers team, but somehow he felt so miserable?
But there’s no choice. From the strategic layout of the preseason to the initial decisions announced by the coaching staff for the beginning of the regular season, Kenny Anderson could really shout: "I’m the core among the Lakers’ five all-stars!"
...
...
"Elvin Johnson, 37 years old, 206 cm, 110 kg, ability rating 85... If not for missing several years due to illness, the Magician would be even stronger, right? His maintained state is simply incredible. Many people forget that the year the Magician retired, he had just led the team to the finals, averaging 12.5 assists in the regular season, right? And the two seasons before that, he was a consecutive MVP winner..."
"Kenny Anderson, 26 years old, 183 cm, 77 kg, ability rating 89... Oh, Boss Kenny is having a good year! He didn’t become a little chubby like last year, just a tiny bit short. Who knows if he has the chance to become a top star? It all depends on talent."
"Charles Barkley, 34 years old, 198 cm (?), 120 kg, ability rating 94... What should I say about this? The real leg of the original Rockets team."
"Shaq O’Neal, 24 years old, 216 cm, 134 kg, ability rating 96 (injury rating 80)... Gain two kilograms in two days? Does that count as talent? Anyway, if you’re injured, might as well gain some weight."
"Doug Christie, 26 years old, 198 cm, 91 kg, ability rating 82... Defense rating 91, our best perimeter defender right now! As he’s entering his peak period, his improvement is really fast, and he can guard positions 1 through 3. Just his defense against speedy point guards isn’t great, it seems I still have to guard point guards... Me, Doug, and George defending the perimeter, it’s enough for a set defense."
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