With the aging of the legendary stars James, Durant and Curry, the NBA has entered the era of contention in the past few years, especially this season, the rapid rise of the Timberwolves under the leadership of the first pick Edwards, and the defensive efficiency has occupied the first place in the league for a long time; Under the leadership of Alexander and Holmgren, the Thunder also ranked second in the West, including the Magic of the East, with the No. 1 Bankelo, small Wagner and other talented young people. It turns out that if you want to make a result, the first step is to hoard enough talent, and secondly, it is to start from the defensive end. These three dark horses are not short of high-quality blue-collar front lines, including the growth trajectory of the Rockets this season, and Brooks, Holiday and other veterans are growing rapidly with young people.
Including some championship-level teams, they are also very concerned about training young people to take over. The Denver offseason release of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green two veterans, is to give the bench Strawther, Watson and other young people more room to grow; The Lakers also overage the lineup, Hayes, Prince, Redish, including Christie and others are stable rotation; Even if the Warriors adhere to the meritorious basketball model, Moody and Kuminga's growth, Cole can not see! And the Clippers are the most terrible, in order to get Harden and not give up Mann, they sent off all the frontline role of blue collar, even if small Card and George do dirty work, but also to retain some future fire. But only talented young people. Is that enough? Ugly 15-game losing streak, desperate 18-game losing streak, expensive and crazy, you should all be dismissed!
From the Spurs, since the start of the game, the record of 3-17, the Spurs last win, but also back to the early November double to beat the Sun, in addition to the start of the game beat the rocket, won the two opponents. Wenbanyama was praised by the media as "the strongest talent in NBA history", averaging 19 points, 10 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, his combination of height + arm span + technology, indeed let people see the future of the Spurs to brilliant traits, but he entered the league in the first year, the biggest shortcoming is that there is no outstanding point. Has some shooting ability, but 27% three-point shooting is not flattering; Without the ability to fight, Westbrook can push Wenbanya horse back; Can't handle double teams, pick and roll quality is poor, and most importantly, he does not have a consistent offensive killer, is it a toss or a back-up single, or a midrange?
This summer, the Spurs and Popovich reached a five-year contract extension totaling more than $80 million, which is the highest contract for an NBA coach. But Popovich led the Spurs this season, is to make people feel very ugly, Vassell and Sohan's starting battle, no result, two people take turns to try and wrong; Johnson as the past Spurs first scorer, because of Wenbanyama, he was diluted ball rights, but Wenbanyama himself can not digest so much ball rights, so Spurs on their own, single play with an increase in errors, offensive and defensive efficiency are the league's bottom three! In fact, as can be seen from the maximum contract Popovich, the Spurs are not short of money, and they could have been like the Rockets, find a few veteran with young development, such as Brogton, such as Gervey or Brooks, but gave up.
If the Spurs' game feels ugly, the Pistons, who are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, can only inspire despair. Since the start of the record 2-19, the latest wave of 18 consecutive losses! They are built in a structure that is very similar to the rising Magic, with No. 1 pick Cunningham leading the team, but averaging 22 points and 7.4 assists per game, and a league-leading 4.4 turnovers. As a big ball holding core, his static talent is very good, but he can't run, can't jump high, and has a lot of ball holding mistakes, and the two shooting rates are only 41.6%+34.4%! The rookie of the same grade, the Knight Mobley has grown into one of the top edge, Barnes has become the core of the Raptors, Keedy is the main control point of the Thunder, Kuminga can grow rapidly in the Warriors, Shen Jing is known as Jokic successor, and Cunningham? Top 20 slowest offensive averages, top 10 slowest defensive averages in the league!
In addition, Durham is the 13th pick in the first round of 22 years, Ivey is the 5th pick in the first round of 22 years, Bagley is the second in the second round of 18 years, Hayes is the 7th pick in the first round of 20 years, Wiseman is the second in the first round of 20 years, Knox is the 9th pick in the first round of 18 years, OrsalThompson is the 5th pick in the first round of this summer, their paper strength is not less than any dark horse, but they choose, They're mostly high draft picks with off-line players. The key is that they signed Monty as head coach with a six-year contract of 78.5 million US dollars (and Popovich, are the highest salary of NBA coaches), but they are not willing to find veterans to take young people, the team's oldest Bogda, but also conservative injuries, the whole team is like a headless fly.
Two of the highest-paid coaches in the league, running the worst teams. This league has always been no shortage of talented young people, any player can establish a foothold in the NBA, give him time, can play gorgeous data, has played in the CBA Qingdao team Reese, now can also stand firm in the Blazers. But simply rely on talent, is not playing results, must have a correct defensive attitude, to have a veteran guide! The foundation of Thunder's success is also the result of Paul bringing Alexander out hand in hand. As for the Spurs and Pistons, they might as well disband.
