2017-2018 NBA League, this is a brand new season, this is a season full of suspense, let's take a look at this season of the NBA League, what are the things you must know!
- The busiest transfer season in history
There is no doubt that this summer is the most lively summer in the more than 70-year history of the NBA. many heavyweight players have transferred. Starting with Butler's transfer to the Timberwolves, George's transfer to the Thunder, Paul's transfer to the Rockets, Hayward's transfer to the Celtics, Irving Thomas's switch, Anthony's transfer to the Thunder, and Rose Wade's hand in signing the Cavaliers. A number of heavyweight transactions, let people a little dizzying. All seven players in last season's All-Star Game changed teams in the new season, which is unheard of in NBA history!
Last season's All-stars who moved over the summer were Butler, from the Bulls to the Timberwolves; Millsap, Hawks to Nuggets; George, Pacers to Thunder; Carmelo Anthony, Knicks to Thunder; Sir Hayward to the Celts; Irving, Cavaliers to Celtics; Thomas, Celtics to Cavs.
- The most expensive season in history
Thanks to the NBA's sky-high contract for broadcast rights, teams can also write big checks for their stars. This summer, the title of "most expensive contract in history" changed four times.
On July 1, the NBA free agent market opened. Clippers power forward Blake Griffin signed a five-year, $173 million contract with the team, making his contract the largest in NBA history, surpassing Conley's.
Later that day, Warriors point guard Stephen Curry agreed to a five-year, $201 million Max contract extension with the team! Griffin has been No. 1 in history for less than three hours.
On July 9, the Houston Rockets extended their star James Harden ahead of schedule, which is a six-year contract worth 228 million yuan!
On September 30, the Thunder announced that they had re-signed last season's regular season MVP Russell Westbrook to a five-year, $205 million contract. Since Westbrook's salary is $28.5 million next season, his total salary over the next six years is a record $233 million over six years.
- Strong in the west and weak in the East
Of all the star player transfers, only Hayward came from the West to the East, while Butler, George, Anthony, Millsap and other people came from the East to the West. In this case, the West of the new season has become a real "wild West", and the competition for playoff qualification has become increasingly fierce. At the same time, it makes the Eastern Conference landscape somewhat awkward - no team other than the Celtics can pose a serious challenge to James and the Cavaliers.
- All-star Reform
It is in order to avoid this situation that the west is strong and the East is weak, the NBA reformed the All-Star game this season.
On October 4, the NBA and the players' union officially announced that the 2018 NBA All-Star Game will be a major restructuring, the form of the game will no longer be the Eastern All-Star team vs. the Western All-Star team, but the fans choose the two Kings of the East and West, they serve as captains and then choose players, and the selection of players is not limited to the East and West.
- The rookie hits
Among this year's rookies, there are Brother Ball, who has not entered the league and is popular as an active player, and Kuzma, who is not well-known but has great potential, as well as Fultz, Tatum and other potential rookies. I don't know if the 2017 rookie can become another golden generation in the NBA after the 84, 96 and 03 classes.
- Super teams
Although all the teams are moving frequently, but there is no doubt that the current NBA league only two super teams - the Cavaliers in the East and the Warriors in the West. At present, it seems that the two teams will meet in the finals for an unprecedented fourth time in a row, which is definitely a probability event.
The Warriors' main move in this tumultuous summer was to keep their core roster, re-signing Curry, Durant and Iguodala. The defending champions, who kept their roster intact, are still the strongest team for the new season, while also signing Nick Young and Casspi, who will provide strong firepower for the Warriors bench.
Knight is one of the main characters this summer. Swapped guards with the Celtics, sending Kyrie Irving for Thomas, Jae Crowder and Nikki. He signed Derrick Rose, the youngest MVP, and Dwyane Wade, the third quarterback in history, at base salaries. James, Wade, Rose, Thomas, Love, Tristan Thompson, Crowder, such a lineup is undoubtedly much better than last season.
- New Age center
In last season's All-Star Skill Challenge, the Timberwolves' big center Towns defeated all the smaller opponents to become the highest big skill Challenge winner in history. This may also be a trend in the NBA now - the rise of the new era of the inside line.
These big men, inside the block play defensive block rebound, outside can dribble pass and should pick and roll shooting three points, all-around skills make them quickly become the new darling of the league. Among them, Towns, Davis, Embiid, Porzingis, Jokic and other young people are represented. Traditional centers like Howard have been losing ground.
- Small ball
Since winning the NBA championship in 2015, the Golden State Warriors have set off a wave of "small ball tactics" in the NBA league and even the world basketball circle. And before the old Nelson, D 'Antoni and other predecessors of the shelling tactics are different, coach Cole's small ball tactics, rooted in defense, the pursuit of speed, the main offensive and defensive transition, focus on sharing the ball, emphasis on spatial distribution, and the water brothers without solution of the three-point projection, but also make this set of tactics a great success. The "five dead" is also the proud work of coach Cole, and after the arrival of Durant, such tactics have been upgraded - with Durant such an absolute strong point.
Under the leadership of the Warriors, almost the whole league is playing small ball tactics, and each team can't get together a "five small" are embarrassed to greet others. But it's all small balls and three-pointers. It's different from team to team. Among them, there are Cavaliers such as James led under the three-point team; There are also teams like the Spurs that create open three-pointers with their entire team; There are rockets such as D 'Antoni upgraded version of the "seven-second offense" under the three-point team.
- Schedule reform
In previous seasons, for fear of injury, many teams would rotate key players in insignificant games, which also triggered a chorus of discontent among fans. In order to change this situation, the NBA has revised the schedule for the new season. The most obvious change is that the schedule has been lengthened, although it is still 82 games, but the bitter five days and four games have withdrawn from the historical stage for the first time, and the average number of back-to-back has been reduced to 14.4, which has hit a record low for three consecutive years. Consecutive road trips and average travel times, as well as across time zones, were reduced to a minimum.
- Refuse to rot
In the NBA, if a team is not good enough to make the playoffs, they usually choose to rot. The advantage of this is that they may get a higher pick in the draft. In recent seasons, the 76ers have "shameless" rotten, allowing them to pile up a group of young talents such as Embiid, Simmons, Fultz. But it also makes the game less exciting. This season, if a team wants to continue to suck and get the first pick with the worst record, it should consider it. Because the NBA just changed its draft rules. According to the new rule, the top three teams with the worst regular season records have a 14 percent probability of drawing the No. 1 pick. Previously, the probability of the teams from the bottom to the bottom drawing the first pick was 25 percent, 19.9 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively.
