Chapter 598 Evaluating Players
Chapter 598 Evaluating Players
Putting on the Warriors jersey and looking at his own number "9" on his chest, Starks was very happy, a sense of pride that his dream came true, and at the same time made him feel that he has persisted for many years is totally worth it.
Born in 1965, Starks is older than Li Weisi. He is 25 years old this year. He participated in that draft as early as 1988. Unfortunately, he lost. No NBA team is willing to give him a chance.
However, Starks did not give up his basketball dream. He has always believed in his own strength, but he lacked opportunities.
So after he couldn't make it to the NBA, he went to play in other leagues, the Cedar Rapids Silver Bullets in the CBA League, and the Memphis Rockers in the WBL League. He always insisted on playing.
Finally, one day in June today, he received a call from Warriors general manager Attles.
At the beginning of receiving the call, Starks thought the other party was a liar, until he was invited to Attles' office and met Attles, and finally believed that all this was actually true.
However, different from what he expected, he thought that the discerning Warriors would treat him very preferentially, but he didn't expect that they only planned to give him a non-guaranteed contract, and they also set a lot of conditions, which he had to fulfill before he could transfer. for a formal contract.
This made Starks feel insulted. In his opinion, there are a lot of players in the Warriors who are worse than him. Among other things, this year's second-round pick Davis is not as good as him, but they all If you can get a guarantee contract, why can't you do it yourself?
It's a pity that Starks, who has been severely beaten by the society, can only bite the bullet and sign this contract no matter how unwilling he is. What kind of good player was almost missed!
Those who came to the training camp today, besides Li Weisi’s trainer Bruce, the Van Gundy brothers also came to the arena, and there were also some other trainers and coaches. With the joint efforts of everyone, even if the number of people in the training camp increased, It is still going on in an orderly manner, without the chaos that just started last year.
After the players exchanged simple greetings in twos and threes, they soon entered the training.
The training at the beginning was mainly about warming up and recovering physical fitness. At the end of the afternoon, some players couldn’t bear it anymore and proposed to play a warm-up match. After a while, many players responded one after another, and finally 10 people were selected to participate Contest.
Li Weisi did not participate, but sat on the sidelines, intending to carefully observe the state and technical level of the players on the field. Many other people also had the same idea.
Rookies like Payton and Davis, or fringe players like Cole and Starks, prefer to show themselves on the court, so the level of this warm-up match is actually not too high.
The 10 people were divided into blue and white teams. The blue team was: Tim Hardaway, Payton, Curry, Reggie Miller, and Davis.
White team: Kevin Johnson, Kerr, Starks, Marly, Anthony Mason.
It can be seen that most of the people who came to this training camp were defenders, which is no wonder, after all, everyone came for Li Weisi, and naturally they were more attractive to defenders.
However, this also caused the two teams to be unable to find even a decent wing and center forward, so they all formed such a weird lineup of one big and four small.
Fortunately, both teams have no shortage of pitchers, and the space on the court is very open. There is no need to worry about a group of people crowded together. It is very open. After Davis beat Mason by jumping, the entire warm-up match started.
The difference in player strength between the two teams is huge, and the strongest of these players is naturally Kevin Johnson.
In the last season, Kevin Johnson, who reached the peak of his career, averaged 22.5 points and 11.2 assists per game. He ranked fourth in assists only with Magic Johnson. Can enter the best team, but his strength is undoubtedly already the top point guard in the league.
However, this does not mean that the blue team has no chance to play. Whether it is Reggie Miller, "Bug" Hardaway, or this year's No. [-] Payton, all of them have strength above the league level. In terms of strength, the blue team is stronger.
Sure enough, after the opening game, Johnson first used his lightning breakthrough to quickly break through Hardaway's defense. Under Davis' block, he easily avoided a layup.
As a rookie this year, Davis is obviously inexperienced and has felt the true strength of the NBA at this level in advance.
Fortunately, for the white team, after a simple cooperation, Miller successfully ran without the ball, got rid of Marley's defense, and after receiving Hardaway's pass, he made a mid-range jumper.
Since the lineups of both sides are very small, the offensive and defensive rhythms of the two teams are very fast, which makes people dazzled.
However, this is only for lay spectators. For the group of real insiders around them, their attacks still have rules to follow.
After the start of the game, the onlookers gathered together in twos and threes to discuss, but no one talked to Li Weisi, because Li Weisi had a serious face at this time, as if strangers should not enter, so that no one wanted to go to Li Weisi chat.
In this way, until a while after the game started, Frank brought Donnie Nelson to the arena and took the initiative to find Li Weisi.
"Yo, it's quite interesting that you guys are actually playing a game."
Hearing Frank's voice, Li Weisi finally reacted. He turned his head to look at Frank, then nodded, then turned his head back and continued to watch the game.
Seeing that Li Weisi was ignoring him, Frank wasn't angry either. He said to himself, "How do you feel about these people?"
"There are good and bad, and there is a big gap in strength." Li Weisi replied without looking back.
"Well, what about our team members?"
"Dell is very mature and smart. He knows what he should do on the court. Steve and Anthony are improving very fast. They should have no problem entering the rotation next season. Davis is very young and needs to learn. There are many, and it is not clear how high it will be in the future." Speaking of this, Li Weisi paused.
Frank was a little curious, looked at Li Weisi with a smile and asked, "Why don't you continue talking? Isn't there that John?"
"This...it's hard for him to say." Li Weisi hesitated for a moment and said.
"Hahaha, what is hard to say? Could it be that his strength is poor? Can't catch your eyes?"
"No, that's not what it means. I just feel that this player may not be suitable for our Warriors." Li Weisi said with a frown.
(End of this chapter)