NBA: I have 3, no D, and I can't dribble

Chapter 174 [174] Riley got straight to the point, and the Heat decided to correct Lin Fei!

As Lin Fei said, the first tier of the Western Conference this season is basically a competition between the Spurs, Mavericks and Timberwolves.

The Dallas Mavericks' reinforcements this offseason were successful. The team not only exchanged Stackhouse, who has passed his peak, for top sixth man Manu Ginobili.
At the same time, Jason Terry also averaged 18.2 points per game as the starting point guard, and his three-point shooting percentage reached a career-high 43.7%.

Terry averaged over 2.5 three-pointers per game.

Lin Fei's emergence in the NBA has greatly affected the status of the three-pointer in the game.

Aggressive point guards like Jason Terry also get more tactical tilt.

In particular, Terry himself worked hard enough during the offseason. The humiliation of being easily beaten by Lin Fei in the All-Star Three-Point Contest last season still inspires this outstanding shooter.

Josh Howard, Marquis Daniels, and sophomore Devin Harris, both from the 03 generation, have also grown up rapidly.

This allows the Mavericks to have enough potential on the forward and defensive lines. These young players dare to play hard and at the same time obey the coach's arrangements.
After trading away old players such as Nash, Antawn Jamison and Antoine Walker, the Mavericks have now completely rebuilt the team around Dirk Nowitzki.

Nelson has gradually faded away from the Mavericks' management job, which has also given Mark Cuban greater control and unprecedented unity in the team.

From all aspects, the Dallas Mavericks have enough strength to compete for the championship this season.

Of course, the most important thing is the stable output of "King Nuo", averaging 27 points, 9 rebounds and 1 block per game, and his shooting percentage exceeded 50% for the first time in his career.

In the new season's regular season MVP rankings, Nowitzki has always occupied the top three positions, and was even ranked No. 1 for a while.

The Mavericks currently have a record of 24 wins and 7 losses and are firmly in second place in the Western Conference, ahead of the Spurs and Timberwolves.

Although the Spurs traded away Ginobili, their lineup with Duncan and Parker as the core is still stable, only 1.5 games behind the Mavericks.

But Duncan's scoring average this season is only 19.1 points. In the first season of his career, his scoring average was as low as 20 points. Naturally, he does not have much advantage in the MVP competition.

The Timberwolves' record follows the Mavericks and Spurs, and they are currently the only three teams in the Western Conference with 20+ wins.

Although he lost head coach Flip Saunders, general manager Kevin McHale coached himself and emphasized the defensive concept.

With three major defensive players in Garnett, Artest and Gerald Wallace, the team configuration is consistent with "Refrigerator" McHale's defensive philosophy.

This allowed the Timberwolves to play the iron-blooded defensive style of the Green Army in the 80s. Garnett averaged top power forward statistics of 25+13+3 per game, truly achieving both offense and defense.

On the regular season MVP list, "Wolf King" Garnett has always been ranked in the top five.

At the same time, Artest and Gerald Wallace are also in the discussion for the All-Defensive Team.

Seeing the Timberwolves' rapid rise this season after a year of sluggishness, Lin Fei couldn't help but sigh.

The butterfly effect after he helped the Timberwolves win the championship in 04 was really powerful. The Timberwolves and Garnett are heading for a completely different road to revival.

Judging from the current situation, the seismic deal that the world's three giants signed to join the Green Army in the 07 offseason should be unlikely to happen.

After all, Garnett won the MVP, championship and FMVP with the Timberwolves, and Minnesota fans have always welcomed him.

The Wolf King can choose to end his career with the Timberwolves and create a model of one man, one city.

Since then, thanks to Garnett's MVP-level performance in the past two years, even if the Timberwolves cannot win another championship under his leadership in the future,
Garnett's historical status after retirement will definitely be higher than in the original world.

As for Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, the other two big brothers in the Green Army's former Big Three, this season has not been as smooth as Garnett's.

Last season, the Celtics and SuperSonics, under the leadership of Pierce and Ray Allen, both reached the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs, and both ranked in the top half.

However, the performance of both teams has declined significantly this season. Both teams are currently ranked in the lottery zone, and conflicts within the team are also constantly growing.

Whether it is Pierce or Ray Allen, they have the strength of All-Star substitutes and can become the core of the team, but they are far from reaching the level of MVP and not for sale.

Therefore, in Lin Fei's view, in the next one or two seasons, Pierce and Ray Allen are likely to be traded by the team, and they also have the opportunity to join forces...

The Houston Rockets can be said to have lost the chain to the top three in Texas this season. Tracy McGrady and Dayao are both injured and have taken turns to rest. The team's record has also fallen outside the top eight in the Western Conference.

The current attitude of the Rockets management is that they will never fail and strive to make the playoffs.
But in the phone call with Dayao, Lin Fei still believed that the Rockets should retreat to advance and compete for the No. [-] pick.

Tracy McGrady and Dayao should recover from their injuries this season. In the offseason, the team will select a high-ranking assistant. Aldridge and Roy in 06 are both good, so there is no need to let the Trail Blazers take advantage.

In this way, next season's Rockets will have a real chance to reach the second round of the playoffs or even the Western Conference Finals.

The Suns have been missing the team's scoring leader Stoudemire in the first half of the regular season. Stoudemire's recovery is not optimistic after undergoing knee cartilage surgery, and he is not expected to return before the All-Star Game.

In the original world, the Suns lacked Stoudemire this season, but Nash still led the team to a record of 54 wins, relying on the advantage of the division ranking rules to lead the Mavericks' 60 wins and rank second in the Western Conference.

This allowed Steve Nash to win the regular season MVP that season.

But in today's parallel world, Nash and the Suns are not so lucky. The Suns' current record can only barely maintain a winning rate of more than 50%, ranking only seventh in the Western Conference.

Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and the declining Sacramento Kings,
Several teams have similar records, and the difference in wins is within 2 games. It can be said that the ranking of the Western Conference changes every day, and the intensity is far more intense than that of the Eastern Conference.

Looking back at the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons are clearly in the first echelon.

The next New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards will be quite different. The Bucks, Bulls, 76ers and Pacers are in the third tier of the Eastern Conference.

In the latest championship probability list, the Miami Heat are still No. 1. Even if O'Neal has not yet returned, the Heat are still strong enough.

This is of course because Lin Fei and Wade both performed at regular season MVP levels.
Although Lin Fei's scoring average in the new season has dropped, it still remains at 36.1, slightly higher than Kobe's 35.6, ranking No. 1 in the scoring list.

韦德也有场均29.2分8助攻6篮板2.1抢断1.2封盖的全面表现，整体数据并不输自己上赛季的MVP级表现。

According to ESPN statistics, in the entire history of the NBA, there has never been a situation where the two core players of a team have averaged more than 29 points per game.

Even the OK group at its peak failed to reach this level.

Of course, Wade sat out 12 games in the new season, and the number of games after his comeback was not enough, and his personal score did not enter the score list.

As the season progresses, the US media also believes that Lin Fei's personal score will be overtaken by Kobe. In this contest for the peak scoring champion, Lin Fei has no tactical advantage.

After all, Kobe is now the absolute single-core player for the Lakers, averaging close to 28 shots per game, while Lin Fei has maintained an average of around 14 shots per game after Wade returned.

Wade's average number of shots per game is around 19. From the perspective of shot rights within the team, Wade is always the boss of the Miami Heat.

As for how the Heat balance the relationship between Wade, Lin Fei and O'Neal as they strive for a second championship,

Pat Riley also discussed and analyzed many times with Van Gundy's coaching staff.

Obviously, the Heat management and coaching staff are now basically divided into two groups, one of which is Wade supporters, and the other is Lin Fei supporters.

From an analysis of objective data and efficiency, Lin Fei is a more suitable team core than Wade.

The reason why there were more Wade supporters in the Heat was because Wade had more comprehensive skills in all aspects, and he also played the role of point guard and organizer in the team.

Lin Fei has never shown organizational skills, and his passing skills are also quite poor.

But as Lin Fei gradually shows his ability in passing, this also makes the defensive team dare not double-team him with the ball unscrupulously.

This also allowed the Heat to have a richer tactical style of play. The first to bear the brunt was the general high pick-and-roll with Lin Fei, which became a direct beneficiary, and the average points per game soared significantly.

Although at present, Lin Fei's passing and organizational skills are far inferior to Wade's, and he can often only distribute the ball to teammates with obvious wide open spaces when being double-teamed.

But the Heat coaching staff has seen the hope of Lin Fei's growth, not to mention that Lin Fei is currently better than Wade in terms of scoring efficiency and defensive ability.

Therefore, in recent times, the number of Lin Fei supporters within the Heat has increased significantly, and the voice of trading Wade after the end of the season has also become stronger.

As general manager, Pat Riley is now more inclined to retain Lin Fei and does not rule out the plan to trade Wade to strengthen Lin Fei. However, the key to the problem is that neither Lin Fei nor his agent has promised to contact the Heat in advance. Salary renewal,

The Heat management has not made it clear that it will support Lin Fei as the leader of the Heat, which makes the situation a kind of mutual testing.

The reason why Pat Riley did not make a promise to Lin Fei in advance was because the team still had many concerns. Although Lin Fei was very strong, he was not perfect compared to Wade.

Wade has expressed his willingness to stay with the Heat and has accepted a new maximum-salary contract extension.

In this regard, Wade's sincerity for the team is obviously far greater than that of Lin Fei.

What Pat Riley is worried about is that if the Heat decide to give up on Wade and make promises to straighten Lin Fei in order to keep him, will they also be unable to seduce Lin Fei?

Since then, the Heat have shown their trump card in advance, but they still can't keep Lin Fei, and at the same time they have chilled Wade's heart, which may not be worth the gain.

Now Lin Fei is bent on testing the free market after the season and has not given any sign that he wants to stay with the Heat. This makes Pat Riley somewhat dissatisfied.

Of course, the Heat's biggest goal this season is to try to stabilize the Big Three in order to win the team's second championship in team history.
As for who Lin Fei or Wade will stay, Pat Riley will continue to test and find out Lin Fei's intentions based on specific circumstances as the regular season continues.

Pat Riley has his own skills. Even if Lin Fei has great potential, he will never be controlled by others.

Unless Lin Fei really wants to continue playing for the Heat, Pat Riley will sacrifice Wade to correct Lin Fei.

Otherwise, Wade will still be the Heat's first choice.

In terms of the Heat's tactical arrangements, Pat Riley has been reminding Stan Van Gundy that Wade should continue to have the most shots in the team, while Lin Fei's average number of shots per game should be kept within 15.

Before the Heat officially renewed Lin Fei's contract, the better Lin Fei played in the game, the more disadvantageous it was for Pat Riley.

Once Lin Fei wins the regular season MVP this season, his ambition will only become greater.

Is the golden carp a thing in a pond, it will turn into a dragon when it encounters a storm.

On the other hand, Wade has already renewed his contract with the Heat in advance with a maximum salary. If he is allowed to win the regular season MVP again,

So in the future, whether Wade is allowed to remain the boss or a consecutive MVP is traded away, the benefits will be greater for the Heat.

Wade's agent team has also been reminding Wade that after all, he sat out 12 games in the early part of the regular season and has fallen behind Lin Fei in the competition for MVP.
Therefore, now we should firmly grasp the team's first shot and try to make the data more beautiful.

But Wade's own thoughts are not so sinister and complicated. Playing with Lin Fei, he deeply realized the selflessness and humility revealed by Lin Fei.
And these have deeply affected Wade's own character and game.

Qin Dongmei also reminded Lin Fei more than once that he gave up to Wade in the competition for MVP last season and did not win the FMVP in the finals. He should be more active this season.

After all, outside of the championship, Lin Fei has not yet won enough personal hard honors, which will have a crucial impact on the further development of his commercial value and his future future.

Lin Fei has always been calm and calm about this, and is at peace with his current position in the Heat team.

He averages 15 shots per game, and he is always hardworking and positive in daily training. His down-to-earth and steady attitude infects every teammate around him.

Now for Lin Fei, the goal is to improve his passing attributes as quickly as possible. After another month, Lin Fei's passing attributes have now been improved to 73 points.
This level has basically reached the average level of NBA non-point guard players.

Since the Heat coaching staff has set his average number of shots per game at around 15, what Lin Fei should do is try to improve his efficiency and maintain an average scoring output of 30+ per game.
At the same time, he also made more obvious contributions in assists, steals and blocks.

In this way, Lin Fei will still be ahead of his teammate Wade in the competition for regular season MVP.

With the arrival of January 06, All-Star voting activities for fans around the world are also in full swing.

Compared with last year's All-Stars, the popularity of the stars has also changed significantly.

The popularity and influence of Lin Fei, Wade, Wolf King, Nowitzki, James, and Kobe have further increased.
Elton Brand, who has had a dominant performance with the Clippers this season, Carmelo Anthony of the Nuggets, Manu Ginobili of the Mavericks, and Gasol of the Grizzlies have also seen a significant surge in popularity this season. Expected to be selected as an All-Star.

In comparison, the popularity of stars such as O'Neal, Iverson, Carter, Duncan, Grant Hill, Pierce, Ray Allen, and Jason Kidd has declined...

Although Iverson averaged 33.2 points per game this season, second only to Lin Fei and Kobe Bryant in the scoring list,

But the 76ers' record has declined further, and they are even in danger of missing the playoffs.

After several rounds of voting, Lin Fei's huge popularity at home and abroad was once again demonstrated.

With a total of 399 million All-Star votes, it is no surprise that he continues to be the All-Star vote king.
That’s 309 more than last year’s record-breaking 90 million.

However, the majority of Chinese fans are still complaining on major media platforms, claiming that the NBA headquarters has obviously hacked the All-Star tickets of Chinese fans.

According to Tianchao's internal statistics, the number of fans who voted for Lin Fei exceeded at least 500 million.

Lin Fei once again became the top vote-getter with 399 million All-Star votes. Dayao, who ranked No. 2, also had 246 million votes. Kobe Bryant ranked third with 233 million votes due to his scoring feast in the new season.

Wade, James, Garnett, O'Neal, Iverson and others also received more than 200 million votes...

The Eastern Conference All-Star starters are:
Dwayne Wade,

Lin Fei,

LeBron James,

Jermaine O'Neal,

Shaquille O'Neal.

The All-Star starters in the West are:
Steve Nash,

Kobe Bryant,

Dirk Nowitzki,

Kevin Garnett,

Dayao.

For the second consecutive year, Lin Fei was elected as the All-Star voting king with a record-breaking number of votes. Even if the number of votes cast by Chinese fans was reduced, he was still the well-deserved voting king.
This also reflects Lin Fei's current huge popularity around the world. More and more fans are becoming obsessed with Lin Fei's three-pointers and 3D attributes.

In the latest NBA January jersey sales rankings, Lin Fei's Heat jersey No. 22 also topped the single-month jersey sales list for the first time.

Before the All-Star Weekend begins in Houston,
Pat Riley's Heat management also took the initiative to find Lin Fei and once again discussed matters related to early contract renewal.

"Lin, 4 years and 6400 million U.S. dollars, the same as Dwayne's maximum salary contract. This is already the maximum contract the team can give you under the salary rules!"

"In addition, this contract also includes an incentive mechanism with a total value of more than 3000 million US dollars!"

Pat Riley is in a suit and leather shoes, with deep eyes and a strong gentlemanly demeanor:

"Lin, as long as you sign this contract, I guarantee that you will become the first core of the Heat, and the team's coaching staff will also increase your shooting rights and work hard to help you win the regular season MVP this season!"

"We are all smart people. I believe you understand what I mean. Stay with the Heat and let us create a dynasty together. You will become the Michael Jordan of Miami!"

Faced with Pat Riley's straight-to-the-point approach, Lin Fei, as a smart man, naturally understood everything.

"Mr. Riley, do you mean that the team will let Dwayne make way for me?"

"If I don't agree to renew my contract in advance, won't I be able to win the regular season MVP this season?"

Facing Lin Fei's rhetorical question, Pat Riley's face darkened obviously...

(End of this chapter)