Junior Basketball says

Chapter 199 The king of the preseason?
Since this confrontation, the Timberwolves have really been on the right track. No one is left behind on the official roster. For the head coach McHale, this is better than any news, even if he can't judge it. What kind of height the Timberwolves can reach this season, as long as he can see hope, his heart will be satisfied.

During the training process, the Timberwolves also sent some players to participate in this year's summer league, including of course the two rookies Xu Hao and Ellington.In fact, the annual summer league has always been a stage for rookies, water cooler watchmen and non-contract players, who hope to perform well on the court and win a contract or tactical status for themselves.

For Xu Hao, this kind of game is a bit childish, and McHale doesn't want to see his hand-picked starting point guard get injured in the irrelevant summer league. He confessed that Hitting only let Xu Hao play about 20 minutes per game. , can not exceed 25 minutes at most, if the team has spent the game before then, then he must also leave the game early to rest.

Despite this, Xu Hao still performed well in the summer league. He scored 19.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 5.7 minutes of playing time, and helped the team reach the quarterfinals of the summer league.Of course, the Timberwolves lost to the Pistons after entering the quarterfinals, but this was not Xu Hao's problem, and he didn't take it to heart.

In addition to him, Ellington also played well.Because of his draft pick and team positioning, he has to play more than 25 minutes per game, averaging 16.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, and is the team's leading scorer and rebounder.What's more, he shot 42 percent from [-]-point range, causing other teams with higher picks who didn't draft him to groan.

An outside shooter like Ellington who doesn't occupy the ball is very popular in any team, not to mention that he can contribute 2.3 steals per game in the summer league, which is obviously the embryo of a good 3D player.But now the Timberwolves will obviously hold him firmly in their hands, unless he really doesn't adapt to the team's tactical system or performs poorly due to injuries.

For these two rookies, McHale is very satisfied, and he is proud of his own vision.However, general manager Kahn still feels a little regretful. He still believes that Rubio can perform better in the NBA. Unfortunately, he must continue to play for the La Liga giants Barcelona in the new season.If he can join as soon as possible, the team does not even have to introduce a shooting guard.

The end of the summer league means that the team's pre-season training camp will soon end, and 30 teams will usher in a new season.However, before the start of the regular season, they must first play a few preseason games to see how well the players are running in.

Strictly speaking, the preseason is the real warm-up match for NBA teams, because as long as the stars are not suffering from injuries, they will basically play in the preseason instead of mainly sending young people like the summer league. Go up and make up the numbers.

The NBA arranges preseason games for three main purposes. The first is to warm up the team, adjust the lineup, adjust the style of play, and determine the competitive state of the players.Each team has about 8 preseason games. At the same time, in order to prevent the main players from getting tired before the battle, their playing time generally does not exceed 30 minutes, so it is also an opportunity for substitute players to take the opportunity to show themselves.

The second is to warm up the regular season and create momentum for important duels. For example, after O'Neal switched to the Heat, the preseason game between the Heat and the Rockets was promoted as a new "Yao Shark War".The important preseason games between many strong teams will also be broadcast live on local or national TV, attracting as much attention as the regular season, and may even sell more tickets.

The third is to expand the global influence of the NBA. It is not new for NBA teams to play preseason games overseas. Japan, Mexico, Spain, France and other countries have hosted such games.For the NBA, it is best for the team to play preseason games overseas. They will not affect their status because of this, and their preseason records will not be counted in the regular season.In this way, it becomes acceptable to travel thousands of miles to play games in foreign countries, and the team will not lose anything anyway.

Of course, a team like the Timberwolves, which was still struggling in the lottery last season, has no chance to go abroad. At most, it will go to Canada to play the Raptors.But McHale doesn't mind. As long as the team performs well in the new season, they will definitely be able to enter the league's official vision next year. Why don't they just go abroad to play preseason?
Although they can only play preseason games in the United States, the combat power displayed by the Timberwolves cannot be underestimated.The league arranged a total of 7 preseason games for them. Unexpectedly, they won a three-game winning streak. They are the only team in the West that can maintain a complete victory after three preseason games.Fans of many other teams have sourly said that the winning streak in the preseason is not worth mentioning, but this is largely because the teams they support have not played such a good record. If they have the same winning streak, they will definitely be blown to the sky .

When everyone thought that the Timberwolves were going to lose against last season's league runner-up Magic in the fourth game, they unexpectedly defeated their opponents again, even though Howard played nearly 30 minutes on the court.This game was also Xu Hao's best performance. He scored 35 points, 27 rebounds and 6 assists in 9 minutes of playing time, and at the same time hit a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left. Kill the Magic and continue to help the Timberwolves continue their preseason victory.

The 7 preseason games came to an end soon, and the Timberwolves won seven consecutive victories. They are the only team in the league without a single defeat in the preseason. Even the defending champion Lakers lost a game.At least from the performance of the preseason, they can be regarded as a strong team.

However, McHale suppressed the impetuous mentality of his players in a timely manner, because for any NBA team, the preseason is just a fleeting moment. After all, there is still a certain gap between the intensity of the game and the regular season. Achieving a complete victory does not mean that they can continue to cut melons and vegetables in the regular season, and players do not need to be complacent about it.

For the Timberwolves, there is really nothing to be proud of when they took advantage of the stars to take a nap in the preseason. If they can play the same performance in the regular season, it will be called awesome.Of course, the players are very confident, especially Xu Hao, who firmly believes that his joining will make the Timberwolves significantly improved, and what he has to do now is to prove his conclusion.

(End of this chapter)