The godfather of basketball started from conquering the NBA

With one week left before the new season, the Timberwolves finally completed the first and only trade of the offseason.

Send Jr. Smith to the Heat in exchange for a 15-year first-round swap right and veteran Caron Butler.

Because there are already some problems in the Timberwolves' locker room, Jr. Smith's trade has to be put on the agenda, otherwise there may not be any trouble when Jr. comes back.

And Caron Butler can be said to be a very good locker room leader.

Butler, who has been involved in gangs since his early years, has an extremely tough character and a convincing charisma.

With him in the Timberwolves' locker room, this group of people can't make any big waves for the time being.

Although overall, Jr. Smith's transaction is a bit of a loss, it is already a good reinforcement for the current Timberwolves.

At present, the Timberwolves' lineup is also stable.

There is a rotation of Westbrook, Bledsoe and Livingston at the first position.

The second position is the biggest loss for the Timberwolves this year, as DeRozan and Jr. Smith have been taken away, but the growth of Jimmy Butler this year can also fill the vacancy left by DeRozan.

Tony Roten, who has been strengthened a lot, is also a substitute who can temporarily fill this position. Ginobili's template card has been given. As for how much strength he can exert, it depends on him.

The third position is still Josh. Now Josh is the top three position in the league. His strength is not inferior to that of the big kings. The only thing that will affect him may be his mentality.

In addition, his substitute is also a problem. Currently, there are one old and one young substitute in the third position.

The old Caron Butler is no longer as brave as he once was, and his help to the team is limited.

As for the young Robertson, although he will become the league's defensive gate in the future, his current skills are still too rough, and Xu Xiao did not rush to give him a template card.

After all, he is still young and there are many people available in the team, so there are not many opportunities for Robertson for the time being. It is just right to let him polish his defensive skills first, and then give him offensive skills after he has developed his defense.

As for the fourth position, Gibson did not choose to renew his contract, but instead signed a four-year, 4 million contract with the Clippers. Gibson's departure gave Dream Green room to grow.

After experiencing the experience of the finals last season, Dream Green also worked hard in the offseason. Xu Xiao also knows the ability of Dream Chase, so letting him play as a substitute for Ibaka is definitely enough.

There are Oden, Dayao and Gobert at the center position.

Dayao just signed a two-year veteran's minimum salary this summer, and he also made it clear that these will be his last two seasons.

Although Dayao had fewer injuries after losing weight, Xu Xiao did not dare to use it hard as he was getting older.

It's not a problem to substitute Oden for fifteen minutes.

Xu Xiao would sigh every time he thought about this. It would be great if he had rookie Dayao now. Maybe Dayao could have a different career under him.

But it's okay now. Dayao can retire smoothly. In the last two years, those few championships just couldn't improve their statistics.

It would be perfect for him to be a mentor to Gobert, and it would also be good to teach Gobert's little hook.

Because in the future, Xu Xiao has big plans for Gobert. After all, after the small ball era, there are fewer and fewer super centers. Apart from Teacher Yue and Embiid, Gobert can basically solve the rest.

By giving Gobert some offensive skills, Gobert can become a super center that is not inferior to Jokic and Embiid.

Because next year, Xu Xiao does not plan to choose to date a teacher. Although Xu Xiao likes to date a teacher, he also knows that all he needs now is good physical talent, so if he has an average physical talent like a teacher, then he can stay It's better to give it to other teams in need.

There would be no point in letting his family become the sole leader.

The first game of the new season has arrived as scheduled. As last year's champion, the Timberwolves' opening game is naturally the highlight.

However, this year before the game, everyone was not optimistic that the Timberwolves could defend the title.

It is very difficult to complete three consecutive championships. It is a test for the players' mentality and the team's fatigue.

Moreover, the Timberwolves did not make any big trades this offseason. On the contrary, trading away Jr. Smith was definitely a loss-making transaction in the eyes of the outside world.

At the same time, they also lost two powerful players, DeRozan and Gibson, who were also the contributors to the championship.

It is normal for the outside world to think poorly of the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves' first game was against this year's championship favorites, the Warriors.

This year's Warriors lineup is extremely luxurious, because the emergence of Xu Xiao has changed the world's rankings.

Therefore, the Warriors and Clippers received the No. 09 pick in 10 and the No. pick in respectively.

The Warriors got Griffin, and the Clippers got Wall.

This also means that the Clippers did not trade Paul, and Paul was eventually acquired by the Warriors.

Compared with Sterling, the owner of the Warriors is more willing to spend money on the team. Last year, he acquired Rudy Gay, so Paul finally had a reliable striker next to him.

Gay is also slowly getting rid of the synonym of inefficiency with Paul, and is slowly realizing his talents.

This year, the Warriors were even more ruthless and directly signed Howard, so the Warriors formed an extremely terrifying starting lineup.

Starting Chris Paul, Danny Green, Rudy Gay, Griffin and "Warcraft" Howard.

It's even more abnormal than the former alley-oop city, and Xu Xiao's former disciple Kwame Brown is on the bench.

Under Paul's guidance, this team is definitely the most entertaining team in the new season. At the same time, it has balanced internal and external firepower and is also a strong contender for the championship.

The Timberwolves put Jimmy Butler in the starting lineup.

The starting lineup is Westbrook, Jimmy Butler, Josh, Ibaka and Oden.

Jimmy, who was put into the starting lineup, also seemed extremely excited.

As soon as he came up, he attacked Paul defensively.

Paul also wanted to teach this young man a little lesson. The moment Butler rushed to defend, it was a huge loop.

"beep"

The referee's whistle made Butler a little at a loss. In his opinion, this was a good defense, but there was nothing wrong with the referee's whistle.

It can only be said that Paul is too cunning.

This planted the seeds of a big circle in young Jimmy's heart. I wonder if Jimmy will also become a master of porcelain in a few years, but at least now, he has met a master.

Although the Warriors showed momentum in the opening stage, the Timberwolves, as a championship team, are not a vegetarian. They quickly relied on defense and Josh's mid-range to catch up with the score.

The Warriors are best at pick-and-rolls. Both Paul and Griffin are masters of pick-and-rolls.

Even Howard, who doesn't like to play pick-and-rolls, maybe because he just came to the Warriors, he also started pick-and-rolls with Paul.

This scene also made countless Lakers fans break the defense on the spot. If Howard could play such a pick-and-roll with the Lakers last year, how could Kobe rupture his Achilles tendon?

It's a pity that this time they ran into the Timberwolves, who have the best pick-and-roll defense in the league.

Each of the five members of the Timberwolves is a master of defense. Last season, DeRozan had a relatively weak defensive link. Now he has been replaced by Jimmy Butler, who is even better defensively than Roy.

Now these five people have formed the strongest iron barrel formation in the league today. They can directly switch defenses in the pick-and-roll, and the timing of the intensity of the flanking attack is also just right.

This caused the Warriors to have no effect on several pick-and-rolls. Instead, they made several mistakes, allowing the Timberwolves to pursue a few counterattacks and rewrite the score to 15-9.

"Don't worry, this is just the beginning."