Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Although there is little hope of competing with Zhuang Yu, Curry, Harden and Westbrook for an All-Star starting spot, the Western Conference guards still want to strive for a higher ranking.

This will be beneficial for the selection of substitutes later on, and it can also prove their popularity, which is a reflection of their commercial value.

In short, from the first day of the All-Star voting campaign, not only the fans took action, but the players also took action and began to canvass for votes in various ways.

The Lakers immediately posted a poster on their official social media to canvass votes for Zhuang Yu, Lopez, and Holiday.

Yes, not only Zhuang Yu and Lopez, but also Holiday.

This is almost equivalent to a public announcement that Holiday is the "third superstar" of the Lakers and his treatment is very high.

......

Los Angeles.

A group of players gathered in the training hall.

At this time, the training was over and the players were sitting on the sidelines to rest, naturally talking about the All-Star voting.

"Zhuang is really too powerful. He has twice as many votes as Curry, and this does not include international votes. If international votes are included, the number will be even more terrifying."

"I bet that when the international votes are counted, Zhuang Yu will get at least three times as many votes as Curry. I don't need to say much about the power of Chinese fans."

"There is no doubt that Zhuang Yu will be the starting player in the All-Star Game. It is not surprising that he will be the top vote-getter. I just don't know if Lopez can make it into the top three frontcourt players in the Western Conference."

"Based on Lopez's performance, even if he can't make the starting lineup, he should be able to make the bench. It depends on whether Holiday can also make the bench."

"Holiday's ranking is a bit low right now."

The Lakers players are not worried at all about whether Zhuang Yu can make it into the All-Star starting lineup. There are only two or three players in the Western Conference who can compete with Zhuang Yu, and Zhuang Yu has an advantage that none of them have, and that is the huge base of Chinese fans behind him.

In the last All-Star voting, Zhuang Yu was the top vote-getter, and now it seems that he has a good chance of winning the title again this time.

What everyone is worried about is Lopez and Holiday.

Last season, Lopez was selected as an All-Star reserve. This season, he has also performed very well. So far, he has averaged 20.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, and has a double-double of 20+10. His votes are currently ranked fifth among Western Conference frontcourt players.

You know, last season, Lopez's final vote count surpassed Kawhi Leonard's, ranking third among Western Conference frontcourt players. He just lost to Leonard in the media voting stage and unfortunately failed to be selected as an All-Star starter.

This time, Lopez's goal is naturally to make the All-Star starter, but this is not easy as the competition in the Western Conference is fierce.

But when it comes to fierce competition, the most intense competition in the Western Conference is still among guards.

Zhuang Yu, Curry, Westbrook, Harden.

These four people are leading by a huge margin, and the ones behind them are far behind them, including Jrue Holiday.

Currently, Jrue Holiday ranks ninth in the Western Conference in votes, ahead of Klay Thompson, Chris Paul, Damian Lillard and Manu Ginobili.

For Holiday, making the All-Star starter is out of reach, there is not even a chance.

However, if his ranking can continue to move up and his performance on the court is better, he may have a chance to make the All-Star reserve lineup.

Of course, this is also related to the Lakers' record.

Generally speaking, the better the record of a team, the more players will be selected into the All-Star Game, even if these players' individual performances are not that outstanding.

For example, the Eagles before.

In the season when the Hawks finished first in the Eastern Conference, they had several players selected to the All-Star Game, including Kyle Korver.

In terms of the players' personal data performance, Kyle Korver's personal performance is obviously not as good as some other players who failed to make the All-Star team.

This is the bonus to the team's record.

This season, except for some struggles in the first few games of the season, Holiday's performance has been very good. So far, he has averaged 15.6 points, 7.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game, and his performance is very comprehensive.

And this is just an intuitive representation of the data.

His contribution on the defensive end is difficult to quantify with simple data. The Lakers' backcourt defense formed by him and Zhuang Yu makes all teams feel scalp tingling. They are definitely the strongest backcourt defensive combination in the league - no doubt about it.

Therefore, the Lakers hope that Holiday can be selected for the All-Star team. With the addition of Zhuang Yu and Lopez, they will have three players selected for the All-Star team at the same time.

That would definitely be great.

"Zhu, do you have confidence?" asked Lopez.

Holiday was a little embarrassed, but he mustered up the courage to say, "Yes, I will do my best."

Zhuang Yu smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, "Just go for it, we will all support you."

This was not just verbal support, Zhuang Yu soon gave Holiday support in action.

......

The next day, they had their next game.

In this game, Zhuang Yu made several wonderful passes to Holiday, and his teammates also helped him. As a result, Holiday scored 28 points, plus 7 rebounds and 5 assists in this game.

Everyone could see that Zhuang Yu and others were deliberately helping Holiday and wanted to help him get into the All-Star team.

Holiday himself was well aware of this and was deeply moved.

When he returned to the locker room, he thanked his teammates for their support and also thanked Zhuang Yu separately, because the ball possession is certain, and the opportunity to shoot is also certain. Lopez's ball possession cannot be reduced, after all, Lopez also needs outstanding performance.

In this case, Zhuang Yu can only make sacrifices and give up some ball possession and shooting opportunities so that Holiday can have better statistical performance.

"It's nothing, we are brothers, right?"

Zhuang Yu said with a smile.

Holiday's eyes were a little red, he was really touched.

Zhuang Yu has been helping him since he came to the Lakers. In order to help him adapt to the new role as soon as possible, Zhuang Yu made sacrifices, took the initiative to play the No. 2 position, and gave up the right to organize. Now, in order to help him enter the All-Stars, Zhuang Yu has made sacrifices again.

In the NBA over the years, he has played for three teams, but it was only in the Lakers that he experienced what "brotherhood" and warmth meant.

Holiday said emotionally: "Zhuang, you are the best team leader I have ever seen."

Zhuang Yu laughed happily.

In fact, in his opinion, this is what he should do as a team leader.

A qualified leader not only needs to stand up and take responsibility when the team needs him and help the team win the game, but also should make his teammates around him better.

If you only think about getting outstanding statistics for yourself and ignore the interests of your teammates, how will your teammates around you see you?

Perhaps, for a player who is strong enough, he doesn't care what others think and doesn't need help from others most of the time.

But when you meet a strong team, an opponent that is strong enough to compete with you or even suppress you, don’t you still need help?

Basketball is a team sport!