Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Los Angeles.

Lakers practice facility.

"Shhhh..."

A series of sounds of basketballs going through the net were heard. At this time, Zhuang Yu, Clarkson, Kuzma, Nance Jr. and others were training in the gym.

The other teammates had already left, but they stayed and practiced with Zhuang Yu.

Several people stood outside the three-point line and shot one after another. The basketballs also went through the net, and the pleasant sounds merged into one.

There are people standing under the basket and the ball is being passed to them.

During this period, the team was missing Lopez and often used a small lineup, and also paid more attention to outside three-point shooting. Not only guards such as Zhuang Yu, Clarkson, and Holiday, but also Kuzma, Nance Jr., and even Zubac began to practice three-point shooting.

Coach Scott also agrees with this.

Nowadays, the proportion of three-pointers in the game is getting bigger and bigger, which has almost become a trend in the development of the league.

Although the Lakers are not a team that relies on three-pointers, it is not a bad thing if all players can shoot three-pointers.

After the shooting practice, several people stopped.

Clarkson, Zubac, Nance Jr. and others all came to the sidelines, only Zhuang Yu was still training, but this time Zhuang Yu was no longer practicing three-pointers, but mid-range shots.

In today's era, the proportion of mid-range shots in the game has decreased a lot.

Because in the era of small ball, in the era of fast offense and defense, the points scored by two teams in a game have increased a lot compared to 10 years ago. One reason is that the pace of the game has become faster and the number of rounds has increased; the other reason is that more three-pointers are taken.

Under this circumstance, mid-range shots and long two-point shots are obviously not as cost-effective as three-point shots.

But it is a weapon of God after all, and Zhuang Yu still values ​​it very much. It's just a pity that after such a long time, his mid-range shooting has not improved much.

Although he is consciously increasing the proportion of mid-range fadeaways in the game, overall, his efficiency is not as good as his three-pointers.

This is also what my teammates don’t understand.

It is obvious that Zhuang Yu’s three-point shot is his strongest point and his scoring efficiency is very high, so why does he have to shoot so many two-point shots in the game?

"Shh..."

With a slight sound, Zhuang Yu hit the target again.

Clarkson, Kuzma and Nance Jr. sat on the sidelines and discussed the All-Star voting.

"Looking at the current situation, Luka Doncic might actually be able to make the All-Star starter."

"Who would have thought this guy would get so many votes? He's just a first-year rookie. It would be amazing if he could be an All-Star starter."

"It's not certain yet. This is just the fan voting stage. There will be media voting later."

"Anyway, Zhuang Yu will definitely be the All-Star starter, but it may be difficult for Derek to get into the starting lineup..."

In a blink of an eye, more than a week has passed since the end of the first round of voting for the All-Stars.

Tonight is the deadline for the second round of voting for the All-Star Game, and the NBA will announce the results of the second round of voting tomorrow morning.

However, the voting rankings in the East and West have basically stabilized at this time. Whether they are announced today or tomorrow, the results should not change.

In the Western Conference, Zhuang Yu is still ranked first among backcourt players. He has now received 290 million votes, only 10 away from breaking the 300 million mark.

This is extremely exaggerated.

You know, last year Zhuang Yu was the top vote-getter in the Western Conference and the league, but his total number of votes was only over 200 million.

Of course, last year's All-Star voting only had two rounds.

However, the two rounds of voting this year have not yet ended, and Zhuang Yu has already received 290 million votes, far exceeding last year.

In fact, it is not just Zhuang Yu whose number of votes this year has increased significantly compared to last year. The number of votes for other players has generally increased a lot compared to last year.

Obviously, there are far more fans participating in the voting this year than last year, and it is also related to the fact that the NBA officially opened more voting channels.

Over the past week or so, the Lakers' record has been very stable and they are still ranked third in the Western Conference, behind only the Warriors and Nuggets.

And Zhuang Yu's performance was also outstanding.

In more than a week, the Lakers played 5 games, in three of which Zhuang Yu scored more than 30 points, and in one of them he scored 43 points.

After 5 games, he averaged 34.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. His personal scoring average this season has also increased again, stabilizing at more than 30 points, but there is still some gap compared to James Harden.

Outstanding individual performance, coupled with the team's stable record, made Zhuang Yu very competitive in the All-Star voting and always suppressed James.

Of course, James' performance this season has also been outstanding.

Especially in recent times, he has averaged 29.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. He has proved with his actions that no matter which team he is on, he can perform at the top of the league. He currently has 278 million votes, second only to Zhuang Yu.

In addition to Zhuang Yu and James, there are two other players in the Western Conference who have received more than 200 million votes, one is Luka Doncic and the other is Stephen Curry.

Among them, Luka Doncic received 216 million votes and is currently ranked second among Western Conference frontcourt players.

Stephen Curry received 201 million votes and is currently ranked second among Western Conference backcourt players.

It's no surprise that Curry received so many votes.

What surprised people was that Luka Doncic got so many votes, even more than Curry.

When the results of the first round of voting came out, Luka Doncic received a lot of votes, ranking second among Western Conference frontcourt players.

But many people think that it is only the first round, and his number of votes in the second round is likely to be surpassed by Kevin Durant, Paul George, or Anthony Davis.

After all, Luka Doncic is still a freshman.

Although he is very popular now, his fan base is probably still not comparable to that of George, Durant, Davis and others who have been famous for many years.

However, the result was unexpected. Doncic's votes increased faster in the second round than in the first round, and he seemed to be able to secure an All-Star starting spot.

Ranked third among Western Conference frontcourt players is Paul George.

Previously, Kevin Durant was in third place, but in the second round Paul George successfully surpassed Durant. Now George's votes have reached 2 million, 180 more than Durant, who is in fourth place.

The fifth is Anthony Davis, and the sixth...

It is worth mentioning that although the Lakers' Lopez was sidelined due to injury, the number of votes he received still ranked among the top 10 frontcourt players in the Western Conference.

In addition, the number of votes for Derrick Rose of the Lakers rose rapidly in the second round of voting, and he even reached the third place among the Western Conference backcourt players, which made many people feel incredible.

You have to know that Rose is no longer in his prime.

He played well for the Lakers this season, but only averaged 16.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. His statistics increased during the period when Lopez was injured.

Compared with other Western Conference guards, Rose's personal data can't even make it into the top 15, but his votes rank third among Western Conference backcourt players. He has currently received 190 million votes, which is really incredible to many people.

Of course, the contribution made by Chinese fans cannot be ignored.

First of all, Rose already has many loyal fans in China.

Secondly, Rose has gotten rid of the trouble of injuries in the past two seasons. Although his performance is not as good as his peak period, it is enough to make the fans happy.

The third is that Rose came to the Lakers. In the big city team, he had more exposure, and because he became teammates with Zhuang Yu, his number of fans in China increased a lot.

In terms of Rose's performance on the court, personal data, and status in the team, he is obviously not as good as Zhuang Yu, Lopez, and Holiday. At most, he is on par with Clarkson.

But in terms of popularity, Rose is second only to Zhuang Yu in the Lakers, and people like him even more than Lopez and Holiday.

It's just a pity that only two backcourt players from the Western Conference were selected. Even if Rose received so many votes, it would be difficult for him to make the All-Star starter.

What's more, there is the media voting stage later.

But for Rose, even if he can't make the All-Stars, having so many fans voting for him is enough to make him happy.

Of course some people are happy, and naturally some people are depressed.

For example, James Harden played the best game of his career this season, and his personal statistics in the most brilliant season even led the entire league.

However, in the All-Star voting campaign, his vote count was not as good as expected. In the first round, he was not as good as Zhuang Yu and Curry, and only ranked third among Western Conference backcourt players.

As a result, in the second round, his number of votes not only failed to surpass Curry and squeeze into the top two, but was surpassed by Rose. He is currently ranked only fourth among Western Conference backcourt players.

Although this is the fan voting stage, there will be media voting later, and the media voting is more about the players' personal performance and hard power. Unlike fan voting, it is sometimes affected by other factors.

Although Harden played the best game in the league and almost matched Michael Jordan's performance statistics, he was only ranked fourth among Western Conference backcourt players in the fan voting stage. This really made him feel indignant. Why was he only fourth, even worse than Rose?

He plays so well, but his popularity is not as high as Rose who only scores a dozen points per game?

So sad!

Harden's statistics are indeed extremely impressive, but the Rockets' record is worse than last season. In addition, Harden's statistics and fraudulent behavior have caused some fans to complain about him, so it is not surprising that he fell behind in the fan voting stage.

The fifth backcourt player in the West is Russell Westbrook, the sixth is Klay Thompson, the seventh is Damian Lillard, the eighth is DeMar DeRozan, and the ninth is Jrue Holiday...