My days of working at the NBA

Chapter 31 The Hero of Tonight

After much deliberation.

Du Ze finally gritted his teeth and chose to increase his wingspan by 4cm.

The reason is actually very simple.

If you choose a height, then his position will be completely fixed, or rather, fixed.

A couple of days ago, he secretly measured his height. His exact barefoot height is 203.7cm, and with shoes on, it's 206cm.

If we add another 2cm, his barefoot height would be 205.7cm, and his height with shoes would be 208cm. With this height and build, he would probably only be fit for the power forward position.

Because a high center of gravity will affect physicality, lateral movement, and even shooting.

The biggest problem is that if he grows taller but doesn't gain weight, then his height and weight won't give him much of an advantage in physical battles in the paint, and he might even look a bit like a stick.

They couldn't withstand the onslaught from power forwards like Duncan and Garnett.

After all, we are still in an era dominated by physical, positional warfare. The small-ball era's "five smalls" and the ambiguous concept of positions will not fully emerge until the Round Ball rule comes into effect in 14, which is still a full five years away.

Therefore, increasing height does not have as much of an advantage as one might imagine.

Moreover, it brings an embarrassing problem that is hard to face: with shoes on, his height reaches 208cm, but his wingspan is only 213cm. This is like turning him into a short-armed Tyrannosaurus Rex.

His static talent level immediately dropped by several levels.

He originally intended to use his physical talent as a selling point to enter the league, but now that he's done this, his advantage has been greatly reduced. Isn't this tantamount to cutting off his own path to survival?

This is something he absolutely cannot accept.

If his wingspan is increased, it will reach 217cm. With his barefoot height of 203.7cm and shoe height of 206cm, his wingspan advantage will be greatly increased, and it will even make up for Josh Smith's shortcoming of insufficient wingspan size.

This could elevate his impact on both offense and defense to a new level.

Moreover, at 206cm tall with shoes on, he is not short in the modern small-ball era. In a time when positional concepts are blurred, his advantage as a forward is very obvious.

Most importantly, his physical attributes give him an advantage in his current pursuit of the NBA.

The thought had barely formed in his mind when he felt his arms stretching wildly.

A few seconds later, the pulling energy disappeared.

He stretched out his hands and looked at them. He felt that his hands were indeed a little longer. He stretched them out and touched his calves, which he couldn't do before.

"Hey! With my current wingspan, both my static and dynamic physical attributes are top-notch, right?"

At this point, Du Ze became even more confident about making it to the NBA.

At this time.

The door opened.

The teammates are back.

Du Ze stood up and greeted them with a cheerful expression: "Phew! Welcome back, warriors!"

Lyons excitedly hugged Duze: "Sweet Top 16, here we come!"

Lawrence was still grumbling: "What a fucking bastard, sore losers, I want to fuck them to death."

It's clear he's really angry.

Carol: "Alright, that's enough. This is a time for celebration. Let's not talk about these unpleasant things and ruin our mood."

But when he looked at Du Ze, he seemed hesitant to speak.

After a moment's hesitation, he finally spoke up: "Du, next time the opponent doesn't defend, don't score. That's not good."

Lawrence defended his friend: "What's wrong with it? If it's not banned in the game, then it's permissible."

Carroll glared at him. "If we had already accepted defeat, and they were still doing fancy dunks at this point, what would you think?"

Lawrence remained defiant: "What else can I think? If he's got the ability, then so be it."

Seeing Carol's grim expression, Duze stepped forward and said, "I understand, it won't happen again."

After this little incident, the initially jubilant and excited crowd instantly fell silent.

Everyone returned to their lockers, and the atmosphere in the locker room suddenly became extremely heavy.

It's like they were eliminated.

Clearly, it was inappropriate for Carroll, as the team leader, to criticize the absolute hero of the victory at this time.

In some cases, it's even an overcorrection.

Having barely escaped death and resurrected, the team has made it into the sweet round of 16 for the first time in seven years. At this moment, talking about these things is really a downer.

This dampened everyone's excitement, like a bucket of cold water had been poured over them.

Lawrence didn't say anything more and left dejectedly.

Du Ze naturally didn't have much to say; he had a pretty good idea of ​​why Carol was criticizing him at this time.

He was probably a little angry because Carroll had two defensive rebounds stolen from him, and Carroll didn't play well in this game. As the team leader and a top draft pick, being overshadowed by his teammate must have been very frustrating.

Normally, if they win and advance, they celebrate first.

Even the biggest problems can wait until after today.

A more mature approach would be to bring up the matter in casual conversation, then subtly remind teammates to keep quiet.

result.

Carroll's public criticism really ruined the locker room atmosphere.

Du Ze simply couldn't believe that he didn't have some ulterior motives.

soon.

The old man, Anderson, walked in, but he froze as he entered: "What's wrong with you all?"

He roared, "Get this party started!"

result.

No one stood up in a huge crowd; all eyes were on Duze and Carol.

The old man assumed it was due to the final conflict, and he said nonchalantly, "Please! Don't let such a small thing affect our mood for advancing. We won! We're in the top sixteen! And what about them? They've already gone home to fish. Who cares what they say?"

The head coach's words were undoubtedly a slap in the face to Carroll.

The slap was so hard that Carole's face instantly turned black...

But it's not over yet.

Anderson pointed directly at Duze: "Duze, as the hero of our victory today, stand up and let us give you a good round of applause."

Carol's face was already a mixture of blue and purple.

Anderson's praise, in stark contrast to his earlier criticism, was not only a slap in the face but also a trampling of his authority as the team leader.

But what can we do?

Head coach Anderson is the one who truly leads this team.

Du Ze slowly stood up.

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause, finally dispelling much of the earlier tension.

Anderson continued, "Without a doubt, Durant is our hero tonight. He contributed a phenomenal triple-double with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 blocks. What an incredible performance!"

"It's no exaggeration to say that he dominated the paint and the game, especially his final three-pointer, which killed the suspense of the game."

"Wow! That's amazing! I'm incredibly proud of you and thrilled to coach you."

"But next time you shoot a three-pointer, could you wink at me so I can be mentally prepared? Otherwise, I'm afraid my heart can't take it."

Finally, Anderson concluded his commendation speech with this little joke.

Thunderous applause finally erupted in the locker room.

The screams, whistles, and wailing sounds finally returned, and the locker room became lively again.