Champion Creed
Chapter 798 - 798 269 He is the key to everything Requesting monthly votes!

798: 269: He is the key to everything (Requesting monthly votes!) 798: 269: He is the key to everything (Requesting monthly votes!) In the NBA league, there is never a shortage of egomaniacs.

Kobe dared to provoke Roger in his rookie season, Jerry Stackhouse still professes to be Roger’s lifelong rival, and Latrell Sprewell talks every day about being a top superstar in the league deserving of a ten-million-dollar salary.

In this environment where everyone is a genius, finding someone with immense ability and incredible humility is as rare as finding dinosaur fossils.

Grant Hill and Tim Duncan are probably the only two anomalies in this league with top-tier abilities yet an unbelievable humility.

With historically top-notch dribbling and first step, excellent passing vision from the forward position, top athletic ability, keen backcourt rebounding awareness, great ball-handling skills, and even developed a mid-range shot last season, becoming one of the most complete players in history.

This is Grant Hill now.

In the original timeline, after mastering the king skill of a mid-range shot and just as he was about to enter his true peak, Grant Hill completely fell due to injury.

No one really knows what kind of legend peak Grant Hill could have written in the league.

But now, Roger can see one version of it.

A player so formidable is only the third man on the Lakers; this lineup is indeed too luxurious.

It’s no wonder that Bill Simmons thinks the Lakers make the games boring.

But Kobe doesn’t think so.

He is very aware of what kind of person Roger is and what he is capable of.

Even with two immensely strong opponents, Kobe would not lower his guard.

In today’s Lakers training match, Kobe and Grant Hill each led their teams in opposition.

Kobe was very serious, although there is still some time before the Christmas showdown, he has already entered killing mode.

In the training match, he kept looking for a one-on-one with Grant Hill, almost treating Grant Hill as Roger.

However, Grant Hill kept facilitating his teammates with passes, showing no reaction to Kobe’s trash talk and provocations.

Gradually, Kobe found this guy quite boring.

This guy who, on the day of being selected in 1994, received a congratulatory phone call from the then President of the United States, Bill Clinton, is truly different from everyone else.

If Kobe had such dribbling and speed, he would definitely madly attack the basket, scoring, scoring, and scoring nonstop.

Grant Hill is a bit…

too selfless.

Kobe feels Hill will pass the ball to another teammate even if he has already penetrated to the basket.

However, this is probably why Hill needs Kobe and O’Neal, and why Kobe and O’Neal trust Hill.

This guy’s selflessness makes Kobe and O’Neal willing to pass the ball to him; his outstanding personal ability reassures Kobe and O’Neal to pass him the ball.

When the training match ends, Kobe’s scoring data naturally overwhelms Grant Hill.

But Grant Hill’s team narrowly won by 2 points.

After the game, he smiled and fist-bumped Kobe: “Nice game, buddy.”

Kobe pursed his lips, not knowing how to express anger.

Grant Hill’s character, so far, fits the Lakers well, but Kobe worries that such overly humble mentality may affect the game.

It is well-known that to defeat the Hawks, you have to be fully committed to victory, must have a winning desire like ants crawling all over your body, must have the determination of “I’m going to take you down today.”

Thinking of this, Kobe then looked at the lying-by-the-side-like-he’s-on-vacation Shaq.

Shaq this season and last season seem like two different people; last season’s overly serious mentality made him feel mentally and physically exhausted, and Jerry West’s departure also gave Shaq a great impact.

If even the great Logo has to leave, then everyone in this team is just merchandise.

So, why fight desperately for the Lakers?

Thus, O’Neal did not do extra training in the summer, nor did he work diligently.

He went to the Los Angeles Police Academy to train, fulfilling his childhood dream, and successfully obtained the qualification to join the police force, participating in over 100 arrest actions.

Yes, this is what Shaq did last summer.

He completely freed himself from basketball and went off to catch criminals.

As for the regular season, O’Neal figured it out and saw no need to exert himself.

Last season, the Lakers won 69 games, played beautifully in the regular season, worked hard and tirelessly.

So what?

Was it useful?

Since the regular season record is useless, what’s the point of playing so seriously?

So starting this season, Shaq has developed the habit of coasting through the regular season and dominating the playoffs.

Even if there’s just a little injury, he would nurture it, and if he doesn’t want to play, it becomes a smart knee pain.

The Zen Master knows Shaq’s intentions but acquiesces to them.

As long as Shaq doesn’t go too far, he’s willing to cooperate.

Shaq is very happy now; the season has already begun for almost two months, yet he still feels like he’s on vacation, infinitely relaxed.

But Kobe hates this kind of O’Neal; he cannot understand how Shaq can be so careless when the team lost so miserably in last season’s Finals.

With such a relaxed attitude to face the Hawks, there’s absolutely no chance of winning.

This is what Kobe is worried about; Shaq and Grant Hill, neither of them has anger in their hearts, no strong desire to win.

One too relaxed, the other too humble.

With the day’s training over, players returned to the locker room and, as usual, accepted interviews from reporters.

Shaq, who had been using “injury healing” as an excuse to slack off during the training, became quite active during the interview.