No.1 in basketball scoring
Chapter 567: I definitely don’t want another max-salaried teammate who holds us back.

He was watching the video, but he wasn’t thinking about how to defend; instead, he was thinking about how to make the offense better...

This season’s regular scoring performance was indeed his best year since he joined the Lakers four years ago, averaging 12.6 points per game, 1.6 steals per game which was a new high since the 07-08 season, blocks and rebounds were also at a four-year high, and he even had the second-highest average of 1.9 three-pointers made in his career... But!

That was after he cut down from 115 kg to 108 kg, losing over ten pounds, and switched to playing as a power forward, helping to defend under the basket and spreading out to shoot long twos and threes.

Having him at power forward, sharing the defensive load with Pau Gasol, he was barely enough, single-guarding Ibaka, he could manage, but guarding Durant...

The young genius held himself in such high regard, Metta World Peace was pleased, no doubt, but one has to be practical, he flatly said, "Jack, I can’t keep up with Durant’s pace, he’ll get past me."

Zhang Yang: "I know."

Metta World Peace: "..."

Are you just messing with me because you’re upset about losing the game?

Zhang Yang: "But Earl can’t keep up with him either; not only can he not keep up, but he can’t even interfere with his shooting. Durant just shakes him off, he can’t even stay close enough to guard him, doesn’t even have as much strength as Durant."

As a former Defensive Player of the Year, if Metta World Peace couldn’t understand that, then those All-Defensive Team honors would have been for nothing.

Metta World Peace fell into deep thought, and after a while, he said, "Then we need to strengthen our interior defense, Paul alone can’t handle it."

Zhang Yang: "Including Joe (Hill)?"

Metta World Peace shook his head: "He’s okay helping out guarding point guards, but he can’t handle forward lines with strong impact... we need wing help."

Zhang Yang: "I need to guard Harden, without me at the top of the arc, we have no one who can stop Harden’s penetration; the two Steves are good defensively but that’s about it, the best they can do is disrupt shooters like Sefolosha and Fisher."

Metta World Peace: "We have another point guard who is good at this, and he can shoot when unguarded... but it’s not for us to decide, we need to talk with Bernie, Eddie, and Steven about it, I’ll call them!"

Mr. World Peace always acted swiftly; 5 minutes later, Zhang Yang, Metta World Peace, Eddie Jordan, Steven Clifford, Darwin Ham, and others gathered in Bickerstaff’s room, and oh, Kobe who heard the news and ran over to join the excitement.

When Zhang Yang previously talked to Metta World Peace, it was only about feasibility. In the small meeting, he summarized some methods Tony Allen, Marion, Leonard, and others used to guard Durant that he remembered.

Metta World Peace sighed after listening: "So, Jack, you were already prepared before you came to see me."

He didn’t think there was anything wrong with Zhang Yang coming up with these containment tricks; after all, he had already played in double defense last season, and it was almost certain he would be on this season’s All-Defensive Team, if not for Paul and Tony Allen, two titans ahead of him, and the Lakers’ poor performance this season... But being first team defense was only a matter of time.

Zhang Yang humbly replied: "You just haven’t thought in this direction; you could easily come up with these techniques if you thought about it."

Metta World Peace didn’t deny it, he truly hadn’t considered the idea of him guarding Durant.

He turned to Kobe and said, "If you could play, we could create more rest time for Jack. Your playing styles are quite compatible, both suited for the triangle offense, both can shoot and pass, even if one person handles regular time and another takes critical one-on-one shots, we could maintain our advantage."

Kobe was visibly stirred.

Zhang Yang: "Let’s still give him a rest though; he said he wants to play 20 years, I don’t want someone with a broken ankle, knee, shoulder holding me back."

Kobe: If it wasn’t for your contract renewal pending, I’d bite you!

But he didn’t even feel like getting angry now; the kid, though his words were harsh, spoke the truth.

He wasn’t dumb, he just hadn’t realized the extent of his injury risks until now; it was just that the moment he stepped on the court he wanted to fiercely compete against the opponents, aiming to win every game.

Now that he understood his physical condition, he should rest; he hadn’t missed two or three months before, back during the 04-05 season he missed even more time, and he was younger back then, quite old now.

The old blacksmith stared at Zhang San, wanting to kill the damned man with his gaze.

Seeing the old blacksmith’s eyes widen, Zhang San was in high spirits.

The day before yesterday in Los Angeles, Zhang Yang curiously went to the team doctor to see Kobe’s detailed inspection report from February, and it was frightening to read; by then, Kobe’s body was at a point where it could collapse at any moment, severely fatigued, and likely to suffer fractures and tears in several critical areas just by slipping once.

The team doctor had recommended a treatment and rehabilitation period of 4-6 months, truly as if his Achilles tendon, knees, and shoulders had already broken before treatment commenced.

The death stare didn’t work, and Kobe also started offering defensive suggestions...

Three players, two former defensive powerhouses and one with potential, provided a lot of ideas for specific defenses.

Even Metta himself admitted he couldn’t stop Durant’s breakthroughs. Based on that premise, many defensive variations were unnecessary, the defense goal became singular, and analysis actually became simpler.

The quick meeting lasted only half an hour; after it ended, Kobe called Nash and Gasol, and the five went out for lunch. If they couldn’t play ball, then he’d do what a leader should do—enhance the opportunity for team interactions.

After the players left, Bickerstaff asked Clifford, "Steven, what do you think about Jack’s ideas?"

Clifford nodded. "We can’t cover everything defensively and even wasted Jack’s excellent one-on-one defense because of poor rim protection. Strengthening our inside defense is feasible. I’m not sure if Metta can effectively disrupt Durant, but focusing on that is theoretically the only defensive adjustment we can make now... but if Chris plays, then the offense will..."

Clifford said, glancing at the other acting head coach.

Bickerstaff asked, "Eddie, do you have any concerns here?"

Eddie Jordan thought for a while, then said, "It’s not impossible, but that would require Paul to take on a heavier burden, and we wouldn’t have a stable scoring point under the basket..."

Bickerstaff: "Just unstable?"

Eddie Jordan: "Huh?"

Bickerstaff: "Then that’s no problem, Eddie. Tell Darvin the basic offensive and defensive strategies in two hours, and hold two training sessions this afternoon!"

The assistant coaches: "..."

Unstable=possibly manageable=feasible?

People say this old man is wild, and damn, at 70 years old, he’s still so wild!

...

April 23rd, after a day’s rest, it was the second game day of the series between the Lakers and the Thunder Team.

At 8:40 PM, players from both teams entered the court.

Tonight, the home fans were visibly more confident—Zhang Yang scored 44 points in G1, and their Thunder Team won by 9 points. Nothing to worry about!

They were initially concerned Kobe might make a sudden comeback, 3+24, their biggest advantage could potentially turn into a disadvantage, but Kupchak, who was with the team yesterday, made it clear that Kobe would not risk returning for the playoffs this year, and he also mentioned the precedent set by Roy, which thoroughly reassured Thunder Team fans.

The Thunder Team players felt reassured as well...

But on the Lakers’ side, they were also fully geared up tonight.

During yesterday afternoon’s and this morning’s prep phase, the coaching staff made very clear tactical adjustments!

If G1 was fought to the end and still not won, if the coaching staff had no adjustments, they would see it as the coaching staff being out of ideas.

When the coaching staff had a clear plan for adjustments, it gave them hope!

As for whether the adjustments would work... they’d find out by playing!

The most excited looked to be—Pau Gasol.

On the coaches’ bench, Ham, an assistant since the Zen Master era, said, "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Pau so happy. He was very reluctant when asked to leave the post position before."

Bickerstaff: "Can you compare the two? Although both involve moving away from the inside, being forced to leave the basket area because of a center who can only score under the basket and has no shooting ability, and not being able to freely enter, is drastically different from just needing to move to mid-range due to tactical needs..."

...

...

Today, a crisp and concise 9,500 words. Make do with it; no staying up late, sleep early, wake up early on the weekend to code~ Soliciting monthly tickets!