บท 48: Super F4? One Star Leading Four Duds!
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"Malone and Payton join the Lakers, forming a super F4 combination with the OK duo, aiming for the championship!"
"The strongest lineup in history! With four superstars joining forces, who can stop the Lakers in the new season?"
"Perhaps the Lakers will have more than just the Big Four. Wang Chong, who performed well in the summer league, might become the fifth star of the Purple and Gold Army!"
Overnight, news about the Lakers was everywhere. After all, the Lakers' moves were so bold that they were unprecedented.
As the main driving force behind the two veterans joining the team, O'Neal was particularly excited during a phone interview.
"Last year, I had two tanks and two grenades, but now I have nuclear weapons! Damn the Hack-a-Shaq tactic!"
Besides feeling proud, O'Neal even commented on his two opponents from last season.
"San Antonio played great last season. It's time for them to win the championship, congratulations to them. But now, their window is closed because they no longer have two 7-foot big men. We will be the strongest team in the NBA!"
O'Neal was indeed excited. The addition of Malone and Payton cleared up the gloom caused by Kobe Bryant some time ago. Although Kobe's issues have not been resolved yet, and it is unknown whether he will spend the new season in prison or continue to play, at least the team has two superstars and Wang Chong, who has great potential. The team is stronger than ever!
However, at the end of the interview, O'Neal cautiously added another statement:
"Of course, what we imagine now is only theoretical. If we want to achieve our goals next season, we still need to work hard and be careful."
Obviously, the defeat to the Spurs in the playoffs made the usually arrogant O'Neal realize that he could not truly dominate the court.
Wang Chong knew that Malone and Payton would join the Lakers, so it wasn't surprising.
However, despite their big names, it is not necessarily a good thing for these two to join the Lakers. After all, they are still too old. The situation was slightly better during the regular season, but in the playoffs, Malone was plagued by injuries, and Payton's performance also plummeted.
Although the Lakers, led by the OK duo, made it to the finals, Malone and Payton played like two underperformers.
In the five finals games, facing the Pistons' tough defense system, Malone averaged 2 out of 6 shots, scoring only 5 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Gary Payton wasn't much better than Malone, making 1.8 out of 5.6 shots and averaging 4 points and 3 assists. Their shooting percentages were 33.3% and 32.1%, respectively.
Of course, no one should laugh at this.
Derek Fisher, a key contributor to the Lakers' three-peat, averaged 2 out of 7 shots, 6 points, and 3 assists in the finals, with a shooting percentage even lower than Payton and Malone.
The most ruthless one was Kobe. Although the shooting percentages of these three players weren't high, at least they didn't take many shots.
In order to compete with O'Neal for the Finals MVP, Kobe averaged 22.6 shots per game, hitting only 8.6 of them. He averaged 22.6 points and 4.4 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of 38.1%.
In the entire Lakers team, only two players had a shooting percentage over 40% in the finals. They were O'Neal, who had a shooting percentage of 63.1% but could barely touch the ball while watching Kobe play solo and run up and down the court, and Rick Fox, who was relegated to a substitute role, averaging only 10 minutes per game and scoring 2.7 points with a shooting percentage of 57%.
It was a classic case of one star leading four duds. Anyone else would have already thrown their hands up in frustration.
It was only because O'Neal was strong enough, and Kobe was only eager to compete for the Finals MVP, that they failed in the finals. His performance in the Western Conference playoffs, including the Western Conference Finals, was not bad before that.
Wang Chong isn't sure what kind of changes this team, a patchwork of different people with different agendas, will experience with the addition of him, and whether they can change history and defeat the Pistons in the finals.
Under normal circumstances, it should be possible. After all, although Wang Chong's current strength is not as good as O'Neal and Kobe, it is much stronger than Malone and Payton. With his help, the Lakers' small forward shortcomings can be covered. On paper, their strength should be greater than that of the Pistons.
But the problem is that his presence cannot avoid or solve the Lakers' internal conflicts, particularly the feud between Kobe and O'Neal.
In the finals, Kobe was so aggressive that even O'Neal couldn't get the ball, let alone Wang Chong, the rookie.
No matter how strong his personal ability is, what's the use if he can't get the ball?
Of course, this is an issue for the future. The strength of the Lakers' F4 is so overwhelming that they are almost guaranteed to enter the finals. They have no rivals in the West, especially since the Spurs' Admiral, David Robinson, has officially retired, leaving Duncan as the only Twin Tower. The only team that can threaten the Lakers is the Pistons in the East.
The Southern California Summer League will be held from July 7 to July 21. The timeframe is relatively long, and teams participating in this summer league will miss the Orlando Summer League and the Boston Summer League due to overlapping schedules.
But in the early days of the NBA, the Summer League was just a friendly competition between a small number of NBA teams. It didn't evolve into a large-scale event until the rise of the Las Vegas Summer League in 2006.
By 2006, the Las Vegas Summer League expanded from the original 6 teams to 16 teams, and in 2007 it increased to 22 teams, becoming the most representative and largest league in the summer league, continuing to be used until Wang Chong's time.
During Wang Chong's era, the number of participating teams in the Las Vegas Summer League had exceeded 30. Together with some other countries' national teams, such as China, Croatia, and others, the number reached up to 32 teams at most.
But this has nothing to do with Wang Chong. This year's summer league will be his only time participating. With his ability and strength, once he enters the league, he will undoubtedly become a main player. Why would a main player play in the summer league? This league is essentially a platform for rookies and players without contracts to showcase themselves.
At least Wang Chong performed quite well in this summer league.
After the summer league ended, his agent Thomas called him and brought good news.
"Wang, good news! Nike has contacted me, and they hope to sign a sneaker endorsement contract with you!"
(End of this chapter)
End of this chapter
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