"I may sign a short contract this summer and delay entering the free market for a year."

Durant's words attracted the attention of many media people.

As a big name with a contract this summer, Durant's choice will naturally attract a lot of attention.

After all...he has the ability to change the alliance's structure!

Klay Thompson, who is about to participate in the Three-Point Contest and the All-Star Game, talked about the Warriors' record this year in an interview.

According to ESPN's previous reports, the Warriors' goal is 73 wins.

"Yes, we are trying to break the 72-win record.

But our bigger goal is to win the championship.

Without a championship ring, 73 wins is nothing."

Unlike the Warriors who have won a championship in history, the Warriors, who have not won a championship yet, are obviously more eager for a championship!

…

After the roundtable meeting, the first thing to be held was the Celebrity Challenge.

This year's Masters game pits Canadian stars against American stars.

What surprised Zhou Si was that there were also Chinese faces in the competition.

Zhang Wei, nicknamed Snake, is nicknamed "the most classy man" by people on the Internet. Unlike those celebrities who are submissive and love their own image, Zhang Wei always gets angry when he doesn't accept it.

He even said directly, "To those trolls, a unified reply: I am your father!!!"

Zhou Si didn't know much about him, but at least compared to Ji Ni Taimei and Zhang Wei's solid basic skills during shooting training, Zhou Si nodded repeatedly.

Zhou Si didn’t know much about Zhang Wei, but Zhang Wei was a fan of Zhou Si’s. When he saw Zhou Si, he came over directly to ask for photos and autographs.

Moreover, Zhang Wei was not flattering at all, and he was neither humble nor overbearing when facing Zhou Si. Zhou Si's impression of him rose again.

After the game started, Zhang Wei was a little nervous in the first half and didn't do much, but he still dared to play hard and grabbed six rebounds.

During the intermission, Zhou Si went over to give some pointers.

In the second half, Zhang Wei got better and better, hitting 4 layups and finishing the game with 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Compared with those showy things, Zhou Si could see that Zhang Wei was a person who really loved basketball. After the game, Zhou Si left his contact information with him so that we could communicate more in the future.

That night, the highlight was the rookie game.

Like last year, this year's rookie game continues last year's format. First- and second-year rookies and quasi-rookies are divided into the American team and the world team to compete.

Team USA starting lineup: Towns, Parker, Clarkson, Smart, LaVine

World Team starting lineup: Jokic, Porzingis, Wiggins, Bogdanovic, Mudiay

Although the nephew and Richardson were both selected, they could only come on as substitutes due to their current strength.

Zhou Si asked them to relax and show their own characteristics in the rookie game.

Both sides showed their level of long-range shooting at the beginning, with three-point long-range shots constantly attacking the opponent's basket.

In this game, both sides threw a total of 34 three-pointers, which also confirmed that the development trend of basketball in this era is gradually moving towards small balls, and the long-range shooting ability of each player has become a necessary means for them to survive in the league.

Among them, Porzingis' performance was particularly eye-catching. He scored a game-high 30 points, made 5 of 8 three-pointers, and made 12 of 16 shots, shooting 75% from the field.

In addition, the host Wiggins' shooting percentage was also terrifyingly high. He made 13 of 15 shots from the field, but he failed to score from beyond the three-point line.

However, the most dazzling thing was Jokic. He once again dominated the interior like last year and led his teammates to defeat the US team.

Although his pick was not high in the draft, Jokic is very mature and there is only one feeling when watching him play.

With ease!

After the game, looking at Jokic who scored 28 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists to win the rookie game MVP, the eyes of his eldest nephew and Josh Richardson were full of envy.

As expected of you!

In the commentary box, Barkley complained directly:

"Should we ban Trail Blazers players from the rookie game?

Otherwise, there would be no doubt about the rookie game MVP!"

The audience was really impressed when they heard it.

The year before last it was Zhou Si, last year and this year it was Jokic...

The Trail Blazers have monopolized the Rookie Game MVP for three consecutive years!

Their new guy is really scary!

After the game, Jokic also joked about his nephew and Richardson in an interview.

"I won the MVP again. Come on next year, Josh and Guo!"

Zhou Si raised his lips slightly as he watched in the audience. After coming to the United States for more than a year, Jokic became more and more playful.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Si was very pleased.

…

"Zhou, does our second position need reinforcement?"

After returning to the hotel and receiving a call from General Manager Orsi, Zhou Si thought for a while and replied.

"No need, Courtney can already handle most situations. I also have some ideas for dealing with other power defenders."

"Okay, let's keep in touch."

The schedule is halfway through, and the trade deadline is right around the corner. During the All-Star weekend, when the players have a day off, the management will not be idle.

In other words, they are very busy at this time, second only to the summer offseason.

Although there is no mid-term trade that leads to the championship that season, it will also have a profound impact on the team.

For example, the Lakers traded for Garfield and the Warriors traded for Ellis and Bogut.

Zhou Si just replied to General Manager Orsi that he was not lying when he said he had ideas. During the day, Zhou Si felt it when he watched Richardson, who had gained significant muscle mass with the joint efforts of nutritionists and physical trainers, withstanding the opponent's impact again and again.

surprise.

Although there is still a big gap between him and the outside defensive gate, Richardson like this is enough to defend some powerful defenders that Courtney Lee can't deal with.

If you work harder in the second half of the season, you can still be a defensive role player.

…

The next day, Zhou Si continued to take a group of friends to eat melon and participate in the All-Star Weekend. This day was all individual games.

The competition format has not changed much from last year, except that the shooting star competition has been cancelled.

The first thing to do is the All-Star Challenge. The participants are Mudiay, CJ McCollum, Isaiah Thomas, Jordan Clarkson, Cousins, Millsap, Big Eyebrow and Towns.

The duel between four small men and four big men made this single event full of highlights.

In the past, this event had nothing to do with big men, but this night's duel surprised many people. It turns out that the skills of big men are so comprehensive now?

The times of Cousins, Millsap and the thick eyebrows are not much worse than those of the little guys. Towns even showed skills that are not inferior to those of the little guys, and passed all the way to the finals.

The final is a duel between Towns and Thomas!

Thomas is faster in terms of dribbling speed, but both of them completed the first pass in front of their chests in one go.

Then he dribbled for a layup. Towns' speed didn't suffer, and he overtook Thomas.

After the two players completed the layup, the smell of gunpowder on the court became stronger and stronger. They turned around to dribble and almost collided.

Towns hit the final three-point shot directly, defeating Thomas and winning the championship.

Looking at Towns, who was tightly surrounded by three other big athletes, Millsap, Davis, and Cousins, Zhou Si also felt a little emotional:

'In the small ball era, the concept of position is really becoming more and more blurred.'
Chapter completed!