Forty-Two: The Tamed Black Bear

People will always mature, it just depends on whether they mature sooner or later.

There is no doubt that Zach Randolph belongs to the group of people who matured relatively late. During the prime of his career, Randolph never focused on the basketball court.

Items, nightclubs, possession of guns, absence from training, beating teammates... These things seem to fill Zach Randolph's life.

But at this time, Randolph, who was already 30 years old, finally knew what to do. He's going to fight for his career, and most importantly, he's going to fight for the Grizzlies.

He loves the Grizzlies because he sees himself in the Grizzlies. At his worst, the Grizzlies were willing to accept him and not despise him at all. Therefore, he is eager for his team to become stronger, and in fact Randolph has been working in this direction.

So, he doesn't allow any Grizzlies players to mess around, especially freshmen.

After two minutes of training, Link's performance has been excellent. His outstanding performance is not because of how many points he has scored, but because of Link's ability to appear in the most correct place according to the tactics every time.

Whether it is defensive positioning, offensive movement, screening with teammates and basketball transmission, Link has done it just right. As a role player, not making mistakes is more important than being amazing. Link's stability on the basketball court is completely unmatched by Sam Young.

This time, Link blocked Sam Young's shot again. This is not because of how superb Link's defense is, but because Sam Young's attacking methods are too monotonous for Link.

Sam Young is certainly an athletic forward, but sadly, the guy's dribbling ability isn't very good. He's not fast off the dribble and struggles to get the ball to the basket against tough defenses.

Therefore, Sam Young's favorite is to make a pull-up jumper after a step or two. Sam Young's three-point shooting level is still very high, which has been confirmed by NBA games.

But because his attacking methods are so single, Link can easily judge when Sam Young will shoot. Whenever Sam Young attacked with the ball, Link would count his steps. After two steps, it will take off and block directly, one letter at a time.

Because of this, Sam Young made almost every shot today against defense. If you were Kobe, of course you could. But as an ordinary role player, Sam Young's shooting percentage against the defense is a bit appalling.

In two minutes, Sam Young made three shots, but none of them hit. After shooting again this time, the hit rate has become 0 for 4 shots.

Hollins shook his head, which was why he didn't trust Sam Young.

This kid is strong, active on defense, can dunk and shoot. It stands to reason that it will be a very useful substitute. But his impatience on the court limited his progress. He's not consistent, and the Grizzlies are a team that's about consistency.

Seeing that Sam Young's attack was stopped by Link again, Randolph snorted softly. Sam Young was putting too little pressure on Link, and Randolph decided to make this training more interesting.

So in the next defensive round, Randolph focused on Link. Once Sam Young was breached, he immediately made up for defense. He wanted to see how a yellow-skinned player who seemed to be slow-moving beat Sam Young so much that he couldn't lift his head.

Conley commanded while dribbling the ball. He gestured, and Link immediately began to run!

Although he only heard Elston Turner explain the tactics once, Link knew that the offensive tactics this time were to score inside by himself! This is an opportunity to show offense that must not be screwed up.

Conley stopped beyond the three-point line, and Darrell Arthur went to cover. This was just a fake screen, Conley didn't plan to attack at all, he was waiting for Link to move.

Link and Pau Gasol completed an off-ball screen cooperation. Under Gasol Jr.'s high-quality screen, Link easily got rid of the impatient Sam Young.

Meanwhile, Conley's basketball arrives. Link, who cut to the basket, received the ball and got a chance to attack the frame!

"It's a tacit understanding!" Lionel Hollins clapped his hands off the court. There are many plug-and-play players in the NBA. Their rich experience and high basketball IQ ensure that they can play in any team. Adapt quickly.

But such players are usually veterans. This is the first time Hollins has seen a rookie, and he can also do plug and play!

Randolph rushed to the restricted area from the side, and seeing Link jumped up, "Big Black Bear" also jumped up. He didn't intend to be polite to Link, because it was better to be taken by his own blood than to be laughed at by others in the official game!

Randolph waved his arms vigorously, but nothing happened! Link, who was in the air, suddenly turned into a pass, shoving the ball from Randolph's side to the perimeter.

"What!?" Randolph's eyes widened, is this guy really a striker? His passing vision is like Mike Conley!

And beyond the three-point line, it was Darrell Arthur who was emptied by Randolph who received the basketball.

Darrell Arthur is not very famous in the NBA, but he was also a figure in the NCAA. As the leading forward of the University of Kansas, he led his team to defeat the University of Memphis with Derrick Rose and won the NCAA championship that year.

Arthur was good at dunking in college, but his athleticism was a little mediocre when he came to the NBA. However, as a No. 4, he has a solid three-pointer, which is the capital of his foothold in the NBA.

In this era when the space-type 4 position has not yet become popular, Arthur's occasional three-pointer can always give the opponent a major blow, such as now.

Randolph was completely drawn to the inside by Link, which gave Arthur a big open shot. Instead of wasting the opportunity, he turned Link's pass into an assist.

Arthur scored, and Link tilted his head at Randolph, "You almost blocked me."

"Little bastard!" Randolph yelled, but there was a smile on his face.

This smart and rebellious teammate seems to suit Randolph's appetite.

In this round, Randolph tried to dismantle Link to no avail. In the next round, Randolph didn't expect that he would be dismounted by Link.

This time, Randolph was going to crush Arthur with his tonnage. But just as he was holding the ball with his back, he encountered a double-team.

It was Link who came up to double-team him!

Hollins frowned. It wasn't his strategy to double-team Randolph. It's true that a player doesn't have to do what the coach wants all the time on the field, but if the player moves freely and loses points, that's not allowed.

So, will Link's free movement succeed?

Link's double-team is very thief. He has been interfering with Randolph's lower set, making Randolph dare not put the ball below his chest at all. How high is the chipping level of this Chinese No. 0, just now Sam Young has already helped Randolph to experience it.

Unable to put the ball down, Randolph couldn't turn his back and break through. And at this distance, a direct hook or rollover jumper is too reluctant.

In desperation, Randolph had to pass the ball to Sam Young who was vacated.

Sam Young had a chance to shoot after receiving the basketball from beyond the three-point line, but due to his hot three-point shooting rate, he actually hesitated!

In an NBA-level game, a second of hesitation is a fleeting moment of opportunity. By the time he reacted, Link had already returned to Sam Yang!

"Beautiful!" Hollins couldn't help applauding off the court. He couldn't remember how many times he applauded Link today, but he couldn't help it.

Link used aggressive running and clever strategy to successfully contain the opponent's attack. This kind of defense is exactly what Hollins likes.

At this time, Hollins couldn't help but ask, how did Link lose the election? No matter how bad it is, he deserves a second round. This basketball IQ alone is enough for Link to rank in the top 60 of this year's rookies.

Sam Young got such a letter from Link, so he had to pass the ball again. And Randolph lost the best offensive position due to the unsuccessful offense. Their offense was completely destroyed, and it ended with Mayo's single-handed strike.

Seeing Mayo choose to duel Tony Allen, Link shook his head. The Mayo guy is a typical disease with a star, but no star's life.

Gasol Jr. took off the rebound, and Link's team quickly launched an offense. Conley played the ball quickly this time, and immediately gave the ball to Link after receiving a pass from Gasol Jr.

But Link was blocked by Sam Young, so it was delayed for some time. Randolph came from behind and immediately ran to the basket to guard.

Although he was blocked, Link, who is now more brisk, is not at all incapable of excelling. He broke through Sam Young with a strange change of rhythm, and the feeling of extraordinary breakthrough made Link extremely refreshing.

If you upgrade to Peak Hill in the future, will the extraordinary sourness still not take off? After all, Peak Hill's first step was incredible.

After passing Sam Yang, Link entered the penalty area and took three steps directly.

Randolph's reaction was half a beat late. He thought that Link would choose to split the ball, but he didn't expect this kid to play so hard!

Link's yellow skin always makes people think he is a soft guy. But in fact, Link does not reject confrontation.

Because the blocking timing was half a beat too late, Randolph failed to complete the block, but instead the entire bulky body was pressed on Link.

Link gritted his teeth and kept his balance, trying to keep his hands from being deformed. Then, he was knocked out of the bottom line by the "big black bear", but the moment he fell to the ground, Link heard Turner's whistle and—the sound of a basketball entering the net!

"Damn it, Zach. You gave the opponent a 3-pointer, and if it's a real game, you'd be off the court! Well done, Link! If someone takes it lightly on the defensive end, punish him like that. !"

Hollins yelled off the court, and Randolph reluctantly waved his hand and walked towards Link.

At first, Link thought that Randolph would come and talk trash to himself. As everyone knows, the "big black bear" stretched out a strong arm towards Link on the ground.

"Well done, that's how it's supposed to be played in Memphis. By the way, I forgot to say at noon, welcome to the Grizzlies, man."

Randolph smiled, he admitted the strength of this yellow-skinned boy.