Chapter 507 Durant’s Progress and Jerry Sloan’s Strategy

February 12, 2008, Key Arena, Seattle.

As one of the most devilish home stadiums in the league, although it is no longer as popular as it was during Yes's consecutive wins, the atmosphere at the scene is still shocking.

Key Arena is one of the smallest arenas in the entire NBA. It is precisely because of this small size that Key Arena can create such an atmosphere.

It’s the same 20,000 people. Putting these 20,000 people in an arena with 20,000 people, and putting these 20,000 people in an arena with 16,000 people, are two completely different effects.

Looking at these crazy Sonics fans around them, the Jazz players in front of the Jazz bench felt as if they were back in Salt Lake City.

The fans in Salt Lake City also have the same enthusiasm.

The Seattle SuperSonics and Utah Jazz are both rivals in the Northwest Division, and Jazz players often come to Seattle to play.

The two teams play each other at least four times each season, and last season the two teams played five times.

Players from both teams are very familiar with each other.

There was a time when the Seattle SuperSonics' Key Arena had one of the worst atmospheres in the entire NBA.

The sea has changed, it really has changed. In this regard, the Seattle SuperSonics can one day be comparable to Salt Lake City.

This makes the Utah Jazz players feel very emotional now.

The world has changed so much.

Now not only has Key Arena changed beyond recognition, even the record and strength of the Seattle SuperSonics are no longer comparable to theirs.

Obviously last season they only defeated the Sonics five times.

The team they looked down on at the beginning has become a team they can't catch up with.

This game against the Sonics is important.

That's what head coach Jerry Sloan kept repeating to them in the week leading up to the game.

In a team like the Utah Jazz, when Jerry Sloan asks them to do something or wants them to do something, they have no ability to say no.

In the Utah Jazz,

There are no stars or superstars here. There is only one real superstar, and that is Jerry Sloan.

At this point, the Jazz and Spurs are very similar.

The Spurs and Jazz are two of the few teams in the league whose stars do not have star privileges.

And the Jazz may be more serious than the Spurs.

After all, the Spurs still have a privilege that the players themselves gave up. The Utah Jazz don't even have the power to give up the privilege.

"Yes! yes! yes!"

Listening to the crazy cheers of the SuperSonics fans at the scene, Deron Williams could only feel envious.

The Jazz's team performance is very poor this season, but his personal performance is very outstanding.

Averaged 19 points and 105 assists per game, making him the next recognized 20+10 point guard in the league.

This season he ranks third in the assists list, second only to Paul and Yes.

Based on his performance this season, if it weren't for the fact that there are too many superstars in the Western Conference this season, he would also be a popular candidate for the All-Stars.

His current strength has definitely reached the level of a star player.

But it's because of the Utah Jazz.

He gets so little attention that he's only mentioned every time he plays against Chris Paul.

Because Chris Paul, the future No. 1 point guard in the league, can't beat him almost every time.

But apart from playing against the Thunder and Paul, his exposure is horribly low.

Not to mention compared to other stars, even compared to role players such as Barea and Millsap of the Seattle SuperSonics, they are far inferior!

No one may believe it, but in this year's All-Star voting, as a player who averaged close to 20+10 per game in a season, his number of votes was far less than that of Seattle SuperSonics backup point guard Barea!

Not to mention being inferior to Barea, not even Mavericks veteran Jerry Stackhouse can be compared.

What's going on?

It doesn't matter if he loses the attention of the league. If he can get the treatment and privileges of a star in the team, dominate the team, and dominate the team, he can accept it.

But what's disgusting is that in the Utah Jazz, he didn't get any chance to dominate the team.

He even goes to nightclubs secretly.

Not only did he lose his luster in Utah, he also lost his character.

So is there any other reason for him to stay in Utah?

Of course there is. If the Utah Jazz can bring him honor, of course he is still willing to stay.

But now the Utah Jazz can't even bring him honors.

A team ranked tenth in the Western Conference couldn't bring him anything.

With his strength, he can get whatever he wants wherever he goes.

Only in the Utah Jazz, he couldn't get anything!

Looking at the Sonics players coming out of the Seattle SuperSonics player tunnel one by one, Deron Williams' eyes were full of envy.

They are a bunch of rubbish, but because they follow the right people and come to the right team, they can get whatever they want.

How ironic is this?

hehe……

Deron Williams is now looking at the Sonics players who came out to the cheers of Sonics fans with sadness and disdain.

Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan next to Deron Williams is also watching these Sonics players.

It's just obvious that Jerry Sloan's eyes and Deron Williams' eyes are completely different.

The Seattle SuperSonics first played Kevin Durant, last year's second overall pick, and this year's scoring champion.

A player who is known as the most prolific scorer, the second most prolific player, and the most prolific second player in NBA history.

He is also the only player in NBA history to take more than 30 shots and have a shooting percentage below 40.

He averaged 32 shots per game during the season, scored 351 points per game during the season, and hit 385 field goals per game during the season. This is a terrible data.

This means yes uses the entire team's prospects to develop him.

Every time they see this data, many people will be very disdainful.

A week ago, he, like everyone else in the world, was looking at this person with colored eyes.

But after studying all the Seattle SuperSonics games this season, Jerry Sloan knows that Durant's rapid progress in the past six months is absolutely staggering.

He also saw the funny photo of Durant and Yi Jianlian comparing each other during the draft.

At that time, Durant was indeed very bad. His physical strength was so strong that he really doubted that he would be knocked to pieces during the game.

Coupled with his not-so-excellent athletic ability given his height and weight, it can be said that Durant is a veritable parallel import.

But what about now?

He doesn't know Durant's current height and weight.

But he can visually detect that Durant is definitely at least two points taller and at least 10 kilograms fatter than when he was drafted!

What's more important is that after this player became taller and stronger, he didn't slow down and his bounce didn't get lower. This is amazing!

This means that Durant has not been encouraged by yes and the SuperSonics, but has progressed step by step.

yes used a lot of shots, a lot of ball-holding opportunities, scientific weight gain and scientific training to transform Durant from a player with mediocre talent into a very special player.

When Durant has such confrontation and height, he can still run and jump like he did before when he was thinner, and he can still control the ball.

Durant can really be as high as him and as fast as him, and as fast as he is!

What's even more frightening is the stability of his shooting. He has studied the current Durant and can almost guarantee a hit rate of at least 40 when facing any team and any defense.

This is quite a scary thing.

You know, in the playoffs, a 40 shooting percentage is actually not low, especially when there are so many shots.

Many NBA stars who can hit 45% in the regular season may not be as accurate as Durant in the playoffs!

After Durant went to the Seattle SuperSonics, yes really sacrificed everything he could.

Most of the right to take action is given to Durant.

Most of the ball rights were given to Durant.

After Durant scored 65 points in a single game against the Suns, the whole world said that any starting-level small forward playing next to Yes can score 65 points against the Suns.

This is a lie!

Those people simply didn't notice the drive Durant used against Stoudemire.

That kind of drastic change of direction...do these people really think that as the starting center of a championship team, Stoudemire's defense is that bad?

In today's league, there are many small forwards who can break through Stoudemire one-on-one, but absolutely no starting small forward can do it. What's more, someone like Durant has such a high breakthrough success rate. .

Prejudice makes the whole world underestimate how great Yes is in cultivating his teammates!

A week ago, he was like these people, full of prejudices against other Seattle SuperSonics players.

Now he knows that even if Durant was really trash before, he has slowly begun to transform like a bug under the training of yes for more than half a season.

Durant's development in most of the season is greater than that of many players in two or three seasons.

Durant now should be what he will be in three seasons!

No, if it hadn't been for yes, it's not certain whether Durant would have had three seasons in the NBA.

No team will develop him like yes.

Without training like yes, Durant's traits of growing taller and gaining weight without losing his athletic talent would not have been discovered.

"Durant looks a little heavier than when he played against the Suns!"

Looking at the cold-faced SuperSonics No. 35, Jerry Sloan's expression was constantly changing.

At such a critical moment, yes still did not stop cultivating Durant.

You know, gaining weight will indeed increase the player's confrontation, but players need to adapt in a short period of time, and their strength will decrease!

"Sure enough, he is the luckiest and most enviable player in the history of basketball in the world!"

Jerry Sloan nodded secretly.

And Durant, the luckiest and most enviable player in the new history, is the culprit why this season the Jazz went from a team that could kill five yeses to a team that was double-killed by yes!

yesBecause of Durant, he completely unlocked the most powerful pass in his history.

Before the whole world was criticizing Durant, and before they discovered Durant's ability to gain weight and height without compromising his athletic ability and shooting touch, yes had already discovered it, so he chose Durant with the second pick. !

Why did he discover this trait in Durant?

Because his former disciple Karl Malone is also such a player!

Karl Malone was the 13th pick in 1985. In 1985, a year that was not considered a draft year, Malone's pick meant that everyone was not optimistic about his talent.

In fact, his talent does not seem that outstanding, his height is not that high, and his speed is not that fast. His only advantage is that he weighed 250 pounds when he was drafted, but that was a fat body, with a body size of 11 Fat percentage, this means that he needs to reduce body fat and develop real strength.

When Malone really gets his body fat to 5, what kind of terrible condition will his hand feel become?

At that time, if the Jazz didn't take Malone with the 13th pick, it's really hard to say when Malone would fall.

But this world is always full of miracles.

Malone has been strength training his entire career.

But completely different from other NBA players, Malone's strength training has never affected his feel!

In the end, Malone became a bug with both power and feel.

Can you imagine a player who is comparable to O'Neal in terms of strength and Yao Ming in terms of shooting touch?

This man is Karl Malone.

Durant and Karl Malone are less talented on the surface.

Their talents need to be brought out in the right way.

Now Durant's talent is slowly being stimulated by yes!

It took him and the Jazz three years to stimulate Malone's talent.

Now, it only took more than half a year for yes to be activated.

When yes fully unleashed Durant's talent, that's when the Seattle SuperSonics shocked the world.

It combines victory with cultivating teammates, and combines present and pursuit of the future!

"yes!"

"yes!"

"yes!"

That Seattle SuperSonics No. 9 is so special!

In the entire history of the NBA, Jerry Sloan has never seen such a special person.

He did things in the NBA that he had never imagined.

Your future will exceed everyone’s imagination.

Maybe, the sky is your limit.

But now, the victory of this game is mine!

Yees slowly walked out of the tunnel to the welcome of his Seattle SuperSonics teammates and the cheers of the fans.

"Yes, you look very relaxed now!"

"yes doesn't seem to regard this game as a game that can affect the entire Western Conference this season!"

"The game started immediately, both sides were preparing for a jump ball, and Milicic easily defeated Okur with a jump ball!"

After Milicic succeeded in jumping the ball, the Seattle SuperSonics launched a fast break and the Jazz team retreated. Okur didn't even think about jumping when he jumped the ball in order to retreat.

"The Jazz retreated very well, and the Sonics had no chance for a fast break!"

Buckley felt a little sorry.

On the court, Yeos and the SuperSonics players looked at Durant and Fisher, the old man in front of Durant, and were stunned.

"Did I read that correctly? The Jazz were targeting Durant in the opening game?!"