The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 597 - 239: This "Chosen One" is Really Odd!_3

Chapter 597: Chapter 239: This "Chosen One" is Really Odd!_3

Could he really become the "Second Youngest Regular Season MVP"?

Su Wan said, "Let the bullets fly for a while longer!"

On November 16th, the Pacers faced their first loss of the season, having been defeated by the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks had reached the peak of their "Civilian Five Hawks" era.

As a team-oriented squad, once they found their rhythm, they could unleash fierce firepower.

Take, for instance, this game.

Under the leadership of Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, the Pacers’ wings were hammered.

It’s worth mentioning that in this game, Yi Jianlian scored 12 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. He was clearly being utilized more by the Hawks this season. His court time had reached an average of 25 minutes and 13 seconds per game, scoring an average of 9.4 points and 4.6 rebounds.

Although he wasn’t in the starting lineup, having stable minutes off the bench was something.

For him, that might not be a bad thing!

At least his performance was becoming more stable!

Originally, Yi Jianlian’s failure to break out, aside from injuries, was also related to his frequent trades.

The Bucks clearly lacked patience with him, trading him to the Brooklyn Nets after just one season.

The "Silver Fox" Harris was patient with him, but the management couldn’t secure the No.1 pick of 2010 and chose to clear out their accounts, which led to his trade to the Wizards.

Being traded to three teams in four seasons was torturous for any rookie.

Now at the Hawks, after spending three years with these teammates, Yi Jianlian felt a sense of integration with the team.

He was a slow starter.

Even Yao Ming sometimes didn’t know what to say when he encountered him on planes.

Right now, this situation was definitely a good thing for him.

For Yi Jianlian, a familiar environment was more important than a starting position.

Zach Randolph’s poor performance was the main reason the Pacers lost.

However, occasional fluctuations in performance are inevitable.

Overall, Randolph’s form was still better than last season.

At 28, he had definitely entered his prime.

In the new season’s five games, he averaged 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds.

Rick Carlisle was quite satisfied.

So was Su Wan.

However, feeling guilty for letting down his team tonight, Randolph, on the bus ride to the airport, kept watching Su Wan’s expression. He didn’t know when he had developed this habit:

Whenever he played poorly, he was particularly concerned about Su Wan’s reaction.

The last game in November had the Pacers facing the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After drafting James Harden in 2009, the Thunder’s "Youth Army Generation I" key members had all gathered:

Kevin Durant, Westbrook, James Harden, Ibaka, Jeff Green...

From a transcender’s perspective, Su Wan was more shocked than the outsider by the Thunder general manager’s choices over these three years.

Even if he had the "Heavenly Eye," he could only reach this level!

However, the Thunder general manager’s drafting acumen was unquestionable, but unfortunately, he was in places like United States Tie Ridge instead of the New York Knicks, or other places that don’t care about salary caps.

Drafting so well, yet in the end, it was like making bridal dresses for others...

Three regular season MVPs were all given to other teams.

Even by 2024, the Thunder were still gambling on "potential rookies" and using "child laborers" in those years.

The sorrow of a small city was vividly displayed at this moment.

"Su Wan’s prophecy" began to show its power.

In his third season, Kevin Durant’s scoring surged again; before the last November game, he was averaging 31 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.

His shooting accuracy was 47.6%, his three-point shooting accuracy was 36.5%, and his free throw accuracy was 90%!

"Little Handsome Durant," with a bit of bashfulness in his shooting stance, had clearly become the NBA’s most outstanding scorer.

At least that’s what the data showed.

At the top of the scoring leaderboard, the name was clearly written:

Kevin Durant!

However, in his professional career’s second season, Westbrook had not seen a significant increase, averaging only 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 8 assists, compared to his rookie season’s 15.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 5.3 assists, which was not a significant increase.

Also, the third overall pick of the first round, James Harden, was currently just sitting on the bench, averaging 9.9 points, which showed a "lottery charm," but did not look like someone who could win a regular season MVP.

Of course, to the outside world, if one of the three could truly transform into a regular season MVP, Su Wan’s prediction was considered quite accurate.

And...

OJ Mayo’s average of 17.5 points compared to his rookie season was a decrease, also proving the accuracy of "Su Wan’s prediction."

Eventually, the Pacers, with difficulty, defeated the Thunder 108 to 100.

The impact of this "Youth Army" was unexpected by Su Wan.

He clearly remembered that this season’s original Thunder team was only the eighth in the Western Conference, supposed to be eliminated by the Lakers; the savvy Kobe had directly shown Kevin Durant the difference between the playoffs and the regular season.

How come...

Were they playing so fiercely?

What he didn’t know was that the original season in the Western Conference was fiercely competitive; even though the Thunder were eighth in the West, they had achieved 50 wins!

This record, in the East of that same season, would directly be the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference!

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