There are very few teams that have achieved a complete victory record in the preseason. In most cases, those who want to make the playoffs in the new season will start from the preseason. For example, the Clippers will do their best in the preseason, and will have a complete victory in the preseason. Of course, Francis' Clippers did not do it and were beaten in the first game, but the 76ers won all the preseason, showing super stability. Hubby Brown used Duncan's characteristics to create a team that has always been very stable.

In addition to Telon Hill, the 76ers also signed 30-year-old veteran forward guard swingman Billy Owens, who averaged 7.3 points and 2.8 assists last season with the Lakers.

The middle-class special case has a starting salary of US$3.3 million in two years, a total of US$6.62 million was signed with the 30-year-old center Matt Geiger who averaged 21 minutes of playing as a substitute with the Hornets last season and averaged 8.6 points and 6.7 rebounds.

The 76ers' 213 cm 128 kg big center Todd Mark Rocky, who was selected by the 26th pick in the second round, also showed quite good frame protection ability in the summer league and preseason.

The defending champion 76ers' goal for the new season is obvious - defending the title.

On the outside, the 76ers gave up Jim Jackson, who was strong but not in line with Hubby Brown's coaching style, adding that veterans like Billy Owens were all talking about money inside.

The imaginary enemy is very clear - the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, when Zhang Hao saw the latest lineup of the 76ers, he paid attention to that man - Bruce Bowen, who had a starting salary of 630,000 US dollars for three years and 2.21 million US dollars.

Duncan's thigh was still held by Bowen!

On the Lakers, O'Neal and Payton's duo still make them popular in the championship. Although Doug Christie left the team to join the Raptors for 2 years and 13 million US dollars and partnered with Damon Stoudemire, Carter and Odom, the Lakers traded Glenn Rice and also completed a contract renewal with Fisher, Brian Shaw, AC Green, Dale Ellis and others. Tyron Lu, who was selected in 1998 and Devin George, who chose this year, were both not bad. In addition, Rick Fox, who worked hard to re-train three-pointers during the long offseason suspension season, was still strong.

Last year, Payton was approaching the end of the season and joined the Lakers through a league franchise transaction. Before he could get started, the playoffs began, so he performed poorly in the playoffs. However, the outside partnership between Payton and Rick Fox was amazing, and this year the Lakers became the favorite to win the championship again.

The other two championship-level teams in the Western Conference, the Suns and the Trail Blazers, are also highly anticipated.

The Suns lost Antonio McDyce and failed to defend against Nash and Rashid Wallace's pick-and-roll in the playoffs last year, but they signed Hornets free agent power forward Clifford Robinson for $3.36 million a year this summer to make up for the flaws.

The Trail Blazers did some big things. In a three-party transaction, Isaiah Ledell was exchanged for the original star Steve Smith of the Hawks, and the outside lineup became more reasonable.

The most jaw-dropping operation of the Trail Blazers this summer was not the deal that got Steve Smith, but the contract renewal of Jermaine O'Neal for 4 years and $24 million. You should know that Jermaine O'Neal only averaged 2 games last season. Henry Thomas became famous in the contract renewal negotiations with the Trail Blazers, and it was not just the title of "Agent Zhang Hao".

The Jazz, the fourth team in the West that is likely to compete for the championship, is not favored by free agents this summer. Apart from signing Almond Gilliam with a minimum salary of 630,000 US dollars a year, there is nothing else to do. They are very active in the free market, but no one takes care of it, and the trading market is more active. However, except for Ostertag, other Jazz players look down on them at all, and the Jazz team cannot trade.

The Jazz are still very strong and are still the favorites to win the championship in people's eyes, but everyone feels that they are destined to have to wither slowly.

In the East, in addition to the 76ers, there is also the ability to compete for the championship. In people's eyes, the Pacers are the only ones left, and the Pacers are forced to break up the double Davis due to salary issues.

The Raptors, which formed the starting combination of Damon Stadmeier, Doug Christie, Carter, Odom, and Antonio Davis, are quite optimistic, but they are too young.

Originally, the Nets were the team that the media discussed in the offseason to rise, but when Wen Baker debuted in training camp, the media who used the Supersonics to trade Wen Baker for Jason Williams to squirt the Supersonics felt that they were slapped again.

Wen Baker's body size is even more excessive than last season's shrinking season!

Ten**, the Nets are about to finish this season...

As for the Heat, the regular season record in the past few years should be regarded as a championship-level team, but in the past two years of poor performance in the playoffs, even though they retained the core lineup and introduced 76ers champion forward Clarence Witherspoon to further strengthen the inside line, not many people now regard them as a championship-level team.

The media and fans are the most hotly discussed are of course those teams in the championship level, and the teams that have attracted much attention because of the success of the 76ers.

But there is one exception - the Supersonics.

The Supersonics are neither teams to compete for the championship nor teams with high picks and young talents, but a team with a strange lineup.

But because of Zhang Hao, this team attracted much attention.

The strength Zhang Hao showed in the preseason also makes people curious what kind of performance Zhang Hao can perform under such conditions?

Since being traded in the rookie year to the Lakers, Zhang Hao has never played in a team with poor lineup, which has caused him some doubts. Now, the opportunity has come, and people are curious about what Zhang Hao will play.

And there are many people who are full of malicious speculation.

...

After the preseason, the Supersonics took one day off and conducted three days of training from the 29th to the 31st.

On November 1, the Supersonics set off for Philadelphia.

Their regular season opener is the defending champion Philadelphia 76ers.

Several TV stations will broadcast the game live across the United States.

The opening match of the Supersonics is that for a team that did not make the playoffs last season and major media have predicted that this year that the treatment of the team in the lottery zone will not be better.

When they arrived in Philadelphia, the Supersonics arranged their rest today. The first three days were already prepared. They themselves did not know what kind of performance their team could perform, and they could only verify it through actual combat.

The Timberwolves, which was regarded as the 50-win game in the last game of the preseason, won, but Garnett won 23 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks. But that was because of Zhang Hao's triple-double performance, and the star veteran Trier Brandon who was exchanged for Marbury last season did not play due to injury. Trier Brandon averaged assists last season and is currently Garnett's strongest helper.

It is definitely impossible to play badly with Zhang Hao for a high pick. The Supersonics cannot go on this road. The management did not require a record, but the order issued was to strive for victory with all efforts.

But despite this, the performance expectations of this season must be adjusted according to the actual situation.

When they arrived in Philadelphia, Zhang Hao went to Duncan's house as an appointment for lunch.

Duncan’s girlfriend was on a business trip. This time it was lunch made by Duncan himself. Zhang Hao was surprised and the taste was actually pretty good.

After almost the meal, Zhang Hao took out a gift from his bag and gave it to Duncan.

"Hulk Figure? Cool! Aix, are you going to play this role in the movie "

"Uh...this is another gift."

"Rosin Spirit Stone? Wow, there is a certificate! Aix, this is not cheap, I have seen it, it costs more than 1,000 yuan!"

"Hey... there is another gift."

"It's green again... cup? Oh, I remembered it. This is a special wine glass launched by the Bordeaux wine brand. How do you know I love drinking? Come and show you my wine cellar..."

Zhang Hao had no choice but to follow Duncan away from the dining table, and went to the basement to visit Duncan's wine cellar.

In this situation, Zhang Hao just wanted to say one thing-"I also want to build such a wine cellar!"

At this time, Zhang Hao suddenly remembered that it seemed that foreigners were not cuckolded, so they could only give up and think about a new way. At this time, the grasslands should not have grown on Duncan's head.

In the afternoon, Duncan went out for something and called Zhang Hao with him. Zhang Hao had nothing to do in the afternoon, so he followed him.

"Tim, is this... a motorcycle parts factory?"

"Yes, my motorcycle broke down. Come and buy something to repair it, and it will be done soon."

"NBA players are not allowed to ride motorcycles, right?"

“I can’t ride a motorcycle.”

"?"

“I just like to modify motorcycles.”

"All right……"

Zhang Hao has no research on motorcycles, but men like to assemble toys by themselves. When Duncan asked Zhang Hao what color schemes look good and what peripherals look cool, Zhang Hao also devoted himself to selecting various parts with Duncan.

After buying dozens of parts from various parts and putting them in the car, Zhang Hao finally knew why Duncan had to drive a pickup truck when he went out. He couldn't put down his sports car and car at all.

From lunch to dinner, Zhang Hao and Duncan stayed together for nearly 8 hours, and also did a lot of things during this period, buying parts, assembled a motorcycle, and hitting Super Mary for a while, but the time they talked together might only be a few minutes. For discussions about any matter, both sides may end the topic by saying a few words.

From a certain perspective, both of them speak efficiently.

The dinner was almost over, and Zhang Hao said: "Tim, do you know that many retired players have gone bankrupt recently."

Duncan answered: "I also saw that many players did not find jobs after the shutdown and filed for bankruptcy in less than a year."

"I heard that many of them believe in brokers and authorize brokers to help them manage their finances. Their brokers operate randomly and broke them bankrupt. Tim, you should also pay attention, banks are all scammers..."

...

After thinking of a way to remind Duncan, Zhang Hao didn't know if it would work, but he tried his best. He had no evidence for such a thing and could not be so straightforward.

Whether Duncan can escape that depends on his own fortune.

After a night off, the next day, the first game day of the NBA 1999-2000 season arrived.

At 3:30 pm Eastern Time, the Supersonics challenged the defending champion 76ers away, which will kick off the season.

At 9 a.m., the Supersonics held a pre-match meeting at the Vachovia Center. Doug Collins announced the 12-player activation roster, Maxville, Corey Benjamin, and Sam Perkins. The three were put on the unactivated roster.

Although this matter was obvious as early as the beginning of Game 5 preseason, Lewis, Travis Best and James Percy were relieved.

After the meeting, the Supersonics had a defensive training class, and three players who were not on the activation list also had to help the team train.

Maxville and Sam Perkins are both veterans of this age. They have known this situation for a long time. What worried the Supersonics coaching staff was Corey Benjamin's tantrum.

but……

Before the training began, Corey Benjamin's emotions were not affected by the list of inactivation activations, and he put on Zhang Hao's shoulders: "Aix, you have become my boss, you can't lose the opening game..."

"good."

Zhang Hao responded simply, and he was also quite surprised. He used to think that this was a playboy, but after becoming a teammate, he realized that Corey Benjamin was just not likable and was very good in other aspects. However, he really didn't have a good talent in playing basketball, but it was not that he didn't have talent. He just said that among NBA players, talent was only at the edge level.

Looking at the visiting team's training ground with the words "1998-1999 NBA Championship" posted, Zhang Hao was in a particularly high mood.

Finally, the official game is about to be played again!

In the preseason, he was trying hard to find his state, adapting to the rules that allow for early attacks and add new defense for three seconds, which felt pretty good.

In the opening game, the 76ers, it is obvious that the league wants to use him as a stepping stone for Iverson and Duncan. Although the league has not stopped praising him, Zhang, it is obvious that the effort to promote Duncan is even greater!

After recalling the adjustment of the team's tactical structure during this preseason, and re-cluttered it, Zhang Hao had no choice but to find out... "It seems that the other two legs have to be extended into the sewer..."

...

...

At 3 p.m., players from the Vachovia Center in Philadelphia, Supersonics and 76ers have entered the court.

The scene was filled with joy, and the 76ers' championship flag was raised, and then the 76ers awarded the championship ring. Duncan and Iverson stood together, raised their hands with the ring, and enjoyed the cheers of the fans on the scene.
To be continued...