Bishop of the Devil

Marbury is the top backcourt player in the 1996 golden generation. In fact, if you look at the data purely, apart from Iverson, Marbury is the best among the 1996 golden generation...

In terms of statistics, it is better than Kobe and Ray Allen!

This season, Marbury's data has improved, but the improvement is not significant. He has increased from 16 points per game in his rookie season to 17.7 points...

On the other hand, Kobe and Ray Allen are the latecomers.

The scoring data of Kobe and Ray Allen in their rookie seasons were similar, both at the level of 13 or 14 points. This season, their scoring averages have increased to nearly 20 points per game!

Kobe averaged 19.6 points per game, and Ray Allen averaged 19.5 points per game!

These two have surpassed Marbury and become the strongest backcourt behind Iverson, especially Kobe. Although his scoring is similar to that of Ray Allen, he also averaged 7.6 assists per game, plus The team's record is outstanding, and it seems to be comparable to Iverson!

Averaged 19.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. These are the impressive statistics Kobe has produced this season.

It's hard for Marbury to deal with just one Kobe at the moment, not to mention that Kobe has a lot of helpers in the backcourt.

And Marbury only has one backcourt partner in Chris Kyle, who is reasonably strong and averages about 10 points per game. What is more embarrassing is that this Kyle has already entered the final stage of the season. On the injured list, unable to play in the playoffs.

…

The first night the Timberwolves arrived in Portland, they held a press conference.

Garnett and Marbury, the team's internal and external cores, attended this press conference under the leadership of head coach Flip Saunders...

Sanders first spoke at the press conference: "First of all, on behalf of the Timberwolves, I would like to congratulate the Portland Trail Blazers for their best record in team history. From this we can see what a wise young coach Richard is!"

"Secondly, I personally want to thank Richard. We are all coaches from the NCAA Big Ten Conference. We are honored by his honor!"

Sanders was quite friendly. He first came up to congratulate the Blazers on behalf of the team, and then thanked Richard personally.

Many reporters rolled their eyes. In fact, there was nothing wrong with Sanders' words...

He played for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in college, and the Golden Gophers and the Boilermakers belong to the same league, the Big Ten Conference, so Sanders and Richard are really somewhat "relative"...

It's just that in the eyes of reporters, this relationship is a bit inconsistent and seems to be a bit of a push for the top.

That's why they rolled their eyes...

After Sanders finished speaking, Marbury took the microphone.

"The Trail Blazers are so strong this season. Really, I'm afraid no one would have believed that they could have the best record in the league before the start of the season. But now that they have done it, we feel that this is a matter of course!"

"It is indeed a matter of course, because Coach Richard is so scary, really scary!"

"I'm afraid you already know that when I graduated from high school, Coach Richard once extended an olive branch to me on behalf of Purdue University, but for some reasons, I rejected it. This is probably the best thing I have done in my career so far. Stupid things..."

"But what you don't know is that Kevin was actually recruited by Richard!"

"God, this is simply terrifying. It's as if a player has no secrets in Richard's eyes. It turns out that the player he likes has never been wrong!"

The reporters opened their mouths. What else is going on?

Richard had drafted Marbury, and most reporters knew about it, but Garnett? Was he also recruited by Richard?

If this is the case, then Richard is really terrible. The two core members of the Timberwolves team almost became Richard's disciples!

All reporters focused on Kevin Garnett.

Garnett took the microphone from Marbury and nodded seriously.

"Yes, Stephen is right. Coach Richard did draft me back then, but you also know that I was already determined to participate in the draft at that time..."

"So, I would like to take this opportunity to say sorry to Coach Richard, but I never found a chance to say it!"

"If I didn't enter the draft, I would be more than happy to play for Coach Richard!"

Garnett has already spoken. Richard has recruited the core of the Timberwolves' internal and external core. This matter is obviously confirmed.

Whether it's Marbury or Garnett, both of them are extremely promising newcomers in the league. There is no need to lie about this kind of thing...

If they were really lying, with Richard's temperament, he might jump out and slap them in the face in the next second.

Now that they dare to say it, there is definitely no truth in this matter...

"Dear media friends, now you should be able to see the relationship between us and the Trail Blazers."

"We have a very close brotherly relationship, just like the relationship between the Trail Blazers and the Philadelphia 76ers. I firmly believe that we will have many cooperation opportunities with the Trail Blazers in the future!"

Sanders said to the reporters in the audience again.

Reporters now understand that the Timberwolves' biggest purpose in holding this press conference is to build relationships with the Trail Blazers.

Anyway, with their lineup, unless God really descends to earth to save them, otherwise, the Blazers will almost certainly be able to beat them.

Under such circumstances, it is better to be smarter, not to say those cliché harsh words, and to improve the relationship with the Trail Blazers.

…

When Richard learned about the content of the Timberwolves' press conference, he couldn't laugh or cry. He had indeed recruited Garnett and Marbury, but Sanders?

In fact, I am really incompatible with Sanders. When Sanders was in college, it was still in the 1970s...

But since the Timberwolves have shown goodwill, Richard naturally wants to show some appreciation.

At the press conference before the game the next day, Richard led the Timberwolves to praise them, saying that their core players would definitely dominate the league, and Coach Sanders led the Timberwolves into the playoffs this season. game, he is qualified to win the honor of the best coach of the season.

…

There are many people carrying the sedan chair, and there are many friends and many roads. Anyway, being on good terms with the Timberwolves does no harm to Richard. Besides, Phillip Saunders is a head coach with a long coaching career.

A year before Richard, Sanders began his coaching career and later coached in the NBA for more than ten years.

With such a coach, Richard might be put to good use in the future.