After the training, the players with good relationships gathered together to talk about the adjustments to the team's defensive details, discuss how they should improve, or complain that they have fewer roles...

"James, it's not your fault. I saw that you are more suitable for partnering with Ben and the boss than me, but I will not give up, I will continue to fight for it! You must be careful that you will be robbed back by me of tactical status." Artest's stubbornness seemed very optimistic at this time.

Conversely, James Percy was even more indecisive and didn't know what to say when he heard Artest.

On the other side, Zhang Hao, Kassel and Ben Wallace gathered together to discuss adjustments to the defensive end.

Although Kassel's defense is not praised, he is definitely not the one who drags his back. He has poor single defense but it is not defeated. His assisted defense ability is at the top level. His prediction-style defense replacement has always been very good. Of course, one-on-one defense is not good, which is his problem, so the Supersonics traded Muchi Brecko back.

After chatting for a while, Jason Williams waved the newspaper and came to them: "Hey, do you know? There is a big deal! There is another top-level team in the West!"

"What deal?" Kassel asked with great confidence.

"Sam, this, look..."

Although there was no response, Zhang Hao and Ben Wallace still came over to see it.

The news reported two deals.

To put it simply.

In the first deal, the Kings gave out an outside substitute + draft pick, and got Mike Bibby of the Grizzlies; the Grizzlies got Damon Stoudemire of the Raptors; and the Raptors got role players and draft picks.

In the second deal, the Mavericks gave Van Exel and got Divac of the Magic; the Nuggets gave Van Exel a role player whose contract was about to expire, and got Van Exel; the Magic sent Divac away, including a total of 5 years and 52 million US dollars this season, relying on the Mavericks to earn some of their salary, they got a special case of a $4 million transaction, and two players with an expiring contract with a combined salary of more than 4 million US dollars.

Kassel analyzed: "The Kings are already eighth in the West, right? Replaced Bibi with a draft pick and a substitute that is not a lottery zone. This is very suitable for the Kings. They may become our strong opponents in the future! The Raptors, Stodmeier has also been marginalized, with Carter and Odom, they don't need a point guard with such a high ball holding rate. What they get is...Horry and Barry (Joan), which is very consistent with their current lineup, the Grizzlies... What's their situation? Send Bibi away and Stodmeier back? Is there any difference?"

"Yes," Zhang Hao replied: "Stodemire's salary is higher than Bibi, and Bibi is still a rookie contract."

Ben Wallace couldn't help but complained: "Is the Grizzlies crazy?"

Zhang Hao nodded: "I think you guessed it right."

Kassel decisively agreed: "I think so."

Jason Williams asked: "The Magic team's brains are getting sucked again? I'll send Devac away and get nothing."

Zhang Hao thought for a while and said, "The Magic got what they wanted. When they got Divac last summer, the Rockets were almost the same as giving away freely. The Rockets even paid an expiration contract. If they sent Divac away, they could free up at least two maximum salary space in the summer. I think they might fight for free agents."

"who?"

"Duncan, McGrady, all is possible..."

...

Zhang Hao talked about the chat time after the training yesterday afternoon. The next morning, the Orlando Sentinels reported the reason why the Magic completed this obviously disadvantaged deal.

With Larry Hughes, a talented talent with both offense and defense, Danny Manning, Rex Chapman and others will expire in the summer, and Divac's salary of more than 8 million US dollars next season will be given away, and the expiration contract will be exchanged for... After the end of this season, the Magic's existing contract salary will be less than 7 million US dollars. Based on the current maximum salary of 9 million RMB, the Magic can sign three maximum players in the free market in one fell swoop!

The Orlando Sentinels directly revealed the Magic’s recruitment targets - McGrady of the Bulls, Duncan of the 76ers, Ben Wallace of the Supersonics, Van Horn of the Nets...most of them are players of the 97th class.

According to the Orlando Sentinels, the Magic's first goal is to sign both McGrady and Duncan.

The reason for such ambition is also very simple - the Lakers can sign O'Neal naked, why can't they sign Duncan and McGrady naked?

After this incident was exposed, the Magic team was ridiculed.

On the Supersonics, the second half of the season has begun.

At 7 pm, the Supersonics ushered in a home game against the Wizards.

94 to 85, the Supersonics beat the Wizards steadily this time, improving their record to 38 wins and 14 losses.

When the All-Star Weekend came back, Zhang Hao made the fans who were excited at home because he won the three-point contest and the dunk contest at the same time even more excited. They had 34 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks, with only 4 mistakes, and their performance exploded.

But the next 30 games will be difficult.

After fighting against the Wizards, the Supersonics got two days of rest, from No. 23 to No. 29, and seven days and five battles!

On the 21st, the Supersonics stayed in Seattle for a day of defensive training, on the 22nd, came to Sacramento, the capital of California, and challenged the Kings on the 23rd night.

The Kings have just welcomed new players, and the point guard position has changed their guns and cannons, and the whole team is very excited.

Relying on Weber's 28 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, Wang Zhizhi's 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, and Bibi's 18 points and 7 assists... The Kings defeated the Supersonics 108-100, giving the Supersonics a 15th loss in the season.

Since Weber scored 5 offensive rebounds, the Supersonics could only grab the boards together. Zhang Hao only had 7 rebounds tonight, and he did not play well in defense and counterattack. Although he played well in the positional shooting, Zhang Hao scored 27 points and 12 assists, and Kassel also had 23 points, but on the defensive end, the opponent's outside shooting was very popular. The Supersonics themselves were affected by some adjustments and did a relatively poor job.

After playing against the Kings, the Supersonics had no time to lose. No. 24, the Supersonics came to Charlotte. After resting for a night, they challenged the Hornets away on the 25th, and 4 games began in 5 days!

Although they won and lost in two games against the Wizards and Kings, even if they lost, it was very important to the Supersonics. The Hornets were reflected in their fight. Zhang Hao and Ben Wallace did a great job of switching defenses!

Eddie Jones has played the best team + best defensive team this season, and the attacks he led the Hornets are still sharp, but the Supersonics defended very steadily at regular times tonight.

The combination of Cassel, Dell Curry, Artest, Jason Williams, and Zhang Hao played longer in regular time and withstood the Hornets' offense. The first three quarters were 67-70, and the Supersonics fell behind by three points.

In the last quarter, in the first 10 minutes, Muqi Brecklelo, Ruben Patterson, James Percy, Zhang Hao, Ben Wallace's combination defended the Hornets and scored only 10 points in 10 minutes, while the Supersonics scored 13 points, tying the score to 80-80!

At the critical moment, Kassel, who had been on the 10-minute break, was not affected. Under the strategy of the Hornets trying to block Zhang Hao and dragging the game into overtime, Kassel scored 4 points in the last two minutes and led the Supersonics to a 4-1 wave. At this time, the Hornets had no touch. Zhang Hao, Ben Wallace, and Jason Williams came on the court to defend the rebound. In the end, the Supersonics narrowly defeated the Hornets 84-81!

...

"10 of 26 shots, 28 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists, the team's 84 points..."

The next day, early in the morning of the 26th, the Supersonics set off from Charlotte and flew to Orlando. The first back-to-back in 5 days and 4 games was the Hornets and Magic.

Zhang Hao is still recalling what he got from last night's game and the review in the early morning.

During the 5-day and 4-game battle, the explanation of these things to the teammates was temporarily interrupted. Zhang Hao just wrote down the things and handed them over to the coaching team to help the coaching team expand researchable materials.

"We will fight around Daben, and next, our attack will become more and more beautiful..."

But not all opponents can make them score so low.

At night, they played back to back against the Magic, and the Supersonics scored 117 to 90 and won.

Losing Divac is a huge blow to Doug Rivers, who is striving for the best coach. Divac's long shots, support, and franchise protection are all first-class players, and the Magic had a certain probability of entering the playoffs, but it is now very difficult.

The operations of the Magic team's management have also affected the morale of the players. The All-Stars lost three consecutive games after the weekend, and the original record of 26 wins, 26 losses and 50% of the winning rate fell to 26 wins and 29 losses.

Zhang Hao scored 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and was replaced just after a triple-double. He got the 23rd triple-double for the season!

In the first four games at the end of February, the Supersonics played well, with 3 wins and 1 loss, and the record turned into 40 wins and 15 losses.

But after playing back to back, I returned to home court and on No. 28, the Supersonics played badly in Game 3 in 4 days.

After the third quarter, the Supersonics scored only 58 points, 19 points behind the Celtics 58-77.

From the middle of the third quarter, Doug Collins decisively placed Cassel, Much Breckle, James Percy, Ben Wallace, Jason Williams and others on the bench, allowing Travis Best, who came back to play more.

Zhang Hao played for 4 minutes in the last quarter and was replaced.

In the end, the Supersonics lost to the Celtics 79 to 100 at home, and suffered a 16th loss in the season, with a record of 40 wins and 16 losses.

...

"In February, we played 11 games, 6 wins and 5 losses, which is exactly the same as Schramff's prediction. Our strength, in the case of a bad schedule, is almost the same as our record in December.

The schedule will be looser in 14 games next month, but for 14 opponents, 10 are teams competing in the playoffs. If Hill is not off the offseason, there are 11...

In April, 11 games were played in 20 days, and six teams competed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Most of these teams in the playoff competition are still in the top six in the Western Conference…”

On the morning of February 29, Zhang Hao arrived at the Key Stadium early.

The last game of 4 games in 5 days and 4 games, today the Supersonics did not arrange pre-match meetings and training in the morning, gathered at 4 pm, warmed up at 5 pm, and competed at 7 pm.

With the recovery effect of learning mode + Kareem Kareem's health therapy, Zhang Hao is basically not affected by the close schedule, so he will still come to train.

The 8th phase of "pressure defense" training for 1 hour a day cannot be stopped.

Unlike the 2nd to 7th stages, in the 8th stage, the requirements for training movements are more stringent.

Even if it is a pure rest day, he can complete the training in a single hour at a time, and the most one in a day is only 3 hours. In most cases, he can complete the training in the first hour in the morning and the first hour after lunch break, but he can't complete it at other times.

It has reached the 77th hour now, and he dared not relax at all. If he doesn't finish it in one day, he will have to start over again. It will take another two months to reach the current progress again.

I am lucky and I am used to it. Today, the first hour of training from 8 to 9 o'clock will be completed directly.

After completing it, Zhang Hao did not continue training, so he was able to prepare for the game against the Hawks tonight.

But before preparing, he looked at the schedule of his team and analyzed the current situation. He felt that he was very impatient.

"We have 26 games left, and we have to win 15 games, which is too difficult! However, without winning 55, we can't even reach the threshold of the top four in the West now..."

Yesterday, Zhang Hao saw the news that Anthony Hardaway had returned to Phoenix from Washington and was expected to make a comeback on March 2.

At present, their Supersonics have fallen to fourth place in the West, with 46 wins and 10 losses in the Lakers, and have won 10 consecutive victories, with the Trail Blazers 43 wins and 13 losses, and the Jazz 43 wins and 14 losses.

The Suns have only achieved 6 wins and 4 losses in the past few weeks of Anfini Hardaway's absence, and are currently 39 wins and 17 losses. Fortunately for the Suns, there was one week when Anfini Hardaway's absence was an All-Star weekend, which has reduced the impact a lot.

The Suns have 26 games left, and Zhang Hao fully believes that the Suns have the strength to win 17 wins!

"Even if we win 55, it's not safe. It depends on the Suns' record. This feeling of fate lies with others... It's really special..."

Just as Zhang Hao was about to squint his eyes for a while and then go home for lunch, the door of the lounge was knocked.

"Please come in."

After Zhang Hao responded, the door was pushed open...

"Mr. Jordan? Why are you here?"

"I'm here to train for you... Your arena is good, the lounge is so luxurious." Jordan came in and sat down and kept looking at the lounge's furnishings, keeping tsk sounds.
To be continued...