After the new players briefly introduced themselves, the first training day of the Pacers' pre-season training camp officially began.

In the first week of the training camp, they basically do some recovery training to help the players regain their condition and body after a long absence.

But not everyone is like Wayne, who was still torturing himself until yesterday.

Most people, after a summer vacation, have already lost a lot of shape.

"Martial Arts Saint" Stephen Jackson has gained a lot of weight, and Artest's muscle lines are not as toned as before.

Of course, this group of people on the Pacers is considered good.

Over on the South Coast, I wonder what surprise Shaq will bring to the Miamians.

After a few rounds of simple return running training, Wayne immediately received approving looks from his teammates.

Because he is the fastest among all the big players on the Pacers.

In everyone's inherent impression, Asian players should have slow and leisurely technical skills, refer to Yao Ming.

Wayne's speed greatly exceeded people's expectations.

In fact, the thin version of Chairman Yao is not a slow runner, but his physical fitness is a bit poor and he can no longer run after running for a long time.

And in order to save energy, he jogs most of the time.

Although Wayne's speed is not as fast as O'Connor before he gained weight, it is already pretty good.

After that, everyone basically used equipment to recover their bodies, except Wayne who directly started practicing with the ball.

As a result, in the Pacers' training hall, the sweet sound of the tumbling nets never stopped.

"Look, I told you, he has no problem shooting at the three position." Mike Brown stood next to Carlisle, looking proud as if he had trained Wayne.

In fact, he only took Wayne to play a few summer league games. Moreover, the offensive tactic was just one: "Give Wayne the damn ball!"

"Well, there is no doubt about his shooting ability. In the preseason, we can take a good look at his quality." Carlisle nodded.

"You don't have to wait for the preseason, I can help you test his quality later."

"Yeah, okay...wait a minute, Ron, when did you run over here!?" Carlisle turned his head and found Artest standing calmly beside him, joining the conversation without leaving a trace.

It's as if he is also a member of the coaching staff.

"You know, my body can be improved by practicing in minutes. If I really want to return to form, I have to rely on actual combat!" Artest rubbed his little hands excitedly.

"Don't make trouble. I have arrangements for the actual training. Just carry out the plan. By the way, if you are late tomorrow, go to the 500-group turnaround run by yourself."

Artest, who was rejected by Carlisle, shrugged his shoulders and left disappointed, and training got back on track.

Of course, he did not give up testing Wayne.

Until noon, the first round of training ended, and everyone was in good condition.

Wayne is also very tired. The intensity of training at the NBA level is indeed different from that in the NCAA.

Take the layup training during confrontation as an example. The trainer is really energetic.

Even though I was holding a soft cushion, I slapped it very hard.

In this era, not only the players, but also the trainers are so tough.

After the training, everyone sat in the training hall to take a short break and wait for lunch.

The players were sitting together in small groups, some discussing interesting things about the holidays, and some discussing where to go to have fun tonight.

O'Neal Jr. walked up to Wayne and asked about Wayne's training status.

When he first saw Xiao Ao walking towards him, Wayne was already ready to buy drinks for everyone, but in the end, Xiao Ao actually came to care about him.

In order to be a good leader, Xiao Ao, who was not very talkative, worked very hard.

They had just chatted a few words with O'Neill when "epoch-making superstar" Artest also approached the two.

"Hey, Wayne, buy us some drinks." Artest spoke loudly, deliberately attracting the attention of others.

Everyone saw that Artest was planning to tease the rookie, so they all smiled and waited to watch the fun.

It is normal for rookie players to be teased when they join the team, and it is basically a reserved part of every season.

There is no one here who has not been teased during his rookie season.

But at this time, little O'Neal's originally gentle face turned vicious.

He pressed Wayne's shoulders to prevent him from getting up.

"Didn't you see me talking to him?"

This was the first thing O'Neal and Artest said after last season's Eastern Conference Finals.

The first sentence was a cordial greeting to Atai's family.

He is truly a good teammate.

The conflict between Artest and O'Brien reached its peak last season.

First of all, the two people's personalities are at odds with each other, both are thorny, both dissatisfied with each other, and both feel that they are the boss.

Secondly, Artest always likes to force Lai Lai when O'Brien misses.

Third, and most importantly, Artest's many mindless behaviors made O'Neill extremely unhappy.

For example, in the last game of the Eastern Conference finals last season, although the Pacers missed consecutively at critical moments, they actually still had a glimmer of hope.

But in the end, Artest seemed to have lost his mind and sent the opponent to the free throw line with a completely unnecessary foul, which directly ruined the possibility of a reversal.

Artest has to perform this kind of thing countless times in a season.

From the perspective of Xiao Ou, who wanted to carry the team forward, this was a selfish act. Everyone's efforts were wasted because of that idiot's brain.

This is also the main reason why Xiao Ou has not spoken to Artest.

He felt Artest had let down the team.

"It's okay, let me buy it for you." Artest did not directly attack O'Neal, but responded with a smile.

Although O'Brien and Artest have many conflicts, they have never completely broken out. On the court, they will cooperate with each other as always.

This is because both of them are deliberately avoiding escalation of the situation.

Just like this time, Artest stopped when he was good. As soon as he smiled playfully, Xiao Ao's anger level could not be increased.

"Okay, then go quickly, Wei and I still have something to talk about."

"Hehe, you can go, but the premise is that this kid has to beat me 1 on 1. You may not know Jermaine, but he and I have already agreed to test each other before the start of the season.

Hey, my relationship with Wei may be better than you think, Jermaine!"

"This..." Why does Wayne feel that Xiao Ou and Artest are jealous...

When they heard that it was going to be a one-on-one fight, everyone was happy and moved their small benches to watch from the front row.

It is actually very common for NBA teams to play bullfighting in training.

Before Xiao Ao could react, everyone else was placing bets.

"Ron must be the winner. Come to think of it, he was the best defensive player last season!"

"Not necessarily. After all, this is a huge mismatch. I bet on Wei winning."

Everyone was talking about it, and at this time, Wayne also stood up on his own initiative.

"Okay, let's score 21 points, 3 points will be counted as 2 points, 2 points will be counted as 1 point, and if we shoot and hit the ball, we will directly exchange the ball. How about that?"

It doesn't matter whether you buy a drink or not, the key is... if you score a goal in front of the best defensive player, your growth value will definitely be very high!

You can get so much in a duel with Tony, but you can't get enough in a duel with Gangtai!

"Hahahaha, I like this kid." Miller took the lead in applauding. The temperament of No. 99 really suits the Pacers!

"Wei." Little O'Neal seemed very worried.

"It's okay Jermaine, Ron and I have already agreed. Besides, it's just for fun."

"Good boy, I saw you right." Artest, who wanted to have fun, got his wish.

The two stood on the basketball court, teammates gathered in a circle, and Artest threw the ball to Wayne: "You attack first."

Wayne just caught the ball and shot, and was not polite to Artest.

Artest just raised his arms, without jumping forward or jumping. As a result, the basketball hit the net hollowly, and Wayne scored 2 points first.

"That's a goal. Wayne's three-pointer is really accurate. Otherwise, you can compare three-pointers with him later, Reggie." People on the sidelines made sounds of admiration.

As soon as the goal was scored, Wayne smiled.

Damn it, scoring a three-pointer over Artest can actually give you +2000 growth points!

It’s twice as much as last year when I played against Rashid.

Worthy of being the best defensive player!

As expected of Tool Man No. 2!

Tony, don’t blame me for liking the new and hating the old. The main reason is that the growth points Gangtai gave me are really great!
To be continued...