Jason Kidd remembers what Array He is, the new kid on the block, and at 21, his rookie adventure through the NBA, one tough lesson after another. Kidd, after two seasons as a supernatural guardian in Cal, temporarily learned that he was no longer in college.
“You play against men,” he said to Kidd. Es job, and there are men looking to embarrass you, so you had to perceive that and you had to be prepared, and probably use that concern to help you succeed. It was the most important thing, you know, 82 games, regardless of rookie or not, you’re not in a position to play so many games at the highest level. “
He especially doesn’t oppose elite competition. For Kidd, that meant Nets frontman Kenny Anderson, who had 30 problems and nine assists on Kidd on rookie debut. A month later, John Stockton of Utah went for 18 and 12 years to 3 and 3 of the young man with four ball losses.
Shortly before Christmas, Kidd beat several nights in a row through Gary Payton of Seattle and Rod Strickland of Portland. In the other aspect of the party, Kevin Johnson of Phoenix at home and at home with the Dallas Kidd team, beating the rookie through a 48-18 overall while generating 18 assists and five ball losses at Kidd’s 27 and 12.
“They know the tricks,” Kidd said of the salty veterans that each and every fan faces. “And for a rookie, you just play with adrenaline and talent, and you don’t know how to win until you get older. “
Lonzo Ball’s arrival in Milwaukee for the Lakers game at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday night prompted Kidd’s quick breakup. The excessive exaggeration that accompanied the Los Angeles rookie the first four weeks of the season reached the Midwest without blood, even though Father LaVar was not in the house.
The fact is that Ball’s functionality against the Bucks has oversized the hype: with 19 points, 11 rebounds and thirteen assists, Ball is the youngest player in NBA history (20 years, 15 days) to record a triple-double. He added three interceptions, and four blocked shots to pass with four ball losses in just 39 minutes, and controlled seven of his 12 shots (including three out of five triples) with this form of unrthodox shot, left start, forehand throw.
Ball started the night shooting 29. 2% overall and 22. 2% from the arc, fights that have been consistently cited as a disadvantage for him and the Lakers. But his companions, so the beneficiaries of Ball’s skilful passes and unsettling vision in the field, have faced setbacks and noise.
“Even though he’s on a shooting attack, he’s still firing,” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. I said, “That’s great. “
Ball doesn’t flind about it. He knows the other things he does on the field, and it turns out he’s sincerely aimed at winning. Ball also knows that in three games to begin in November, opposite Portland, Brooklyn and Memphis, he plus 10, plus 21 and over 10 while firing 6 out of 30 and the Lakers went 2-1.
“I’m going to keep shooting,” Ball said after the 98-90 loss to the Bucks. “My confidence will remain the same for the year. I’ve been shooting all my life. “
Meanwhile, Kidd, who was a 12-year-old seven-time All-Star veteran before recording two consecutive seasons of 33. 8% shots in triples, seemed a little protective with the early game creator.
“The ball can play,” milwaukee coach said. He’s going to make his teammates better, he’s going to make his team better. Triple-double is going to be the norm for him. You will complete statistics sheets. We just have to give him a little time. People are looking to put it in the microwave and speed it up. He’s going to make mistakes. He’s going to have bad nights. But he’s competing and he’s going to find a way to win. . “
Kidd added: “It takes time. When you’re a guy who passes first, the shot is time or the third. You’re looking at your teammates. You’re looking to simplify the game for the guys who score the ball. Ball or for me, it would be, “Don’t worry about what you shoot. Do you win matches?” That’s why they’re measuring you.
When did Kidd get asked that, in spite of everything, he felt comfortable throwing triples?
“After I retired, ” he said. “No pressure. “
* * *
Eric Bledsoe had played just 3 games before being traded Tuesday through Phoenix to Milwaukee, and none of the 20 unscheduled sabbaticals the Suns had given him after tweeting (“I don’t need to be here”) about geography and taste. Professional personals were deemed out of place. in passing with the team’s mission.
The 6-foot- and 1-inch, eighth-grade guard had just resumed using the Suns’ educational services for solo education, in fact, when the fee he fined $10,000 earned him his exit ticket. with the Bucks in San Antonio, he played more than 28 minutes on Friday, then jumped on his flight and recorded more than 31 more minutes against LASaturday.
All bucks withdrew after the back-to-back change, but in opposite stretches of the Lakers, Bledsoe looked somewhere between Mike Tyson’s first hit and the last.
“I think it will be easy, ” said Bledsoe, smiling, after his home debut. “I think I’d do better . . . We did a wonderful task as a team to close them. Some games will be like this. “”
Bledsoe’s two-night line is modest: 24 points, nine assists, 8 ball losses, six rebounds and 10 in 28, adding 1 of 11 out of 3 points, but is nearly 60 minutes more familiar with Milwaukee than he is, as they prepare to face Memphis on Monday and navigate the remaining 69 games from there.
“Sometimes [being thrown into intense action] is a smart way,” Kidd said. “Because it’s just basketball. We’re talking about, “Be yourself. We’re going to put you in the conditions you’re used to. Your strength. “
“I imagine that the 48 hours he played, was himself, attacking, going to the basket, locating his teammates, bouncing . . . It just shows that you can do much more than score the ball. I think it helped our pace, both sides, defensively and offensively.
Bledsoe’s power and physical play were apparent and productive defensively in the last quarter against the Lakers. In one sequence, he sold a moving selection to Julius Randle to thwart possession of Los Angeles and climb into his 23-ball loss pile. he missed one suspended shot, but recovered the ball in the other shot by throwing himself defensively and asking for a timeout before falling to the baseline.
Bledsoe, from his time with the Suns, is no stranger to the sets of leaders, so there was not much learning curve for him when Kidd sent Malcolm Brogdon and/or Matthew Dellavedova for small variations of ball.
“Sometimes the ball may not bounce in your way, ” said Bledsoe. “But you have to find a way to influence the game. That’s what I learned playing with the ball. You have to locate tactics to influence the game, they are touch stops, game keys, everything. “
Bledsoe took an extensive course to play one of the NBA’s Flavors of the Month, first-time MVP CANDIDATE Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“Run down the ground, ” said the leader. He is the type of player who can return the ball to the field. I didn’t play with a player that long to get the ball on the field. That’s what I learned from betting against him, he’s a handyman. do almost anything.
Antetokounmpo, by the way, said he had welcomed Bledsoe as a reliable ball manager and an attacker who could prevent him from ingesting fights on the field with the ball, while doing so at the time of Greek Freak.
Bledsoe, when asked if the exchange, paintings from his first two games and a move to Milwaukee had combined for a touching week for him, shook his head.
“No, it’s basketball at the end of the day,” he said, “and we love doing it. We’ll be here. “
Hmm, it sounded vaguely tweetable.
* * *
Bledsoe had time to let his feelings simmer after his departure from the Suns, but Brogdon did not. There were rumors, some of which made him move too. his 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year season to one of Milwaukee’s two bank bases.
There seemed to be a little pout in Brogdon’s game in the early minutes in San Antonio. Since then, however, he hums, betting no more than if he were on the ground since launch.
Following the lakers’ victory – in which he played 33 minutes, scoring 23 points with 3 rebounds, three assists and three steals – Brogdon admitted that he had endured a few exciting days.
“Absolutely,” he said, “As a guy who in the playoffs last year and won the starting job, is an adjustment for me to get to the bank, but I’m a pretty confident guy and I focused enough on the team, I’m going to go off the bench and give what the team needs. I’m just going to do it. “
Do you do it for the team or do you do it because that’s what you are?The first can be still reluctant, at the moment a sharper rupture with the ego.
“I think I’m doing it for the team because that’s who I am,” Brogdon said, combining the two to win this word game. “What I am is a guy who will do whatever the team wants. Right now, I think the team wants me to get off the bench and be aggressive.
Some players received their motivation through the appearance of coaches and the control that they did not want the improvement to be perceived at this point.
“I’m going to show you that I’m going to play the right way, no matter where I am,” he said. “I’ll play the right way, I’ll know my role and I’ll be who I am. “
That said, there seemed to be a little more arrears in the third quarter when Brogdon cut and received a pass from Antetokounmpo, who went all the way and criticized lakers rookie Kyle Kuzma, almost as strongly as when Brogdon threw himself against Kyrie Irving and LeBron James last December, when he was more productive known as an undervalued product (then 24 years) overrated (then 24 years) overrated (second round) , number 36 in general) of Virginia.
Bledsoe, whose wardrobe is next to Brogdon’s in the locker room of the house, knows that he has earned the position of the less experienced player without any festivals on the field. Of the last 10 rookies of the year, only Tyreke Evans and Michael Carter-Williams have been turned into reserve, Evans luckier than Carter-Williams. It is not a gesture of prestige for the winners of this specific prize.
“I’m just telling Malcolm to stay aggressive,” Bledsoe said. “Because we are going to love everyone. It will be a smart race for us, so we have to make the most of it . . . I’ve done it. ” before. I don’t think I have. It is a challenge, but at the same time, you have to find a way.
Kidd cited Dellavedova as an example of a player betting to suit a team’s cases. He made his Cavaliers debut in the 2015 Finals alongside James opposite Golden State and is now, just over two years later, third in Milwaukee. intensity map in position.
“Delly on that stage in Cleveland, betting with her stars and asked to do something different,” said the Bucks coach. “He only knows one way to play and that is to play hard. If he starts, he will play hard,” he said. if he leaves the bank, he will play hard. “
In addition, rosters of two or three escorts are rigorous in the nba fashion. With The Ball Skills and Antetokounmpo’s ability to break defenses, it is also imperative to have more players able to spot around the 3-point line for their kicks.
“It gives us a whole new look,” Brogdon said. ” Two beginner shipowner bases come out of the bank, it’s huge.
“This allows us to be more versatile. We don’t want to have a dominant ball manager who’s not married. We can be three or four. This allows us to have more intelligent resolution creators on the ground. “
Brogdon prides himself on making decisions, organizing an attack, giving massages to a game. These are also active he sees in Ball, to take this whole circle to a newcomer who can’t match, not beat, Brogdon in rookie of the year. Staircase.
“They have given him a wonderful feeling,” said Brogdon. “I think, as a rookie, the most guys want to be judged in the league is the feel. No skill, no shots, no stats, not even overtaking. But that feeling for the game, the ability to read the conditions and make the right play. And I think he’s a guy who does those wonders more than any other newbie. This is how I . . . am proud to play the right game. “
Or the right move, in that case.
Steve Aschburner has been writing about the NBA since 1980. You can email him here, his files here and follow him on Twitter.
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