Chapter Nineteenth: Demotion to NBDL

  "This season, Brand's contract is expiring, it's hard to stay? If Maggette plays out beautiful data, he may also jump out of the contract to test the free market. I think the Clippers have reached the time for rebuilding, this season should be decisively laid off, with the goal of next year's draft conference, selecting a high-ranking player as the core for rebuilding, and then strengthening the backcourt line, only then will there be hope."

  This is not even advice, before Brand came, the Clippers were always good at tanking. With the current lineup of the Clippers, even if they get the first pick next year and select Rose to Los Angeles, it won't make them that much stronger. The team most affected would be the Bulls, without Rose it's unknown whether the Bulls can still become a strong team.

  After chatting for a while and leaving each other's phone numbers, Ye Feng went downstairs to find Nina. At this time, he had no idea that Aili would really use him in the future, rather than just joking...

  This dance party, Ye Feng and Nina didn't spark anything, just an ordinary gathering of friends. The next day he started to enter a busy state, that night the Lakers played at home against their second opponent, the Minnesota Timberwolves.

  After Garnett left, the Timberwolves fell apart and new Wolves' leader Al Jefferson was left to fend for himself. The Lakers were up 93-70 after three quarters, turning the game into garbage time. Yi Jianlian played six minutes in the fourth quarter, contributing a dunk, two points, four rebounds and one block.

  Just as people began to focus on Ye Feng, bad news came out that Tuliyaev was back. Ye Feng was put on the injured list and lost his chance to substitute in.

  November 14th, the NBDL Development League is about to kick off. The uniform group also announced that Ye Feng will be sent down to the NBDL Los Angeles Defenders for training.

  The NBDL is a talent pool for NBA teams and belongs to the second-tier league. Being relegated is frustrating for players, but Ye Feng thinks it's no big deal, he needs games. When he's on the court, he doesn't dare to shoot casually, and even when he has the opportunity, he hesitates. In the NBDL, there are no superstar players, so he doesn't have to worry about playing time. He will definitely get playing time and prepare to take more shots on the court to find his touch. Only by practicing his mid-range shot can he get more playing time.

  The Clippers' first home was the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, but they left there in 1999 and currently play at the Crypto.com Arena, which they share with the Los Angeles Lakers.

  Ye Feng got his driver's license in college, and after the preseason, he bought a second-hand car, an old Chevrolet, which was cheap but had an outdated style. He drove himself to the Citizens Business Bank Arena 10 kilometers east of downtown to report for training.

  In the arena, Ye Feng greeted his temporary teammates, who were all envious of him. Unlike Ye Feng, they had been demoted after signing and could only wait for their chance to enter the league slowly, usually starting with a ten-day short contract, with very little chance of staying.

  The NBDL also has an All-Star game, MVP and All-NBDL team selections. However, even being the D-League's MVP doesn't guarantee a call-up to the NBA, showing how fierce the competition is.

  Lavin is not only the Lakers' scout, but also the deputy general manager of the Los Angeles Defenders. Lavin introduced him to the team's coach Mark, a white man in his fifties who was stout and had no NBA playing experience when he was young, belonging to the collegiate coaching school.

  Unexpectedly, Divac also came here. The coaching staff specially let Divac come to guide Ye Feng's offense during this period of time. A marginal player can have an assistant coach follow and instruct him, which is enough to show the Lakers' attention to him. Divac communicated with Mark, and Ye Feng got another good news that the defensive team would take him as the core to attack.

  In the Lakers, Ye Feng is always the last choice on offense, becoming an offensive core is something that can only happen in dreams. To make him progress, the coaching staff provided him with enough convenience. The general plan is to let Ye Feng block at a high position, and the backcourt players will pass the ball back to the high position, he can shoot from the high position or choose to pass the ball. Divac will also teach him some low-post attacking methods to increase his threat on offense.

  In order to reserve the required talent for the parent team, all NBDL teams and their affiliated NBA teams are the same in terms of tactics and even defensive strategies. Training here will not result in adapting to the Lakers' rhythm when returning.

  The NBDL game will start in a week, and Ye Feng increased his training under Divac's arrangement, starting individual practice ahead of schedule. Divac took a basketball and said seriously: "With your physical fitness, as long as you work hard, you can definitely improve in the short term and help the team. Don't think it'll be easier just because you're in the development league. I'm here to help you with special training, which will only make you more tired than when you were training with the Lakers. You need to prepare yourself mentally."

  Ye Feng said in a serious tone: "I never felt tired during training, let's get started!"

  Dywacz was satisfied with his attitude. "Comprehensive low position offense, high position strategy and mid-range shot, that's what you need to practice here, I'll demonstrate it for you, take a look."

  Diwata demonstrated while explaining.

  Low-post offense refers to the area near the basket, roughly within a 7-foot radius of the hoop. The term "low-post offense" does not refer to a specific skill or technique, but rather a player's ability to score and create opportunities in this region. This includes post-up moves such as turning around after receiving the ball with their back to the basket, direct drives from the low block, or jump hooks while leaning on the defender. It also encompasses moves like turning and driving along the baseline, posting up and then kicking out to a teammate for an open shot, among other common interior actions.

  Apart from a few shooting guards or small forwards, most players in the low position are big and muscular. The most intense confrontation on the court is of course within the three-second zone! Any attacking player who moves or acts within the three-second zone will receive special attention from their opponents. The most suitable player for low-post offense is one with both speed and strength, so that they can find scoring opportunities in situations where physical confrontation is strong, and Ye Feng is this type of player.

  People who excel at low-post offense also tend to dominate games.

  Firstly, being close to the baseline with your back to the basket makes it difficult to be double-teamed. Even if you are double-teamed, it creates a shooting opportunity for the offense's open player, and can immediately create a fast break situation. Based on this, unless the low-post player has extremely strong one-on-one skills that forces the defense to adopt a double-team strategy, in most cases, the defense will only slightly shrink their defensive area and cautiously deal with the low-post player's potential one-on-one move. Therefore, the low post is an area where it is relatively easy to create a one-on-one situation inside.

  Secondly, the low-positioned player can separate the defensive player from the ball with his back to the defensive player, making it difficult for the defensive player to interfere with the ball when stealing, and has a hidden advantage. In addition, the field of vision is open, and assists can be made while taking care of teammates' bottom line or middle road empty cuts at the same time.

  Finally, the NBA's three-second zone is a rectangle of 4.88 meters × 5.8 meters, while FIBA's three-second zone is a trapezoid of 3.6 meters × 6 meters × 5.8 meters! The NBA's three-second zone is smaller than FIBA's standard arena specifications, with the low-post ball point closer to the basket, making it easier to score.

  Of course, the low position on the NBA court is not invincible. With the increasing popularity of zone defense in the NBA, the difficulty of single-handedly defending the low post has increased. However, players who adapt to low-post offense have a strong killing ability on both sides of the interior line, and even if they don't have the opportunity to score single-handedly, their chances are still higher than those of ordinary players.

  Many teams often adopt two defensive methods. One is to shrink the defensive area when a low-post player starts a one-on-one, and then intercept and interfere with their shooting percentage at the moment they start their shooting action after completing the last dribbling action. The second is that when the low-post attacker is about to take the last step or turn around, the second defender directly blocks the position of their last step, which is a kind of trap defense to some extent. Due to the lack of excellent inside players in recent years, this defensive tactic with seemingly low technical content still works quite well.

  Apart from tactical defense, players with strong individual defensive capabilities can also complete low-post defense without the help of their teammates. For example, Garnett, Duncan, and Ben Wallace are unlikely to give the opponent a chance to face the basket directly, forcing the opponent to shoot while being closely guarded rather than after shaking off the defender. Ye Feng is highly valued precisely because his strength is only slightly inferior to that of Ben Wallace, but he has superior speed and jumping ability. Even if his offensive capabilities are average, he still has the potential to become a super defensive player.

  The second day, the Defenders team started their first joint practice.

  Ye Feng's shots were very easy and quickly established confidence. There are few people with "monster" physical quality who play ball here, and Elton Brown, who participated in the pre-season training camp with him a few days ago, is considered a superior player. And Harris, who was a temporary worker for the Rockets for a few days, can almost call the wind and rain in the development league, and do whatever he wants.

  The Los Angeles Defenders are all draft busts and fringe players, with decent shooting ability at the NBA level but few who excel on defense. Scouts don't watch NBDL games every day, only pretty numbers can attract NBA teams to try them out. Hard-nosed defense is hard to get stats from, easy to get hurt, not worth it, nobody likes it.

  Ye Feng practiced a quick spin move under the guidance of Diwatts, and then made several bottom-line dunks or mid-range shots. Ye Feng was too fast, as long as he successfully spun around, he could dunk the ball into the basket.

  Ye Feng relied on his body to grab a lot of rebounds, taking down the frontcourt rebound. As long as the opponent didn't foul him, he immediately performed a dunk. After practicing for half an hour, Ye Feng's performance was at a dominating level. He thought Divac would praise him, but unexpectedly, Divac was very dissatisfied with him.

  "Yè, this way of playing is a waste of time and doesn't achieve the effect of training. NBA defense won't be so lax, what you should practice is shooting! From now on, I don't want to see you dunking anymore! Don't jump with all your might!"

  Back on the court, Ye Feng's power was reduced by half as soon as he could only shoot. Prohibiting a person with extraordinary jumping ability from dunking is cruel.

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