No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 901 - 383. Regret

Zhang Yang, who slept in late, learned that he was selected for the First Team. He spread his arms in the empty living room, as if he could hear the cheers of the fans.

This matter can finally be put to rest.

Although he is the Scoring King and ranked third in MVP voting, he was uncertain if he would make it to the First Team.

Being the Scoring King but not making the First Team is not uncommon. Iverson in the 01-02 season and McGrady in the 03-04 season both only made it to the Second Team despite being Scoring Kings.

The main issue is the fierce competition; he ranked third in MVP voting, but the first and second were both guards.

Thanks to the Jewish guy for putting Kobe in the forward position!

He made a call to the restaurant to order lunch, then went to the study to browse the news.

Sure enough, Kobe being placed in the forward position sparked heated discussions.

The NBA’s official explanation was that Kobe played the small forward position for most of the season, so placing him in the forward position for selection was more in line with regulations.

The media’s interpretation was that this move made way for two new-generation super number 3 guards.

Upon seeing the news and the comments in the posts, Zhang Yang noticed that fans were more inclined to believe the second explanation.

The reason being—if Kobe was in the guard line, one of the two number 3s would surely drop to the Second Team. While ties aren’t unheard of, they don’t happen every year.

Fans believed this move was mainly to boost Paul. MVP voting happened before they lost in Game 7, and his first-round performance was praised to the heavens.

Now that they’re out of the first round, Paul was heavily criticized, and he clearly couldn’t match Zhang Yang, who averaged 30 points and beat Pierce to reach the second round.

From the final guard voting, you can see that if Kobe was put in the guard line and the three were voted on together, with Kobe taking most of the votes, the vote comparison of the two number 3s might change, but Zhang Yang would likely still have the upper hand.

Moreover, both the new Scoring King and the new assists leader are popular new-generation superstars. Whichever of them falls to the Second Team, it would affect the awe-inspiring impression of their fans’ first data king title.

At the same time, Zhang Yang noticed that although fans didn’t believe the NBA’s explanation, Stern’s move didn’t receive much criticism, just a small number of sarcastic comments.

Kobe did spend more time playing the small forward position this season; the Lakers’ small forward position was too weak. Ariza is still growing, Luke Walton lacks strength, and there was no one else.

Paul and his Zhang San ranked second and third in the MVP standings, and their team performances and displays were worthy of the First Team. Stern’s move instead fulfilled most fans’ expectations.

He sighed and exclaimed, "Going with the flow, that’s really Stern for you."

With Zhang Yang, Paul, and Kobe all in the First Team, most people supported it, but the other two players selected for the First Team were criticized.

Zhang Yang saw several posts questioning James and Howard’s selection for the First Team, including column articles from mainstream media.

James received relatively less criticism, and the argument from King fans was quite convincing.

One was efficiency; Zhang San was used as a tool man, which he found frustrating.

He averaged 32.7 points with 25 shots per game; James scored less than 1 point less than him on average, but took 3 fewer shots, so his efficiency was obviously higher.

The disparity in efficiency was mainly due to free throws. He had an 87.3% free throw rate, over 10 percentage points higher than James’ 76.7%, but he averaged only 7.1 free throws, while James had 11. James’ made free throws exceeded his total number of attempts, not because he had too few, but because James had too many.

The main issue was that James’ competitors this year each had their own shortcomings.

Duncan’s post-All-Star Weekend performance was better than James’, and not much different from previous years, but factoring in preseason and midseason adjustments and personal playstyle changes, his overall performance compared to the past 10 years was noticeably declining.

Nowitzki’s performance this year compared to the last two years, especially his MVP season last year, was undoubtedly a collapse, seeing decreases in scoring, rebounds, assists, and shooting percentage, leaving no room for him in the First Team.

Aside from improved shooting percentage, Garnett scored new lows in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks since after his sophomore year. To select him for the First Team is okay, but not selecting him is not seen as a problem.

Boozer and Okafor, these two didn’t really have the competitiveness. They have All-NBA potential and perform at a top power forward level, but amongst the top ones, they were the weakest.

Thus, although some fans felt James’ selection for the First Team was similar to being overly favored by the league in the 05-06 season, the criticism wasn’t as loud as back then.

Howard faced harsher criticism.

Because the Magic Team was playing the Bulls in the playoffs...

Fans directly put out comparison charts of the two’s dozen matchups. Including this playoff game, Yao Ming won 11 times, Howard won 2 times.

Especially in the game just played the day before yesterday, Howard got schooled by Yao Ming.

Zhang Yang saw a comment—no matter which two stars you compare, I can find reasons to support each as stronger, but comparing Howard and Yao, I don’t know what to say; when Howard faces Yao on the court, it’s like an elementary student meeting an adult.

The matchup charts between the two were atrocious!

Furthermore, Yao Ming’s team performance this season was far better than Howard’s, and while his stats’ comprehensiveness and defensive comprehensiveness were significantly different from Howard’s, with an average of 25+ over 75 games!

Since entering the 21st century, only 4 centers have averaged 25+ per game: O’Neal, Duncan, Stoudemire, and now Yao Ming.

Visit freewe𝑏no(v)el.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experi𝒆nce