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The NBA preseason for the 2013-14 season started in early October. Unlike in the past, the Bulls were incredibly strong during this year's preseason.
It wasn't that Wang Chong took the preseason seriously, but even the Bulls' bench lineup was not weak at all.
During the preseason, the three stars—Wang Chong, Curry, and Gasol—naturally didn't play for long stretches. Each player only played around 25 minutes per game, and even when they were on the court, they didn't attack too often. The goal was more about maintaining a concept of personality.
The main players for the Bulls during the preseason were Jimmy Butler, Isaiah Thomas, and Draymond Green.
Green's performance was solid, and he just played well.
Butler and Thomas, on the other hand, impressed everyone with their performances in the preseason.
Butler, who had been known primarily for his excellent defense last season, began to show his offensive capabilities during this preseason. Though he often relied on running without the ball, getting into the paint, and then catching passes to score, his super-athletic ability made this movement look like it was a challenge for everyone. At least players who couldn't keep up with Butler's speed would have difficulty defending him effectively.
If Butler's offensive skill was surprising, then Isaiah Thomas Jr. shocked people even more.
In fact, Thomas's performance last season wasn't much better than his rookie year. Because Curry's assist rate was good after returning from injury, his playing time and ball-handling duties were slightly reduced compared to his rookie season, resulting in a lower scoring average.
Everyone thought this would be the end for Thomas. After all, at 5'9", he was a small player in a game dominated by bigger athletes.
However, during the preseason, Thomas Jr. averaged 33 minutes per game, and his offensive power was fully realized. He averaged 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, becoming the Bulls' leading scorer of the preseason. With his impressive scoring ability, the Bulls finished the preseason undefeated, winning every game.
This naturally shocked the entire league.
Even though everyone knows that preseason games aren't important and no team takes them too seriously, Thomas's performance as a bench player was still terrifying for other teams.
It must be noted that even though the teams don't take the games too seriously, every team will still use their main rotation of bench players, who are similar to Thomas. This also means that during the regular season, Thomas, as a bench player for the Bulls, would face the same opponents that were seen during the preseason. Even if the defensive intensity increases slightly, the results shouldn't change much. A bench player like Thomas, capable of scoring, will definitely outscore players like Jamal Crawford from the Lakers.
The strength of the Bulls' starting lineup is so high, and with a number one figure on the bench, it's hard not to feel immense pressure.
After the preseason, major media outlets, including ESPN and TNT, ranked the Bulls at the top of the new season's power rankings. The Bulls' championship odds were far ahead of everyone else in the league, even surpassing those of the Miami Heat. The difference in odds compared to the Heat was significant.
No matter how you look at it, the Bulls' defense of their championship seemed unstoppable, unless, like in the 2011-12 season, the team suffered a wave of injuries, and almost half of their key players were sidelined. But Wang Chong, over the years, has always paid attention to the rotation of key players to avoid injuries caused by excessive fatigue.
At least during the original 2013-14 season, the current main lineup of the Bulls didn't suffer any major injuries, although minor injuries and illnesses were inevitable.
Curry played 78 games, Butler played 67 games, and Gasol had the worst attendance rate of the Grizzlies. He only played 59 games during the regular season, but in the playoffs, Gasol was very healthy, playing through all seven games of the first round. He averaged 17 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game.
If an unexpected injury hits the team, it would simply be considered bad luck, and Wang Chong couldn't do anything about it.
But Wang Chong felt that such bad luck wouldn't fall on him. After all, as a fortunate person who traveled through time and had a golden finger, Wang Chong was confident that he wouldn't lose to anyone in terms of luck.
Before the start of the new season, the entire Bulls team was filled with a strong sense of confidence, and their only goal was to defend their title.
Whether it was the players or the coaching staff, when asked in media interviews about their goals for the new season, they all firmly stated their goal of defending the title without hesitation.
On October 29, 2013, the first game of the regular season began.
The Bulls' first game was away against the San Antonio Spurs, their opponent in last season's finals.
In the Spurs' home court, the Bulls won 107-95, marking a strong start to the new season and easily defeating their finals opponent, once again demonstrating the Bulls' determination to defend their title.
As with the previous seasons, the start of the new season signaled the beginning of the Bulls' winning streak.
After defeating the Spurs in the opening game, the Bulls were filled with momentum. In the following games, they defeated strong opponents like the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, and Boston Celtics, winning a streak of five consecutive victories. This strong start made everyone feel the Bulls' determination to win and defend their title in the new season.
The most noticeable feature of these five games was that the Bulls' reliance on Wang Chong had decreased.
In three of the five games, Wang Chong finished the game in the third quarter. The games lost their suspense early on, and there was no need for Wang Chong to step up and save the game.
As a result, after five games, Wang Chong averaged just over 26 points per game, and he didn't even make it into the top five of the scoring leaderboard.
No one would consider this a decline in Wang Chong's offensive ability. On the contrary, the Bulls were so strong that they didn't need Wang Chong to exert all his power.
Curry's performance was steady and efficient, averaging 24 points and 8 assists per game, which was very close to Wang Chong's internal offensive frequency, which had noticeably increased this season. He was also averaging 18 points and 7 rebounds per game, a career high.
In addition to the three stars scoring a total of 68 points, the Bulls also had two players with double-digit scoring: Jimmy Butler and the sixth man Isaiah Thomas.
Butler finally averaged double figures this season, although it was only 12 points and 5 rebounds. These stats were already very good for a player mainly focused on defense at this point.
In comparison to Butler, Thomas's performance in the new season was astounding, averaging 15 points and 4.4 assists per game. He truly became the most terrifying scoring weapon off the Bulls' bench.
Though the regular season had only seen 5 games, Thomas's remarkable scoring ability still couldn't hide his glaring weakness on the defensive end. But who could expect a sixth man to be perfect? Even if his only strength was scoring, it was enough to secure Thomas's current position.
Thomas Jr.'s rise also led many teams in the league to make moves.
As a second-round pick, Thomas's rookie contract with the Bulls only lasted three years. Next year would be the final year of his contract, and it would expire at the end of this season.
Although the Bulls, as Thomas's parent team, had the right to match any contract offer made by other teams, the question remained: how much could the Bulls offer Thomas?
You have to consider that with Curry re-signing with the Bulls for a maximum salary, the Bulls had very little remaining cap space.
This season, Wang Chong is worth $23 million, Curry is worth $16 million, and Gasol is worth $17 million.
The combined salary of these three alone amounts to $56 million.
Wang Chong and Gasol both signed their contracts with the team in 2010, each for four years. This meant that in the summer of 2014, their contracts would also expire. The Bulls would still need to find ways to re-sign them. Especially Wang Chong, a player who had brought five championships to Chicago, the Bulls had to keep him at any cost.
Whether it's Wang Chong or Gasol, the new contract would likely be worth even more. Wang Chong's new contract would likely start at $25 million, and Gasol's would reach at least $19 million.
Given this, how much could the Bulls offer Thomas? After all, no matter how well Thomas plays, he's just a bench player. There's a better Curry around him. He's definitely not irreplaceable in the Bulls, and if another team offers a price that the Bulls can't accept, they could snatch Thomas away.
As for whether it's worth poaching Thomas at a high price, that's no longer something the Bulls need to consider. As long as it weakens the Bulls' strength, other teams would be happy to make moves, even if it doesn't benefit them.
The agenda for November flies by in the blink of an eye.
Including the October games, there were a total of 15 games. The Bulls achieved a record of 14 wins and 1 loss. The only game they lost was due to back-to-back away games. The Bulls' main center Gasol missed a game because of a knee injury.
With an extremely high win rate of 93%, the Bulls continued to hold the top spot in the league for many consecutive years.
The calendar reached mid-December, and the Bulls and the Heat, who had just formed their Big Three, finally faced off for the first time.
The Heat's 2.0 version also performed quite well after the start of the new season. Their record against the Heat was 15 wins and 4 losses, only surpassed by the Bulls' 17 wins and 2 losses in the Eastern Conference.
In these nearly 20 games of the regular season, the Heat's new Big Three performed brilliantly.
James' stats were as luxurious as always, averaging 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists per game, which was tremendously efficient.
After Howard joined the Heat, his life was obviously much more relaxed and enjoyable than when he was with the Lakers.
Though James and Wade were masters at ball-handling, they weren't as effective with long-range shooting and couldn't match Howard's level in the star-four-shooters system he was better suited to in Orlando. However, both James and Wade were masters at pick-and-roll ball-handling, and their ball distribution was smooth—almost as good as Paul's. Additionally, the Heat's best fast break and full-court pressure tactics made Howard feel like a fish in water.
It should be noted that Howard, in this time and space, was no longer the player who suffered a severe back injury, which had drastically reduced his explosive power. His athletic ability was now on par with what it was during his time with the Magic. He even intentionally lost weight and worked on his mobility during the summer because he knew the Heat's tactics.
This allowed Howard to match the Heat's original Big Three, surpassing Chris Bosh in terms of mobility.
Of course, this wasn't enough to make Howard run alongside James and Wade in the Heat's fast break. After all, there was still a gap between the speed of interior players and guards. However, as long as Howard kept up in the second half, it would be enough because once James or Wade missed a fast break, Howard, who kept up, could grab the offensive rebound and complete a second-chance score.
This allowed Howard to average 4.9 offensive rebounds per game this season, a personal best. Although Andre Drummond of the Pistons led the league in offensive rebounds with 5.4 per game, Howard was still leading the league with 14.1 total rebounds, surpassing Drummond's 13.2.
Heat fans were nearly brought to tears with joy. How many years had they fought without such rich battles?
Since the formation of the Heat's Big Three, rebounding had always been a pain point for the fans. Over the last three years, the team hadn't had a player averaging double-digit rebounds per game. Now, a super rebounder like Howard nearly brought tears of joy.
The only disappointment for Heat fans was Wade's decline in form.
There was no avoiding it.
Though he was in the same class as James and Bosh, Wade was the oldest among them. At 31 years old in the 2013-14 season, combined with several past injuries, his playing style, which heavily relied on speed and explosiveness, made a decline in form inevitable.
This season, Wade averaged just 19.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. His scoring average fell below 20 for the first time since his rookie season.
However, Wade clearly considered how to play towards the end of his career, as his field goal percentage reached a career-high 54.5%. The drop in scoring was mainly due to fewer attempts and free throws. But with the support of James and Howard on the team, Wade's lower numbers didn't hurt the team. On the contrary, his increased efficiency made the Heat's offense run more smoothly.
But still, the Heat lost the first game against the Bulls in the new season. As expected by Heat fans, Howard had a huge impact on the Bulls' interior. Howard scored 24 points and grabbed 19 rebounds. Throughout the game, in terms of rebounds, he grabbed 7 offensive boards, which was so overwhelming that Gasol couldn't even get his head up.
Seeing the Bulls, who had been dominating the paint in previous years, get defeated in turn gave Heat fans a sense of sweet revenge.
But after the fight, the Heat inexplicably lost again.
Obviously, in the first three quarters of the game, the Heat had consistently taken control, and their lead reached 15 points.
Why did this happen?
End of this chapter
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