One Year Left to Play

After changing his play style, he indeed felt more comfortable playing.

He no longer needed to think about so many things; he only needed to use his brain against top teams like the SuperSonics. At other times, he kept it simple. When he got tired from charging, he could rest and let his teammates do the heavy lifting.

Grabbing offensive rebounds was just a physical activity for him, thanks to his rebounding instincts and physical attributes.

After a few games, O’Neal had to acknowledge in his heart—Zhang Hao knew how to use him.

This was much easier than the playing style during his time with the Magic.

However, it was still tiring!

In the past few games, he really gave it his all, whether it was the rebounding play style or as the main offensive point. He exerted all his effort during his play time, and on the defensive end, he worked hard defensively and was very diligent in close-range help defense.

Otherwise, the Lakers’ defense wouldn’t have improved that much.

According to the Lakers’ editor’s statistics, in their past 6 games, even considering the poor defense in the game against the SuperSonics, their average defensive efficiency ranked sixth in the league during this period.

Previously, their defensive efficiency was 19th in the league, below average.

He wanted to win as well, and he wanted to test whether Zhang Hao’s way of using him was correct, whether playing like this could help the team win.

It seemed to work! Against non-playoff-caliber opponents, as long as he did well in these aspects, the opponents usually lost by thirty percent. If he went all-out, the opponents would lose at least fifty percent of the time.

The premise was that he went all-out.

As long as he exerted himself in these areas, along with his teammates, it was almost a guaranteed win against weaker teams.

And the reason he worked so hard for so many games was to see the media criticize Zhang Hao.

It was that simple. He couldn’t win an argument himself, and knowing Zhang Hao’s character, he would never argue with the media. Then watching Zhang Hao avoid reporters after every game, O’Neal felt delighted!

For this, he tried hard in many games, and after each game, he deliberately put on a "I’m wronged but won’t say it" stance, avoiding reporters just like Zhang Hao and holding back from bragging and bantering with Barkley after games.

It was suffocating, but also thrilling!

But now, the wind had changed. The media began to praise him for being willing to sacrifice, reducing his own shot-making rights, and stopped criticizing Zhang Hao...

The force that O’Neal had been holding to prove Zhang Hao wrong, which later turned into a sense of thrill, diminished quite a bit.

"When playing against weak teams, I don’t have to work so hard for rebounds, right? Isn’t there also the giant Jason? How lazy did that fat Barkley get—I feel embarrassed to be associated with him!

In regular offensive plays, there’s no need for two isolations per quarter, right? The Magician can’t handle it, and that sophomore’s skills are simple. Hey, isn’t Boss Kenny around? Veterans are meant to be relied upon!

For rim protection, I just need to guard the basket, right? No need for close and mid-range help defense, right..."

"It’s not necessary to work so hard against top centers, is it?

Giving teammates more opportunities to perform is what the world’s best center like me should do. Yes, just put in effort against the championship contenders.

At other times, I just need to play as I watch, just unleash the threats, let them come, catch and dunk, shoot a dozen times each game is fine, but over 20 times is really exhausting..."

"I may not play better than him, argue better, or even know better about how to win... No way!

I just can’t stand him! I’ll definitely find a chance!

But finding a chance is tiresome, better rest well for now; I’ve been too exhausted lately..."

...

Winning games always cancels out most of the negative things.

For instance, negative media commentary.

If it were during losing games, Zhang Hao would also feel upset about media evaluations, but during this winning period, it’s purely entertainment for him.

Compared to those negative things, seeing O’Neal doing the simplest things seriously against most of the inside players, appearing almost invincible, having such a teammate feels excellent!

Moreover, in the past over a month since the new season started, Zhang Hao clearly felt his improvement.

"...

Skills: Dribbling 76, Passing 79, Catch and Shoot 92, Catch and Turnaround Fadeaway 79, Post-up Turnaround Fadeaway 76, Cutting 77, Hop Step 51, Spin Move 76, Back-to-basket Skills 58..."

Dribbling, cutting, spinning, all showed evident progress in actual combat!

Actual combat is the key!

Of course, the progress in real games is also the result of accumulated hard training. After improving some, the rate of numerical improvement has slowed.

However, the timing and detail control aspects have seen the greatest improvement as actual combat applications increased.

Catch and shoot has also improved, the catch and turnaround fadeaway reached 79, unfortunately, it might have hit a bottleneck, not much movement lately.

Regarding the use of O’Neal, their coaching staff is still exploring.

Currently, it’s just at the "O’Neal is amazing" stage.

Zhang Hao doesn’t believe O’Neal will keep working so hard, grabbing over a dozen offensive rebounds against ordinary opponents every game. No particular reason, they haven’t even spoken in 10 days, just purely skeptical.

But O’Neal is truly amazing!

Two hours ago, they defeated the SuperSonics led by the outstanding Payton and Kemp, and the win was truly satisfying!

Although they took advantage of some things, like the opponents believed the thing about O’Neal being marginalized, their own shooting was excessively good, and when the coaching staff comes up with better coordination, gets more in sync, they won’t be afraid of them at all...

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