has already entered the regular season, and the teams that were rested in the preseason are naturally going to return to the team normally.

O'Neill participated in the team's physical test a few days ago, and the results showed that the weight was maintained quite well, although the tonnage was heavier, but Richard was acceptable.

It's good if you don't eat Hesse, with O'Neal's body, if you keep eating Hesse all the offseason, then it is estimated that the tonnage will have to move closer to four or five hundred catties.

Now it seems that O'Neill still has some self-control.

"Shaq, you've seen all of that kid's performance, right?" Richard sat in his office, smiling at O'Neill.

"Huh? Lee, what do you mean by that? It's not like you think that kid is awesome and let me play as a substitute, right? O'Neill's eyes were about to pop out.

If Richard really asked him to play as a substitute, he would probably go crazy on the spot and strangle Richard directly.

What rank is O'Neal? It is recognized as the most dominant inside line in history, even if it is "old and decrepit" at the moment, but you still have to save face.

Give a new melon egg as a substitute, O'Neill can't afford to lose this person.

"Shaq, I didn't mean that, I mean what do you think of Greg kid?" Richard asked with a smile.

This made O'Neill relax a lot, it's good not to play as a substitute, at least now he definitely can't accept to appear as a substitute, it's really embarrassing.

"This kid is very strong, Li, you have picked up a treasure this time, although he is unlikely to reach the level of my peak, but he is better than the magic kid."

It's a well-known fact that O'Neill looks down on Howard......

For Oden, O'Neill also watched two of his preseason games, and his performance was still quite outstanding.

But if he wants to reach the level of his peak, O'Neill feels that he must be fine.

"You're going to be the starting point for our Buccaneers, but we need to develop this kid like Greg, and we're probably going to have you rested a lot of games this season, so you have to be mentally prepared."

O'Neill nodded, he still wished the team had taken a turn to rest him......

"I'll be on the bench, but I'm definitely going to play on some important occasions, and you'll have to make sure I'm going to play for the opening game tomorrow night, like the Christmas ......game," O'Neill put forward his conditions.

Richard nodded in agreement, and O'Neill's request was not too much at all.

……

At eight o'clock the next night, in the home team's dressing room, Richard looked at the lineup of players in front of him and had the urge to roar.

"Guys, tonight is the first step in our regular season journey!"

"This season, I have a lot of goals, like at least four players to make the All-Star team, like we want to break the all-time win record, preferably the league's season win record!"

"Of course, the biggest goal is definitely to defend the title!"

"These goals need to be worked on together!"

"Shaq, Darko, Granger, Roy and Paul, all five of you start tonight, and I'm going to see a game that completely hangs the opponent!" Richard roared.

The generals nodded solemnly.

Their lineup last season was already a championship, and this season the squad has been improved, and winning the championship is certainly not their only goal.

At half past eight, the players of both sides began to enter.

O'Neal is definitely the big brother of this team, and his popularity is still very high, and the Pirate fans at the scene cheered O'Neill after seeing him enter.

The appearance of the new FMVP Milicic made the fans even more excited.

In the eyes of fans, Milicic is really a good lad, and the contract he signed with the Buccaneers is quite cheap, which prompts the Pirates to have more salary space to adjust the roster.

This season, the Pirates' salary, 20 million for one O'Neal, less than 10 million for Milicic, and then the other players are signed rookie contracts, in fact, if the Pirates bring in another player with an annual salary of 10 million, it is completely okay.

After Richard appeared, the atmosphere of the scene reached a climax.

This is Richard's fourth season at the helm of the Pirate team, and in the first three seasons, Richard has already given Pirate fans a huge surprise, winning the championship after three years of teaming.

And this season, fans are convinced that Richard must have prepared an even bigger surprise for them.

……

"Doot toot!" The referee blew the whistle for the start of the match.

The eyes of the fans in the stadium widened as the new season officially began.

O'Neal walked to the halfway line and jumped the ball with Howard, but was won by the young Howard, which made O'Neal a little unhappy......

On the Magic's offensive round, Jamal Nelson advances with the ball.

Nelson is a short, strong type of pick-and-roll point guard with decent offensive firepower, but lacks consistency, which is commonly known as the nerve knife.

When the hand feels smooth, God blocks and kills God, and if the hand feels unsmooth, cut yourself three times first.

Paul doesn't really like to play against this kind of strong point guard, he prefers to play against a skinny offensive point guard.

Luckily, Nelson isn't the core of the Magic system, their core is Turkoglou in the frontcourt.

Richard has a good understanding of the Magic's tactical system, and when he played against the Magic last season, Richard insisted on implementing the strategy of strictly guarding Tekoglu.

Strangling Turkoglu at this point, Howard's power on the offensive end will be reduced by at least a third!

……

After Nelson controlled the ball in front of the court, he passed to Turkoglou, and Milicic immediately used his taller and bigger frame to block the path of Turkoglou's cross.

In Richard's defensive strategy, Turkoglu can shoot, but not pass!

Once Turkoglu finds a pass to Howard, it's not going to be easy.

Milicic completely blocked the path of Tekoglu's cross, and in desperation, Tekoglu passed the ball back to Rashad Lewis on the outside.

Lewis took the ball and shot it, and hit a three-pointer straight from the outside.

That's the Magic's regular system, which consists of playmaking forward Turkoglou sharing the ball, with Howard being the primary target and Lewis on the perimeter if Howard's path is blocked.

……

When it was the Pirates' offensive turn, Paul hoisted the ball to O'Neal under the basket, thinking he could easily get an assist.

But he underestimated Howard's strength.

In any case, the current Howard is also the top three centers in the league, and it is not a problem for O'Neal to beat Howard at his peak, but at this point in time, it is obviously not so easy to easily cut points on Howard's head.

After O'Neal received the ball, he was about to turn around and hit the monster with his back, but the attack didn't work, and the rebound was grabbed by Howard.

……

It was the Magic's offensive round again, and this time the Magic's outside line was not so lucky, Nelson hit an iron shot, and the rebound was grabbed by Milicic.

After the first offensive round was not smooth, Paul naturally did not go to drop the ball to O'Neal.

The first round of lobbing the ball to O'Neal can be seen as a sign of respect for O'Neal's old-timer and allowing him to play the first offensive round.

In the previous three seasons, the Buccaneers had not focused on the interior line, and Paul called Milicic to start playing a normal rhythm of blocking.

……

After a few minutes, relying on the strong offensive firepower of the lineup, the Pirates gradually took the lead.

Richard has this starting lineup at hand, the offensive firepower is really a little too terrifying, except for O'Neal, everyone else is a character who can shoot well.

Especially Roy, the yellow mamba, after being honed in his rookie season, the offensive strength he has shown this season is no weaker than the league's first-line quarterback.

Paul's offensive level is also the top among point guards, that is, there are only two or three point guards such as Nash, who may be comparable to Paul on the offensive end.

Needless to say, Granger's offensive firepower is what level was the pickled pepper during the Pacers, and what level is the current Granger, compared to the league's top small forwards like Pierce or James, but the gap is not big, maybe 100-90.

Milicic is versatile, and his offensive firepower is not particularly strong, but he is far better than most of the big forwards in the league.

With such four starters with strong offensive ability, plus two of them have strong organizational skills, even if the starting center of the Pirates is still Vallejo, the Magic is definitely not the opponent of the Pirates.

……

After seven minutes of play in the first quarter, the score has gradually been pulled away.

It is difficult for O'Neal to explode in front of Howard, but it is certainly not so easy for Howard to play a second offense comfortably in front of O'Neal.

O'Neal's tonnage to that card doomed Howard to be unable to wreak havoc under the basket.

Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy frowned.

Their Magic brought in Lewis this season in order to compete for the championship, and if they want to compete for the championship, how can they not pass the pirate level?

The Pirates are already the strongest team in the East, and the first thing all teams that want to compete for the championship in the East is to take out the Pirates, and then they have a chance to break out of the East.

But the current situation on the court made Big Van Gundy realize that with the current lineup of the Magic, if they play against each other normally, they are still not the opponent of the Pirates.

"Doot toot!" Big Van Gundy called a timeout and gave a command to the players on the field, then smiled confidently again.

At the end of the timeout, the players of both sides returned to the court, and O'Neal's side was not in position under the basket, and was immediately sent to the free throw line by point guard Nelson.

Needless to say, this is when Big Van Gundy started using shark-cutting tactics against the Buccaneers.

His idea was simple, that is, let Richard replace O'Neal off the court, so that Howard could play his role under the basket and take advantage of O'Neal's time to steal points as much as possible.

O'Neal was on the court, which seriously limited Howard's play on the offensive end, although after O'Neal left, the Pirates still had an Oden on the team, but Big Van Gundy didn't think that Oden, a new melon egg, could cause any trouble to Warcraft in a head-to-head matchup.

I have to say that Big Van Gundy has a good calculation, in fact, if Richard were in Big Van Gundy's position, I am afraid he would come up with the same countermeasures.

Richard coached the Trail Blazers before, and this is the kind of countermeasure used in the face of O'Neal.

……

O'Neal was sent to the free-throw line, and even the fans in the stadium could see that the Magic were going to use a shark-cutting tactic.

If you want to say that O'Neill's most hated tactic, it is undoubtedly the shark cutting tactic, every time the opponent uses the shark cutting tactic, he is extremely anxious.

But this time, O'Neal smiled rarely, as if the free throw was something he had been looking forward to for a long time.

Richard also looked at Big Van Gundy with a smile, and tonight Big Van Gundy's shark-cutting tactics may fail.

……

"Huh!"

O'Neal hit the first free throw, but the second was less than lucky, and he bounced the basket.

One of two free throws, Big Van Gundy was quite satisfied, which is O'Neal's regular level.

If he continues to use the shark slashing tactic, Van Gundy estimates that Richard may replace O'Neal in two minutes at most.

In the offensive round of the Magic, it was Turkoglu again, this time in the hands of the team's point guard Bogans, who hit a shot, and the rebound was taken by O'Neal, who was stuck in a good position under the basket.

O'Neal just got the rebound, and Howard next to him immediately gave a bear hug, hugged O'Neal, and continued to send O'Neal to the free throw line.

"Boy, your magic trick might be a joke tonight." O'Neill looked at Howard playfully.

Howard shook his head and didn't say anything, he didn't want to have any conflict with O'Neal Sr. on the court.

It's a thankless job.

If he wins, say that he Howard bullies the veteran, and if he loses, it is even more terrible, he can't even beat a veteran.

Besides, Howard isn't the kind of player who particularly likes to be rough on the court.