Their performance is steady, and there are few bright spots in their careers.
Their data is not explosive, getting older every year, but it never seems to affect their job hunting.
They have no outstanding skills and can safely complete the tasks at both ends of the attack and defense. You can't pick out the good and the bad.
Highlight one, plain.
Representative figures include danny green, Holiday, P·J· Tucker and Inges.
No matter in the Spurs, Raptors or Lakers, Danny Green was ridiculed by fans as "Iron Forest" and "Wolong Feng Chu" because of his six-pulse Excalibur-like projection, but coaches never seemed to care about his data and external evaluation. He will always be the main force of the absolute champion.
Tucker hit a wall because he was short when he first entered the league, but since he found his own position in the ball, both the Rockets, the Bucks and this year's Heat have stood up because of his joining.
Before Holiday won the championship with Bucks last year, most people only knew that he was one of the many "Holiday" in the league. It was not until the final that Paul was tortured to death that he realized that he was so underestimated.
The same is true for ingels, who has been playing jazz for seven years unconsciously. Since 17- 18 was promoted to the main force, the jazz's winning percentage in the worst year was also above 60%. As soon as he was injured this season, the team immediately collapsed, and even rumors of Gaubert-Mitchell discord broke out.
Compared with those superstars, they may be the coach's favorite. Because only when they have really coached and witnessed their subtle but indispensable contributions on the court, do they know that such players are equally scarce and have not suffered from the rich diseases of those superstars.
Let's call these players "ball blind appraisers" for the time being.
The best of them this season is the hero of this article, al horford.
20 17- 18 season, the Celtics' defensive efficiency 103.9, ranking first in the league.
18- 19 Although it was badly tossed by Owen, it was still the sixth in the league.
Defensive efficiency 106.9 this season, ranking first in the league.
These three seasons have one thing in common. The starting center of the team is Al Horford.
In this year's regular season, everyone is bragging about the defensive victory contribution of Tatum (DWS). Robert williams is a "Rodman" defensive freak, and Smart has become another defender's best defensive player after Peyton of 1996.
But last season, these people were all on the team.
20-2 1 The Green Army averaged 1 12.6 points in the league 15, and the defensive efficiency 1 12.5 in the league 16.
At the beginning of these two seasons, I was a different person, Al Horford.
Compared with T.T. Thompson before and Daniel Tess who is now beating himself, where is Horford?
On the offensive end, since the 20 15- 16 season, he has been one of the best space-based insiders in the league, and he can shoot more than 1 every season, with a shooting percentage of about 35%.
This season, he averaged 3.8 shots, hit 1.3, and hit 33.8%.
But the most unique thing about Horford is the second round goal against the Nets a few days ago.
Bruce Brown was intercepted by Tatum outside the three-point line, and Horford, who was still behind drummond, immediately sprinted to follow up, while the stupefied Zhuang Shen quickly disappeared into the camera.
You know, Horford is 36 years old this year, and Zhuang Shen is 28 years old.
Of course, the most systematic Horford value is defense.
This season, robert williams has sprung up as an NBA version of Hanamichi Sakuragi. With excellent movement and keen sense of smell, he swept the whole three-point line, averaging 9.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks 1.0 steals.
But Luo Wei can jump up and down like this, because there is a reassuring Horford under the basket.
Horford, 2.06 meters, not only keeps the sensitivity and efforts of the inside ball, but also does not delay the overall defense system of the Green Army. At the same time, in the face of Embiid, Alphabet and other insider giants, it is still the last barrier of the team.
Last year, 65438+February 1 played against Philadelphia. Under his personal command, Emperor 17 3 made 3 shots and scored only 13 points. At the same time, he only spent four fouls, which made Embiid only go to the free throw line 10.
65438+February 13 vs bucks, Xinge 14 7 only scored 20 points.
In these two games, the Green Army had the last laugh. Horford's positive and negative numbers on the court are amazing+15.
This season, with the appointment of new coach Udoka, the defense system of the Green Army has changed infinitely.
This is the most effective defensive strategy to deal with pick-and-roll, which tests the players' one-on-one defensive ability and their sense of coordination.
No matter Horford, Lowe, Tatum, Jay and Smart in the starting lineup, or Grant Williams, White and prichard on the bench, the Green Army actually has the ability to change at least three positions.
But Smart and Horford are the most tested.
Both of them are the commanders of internal and external defense, and they are also the two players with the greatest pressure to change defense under the existing system.
Smart is not only the team's first line of defense against the opponent's defender, but also often needs to change the opponent's front line or even center after pick and roll.
However, his excellent judgment and command ability make the Green Army the best team in defensive pick-and-roll and three-point effect in the league.
Horford is more stressed. This season, he spent 2 1.9% of his time defending the point guard, the highest among all the starting centers in the league, and also set a personal career record.
It is precisely because of this group of defensive experts who have excellent physical fitness, skills and consciousness that the Green Army has the confidence to lay a good job in this defense changing system, which requires players' physical fitness and communication skills.
Even the league's strongest one-on-one hit duo Durant+Owen (I believe no one would disagree with this ten days ago).
In fact, Horford has played like this all his life.
In 2007, insiders from the University of Florida, Shuang Jie al horford and Joaquin Noah, were selected by the Hawks and Bulls in the third and ninth places respectively in the first round.
They dominated the NCAA in those two years, and became the only defending champion in the last 30 years in 2006-07 under the leadership of the current Bulls coach billy donovan. Even in the 83-year history of American college basketball, only six universities have done it.
With his joining, the weak eagle ushered in a long-lost prosperity period.
Before his arrival, the eagle had not made the playoffs in 2 1 century.
After his arrival, the hawks entered the playoffs for ten years in a row.
At that time, the eagles were a low-key and solid team.
Josh Smith, the Eagle King who can dunk with LeBron PK, Joe Johnson, who was later called "Singles Joe", Mike Bibby, the last white devil, and Al Horford, who is still in his rookie period, are the pillars of the inside.
In the 2007-08 season, the Celtics, who finally won the championship, solved the Lakers led by mvp "Black Mamba" Kobe Bryant 4-2 in the finals. However, the first round against this eagle was dragged to the tiebreak.
Horford, still a rookie, can score 12.6 points and 10.4 rebounds in front of Garnett, the best defensive player of the season.
After that round of war, this eagle also officially became a frequent visitor to the Eastern Conference playoffs.
But in those years, the East was too powerful. LeBron's Cavaliers, the Big Three's Green Army, Howard's Magic, and later the Big Three's Heat and Ross's Bull are all strong contenders for the championship.
Horford was selected as an All-Star in the third year of his career (2009- 10). Although he scored 14.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists, he was regarded by almost all coaches as a reliable insider who can be trusted and can play any hard battle.
Although compared with those superstars who fell from the sky, he is always one level behind the eagle.
In 2009, the Eastern Conference semifinals lost to the Cavaliers 0-4.
20 10 lost to magic 0-4 in the eastern conference semifinals.
20 1 1 lost to the bulls 2-4 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
20 12 lost to Celtic 2-4 in the first round,
20 13 2-4 losers in the first round,
In those years, the Hawks always played the role of "stepping stones to strong teams", and almost all of them lost to one of the best teams in the East in the playoffs.
Excellent overall, but the upper limit is not high.
Not only the eagle, but also Horford's precise positioning.
This situation reached its climax in the 20 14- 15 season.
In the 20 13 season, the team fired former coach Larry Drew and hired Buden holzer, Popovich's chief disciple in the Spurs. He helped the team complete the upgrade in just one season.
Joe Johnson went to the Nets and Smith went to the Pistons, but with the introduction of steady power forward millsap and marksman Koval, Teague became more and more mature.
The only constant is Horford, who will always be the "patron saint" of the team's restricted area.
In the 20 14- 15 season, they reached the first place in the East with a record of 60 wins and 22 losses. Teague's surprise attack, Koval's shot, Carol's tough defense and Horford+millsap's "mini version" Twin Towers were all conducted under the guidance of Coach Buden.
That year, they were second only to the warriors who won the championship with 67 wins 15 losses, and overwhelmed LeBron who returned to Cleveland to form the "Knight 2.0 Edition" and became the number one seed in the East.
Especially on 20 15 and 17, they won a total victory on 17, and the top five players were collectively elected as the best month in the NBA, which is unique in history. Except for Carol, four other players were selected as the Eastern Conference All-Stars.
However, during the eight years from 20 10 to 20 18, all the eastern teams had a dark cloud-lebron james.
No matter how strong they are in the regular season, they will eventually surrender to the young king in the playoffs.
20 15 dongjue, 0-4 knight,
20 16 semi-final, 0-4 Cavaliers,
For two years in a row, there were eight matchups and one defeat.
Even in the second game of 20 16, the Cavaliers shot a playoff single-game hit record of 25 of 45 shots.
So in the summer of 20 16, this eagle, which interpreted the whole basketball to its limit, was also dismantled by LeBron. Horford signed a contract with the Celtics and started his new NBA journey.
At that time, he had just turned 30 and was at the peak of his state.
Excellent technology, good consciousness and agile skill are the basis of his foothold in NBA.
What many people ignore is that,
He is one of the first insiders in NBA to adapt to the era of small ball and develop a three-point skill package.
Before 20 15, in the first eight seasons of his career, he only made 75 shots outside the three-point line and threw 2 1 ball, with a shooting rate of 28.0%.
During the 20 15- 16 season, he made 256 three-pointers and hit 88 times, with a shooting rate of 34.4%.
From 20 15 to now, he can guarantee to hit more than one three-pointer with a shooting rate of 35% every season.
It took him almost a year to complete the "spatialization" of a traditional insider.
Although speaking of great insiders, there are Duncan, Garnett, Dirk and Howard in the first half of his career, and there are thick eyebrows, letters, Embiid and Jokic in the second half.
Horford's name is rarely mentioned, but it has not been eliminated by this alliance, but it has become more and more moist.
No matter the Eagles, Celtics or Philadelphia, they can get big contracts anywhere.
Although there is no championship or mvp, his total salary has reached $240 million, and he also has the most beautiful wife recognized by the league.
His wife, Amelia Vega, a Dominican representative, aged 18, won the Miss Universe championship in 2003.
They got married on 20 1 1 and now they have four children.
Horford is not a top star in NBA, but his life is undoubtedly perfect.
So this year's Celtics, do you have a chance to complete his championship dream?