(The original text was published on October 19. The author is Eric Nehm, a stag reporter from The Athletic. The content of The article does not represent The translator’s point of view.)
On that day, Sandro, the two-way contract striker of Milwaukee Bucks, was excited and reasonable.
It was October 6, 2021. since marmuk lashvili was selected by walkers with 54 signs and traded to stag this year, he had the first chance to compete with brother alphabet in training.
Although some young players have been in the training camp for a week, the bucks are more cautious about some veterans and did not let them participate in the training for the first few days. Not long ago, these veterans led the stag to win the first championship after 1971. However, marmuk lashvili finally waited for the chance to match the man in training, that is, he just cut 50 points in the finals ending war two and a half months ago, and brought the MVP trophy in the finals of 2021back home to the man.
Mamuklasvili was born extroverted and good at communication. He soon found himself playing with his teammates. He started chatting and joking, but he made a big mistake because of excitement.
“He started to spit rubbish at me.” Last Saturday, the letter elder brother who walked in the corridor of Fei Zhe Forum Stadium after the first training match recalled.
A year has passed, and this memory is still alive for brother alphabet.
“He said, ‘Yo, Yanis, I’m going to prevent you from dying in training today. ‘I was tying my shoelaces at that time, but he didn’t know me.” In an interview with The Athletic, brother Xin said, “it should be our first interaction and first meeting, but he doesn’t know me. He is like a energetic child, who likes to talk endlessly. He said: ‘I will defend you to death today. I will repair you severely. ‘And I’m tying my shoelaces. I can see Zhu, I can see Chris, they……”
When telling this story, brother alphabet pretended that he was tying his right shoelace. He raised an eyebrow, with a flash of disapproval of the new couple in his eyes. He also signaled to his teammates around with the same eyes, and then continued to lower his head and tie his shoelaces.
“Their expressions are the same as mine.” Brother alphabet recalled in The Athletic interview, “but I didn’t reply to him. I just tied my shoelaces. I did strength training and took vitamins. When the practice competition started, I had only one goal: Mamu. I made him miserable. Stag posted a video on their official Instragram account.”
“Dude, he humiliated me well.” Marmuk lashvili described that day in this way.
“I made him miserable,” brother Alphabet said, “I totally beat him up.”
“The whole content of that video is that I dunk on Mamu’s head, score on Mamu’s head, shake him, cover him, withdraw the jump shot in front of him, and lay the basket.” Brother Xin said, “You know, when he sent me the video, I said, ‘please, why did they do this to you? But then we went back to the dressing room, and I asked him as I took off my shoes: ‘You still remember what you said this morning, right? He replied, ‘uh, yes. Then I went home. This is how I do things. I won’t brag about how I play. I can only play games.”
This anecdote of training camp is a good hint. It tells us what makes brother Alphabet such a great player and how he rules the stadium every day. This is also a warning to those young players who are self-righteous.
However, unfortunately, it did not happen at all.
This story is completely fabricated.
It is a complete fiction.
It is an invention in the brain of brother alphabet.
Marmuk lashvili never said what the letter brother claimed he had said. Marmuk lashvili has never cursed the letter brother. He didn’t say to prevent the dead when he was training against brother alphabet for the first time. What mamuklasvili really said was much more harmless. He just wanted to try to be confident and integrate into his teammates.
“Yes, man, I’m coming for you. Be careful.” Marmuk lashvili remembered that he said this to brother alphabet.
Jordan once heard something from LaBradford Smith, but the latter didn’t say anything at all. O’Neal also lied to himself, believing that David Robinson had refused to sign himself when he was young, use this thing to stimulate yourself to perform well in the confrontation with Robinson in the future. Like these two people, brother alphabet also rendered Ma mukrushvili’s words in his mind, providing impetus for his play on the court. As for mamuklashvili, it was inconceivable to spray rubbish words to the two MVP winners at that time.
(Translated note: 1. On march 19, 1993, chicago bulls beat washington bullets 104-99, but labradford smith, who averaged only 9.3 points in the season, faced jordan with a new career record of 37 points. Jordan claimed that Smith mocked him with “good play, Mike” after the game. It is said that jordan later assured everyone that he would get 37 points at half time when he played the bullet back to back the next day. Sure enough, Jordan cut 36 points in half the next day, 47 points in the whole game, leading the team to hit the bullet with 126-101; Smith only got 15 points. But many years later Jordan admitted that Smith didn’t say that at all. He just made up a story to stimulate his fighting spirit.
2. For many years, o’neal has been claiming that when he was young, he was refused to ask david robinson for a signature, so he was eager to defeat him every time he confronted him. However, during the 1996 olympic games and a zoom conference attended by many retired NBA players in 2020, o’neal apologized to robinson personally and admitted that the rumor was completely fabricated by himself. O’neal said that he had been beaten up by robinson for several years, so he had to try to make himself angry when he was against him. In the end, O’Neal came up with the idea that “Robinson failed to sign at the age of 13”.)
“I am are joking! Most importantly, I am just excited to talk to him.” Marmuk lashvili said, “Imagine that you come here and there are the best players in the world on the opposite side. You can’t help sighing:” Oh, my God. Everyone knows that those words are just fun. When I came here, I didn’t really think I am came for him. I was only 21 years old at that time.”
However, somehow, in the mind of brother alphabet, those words became completely different. The words of the newcomer in the training camp became his motivation that day and the deep hatred he had to solve on the court. For him, the goal of that training was very simple, and he would never stop until it was achieved.
Facing the truth of the training camp, brother alphabet was unwilling to believe it at first. He asked someone to call mamukrusvili out of the dressing room and asked the latter to tell him what he (mamu) said before training that day in the corridor.
“Be careful. I’m coming for you, man.” The latter said this when the alphabet brother asked marmuk lashvili to repeat what he said that day.
The letter elder brother told his memory to marmuk rushvili, but the 22-year-old young man denied it again and again. Therefore, brother alphabet praised ma muk lashvili’s record of cap to him in the training match and his turn to the NBA’s best defensive player in the 2019-20 season, then he asked marmuk lashvili to go back and continue to wear clothes.
After marmukrusvili returned to the dressing room, the letter brother admitted that he might have made a mistake.
“I want to say this: in my mind-I don’t know if I am like this in this matter-but in my mind, sometimes I exaggerate something.” Letter brother told The Athletic, “I will think of things as another way. It can make me more passionate and drive me to win more things. Perhaps this training camp event is one of those situations.”
“But I do remember that he said something. It’s like ‘Yo, I’m going to defend you to death today. You don’t want to score on my head. ‘(He said) something like this, but I didn’t answer him anything. But when I was doing strength training, I was full of those words. ‘I want to defend you to death, man. I want to do this, do that. But Mamu doesn’t know what I think at all. This is when you can raid them before they are ready. They think the problem has passed, but it is not. The problem has just reappeared.”
Just because of the humiliation he imagined, he was beaten up on the first day of training for a two-way contract player, which seemed a bit too much. But after having a storeroom full of trophies, a championship, and a long list of achievements that finally pushed themselves to the 24th place in NBA history, this is exactly what brother alphabet needs to do in order to continue playing high-level games, isn’t it?
To some extent, yes.
Although this mentality partly explains why brother alphabet can enter the discussion of the league’s best player when he is about to spend the first ten years of his NBA career, it is not just produced. Since he entered the league in obscurity as a thin Greek teenager, he has been a wild and sometimes irrational competitor.
He still remembered the first time he used this self-stimulating skill in NBA.
“The home game against Cameron (Anthony).” Brother alphabet told The Athletic.
The match he mentioned took place on December 8, 2013. It was the first start of brother alphabet in NBA. As a 19-year-old rookie, he scored 10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals 1 cap in 41 minutes 46 seconds and left the game with 19 seconds left. The stag finally lost to the Knicks 101 to 107 after two plus hours.
Although the game itself is very common, the behavior and attitude of brother alphabet on the court are noticeable.
From the first second, brother alphabet has been on the defensive side of Anthony, the scoring king who won the third place in the MVP selection in the previous season.
In the competition, brother alphabet looked very angry from beginning to end. He fought with Anthony in every corner of the court. He tried hard to make offensive fouls, lying on the ground complaining to the referee who didn’t have whistle, but immediately returned to anthony who wanted to get a vacancy in the next round. Throughout the night, brother alphabet was a blighter. He kept harassing Anthony and stuck to the latter. The smile on Anthony’s face was always clearly visible, which seemed to irritate brother alphabet even more. In the end, the Knicks still gained the upper hand. (Anthony scored 29 points, but only hit 9 in 29 shots.)
After the game, brother alphabet told the reporter that he could not stand Anthony “hurting me and my teammates” and “talking to me endlessly”. The smile on Anthony’s face and these remarks made people assume for a long time that Anthony sprayed rubbish words on brother alphabet in the competition. In 2019, when brother Xin retold The story on The Athletic, he also said so.
“Tight nerves, family members in the audience, first start, Melon’s rubbish talk, but I remember that night.” Brother alphabet claimed, “I didn’t back down.”
Anthony added: “I appreciate his attitude. When someone performs that kind of task, I will enjoy it.”
So, since so many years have passed, what did Anthony say that night? More importantly, did he throw rubbish words at brother alphabet?
“No.” Brother Alphabet said, “I’m just trying……”
Ten years later, in the corridor of Fei Zhe Forum Stadium, brother alphabet began to play himself when he recalled this story. He raised his chest and stretched his shoulders, suppressing the anger he felt from his first NBA starting experience. He began to pace back and forth with anger.
“He doesn’t respect me.” Brother Alphabet said as he walked up and down the passage, “he spits rubbish at me. He spoke to me condescending. Why does he look at me like a tramp, man? Come on. I’m here. I am also here.”
Soon, brother Alphabet jumped out of the role and recalled his style that night.
OK, now I am a rookie. I am 18 years old.” Brother alphabet smiled and said, “Dude, I’m lying to myself.”
He returned to the story.
“He thinks I’m weak, man.” The letter brother began to show his face again, moving his hands and feet as he walked, and continued, “they think I am so thin. I won’t accomplish anything, man. I want to stay in this alliance. I don’t want to go to the G League. Am I going to the G League? No, go away.”
After being amused by this memory for a while, brother alphabet began to recall that night and his own mentality.
“Cameron probably asked me like this, ‘what’s your name? ‘”The letter brother finally smiled and said,” Yes, that’s crazy. He asked me so early.”
“I always do this. You try your best to find motivation and make yourself bored about what you don’t do, don’t you? Just like last year, I had a good reason. My average is 30+10+6. Now, what is the motivation? You come here and say, ‘OK, I’m going to do it again. You try to find something and create some solutions. You have to spend time rewriting the script. It’s like a movie, you know? There is a script from now until the end of the year, and you have to try your best to rewrite it.”
When starting his tenth NBA season, brother alphabet may need to make his self-motivation strategy stronger than before.
For nine seasons, he has handed over an early resume of his career that few people in NBA history can match or win.
Six NBA best team, six All-Star, five NBA best defensive team, two regular season MVP, one NBA best defensive player of the year, one All-Star MVP, one Finals MVP and one championship.
Last season, his performance looked at NBA history and only a few people could play it.
According to the statistics of Basektball-Reference, last season’s alphabet players averaged 29.9 points, 11.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists. In the history of this level of data, only the letters from Jabbar, Baylor, Chamberlain, Big O and the second MVP season (2019-20) have been obtained. Moreover, in the absence of a second-head team, he still led the team and the Eastern champion Celtics who finally reached the finals played the seventh game. In that series, he became the first player in NBA history who could score 200 points, 100 rebounds and 50 assists in a round of playoffs.
So, what is the next challenge in the middle of a career destined to be recorded in the Hall of Fame during your peak period?
“I have to be better.” Brother Alphabet said in an interview at The Athlectic, “You have to get better. This year I will face other battles and challenges. We all have to improve ourselves. But I’m not quite ready yet. I have to become more acute. I still have to work more for my own competition, and I also need to believe in myself more.”
“I need to burst out more energy in the competition and give full play to my ability. My feeling is like that I have tried very hard on those things I can do, but I haven’t done very well yet. That is my next step: Do better what I tried to do this summer and make myself play more easily in the game.”
“How can I make it easier for myself? It’s not easy. It’s not easy for you to be great, and how can I play well while creating opportunities for my teammates? How can I get ten minutes at half time more efficiently without banging and banging, too much physical contact and other troubles? Those guys always hit me, and I have the feeling of being fouled every round, because I want to kill myself from such a confrontation.”
Since Mike Budenholzer became the head coach of the Bucks four seasons ago, brother alphabet has become the most dominant basketball player. The letter elder brother explained to The Athletic that after The stag lost to The Raptors in The Eastern finals in 2019, as he developed seven more pounds of muscle and gained significantly more offensive space, he can already dunk on the offensive side, but this is definitely not enough.
He needs to improve his skills and acquire other signature attack methods, instead of having to break the muscle barriers cast by defenders in front of him in every attack round in the playoffs. Therefore, brother alphabet began to adjust his choice.
Brother Alphabet’s choice in recent seasons
Brother alphabet relied heavily on the basket shot in his first MVP season, but he immediately increased the proportion of three points shot to 20% in the second MVP season. In the past two seasons, he has reduced his three points and started to do more in perimeter shot.
Last season, 32 percent of brother Alphabet’s shots were in the middle distance, which was his new high since the 2017-18 season-that was the last season when Kidd was the Bucks coach, at that time, 37 percent of brother Alphabet’s shots were perimeter shot. More importantly, when brother alphabet began to concentrate on the skills he practiced during the off-season, his hit rate in the middle of the game came to the highest 41% in his career, the hit rate of two points long (shooting between 14 feet (4.27 meters) and RIM from three point line) was 44 percent.
A simple mathematical calculation: 2 times 0.44 is only 0.88, while 2 times 0.77 (his hit rate in the basket last season) is 1.54.
Therefore, the basket shot is always more efficient for brother alphabet. But if Yogueta want to grow as a player, he must continue to evolve into a better scorer and develop different ways to punish defense.
“If I get fouled, walk on the freethrow line, and punish twice without defense, then who else can hit me?” Brother alphabet asked, “How should I go to freethrow line? If a guy pushes me, I can continue playing without a foul-sometimes you have to do this-but say, ‘Hey, that’s a foul,’ right? You know, it means (to the referee) that those people are hitting me.”
“Let me ask you a question, how can I not only bear less collision, but also maintain the original lethality? (I have to) get more free throws and more jump shots. More hooks.”
This is the challenge brother Alphabet faces this season. How can he continue to be an offensive core with high efficiency and lethality in a team that is at the top of the league, and at the same time reduce the physical strikes every night? More importantly, how can he achieve this and win his second championship trophy?
“This year, I can get only 20 points on average. As long as we can win, I will have no problem.” Brother Xin said, “If we win, I have no problem at all. I have no problem at all.”
The letter was Gordon’s and stared at his girlfriend Maria-Ridders prige for a second with his fingers, and his two sons Liam and maverick.
“I will still be loved. You know, I can get 20 points per game this year and 30 points per game next year. I just want to win.”
“How can I win? If you give me a plan that can lead me to victory, I am willing to pay any price for it. I think I must force myself to the limit for our victory, which is why I push myself to the limit every year, year after year. You will see it when I feel that I don’t have to do it. Maybe not now, maybe when I was 33 years old, you will see that I began to decline.”
“(By that time) I won’t have to do this. Marjone (Beacham), get 25 points. I only get 16 points tonight. Let me be a (Boris) Dior-style player, let me create space for you. At that time, let me do something else; But now, I still have to push myself to the limit. For the greatness of this team, Chris (Middleton) has to push himself to the limit, and Zhu (holerdi) has to push himself to the limit.”
Brother alphabet never imagined that he could reach the current level. When he won the first NBA starting opportunity against Anthony, he never thought that one day he could find a way to constantly give full play to his own advantages, make yourself in the discussion of the world’s best basketball player for a long time.
“They asked me, ‘Have you ever believed that you can be what you are today? ‘No, I don’t believe it.” Letter brother told The Athletic, “they also asked another question, ‘do you want to be what you are today? ‘I never had a plan. I want to be a great basketball player, but I never want to be the best. I said I wanted to enter NBA, but I never thought of becoming one of the best players.”
“But I worked very hard, and then I suddenly came to a place, which made me sigh:” Oh my God, what is going on here? ‘I found myself at the top of the mountain.”
When brother alphabet spoke, he began to perform the scenes described by himself in words. In the corridor of Fei Zhe Forum Stadium, he seemed to take himself to the top of a mountain, squatting half in the roaring wind around to maintain his balance, looking for other signs of life.
“I shouted at the top of the mountain, ‘Is there anyone else here? ‘”The letter brother continued,” but then you can see kehuai and George when you look around. You will see Lucca, jokedge, enbyd, LeBlanc, Durant, and Stephen. At this time, you will say, ‘I am looking for excellent role players, who have a great career. Where are they? ‘I don’t disrespect them, they are also great, but I just wanted to be a great role player, a great sixth person. But in a flash, when you work extremely hard, when you devote your life to basketball, crazy things happen.”
“This is the terrible place of XX-sorry, please forgive my dirty words-the terrible place, I want to stay in this position now. I accepted it. I accepted the challenge, which is the next chapter in my life. But I don’t want everything that follows. I don’t want people’s attention. When I was in Abu Dhabi, I just warmed up with free throws as usual. As a result, there were 50 people around me taking photos, and I didn’t want them. But in the end, my personality made me not scared away, but focused on the competition itself. If I focus on the competition, I will be humble. I can continue to move forward and deal with things in the future.”
This is the reason why brother alphabet needs firm will. He needs self-stimulation skills, off-season hard practice, seemingly endless vitality and advantages generated from the contempt he feels. Only with all these things can he accept his position in this sport and strive for perfection on this basis to inspire himself to be better.
Unless asked, brother alphabet seldom talks about his relationship with another player. But much of what he learned came from the player he imitated most in his career: Kobe Bryant.
Brother Alphabet’s career can be defined by three elements: the willingness to win, on Ken’s time competitive heart, and the competitive advantage established by years of research on Kobe on and off the court.
“I will never say anything to tarnish Kobe’s great name. I don’t like to mention him.” When asked by The Athletic to compare their mentality, brother alphabet replied, “I think he should be mentioned and not forgotten. But I don’t like to attract attention to our upcoming dialogue by mentioning his name. He and I are not close. I don’t often do this and that with him. But I would say that, in terms of some of his ways of thinking, I am similar to him.”
Although brother alphabet may have avoided discussing their relationship out of respect, he was indeed deeply influenced by the late NBA great star.
In 2018, the letter brother who went to Los Angeles to participate in the second All-Star game in his career had a goal. This goal is not to take home the MVP award in the All-Star game, not to cut 30 points or even lead the team to win. He wanted to secretly find a chance to talk to Kobe and convince the latter that he needed a training partner in Los Angeles in summer.
It worked. Brother alphabet successfully talked to Kobe and participated in off-season training with Kobe.
This training confirmed every point that brother alphabet thought in advance and paved the way for the rest of his career.
“Maybe my talent is not as high as his, but we are talking about a guy who has trained hard from the first day of his career to his retirement. A guy who plays for victory, a guy who drives himself out of the limit, and a guy who has a killer mentality from the moment he stands on the court.” Brother alphabet recalled the training and said, “he seems to have-I think he has two personalities.”
“When we stood on the side of the court and talked, I remembered my notes. We talked and laughed and joked with each other. But when we walked on the court, this bastard seemed to not know me at all. ‘I think you are already my friend. ”Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. ”Sorry, Kobe. How many times do we have to vote? ”25. ”OK, 25 times. ”No, it’s 25 times. ”You have to put in 25 times for the same shooting action? And this is not an ordinary shot. You have to be exhausted. I thought, damn it, this guy is really different.”
This double personality can also be seen from the letter elder brother.
At the press conference, he will tell cold jokes; When the stag wins, he will make bursts of laughter at the edge of the field and his face will be full of joy; No matter where he goes in the world, he seems to be able to sing and dance. However, at the same time, he is also extremely serious. He wants to hit other teams on the court, making those who dare to defend him regret. When young players come to Milwaukee, his exemplary strength cannot be ignored.
“I often observe Yannis’s every move, such as what preparations he will make before the game and what kind of mentality he will enter the game. Seeing him so focused, I also try my best to keep up with him, because I am trying to be a great player.” Rookie Marjon Beacham recently told reporters, “he doesn’t talk to anyone. He just kept his focus. He always has the same habit and does the same thing. I could see from his face that he was absorbed.”
Letter brother told The Athletic that even now, in 2022, he is still studying Kobe-not only Kobe’s movements, working methods, but also The intensity shown on The field, and the way he spoke in the interview and his other manners. For brother alphabet, every video he finds is an opportunity to remember Kobe’s teachings, and sometimes he even passes those ideas to the next generation.
“I watched the trailer of redemption team.” Brother alphabet recalled, “Kobe said in it, ‘I want to set the tone (for the game). This guy is my brother, Paul Gasol. Gasol once baptised Kobe’s children and was the godfather of Kobe’s children. However, Kobe said: ‘I want to set the tone. I know how to fight. I’m going to smash him. I want to smash him with a bang. Then in the game, there was a loud bang (Kobe knocked over Gasol severely). So everyone became crazy.”
“I intercepted that clip-it should be in the trailer-and sent it to my brothers. I can show you the message I sent at that time. I said, ‘in order to be great, you have to be crazy. ‘”
Brother alphabet is not talking casually.
If Yogueta is not crazy at all, he will never make efforts to hit a rookie, one holding a two-way contract, in his first training, he wanted to use some non-malicious rubbish words to close the distance with his teammates. Yogueta didn’t want to distort the facts in his mind, he wouldn’t defend one of the best NBA players in such an aggressive way at the age of 19.
It was his spiritual strength that enabled his extreme competitive heart to burn and promote his performance to another level. Yogueta can turn this powerful psychology into an advantage in the next decade of his career, then it may eventually become the spiritual wealth he left to the league, just like the way Kobe influenced him.
“Kobe and I have two different mode of play, but when we talk about mentality, few people can compare with us.” Brother Xin said, “but I will never say that Kobe and I have exactly the same mentality. I believe that when I retire, people will talk about me like this: ‘That bastard is not the most gifted, but he is a damn killer. He proved it. From the first day to the last day of his career, he showed this characteristic. He never gets into trouble. He always concentrates on his own affairs and does his own work well. That guy is a damn killer. ‘”
“Now, what achievements have I achieved? I don’t know what else I can achieve. Won another championship? I’m not sure. But I know what kind of mentality I have-it can make children sigh like this when they look back at my basketball career in the future: ‘How on earth did this guy do this? ‘”
Original: Eric Nehm
Compilation: asteroid falling
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Character history