At the end of October, the opening game of the 2003-04 NBA season has already begun.

The one that attracted the most attention from fans in this year's opening game is undoubtedly the world-famous Lakers F4 combination.

Four superstars, Kobe, O'Neal, Payton and Karl Malone, come together. This is definitely a blockbuster thrown by the NBA this summer.

The opening battle is the battlefield to test the power of this bomb.

After playing one-on-one with Wayne this afternoon, Tony Allen specially invited Wayne to his dormitory to watch a short video together... No, it was to watch the NBA opening game.

Who among the fans of this era would miss the first performance of Lakers F4?

After the game started, looking at the touching picture quality on the TV and the excited teammates on the side, Wayne felt like he was instantly transported back to the time when he used to watch football with his friends in the school cafeteria.

No...he has already returned to this era.

Because Kobe Bryant was injured and unable to participate in today's game, F4 was missing one person. But even so, it could not reduce the excitement of this game.

But amid the cheers of the fans on the TV and the expectant look in Tony Allen's eyes, the two sides played for nearly three minutes without scoring a single goal!

After the game started, what Wayne saw was crazy hammering, hammering, and hammering.

"Uh..." Wayne was speechless. This game was really a bit of a stretch.

But there is one thing to say, the NBA's defense is really fierce at this time, even pulling and pulling without showing any signs of weakness.

If Wayne remembers correctly, the 2003-04 season was the swan song of this iron-blooded defense.

Because after this season, HandCheck's defensive method will be cancelled.

The so-called Hand Check refers to a technique of using hands to contact the opponent's body when defending. This defensive method is also the foundation of the iron-blooded defense in the 1990s and early 21st century.

During this period, almost every team was advocating the concept that "defense wins championships", which caused a headache for then NBA commissioner David Stern.

Because the game focuses on defense, the scene is destined to be very dull. What fans love to watch are always cool goals and explosive dunks.

If you can't score a few goals in a game, who else will pay for it?

If this continues, the NBA's ratings will only get worse and worse.

So Stern made up his mind to strongly encourage offense. In this way, the No Handcheck rule was born.

The new rules stipulate that if an outside player is above the free throw line, then when he moves with the ball, the defensive player cannot use his hands or forearms on the body of the player holding the ball, otherwise it will be a foul.

This rule change directly brought about earth-shaking changes in the NBA's playing style.

At the same time, it also allowed a number of outside players to rise completely, and the era of traditional big men was officially ended.

Yao Ming and O'Neal have almost become the last glory of traditional insiders.

Although many fans, including Wayne, believe that the NBA with fierce defense is actually better.

As for confrontational sports, the most attractive part is the confrontation.

But it turns out that the NBA, which has become more focused on offense, has indeed developed better and better.

Thinking of this, Wayne no longer felt bored watching the Lakers and Mavericks playing crazy on the TV.

A game with this kind of defensive intensity is really worth watching every game.

At the same time, Wayne is also lucky that he only entered the league after the HC rules were cancelled.

Otherwise, with his current body, he would be so abused under the HC rules that he would be unable to take care of himself.

Of course, it is not easy to survive in an alliance without HC rules.

In the few seasons after the HC rule was cancelled, the NBA's defensive intensity was still quite strong.

It was only from the second decade of the 21st century that the ferocity of the confrontation began to decline.

In Wayne's previous life, the basketball game in 2020 looks completely different from the current basketball game.

After three minutes of fighting each other, the Lakers finally opened up the situation with the help of the huge Shaq.

Tony Allen was so excited when he saw O'Neal hanging on the basket.

In this era, Kobe is not yet completely on his own, James has just entered the league, Curry is still eating popcorn in the stands, and Antetokounmpo still doesn’t know what basketball is.

O'Neal's popularity at this moment is truly unmatched.

"Shaq is really great. The Lakers will definitely win the championship this year. What do you think? Wayne." Halfway through, Tony Allen turned to discuss the probability of the Lakers winning the championship with Wayne.

"They are indeed very strong, but they are not as strong as they look. Both Payton and Malone have entered the end of their careers, so..."

Before Wayne could finish his words, Payton gave the still immature "Silver Horn King" a block on the court.

I'll wipe it and slap it in the face?

The 35-year-old Payton can actually take advantage of Dirk, who has a height advantage. How terrifying!

"Hahahaha, look, Payton and Malone can still perform well! It's a pity that Kobe can't play, otherwise the Lakers will definitely have an easier time in today's game."

"You like Kobe?"

"A little bit, I appreciate his fighting spirit. I don't know what it would be like to play against a guard of his level." Tony Allen's eyes flashed with expectations for the NBA.

Wayne shook his head.

Don't worry, brother, if you enter the NBA in the future, Kobe will definitely remember you well.

There are many opportunities for you two to torture each other.

Maybe we'll even play Kobe together.

"It's a pity that Kobe and Shaq are always at odds. It would be a pity if the two of them finally separated because of this. Wayne, the new season will officially start in a few days. Our duo also has to

Just leave your name in the history of the NCAA!"

After Tony Allen finished speaking, he couldn't help but squeeze Wayne's arm.

Wayne's Adam's apple slid up and down and he swallowed.

What's going on with these affectionate eyes...

While teachers Wayne and Tony were alone in the dormitory, Sutton Sr. and his son Sean were making the last preparation before the start of the new season - player registration.

NCAA player registration is mainly to review Proposition 48.

That is, students whose grades do not meet the requirements can train with the team, but cannot register for official competitions.

Dwyane Wade, who was picked with the fifth overall pick in this year's draft, has suffered losses in this regard.

Although Wade is a junior player, he has actually only played in college for two years.

Because Wade's grades were not up to standard during his freshman year, he could only train with the team throughout his freshman year and could not play.

In addition to the injury factor, this incident also had a great impact on Wade.

Although Wade played very well in his sophomore and junior seasons, due to a wasted year, Wade was ultimately ranked 13th overall in the draft predictions.

If it weren't for Pat Riley's bold gamble, Wade wouldn't have been so high in the draft.

Score review is the key to NCAA registration, and it is also the most stringent aspect of the association.

As for other basic data, such as height and weight, as long as you don't write too outrageously, generally no one will care about you.

So when Sutton was about to submit Wayne's registration form, he hesitated.

"Tell me, what is Wei's height data that we should report?"

"He's 2.11 meters. It seems he hasn't grown any taller." Sean replied without thinking.

"Hey, you are still too young, Sean. If you fill in 2.11 meters, other teams may send centers to defend Wayne, which would be a big disadvantage. Wayne's height, we have to be shorter."

After hearing what Old Sutton said, Sean looked up at his father and called him an expert.

"So, fill in 2.08 meters?"

"2.08 meters... I think it's a bit high, so let's fill in 2.06 meters."

"What!?" Sean was completely shocked, what a show of manipulation!

It made Wayne five centimeters shorter!

The gap of five centimeters is not a small one in a basketball game. Wade was once called "Jordan who is five centimeters shorter" when he was in college.

Although this is a compliment to Wade, it also means that if Wade was five centimeters taller, people think he would be stronger.

"Is this... really good?"

"What's the point? If people from the association really ask, we'll just say that he grew taller later." Old Sutton smiled and happily wrote down Wayne's height data.

"Tony is 1.93 meters tall, um... write 1.96 meters tall!"

"Lucas, just write him 1.83 meters."

"The taller ones are written in the shorter direction, the short ones are written in the higher order, perfect!"

Seeing his father crazily tampering with the players' heights and enjoying it, Sean shook his head.

Judging from his operational proficiency, he probably does this kind of thing a lot.

But having said that, the true height of NBA players is a mystery. Sutton's doing this can be regarded as being in line with the profession.

After sorting out a thick stack of registration forms, Old Sutton nodded with satisfaction.
To be continued...