As the top game of basketball, the NBA has never lacked talented players, tall arms, long arms, can run and jump is only a hard condition for becoming a star, a strong heart and a never-ending learning attitude, it is possible to become the king at the top of the pyramid.
The players introduced today, when they first entered the league, were known as "magician successors" and "second penny", but their talent visible to the naked eye suffered from injuries and began a journey of displacement after returning to the field. Rising up at the Nets, in warrior nirvana, the mid-range jumper that was higher than the means became his signature, "I ran hard just to catch up with the self who had been pinned high hopes", he was Sean Livingston.
In 1985, Livingston was born in Illinois, USA, when his mother Ann-Barr was only 21 years old, because the parents did not have a stable emotional basis in marriage, when Livingston was only 15 months old, the parents chose to divorce, and the mother finally bravely chose to raise Livingston to grow up.
However, the heartache of the single mother will not be pitied by life, and soon Ann-Bar chooses to send Livingston to the nursery, and soon after is seen by his biological father Reggie, in order to give his son better room to grow, he decides to take little Livingston to his side to take care of.
Livingston's childhood was relatively happy under the care of his father's frugality, and as a loyal basketball fan, his father Reggie discovered the physical talent of little Livingston from an early age, slender calves, far exceeding the arm span of ordinary people, which made him decide to train his son to become a professional athlete.
In his spare time after school, in order to cultivate his son's dribbling feel, Reggie blindfolded Livingston's eyes and let him play two basketballs at the same time; in order to enhance the stability of the chassis, playing in the snow in the winter became a daily training routine in Livingston, and the father completely injected his basketball concept into Livingston, but ignored his son's personal feelings.
Looking back at Livingston's high school career, it is full of many dramatic twists: in the first season of high school, the thin Livingston was plagued by wrist and foot injuries, played only 16 games, and did not play well; after being promoted to the starting lineup in the second year of high school, an acute pneumonia made him miss the opportunity to participate in the Illinois Basketball League; and then because he was dissatisfied with his father's "back door" approach, he decided to transfer to Peoria High School and began to dominate his basketball career.
During his senior and senior seasons at Peoria Central High School, Livingston won two state basketball league high school trophies, an Illinois Basketball Man, and a McDonald's All-American Team.
In the summer of 2004, Livingston, who was about to graduate from high school, received a number of basketball invitations, including the famous "old K coach" who wrote a letter inviting him to join, but the stubborn Livingston insisted on participating directly in the NBA draft as a high school student.
In the 03-04 season, Garnett was named the regular season MVP of the 03-04 season, Maddy won the league's scoring champion, James won the best rookie without suspense, Kobe Bryant has won three consecutive championships, and the above four members are all participating in the NBA draft as high school students, which also makes Livingston full of happy visions for his future in the NBA.
In the 2004 draft, the Clippers took down the talented tall point guard with the 4th pick in the first round, with the aura of "Magician Successor" and "Penny Hardaway Successor", so that Livingston, who had just entered the league, changed his high school explosive hairstyle to Iverson's ridge groove hairstyle, and was bound to break out of his own world in the NBA.
But with a height of 2 meters 01 and a weight of less than 90 kilograms, Livingston gradually found himself unable to adapt to the NBA's high-intensity confrontation, playing only 30 games due to back injuries throughout the season, averaging 7.4 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and the performance can only be said to be bland.
In the summer of 2005, the Clippers traded to the 36-year-old Kassel, who played a good role as a catalyst between brand and Margateti and other big stars, and the Clippers, a Western fish-belly team, eventually reached the playoffs again after the 96-97 season with a record of 47 wins and 35 losses.
Because of Cassel's presence, Livingston's playing time was compressed, averaging only 5.8 points per game, and although Livingston's performance in the playoffs went up a level, it was still far from the Clippers' expectations. Although Cassel ate a portion of Livingston's possession, In two-man off-field training, Cassel, who is strong in mid-range shooting, was called Sean's mentor, laying a solid foundation for his unsolvable mid-range jump shot later in his career.
In the 06-07 season, then-Clippers coach Mike Dunlliver gave Livingston more playing time, and Livingston, who was gradually getting rid of his back injury, improved his average per game to 9.3 points and 5.1 assists, and the PER value rose by a third. Just as everything was moving in a better direction, an injury that fans did not dare to look back knocked down the talented teenager.
On February 27, 2007, the Clippers hosted the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hornets), and just four minutes into the opening, Livingston sprained his left leg and knee during a fast attack, and the injury was so terrifying that the video about his injury was forcibly removed from the shelves.
After the game, Livingston was diagnosed with a patellar dislocation in the left knee, a dislocation of the anterior tibia, a tear in three of the four major ligaments of the knee (anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament), a bilateral meniscus tear, and a serious deformation of the knee area.
Although relying on developed medical technology, doctors repaired Livingston's broken knee, in the process of recovery, Livingston suffered from severe depression, and every day in the cycle of physical pain and psychological torture, he began to doubt life and began to be depressed. Fortunately, five weeks after the operation, Livingston was able to walk independently of his crutches, which allowed him to regain his enthusiasm for life.
After 16 months of rehabilitation, Livingston was able to return to the game, but the NBA is a business league where interests are paramount, and no team is willing to risk signing the badly injured Glassman, and eventually the rookie contract expires and he only waits for the Clippers to renew his contract with a base salary.
At this time, Livingston, who had already developed tired feelings for the Clippers, chose to find another way out and signed an unsecured contract with the Heat, but due to a serious decline in athletic ability after a major injury, he quickly "disappeared into the crowd" on the field. Subsequently, as a dispensable pawn, he moved to the Grizzlies and Thunder, and it was during this time period that Livingston began to learn to adapt to mediocrity and work harder to learn to use basketball IQ to cope with the game.
In February 2010, Livingston waited for an opportunity when washington wizards' "agent zero" Arenas and Critanton were shooting at each other in the locker room, a "gun goal incident" that caused both players to be banned by the NBA league, and washington wizards, who desperately needed a point guard, threw an olive branch to Livingston.
Livingston, who had been unemployed for two months at this time, did not hesitate to pack his bags and go to Washington, and the Wizards, who lacked major generals, gave him 25.6 minutes of playing time, and in the 26 games he played for the team, Livingston averaged 9.2 points and 4.4 assists per game, and it was this short journey that gave him a new confidence on the court.
In the 2010 draft, the Wizards selected John Wall with a big pick, and Livingston showed his value to NBA teams with his highlights last season, and the Charlotte Bobcats offered the "winged" genius a 2-year, $7 million guarantee contract, which is both a reward for Livingston's hard work and an affirmation of his realism.
After coming to the Bobcats, head coach Paul Silas did not grasp Livingston's manual to maximize his value, and throughout the season, Livingston made 73 appearances for the team, averaging 6.6 points per game. On the day of the 2011 draft, Livingston was sent to the Milwaukee Bucks as the addition to the Stephen Jackson and Corey Maguete deals in a three-way deal.
In the 11-12 season, Livingston was given 27 starts due to an accidental injury to Monta Ellis, and his selfless style of play was not compatible with the Bucks at the time, and he could not have a chemical reaction with "Mr. 50" Jennings, and the average per game fell to the level of 5+2. In the summer of 2012, Livingston was sent to houston for the Rockets, where he was cut in just four preseason games for the team, and then moved to the Wizards and Cavaliers, becoming a veritable "wanderer" in the league.
In the 12-13 season, Livingston was traded twice in three months, laid off twice, played for four different teams, played well and was traded, played badly and was abandoned, and Sean seemed to be stuck in a vicious circle. At the age of 28, Livingston experienced hardships and pains that ordinary people have never experienced in their lives.
In the 2013 offseason, Livingston received a career-changing phone call from the new Nets coach Jason Kidd, and when asked if he was interested in joining the team, Livingston, who was unemployed, did not hesitate to agree to the offer, and a veteran base salary made him a substitute for Deron Williams.
Because the main center Lopez was long-term lack of recognition due to injury, The Twilight Garnett was forced to top the center position, and Kidd replaced the backcourt core with Delong. Williams and Livingston, such a change of formation has achieved good results. Livingston played 76 games throughout the season, contributing to the second highest winning contribution of his career.
What is even more surprising is that this season Livingston's recovery in athleticism is visible to the naked eye, completing 50 dunks in a single season, has completely got rid of the shadow of injury, and the enthusiasm and aggressiveness of the basket have made him play more confidently and more calmly on the court.
In the 13-14 season, Livingston averaged 8.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game in 26 minutes of playing time, and the Nets won 55% in the games he played, the highest winning season in the first 10 years of his career. In the face of the media's unsparing praise, Livingston's response is no longer stubborn and frivolous, he is still shy, but more composed and natural.
In the summer of 2014, the Warriors sought a well-skilled guard in the free agency market as Curry's replacement, and eventually they targeted Livingston, and Warriors general manager Bob Myers signed him to a three-year, $16.6 million contract. The Golden State Warriors gave the veteran enough trust, and this sincerity deeply touched him, and Livingston, who had been wandering for many years, found home in Oakland.
The rest of the story does not need to be repeated, in the Warriors' galactic battleship, Livingston played an extremely important substitute role, his stable back-and-forth jumper became a nightmare for the opposing player, and his creative playing style made him the last piece of the Golden State Dynasty puzzle.
After the Warriors won the championship in 2015, Livingston gave an interview to the media, saying: "You may know my career, when people see that you can't do it, no one trusts you anymore." I played in the development league, eager to get a short ten-day contract, and at one point stayed away from the NBA league. But now, my brothers and I have won the championship. ”
The heartache behind this passage can only be understood by Livingston, on the plane back to the Bay Area after winning the championship, when all the Warriors players held the O'Brien Cup and celebrated, only Livingston sat quietly, champagne sprayed in the air like a gorgeous flower, and the dreamy look made everything seem a little unreal.
When his teammates fell into a deep sleep, Livingston stared at the O'Brien Cup, which was no longer youthful, and through the dim light, we saw his shy and relieved smile. Compared with the thick ice pack wrapped around the left knee, this time Nirvana rebirth is indeed too difficult!
Over the next four seasons, Livingston won two more championships with the team, but in the summer of 2019, when Durant and Clay were in charge, they won two more championships with the team. When Thomson fell on the Finals stage one after another, the Warriors dynasty came to an end.
When Durant left Brooklyn, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green completed the maximum salary extension with the home team, russell, who signed first and then changed, completely locked the team's salary space, the Warriors bench was once the "second oldest man" became the first object of the team to abandon, Iguodala was sold half and half to Memphis, and Livingston was cut by the Warriors using extended terms.
On September 14, 2019, Livingston announced his retirement via social media, ending his 15-year NBA career. Looking back on his career, he has never averaged more than 10 points per game in a single season, and a major injury has prevented him from reaching the heights expected by the media and fans, but he has never stopped running, just to catch up with the self who was once highly expected.
"Life is not going well, look at Livingston", although this is a joke, but Livingston's courage in the face of difficulties is indeed worth learning.