Entering the second half of the regular season, giants such as the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Utah Jazz began to show fatigue, and the Phoenix Suns took the opportunity to widen the gap, and still topped the Western Conference, and the advantage has become more and more solid. Against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have been rising fast this season, the Suns have won again after a bitter battle.
The reason why they can top the league list is that the Suns rely on the individual ability of more than just one or two players, for example, in the game against the Timberwolves, the Suns have a total of 7 players in double figures, including all five players in the starting lineup. Center Bismarck Biyombo continued his consistently excellent performance, scoring a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting to help the team win.
The 29-year-old, Also a lotto show cast, was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats (who have changed their name to Hornets) with the 7th overall pick in the first round in 2011. However, Biyombo's technique is really too rough, and in the four years of the Hornets, he has never grown into a qualified starting level center, and his best performance in the 12-13 season averaged only 4.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. The Hornets were very disappointed by this, and after the expiration of Biyombo's rookie contract, the Hornets simply gave up the right to match, allowing him to become a free agent, and eventually Biyombo also signed a short contract with the Toronto Raptors.
In the subsequent 15-16 season, in fact, there was not much difference between The performance of Yongbo, but the playoffs were a small outbreak, especially the Eastern Conference Finals Raptors and The Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James staged a fierce battle, and Yongbo's superior rebounding and rim protection ability was impressive. But no one can imagine that the Orlando Magic directly gave Biyongbo a four-year maximum salary contract, which is really crazy, after all, Biyongbo is only playing a few good games in the playoffs at best, even if the salary cap skyrockets, other teams may not be willing to sign him a contract. On the other hand, even if Biyongbo is signed, the Magic already has interior players such as Nikola Vucevic, Sergio Ibaka and Aaron Gordon, and has signed a single-function blue-collar center Biyombo, which is really a bit confusing.
Sure enough, Bi Yongbo only played for two seasons at the Magic, and the performance was a mess, and the Magic really couldn't stand it, sending him back to the Hornets. Here Biyombo has recovered some form, and in the past two seasons, because the Hornets really don't have many options in the center position, Biyongbo competed with Cody Zeller for a job, occupied a lot of playing time, and even started for a long time. Among them, in the 19-20 season, he averaged 7.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, which is a good show of his characteristics.
However, after the end of last season, Biyongbo was not popular as a free agent for a long time. This is actually not surprising, after all, the traditional center is now in a sharp decline in the market, even dwight Howard and Andre Drummond and other former All-Stars, can only get a basic salary contract, not to mention pure blue collar than Yongbo, can only say the development trend of the times. After all, the three centers in the Purple and Gold Army's team last season, Mark Gasol, Andre Drummond and Monterrez Harrell, all left without exception, desperately needing to find a replacement, but the Lakers did not sign Biyongbo in the end.
Until the middle of this season, the Suns fell into a personnel shortage, chose to complete the signing with Biyongbo, and he also lived up to expectations, so far Biyongbo appeared 11 times for the Suns, the performance is also very powerful, Biyongbo can average 11.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.3 blocks per game, shooting 66.7%, and a number of statistics have also set a new career high. Some people will say that Biyombo had good luck and met Paul, creating a lot of easy scoring opportunities for him, which is certainly one aspect, but Biyongbo's own blocking cover, rebounding and interior defensive ability, which can not be ignored, he effectively filled the gap in the Suns' interior position. On the other hand, for the Lakers, even if the "thick eyebrow brother" Anthony Davis was suspended due to injury, the Lakers management still chose to stay still, and in the case that Dwight Howard only played as a pseudo-first for a while, Jordan Jr. was simply abandoned, the Lakers did not go to strengthen the inside position, allowing LeBron James and Trevo Ariza to make cameo small-ball centers, which is really strange.
Of course, it is not only the Lakers who are embarrassed now, but also the situation of DeAndre Ayton, who is the 2018 champion, is also somewhat delicate. Originally, last season's solar energy reached the finals, Ayton's role can not be ignored, but the Suns because they already have Chris Paul and Devin Booker two big contracts, so they fully price Ayton, the two sides can not reach a renewal agreement in advance. As a result, the Suns do not seem to have been greatly affected by Ayton's absence this season, the team's high progress is on the one hand, and the inside position is better than Yongbo, McGee and Jaylen Smith and others have performed well. In this case, it is even more difficult for Ayton to get the top salary at the Suns, plus he is a limited free agent, and other teams do not dare to easily raise the price, and now the initiative is completely in the hands of the Suns.