"I ran hard to catch up with myself, who had high hopes."
This inspirational quote, which is collected by many, describes Sean Livingston, who once had high hopes - 2.01 meters tall, 88 kilograms of weight, 2 meters 11 arm span, 2 meters 68 standing height, he has the height of a striker, but has excellent passing vision, has a stable mid-range shooting ability, plays as a point guard, and the draft template is "Magic" Johnson. In 2004, he was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the fourth pick in the first round, a high pick that shows that he is indeed pinned on high hopes.
However, in the 2006-2007 season, Livingston suffered a very serious injury - he was still playing for the Clippers, in the Clippers' game against the Bobcats, he completed the steal and then quickly counterattacked, he made a fake move in the air to avoid the defender's cap, causing him to lose his balance, his left leg tilted to touch the ground first, causing the knee to form a reverse joint sprain, his knee was severely deformed, even the bones were clearly visible, and he was almost amputated.
Livingston's injury is one of the most horrific injuries in the NBA, and the video of his injury made many viewers feel uncomfortable and frightened, and many video sites had to delete the video, and to this day, this video is still banned on some video sites, and you can imagine how much pain he experienced as a party.
The injury changed the trajectory of Livingston's career, which resulted in his absence from the 2007–2008 season and was dropped by the Clippers in 2008. After many surgeries, large and small, and numerous rehabilitations, Livingston was finally able to make a comeback in the 2008-2009 season, but his comeback was fraught with difficulties.
In the three seasons since his comeback, he has played only 22 games, from a talented point guard to an NBA homeless man, and has worked for the Heat, Thunder, Wizards, Charlotte Bobcats, Bucks, Wizards, Cavaliers, and Nets.
In the 2013-2014 season, the 28-year-old Livingston played for the Nets, and with a base salary, he played his best season since injury - played in 76 games, made 54 starts, averaged 26 minutes per game, averaged 8.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.4 blocks, shooting 48.3% from the field.
The outstanding performance caught the attention of the Warriors management, and the Warriors offered him a three-year, $16 million contract, which became one of the wisest decisions on the Warriors' road to building a great team. Many young fans know Livingston from the Warriors, when playing for the Warriors, Livingston is basically a substitute, not much playing time, the average score per game is not high, but he is an indispensable member of the Warriors.
Livingston's performance in the Warriors is described by the word "steady", his mid-range shooting, his turnaround jump shot, feel that one shot can score, in the Warriors' 5 seasons, Livingston's shooting rate is more than 50%, the highest one season shot 54.7% shooting rate, one year in the playoffs even shot 57.6% shooting rate, his score is not much, but very efficient. As long as he plays, he can contribute to the team, he helped the Warriors win three championships, and is the hero of the championship.
He can still perform like this after being seriously injured and almost cut off, and if he is not injured, what height can he reach? What was his level before he was injured? Perhaps to the disappointment of many fans, Livingston did not play a very impressive stat before the injury.
In his rookie season, he averaged 27.1 minutes per game, averaging 7.4 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.4 blocks per game, shooting 41.4% from the field. In his second season, he averaged 25 minutes per game, averaging 5.8 points, 3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks per game, shooting 42.7 percent from the field.
In these two seasons, Livingston has not played the performance expected by the outside world, and if you look at the data, you feel that he is a very average player. In fact, the Clippers didn't go all out to train him at the time, which was evident from the playing time. In addition, the Clippers' offensive pace at the time was very slow, and Livingston's style of play did not fit into this system. Last but not least, Livingston has no ball, Cassell and Brand control the ball, and Livingston, who is supposed to be in charge of the big picture, has to be used as a pitcher many times, which is difficult for him who does not have three-point range.
By the third season, Livingston had 31 starts, the average playing time per game increased to 29.8 minutes, the average number of shots per game increased to 8.3, indicating that he was more and more valued, he averaged 9.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.5 blocks per game, shooting 46.3% from the field, all the statistics are career highs, I did not expect to play 54 games, he suffered a terrible injury, the genius who was pinned on high hopes has not yet cashed in his talent, It was ruthlessly destroyed by injuries.
Although Livingston later found his role in the Warriors and won 3 championships, his performance still did not meet his expectations, and he still did not catch up with himself, who had been pinned high hopes. However, as a player who has experienced a terrible injury, as an injured person who is considered by the outside world to be unable to return to the court, he can overcome various difficulties to return to the field, and is slowly getting better, and finally find a good home, in fact, he has left his former self far behind.