Who doesn't want to be a superstar, earn a high salary, drive a luxury car, live in a mansion, but in fact, among the more than half a million high school student players every year, only a few dozen people can get the attention of the NBA, and those who stand firm are even rarer, as for those who eventually become stars, two hands can be counted.
Not everyone is James, all are Durant, not all have a letter brother, Morant's luck, most of the players with dreams, can only win trust and attention through hard work, little by little, such as Jordan McLaughlin, a draft that has been in the NBA for 3 years, but there are still many fans who can't name the draft, his struggle is the true portrayal of most NBA players.
At the passerby level, McLaughlin's talent is already very anti-heavenly, 1.80 meters tall, 1.95 meters arm span, but that is the NBA, a place where all the geniuses in the world are gathered, compared with them, McLaughlin's physical condition is relatively mediocre, especially the size, it is difficult to enter the scouts' eyes, in the 2018 draft, McLaughlin did not accidentally become a loser.
McLaughlin, who was mentally prepared for this result, got up and turned off the TV without a trace of displeasure on his face.
"What's next for you?" The family asked, and McLaughlin paused for a moment, "I'd like to try again." ”
Yes, a dream that has persisted for so many years, how can he be willing to give up easily, not to mention that in the NCAA, he is not a mediocre person, scoring, assisting, stealing, and three-point shooting, all ranked in the top five in the history of the team, once considered the best point guard in the Mississippi West.
McLaughlin wants to be seen by the NBA, and after turning down several invitations from overseas leagues, he chose to sign with the Nets' long island nets, where McLaughlin unleashed all his talents, handing over a report card that averaged 15 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.6 steals per game, helping the Nets achieve their best record since its inception and reached the Finals, despite scoring 22 points, but regrettably losing to the Vipers.
Although he failed to win the championship, McLaughlin's outstanding performance still won the attention of some NBA teams, such as the Timberwolves, who used a two-way contract to bring McLaughlin into the NBA, not only that, his first year of play, but also very commendable, in the limited playing time, can get 7.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.1 steals, shooting rate of 49% and 38%, as a player at the end of the bench, this report card, has been quite good.
But at the end of the season, the Timberwolves still provided him with only a two-way contract, it should be noted that at this time McLaughlin is 24 years old, he needs to make plans for his future life, whether to continue to pursue an unlikely dream, or to go overseas to pan for gold to make money to support his family, this is a very real problem in front of him, after a few days of deep thinking, McLaughlin decided to give himself one last chance to become a two-way player again.
Life is like this, no one knows what the road ahead is, whether it is a straight road, or a jungle full of thorns, so whenever people experience a choice, people will always hesitate, but on the road of pursuing dreams, persistence is often the only choice, sometimes, it is really a little longer to insist, you can see hope.
McLaughlin was glad he didn't give up, because a year later, he not only got a three-year, $6.48 million formal contract, but also shined in the playoffs.
G4 that game, McLaughlin came off the bench for 14 minutes, 5 of 6 shots, 4 of 4 from three-point range, scored 16 points at the same time, also grabbed 2 rebounds, delivered 2 assists, plus 2 steals, especially in the last few rounds, he calmly played, shot, accurate interception, steals, all impressed the fans, compared to McLaughlin, 2-eyed Russell and Morant play, it is a bit dwarfed, the former 12 shots 3, scored 10 points, the latter 13 shots only 4 of 4, scored 11 points.
Throughout the series, McLaughlin performed very well, averaging less than 17 minutes per game, getting 6.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.0 steals, shooting 70.6%, shooting 57.1% from three-point range, and his style of play was "stable".
Steady dribbling: solid basic skills, few mistakes, averaging only 0.4 times per game, assists and turnovers ratio of 8.5, the league is second only to Caruso;
Passing stable: not sticking to the ball, the ball is also very decisive and rapid, in the case of only 10.7% of the use rate, the assist rate can reach 33.4%, the assist rate of 44.7%, ranking first in the league;
Steady shooting: McLaughlin is an opportunist and will never shoot strongly unless there is an empty position, so the efficiency aspect is also considerable, accumulating 17 shots and hitting 12 goals;
The true offensive plus-minus value is 3.4, ranking first in the whole team, and the true defensive plus-minus value is 4.4, ranking second in the whole team.
And when McLaughlin is on the floor, the Timberwolves' performance on both ends of the floor will improve visibly: on the offensive end, when he's on the floor, the team can score 4.1 more points per 100 possessions; on the defensive end, they can concede 1.9 points per 100 rounds.
McLaughlin's performance is obvious to all, standing on the sidelines of the coach Finch will also see everything, in the 6th game, he gave McLaughlin a full 25 minutes of time, I believe that next season, the 26-year-old draft, can get more opportunities, we also expect him to bring more and more wonderful performances.