The first semi-final between the Lakers and Warriors in the West. At 5 minutes 17 seconds before the end of the fourth quarter, Ham used De Angelo Russell to replace Vanderbilt. At this time, the Lakers led by 8 points.

In the following four minutes, Stephen Curry seemed to remove the shackles and get 5 points, sending out one assist, and the warrior Jesus fought back. When Vanderbilt returned to the court at 1 minute 5 seconds before the end of the game, the Lakers had only 2 points in the lead.

In the last minute, the Lakers played key defense twice, and Vanderbilt was in half court. In these two defensive rounds, Vanderbilt did the following work: leading the defense Curry, chasing Poole relieve a garrison, and relieve a garrison pairs of Wikins again, changing Poole into the encirclement of James and heavy eyebrows; After James hit the iron, quickly defend back and attack curry with Reeves to force Curry to score, and jump up to interfere with Poole’s super far three-point shot.

In just one minute, Vanderbilt’s “defensive gate” was undoubtedly revealed. The 26-minute warrior’s 100-round score he was present was only 100 points, and the other 22-minute 100-round score was as high as 121.3 points.

Vanderbilt became the Lakers’ version of Rodman, and his original template was Odom and Ben Simmons. The terrible injury changed Vanderbilt’s career track. What is admirable is that Vanderbilt has been reborn from the fire. He could no longer catch up with himself, but after experiencing sorrow and suffering, he changed a form, and he could still become an indispensable puzzle for the championship team.

Around 2014, the news that “a genius appeared in Houston” spread rapidly in the American Scout circle. This genius was Vanderbilt. In high school, Vanderbilt experienced a crazy development period, and his height quickly grew from 1.8 meters to 2.8 meters. His father Robert described in exaggerated ways that Vanderbilt’s development seemed to have been completed overnight, “I was taller than my son the day before and could pat his head. The next day, he patted my head.”

The crazy growth and height brought fame to Vanderbilt. He combined the defender’s play with his high advantage and became an all-around warrior like Odom and Simmons, former NBA player McRae once described Vanderbilt’s ability as similar to Simmons before injury. However, crazy growth and height also brought harm to Vanderbilt. His fragile lower limbs were under too much pressure, resulting in frequent injuries to his feet.

In the third season of senior high school, Vanderbilt fractured his left foot and recovered after rest. In the fourth season of senior high school, Vanderbilt fractured his left foot again. This time he underwent an operation. The doctor implanted steel nail into his left foot to stabilize him.

This operation did not affect Vanderbilt’s entry into the University of Kentucky. After all, he scored 28.5 points, 13.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists in four high-school games, which was a good big core data. ESPN ranked him 19th in the list of hundred new stars, ranking 5th in the power forward, and the famous coach Cali pari favored him.

However, van der Bilt was not spared from the injury. After entering Kentucky, he suffered another left foot injury and missed the first 17 games of the season. After returning, Vanderbilt first imitated Rodman’s way of playing under Calipari’s suggestion, and did a good job in defense and rebounding, because Kentucky didn’t have time to give him enough ball rights to run in at that time. Vanderbilt did a good job. He had 5 games to backboard.

Then, the familiar pain came again. In a training, Vanderbilt hurt his left foot again, and he screamed painfully after landing.

“I thought it was over. I thought I would never find me back.” Vanderbilt was in despair at that time. His freshman season was reimbursed, leaving only the data of 5.9 points and 7.9 rebounds for 14 games.

“I thought implantation of steel nail was the last option. At that time, I was facing great pressure.”

Pressure and despair come from the choices offered by doctors to Vanderbilt. The doctor told Vanderbilt that his left foot needed bone grafting to strengthen the weak position of his left foot. This major operation meant that he needed a year to recover. In addition, Vanderbilt’s right foot is highly likely to undergo the same bone grafting surgery in the future.

The doctor’s diagnosis means that if Vanderbilt first underwent left foot surgery, he would not be able to impact NBA before his junior year. Even if he returns in the junior season, his right foot is still likely to be injured, and the injury will be a time bomb.

After weighing the pros and cons, Vanderbilt chose to gamble. He accepted the bone grafting operation on his feet at one time. Even if he could not move within six months after the operation and could not participate in the trial training and interview arranged by the NBA team, he still chose to participate in the NBA draft after his freshman year.

“That time was so depressing. Sometimes I just felt depressed. I couldn’t even walk. I just lay down or walk around with power car.” Vanderbilt recalled. Depression stems from a sense of disillusionment.

The operation had a great influence on Vanderbilt’s draft ranking. In 2018, he was not selected by the Nuggets until the 41st ranking. That year, the Nuggets also used the 14th sign to gamble on Michael PROTONIC, who was also knocked down by injuries in the university.

Connelly, then the president of the Nuggets, had high expectations for Vanderbilt and gave him a three-year contract, which seemed to be ready for long-term training. But after only one year, Vanderbilt was sent to the Timberwolves.

It is no wonder that Vanderbilt needs time to adapt to the strength of NBA after bipedal surgery. He needs to overcome the psychological shadow, and the Nuggets aiming to win at the moment cannot give him a chance. In Timberwolves, Vanderbilt got more opportunities and began to show value. He played the role of Rodman beside Downs, which made Downs also sigh with emotion that “the team with Vanderbilt is lucky”.

In the first half of this season, Vanderbilt was sent to the jazz because he was involved in the Gobel trade. At that time, the Jazz played the three-forward starting line-up of olinik + marcanin + Vanderbilt, vanderbilt continues to prove his defensive value.

Some teams have talked about jazz, and Anji’s attitude is “no first round visa is free of talk”. But before the end of the deal, because jazz intended to focus on cultivating new stars such as Kessler, Anji did not speak out to the Lakers lion, he only accepted a protected first-round signing of the Lakers in 2027 and took over the contract of weishao with a bunch of additions. He also gave it to the Lakers Beasley and Vanderbilt, help Russell settle in the Lakers in the three-party deal.

In the “traffic Capital”, Vanderbilt got more exposure. At the end of February, the Lakers reversed the First Battle of the Lone Ranger with 27 points. Vanderbilt also got 15 points, 17 rebounds and 4 steals while defending Dong cheqi. That was the game that Vanderbilt completely won the recognition of the Lakers.

“His presence gives us more flexibility on the defensive side. At the beginning of the season, we were too short.” Davis praised Vanderbilt for defending multiple locations.

Ham said: “We are really happy to have Vanderbilt. We have been looking for players with height, arm length, confrontation and full of vitality. Now we have found them.”

From the regular season match to East cheqi, to the playoff match Morant and Curry, Vanderbilt is the defensive elite that the Lakers are looking. Perhaps in another parallel world, Vanderbilt, who has not experienced injuries and suffering, is the core of holding the ball with the top salary, and in the real real world Vanderbilt is a blue collar.

This does not prevent Vanderbilt from being proud of himself and being able to overcome serious injuries to this point. He is already a winner. What’s more, the role of “The new version of Rodman” will not let Vanderbilt disappear, and it will also bring him a big contract. Starting from September 7th, Vanderbilt is eligible to renew the contract with the Lakers in advance, and can sign up to $71 million for 4 years. If Vanderbilt can practice a more accurate and stable three points, his value will be higher.

“Those who really know the ball will not underestimate the value of my play.”