Don’t give up if you lose the election! Four dark horses from the bottom!

Suppose you are a potential rookie player, and when you are full of expectations and you are not interested in the NBA draft, and you feel that the smooth road suddenly faces a rugged, what will you choose next? Some people are silently obsessed with everyone, while others are able to bottom out and rebound, which ultimately becomes a key link that affects the team's seasonal outcome.

Cavaliers' Struth, Timberwolves' Naz Reed, Thunder's Dort, and Celtics' Luke Connet, these four players chose different directions and successfully made their careers go steadily.

Cavaliers' playoffs number one veteran: Max Struz

In the Cavaliers' main rotation, in addition to Tristan Thompson, who has become a water dispenser, Struz is the team's most experienced player in the playoffs. This season's regular season averaged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, and 11.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in the playoffs. As the top five scoring power of the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference, it was not favored by any team at the 2019 draft.

In his early career, he played for the Celtics, Bulls and other teams in two-way contracts. He was given up by his hometown team due to injury and finally transferred to the Miami Heat, becoming the most critical part of Butler's dark horse corps, and joined the Cavaliers by signing first and then changing in the summer of 2023.

Smart ball maker and diligent running have brought many tactical changes to the Cavaliers. They started with the team in the 2023-24 season, and many personal data have written a career high. Due to injuries this season, his personal data has declined slightly, and the Cavaliers lineup has also been strengthened, and occasionally he will play as a substitute.

In the second round of the playoffs, facing the Pacers, whose team style and the players' personal characteristics are very similar, the Cavaliers are in a tough battle, especially the absence of the second scorer Garland, and their poor condition after returning to the team; at this time, the person who can bring offensive support to Mitchell on the offensive end is Struce.

Wolf player beside the Wolf King: Naz Reed

Directly referring to the semi-finals between the Warriors and the Timberwolves. Although the Warriors once gained an advantage, in the end, it was still difficult to sustain because of the shallow depth of the lineup rotation, which was siege by the Timberwolves. In this wave of strong suppression, in addition to the strong performance of No. 1 pick Edwards and wing core Randle, the Timberwolves also have another key role to pay attention to.

averaged 11 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, shooting percentage of 53.3% and three-point shooting percentage of 46.7%, which is the playoff report card handed over by Naz Reed.

As the veteran who has played for the Timberwolves for the longest time, Reed immediately signed a two-way contract with the Timberwolves after he was out of the 2019 draft. During the six years of playing for the Wolves, as long as fans who are familiar with the Timberwolves should know how important Reed is to the Timberwolves. In particular, the management dared to trade high-paid players such as Gobert and Randall who had shortcomings in the outside world, partly because of Reed's versatile offensive methods in the interior position and his roster matching ability.

is not just the offensive ability and high-level offense, Reed's advantage also includes the defensive part. Judging from the big guy in the inside line, he can still deliver a qualified horizontal movement speed when he switches defense to the forward guard. Referring to the semi-finals facing the Warriors, although Reed was repeatedly named by his opponent, even if it could not be completely avoided, it could at least consume a lot of the opponent's main player's offensive strength, which is the value he brought in addition to the offense.

After the end of this season, Reed can choose whether to execute a 15 million contract between the 2025-26 season and the team. In this offseason when players in the penalty area are extremely lacking, according to the current value of Reed, the contract quotation he has received in the market is definitely not small. This is also a very uncomfortable thing for the Timberwolves in the offseason.

Thunder Jack: Lüganz Dort

In the semi-final king mountain between the Thunder and the Nuggets, the Thunder once faced a crisis at the last critical moment. Then, a backcourt player from Canada almost played the fourth quarter and made key goals on the offensive end one after another, scoring 9 points in a single quarter, becoming the key for the Thunder to overtake their opponents in the fourth quarter 34-19 and finally won the match point first.

For some fans who have never watched the game, they may think that this highlight comes from the team's ace Alexander, but the person who finally played this highlight comes from the 2019 undraft: Dort.

Like Alexander, Dort has been playing for the Thunder since the 2019-20 season. In the fourth quarter of the Thunder facing the Nuggets, in addition to his usual oppression and defense and saving, his three-point shooting performance is particularly critical, and he is an important contributor to the Thunder's ability to catch up and overtake in the fourth quarter. Of course, Dorte's defensive moves are controversial, and this is the part we don't shy away from. However, judging from the content of the game, the positive value that Dort brings to the team is definitely an aspect that cannot be ignored.

Due to the arrival of Caruso and Alexander's gradual establishment of the team's leadership position, and the development of some new players in recent seasons, Dort's value to the Thunder in the past is gradually being allocated. From another perspective, this is also the first opportunity for Dort to be liberated from what he is used to, giving him more opportunities to create new value.

Even though his three-point shooting percentage has fallen below 30% since the playoffs, Dort is clear enough that with the momentum of the Thunder hitting the championship this season, as long as he can play at a critical moment, he must maintain enough confidence in himself on both offense and defense. Just like the battle of Tianwang Mountain in the semi-finals, 8 minutes and 21 seconds in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder trailed the Nuggets 81-90 9 points, he completed four outside shots without hesitation in just two minutes, finally making the final decision for the game..

The last glimmer of the defending army: Luke Connet

The fifth game where Tatum was absent and the Celtics fell 1-3. Connet came on as a substitute for 25 minutes, not only scored 10 points and 9 rebounds in 5 shots, but also handed over 7 blocks, perfectly defending the Celtics' penalty area when the Posses were in poor condition, barely saving the face of the Celtics.

Especially the opponent he faces is the Knicks who promoted himself from a two-way contract to a formal contract after he was defeated. In the 2018-19 season, Connet averaged 17 minutes per game, shooting 1.5 three-pointers per game with a shooting percentage of 36.3%. In addition, his ability to block inside also made him favored other teams in the free agent market.

But for Cornet, such a space development route seems to be just an accident. Cornet, who was positioned as the space fifth, was no longer at the level of the outside line in the following years. Later, he came to the Celtics in a transaction involving Javente Green and Theis, but he failed to stay smoothly, and then he successively transferred to the Cavaliers and the Bucks.

Then he returned to the Celtics again. Under Mazula's tactical positioning, facing the large number of three-point shots from other players, Connet instead relied on cover to run to start playing an advantage in the penalty area. As the former No. 5 position in the space, most of the current shots are in the inside penalty area, and with the ability to protect the defensive end, it has gradually become one of the few highlights in the Celtics' playoffs.