From offense to defense! How did Daluo evolve into a space inside line?

With the first round of the playoffs losing to the Pacers 1-4, the Bucks' 2024-25 season officially came to an end. Since winning the 2020-21 season, this team that once stood at the top has never gone further. Three consecutive seasons ended in the first round, causing the stories that shouldn't have ended so early to come to an end again and again.

This result can't help but make people worry about Antetokounmpo's future. Will this superstar who has always worked hard to leave the team? Shortly after the season's elimination, he mentioned in an interview that he was open to his future.

But besides Antetokounmpo, fans may have forgotten that the Bucks were able to successfully win the title of king, and there was another person who silently defended the team's fragile inside penalty area.

Brooke Lopez, the former offensive center, transformed into a defensive pillar for this team. His changes supported the Bucks' defense line. Even though he is no longer the best star in data after Antetokounmpo, he is an indispensable key cornerstone in the team's tactics.

Now, 37-year-old Daluo, his contract is about to expire. Maybe this is the last time he has stood on the playoff stage as a Bucks player.

Time returned to the 2008 draft night, and the twins attracted a lot of attention, the Lopez brothers from Stanford University. Both of them play in the center position, while in contrast, brother Brooke Lopez was the first to show his talent on the offensive end, allowing him to be selected by the Nets at the 10th pick, five picks higher than his younger brother Robin Lopez.

In that era when he still valued low-level singles and the footsteps of the penalty area, Daluo's inside skills were quite skilled. At that time, Nets' starting center Josh Boone was absent due to injury, and Daluo quickly took the starting position and gradually stood firm in the rotation position. As the season enters its final stage, the team gradually enters the reconstruction stage, and the young Daluo is also regarded as one of the hopes for the future.

Although his offensive efficiency is not very high and his ability to protect the frame and rebound is often criticized, during the Nets' low period, Daluo was undoubtedly the mainstay of the team.

In the 2012-13 season, the Nets supplemented core point guard Deron Williams, allowing Daluo, who is good at pick-and-roll, to fully utilize his offensive advantage. The team successfully entered the playoffs in the first year of relocation to Brooklyn, and Daluo was selected as the All-Star for the first time due to his stable performance.

In the next few years, the Nets hollowed out their future assets in exchange for Joe Johnson, Pierce, and Garnett. They paired with Deron and Daluo in the team to form a Big Five lineup with all five starting players with All-Star qualifications. But in the end, due to injuries and aging, they were unable to exert their expected combat power value, and they also lost their future bargaining chips in the transaction. After the Big Five disbanded, the Nets immediately fell into boundless darkness of reconstruction.

Although Daluo chose to sign a long contract with the team with kindness and righteousness, ironically, in this team that has neither present nor future, his loyal performance has become the team's only valuable bargaining chip.

In the summer of 2017, Daluo put on a purple gold jersey and left Brooklyn, where he had been playing for nine years. From rookie, All-Star center, to the team's core, Daluo has almost witnessed the peaks and troughs of the Nets. That year he was sent to Los Angeles as a bargaining chip. In theory, he is an ideal reinforcement, but in fact, he is more like a person placed in the wrong time.

At that time, the Lakers were in the reconstruction period, with young players occupying the main line, and the team's goal was to the future. Daluo scored his personal data of 13 points and 4 rebounds per game. Whether it was three-pointers or inside, he had done everything he could, but he could not stop one game after another. In the game where the score was widened, Daluo's playing time was greatly compressed, and the head coach was more inclined to use freshman players in the fourth quarter.

In a game where he lost more than 30 points, then Lakers head coach Luke Walton replaced Daluo early, and Daluo was once photographed by the camera burying his face in a towel and crying silently. Even his teammate Clarkson had never seen such an emotional collapse. At that moment, Daluo was no longer the center on the court, but a veteran player who didn't know how to withstand failure.

After the embarrassing one-year contract, Daluo and the Lakers parted ways and chose to join the Bucks with a basic salary contract. What I didn't expect at that time was that this actually became his next peak starting point. After the Warriors Dynasty set off a wave of three-pointers, the basketball trend of the entire league began to undergo earth-shaking changes, and the value of this three-pointer turret with projection gradually began to change.

The trend changes at both ends of offense and defense once put many traditional centers in an awkward situation. The traditional inside line that relies on singles in the penalty area was gradually considered to be a representative of inefficient scoring, and the off-field players with outside shooting ability have also become favored because they can open up the offensive space. At the same time, in order to deal with the opponent's periphery attack, the off-field players are also required to have stronger mobility and periphery repair and defense capabilities, otherwise they will be easily eliminated in this innovation.

Unlike most centers, Daluo himself noticed a change in basketball style very early on. In the first eight seasons of his career, he only made 31 three-pointers. However, in the 2016-17 season, his last year of playing for the Nets, with the tactical adjustments of head coach Atkinson, his three-point shots soared to 387.

Relying on the rare soft feel at the center position, Daluo made a three-point shooting percentage of 34.6%. Although it has not reached the top shooter level, it is enough for the opponent to dare not let him go easily in actual combat. More importantly, Daluo's transformation in the season just proved to the outside world that he was able to adapt to this alliance that emphasized space and mobility.

After joining the Bucks in the 2018-19 season, head coach Budenholzer completely released the value of Daluo. Under the system of operating around Antetokounmpo, the core of the penalty area attack, Daluo was positioned as an anti-aircraft gunner who was dismantled from the pick-and-roll, responsible for opening up the offensive space and amplifying Antetokounmpo's threat of ball-holding breakthrough.

Dalou scored the most 512 three-pointers in his career during the season, with a shooting percentage of 36%. In addition, Daluo is not just a fixed-point shooter who catches the ball at the stand. He can often take a step back or stop and make an emergency move, becoming a truly threatening peripheral firepower point. Combined with his already skilled singles skills in the penalty area, Daluo's offensive level has been fully upgraded.

When the Warriors Splash Brothers became popular in the league, Daluo was also known as the best turret in the new era for his outstanding three-point ability.

In terms of defense, Budenholzer was very aware of Dalu's slow pace, so he designed a special penalty area defense system around him, allowing him to focus on protecting the basket and reduce pulling on the outside. Relying on excellent game judgment and long arm advantages, it once became the biggest obstacle for the opponent to break through the basket. With the external assistance of Antetokounmpo and Holiday, the Bucks were able to build an indestructible internal and external defense line.

Da Luo averaged 2.1 blocks per game in the seven seasons he joined the Bucks. He knew very well that he was not a physically explosive inside frame guard, but he was able to rely on skills to interfere with his opponents, making him a popular candidate for the best defensive player.

It is no exaggeration to say that Daluo is definitely the core of the Bucks' defensive system, and his stable outside projection also allows him to play his value stably on the offensive end. All of this is an important reason why the Bucks can win the championship trophy in the 2020-21 season.

From the center of the penalty area to the external high-quality turret, from a rookie who is better than defense, to a chance to win the best defensive player, Daluo proved his adaptability with a strong transformation. Now, as the last node of the Bucks' career approaches, this new era insider is about to usher in a new chapter.

With age and team injuries, the Bucks were unable to replicate the glorious moment of the year after winning the championship, and the team also came to the crossroads of rebuilding. The center forward who once lowered his head and covered his face on the Lakers' bench and cried silently, has gradually entered a stage of degeneration in recent years after becoming the champion. The mobility and footsteps gradually slow down, and the frame protection ability is much worse than before.

But even so, 37-year-old Daluo still has many next choices in the free market. He has expressed great interest in the Lakers, Warriors and other teams who lack stable combat power in the penalty area. This is Lopez, who has gone through the trough of marginalization of the times and has also doubted himself on the unseen bench. But he did not choose to give up, but chose to adjust again and again and continue to work hard to move forward.

And for the new chapter that is about to be unfolded, it is not a rebirth, but a continuation. He relies on not only his ability to adjust himself, but also a heart that is always sober and firm enough, just as he said:

"I have seen many different situations and have changed the way I play several times. If I have to change it again for some reasons in the future, I will still do it, and I will definitely find a way."