Bishop of the Devil

"Guys, our starting lineup will not change in the new season, but I will rest the starting players appropriately in order to enter the playoffs with more energy!"

"Whenever the starters take a rest, I will choose the best player from the bench to start."

"In the preseason, we will mainly use newcomers as the main force. We hope that all newcomers will perform well. This will determine whether you can get the playing time you want in the future!"

Tomorrow is the first game of the preseason, and Richard called a meeting with the players.

After listening to Richard's words, the generals nodded repeatedly. This was a routine operation, nothing special.

"I'm afraid even the newcomers who have just joined the team know what our goal is this season!"

"Winning the championship, our only goal this season is to win the championship!"

"Of course, if you break a few records by the way, I, Richard, won't be able to accept it!"

Richard said with a relaxed smile.

He is indeed quite relaxed now. His career is on the right track. Finding Erya also puts an end to his worries.

…

In the first game of the preseason, the Trail Blazers faced the Golden State Warriors in the same division.

The Warriors are considered a team that Richard has a good relationship with in this league. They currently have two West Lafayette players, Brad Miller and Jamison, and coach Adelman is an old acquaintance of Richard. .

At eight o'clock in the evening, players from both sides came on the court for warm-up training, and Richard saw Adelman walking towards him.

"Man, I haven't seen you for a while. Congratulations on winning the best head coach last season!" Adelman said to Richard with a smile.

"Old man, are you ready to work hard this season?" Richard glanced at the Warriors' lineup.

In Richard's opinion, the Warriors' current lineup is actually pretty good. It shouldn't be a problem to make it to the Western Conference playoffs anyway.

At the center position, there is Brad Miller, power forward Marshall, and small forward Jamison. In the backcourt, there are also Starks and Chris Mills, two players with reasonable strength...

Of course, these two backcourts are definitely not as good as the Warriors' frontcourt, which is considered a shortcoming of the Warriors' current lineup.

Also on the bench are "the second center in the Western Conference" Eric Dampier and Bimbo Corris.

This Dampier is quite interesting. He is definitely not arrogant enough to call himself the second center now. In another seven or eight years, after the major centers retire, this guy will say, "O'Neal is the number one center in the Western Conference. I am the number one center in the West." The classic quote of "The second center in the Western Conference" comes from.

As a result, he was first given a hard lesson by Yao Ming, who hit 13-for-14 bugs on him, and then was given a hard lesson by Suns center Stoudemire...

Quite miserable!

At the moment, Dampier is just a poor "Warriors second center." How much playing time he can get depends on Adelman's face.

…

Hearing Richard's words, Adelman nodded.

"Yes, I really have to work hard this season. If I continue to sink, I may not be able to keep my position as head coach!"

Having said this, Adelman smiled bitterly...

Now that the madman Sprewell has been sent away, he has no excuse for not being able to perform well anymore.

If the team's record this season is still half-dead, I'm afraid he really can't keep his position as head coach.

Richard sighed. If the Warriors' lineup is lucky, they have every chance of reaching the playoffs, but this season is a bad one, with only fifty games in total.

There are few games, and if they are unlucky and accidentally have a bad performance in two games, it will be enough to cause them to lose their qualification for the playoffs.

"Old man, your backcourt is a bit..."

Richard hesitated to speak. He wanted to say that the Warriors' backcourt is a bit bad. They don't have a backcourt combination like the Splash Brothers. You have to at least build a decent backcourt. The Warriors' two backcourts are really not that good right now. …

Starks was acquired from the Knicks by the Warriors in exchange for the Madman. In fact, this guy performed exceptionally in the playoffs last season. There is a big gap between his real value and the Madman.

However, Richard couldn't say this clearly. He couldn't tell old Adelman that you were wrong, that the madmen were losing money, and that your backcourt is too scumbag...

"A bit weak, right?" Adelman smiled bitterly. He didn't know that the backcourt of his lineup was a bit weak.

But there is no way. With a madman's shitty temperament, if he sells it at a high price, no one will want it. The price offered by the Knicks is already the highest.

"No way, man, hey, I don't have as terrible a vision for selecting people as you do!"

"I also want to find a backcourt like Kobe, but do you think this is realistic..."

"If you are willing to trade Kobe, I am willing to send all players except Miller and Jamison!"

Hearing this, Richard laughed...

Nowadays, many team coaches are thinking of their own newbies...

"Old man, this joke is not funny at all, but let me tell you, you actually have a pretty good chance of replacing Dampier with a stronger backcourt!"

Richard put forward his own suggestions. The newcomer Dampier actually still has good trading value.

His scoring ability is average, but his single defense ability is outstanding, especially against powerful centers, the effect is still very good.

After all, this guy is said to be the player with the best bench press data besides Ben and O'Neal...

If it weren't for the current players on the Trail Blazers, either newcomers or players that Richard had trained himself, he might have the idea of ​​​​making a deal with the Warriors.

It's not impossible to use Dampier as Xiaoao's backup center...

Adelman nodded, "I do have this idea at the moment, how about making a deal with your Blazers?"

"My offer is not high either. Bowen or Stephen Jackson are fine."

Richard immediately waved his hand. Although Dampier was pretty good, in Richard's opinion he was still not as good as Bowen or Wu Sheng. Richard would definitely not do this business that he knew would cost money.

…

"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle to start the game.

The starting players from both sides began to appear.

The Warriors have gone through a lot of lineup adjustments this season, so they have to run into the new lineup through this preseason.

On the other hand, the Trail Blazers have nothing to work with. Old Curry did not come to the scene for this game. Newcomer Braggs was put on the active list and got the opportunity to start like the other four.

Five newcomers represented the Trail Blazers in the starting lineup, making the fans at the scene dumbfounded.

Richard is obviously not planning to make an effort in the preseason...

Originally, they were expecting the Trail Blazers to make a big comeback in the preseason.