Bishop of the Devil

On the court, Harrington was letting Milicic go. Because Harrington himself is not a good defensive player, not many people can see the clues.

Richard would definitely not publicize this kind of thing in a big way. If it were exposed, such a disgraceful thing would definitely make Milicic lose face.

…

By the time both teams reached the end of the first quarter, the Pirates were trailing by five points.

There's no way around it. This lineup's offensive firepower is a bit weak, but its strength lies in its defense...

If all the players on the field are in their prime, then the offensive firepower will definitely not matter. But now, after all, there are old ones, young ones, and no one is in their prime.

Although this game focuses on the inside, Milicic's shy temperament does not allow him to take too many shots. He took seven shots in the first quarter, neither too many nor too few. Most of the inside players in the league are very good at it. It's difficult to get more than seven shots in a single quarter.

In these seven shots, Milicic scored 8 points, 3 of 7, and 2 of 2 free throws.

Compared with the old black insiders in the United States, European league insiders have advantages in team awareness and organizational skills. In fact, they also have obvious advantages in free throws. Most European insiders' free throws are above 70%.

As for the local insiders here in the United States, who can achieve a 70% free throw percentage, you may not be able to find one among the three.

7 shots were exchanged for 8 points. The offensive efficiency is definitely not high, but Richard thinks it is acceptable. Anyway, improving Milicic is not a matter of a day or two.

As long as he can show confidence, his strength will definitely be greatly improved in the short term.

…

At the end of the first half, the opponent replaced their main lineup. After all, it was just a preseason game, so there was no need to fight to the death.

Richard also replaced the starters and others and replaced them with pure cannon fodder players...

In the end, the Pirates lost the game, which was expected by Richard.

Harrington and Jamison are not vegetarians. They are both All-Star players in their prime. With Arenas, a very powerful offensive backcourt, they scored 17 points in just half the game. The point difference advantage comes.

…

In the next few preseason games, the new Pirates team failed to win a single game and all ended in failure.

Such a start was a bad situation that Richard had never experienced before, but he was not very impatient. Instead, he felt a little happy.

After a few preseason games, Milicic feels like he is gradually integrating into the team. When faced with the jokes of his teammates, he can sometimes respond with a few words. Although the response is awkward, it is still much better than before.

And he has become more proactive on the court. In some offensive rounds, he can already take the initiative to ask for the ball.

Richard thought for a while and gave Milicic a Kobe All-Star Light that he was reluctant to use.

Milicic plays inside and uses Kobe's All-Star light. At first glance, it seems like a waste, but in fact, Richard plans to train Milicic into an all-around power forward player of the future...

For example, like Brother Big Eyebrow, Kobe's All-Star light covers almost all attributes. If used on Milicic, it will definitely not be a loss.

In the end, the random result gave Milicic 90% of Kobe's steal attributes and mid-range shooting ability, which lasted for two years.

Such a result is acceptable to Richard, after all, it is already an above-average result.

In the blink of an eye, the preseason schedule ended, and the Pirates ushered in their first game in team history at their home court.

It has to be said that Stern still gave the Pirates a lot of face. This first game was directly arranged for the Pirates' home court.

The Buccaneers were not allowed to play away from home in their first game. In the previous six preseason games, Stern also gave them four home games.

This is definitely not to give Richard face, but to support the new army in a normal way.

…

"Lee, we can't lose anymore. At least we have to win this opening game. This is the first game in the history of our team." Jordan appeared in Richard's office with a bitter look on his face.

The corners of Richard's mouth twitched. He said it as if he wanted to lose...

The strength is indeed inferior to others, so what can be done about losing.

However, Richard was somewhat confident that he could win this opening game because his opponent was the Eagles, a well-known rookie team.

The rookie team has been performing poorly in the past few seasons, and as a result, they haven't received any high picks. Their overall strength is far inferior to that of when Richard first traveled through time.

The league arranged this rookie team for the Pirates, and it must be hoping that the Pirates can win the first game and get off to a good start.

"Michael, don't worry, our opponent is the Eagles, we still have a good chance of winning."

"Of course, losing is not impossible. You have to look down on some records. You must know that our goal this season is to lose." Richard said with a smile.

Jordan nodded, he understood the truth, but he still wanted to win the first game...

…

Oct. 17, Charlotte Municipal Stadium.

Although the Pirates have lost the previous six preseason games, tonight is the first game in the team's history after all. There are still many fans who come to watch the game, and the attendance rate is about 85%.

If we continue to lose tonight, I'm afraid the attendance for future games will drop significantly...

This is the reality for fans. If there is no NFL Panthers team in Charlotte, then fans may bite the bullet and watch the game. But now that there is a more high-profile NFL team to watch, why would fans spend money to come? Watch the Buccaneers lose...

This is why Jordan told Richard to win the first game.

…

Players from both sides have already begun to enter the arena.

Richard looked at the Eagles' lineup carefully. He really hadn't paid much attention to the Eagles in the past two years. He hadn't paid much attention to the team since Wilkens left the Eagles.

The Eagles' starting lineup consists of Walker, Grandpa Lu, Josh Smith, Childress and Delk.

The lineup looks pretty good...

At least Richard knew these people well, among them Josh Smith was the future Eagle King.

But now he definitely can't get the title of Eagle King, because he is just a rookie. He just entered the league this year and was selected by the Eagles with the 17th overall pick in the first round.

Speaking of which, Richard was actually quite interested in Josh at the beginning. He once thought about using the first-round pick that the Pistons gave Nuan Nuan to trade up to try to get Josh Smith.

However, because there was really no bargaining chip in hand and no one was willing to make a deal with the Pirates, this idea was abandoned.

In terms of style, Eagle King Josh and Elvis Gerrard have many similarities. They both play the position of a combo forward. Both have excellent physical fitness, strong defense, and relatively mediocre offensive abilities.

Although he is known as the Eagle King, Josh Smith has never averaged more than 20 points per game in a season in his career.

Tonight, Milicic's opponent may be Josh Smith, who plays the dual forward position.

…

The game started soon after the referee's whistle.

What Richard didn't expect was that the person responsible for defending Milicic on the Eagles side was not Josh Smith, but Fathead Walker.

This is a pie-in-the-sky good thing. Walker is a big colander to prevent someone from breaking out. I hope Milicic can get a good break out of Fat Touto tonight.

Sure enough, just after the game started, Milicic directly connected and hit two goals, feeling hot.

Walker may be really poisonous. When an average player encounters his defense, his offensive ability can directly increase by at least 30%, which is quite metaphysical.

Since Milicic has a good touch, there is no reason not to pass the ball as the main point guard Payton.

By the time the first half ended, the Pirates had won by 11 points.

Richard looked at Eagles head coach Mike Woodson with some curiosity.

Logically speaking, as long as Woodson is not a fool, he should actually use Josh Smith to guard Milicic.

You must know that Milicic has already scored 17 points in just half of the game. After this game, Milicic may even score 30+ points.

And if Josh Smith is used to defend Milicic from beginning to end, with Milicic's current strength, it will be difficult to score 20+ points.

Isn’t this Woodson a fool? Richard thought in confusion...

If Woodson knew that Richard thought this way, he would be furious.

To be precise, he is actually the coach of the Richard faction.

He entered the league in 1980, but as a player. He waited until 1991 to retire and played in the league for eleven years.

Although he has not been selected as an All-Star, his statistics are quite good and he can be considered a quasi-All-Star player. His career is considered perfect.

In 1996, he and Richard joined the coaching industry in the same year.

But he definitely didn't have such a good fortune as Richard. He first joined the Bucks as an assistant coach...

As a result, this assistant coach worked for many years and wandered around many teams. He waited until he joined Rick Carlisle's coaching staff and finally settled down.

This offseason, with the contact of Rick Carlisle and through Wilkens' relationship, he finally became a mother-in-law after many years of marriage and became the head coach of the Eagles.

Woodson's experience is actually not that difficult. The head coaches of most teams generally follow this process.

If you are lucky, you may be able to become a regular coach in two or three years. If you are not lucky, you may have to work like Woodson for seven or eight years before becoming a regular coach. As for those who are unlucky, you may not be able to become a regular coach in your lifetime. …

…

Woodson was naturally very grateful to Carlisle. He was very aware of the relationship between Carlisle and Richard.

And he also knew the significance of tonight's game to the Pirates, so he helped the Pirates without saying a word.

He is well aware of the benefits of joining the Richard faction, which will allow him to serve as the head coach for a longer period of time, so even if he and Richard don't have much interaction, he always thinks that the Richard faction coach comes from. Residence.

Richard must have not expected that the Spurs coach had not yet taken shape, but his Richard coach had already begun to take shape.

It's normal when you think about it. This is Richard's ninth year in the NBA. In the past eight or nine years, Richard has had many head coach-level figures under him.

Among them is a very capable head coach like Rick Carlisle.

These head coaches will train their own assistant coaches...

It means that Richard's faction has begun to gradually blossom and bear fruit. It may not take too long before Richard will become a being like the patriarch, and half of the head coaches in the league are his disciples.

Of course, it's a bit ugly to say that they are disciples and disciples, but it's not harsh to say so. These coaches are all labeled as Richard's faction, which will definitely be beneficial to their future development.

The NBA is a business league, and connections are not too important. For two assistant coaches with the same ability, the one with more connections is more likely to be the head coach.

You may even have poor abilities, but you can still get into this position. You have to know that having a wide network of contacts means that when the team wants to make a transaction, it will have more targets to choose from.

The same principle actually applies to players.

Why are West Lafayette players priced higher than other players on the free agent market? It's basically a similar reason.

Needless to say, the connections of the West Lafayette players are great. If the team really wants to win the championship, these West Lafayette players have a greater chance than other players to help the team recruit powerful stars.

This alone is worth the extra price.

…

What Richard didn't know was that he, the founder of the West Lafayette faction, was actually a big business now.

For some things, even if he doesn't speak, someone will help silently. Woodson is the best example right now.

"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle to end the game. In this game, the Pirates finally won a hard-won victory. After losing six consecutive games in the preseason, they won the opening game of the regular season. .

"Man, thank you." After the game, Richard walked onto the court, shook Woodson's hand and expressed his gratitude.

Richard is not a fool either. He deliberately sells it to him. Can't you tell that?

"Coach Li, if you have the idea of ​​​​trading in the future, please give priority to our Eagles, and we will definitely give you the most sincere price." Although Woodson is nearly ten years older than Richard, the seniority gap between the two parties is huge. There, so his posture is relatively low.

Richard smiled and nodded. Although he had little contact with Woodson, he was not unfamiliar with Woodson and knew that he was Carlisle's assistant before.

"Okay, but I advise you to sell Walker quickly. He is really not an easy-to-use player." By saying this, Richard was already saving face for Walker.

Woodson smiled bitterly and nodded. Of course he wanted to sell Walker, but it was not that easy. With Walker's ultra-high contract and ultra-low cost performance, few teams were willing to take advantage of him.