Bishop of the Devil

In Richard's office.

Lawrence Frank sat in front of Richard with a troubled expression.

"Li, the Nets asked me to come back to coach..."

As Yi Jianlian began to rise during this period, the Nets management also had ambitions in their hearts.

Originally, the head coach they hired was purely for show-offs. Now they need a capable head coach to lead the Nets to rise.

Frank came back into their sights. Frank started his career with the Nets, and his best result was leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals.

However, due to Richard and the increasing number of strong teams in the Eastern Conference, the Nets gradually lost their competitiveness, and Frank was fired by the Nets management.

Now the Nets are preparing to re-hire Frank...

Richard nodded, "Go ahead, man, just do the handover work with Rahim."

Frank was about to leave his coaching staff, and Richard was naturally a little reluctant to leave. However, being able to take the position of head coach again was a good thing for Frank, and Richard would naturally not dissuade him.

"Thank you, Lee, for taking care of me during this time." Frank said to Richard sincerely.

He is very grateful to Richard for helping him at a critical moment so that he can continue to stay in the NBA.

If it weren't for Richard, he would have disappeared from the NBA for several years now. Even if the Nets were to change coaches, I'm afraid they wouldn't take it into consideration.

"Don't be so outspoken. You helped me. This is what I should do." Richard said with a smile.

Frank previously gave Richard the qualification to lead the All-Star team, and Richard always kept it in mind.

…

After Frank left, Richard sighed. After Frank left, his coaching staff now only has two people left.

One is the old Curry, and the other is Raheem who just joined this year.

Miles went to the Warriors, Dave Cowens retired, and said goodbye to the coaching industry completely...

Cowens originally stayed on Richard's coaching staff, actually thinking about looking for an opportunity to be the head coach again, but he never waited for this opportunity, and because he was older, he simply retired.

Now that Frank is gone, Richard only has two assistant coaches left.

In desperation, Richard could only ask Old Curry to announce that the Pirates were preparing to recruit two to three assistant coaches.

…

A few days later, Richard received a lot of resumes, including some well-known coaches who had served as head coaches.

The mobility of NBA coaches is really great. Many coaches who have served as head coaches are actually capable, but they are just unlucky and will not be able to stay in the head coaching position for a long time.

In this list, Richard saw a very familiar name, Tom Thibodeau.

At the moment, Thibodeau is completely unknown. He had to wait until 10 years before he got the opportunity to become the Bulls head coach. Now that the Buccaneers are recruiting assistant coaches, he felt it was a good opportunity, so he applied directly.

Richard took it in without saying a word. Although Thibodeau has a lot of black spots, the defensive system he has built is still quite good. After being recruited, he can play some roles.

In addition, Mark Jackson is also on this list.

The emergence of Mark Jackson also made Richard extremely happy. The head coach before the Warriors dynasty laid a solid foundation for the Warriors dynasty.

In addition, Mark Jackson also has unique skills. He has 10,000+ assists in his playing career, ranking third in the current list of player assists. Currently, there are only three people in the league with 10,000+ assists, namely retired S. Stockton, Kidd and Mark Jackson.

In addition to his excellent assist ability, Mark Jackson's big-ass post-up singles also led to the introduction of Barkley's Law.

This is definitely a treasure trove among the coaching community, and Richard naturally accepted it without hesitation.

Finally, Richard added Ranbir to his coaching staff...

After Laimbeer was fired by the Bulls, he went to the WNBA for a while. Although his performance in leading the team was not bad, he still wanted to return to the NBA.

Now that the Buccaneers are recruiting assistants, he's back...

After these three assistant coaches joined the team, Richard also breathed a sigh of relief. Five assistant coaches were almost enough.

…

Now Richard is absolutely famous in terms of players. He has countless disciples throughout the league. Basically every team has players from West Lafayette.

However, among the coaching community, Richard does not have many disciples.

Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle is one of the Richard German head coaches in the league right now.

Clippers head coach Stevens is also one.

Lawrence Frank, who is about to return to the Nets, can also be considered one.

Except for that, although some head coaches have a good relationship with Richard, most of them are senior head coaches and cannot be regarded as Richard's head coaches.

Richard also wants to be like Popovich. In the future, one-third of the head coaches of the top teams in the league will be his disciples. This is a quite remarkable achievement.

So now Richard is trying his best to find some upcoming coaches to join his coaching staff. Maybe he can be like Popovich in the future.

…

In the blink of an eye, it’s mid-January.

The All-Star voting results are out. The Pirates have five All-Stars selected this year, including Oden, Milicic, Granger, Roy and Rondo.

So far this season, Oden's statistics are undoubtedly quite impressive, averaging 20.6 points, 13.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. Apart from scoring less, he is like a super center.

But this score is actually not that small. After all, Howard's scoring average is about this level.

If you really want to talk about a center that scores more points, it must be Yao Ming. This season, Yao Ming averaged 26.5 points per game. Although his rebounds and blocks are slightly less than those of Howard and Oden, he is now recognized as the number one center in the league.

However, Oden is so young right now. In the eyes of Pirates fans, Oden will catch up with Yao Ming sooner or later and take the position of the league's number one center.

Right now, Oden, even if he is not the number one center in the league, is still among the top three in the league.

Milicic's data this season is a little less. He currently only averages about 17 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists per game. This is not to say that Milicic's strength has declined, but that he has actively sacrificed some of his data for the growth of his teammates.

In today's Pirates, Milicic is definitely the big brother. Apart from Marion, who just joined the team this year, Granger, who entered the league in 2005, is the one with the longest playing experience.

Milicic entered the league in 2003. This season is already the sixth season of his career. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a veteran.

Milicic is not the kind of player who likes to express his feelings, he prefers to use actions.

Quietly, Milicic helped his teammates a lot on the court.

The most direct beneficiary is probably Granger.

Granger's statistics have improved a lot this season, averaging more than 20 points per game for the first time in his career.

The data of 20.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks are completely excellent on both offense and defense.

Good statistics, a strong team record, coupled with Granger's clean and elegant style of play and defense, have made him a very popular player in the Eastern Conference.

Last season, he signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with Nike, which was regarded as reaching the pinnacle of his life.

Although Roy's scoring this season is not as strong as last season, he is currently averaging 27.9 points per game, ranking in the top five in the league, and is one of the top attackers in the league.

Rondo, the starting point guard, currently averages 10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. Although he failed to become the All-Star starting guard, he also got a backup point guard position.

Rondo's scoring ability is a big problem that is difficult to solve. Although Richard has a way to solve it, it will cost a huge price...

Moreover, Rondo doesn't need to rely on scoring to make a living. With top organizational skills and top defense, he can get into a good position wherever he goes.

Under normal circumstances, Rondo has all kinds of irritations and disobedience to discipline. If it were another player, he would probably not be able to survive in the league. But although Rondo has wandered to many teams, he can still find a new team quite easily. can be found.

…

All five starters were selected as All-Stars, which made Richard extremely gratified.

The Pirates' bench is actually full of talent right now.

Marion is now in the team, mainly playing as a substitute, and his data is definitely far inferior to when he was in the Suns, but Marion can accept it now. After all, the Buccaneers' chances of winning the championship this year are frighteningly high.

After winning the championship this year, his contract will expire. Whether he leaves or stays at that time will all depend on him.

Richard's introduction of Marion actually provides insurance for the team's small forward position. If Granger is injured in the playoffs, the young Batum will definitely not be able to play Granger's role, but Marion can.

And when this season ends, Granger's rookie contract will expire. What awaits him will be a maximum salary contract, which the Pirates will definitely not be able to get.

Richard is prepared to leave Roy a maximum-salary contract. Granger will most likely leave the team after this season. If Marion's asking price is not high, Richard is prepared to sign Marion.

The small forward draft year will have to wait until 2010. Before then, Richard will definitely have to maintain the continuous improvement of the small forward position.

…

Curry is currently averaging 13.2 points per game, and the old Curry is so happy that he smiles from ear to ear every day.

Logically speaking, Curry is unlikely to achieve such a high scoring average in a substitute position. After all, the total points scored by the team's five starters add up to 90 points.

The reason for Curry's high scoring average per game is simple, that is, in the games where Rondo was rested, Curry started all games and got a lot of shooting opportunities, which increased his scoring average per game.

This season, Richard has been quite ruthless in resting. Milicic has been rested for many games, giving the newcomers enough opportunities to perform. This has led to the Pirates' substitute data being relatively dazzling.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the data of the team's third backup point guard Dragic, Sun Yue, and Ingram are not very impressive. This is something that cannot be helped, and Richard cannot cover everything. To take care of everyone.

He can only allow every player on the team to produce good statistics when conditions permit.