The Pope of Basketball Community

Jerry Krause held the phone for a moment before putting it down, furious. The Bulls were eliminated yesterday, but today he contacted Yang Rui and felt that this was sincerity.

How dare a young man underestimate him? Klaus immediately wanted to give Yang Rui some flair, to save face. But he thought and thought and found that he couldn't do anything.

To disclose Yang Rui's refusal of the Bull's invitation is to put gold on his face.

It is also meaningless to deny Yang Rui's coaching ability in interviews. His words are not authoritative, and scouts from other teams will not believe him, let alone Yang Rui.

Klaus is very hurt now, and he has realized what it means to "fall down the tree and scatter the monkeys". Some people say that he created the Bulls dynasty with only one hand, but he couldn't escape the cold eyebrows of the team's ace. He won the best manager of the year twice, but after being eliminated this year, he was ruthlessly booed by the fans.

Klaus always thought that he was the key figure of the Bulls, but the reality gave him a slap in the face, and Jordan was the "big tree" of the Bulls.

Even if the manager of the Raptors hadn't contacted him in advance, Yang Rui would not have considered joining the Bulls and wading through this muddy water.

He knew the future of the Bulls, played poorly in the shortened season, ranked last in the Eastern Conference, won the No. 1 pick, and selected Elton Brand.

Even if Brand had two consecutive 20+10s, it was useless. The Bulls started their journey to the bottom of the year and changed several head coaches. It was not until the 2004-2005 season that they returned to the playoffs under the leadership of Skiles.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Bulls in the years from 1998 to 2004 are roughly equivalent to the rotten 76ers in the future. Every year, their job is to show off and draft. It's floating clouds, but you can't win the ball.

Such a team, the manager is still very attractive, how can Yang Rui show a good face?

Yang Rui lay down and forgot about the bull. Thomas went out to work, and there was no one at home. He slept until noon before being woken up by Van Gundy's phone call.

"Jerry, have you eaten yet?"

"No, I'm getting ready to get up." Yang Rui sat up and looked at his watch, it was half past eleven.

"Come out and have dinner together, let's talk about the finals." After the holiday, Van Gundy couldn't stay idle, so he talked about a western restaurant.

Yang Rui went out immediately and arrived at the hotel after 10 minutes by car.

Van Gundy sat on the seat, frowning, looking constipated. Yang Rui stepped forward and said with a smile: "Jeff, why do you still have such an expression? We will definitely win against the Jazz."

Van Gundy smiled wryly: "Even if we win the Jazz twice in the regular season, we can't say that we will win for sure? Patrick was there at that time."

"It's the same without Patrick, because the Jazz's style of play is too monotonous. Don't you know what tactics they play? We only need to defend the pick-and-roll, what's so scary about the Jazz?"

Van Gundy didn't know when he started to like hearing Yang Rui's crazy words, which made him feel at ease.

Yang Rui hit the nail on the head. The Knicks are probably the best pick-and-roll defense team in the league. They just restrained the Jazz.

Van Gundy said: "The Jazz averaged 101 points per game in the regular season, and their offensive power is not weak. Except for Malone, the players have relatively average shots. I want to adopt man-to-man, double-team Malone near the penalty area, and release the center forward. What do you think?"

"I totally agree. Although the Jazz has a high shooting percentage, the number of three-point shots taken is the fewest in the league. Except for Malone, the offensive ability of others is not to be feared. If he only defends mid-range shots, he will die in the penalty area."

The two of them settled down on the tactics while having lunch.

In two days, the tickets for the finals were sold out. Basketball experts and major media have predicted the outcome. Many people think that the two sides will be 40-60, and the Knicks only have a 40% chance of winning the championship.

Most of the fans are also optimistic about the Jazz winning the championship. The Knicks eliminated the popular Jordan and have been regarded as villains. The Jazz, who have advanced to the finals for two consecutive years, seem to have more experience.

The biggest reason for the decline in the Knicks' approval rating is,

It was Ewing's absence.

Without the MVP of the regular season, the Knicks have only one star left in Houston, and he is not very popular. He is only selected as a substitute for the All-Star Game. If the fans choose him, it will be fine.

The Jazz seem to have a poor lineup, but no one underestimates them. They swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals to add points.

Others criticized the Knicks' salary and believed that the league must introduce a reasonable collective bargaining agreement.

Columnist Marty Conlon wrote: "This finals is not a fair contest. The Knicks don't care how much money they spend, they just want to think about the results. They can introduce more outstanding role players and strengthen the depth of the bench. And the Jazz Owners are unwilling to pay their stars, Malone, Stockton, and Hornacek combined are not as good as Ewing."

Marty did not stand on one side of both labor and management, but felt that the current model was unreasonable.

This is indeed the case. Malone, who won the regular season MVP last season, has a salary of only 5.12 million, Stockton 5 million, and third Hornacek 4 million. The team's fourth core Brian Russell's 2.86 million is not as good as the Knicks' substitute swingman Chris Mills.

The Jazz's total salary is only 28.51 million US dollars, which makes it impossible for them to find excellent substitutes for the three elders. There are only a group of basic-salary role players to assist them, almost all of whom are blue-collar workers.

The total salary of the Knicks is 53.97 million, which is nearly double that of the Jazz. All 13 players can rotate in the playoffs, which is more than enough to make up two lineups. Even without Ewing, the Knicks lineup will not suffer.

Many people are dissatisfied with the NBA, mainly because of the cruel reality. In the 1990s, it was almost impossible for a team that was reluctant to spend money to win a championship.

After more than ten years, these people will find that the future will be more cruel. They may not be able to win the championship even if they spend money. If they want to win the championship, they have to form a team.

The Jazz are under a lot of pressure. Although most people are optimistic about them winning the championship, the coaching staff led by Jerry Sloan has no confidence in winning.

After watching the Eastern Conference finals, they all realized the shortcomings of their team. Like the Bulls, their center was too slow.

Ostertag was played by guards in the regular season, so Sloan started Greg Foster in 49 games.

30 years old this year, Foster, who is 211cm tall and weighs 109kg, moves a little faster and also has no offensive power. This season's statistics reached the peak of his career, averaging 5.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

In order to strengthen the offense, Sloan often asked Malone to play as a center for a certain period of time, playing small ball tactics.

To make matters worse, forward Adam Keefey, who started 75 games in the regular season, was determined to miss the finals. He was injured at the end of the regular season, and the injury aggravated in a few games in the playoffs. The playoff data was only 2.1 points and 2.3 rebounds.

The base fee of 206 cm and 104 kg is an important rotation player. Now there are only 9 players left for the Jazz to play a role.

After the discussion, Sloan decided to use Foster to start. Russell, who was originally responsible for the offense with the bench in the second quarter, served as the starting small forward. The sixth man's responsibility was handed over to point guard Howard Eisley.

As for the tactics in the second quarter, do you still have to ask? Of course it's a pick and roll!