The rest is just noise

Chapter 1417 The starting point is meant for grabbing

Louis did not return to the team until halfway through the preseason training camp of the 1998-99 season.

At that time, the Lakers were undergoing a new round of reshuffle.

The main problem is Kobe's desire to start.

Two years of bench experience gave Kobe a clear idea of ​​what kind of starting second position the team needed.

Moreover, last year's failure to take up the position has proved that it is not that he is better than Liu Yuqing that will enable him to play the second starting position, but that only he who is more suitable than Liu Yuqing can take the position smoothly.

To achieve this, Kobe has comprehensively strengthened his shooting ability during the offseason, especially his three-point shooting rate after receiving open shots, which has reached the top level in the league.

According to the team's internal statistics, Kobe's three-point shooting percentage in the team competition reached 40%, and his pure catch-and-shoot three-point shooting percentage reached 42%.

Of course, it is not enough to rely on this performance to compete with Liu Yuqing, whose three-point shooting percentage has reached 39% and 40% in two consecutive seasons. He needs more actual combat tests.

At this time, Liu Yuqing and Wang Mukong were participating in various celebration banquets in China and were expected to miss the entire preseason training camp.

Based on Kobe's performance in the training camp, Louis decided to temporarily put him into the starting lineup to test the waters through preseason games.

It is worth mentioning that the Lakers' roster remains basically unchanged.

Buck Williams retired, Dennis Rodman left the team, and Joe Dumars decided to play another year.

The positions of Buck and Rodman will be filled by Rashard Lewis and Brad Miller.

Even if their immediate combat ability is not enough, the Lakers still have time to wait for them to grow.

The most important thing on their books is immediate combat capability.

There are too many young people, and everyone wants to express themselves.

In addition, the biggest change for the Lakers is the coaching staff.

Buck Williams directly transferred to interior coach to join the coaching staff.

The previous chief assistant Don Nelson's contract expired this summer and he did not stay with the team. Instead, he accepted a five-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

After Nelson left the team, the position of chief assistant coach on the Lakers coaching staff became vacant.

Louis directly gave the position to Larry Bird, who was already very skilled in coaching.

After several years of study, Bird has become an S-level assistant in all aspects, more than enough to serve as the chief assistant.

Bird has no other opinions on this, but there is one thing - being the chief assistant coach is okay, but you have to pay more.

The Lakers have a good record, and Buss is not stingy either. They decided to re-sign Bird to a five-year contract at a top-notch price.

This also makes Bird's future clear.

He is willing to sign this five-year long-term contract. In addition to the financial satisfaction, the key point is that the Lakers promise that if there is a change in the head coach in the future, he will be the number one heir to that position.

Louis has the style of a wanderer, and it seems that no place can trap him.

His contract with the Lakers will end in the summer of 2000. By then, he is likely to choose to leave again. After all, in his opinion, most of the work with the Lakers has been completed. For him, the work here may not be as important as

The head coach of the Chinese men's basketball team is half important.

Before that day comes, the Lakers need to be properly prepared.

Looking at the coaching staff, apart from Nelson, there is no other assistant coach as prestigious as Bird.

He is definitely the best choice to replace Louis.

The Lakers' changes basically didn't have much impact on them.

However, within the alliance, a storm is brewing.

Since last year, the introduction of luxury tax rules has effectively restricted the rapid expansion of super teams.

Gone are the days of unscrupulously building up lineups just because you have money and appeal.

But due to the emergence of the luxury tax, there are fewer and fewer top players sacrificing their status to join others for the sake of championships.

Stars have become more focused on their own interests.

In the past, they were willing to give up millions of dollars to win the championship, but now, they are unwilling to do so.

The bug in the rule of unlimited maximum salary has pushed the stars to pursue higher salaries.

This leads to extremely dire consequences for bosses.

Although it was originally agreed that each team needs to spend 55% of its total revenue every year, since the maximum salary can ignore the salary cap and is not restricted, these star players have repeatedly exceeded the limits that others can imagine and constantly climbed to the top.

The amount of salary has caused each team's expenses to increase.

In recent years, the money invested by each team has exceeded the originally agreed 55% quota, and reached a terrifying 61%.

Except for big markets like Los Angeles and New York, which can achieve profits, other teams are all losing money.

Therefore, the bosses decided to seize this collective bargaining agreement year and set a cap on the maximum salary no matter what, otherwise it would be impossible to survive.

The main seats in the players union are basically controlled by vested interests like Ewing who make a lot of money. They cannot give up the bug of unlimited maximum salary before their own interests are directly harmed.

Therefore, looking to the future, it is foreseeable that the talks between the two parties will collapse, and a suspension of the 1999-2000 season is also possible.

However, these things have little to do with Louis.

He won't talk to the players on behalf of the league, nor will he speak up for those multi-millionaires. They'd better bite each other until they die.

After the preseason training camp, Liu Yuqing and Wang Mukong just returned to the team.

After a few days of adjustments with all members present, the Lakers rushed overseas to play preseason games with European teams.

This is part of the NBA's expansion plan into Europe.

In this summer's draft, more and more European players have been selected by the NBA. This trend will become more and more obvious as the league becomes globalized.

Eventually, Europe's talent pool will also become part of the talent pool for NBA reserve talent.

As a dominant team in the NBA, the Lakers come to Europe to compete, and wherever they go, they are welcomed like a band in its prime.

Bodiloga got into a quarrel because he refused to pay for a high-priced ice cream.

Duncan was exposed as having a few words with a European actress.

Kobe was even caught having sex in a nightclub.

Benj is even more exaggerated.

There are only three things left in his world: basketball, signature pen and camera.

He has to play games and train, and then every time he goes to a new city, he has to attend more than two hours of autograph sessions. Finally, no matter where he goes, there is always a group of reporters who get the news in advance and surround him.

He often cannot see the other person's face clearly because there are dozens of cameras in front of him from different directions.

He was as popular as the King of Pop.

But not everyone can bear this kind of life.

Louis can feel the changes within the team, because everyone is welcomed and everyone regards themselves as a star among stars.

As a result, the quality of humility disappeared within the Lakers.

Everyone pays more attention to their own interests, and the frequency of individual fights on the field is much higher than before.

In the preseason, facing those European powerhouses with low talent, the Lakers won the final game with a margin of 45 points.

Garnett, who considers himself the all-around king, said frankly: "I feel like I'm at my peak."

Bodiloga is much more direct: "I can handle everything on my own."

Duncan seemed less than happy.

"There are a lot less passes between us," Duncan said. "Everyone pays more attention to their own performance, which is not a good sign."

Nash's attitude said it all: "I feel like I deserve more playing time."

Louis discovered for the first time that Buckley was so cute.

In an atmosphere where everyone wanted to write "I'm super strong" on their faces, Barkley, who was a substitute inside, said heartlessly: "I don't want to come to Europe anymore. The donuts here are not the same as those in the United States."

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After several warm-up games, Kobe, who was at the peak of his form, shot 50% from three-point range, while Liu Yuqing, who returned from vacation and did not participate in any preseason training camp training sessions, performed mediocrely.

Kobe surpassed Liu Yuqing at this moment in both his immediate combat ability and his outside shooting touch.

This made Louis make a decision.

At the beginning of the new season, Kobe will serve as the team's starting No. 2 position.

Liu Yuqing did not express his opinion. He is not good at expressing himself.

He didn't complain when he was pushed out of the starting lineup, and he didn't give up on himself like Barkley. He would spend more time in training.

He is the first one to come to the gym for training every day and the last one to leave.

Of course Louis didn't want to see him sit on the bench at this age. After making this decision, he talked to Liu Yuqing privately.

If you cannot accept a substitute, you can apply for a trade.

With Liu Yuqing's strength, he can start in most teams, and Louis can send him to any team he wants to go to.

However, Liu Yuqing's thoughts made him feel that either this kid was crazy, or the world was crazy.

"I will never admit defeat to a high school student." Liu Yuqing said coldly and arrogantly, "The starting lineup is meant for competition, so let him be prepared to be kicked back to the bench by me."

Louis is convinced, really convinced.

I wonder if he trains like that every day, not for the sake of fighting spirit, but to push Kobe back to the bench?

At this point, what else can Louis say?

"Then... come on, I'm optimistic about you."

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