The rest is just noise

It feels very different to return to the national team again.

From the moment Louis coached the men's basketball team, his goal was always to win the championship. However, he never stated this goal before winning the runner-up in the World Championships the year before last.

Because the team had not yet passed the psychological barrier at that time, everyone was still the same old person.

But at last year's World Championships, after the men's basketball team and the United States played in a final that was rated as a historical classic by FIBA, the players' mood began to change.

Starting from last year's Asian Championships, the men's basketball team's goal has been to avenge the United States team at the Sydney Olympics.

Taking into account the ZZ atmosphere in recent years, after the men's basketball team has determined that it has the strength to compete with the Americans, the next time they meet, maybe the game will be like the battle between Argentina and England in the 1986 World Cup, completely transcending a normal game.

The competition deserves the attention it deserves.

Since it is an Olympic year, the competition for the men's basketball roster has been the most intense in Louis' three-year term.

Louis always believes that the team lineup should be dominated by the runner-up lineup of the previous year's World Championships, that is, Liu Wei, Hu Weidong, Liu Yuqing, Kang Chengbiao, Qi Chengyan, Gong Xiaobin, Yu Tiancan, Wang Zhizhi, Yao Yueban, Wu Qi, Du

Shuai, Wang Mukong is the main one.

But as the status of the men's basketball team has risen, the desire of local parties to be selected for the roster has also greatly increased.

After Louis returned to China, Li Yuanwei hinted that he wanted to increase the number of designated places in the Basketball Association from one to two.

Louis ignored him and selected an 11-man squad early.

Except for Wu Qi, who was unable to participate due to injury, and Gong Xiaobin, who was directly expelled from the national team after causing trouble with various parties domestically, everyone else was in place.

Louis promoted Li Ran from the Bayi series, a two-way forward who fit the modern basketball style that he had long wanted.

The Basketball Association gave the only designated spot to Liaoning guard Guo Shiqiang.

After that, Louis once again formed Team B as a training partner and as a guarantee for the first team. Team B needs to train with the first team until early August this year.

If there is an injury in one team, Louis will directly select suitable players from team B to supplement.

Since this year is the Olympic year, all parties are very active in joining the sparring team. In addition to Xiao Laoban and Fan Hexin outside the brigade, there are also Bart, Li Xiaoyong, Sun Jun, Li Qun, Zheng Wu, etc. who are known as the golden generation.

Domestic champions.

Some media believe that if this B team is sent to compete in the Asian Championships, they will have a high probability of winning the championship.

After the roster is determined, and before the warm-up match begins, Louis organizes Team 1 to compete against Team B every day.

The main purpose is to test the new style of play against the American team that was finalized two years ago-slow play.

The key point of this style of play is not only to control the rhythm, but also to pass the ball in an orderly manner to avoid ineffective passes that pose no threat to the defensive formation.

Moreover, although the pace is slow, it cannot be slow for the sake of being slow. They must enjoy playing in a slow pace and at the same time predict the end point in advance.

If a tactic started in the 10th second is to be completed after 20 seconds, then the players must know who is most likely to receive the ball and finish it.

Including the players responsible for finishing, they must also be forewarned.

Only when everything goes according to plan, pursuing slow-play and buzzer-beating or near-buzzer shots will not put pressure on the players.

Li Yuanwei has been under a lot of pressure recently. Many famous men's basketball players think that this Louis is too domineering and does not understand what balance is. Although the NBA player living in the United States is good, he can't make nine moves in one move, right?

There are many good players in China who are more suitable to play FIBA.

Fortunately, Li Yuanwei's second place in the World Championships the year before last gave him the capital to withstand pressure.

With the big game approaching, Director Li visits the men's basketball training base with increasing frequency.

He discovered that the team was playing a very new thing recently.

A large number of pick-and-rolls, intensive local coordination, non-stop passing, and pursuit of the end of the offense after 20 seconds.

Li Yuanwei prefers the previous style of play of the men's basketball team, which looked like a small American team. It was so enjoyable to watch that kind of ball, but now it is simply torture to watch it too much.

"Coach Lu, the Olympics are coming soon, isn't your bet a bit too big?" Li Yuanwei asked worriedly.

Louis smiled and said: "Don't worry, Director Li, I didn't ask them to change their style of play. This is specially prepared for the Americans."

"Oh?" Li Yuanwei heard this and became a little more interested in this slow-paced game that seemed quite torturous. "This is quite interesting."

Li Yuanwei looked at it for a while and discovered a simple problem: "There are a lot of mistakes."

"This is also a problem that I must solve before the Olympics starts." Louis said, "We need to increase the tacit understanding between the players."

Louis did a lot of work for this matter.

For example, putting players who obviously have no sparks into the same dormitory.

After training, let them play some games in groups of two or three.

What left Louis speechless was that the most useful trick was to let them use computers to play online games.

The game with the best results is StarCraft.

Liu Yuqing is the interstellar king in the national team. When he was with the Lakers, he was always ravaged by Duncan with this game. Unexpectedly, he still had the opportunity to play in the national team and became a high-level player.

An introverted person like Liu Yuqing talked a lot when playing StarCraft, so Liu Wei, Guo Shiqiang and others got to know him better.

While Louis is actively preparing for the Olympics with the national team, in the NBA, the first offseason after the suspended season has arrived.

This year, there are many big fish in the free market.

Wilson, O'Neal, Bodilloga, and Duncan became free agents one after another.

Duncan was the first to make the decision.

Miami used its geographical advantage to score a major offseason victory.

This summer was not easy for the Heat. Drexler chose to retire, while Reggie Lewis also chose to retire due to persistent heart problems.

Except for the 36-year-old Petrovic, the only star on the Heat team is the highly paid but incompetent Juwan Howard.

However, signing Duncan is not easy.

The Heat have insufficient salary space. If they want to sign Duncan, they must sign and trade. And if they want to sign and trade, they must bring out Howard.

Trading Howard for Duncan is a sure-profit deal, but not many teams are willing to be taken advantage of.

The rebuilding Seattle SuperSonics jumped out and signed with the Heat as a tool team. Of course, there are additional conditions. The Heat must send three additional first-round draft picks.

The Heat are pretty sure that under normal circumstances, Juwan Howard +10 would not be able to replace Duncan in the first round, so this is a completely acceptable offer.

As a result, the Heat sent Juwan Howard, first-round picks in 2001, 2003 and 2005 to Seattle, successfully acquiring Tim Duncan, and fired the first shot of the Millennium Summer.