The rest is just noise

"Coach Lu, what do you think of Sean Kemp?"

The only New York Times writer who has maintained a good relationship with Louie is Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Anderson, who raised the issue with Louie at press day.

If it were anyone else, Louis wouldn't even bother to answer.

"Although he is 19 years old, in essence, you can still regard him as a child. His talent is very good, but his mentality is still relatively fragile. He is like a child who has to adapt to the atmosphere of the Knicks team.

It's not easy, but he's much better now than he was on the first day of training camp."

Kemp is not shy in facing numerous media.

He showed off his domineering dunks, struck various poses, and took many photos.

Ewing's injury is a concern, but the Knicks' lineup is deep enough to wait for his return with peace of mind.

Sam Bowie joked to reporters: "I thought it was impossible to start in New York, but now look...hehe."

On media day, the Knicks showed a more relaxed side to the outside world.

They took a group photo on the court at the Blue Palace.

Ewing still dragged his injured leg to take the photo. This guy's injury didn't affect him from allowing the photographer to take a photo album.

Training camp continues without Ewing, and Wilson assumes the former's duties.

Push your teammates like Ewing did.

Kemp's life was a little easier, because Ewing was the most demanding of all the old players.

Willis Reed is still the same, treating him as a training machine.

"Please, let me rest for a while!"

After Ewing left, Kemp's pleas for mercy became more frequent.

But this time it was Wilson's turn to discipline him: "Sean, if you don't want to get scolded, then train hard."

Kemp believes that Wilson is the only good brother in the team who treats him sincerely and obeys his words.

But Reed's rough training never decreased in intensity just because Kemp asked for mercy.

Louis saw him being trained around like a dog, which was quite pitiful.

Another rookie, Doug West, had an equally miserable life. He did very little training with the ball and a lot without the ball.

If calculated in proportion, the ratio of his training with/without the ball is 1:9.

Training without the ball accounts for 90%.

If any player's training ratio is so imbalanced, his skills will deteriorate and his muscle memory will be confused.

Fortunately, West's skills were not good to begin with, and it doesn't matter whether they deteriorate or not.

His physical fitness ensures that he will be a sharp knife when counterattacking.

Focusing on developing his defense is to make him a functional player like Alex Stevens.

West's life was not as difficult as Kemp's, it was mainly tired and boring.

Needless to say, he was tired and boring, which lasted throughout his month-long training camp life.

Because this is training without the ball, there is no fun, just the same training content over and over again.

The purpose of training is only to master and improve, no one can find fun in it.

Recognize your goals clearly and know what you want in order to stick to them.

West wanted to give up many times, but his head trainer and assistant coach Zhao Yuanzheng told him: "Judging from our personnel reserves, this is the only way you can play games on the team in the next few years."

West knew that Zhao Yuanzheng was an assistant coach that Louis relied on and he was also the one who made the game plan.

If Zhao Yuanzheng said he had to do this to play, then this must be the only way.

He had nothing to say, he just kept his head down and worked hard.

Another new player, Reggie Williams, who is in the same grade as Miller, was injured in an intra-squad match like his senior.

When Williams was in Georgetown, Louis concluded that he would be selected as a lottery pick in the future. Unexpectedly, in the 1987 draft, the Warriors selected him with the second pick, and then it only took two years.

Just confirm that he is not a talent that can be developed and give up decisively.

Because Williams was too glassy, ​​he only played less than 30 games in his two years with the Warriors.

However, he performed comprehensively in the limited number of games he played, especially his defense was very good.

This is why Louis chose to sign him.

At that time, it was not just the Knicks who wanted him, many teams wanted him, but Williams came to New York with all his heart to join his senior, and now he is on the DNP list with Mr. You.

Even though he was injured, his performance in the training camp made Louis shine.

In addition to defense, his offense is also excellent.

He can shoot, has a beautiful shooting posture, has a three-point range, has organizational skills, and has the ability to hold the ball. It can be said that he can do everything and do everything well.

He was supposed to be a versatile wing like Iguodala, whose selling point is defense, but injuries stopped him.

If this kind of talented but injury-plagued player can safely play as a substitute, he will be an important addition to a strong team and can also extend his career.

Another new player, Sam Bowie, performed in high spirits after Ewing was injured.

He's ready to take on starting duties while Ewing is injured.

Louis looked around and found that Kemp was the most tired.

Every day at five o'clock in the afternoon, when training ends and everyone is getting ready to take a break, Reid will point to the weight room.

That means, we still have to continue practicing.

Then Kemp would act like he was drained of energy and walk to the weight room with his hands hanging limply.

"Willis, even a Texas mule doesn't go through this much, right?"

Even a stone-hearted person like Louis couldn't bear it.

Reed smiled and said, "You let Sean make his own decision."

"Pin Xiao," Louis turned into a mother fan and prepared to protect Kemp, "You can choose to leave with me, or you can choose to stay here with Willis to practice more."

Kemp was so eager to deepen his relationship with Louis that he took a furtive glance at Reed.

Compared with Louis, the head coach who holds great power but does not care about training, Reed, the assistant coach who is mainly responsible for training him on weekdays, is his immediate boss.

Any thought of laziness was instantly killed.

"No, I'm very young, I want to stay and continue training." Kemp said, "Thank you for your kindness, coach, I really don't need it."

Wow, did he work so hard? Louis just wanted to cry to death. Why was he so prejudiced against Camp before?

Louis said helplessly to Reed: "For God's sake, be nice to that kid."

Training camp ends in early October.

After only two days of rest, the Knicks headed to Las Vegas for a preseason game.

The NBA has been expanding the league's influence.

Every season, strong teams come to the casino to play preseason games.

Usually those who represent the league are the defending champions or strong championship contending teams.

The first game of the preseason is against the Houston Rockets.

Ewing was recuperating from his injury, so Louis tried as many combinations as possible.

For example, let John Salley and McHale partner in the paint.

This combination has enough defense, insufficient rebounds, and poor offensive creativity.

In the first game against the Rockets, the opponent obviously treated the game as a real game.

Olajuwon played 39 minutes, scoring 32 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks, leading the team to defeat the Knicks.

In the next game, Louis simply started without a center.

The five starting players are Stockton, Miller, Wilson, Rodman, and McHale.

They swept away the Washington Bullets whose bloodline suppression power had failed.

This game gave Louis confidence.

It fully shows that when encountering a team without a strong center, it doesn't matter whether they have a center or not. They can completely crush them with their athletic ability.

In the third preseason game, the opponent is the Milwaukee Bucks.

Louis substituted McHale for the first time, Selly took the center position, and the other four points remained unchanged.

The result was another great victory.

According to the control variable method, can we conclude that McHale is also unimportant?

Louis didn't think it would work, because the Bucks didn't want to win at all. They practiced fringe players throughout the game, and the main players played less than 20 minutes on average.

In Game 4, against the upstart Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference, Louis had mixed emotions.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this Heat team was built by him remotely.

In just two years, they acquired a wonderful roster: Willie Anderson, Brian Shaw, Vernon Maxwell, Cheeks, Petrovich, Hank Gathers

,B.J. Armstrong.

What are the shortcomings of this lineup?

It seems that Louis lacks depth inside, and there are good players in other positions.

Hank Gathers, the hugely popular No. 1 pick, averaged 24 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in the previous preseason games. His heart problem was significantly controlled after the Heat specially consulted a doctor to use special drugs.

In this game, neither the Knicks nor the Heat have a good center.

Louis tried to start Sam Bowie for the first time and paired it with McHale, which actually brought some unexpected gains to the Knicks.

Only after actually coaching Bowie could Louis understand Jack Ramsey and Stu Inman's original obsession with him.

To some extent, Bowie and Walton are similar.

When he is healthy, he is a big man who can do anything, shoot from far, support from the high post, protect the basket and rebounds, and even has the speed to participate in fast breaks that Walton does not have.

This is exactly what he showed in this game.

His influence in the paint made it difficult for Gathers.

Gathers was blocked from attacking the basket several times. He relied on the referee's body hair whistle and half-interception to score 19 points and 12 rebounds.

But Bowie seems to know that this game is Louis' inspection of him. If he plays well, he might be able to secure his starting position before Ewing returns.

He doesn't value his status in the team because he knows Ewing is on the team.

If Ewing is not there, of course he will have to fight for the starting spot.

Who is not a proud man? No one really wants to sit on the bench all the time unless there is a sufficient and necessary reason.

Bowie scored 17 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks in 29 minutes, leading the Knicks to a 24-point victory over the Heat.

When interviewed by reporters, Bowie expressed his true feelings: "I want to guard the paint area in New York before Patrick returns!"