The Way of the Center

"The conflict between Anjie and Carlesimo broke out in an all-round way, and the two sides were already at odds before the start of the season."

"Carlesimo reprimanded Anjie loudly at the training ground."

"Angie and Carlesimo break out in a physical altercation" …

The next day, the news in the newspaper didn't mention the Thunder's victory, but focused all on Carlesimo and Anjie. Looking at each of these headlines, An Jie could only secretly scold these journalists who added oil and vinegar in his heart, and at the same time had to admire the brains of the people who wrote these articles.

Although his and Carlesimo's tactical concepts are inconsistent, they are far from reaching the point where conflicts erupt. Carlesimo will not show too much embarrassment to Anjie, and Anjie will not do things that disrespect Carlesimo. But the media just like to exaggerate the facts, the more eye-catching the better.

In the last game against the Timberwolves, although Anjie was abandoned, the Thunder won the ball, which undoubtedly gave Carlesimo a shot in the arm. Now he can confidently say that Anjie is not suitable for the Thunder's tactics. Do you see that others can win if they play according to my arrangement? Explain that there is definitely no problem with my arrangement, and the problem lies with An Jie.

Faced with this kind of ending, An Jie can only swallow the bitter fruit alone. The team won the game even though he didn't play much, which can only make his status in Carlesimo's heart lower and lower.

Catherine couldn't help covering her mouth when she saw the newspapers with scary headlines. She bought all the newspapers about An Jie back, only to find that the situation in each newspaper was quite different. In this way, she felt even more worried. How is Anjie living alone in Oklahoma City?

The anxious Catherine took out her phone and called, and waited for a long time for An Jie to connect.

An Jie got up listlessly, facing the empty house where he was alone. He suddenly felt that the surroundings had become very oppressive, and when he looked at the newspaper that had just been delivered, he was suddenly enveloped in a bad mood. Just then, An Jie's phone rang, and it was Catherine.

"Good morning, Catherine." Anjie's voice was lifeless.

"How are you doing with the team Ann? Is it true what the papers say?"

"Newspaper?" An Jie raised the newspaper in his hand and glanced at it again.

"Don't listen to them, these are all made up by the media out of context." After speaking, An Jie threw today's Oklahoma Daily into the trash can.

"But you yesterday..."

"Yesterday was the first back-to-back game, and my physical fitness was a problem, so the coach didn't let me play much. Don't worry, Catherine, don't think about it, I am normal in the team." An Jie didn't want to Let other people worry about themselves.

Such an answer made Catherine unable to refute it. Besides choosing to believe, what could she do?

In order not to upset An Jie, Catherine hung up the phone after saying a few words casually. But even through the phone call, she was still very worried about An Jie. You said, it would be great if she could be by An Jie's side now?

An Jie's mood did affect his competitive state. In the daily confrontation training, Westbrook and Durant obviously found that An Jie was not as good as before. But the more An Jie was like this, the more Carlesimo had an excuse to abandon An Jie. He even began to question the vision of the general manager Presti in his heart. You must know that Jeff Green is shining in the Kings now, and Anjie has not even managed to integrate into the team so far.

"Hey, don't worry, I know your ability, the head coach is just used to using experienced centers, as long as you perform well, you will definitely get a chance." Even Westbrook had to say a few words Remind my good buddies, if he continues like this, he may really not even be able to enter the rotation lineup.

Anjie nodded mechanically after listening to Westbrook's words, and then he sent another error on the training ground...

An Jie has gone through such a muddle-headed day for two days. The quality of his training in these two days has been very bad, and his state has almost reached a trough.

As the clock ticked, two days after the team's first win, the Thunder welcomed the defending champion Boston Celtics at their home stadium, the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Although the Thunder had just won a victory, the Celtics had just faced a defeat. But no one is optimistic about the young Thunder. Everyone believes that the seasoned and authentic Big Three will make these youngsters deeply understand what the NBA is.

The situation was not unexpected. The Celtics played very easily on the court. The Thunder's Durant and Westbrook tried their best and could only barely bite the score.

In the end, under the outstanding performance of the Celtics' Big Three, the Celtics defeated the Thunder 96 to 83. After the Thunder defeated the Timberwolves, they once again fell into the vortex of losing.

In this campaign, Durant scored a team-high 17 points, while Westbrook scored only 13 points. An Jie ranked directly behind Johan Petro in this game and became the third center. He scored 4 points and 2 rebounds in just ten minutes of playing.

After the performance of Durant and Westbrook gradually became prominent, Anjie has now slowly faded out of people's vision. Take Jeff Green for this Chinese? Maybe the deal was a mistake from the start.

After a day off, the Thunder went to Salt Lake City to challenge the Utah Jazz without stopping. Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur became the two happiest people facing the Thunder's paper-like inside defense. They scored 23 points and 18 points respectively, and the poor Collison and Petro only scored 8 points in total.

However, Durant and Westbrook, who refused to admit defeat, burst out their own strength. Durant scored 24 points and Westbrook scored 22 points. However, when other teammates really couldn't play, the Thunder still lost 7 Points, lost to Utah.

An Jie still got the chance to play. In the pitiful 13 minutes, An Jie scored 5 points and 3 rebounds, continuing to play the role of soy sauce. But it is worth mentioning that when Anjie was on the court, Okur's shooting percentage dropped significantly.

Unfortunately, even if Carlesimo saw it, he would choose to ignore it. An Jie was not the player he wanted. He was kind enough to give An Jie more than ten minutes of playing time. If it weren't for the pressure from the general manager, he would have asked An Jie to sit on the bench long ago.

Two days later, on November 9, the Thunder will face the undefeated Atlanta Hawks again. The stands of the Chesapeake Energy Arena for this game are only two-thirds full. City fans have lost confidence in this team that has been defeated repeatedly.

Sure enough, under the excellent performance of Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, the Eagles won the Thunder without any risk, and achieved a strong start of five consecutive victories. The Thunder have already lost three games in a row.

Now, An Jie will no longer be surrounded by reporters. After each game, only a few Chinese media will come to interview An Jie. Other media are not interested in the third center of the Thunder. No. So what if he scored 15+10 against Yao Ming? Didn't the famous parallel import champion Paul Brown also have the experience of scoring a large double-double? There are many such short-lived players in the NBA, and there is no shortage of Anjie.

"I said, An Jie, don't be discouraged. The first year of a rookie player is always suffering. You have to believe that gold will always shine. Don't worry, as long as you keep working hard, you will definitely get a chance." This is Wu Hua Personal advice to An Jie after the interview, but in his opinion, An Jie didn't listen much at all. Wu Hua shook his head helplessly, the former An Jie who never gave up lightly seemed to have disappeared. What is sitting in front of him now is just an "other" in the shell of An Jie.

Just one day later, the Thunder faced the Indiana Pacers back-to-back. Kevin Durant and Danny Granger fought fiercely. In the end, Durant scored a game-high 37 points and had 8 more. Rebounds and 3 blocks, he can be said to have completely blown Granger.

But the Pacers had four players who scored more than 14 points, while the Thunder scored 37 points in addition to Durant, and Westbrook's 14 points were already the second highest. Anjie had 3 points and 5 rebounds, still no different from disappearing. 99 to 107, four consecutive losses!

Carlesimo is starting to worry now. Fans have already pointed the finger at him as the head coach, thinking that he is not qualified to coach the Thunder, which had unlimited potential. However, the fans still couldn't make the decision. Under the scolding, Carlesimo took the Thunder on another away trip.

Orlando Magic, this team has become a strong team in the East under the leadership of Dwight Howard. Facing the inside line of the Thunder, which was like a chicken assistant, Warcraft was not soft on his hands. He trampled Collison and Petro fiercely with a large double-double of 30 points and 19 rebounds.

It took a few minutes for Anjie to play against Warcraft, but what is surprising is that Anjie was not completely suppressed by Howard. Instead, he completed a good defense once or twice on the defensive end. But it's a pity that Carlesimo took An Jie down again before his body warmed up.

An Jie really wanted to rush over and punch Carlesimo on the nose. He kind of understood why this guy was choked by his players before. An Jie clenched his fists, but he still couldn't do that kind of thing.

109 to 92, the Magic won the Thunder as if they were playing, without any pressure.

The five-game losing streak was not over yet. In the next half month, the Thunder played as stable as ever. Apart from losing, they did not contribute any other results.

Presti has long been unable to bear such a result, and the chief culprit for this result is the tactics that Carlesimona and the Thunder players do not match at all. Although Carlesimo has not been fired yet, he has already identified several candidates for the new coach. In Presti's mind, Carlesimo's dismissal is already a certainty. He didn't want the team to fall into chaos without a head coach after Carlesimo was fired, so he searched for a head coach candidate in advance. Once the candidate is confirmed, he will immediately fire the self-righteous coach.

"You should know that I haven't coached a team for a while." In Presti's office, a middle-aged man in a black suit sat across from his desk.

"I know you took a break, sir, but that doesn't affect your coaching level." Presti is still so good at negotiating.

From the beginning of the season to the end of November, Carlesimo only brought the team one victory, that narrow victory against the Timberwolves. After that game, the team has lost nine games in a row!

Not only Anjie, but Westbrook and Durant failed to show their full strength under his training. The reason why they still scored high scores was all due to their shots. wait? Wait any longer and the alliance will be at the bottom again!

"It's really risky for you to list me as one of the references." The man in the black suit looked at Presti and smiled.

"No, sir, you are the number one candidate in my heart. The other talents are for reference only, and the other talents are your substitutes." If Presti can successfully win this guy in front of him, then the Thunder will definitely welcome Change!

"This is no joke. You know I've almost decided to go to ESPN to be a commentator, but I think the Thunder team really has great potential, and your three boys are quite suitable for my style." The man in the black suit narrowed his eyes. Eyes, "How about allowing me to think about it for a few days?"

"Of course, we open the door to you at any time." As for this candidate, Presti spent sleepless nights and screened for a week. It is estimated that he is the only person who can sign a contract and is the most suitable for the team.

When there is a conflict between the coach and the players, one of them is bound to go. Unfortunately, in Presti's eyes, the person who had to break up with the Thunder was Carlesimo who felt good about himself.

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