The Whip of the God of Basketball

"Our goal in the new season is to reach the finals, to go further than last year."

This is what Fox Leon said to everyone at the Celtics owner change conference, and it made headlines in the sports pages of major newspapers across the United States within a day. For a while, this young man whose identity was mysterious and who became the head coach of the Celtics in just two years became a hot topic of discussion in the American basketball circle. Even the news that Auerbach announced his permanent retirement from the Celtics didn't get too many people's attention.

The Boston Tribune gave a bitter irony to Leon's rhetoric, commenting that "whether it is realistic or not, the season goals given by most teams are either to enter the playoffs in a down-to-earth manner, or to directly aim at the championship. A half-goal like this to reach the finals is as ridiculous as a student taking an exam saying that he wants to take second place." This is the case from the local media in Boston, let alone other cities.

"A scout with no basketball experience from the South Side of Boston made history and became the head coach of a professional team in two years, and what he said in the press conference was as impressive as his background. Felt unprofessional . . . quoting Sports Illustrated's ball commentary column, written by John Hollinger . A paragraph in the ball commentary column was read to Leon sitting next to him.

"John Hollinger? I seem to have a little impression. He seems to be very interested in data analysis, and he sells his data analysis ideas in the comment circle. He is very similar to Daryl." Leon didn't care about the content of the comments. Heard enough negative comments these days. He had foreseen this a long time ago, as long as he said some controversial or ambiguous words in the media, it would cause tumbling and commotion like throwing fresh meat in a crocodile pond. He was more interested in Hollinger, who wrote the review, than in the clichéd carping criticism.

Morey just smiled when he heard Leon's words. When it came to data analysis, he didn't dare to show off in front of Leon. Although he learned more deeply and comprehensively than Leon in terms of analysis methods and theories, he couldn't resist Leon's Count!

At this time, the news that the plane was about to land came from the radio, and Morey put away the newspaper, sorted out his belongings and prepared to get off the plane. At 1:30 in the afternoon, Leon and Morey arrived at Cleveland International Airport, but this was not their destination. After getting off the plane, the two immediately took a taxi to the Cleveland train station and bought a train ticket to Mansfield.

The Great Lakes region of the United States is an old industrial area in the United States. Relying on the abundant water of the Great Lakes, as well as a large amount of iron ore and coal, it became the industrial heart of the United States when the United States rose in the early 20th century. Therefore, the railway here extends in all directions and has the densest railway network in the United States, and Mansfield is a hub of this road network. Here leads to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, Chicago and the Atlantic coast. So the two easily bought tickets to Mansfield. After an hour's train journey and half an hour's ride, they finally arrived at their final destination at three o'clock in the afternoon - located in Mansfield. Mansfield Correctional Institution in the northern suburb of Wesfield.

"It actually makes me feel kind to record here." Standing outside the correctional institution, looking at this large correctional institution covering an area of ​​over 100 hectares, I couldn't help but think of my time in MCI. Of course, Morey didn't understand what Leon was talking about. He was just wondering why he came to the correction center when he promised to visit an important person during his business trip? Could it be that this guy is serving his sentence?

Leon went to the guard and informed them of their purpose. Before coming, Leon had already called here to make an appointment for a visit, so after a full-body search, the two entered the huge prison smoothly. But the person they were looking for was not in a prison cell, but in a social work activity room in a correctional center. Under the guidance of the guards, the two came to the activity room and saw the person they were looking for, Mr. Larry Siegfried, who was giving psychological counseling to the prisoners.

"Who the hell is this guy? Don't keep it a secret." Leon and Morey had to stand at the door and wait because there was psychological counseling going on inside. Morey couldn't help but whispered to Leon. Ang has remained mum about the purpose of coming to Ohio. This is Leon's consistent style. It's not that he likes to play this kind of mysterious trick, but the multiple leaks of the previous team's strategy made him have to be more vigilant.

At this moment, the door of the activity room opened, and a bald black man in a blue prison uniform came out from inside. He walked out of the door, then turned around and bowed slightly towards the door, and then left under the leadership of the guards. .

"Come in, two guests from Boston." The voice of Mr. Siegfried came from inside, and Leon led Morey into the activity room. It was only now that Morey saw this Mr. Siegfried, a white man in his sixties, tall, with a square face and two sword eyebrows raised straight to the sky, looking full of heroism.

"Hello, Mr. Siegfried... This is Mr. Larry Siegfried, Celtics guard in the past, great shooter and defender, and an important substitute on the bench for the team. The hero of the eight consecutive championships, the representative of the Celtics player spirit." Leon introduced Mr. Siegfried to Morey, he was an important member of the Celtics during the eight consecutive championships, wearing No. 20 Jersey, a Celtics-style player with superb shooting skills and tough defensive capabilities.

Hearing Leon's compliment, Siegfried shook his head with a smile, and moved seats for the two of them. After the two sat down, he took out a pipe from the drawer and lit it in his mouth. He took a puff and said, "Arnold didn't say in his letter that you are a good flatterer. He said that you often speak bad words. It made him very embarrassing. Hahaha..."

Hearing this, Leon couldn't help but smiled, and he responded: "The world has already praised Arnold too much, and I don't need to compliment him anymore. You, on the other hand, have the ability that many people don't know. The Celtics bring more help. I am a straightforward person. This time, I just hope you can come out and serve as the assistant coach of the Celtics. Now we are very scarce in the position of assistant coaches. "

The purpose of Leon's visit this time is to invite this veteran veteran in the history of the Celtics to serve as the assistant coach of the Celtics. Now that the Celtics are short of assistant coaches, Leon has become After the head coach, only Dick Hart is left. They urgently need a professional and talented assistant coach to assist Leon. Auerbach arranged everything before resigning. The first inheritance he left to Leon was to recommend Larry Siegfried as the team's assistant coach.

However, this does not mean that Siegfried will follow Auerbach's dispatch back to Boston to assist Leon without hesitation, although Auerbach wrote an emotional letter to Siegfried, tactfully I hope he can consider this matter, but Leon still needs to come to Mansfield himself and go to the correctional center to convince this stubborn old man. Now he is quite satisfied with his job as a psychotherapist in the correctional facility, and has no desire to return to basketball.

"I don't know if you know the story of me and Cincinnati, they chose me that year, and I didn't want to go there, and then no matter how much the people there hated me, I didn't go to Cincinnati to play. Because I didn't want to go." Siegfried mentioned the past when he participated in the NBA draft. Back then, he was studying at Ohio State University and playing in the NCAA. The University of Cincinnati and Ohio State were deadly rivals in the same state. So after being selected by the Cincinnati Royals in the draft, Siegfried refused to report to the Royals. He would rather go to The ABL's Cleveland Pipers also don't want to join the Royals to play in the NBA. After consuming each other for two seasons, the Royals finally traded Siegfried to the Hawks, and Siegfried was able to enter the NBA.

Siegfried is such a very, very stubborn person, but his words did not frighten Leon, he said unhurriedly: "Your stubbornness is famous all over the world, but there is also one thing that everyone knows, that is, you are A guy who values ​​friends very, very much. You joined the Celtics because your good friend and alumnus, Mr. John Havlicek, recommended you to Auerbach and convinced you to drop high school I come to play in the NBA as a coach." As he spoke, Leon took out an envelope from the briefcase beside him and handed it to Siegfried.

Siegfried took the envelope and saw on the cover that it read "Dear Siegfried - Your good friend Johann Havlicek." There is no doubt that 40 years ago Havlicek Persuading Auerbach to recruit Siegfried, 40 years later, Auerbach asked for this friendship through Havlicek.

Siegfried's eyes hesitated a bit. He took a puff of cigarette, sighed again, and fell into deep thought. He began to recall those passionate years of fighting on the court in his mind. Although the peaceful life in the correctional center is peaceful, as a former basketball player, there is always an inextinguishable flame in his heart.

At this time, Leon took out another letter from his briefcase and put it in front of Siegfried. Siegfried took a look, and on the cover was written "Received by Larry Siegfried— —Bill Sharman.” This is Bill Sharman’s letter to Siegfried, who was signed by the Cleveland Pipers when he refused to go to the Cincinnati Royals. The head coach is Bill Sharman. The pioneer of NBA jump shooting technology gave himself a lot of benefits in basketball, especially shooting, during the two years of coaching himself, which benefited him throughout his NBA championship career.

Seeing these two letters, Siegfried knew that his kindness was too much to refuse, but he still said: "Maybe I can accept your invitation, but... I really don't know what else I can do. Now Basketball is completely different from the past, speed, power, tactics, I am already an old antique."

Leon stood up from his chair and said firmly: "But there are two things you can teach young people, precise jump shots, and strong defense!"