The Whip of the God of Basketball

The world doesn't win with its mouth - except in debates and US elections.

During the trip on Katahdin, Leon's real purpose was not to show off his basketball philosophy in front of the old guys, but more to enhance the team's emotions and get to know everyone's personality. For example, like Dave Cowens, he has a straight and tough personality, just like his style on the court, and he is quite impulsive. Although he is in his fifties, his temper is not soft at all.

And unexpectedly, this guy is still a talker. During a week in Katahdin Mountain, he alone talked more than the others combined, and he often started to argue with Leon while talking, because Among the four assistant coaches, Cowens was the only one who was not personally recruited or cooperated for a long time, so Leon suspected that Cowens was inserted by Auerbach to torture him.

Of course, within a week, Cowens at least agreed with one thing, that is, Leon is a candidate who can become the head coach. Resolve his doubts, and his thinking always finds another way. He is also not like some people who like to say some wisecracks and gags to cover up conflicts and embarrassments. Leon is always willing to face the conflict with Cowens, which Cowens, who has rich experience in NBA management, appreciates.

Compared with Cowens, Siegfried has the same tough and stubborn personality, but at the age of nearly 70, he looks much gentler on the surface. He usually doesn’t talk much. He likes to be with Dick Hart on Katahdin Lake the most. Fishing, and likes to discuss technical details related to shooting with Leon. Because he found that although Leon can't play, he has strong observation skills and memory, and can fully recount the technical details of various shots. Siegfried also needs to learn the latest modern shooting techniques.

Siegfried is a very careful person. He has been working in the correction center for many years, so he always has a patient attitude. Whenever Leon and Cowens quarrel, Siegfried can always mediate. Feeling and understanding other people's thoughts like a real elder, and then using it to comfort others, can always get good results.

Among the five people, Steve Hess is the closest in age to Leon, and the two have the most common language. After a short time with each other, they found that they have many common hobbies, such as fitness, such as boxing . A strength and fitness coach, Hess is a fitness nut himself, as well as a boxing aficionado. When Leon beat a maple tree by the lake with his iron fist and the leaves fell down, Hess finally knew that the team coach he met was completely different from the previous ones. He is ready to help the Celtics in the new season. In terms of physical training, he has full confidence in training the Celtics' young people into small animals.

Dick Hart is still the same, but compared with last season, he seems a little depressed. He doesn't talk much during the trip, and often stays alone by the lake for a long time to fish. It seems that O'Brien's departure still makes him brood. After all, O'Brien personally invited him to the Celtics. Everything seemed to be thriving last season. Not only did it remind him of his brief glory days in Indiana, but at the age of nearly 70, he was already thinking about leaving the professional game. This may be his last season with the Celtics, or the NBA.

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In mid-August, the Celtics' coaching staff ended this impressive trip, and the coaching staff's cooperation in the following season laid a good emotional foundation. Age has not been an obstacle to connecting five people, because they still have basketball.

After returning to Boston, Leon spent more than a week with Khomeinis. They went to Florida, went to Orlando to play Disney World, and spent three days in the sun on the beach in Miami. , Until the end of August, when the Men's Basketball World Championships was about to start, Leon returned to Boston. After a little preparation, he decided to go to Indianapolis to watch the World Championships.

On August 27th, Leon arrived in Indianapolis by plane. This time he was not only accompanied by Morey, but also the newly hired scouts of the Celtics. Meet Paul Cormier. After Leon resigned as a team scout, the position of Celtics chief scout has been vacant until finally recruiting another scout this year. Cormier is not well-known in the league. He is an unknown junior. The reason why the Celtics are interested in him is that he has three years of experience in Europe. This year the team selected Scola in the draft. Cormier The scouting reports provided also helped.

Leon chose the Marriott Hotel where he stayed with each team. There is a training ground near the hotel. Each national team will have a media opening time for training. Leon hopes to use this opportunity to get in touch with each team more. European strong teams, get to know those European and South American players more closely. Leon believes that in the future NBA, international players will be a big gold mine waiting to be developed.

Leon was not the only one who had the same idea as Leon. In the hotel, Leon quickly met some old acquaintances, such as Spreley. He arrived at the hotel two days earlier than Leon and had already begun to focus on Watch some of the stars playing in Europe. In fact, if the Celtics hadn't robbed Hu in the draft, the Spurs' primary goal would have been Scola.

Another object of Leon's concern is of course Wang Zhizhi. After holding a press conference to decide to return to the national team, Wang Zhizhi has returned to China for more than a month. This time he also came to Indianapolis with the national team. It has been more than a month. During the time, the Celtics have always kept an eye on Wang Zhizhi. Every week, Xia Song will submit a Wang Zhizhi training report to Leon, detailing Wang Zhizhi's training programs, physical conditions and injuries in the national team. Generally speaking, Wang Zhizhi The state of the team is not bad, and he obviously has a completely different concept in the national team after playing in the NBA.

Of course, these are not Leon's concerns. He only hopes that Wang Zhizhi will not be injured and can come back healthy and healthy before the team's training camp starts.

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On the 28th, there were still two days before the official start of the World Championships. Early in the morning, Leon got up from the bed, woke up Morey and Cormier, dressed and had breakfast, and rushed to a hotel near the Marriott Hotel. Squat at the basketball training hall. Just like media reporters, in order to be able to interview the first-hand news of each team, it is necessary to go to the training hall earlier, because usually in the afternoon, the team will conduct closed training, and outsiders are not allowed to visit and interview .

In order to be able to sneak into the media team, Leon got a few press cards from Woj, so that if someone wants to check the identity of the reporter, he can use these cards as a shield.

But even with such a plan, Leon still has to face a big problem, that is, they don't have a schedule for the training venues of each national team, so they don't know which national team is training in the nearby training hall. He only knows where the Chinese team's training ground is, but he is really not very interested in the Chinese team's players.

In the end, Leon decided to believe in fate, picked the nearest training gym, and took a taxi there after breakfast. When they arrived at the training hall, they found that there was no one at the door, neither reporters nor players came to practice. And this field is not a dedicated basketball hall, but a gymnasium with basketball, volleyball, badminton, and table tennis.

In the center is the basketball court, on which there are badminton courts and volleyball courts. Above the stands on the second floor, there is a circle of table tennis tables. Such a "multi-functional" gymnasium does not seem to be very popular. Used by the team.

"It's over, I won't come to the training hall in Angola." Leon was annoyed in his heart. He was always meticulous in his work, but he made a mistake in this matter. But also blame the event organizers, the American Basketball Association didn't take this World Championships seriously at all, the whole event was organized in a mess, and there was no World Championship atmosphere in the city. No wonder, in the basketball kingdom of the United States, especially Indiana, which has the title of basketball state, people's enthusiasm for the Men's Basketball World Championships may not be as high as a state high school basketball league.

When several people were worrying about the gymnasium, Leon saw a guy in a red tracksuit turning and jogging over from the corner of the street. He looked like an athlete who came here for training.

"Hey, look who is that?" Leon pointed to the man and said to Morey and Cormier.

Morey squinted his eyes and looked in the direction Leon was pointing at, and said, "It's Nash from the Mavericks! Damn, this is where the Canadian team trains!"