The Whip of the God of Basketball

On December 30, the NBA's official league office officially issued a notice that the deal between the Boston Celtics and the New Orleans Hornets was established and took effect on the same day. On this day, Joe Johnson left Boston for distant New Orleans by plane, and two players of the Hornets, PJ Brown and Courtney Alexander, also flew from New Orleans to Boston at the same time.

In the afternoon, the Celtics headquarters conducted a health check on the two players. Because the transaction has just come into effect, the two have not officially entered the team roster, so they will not be able to play against the Memphis Grizzlies on December 31. To participate in the war, they will have to wait until 2003 when they put on green jerseys and stand on the court.

Leon's main task in the past two days is to debug tactics for the team's new lineup, especially the positioning of PJ-Brown. After Tony Batty and Potapanko were traded away, the Celtics are in the center position The only choices left are Brown, Blunt and Dalembert. PJ-Brown, as a swinging inside player between a power forward and a center, not only has the power to hard-cap most of the insiders in the league, but also has the flexibility of a power forward. He is a rare multi-functional defensive insider in the league.

For any coach, having such an inside player should feel like a treasure, especially for the Celtics who currently lack inside defense, which is why Ainge tried his best to trade for Brown. But Leon was a little worried. What he worried about was not Brown's ability, but how long it would take him to adapt to the Celtics' current tactics.

Judging from Brown's playing experience, the teams he has stayed in include the Nets, Heat and Hornets. Among them, during the Heat period, he was the defensive champion next to Mourning. The two were the strongest in the league under Pat Riley. Yin's inside duo; in the Hornets, Brown is also the backbone of the defense. He was selected to the second team of the best defensive team and is an out-and-out defensive mainstay. In this regard, many Boston media praised Angie after the transaction was completed, believing that the Celtics finally solved the problems of interior defense and rebound protection. This transaction is also considered the best transaction in the league so far.

However, as the head coach, Leon knows very well that a team's defense cannot be improved immediately with a good defensive insider. It is necessary to establish a suitable defensive system so that an excellent defensive insider like PJ Brown can Only by playing a role in it can he maximize his advantages and bring help to the team. Otherwise, all he can bring is a few more rebounds and a few more blocks, which will not substantially improve the team.

This is also the biggest difference between defense and offense. Offense can rely on the personal ability of a superstar, while defense must rely on the system.

The Celtics' current defensive system was jointly designed by Dick Hart and Leon. It is a simple and flat defensive system based on personal defense. It does not pursue excessive rotation, double-teaming and defensive traps. Use, but ask everyone to perform their duties, deal with the person in front of them, and it is best to leave other things alone. It’s not that Dick Hart doesn’t have a better defensive strategy, but after pondering over and over with Leon, he thinks that with the basic defensive skills and defensive awareness of the Celtics, it’s not bad to be able to keep the people in front of him away. , Stop thinking about large-scale rotations, double-teams and traps.

Moreover, the core component of a defensive system has always been the inside players. Whether it is to fill the position after the rotation, to defend the trap in the trap, or as the last barrier, the inside players are required to take responsibility. Before Brown came, the Celtics didn't have such players. Now they have, but what should they do with the system established before? Whether to disband on the spot and start from scratch, or continue to stick to the existing system, step by step, and slowly transform it in one or two seasons, this is a question that Leon must consider.

So before training on the morning of the 31st, Leon found Dick Hart. The two had been discussing this issue on the way to the training camp. In the end, Hart put forward two opinions. First of all, PJ Brown is indeed very good in the league. Secondly, the current Celtics defensive system construction is reasonable, starting from improving the players' basic defensive skills, one-on-one defensive ability and defensive awareness, and laying a solid foundation for instilling a deeper defensive concept in them in the future Base.

What Leon is worried about now is whether Brown's arrival, the management's ideas and the pressure from the media will force him to change the established plan. It's like a class that is still in the basics of elementary mathematics, and suddenly a student master who is proficient in advanced mathematics comes. For him, is it to increase the difficulty of the textbooks, or let this guy also learn elementary mathematics?

…………………

At 9:30 in the morning, Leon saw the new members of the team in the training hall. He didn't see Joe Johnson training in the training hall. Leon was still a little disappointed, but this small hole was quickly eliminated. PJ-Brown's strong and mighty body is full.

PJ-Brown, 6 feet 11 in height, 255 pounds in weight, has a face like an iron king. In the team's physical examination report, Leon already knew that the 32-year-old PJ Brown is quite healthy and in a good competitive state. When Leon arrived at the training hall, Brown was doing strength training in the gym. Leon didn't bother him or go up to say hello. Instead, he had a pre-training meeting with the coaches as usual.

At the training meeting, Cowens suggested that defensive practice can start today. After joining the new important defensive players, it is very necessary to conduct a defensive joint training. Leon agreed with Cowens and decided to open today. Defensive training.

Before the training started, Leon had the first conversation with PJ-Brown in the gym. He walked up to the barbell and greeted Brown. Brown just nodded and counted words in his mouth. He was doing deadlifts. Exercises to work those back muscles, it doesn't look like he has much interest in talking to Leon. It's no wonder that PJ-Brown participated in the draft in 1992, but failed to play in the NBA because he was not favored. He went to Europe and returned to the United States to play in New Jersey in 1994. He has been in the Eastern Conference team ever since.

In the 1990s, the inside line of the Eastern NBA was an area where a group of tough guys and bullies were rampant. PJ Brown endured beatings and sufferings in this three-foot space, and he practiced hard defensive skills like steel. People's current style of play is very cold. The two teams once played against each other on December 1. PJ-Brown sent 10 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. The Hornets completely suppressed the Celtics on the rebounds, but the Celtics relied on their fast offense and A precise three-pointer knocked the Hornets down.

PJ-Brown is very dissatisfied with this. He thinks that the Celtics' style of play is opportunistic, and they can steal some victories in the regular season. Once it comes to the playoffs, this tactical system that relies on fast breaks and three-pointers Disintegrated by the high pressure of the playoffs.

Leon didn't care about Brown's slightly rude performance. He knew that if he wanted to conquer this old ball, he could only rely on strength and wisdom. .

It's just that Leon doesn't care about Brown, but Brown doesn't give Leon any face. When the Celtics started defensive training, Brown began to put forward his opinions in training, thinking that the team was not perfect in many details of the training, and the defensive tactics were too single.

"Here can obviously create a good defensive trap, why don't you use a three-man double team? Me, Pierce, and Arenas on the line, the two of them just need to move their positions a little bit to make some defensive postures, and then I will Get him... whoever, Redd, inside the perimeter of the defense. Making turnovers, what a defense!" Brown even called a practice stop during a practice session, pointing out that the team had better players in this situation. Defensive coping strategies.

Everyone stopped, listening to Brown's explanation. Now the oldest player on the Celtics, except for Steve Kerr, is PJ Brown, and Leon is even two years younger than Brown. In the past, everyone was young, no one was in the early stage, and everyone was very obedient. Now an old man came, and everyone unconsciously followed his advice.

At this time, all eyes are on Leon, facing the technical and tactical doubts of the players, Leon must respond.

Leon walked to the court, came in front of Reed, threw the ball aside, and said to everyone: "Since some people have doubts about our tactical model, then let's have a Celtic-style training." Now, the defensive training is over, we will conduct half an hour of off-ball simulation training!"

The players on the stadium immediately became agitated, and Antoine Walker walked up to Brown in a crooked manner, and said to him in a funny voice: "Let's see, see our real training!"