The Whip of the God of Basketball

Just when Leon went to New York to start his own business and prepare to take advantage of the fire, D'Antoni was worrying about the team's tactical training. During the team's training on November 3, D'Antoni gave the team some training A three-hour tactical training session was conducted to further adjust the team’s tactical use in offense and distribution of ball rights.

Especially the issue of ball distribution, this is a huge problem that Leon has given him, and it is also a big problem that the Suns have been facing in the past few seasons. This shouldn't have been a problem. After Nash came to the team, this super point guard became the team's best offensive engine. His turnover-to-assist ratio was astonishing. It can be said that as long as Nash is on the court, almost every offense of the Suns It all goes through Nash's hands.

And this season, Leon asked Nash to reduce assists, reduce his role in the offense, and give the ball to others to control more. Judging from the first game, the effect was not very significant. The Suns still relied on their overall advantage to crush their opponents. Now, Leon has put forward higher requirements and wants to directly design independent tactics for Stoudemire and Diaw. This makes D'Antoni scratch his head. Designing tactics and training inside players is not his strength.

No way, D'Antoni bit the bullet and led the team to practice for three hours. From time to time he took out the tactical folder that Leon left for him and took a look at it, but he stopped reading it after a few times because Leon He couldn't understand a lot of what was written. It wasn't that D'Antoni was stupid, but some of Leon's diagrams, tables, and terminology. Only he could understand it.

Looking forward to the stars and the moon, on the afternoon of November 4th, Leon finally returned to Phoenix. He had almost settled the matter in New York. He had laid out a long-term plan and was waiting for the big fish to take the bait. Next, he will focus his energy on the Phoenix Suns. From the summer training camp, to the preseason, to the first game of the regular season, the team has been running very well so far.

As Leon's experience in recent years has shown, a tall and magnificent championship iceberg must have a larger part under the water as support. Everything about the team is currently good, and what he has to do is to maintain this state, so After arriving in Phoenix on the 1st, Leon called D'Antoni and asked him to give the players a day off in the afternoon. He said he would take everyone to eat Mexican barbecue.

"Barbecue? All of them?"

"To all, everyone, including the guys on your coaching staff."

D'Antoni couldn't believe his ears. He still had a lot of questions that he wanted to discuss with Leon. Why did Leon go to eat barbecue again when he was so good? But there was no way, Leon was the head coach, and everything had to be obeyed by him. D'Antoni informed everyone, canceled the afternoon tactical training, and then asked to have dinner together.

Leon went home and took a shower, took a short rest, watched half an hour of game video, spent 20 minutes browsing the recent US financial news, and spent 15 minutes watching ESPN Basketball Express. These two The NBA regular season has begun in full swing today, but there are still no clues in just one or two games. He called his wife again, chatted about the recent situation, and then went out and drove to the barbecue restaurant.

The barbecue restaurant is located in the southwest area of ​​Phoenix. It is a very good Mexican barbecue restaurant. Leon had communicated with Nash before coming here. He said that the team would often go there for dinner in the past to indulge his appetite. After arriving, basically the entire Suns team arrived, including the coaching staff, main players and bench. Such large battles are not common.

In the NBA, even on the same team, players have small cliques. Besides, the players are all different ages. Young people play with young people, middle-aged people play with middle-aged people, or middle-aged big brothers play with young people. When I go out to hang out, I always do it in twos and threes, so it’s convenient for me to move around.

Besides, if there are more than 20 players and coaches on a team, no matter what activity they do when they go out, there will be too many people, which is eye-catching and inconvenient, except for playing basketball.

Fortunately, the season has just begun and the players are still in a relatively relaxed state. The relationship and atmosphere of the team are generally very good, so it is not difficult to go out for activities together.

Leon greeted everyone. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Most NBA players are relatively simple-minded. Young people in their early 20s and millionaires can get paid by playing basketball every day. It can be said that they are living a good life. The ideal good life.

The Suns players also discovered that Leon is not as scary as the legend says. He is just very strict on the court and quite relaxed in life. At the beginning of the season, he missed training and went to New York to "play". Now he is back again. Inviting everyone to a barbecue, some negative worries about him before the start of the season were quickly wiped away.

Of course, this is just the Fox Leon they have seen so far, but the players won’t think much about it anyway. Except for smart people like Nash, he knows that everything Leon does after coming to the Suns is intentional. purpose, but Nash is on Leon's side, because everything Leon does is for the championship.

Everyone had a great time at this meal. It was not a big party, and Leon even allowed the players to drink some wine. By the end, everyone was getting high, and some people even wanted to play with Leon over their own abilities. Poker, of course, was killed by Leon, and everyone gave up.

D'Antoni has been looking for an opportunity to chat with Leon about tactical issues, but he has never been able to find a good opportunity. It was not until the dinner was over and everyone was going back that D'Antoni ran to Leon's car. D'Antoni did not While drinking, he sat in the passenger seat and asked: "What have you been doing these two days? You missed a training session, you took the players to eat and drink, and I can't even read your tactics folder!"

Leon seemed to be having a great time, but in fact he didn't drink a drop of wine. He didn't even eat barbecue because it was too greasy and heavy. He eats more healthily now. Faced with D'Antoni's questioning, Leon put his hand on his shoulder, motioned him to calm down, and said, "Mike, how many games have we played now?"

"It's just one game."

"How many games have you lost?"

"We haven't lost yet."

"That's not very good."

"But we just had a fight!"

"Yes! We just had a fight!"

Leon emphasized D'Antoni's words again, and then looked at D'Antoni. D'Antoni stopped talking. He was thoughtful, and after thinking about it, he asked: "Then our tactics..."

"Don't worry, we still have a lot of time to slowly train, adjust, and experiment. I believe in you, Mike. You also have to believe in me, and you must believe in your players. I know that the entire sun is full of energy from top to bottom. There is an aura of 'I want to change', and everyone can't wait to transform immediately, just like you did in 2005, reborn and enter the championship ranks, so I came here."

Leon paused mid-sentence, took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took a puff, and continued: "After I came here, it was not as you expected. Although I made some changes, it seems that It's not obvious, and it's even deliberately preventing some changes from coming. I know that Steve Kerr has been planning big trades and wants to turn the team upside down. But I know Kerr, he is a great guy, no matter what Is it a player or something other than a manager."

D'Antoni nodded, and Leon added: "Managers and head coaches are often on opposite sides. A good coach will always win the hearts of the people and get the support and support of the players. He must learn to be obedient. Of course, this obedience may only be superficial. Yes, but at least you have to be able to play both sides between the stars, so that those guys with big tempers are willing to listen to your command. Fortunately, Nash is a good guy, and Amare is still young."

Nash is indeed very easy to handle among MVP-level players. Of course, this is related to his personality and life experience.

"The general manager is different. He is from the boss's side. He dominates the players' livelihood. He often stands on the opposite side and does some right and bad things for the sake of long-term considerations. It is difficult for players to like them. So you know, How difficult it would be for a guy like Cole to be a manager who is loved by everyone. He will always go with the flow, but a manager cannot go with the flow. He must be original, ruthless, and suffer countless blows when necessary. Swear, and finally let time prove that he is right."

After saying that, Leon took another puff of cigarette. The cigarette was almost burned out, and D'Antoni stopped talking.

Leon concluded: "In short, stand on my side and do your daily job. This is a mature team. The players are very smart. We have a lot of veterans and the best point guard on the court. As long as you give them guidance, they will solve the problems themselves. Trust me."

In the end, Leon convinced D'Antoni and had a pleasant dinner, which was undoubtedly a good thing for the players' cohesion. But for a team, there is only one best glue, and that is victory.

On the evening of November 4th, while the Suns were having a dinner party, the Los Angeles Lakers flew to Phoenix. They would win the team's second game of the season. In the first home opener, they lost to the Houston Rockets. , casting a shadow over the journey of the new season.

The team's star, the super scoring champion in the past two seasons, Kobe Bryant, still stayed with the Lakers after experiencing a whole summer of departure farce, but if the team still fails to improve, this superstar The possibility of being traded still cannot be ruled out.

As for Phoenix, Kobe really, really dislikes it. Especially in the past two years, he failed here for two consecutive seasons. This year, the Suns changed their head coach again and ushered in that annoying guy. Phoenix is ​​even more dissatisfied. Disgusting.

After getting off the plane and at the airport, Kobe ignored any reporters' interviews. He put on his headphones and got on the bus to the hotel. Facing some persistent reporters, Kobe only said one sentence: "I will do my best." I will do my best)”