The Whip of the God of Basketball

The Celtics did not leave much time for Leon to study tactics. After the training camp ended, the draft followed. For a week, Leon was bored in Marshfield and did not participate in any matters related to the draft. The reason was not that he didn't care, but that the raw materials and koji had been put into the wine tank, and the next thing to do was to slow down Wait slowly for fermentation.

The draft has never been a matter of impromptu, except that the Celtics selected Michael Reed last year. It was a young year in the draft and the collective vision of the scouts was wrong, allowing Leon and the Celtics to seize the opportunity to pick up the miss. This year is not a small year. There are many outstanding players participating in the draft, and all teams have put a lot of energy into preparations.

For example, the Washington Wizards, when Michael Jordan, the god of basketball, became one of the team's owners to participate in the draft, and when the team was still holding the No. 1 pick, their choice became the focus of attention. Enormous pressure. A low-ranking rookie will be a model for digging treasures if he succeeds, and no one will criticize him if he fails; but the first pick is completely different. There is already a lesson from Olowokandi before. Not to mention wasting the team's best pick of the year, they will also be ridiculed by the media and criticized by fans.

Just like last year, the draft training camp was held in Chicago more than half a month before the draft meeting, also at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, also at the Impact Sports Center, and the scouts from the Boston Celtics came again Here, only without Pitino this time, there was the team's new assistant coach Dick Hart, deputy general manager Darrell Morey and another team video editor, Jimmy Young.

Dick Hart has blond hair and a thin face with small eyes and a pointed face. He doesn't talk much and looks a little dull and old-fashioned, just as he is known for his defense in basketball circles. But in the team, he cares about the players very much and is deeply loved by the players. On the first day everyone from Boston arrived in Chicago, in a small conference room at the Athletic Association Hotel, the Celtics coaching staff held a small meeting. Both Leon and Hart were brought into the conference room. Leon saw Hart Te began leaning over to ask him questions.

During this period of time, Leon's energy was devoted to tactical study, and it happened that Leon had some doubts about his understanding of "space" in terms of defensive strategy. He said to Hart: "Defense is to continuously compress the opponent's space." Shooting space, but sometimes, even if the opponent blocks the space, the star can still score the ball in a one-on-one situation, and sometimes even if the star is one-on-one, it is better to double-team the star and let other players Open shots. I don't understand how the two work together."

Leon's problem is also a problem that many coaches encounter when defending. Leon's original idea was to use data to measure the shooting percentage of stars when facing one-on-one defenders and double-team defenses, as well as the shooting percentages of other players. The two are combined to calculate an optimal double-team distribution ratio. However, the dynamic game, changing tactics and players' touch made such an idea extremely difficult to realize. Leon overturned this idea after a preliminary estimate. Similar data analysis methods can only be put into a more macro defensive strategy, and such details cannot be used in this way.

Hart doesn't have much contact with Leon on weekdays. Leon has been busy with scouting affairs, but he has also heard about Leon's super learning ability. He listened to Leon's question and thought for a while and replied: "This is very difficult to answer. If I want to describe it in detail, I need two days to prepare data and video. But I can provide you with an idea, which is also a defense. A few basic principles. The space problem you mentioned is the most basic principle of defense. Based on this most basic principle, several principles are derived. First, quickly return to defense and position, when there is no one in your half Second, make reasonable choices and give up, just like playing chess, we always want to ensure that every piece stays on the board, but this is impossible, we have to weigh the pros and cons, give up some and keep some .As you said, whether to double-team the star or not to double-team? It needs to be judged according to the situation on the field and your experience; third, the pace is unified, and the defense is the most disciplined, and a unified pace can minimize loopholes; fourth, Blocking the transfer route of the ball is more important than blocking the player. Well, I will say so much, I believe you will understand soon."

At this time, Leon was a hungry student, and he took the short time before the meeting to learn another lesson. Finally, Hart added: "You can ask Vogel to watch the game video when you go back. You have never watched the edited defensive demonstration video before. After you watch it, you will know what I mean by these principles. Of course, you must remember that it is the players themselves who participate in the defense. They are people. When they When you have motivation, it works better than any tactic."

Leon nodded, and recorded all these in his notebook and mind. At this time, Jim O'Brien also arrived in the conference room. He rushed from Portland to Chicago. He visited his father-in-law, Jack Ramsay, before his trip. After becoming the head coach, he calls Ramsey almost every day. He also needs to ask Ramsey for advice in the crucial draft. After all, this year’s draft is different from last year. They have three picks in the middle of the position. There's plenty of cap space, and this could be a very important one-year draft for the Celtics' future.

"Okay Leon, the study time is over, you will have time to study these things in the future, come on, tell me your opinion on the draft, this is what you are good at." O'Brien said to Leon straightforwardly. Compared with last year, O'Brien's temperament has changed a lot. From being gentle and plain when he was an assistant coach, to a little irritable now, his temper is getting bigger and bigger, and he can't wait to talk to Leon.

There is no way, the pressure on the head coach is really huge. In the past, O'Brien always appeared as a peacemaker among the players. When Pitino had conflicts with the players, he always came out to mediate and sing red faces. But when he became the head coach, he couldn't sing red faces anymore, which often put him in a conflict. He wanted to continue to maintain a good relationship with the players, and sometimes he couldn't bear the inappropriate behavior of the players-for example, Walker has Under the leadership of Rodman and Anderson, he became a new generation of nightclub little princes, and his shots from beyond the three-point line became more and more excessive.

Leon closed his notebook. He saw the changes in O'Brien. This is also something he should be vigilant about. When your role changes, can you change your position and mentality and adapt to the new job. Just like him now, Leon is trying to adapt to the responsibilities of an assistant coach. The work assigned to him by the team is still related to scouting, but after the start of the new season, he will be engaged in player training.

In this draft, the Celtics' arrangement can be said to be quite sufficient. The three draft picks are 11th, 15th and 21st. Like last year, their highest draft pick is 11th. This pick comes from the Denver Diggers. Gold, while the 15th pick is the Celtics' own pick, and the 21st pick is from the Suns.

After more than a month of careful screening, the first candidate the Celtics identified was Gilbert Arenas. Leon gave a high evaluation in the scout report. Fortunately, this evaluation did not make Arenas Adams' projected pick has gotten too much of a boost because just two weeks ago Wojnarowski published a story claiming Arenas was inflated for his height and pointing out his many weaknesses on the defensive end.

Of course, this report was also drafted by Leon, which made Arenas drop to the end of the round. After repeatedly collecting information, Leon decided that no one would rob Arenas in the first round, so he decided Take this outstanding guard with the 21st overall pick.

As for the highest 11th pick, after consulting Danny Angie and Chris Wallace, Leon thinks that Joe Johnson or Radmanovic from Yugoslavia will be the best choice, which is It depends on who the Orlando Magic will choose with the 10th pick. However, since the positions of the two overlap with Reed and Pierce, Angie has begun to actively seek a trading partner to seek a good insider.

And in the embarrassing 15th place, the Celtics hope to get a good introversion, so if the 11th pick cannot be traded to a high-quality immediate combat insider, then it is also a good idea to use the 15th pick to select a rookie insider to cultivate , They locked the target in Brande - Heywood and the Haitian Dalembert.

Of course, the Celtics still have the Spurs to take advantage of. Leon has already identified a partner, trying to solve their point guard problem, and by the way, he can deal with the burden of Kenny Anderson.

Of course, all of this is not just Leon's plan. Danny Ainge, who is far away in Boston at the moment, is also involved in all this. As the team president, he did not come to this training camp because he has other more important tasks in Boston. To ensure the successful completion of the plan.