The Whip of the God of Basketball

(There is an urgent matter at night, and the update is late, sorry. Every time there is an accident on the important recommendation, I am so sorry, another chapter.) Before leaving Boston for the western journey, Leon stayed at Khomeinis’ house A warm and merry Christmas. Khomeinis' father, Pagliuca, invited her daughter and Leon to his home for Christmas, but Khomeinis rejected her father after careful consideration. She really wanted to be with her family during such a festival, but she preferred Wanting to be alone with Leon, Khomeinis's Electra plot in him was greatly satisfied.

After the high fever, she found that Leon's personality seemed to be more lively, he was no longer as serious as he used to be, and occasionally joked and said some witty words. Of course, he was still a mature and steady person on the whole. This made Leon's charm even more.

Of course, Christmas is indispensable for Christmas. The protagonists of the battle are the opponents of last year's finals, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers. As for another New York Knicks-toronto Raptors game, it's a side dish. Of course, it is a little regrettable that the super center O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers had to miss this focus game due to a toe injury. The Sri Lanka Center once again defeated the 76ers, ranking first in the league with a record of 20-4. On the contrary, last year's Eastern Conference champions have already fallen out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

After the game, when seeing her idol Iverson scored the highest score of 31 but had to accept the team's loss, Khomeinis was very calm, and she explained to Leon: "As long as you I am satisfied with the outstanding performance of my idol, as for winning or losing, I am not a fan of the 76ers anyway, so I don’t care.”

"Do you only watch superstars and your idols when you watch football?" Leon asked while turning off the TV.

"No, I'll still watch you." Khomeinis bit her lips after she finished speaking, staring at Leon with her big eyes, looking at his handsome side face with sharp lines, she couldn't help leaning closer to gently kissed.

Leon smiled, turned his face and kissed Khomeinis, then got up from the sofa, went to the kitchen sink, lit a cigarette and started smoking. Khomeinis stood up and leaned against the wall and said, "Since you came to the Celtics, the days of frowning and smoking have become more and more frequent."

"This is a fun and complicated game, and sometimes I have to use my brain with all my strength." Leon flicked the cigarette ash by the pool, and then took another sip. Compared with cigars, he still prefers to smoke when he is thinking, and only when he is relaxed and joyful will he take out the big cigar that Auerbach gave him.

Khomeinis walked behind Leon and hugged him gently, leaning her face on Leon's generous back and said: "Sometimes you don't have to think too much, just look at the moment and think about what you should do most. Assistant coaches don't have to do much, do they? Like me, just concentrate on reading and loving you, isn't it great?"

After hearing what Khomeinis said, Leon raised his head and smiled brightly, thinking that what she said made some sense. No matter how special Leon's status is in the Celtics, his position is still an assistant coach, and the focus of his work is to assist the head coach to complete the team's training and tactical design work. Even though he often plays an important decision-maker in drafts and trades, he is only a senior consultant, and the decision-making power and command power are still in the hands of the president and general manager.

Recently, Leon has been thinking about completing another deal to change the unfavorable situation of the Celtics' lack of offensive ability inside, old and small. But after looking through the league's player handbook, and trying to communicate and discuss with Wallace repeatedly, there was no chance. Leon already has his own small circle of contacts in the NBA. The last time the Celtics traded with the Nuggets, Leon had a direct talk with Vandeweghe. The two met at the Development League Conference in New York. There is an intersection of scouting work, which is also one of the important factors that lead to the conclusion of the deal.

Even so, the Celtics' intention to trade for high-quality insiders was still not satisfied. Among them, the Seattle SuperSonics had the idea of ​​​​trading Vin Baker, but they hoped to join the deal with Arenas as a bargaining chip. Erupted. This deal was directly vetoed by Angie. He didn't want another old fritter in the team.

Leon is also not very satisfied with players like Wen Baker. In his heart, the only insider he really wants to get is Kevin Garnett, but it is too difficult to get the wolf king. Not to mention, the contract amount of more than 20 million will kill a lot of team space-including the Timberwolves.

Now Leon has a rough plan in mind, which is to put it in the summer of 2003, when Kevin Garnett's contract is about to expire, and at the same time when the draft is full of talents in that year, use the bargaining chips in his hands at that time Clouds and rain. The first difficulty of this plan is whether to get the Grizzlies' first-round pick in 2003. In the three-way deal of the Grizzlies, Spurs, and Celtics, the Celtics got a strange first-round pick, which is related to the draft pick deal between the Grizzlies and the Pistons.

To put it simply, in 1997, the Grizzlies and Pistons made a deal. The Grizzlies got Otis Thorpe, and the Pistons could choose a first-round pick in one of the Celtics' six years from 1998 to 2003. Of course, the decision rests with the Grizzlies, who will decide which year's first-round pick to send based on their position in the lottery. Of course, this draft pick has No. 1 protection. From 1998 to 2001, the Grizzlies have been reluctant to give up their first-round picks, because their record has been poor and the lottery is quite high.

The general manager of the Grizzlies had a wishful thinking, of course, that he was poor in the past few years and won a high-ranking pick. Afterwards, the record improved through reconstruction. At that time, the draft pick will drop, and it will not feel bad to send it to the Pistons. How did they know that the Grizzlies are still bad every year in the top picks, so they simply handed over the pick for another year and gave it to the Celtics.

The problem is that the Grizzlies don't know whether the 2002 pick will be given to the Pistons. If so, the Celtics will get the Grizzlies' 2003 pick. If the Grizzlies are unwilling to give the 2002 draft to the Pistons, because of the constraints of the Stepien clause, then the Celtics' draft will be postponed to 2005. Obviously, this is what the Celtics do not want to see of.

Through the memory fragments obtained from that fever, Leon knew that the stupid Grizzlies would always hold the draft picks of the previous years, until they handed over the most precious second pick in 2003 to the powerful Detroit Pistons. It's ridiculous that the Pistons also failed to seize the opportunity and missed a group of talents, or they got a talent, but they didn't cherish it. Leon is also aware of this history that future generations are familiar with, and because of this, he desperately wants to get the pick of the Pistons in 2003, as long as it is not the No. 1 pick, it doesn't matter even if it is not No. 2. Therefore, the core of the problem lies in how to let the Grizzlies give the 2002 draft pick to the Pistons. This is an extremely difficult problem, and Leon finds that the only thing he can do is to wait. Maybe Auerbach will have some solutions, but it is too early to say.

Thinking that the first difficulty in achieving his goal was difficult to overcome, Leon couldn't help sighing, the cigarette in his mouth had been smoked, he stubbed out the cigarette butt and threw it into the trash can, turned around and hugged Khomeinis , and then picked her up and went upstairs together.

People sometimes pay more attention to the present moment.

…………………

After Christmas, the Celtics had a half-day training on the 25th, and Leon began to put more energy into training those outstanding young people, especially Joe Johnson.

When he was selected in the draft, Leon still paid more attention to his trading value. A rookie like this who is stable and comprehensive in offense and defense is often a good bargaining chip. But after multiple attempts failed, Leon decided to spend more time with him and let his strengths be used. Leon always remembers what Winter said to him when he was in Los Angeles, "Always let the tactics serve the team and give full play to the strengths and values ​​of the players, instead of letting the players adapt to the tactics unconditionally, then you may be able to achieve Temporary success, but it will not lead to greatness." Because of this, even though Leon has recorded no less than 600 tactical routines and changes in his mind, he never uses these tactics to restrain players in training.

He feels that the Celtics have high-quality potential, and before these potentials are truly realized, using any tactical routine to stipulate them will limit their growth.

And then on December 26, the Celtics took a plane to Salt Lake City. After five days, they faced the Utah Jazz again. A team as solid and white as ice that never melts.