I'm not really a role player

Chapter 292 The Crashed All-Stars and the Spring Festival War

Charlotte, Bobcats training facility.

Rivers came early, so he spotted Li Ke who was training hard.

Even if he is not a great detective, he can tell from the sweaty state of Li Ke that Li Ke has been practicing for a while.

"No one achieves success overnight."

Although thinking so, Rivers couldn't help giving a thumbs up.

There are many players who work hard, but there are not many players in the NBA who work as hard as Li Ke.

This is Rivers' first training day after joining the Bobcats. The training started at nine o'clock, and everyone arrived just after eight o'clock.

But this is not something to be surprised about. Once Lao Ai and Shark leave, the Bobcats really don't have the kind of thorns that they like to be late or even absent from training.

All the staff arrived, and several newcomers appeared behind Rivers.

Sam Vincent's dismissal also took away half of the Bobcats' coaching staff. Before Rivers took office, only Bickerstaff Jr. and Patrick Ewing were left on the Bobcats' coaching staff.

Rivers naturally wants to bring a few of his own people to fill some vacancies in the coaching staff.

So, in the locker room of the training hall, Rivers turned around and let out a few people behind him.

"Introduce the newcomer to the coaching staff. This is Almond Hill, the team's new offensive coach."

Almond Hill, a middle-aged black man with sparse dreadlocks.

During the Celtics period, he was Rivers' offensive assistant. After Rivers dismissed get out of class, Amond Hill chose to stay and continue to assist Thibodeau.

But not long ago, Sibodu dismissed get out of class, and Almond Hill followed suit and chose to leave.

"This is Tyronn Lue, the team's new training assistant..."

Turning his gaze, Li Ke saw a familiar face.

That's right, it's Guidance Lu.

In the summer of 09, he just announced his retirement. Before he had rested for a few months, he was pulled back by Rivers, who was in urgent need of an assistant, and became a so-called training assistant.

Although, as teammates, there was not much communication between Director Lu and the generals of the Bobcats, but at least they all knew each other.

Immediately, Li Ke and Lao Du got up and greeted warmly.

"This is Lawrence Frank, the team's new chief assistant!"

Finally, a chubby young white man with a slightly bald face waved his hands to everyone present.

Lawrence Frank is not an unknown person. At the end of November 09, he had just dismissed from the Nets.

Before dismissing get out of class, he created a number of records for the youngest coach in the NBA.

The resume is still very bright, but he can't find the new job he wants for the time being, so he condescends to join the Bobcats and work as an assistant coach of Rivers for a while.

These three are all newcomers to the Bobcats coaching staff.

With the addition of Bickerstaff Jr., the defensive assistant, and Patrick Ewing, another training assistant, the configuration of 1+5 is still sufficient.

"The team's new tactical thinking, we have made some attempts against the Nuggets, in training, what we need to do is to continue to implement..."

What follows is some clichés about training. After talking a lot, after Rivers waved his big hand, the training officially started.

Rivers and Sam Vincent's tactical concepts are still a bit different. The game against the Nuggets was just the tip of the iceberg.

After the training really started, what was hidden behind the tip of the iceberg was gradually revealed.

"Stephen, you should go to Kenyon for an off-ball pick-and-roll at this time!"

"Sheldon, your position should be a little further in, yes, that's right, that's the position, and the threat there will be even greater!"

"Kenyon, stay in the middle distance, you can hinder a lot of people there..."

During training, Rivers, Almond Hill, and Lawrence Frank kept sounding reminders.

Li Ke feels that Rivers has a lot of small details, and he attaches great importance to many seemingly insignificant small cooperation.

This style of digging out details is only good for Lynx, not bad.

"Looking at it now, the coaching change should be the right move."

Of course, Li Ke also knows that the gap between Rivers and Sam Vincent is actually the gap between the regular coaching staff and the grass-roots team.

It's not that Rivers is good, it's just that Sam Vincent is terrible.

……

For the Bobcats team, the head coach changed from Sam Vincent to Rivers. The biggest difference is the game.

Daily training, what to do or what to do, changes and so on, do not exist.

Time has entered February, and the results of the All-Star voting have also come out.

Last year's All-Star, Li Ke was the top voter.

This year, this throne was taken away by Kobe.

That's right, with nearly 400 million votes, Kobe became the season's top voter.

Li Ke fell behind by more than [-] votes and came in second.

Of course, such voting results did not count the votes from the Greater China region. If they were counted, Li Ke would be the undisputed king of votes.

After all, Dayao has not played this season due to injury. Although Arab League and Dasheng have played in their respective teams, they do not have many possessions and opportunities. They are still too far away from the All-Stars. The support of domestic fans can only be given to Li Ke.

It is a pity that the votes from the Greater China region are not counted.

Laomei, Li Ke's vote champion last year was won by the momentum of winning the championship in 08, coupled with the support of domestic fans over the wall.

This year, the momentum of winning the championship has gone to Kobe, and there are also a large number of Kobe fans in the country, so it is not surprising that Kobe is the number one voter.

Li Ke didn't care much about this, the ticket king, if he didn't get this one, he still had chances in the future.

The ticket king is gone, but the starting lineup is still stable.

It's just that Li Ke feels very incompatible. In the East, he will partner with Wade at the back line. The forward position is also Le Bon Garbosh and center Howard.

None of them are what he wants to partner with.

On the west side, Kobe and Paoge partnering with the back line should be the standard configuration in the next few years.

For the forward position, Guagua occupies one, and the other is usually the driver who competes with Duncan. This year, it was given to the driver. After all, the driver has a better record.

In the center position, Dayao was injured and did not participate in the voting. Jiasao changed positions and was successfully elected as the starter.

In fact, looking at the All-Star starters, you can see the situation in the league this year.

Putting aside the rotten fish and rotten shrimps in the east, Guagua became the starter in the west. Isn't the main reason for the rise of the Nuggets this season?

Including the driver's defeat of Duncan and Jiasao becoming the starter, all are related to the team's record.

It can be seen from the All-Star starters that the only Lakers with two starters are still the No. [-] champion this season.

……

Back from the Denver Plateau, the Bobcats' first opponent is the Wizards who come to challenge.

The Wizards should be one of the worst teams in the NBA. At the beginning of the season, general manager Ernie Grunfeld also attributed the team's Waterloo problems last season to injuries. In the summer, he sent away the No. [-] pick ambitiously and brought in Outlaw, Steve Blake and Chris Humphries.

As a result, at the beginning of the season, injuries did not mean staying away from the Wizards. Caron Butler, Brandon Haywood and others were injured one after another, and the team's record has not improved for a long time.

Towards the end of December, something truly devastating happened.

The fuse of the incident was that when the Wizards took a plane to transfer to an away game, the Wizards players played poker on the plane to pass the boring time.

Gavallis Crittenton is not playing well, and has already lost some.

At this time, Arenas felt that he had an opportunity to make a small fortune from this new teammate's pocket, so he joined midway.

In fact, it was a bit of a set-up. As a gambler, Crittenton had already stepped up and directly lost thousands of dollars.

At this time, he reacted...

In fact, if he didn't react, it wouldn't be a big deal.

The key is that he reacted, and immediately scolded Arenas like a stunned young man: "You piece of shit, how can you join at this time?"

As a result, Arenas became popular. He felt that his dignity as the team boss was challenged.

So, he fought back viciously: "Shut up your stinky mouth, or I will burn your car down, put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, and get you out!"

The stupefied young Crittenton retorted without hesitation: "Then I will shoot you dead!"

As a result, Arenas nodded: "Okay, dude, I'll bring you the gun!"

To put it bluntly, it was a quarrel between elementary school students.

Who knows, both of them are serious.

Two days later, Arenas actually walked into the locker room with four loaded guns, and Crittenton even loaded one of them.

The matter became so serious that the league intervened and directly suspended the two until the end of the season...

For Ernie Grunfeld, injuries, suspensions, the Wizards' season is over.

Thus, the Wizards began to really suck.

Emmm, the real bad show is no longer the tricky bad show like last season.

Facing such an opponent, Rivers rehearsed his tactics with confidence and boldness.

After winning the game by a big score, he still commented on the opponent. After the game, in front of Li Ke, he asked Joe's boss: "Michael, do you think Antawn Jamison on the opposite side is messing around?"

Boss Joe immediately showed a detecting expression: "Why, are you interested in Antawn Jamison?"

Jamison can also be regarded as Old Joe's North Carolina junior, and Old Joe and Ernie Grunfeld have a fairly good personal relationship. If you really want to do it, you can really do it.

Rivers nodded: "Yes, I think he is a better power forward candidate than Kenyon. If he can come, the space on the court will be wider."

Boss Qiao clapped his big hands and was ready to act.

Li Ke thought for a moment, but shook his head: "No, Doug, Antawn Jamison is not suitable for us?"

"why?"

"First of all, we don't have another second-tier scorer."

The current state of the Bobcats is Li Ke, a top scorer, with Curry and Hua Lao Er, two second-rate scorers.

One more second-rate scorer will not solve the core problem of the Bobcats.

on the contrary--

"Secondly, swap Kenyon for Antawn Jamison and we're going to be worse defensively."

Bobcats record is not bad now, in fact, is the defense withstood.

Jordan Jr. guarded the penalty area, and the flanks Hua Er and Kenyon Martin swept at the same time, almost without a blade of grass.

Coupled with Li Ke's single defense on the periphery, Wesley Matthews can also be brought up when needed. This defense is definitely the top in the league.

It's no wonder that Tom Thibodo, who had just finished class when the Bobcats changed coaches, rushed over to apply for the job.

This defensive configuration is really impressive!
Li Ke gave two simple reasons, and Boss Qiao turned his back without any hesitation: "I think Sheldon is right. Blind substitutions may not necessarily lead to success, but more likely to result in failure."

Rivers thought for a while, then nodded: "I thought it was wrong."

He really thought badly. The failure of the Celtics made Rivers forget the importance of defense, and his mind was full of offense.

It can be seen from the formation of the coaching staff that the first thing he brought was the offensive coach Almond Hill.

The defensive coach didn't even look for it, and just started with Bickerstaff Jr.

After winning the Wizards, the Bobcats played another away game against another bad team, the Timberwolves.

The same drill tactics, the same big victory.

After that, the All-Star Weekend came.

Before the All-Star Weekend, Rivers had not withstood too many tests, and the only Nugget was won by Li Ke's single-minded belief.

Even with such a schedule and record, Rivers still got some recognition, mainly from Bill Simmons.

"Although he has only been in office for more than a week, Doc Rivers has led the Bobcats on the right path..."

The recognition of Bill Simmons is partly because he has expressed his attitude of looking down on Sam Vincent early on.

On the other hand, Bill Simmons wisely believes that the Bobcats after the coaching change cannot be worse than before...

……

This year's All-Star weekend is in Dallas, which may be another reason why the driver beat Duncan to become the All-Star starter.

In this All-Star session, the Bobcats have gained a lot.

除了李恪成为全明星正赛的首发外，华老二凭借场均17.6分8.4个篮板3.8个助攻1.5个盖帽1.8个抢断的数据，同时入选了全明星正赛。

Curry, Tajibson and Wesley Matthews also became rookies who entered the All-Star Game.

At the same time, Curry will also participate in this year's All-Star Weekend three-point contest.

It can be said that this year's All-Star Weekend, the Bobcats' scenes are full.

Full play means starting at the same time, and there are many Bobcats on the plane to Dallas.

Before boarding the plane, Li Ke calculated the time account.

"This year's New Year's Eve should be on February 2th, and February 13th is the first day of the new year. The All-Star Weekend starts on the 2th and ends on the 14th, which happens to be the first day of the new year..."

Turn around and take another look at the time of the Spring Festival war, which starts on February 2th...

This means that this year's Spring Festival battle can only be moved to the fourth day of the new year because of the crash of the All-Stars.

Even so, the schedule is tight enough to suffocate.

"On the 14th, I will become a full star, and then I will return to China. When I fly to China, I'm afraid there will only be one day of rest."

After a long silence, after reconfirmation: "I'm afraid there won't be a day..."

"This schedule, the alliance wants people to die!"

If the opponent in the Spring Festival war this year is not the Pistons, Li Ke will have to make a choice, choose between the All-Star Game and the Spring Festival war.

But if the opponent is the Pistons... Li Ke still doesn't panic.

(End of this chapter)