basketball player

Chapter 26 026: Late Night Call

Henson started working as an assistant coach while studying with Stevens.Henson's life now is almost a three-point line consisting of home-Conseco Arena-Butler University.But Henson doesn't feel bored, because every day he can be improved, and he can absorb what he is eager to understand.

Like Stevens, Henson has now gone from binge-reading to binge-watching game tape.Thanks to this era of advanced Internet, if it were the past, even if Henson wanted to find rich game videos, he might have to spend a lot of effort.He really didn't know how guys like Vogel and Stevens persisted in the first place.

After the start of the preseason, Henson and Vogel also performed well.The Pacers played 5 preseason games, 4 wins and 1 loss.Bird claimed that O'Brien was unwell and unable to direct the preseason games. In fact, anyone with a discerning eye knows that O'Brien "has a short life" in Indiana.

After studying with Stevens and practicing in the preseason, Henson summed up his own tactical philosophy.At the beginning, Henson imagined that he could be like those famous coaches and find a tactical concept that he likes and can win fame, such as Phil Jackson's triangle offense, such as D'Antoni's quick whirlwind.

But later Henson discovered that these things seemed a little flashy.What is the triangle offense?If you ask Rodman this question, he will definitely answer you, the triangle offense is to pass the ball to Jordan.What is run and bomb tactics?That is to give up defense to a certain extent to control violence with violence.In contrast, Pat Riley, Popovich, Auerbach and even Bird himself were not known for any tactics.But their success is not small.

So Henson understood that tactics serve the team, not the team serves the tactics.Arranging suitable tactics for suitable players and bringing victory to the team is the skill of a coach and the essence of tactics.If you become a slave to tactics because you pursue those false names, you will go astray.It seems that after so many years, no one can master Phil Jackson's triangle offense.All those coaches who claimed to have mastered the essence of the triangle offense, without exception, all died miserably.Because they are focused on how to play the triangle offense, not how to play the game.

So after summarizing so much, Henson's tactical concept is actually one word-space.

Basketball is a game of creating space for yourself while blocking the opponent's space as much as possible.Around this word and this foundation, Henson began to build his own tactical building.

After the preseason ended and the NBA regular season began, Henson left the coaching staff again and became a scout who needed to travel across the United States.

Speaking of which, Henson is now holding multiple jobs.In addition to scouting opponents, analyzing his own players, and preparing to become a coach, Henson had to find those hidden talents for Bird.

This summer, the three people Henson found for Bird, Holiday, Matthews and Green, have all signed guaranteed contracts with the team, and Matthews was so excited to talk to Henson on the phone.After all, in the preseason and the previous summer league, it was Henson who gave Matthews the opportunity to let Matthews play his talents.Without Henson, Matthews doesn't know what he is doing now.

Holiday directly entered the team rotation, while Green and Matthews were sent to the Development League by the O'Brien Cup.

That's the only thing Henson agrees with O'Brien, that instead of wasting time on the bench, give them some games.

It is precisely because of Henson's outstanding performance in the scout position last season that Bird still needs Henson to find outstanding rookies for him.

After all, Bird's ambition is not just the playoffs, his ultimate goal is to let the Pacers win the O'Brien Cup!

And so Henson resumed his life either on the plane or on the way to the plane.

Henson toured numerous schools, saw talent after talent, and handed Bird amazing scouting reports.But as far as Henson himself is concerned, so far this year, he has not found any players that satisfy him.

Those super talents who are famous all over the United States are not the Pacers' turn to pick.After all, Bird's goal is the playoffs, and he will not allow the team to rot.As for the slightly inferior players, Henson looked down on them.

So although Henson has seen Kentucky's John Wall and Wall's teammate DeMarcus Cousins, he knows very well that the Pacers cannot get these two best guys.What Henson needs to look for now is a guy who is not favored by people and may not be high in the draft, but has a chance to become a star.

Hayward under Stevens is one, but only one goal is obviously not safe enough.Therefore, Henson is a little bit battered now.People say that it is difficult for the rookies in 09 to produce superstars, but in Henson's view, the quality of this batch of rookies in 10 is really worrying.

In early December, Henson went to UCB to visit An Jiali again.The girl looked at Henson now, more passionately than before.Those young people who had been coveting An Jiali for a long time looked at Henson with jealousy.But An Jiali's good friend Abby Hornacek is still wary of Henson.

On this December winter night, Henson left the Bay Area immediately after having dinner with two young girls.After all, the real purpose of Henson's trip was not to flirt with girls, but to Fresno, 12 kilometers away from the Bay Area.

Fresno, a lot of people haven't even heard the name of this place.An Jiali does know that there is a place called Fresno on the map of the United States, because she likes to eat the raisins produced in Fresno.Fresno's raisins are indeed world-famous. After all, grapes are abundant there, and it is known as the "Raisin Capital of the World".

But An Jiali only knew about this place, and she had never been there.Curious and unknown, Henson headed towards Fresno overnight.

The reason why he ran to that place overnight was only because Henson's good partner, Stephen Silas, said that he found a guy at the University of Fresno that Henson might be interested in
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As always, when Henson arrived at the hotel, Silas had already prepared everything Henson needed on his desk.

"The guy's stats are pretty good, and he's been great on the court, the only problem is"

"What is it?" Henson first casually passed through the information, and asked while reading.

"The only problem is that the University of Fresno's basketball team can only play NCAA Division II games, so I don't know if this guy can play like this in a high-level confrontation." Silas spread his hand, which is why he needs Henson, because Silas is not sure whether this guy deserves the team's deep attention.A player who plays good numbers in a low-level league may not necessarily be because of his strength, but may be because others are too weak.

For example, those foreign players who scored 10 or [-] points at every turn in the CBA may not even score [-] points in the NBA.

"Well, you go to rest first, I'll study his data. Tomorrow, let's go and see this guy's game. By the way. What's his name?" Henson said, looking at the cover of the data report.

"His name is Paul George. He is a good guy. He looks like a natural scorer."

"Paul George?" Henson nodded, "The name is really easy to pronounce."

At 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, Henson was still studying George's data at his desk.As Silas said, this guy is a natural scorer.His shooting division is not seriously biased, he can play inside and outside, and he also has a three-pointer.And after calculation, George's defense is also very good.When he is there, the team loses a lot of points per round.

This kid has no problem with his style of play and his attitude.Because a person with a bad attitude cannot defend well.When Henson uses the data analysis module tomorrow, he will know whether this guy named Paul George can adapt to high-level competitions.

The most famous basketball star trained by Fresno University is Alston, the "streetball king" who is very familiar to Chinese fans.But regardless of Yao Ming's relationship, Alstom's strength is indeed less than fame.One might say that Henson and Silas were crazy to look for genius in such a school.But scouts, don't they just want to search for talents like this?

Henson rubbed his temples. Although he was tired, he felt a sense of accomplishment.Paul George, this is yet another gold mine waiting to be tapped.After reading all the materials, Henson stood up, ready to wash up and go to bed.But at this moment, the phone on the bedside table rang.

Henson was still cursing who was so unreasonable for calling in the middle of the night.However, after seeing the name on the caller ID, Henson regained his spirits instantly.

Because Larry Bird never called Henson for no reason.

"Bird, good morning!" Henson answered the phone and complained about the time of his call by the way.

"I don't have time to fight with you, brat. The management just finished the meeting. Listen carefully, our decision is like this. After three days, Dennis Posey will pack up and leave. Before that, I must see you standing in front of me neatly, and then, we sign a contract as an assistant coach."

Bird, this guy, still speaks without beating around the bush.After all, the poor results of the Pacers must have made him burnt out.

(End of this chapter)