I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 541 Establishing the Policy for the New Season
The image of Min Congda in Anthony Davis' mind became more and more mysterious and taller.

Before Anthony Davis knew Min Congda's name, he knew it from various NBA non-basketball news.

One day he scolded the referee for a fine, the next day he slapped the referee with popcorn, and the day after tomorrow he scolded the league for being unfair.

Of course, there are also good things, such as speaking out for black players, leading the establishment of the African Youth Basketball Development Foundation, and so on.

In short, in the eyes of a young man like Anthony Davis, Min Congda belongs to the kind of high-profile professional manager who can hype and is good at playing tricks.

Anthony Davis is also a fan of NBA-Batman. He often uses NBA-Batman to break the news about Min Congda's "evil deeds" in the Clippers, which further deepens Anthony Davis' impression of Min Congda's authority.

Unexpectedly, after a period of contact, Anthony Davis discovered that Min Congda was not what he thought at all.

Min Congda is not high-profile at all, and his daily life is very simple and simple. He drives an ordinary car, wears ordinary clothes, and likes to eat in the training camp cafeteria. He usually speaks in a simple and clear way.

And Anthony Davis can feel that Min Congda actually doesn't like to socialize, especially doesn't like to participate in some big parties and social activities.

On the contrary, he prefers to play games and watch TV at home, which is very similar to Anthony Davis, and the two have become good game friends.

But what Anthony Davis didn't expect was that Min Congda, who was short in stature (178 is a dwarf in the eyes of basketball players), plain-looking and didn't know anything about the ball, was recognized by the Clippers as a top player. Basketball master.

"He's the most talented basketball player on the team," Curry said.

"Smart's basketball talent is very high, but he has no interest in basketball." Kerr said.

"If Smart grows taller and is 10 years younger, I will recruit him to play on the team." Team consultant Mike Dunleavy said so.

During the two-week training camp, Anthony Davis kept hearing Min Congda's basketball talent from different people.

At first, I thought I was joking when I heard what Curry said, but after hearing what Cole and Lu said, I was dubious.

Waiting to listen to Lao Deng later, it must not be false, Mike Dunleavy is not a person who likes to joke.

In the process of playing 2K with Min Congda, Davis felt Min Congda's superior tactical understanding.

Until the end of the training camp and the end of the preseason, Davis failed to win a game against Min Congda on 2K.

Davis later wanted to find Min Congda one-on-one during training, saying that he wanted to see Min Congda's basketball level.

Min Congda said bluntly: "I can't play basketball at all, what are you thinking?"

"It's said that you are very talented in basketball."

"High talent doesn't mean you can fight."

"But you are very good at 2k."

"My League of Legends is still very good, can I flash?"

"..."

For Min Congda's statement that he can't play basketball, Anthony Davis has always been skeptical and feels incredible.

But when I asked my teammates, everyone said, "He really can't play basketball."

As a result, the fog surrounding Min Congda's body deepened.

In the blink of an eye, it is the end of October, the preseason is over, and the new regular season is about to begin.

The Clippers played so-so in the preseason, and the whole team was just practicing tactics, with 6 wins and 3 losses in 3 games, which allowed Min Congda to earn a little pocket money.

Anthony Davis made his first appearance in the NBA, starting two games.

The performance on the field is quite good. Although the data is average, the presence on the field is very strong.

When he defends at the rim, opponents' attacks to the rim are significantly hampered.

And as a flexible insider, Davis has a wide defensive range, fast speed, and a large defensive area, quite like Kevin Garnett.

And this defensive ability is exactly what the Clippers have been lacking.

As a tank-type center, Marc Gasol has a strong ability to protect the basket, but his follow-up defense and assist defense are average.

Not to mention Randolph, the defense is just like that, almost enough.

Therefore, the Clippers used a lot of zone defense in the game last season, and their defense was conservative and retreated. The defense lacked aggressiveness and relied on offensive imagination and personal talent.

In this way, the Clippers all won the championship, and they didn't even play a tiebreaker all the way. They are the son of a proper version.

And after having Anthony Davis, the Clippers have no shortcomings in the composition of the lineup.

The biggest problem becomes how to arrange players' playing time and how to distribute the ball.

After all, there is only one basketball, and a game only lasts 48 minutes.

A player's skills need to be accumulated through actual combat.

The Clippers are all potential young people waiting to be fed, and everyone hopes to get enough playing time.

If you switch to other teams, when there are many young players with potential, they will generally choose to establish the core, and then trade the remaining young players who are dissatisfied with playing time and have mediocre potential evaluation in exchange for the veteran's immediate combat power.

In this way, the team's lineup will be more reasonable and balanced.

For example, when the Rockets selected Rudy Gay, they sent him to the Grizzlies in exchange for Sean Battier because McGrady already had McGrady on the team.

Now Gay has gone to the Spurs after a multi-party transaction and has become a stable scorer at the third position.

Although it is difficult to become a master, McGrady also declined due to injury early, and the Rockets did not get cheap in the end.

The good thing about the Clippers is that, first, in order to pay more luxury taxes in the future, Min Congda can use the bird rights to continue these young people, so he refuses to trade; second, everyone has the strategic thinking of playing ball. It has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, especially winning the championship, which makes everyone more convinced of the correctness of this strategy.

The nominal boss of the team is Curry, and Curry's average playing time per game is controlled within 30 minutes.

This playing time is quite small. Compared with LeBron James, in the third season of his career, he averaged 42.5 minutes per game, ranking among the top in the league.

And fellow point guard Russell Westbrook averaged 35.4 minutes per game last season.

No Clippers team averaged more than 35 minutes per game last season.

The person with the longest average playing time is James Harden, averaging 32 minutes per game.

Like George, Leonard and others, the playing time is controlled at about 25 minutes.

Now that there is another Anthony Davis, Randolph's playing time will obviously be affected.

Milicic and Bonner are still sitting on the inside bench for the Clippers. They don't ask for playing time, and they have very different functions, which can adapt to different opponents and different game situations.

The cards in the hands of the Clippers coaching staff can be said to be quite abundant.

On October 10, the Clippers' pre-season training camp officially ended.

On October 10, the Clippers will start their 31-2012 regular season tour.

On the day when training camp ended on the 29th, the Clippers coaching staff and advisory group held an ordinary but very important meeting in the conference room of the training hall to discuss the strategic direction of the Clippers for the new season.

In fact, the Clippers have been discussing related issues internally before, but no consensus has been reached.

This is also caused by the Clippers' internal power structure. Unlike other teams, the head coach is the absolute core and has his own team.

For example, when a coach enters the home team, the first thing he does is to replace all the assistant coaches with his own people to form a stable leadership team.

What kind of tactics the team will play in the new season, who will be the core, and what strategic goals will be based on the head coach.

The Clippers are different. Although Tyronn Lue is the head coach of the Clippers, he is actually a polished commander, and none of the assistant coaches is brought by him.

As a rookie head coach, he has no one to lead him, his qualifications are too low, and there are really no assistants in the circle.

The assistant coaches are divided into two factions, one is Steve Kerr and Jeff Ball, the crouching dragon and phoenix of Min Congda.

Both have been general managers of the team, and both were recruited by Min Congda to join the Clippers. One is in charge of tactics, and the other is in charge of logistics, player development and management.

The other faction is the old people left by Mike Dunleavy, Lao Jin, Lucas, and a group of former Clippers such as scouts.

Theoretically speaking, these people should have been purged long ago. As Lao Deng retreated to the second line, they left one by one to find jobs in other teams.

But Min Congda is very "lenient" to keep everyone, the purpose is of course very simple, to increase the team's expenditure.

Let the fine traditions of "overstaffing", "overstaffing officials", and "overstaffing posts" be carried forward and inherited in the Clippers, and contribute to the Clippers' bankruptcy plan.

A coaching staff is already three points in the world, and now there is an advisory team involved: Mike Dunleavy and Jerry West.

After Lao Deng recovered, he received a high salary and worked as a consultant, living a comfortable life.

And Lao Deng actually has an advantage, which is to stabilize people's hearts.

As long as Lao Deng is there, veterans like Lao Jin and Lucas who are not very capable can be sheltered to a certain extent in the team.

After all, Deng Lewei has a long history in the Clippers and can speak in front of Min Congda. Everyone can work with peace of mind without worrying about being laid off.

And Jerry West is well-known outside, with high prestige in the circle and a wide network of contacts.

The Golden State Warriors also invited Jerry West as a team consultant before.

After ending his cooperation with the Warriors last season, Jerry Davis came to the Clippers and accepted Min Congda's invitation to become a special consultant for the Clippers.

For a while, the Clippers' coaching staff was the same as their team lineup, with many stars and many generals, but lacked a real core.

In fact, they have a core, and that is Min Congda.

But Min Congda didn't want to come to the meeting at all. In the fine autumn weather at the end of October, he should go fishing. What kind of meeting should he have?

The result of not having a backbone is that the Clippers have not yet reached a conclusion on some tactical and strategic issues.

Seeing that the regular season will start the day after tomorrow, the team's roster, tactical thinking, and season strategy have not really been established.

So this meeting became very important, and the initiator of the meeting was the team coach Tyronn Lue.

Don't look at Director Lu as a bare-bones commander in the team, but after all, he occupies the title of head coach, and Tyronn Lue has done a good job in interpersonal communication in the Clippers, from players to assistant coaches, to cafeteria chefs, and to As for Aunt Sweeping, she has a good relationship with Director Lu.

In this regard, Tyronn Lue is very different from many historical marshals.

Many famous marshals in history were arrogant and even eccentric.

It is normal to have conflicts with players, especially with the star players.

Some of them are very bad-tempered, that is, they would kick a dog passing by.

There is no way, the position of head coach is under great pressure and requires high leadership, command ability, and adaptability.

If a person is a head coach, his face can not be old, his temper can not be bad, and he can get better and better. Only Phil Jackson has done it in some seasons.

At the end of the dynasty founded by Jackson, the same building was about to fall, people were in panic, and finally the relationship broke down due to irreconcilable conflicts with the management or players.

Tyronn Lue took another path and became a typical "adhesive" head coach.

He is not the most authoritative in the team, nor is he the strongest, nor does he have a bad temper.

But he just occupies the position of the head coach and can act as an intermediary to bond and win the relationship between all parties.

In a meeting like this where all forces gather, there are only two people in the team who can take the lead, one is him, and the other is Min Congda.

The beginning is the beginning, but Tyronn Lue is not very involved in the discussion of the meeting.

Those who really participated in the discussion were mainly senior and capable people such as Cole, Dunleavy, and West.

Among them, West and Mike Dunleavy, two senior members of the advisory group, believed that the team should establish a core as soon as possible in the lineup.

"Last season's championship had an element of luck, without a core, and letting young players grow is not a good thing for the team."

West believes that the core of the team should be the double champion combination of Curry + Davis.

Just like Kobe + O'Neal, Curry and Davis will definitely be the most talented and dominant combination in the new era.

With these two as the core, the rest of the Clippers must distribute tasks around Curry and Davis.

Last season, the situation where players assigned and arranged their own tactics and played with imagination and creativity no longer exists.

"Iron-like discipline and a stable lineup are the keys to building a dynasty."

West's general manager career is not without glory, he created two dynasties of the Lakers.

The Lakers in the 80s were magician + Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the absolute core, and everyone else served them.

The OK combination in the 00s, and even the combination of Kobe + Gasol later, are similar in purpose.

Dunleavy once coached the Lakers, and both of them have senior qualifications, so they will naturally wear a pair of pants.

And Steve Kerr and Jeff Ball are firmly opposed to this approach of establishing an absolute core.

Kerr thinks the Clippers will be the best team ever.

Their team building ideas and core strategies will be different from those of the past strong NBA teams.

"Times have changed Jerry, I don't agree with establishing an absolute core. The current NBA will be different from the past regardless of tactics and style of play. Do you know what the bigger difference is? It's people! These young children grew up in the same environment as us, And your generation is completely different, they are more free, more self, more imaginative. We will be stronger!"

"Also, both Curry and Davis are too young."

"Establishing them as the core does not mean that other people will have no effect. Just because Curry and Davis are still young, other people will also play an important role. A team without order will not go far."

"But we won a championship last season."

"Are there still few teams that disintegrated after winning the championship?"

"We will not disintegrate! Our team has a core!"

"There is a core, who is the core? Who is the boss? Stephen? The core who played 30 minutes."

"No, Mr. Smart is our core. With him, the Clippers will not disintegrate."

Cole retorted that at this moment he also became a staunch supporter of Min Congda.

Although he is dissatisfied with Min Congda and Cole has his own ambitions, he knows Min Congda's position and role in the Clippers.

The meeting room was quiet for a while, Jerry West looked around, wondering if this is true?
To be honest, if you switch to other consultants, it is impossible to just join a team and just point fingers like this.

But West is different. He has too many qualifications, is also very capable, and has a very strong personality.

He didn't come to the team to fight for power, but he really wanted to do something.

He, like Kerr, could see that Curry was a terrific, disruptive prospect.

At this time, Lao Deng spoke, and said, "Jerry, I think... we should listen to Steve."

West had an incredulous expression on his face, thinking, Lao Deng, why did you rebel?
Dunleavy went on to say: "With Smart, it is indeed impossible for the Clippers to disintegrate. You have to rest assured. I think as a consultant, I should put more work on making suggestions. Moreover, everyone has the ball to play this strategic policy. , was established by Smart when he first entered the Clippers, and I don’t think he would agree to establish any dual-core.”

"I'm just giving them advice, and I said the two don't conflict...I..."

While talking, Jerry West was also discouraged.

After all, he is just a consultant, and Steve Kerr belongs to the coaching staff, so he has more power to speak than a consultant.

Besides, the person who really has the decision-making power has gone fishing and said that this person is the core.

After some disputes, the meeting came to a result.

In the new season, the Clippers still implement the big rotation strategy of last season, give full play to the imagination and initiative of each player, and resolutely implement Mr. Smart's strategic policy of "everyone has the ball to play". Winning the championship is just a matter of course , Everyone playing well is serious business!

After this topic is over, let's talk about the games and opponents in the new season.

Jerry West reminded: "In the new season, or next season, the Warriors will be the team's rivals in the West! Their signings and drafts this summer are very targeted. In the next few years, they will a formidable opponent."

West worked as a consultant for the Warriors last season.

Out of professional ethics, he will not disclose the details and strategies of the Warriors' team building.

But since he is a consultant of the Clippers, he is obliged to remind the Clippers that the Warriors are already watching the Clippers closely.

(End of this chapter)