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

Chapter 561
Mike Malone, who was unemployed before Christmas 2012, released his contract with the Cavaliers and is no longer the team's assistant coach.

Unemployment before Christmas is really not good news. The only advantage is that you can reunite with your family early and don't have to follow the team to play the Christmas game.

Malone has worked in the Cavaliers for 7 years. In 2005, he followed Mike Brown into the Cavaliers and witnessed the most glorious period in the history of the Cavaliers.

2007, 2011, 2012 reached the finals, but it was a pity that they always failed.

Before the start of this year's new season, Mike Malone had a premonition that Mike Brown's time in the Cavaliers would not be too long.

Losing consecutively in the finals, the team cannot replace players casually, let alone trade James. Only the head coach can move.

Mike Malone was right. After a poor start to the season, the Cavaliers chose to change coaches in December.

But Mike Malone's guess was not entirely correct, that is, Mike Brown did not leave the Cavaliers, but became the team's director of player development.

What Mike Malone didn't expect was that the Cavaliers actually parachuted the Clippers' assistant coach Cole, and he was the head coach of the team.

In fact, Mike Malone originally planned in his heart that if Mike Brown dismissed get out of get out of class, he, the first assistant coach, could take over as the head coach temporarily.

If the Cavaliers perform well, he may be able to secure the position of head coach, become a regular from then on, and officially enter the NBA coaching industry.

Unexpectedly, Cole's arrival disrupted Malone's calculations. On the day the Cavaliers official announced Cole as the head coach, Mike Malone knew that his career as an assistant coach in the Cavaliers had entered the countdown.

It's not that he lacks confidence in cooperating with Cole. He is still very confident in his ability and love for basketball.

It's just that every coach has his own team, and there are collaborators at hand. When a new head coach arrives, it is inevitable to clean up the old people.

If you don’t clean up this season and stabilize the situation, it will definitely be cleaned up before the start of the next season in the off-season.

It's just the difference between walking early and leaving late.

Steve Kerr's ability is indeed very strong. After coming to the Cavaliers, it took a few days to gradually adapt to the working atmosphere of the team.

Then began to gradually transform the team, release the team's offense, and improve from the defensive team during the Mike Brown period to the offensive direction.

In terms of inheritance, Mike Brown belongs to Popovich's line, and Popovich goes back to Larry Brown.

An extreme defensive coach, a representative of the academy, a typical example of a coach controlling players.

Although Steve Kerr also worked with Popovich, he was obviously more influenced by Phil Jackson.

Jackson took another route, pursuing a balance of offense and defense, while emphasizing the need to discover the initiative of the players and let the players decide the game on the court.

So after coming to the Cavaliers, Cole mainly did three things. One is to let the players boldly shoot three-pointers, the other is to try to let James play the fifth position, and the third is to create a more relaxed and harmonious atmosphere in the team.

He is not as eager to establish his authority as some new coaches are, and he likes to use players to establish his leadership position.

On the contrary, he gave other players more autonomy, but he didn't seem to "respect" James, the core of the team's power.

Let him play the fifth position in training today, and let him defend the inside and protect the basket in training tomorrow.

When it was time for the game, he also criticized James for holding the ball for a long time, and tried to practice playing without the ball.

Malone has been working with James since 05, and has witnessed how the "little emperor" of the league grows step by step.

The relationship between the two is actually good in private, because in terms of off-court personality, James is actually more like an ordinary person and is easier to get along with.

He is not like those superstars in history. He has an outstanding leadership on the court, a strong willpower and a fan idol, but he is not very likable off the court.

James is the other way around. He is sometimes a bit contrived on the court, and sometimes he will perform some shows off the court in order to cooperate with Nike and the league.

In private, James is relatively easy to get along with.

But once it comes to the court and the shaping of James' image on the field, James and his team are not so easy to talk about.

In the Cavaliers, James has the absolute right to speak on the basketball court. He is indeed very strong, and the team listens to him from top to bottom.

Mike Brown has been in the Cavaliers for 7 years. In essence, he has nothing of his own and no foundation, because everything about him is attached to James.

If James had left the Cavaliers for another team in 2010, Mike Brown would have followed suit.

On the contrary, for some teams, no matter how big-name players leave, the position of the coach will still be as stable as Mount Tai.

Because coaches, like players, also have family members and mercenaries.

Mike Malone did not expect that an airborne mercenary coach like Steve Kerr would dare to attack James' style of play.

Especially the idea of ​​him trying to get James to play inside, makes Mike Malone feel incredible.

What's even more incredible is that James cooperated with Cole's tactical experiment from beginning to end.

Playing the fifth position in training, even if you complain from time to time, you will still play like this in the next training.

Even when it was time for the game, Cole tried to make James play more inside and participate more in the inside defense.

Later, James was also tired from training, so he simply said to Kerr in the locker room, "You still let me play the fourth position, I can't bear the fifth position!"

As a result, Kerr began to arrange James to the fourth position, and the small forward position was given to Sean Battier, so that Battier started.

This change obviously worked quite well. In mid-December, the Cavaliers began to win consecutive battles.

12月11日对阵洛杉矶湖人队，骑士队主场111：107，4分的优势拿下这场焦点之战。

James scored a triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

After that, they even beat the Pacers, Bucks, and Knicks.

Especially on December 12th, back-to-back challenges to the thriving New York Knicks.

In this battle, the Cavaliers' new formation and tactics showed obvious tactical advantages.

Facing the smooth offense of the Knicks with Kidd, the Cavaliers played a better offense, raining three-pointers in Madison Square Garden.

The Cavaliers won 119 consecutive victories with a high score of 107:5, and the team's ranking in the Eastern Conference has also been promoted to the third position.

Now Steve Kerr is firmly seated in the Cavaliers' coaching position.

It's just that when Cole's position is firmly established, Mike Malone and other old ministers will not be far away from the Cavaliers.

On Christmas Eve, Steve Kerr and the Cavaliers' front office, who were ready to form a new team, began to purge.

The first assistant coach Mike Malone was dismissed. He will leave the Cavaliers and go to a new place to find a position that suits him.

Until he left, Mike Malone didn't understand why James could accept Cole's casual handling?

Could it be that James has something to be pinched by Cole?impossible.

Because the two have a good relationship in private, James immediately sent a text message to Malone expressing regret.

Malone asked the doubts that had been hidden in his heart for a long time, and asked James: "LeBron, why are you willing to make such a big change here with Steve Kerr?"

To be honest, it's somewhat offensive to ask this question. Do you mean that I refuse to change at Mike Brown, and others change for me?
But Ma Long can't control that much anymore. This question has been lingering in his heart and cannot be dispelled. Now that he is leaving, he must ask clearly.

But James' answer was more like a haha, "I think in order to win, I need to make some changes."

This is all about the scene, polite words, making changes for victory, making sacrifices, nonsense.

Within days of leaving the Cavaliers, several teams sent Malone job offers.

For example, the Hornets, Warriors, and Kings all promised the position of the first assistant coach, and even said that they could train him to become the head coach.

Mike Malone has not agreed for the time being, he wants to take a while, observe, and wait for the opportunity.

After working in the NBA for so many years, Malone still has some contacts in the league, so he doesn't have to worry about work.

His father, Brandon Malone, has been a coach in the NBA for nearly 30 years. He was an assistant coach for the New York Knicks in the 1986-1987 season.

After that, he assisted Chuck Daly in the Detroit Pistons, Jeff Van Gundy in the New York Knicks, and Stan Van Gundy in the Magic. He entered the finals with the team 4 times and won the championship 2 times. It can be said that he is a gold medal assistant coach.

In the 2004-2005 season, he also worked as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers. At that time, he brought his son into the Cavaliers, and his son inherited his father's work as a coach.

It can be said that the current NBA is already a closed circle that focuses on human relations. There are only two ways for outsiders to enter this circle: undoubtedly unparalleled talent and enough luck.

After learning that Malone was unemployed, his father also called, hoping that he would think about his next job carefully.

Mike Malone has been an assistant coach for nearly 10 years and is already the first assistant coach.

One step ahead is the head coach. If you don't have this ambition, you can be an assistant coach for the rest of your life just like his father.

Brandon Malone said to his son on the phone: "Mike, the head coach is the one I know. The world has the most mental stress and the least human job. If you are thinking about being a head coach, then you should choose a place that needs and respects your talent. If you want to be an assistant coach for the rest of your life like your father, then you should go to a city that is suitable for living and make your family more comfortable."

"I know, I know Dad, I'm thinking about it, and I'll think about it."

Mike Malone understood his father's earnestness.

He really wants to accept invitations from weak teams like the Kings and Hornets.

These teams are weak, the relationship within the team is simple, and the head coach is not well-known.

Mike Malone is confident that with his ingenuity and introverted professionalism, he will definitely be able to climb to the head coach's position in a short time.

But there are always some doubts hovering in his heart, like dark clouds blocking the sun, making him unable to see the direction.

The cloud isn't just James' resignation to Steve Kerr, but everything Steve Kerr brought with him from the Los Angeles Clippers.

During his brief cooperation with Cole, Mike Malone could feel that many of Cole's coaching and management concepts were brought from the Clippers.

One or two times, Steve Kerr slipped up and said, "That's not how we do it in the Clippers..."

Of course, it is not very good to say such a thing, and Cole never said it again.

But when communicating in private, Cole will indeed talk about interesting things about working in the Clippers.

He said that the Clippers' system is quite loose, with more money and less work, and a culture of not working overtime.

The management does not have any requirements for the team's record, and never holds meetings to discuss related issues because of winning or losing.

From the top to the bottom of the Clippers, from the management to the coaching staff to the players, everyone's attention is on one thing: playing basketball well.

"As for winning or losing, that's just the result, and that's the last thing we care about."

When asked why the Clippers have such a basketball culture, Cole shrugged and said: "You say, of course it's because of that person. He never criticizes you for losing, nor does he praise you for winning. He only cares about whether we play well."

Needless to say, "that person" must be Smart Min.

In the perception of the other 29 teams, Smart is a lunatic.

Since his debut as the general manager of the Clippers, all kinds of extraordinary things have emerged one after another.

I didn't expect to win the championship in three seasons, and won the No. [-] pick in the new season. The lineup and style of play are one version ahead of the league.

In Steve Kerr's description, the Los Angeles Clippers are simply the Mecca of basketball, the Jerusalem in the hearts of NBA basketball fans, and the Hollywood DreamWorks that truly realizes basketball dreams.

Mike Malone became deeply curious about the Clippers. What kind of team is this, and what kind of person is Smart Min?
And at this moment, LeBron James sent a message to Mike Malone, asking if he had found a new job.

Mike Malone said not yet, and he is still considering it.

James asked him if he was interested in going to the Los Angeles Clippers, which were considering a new assistant coach.

When Malone heard it, what did he mean, he took Cole away, and then recruited another one, or a coach from the Cavaliers?
The two teams have nothing to do, how about swapping coaches?
I have seen teams trade and swap stars, such as Kidd for Marbury, Francis for McGrady.

I have never seen two teams switch their coaches back and forth in the middle of the season.

And Malone thought, what if I go to the Clippers?
Cole came out of the Clippers to the Cavaliers, which can be regarded as imparting successful experience and helping the poor with technology.

And me?From the failed Cavaliers to the Clippers, visit and learn from the championship experience?

No matter how you look at it, it feels awkward, and Malone also finds it difficult to face the Clippers.

But the strong curiosity about the Clippers and Min Congda made Mike Malone decide to give it a try.

"Just give it a try, meet casually, don't expect to pass, just feel the atmosphere of the Clippers."

Thinking so, Mike Malone dialed the number James had given him to Smart Min.

(End of this chapter)