Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 15 Press Conference

clap clap clap...

The spotlight kept flashing, and a press conference was going on at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, home of the Thunder.

Today is June 6th, the NBA's media day. Most teams will choose to sign with rookies on this day, and some will open the arena and let some fans enter, so that the rookies can show their faces on the court.

At the same time, the free market will also open, and it will be the time for the media to perform. ESPN, TNT and many other TV stations will continue to pay attention to and discuss the past and future NBA situations.

The hottest topic recently is, of course, the Heat's failure to defend their title, and James once again lost to the old opponents of the Spurs and Duncan in the finals.

Six years ago, Duncan comforted him, "The present is mine, and the future is yours." Six years later, he came to take away his championship, and told him, "I didn't expect it, the future is actually my own."

The young player Leonard, who performed brilliantly on the stage of the finals, also attracted a lot of attention because of his excellent defense. Everyone is very optimistic about the future of the Spurs, especially next season. They can fight for another year. When the Heat meet this old opponent again, will they lose again?
But I didn't expect that today, a seemingly ordinary press conference was destined to attract the attention of the alliance.

When Presti took Li Sheng and four rookies started to appear at the press conference, the media reporters hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem.

Afterwards, the four rookies made their appearance first—the reason why they were allowed to appear first was naturally because they didn't want their first time facing the media to completely deprive them of attention. If they were left behind, no one would care about them at all.

Although it is estimated that many people will ignore them after this...

The four rookies have already negotiated their respective contracts. Today they officially signed the contract and selected numbers. Li Sheng has also assured them that the team will definitely have their place in the new season.

Knowing that Li Sheng is the head coach of the team, the four of them were of course surprised, but then they became excited, because it was obvious that their selection had a direct relationship with Li Sheng, and Li Sheng was so optimistic about them, their chances were naturally indispensable.

At the press conference, the four rookies also successively expressed their vision for the future, and there were also occasional words of praise for the team.

And keen reporters soon discovered that the four rookies all mentioned a name very consistently.

Then someone finally stood up and asked, "Mr. Presti, may I ask the person next to you... If I'm not mistaken, he should be the assistant coach of the Spurs team. Why did he appear in the Thunder team and by your side?"

This question sounds stupid, and many people even think that this is not a joke.

Presti immediately smiled, and then said: "I don't think I need to tell you who he used to be. If you don't know this, then I can suggest that your boss fire you first. You don't pay attention to NBA news at all. You don't even watch the finals."

This remark made many reporters laugh. Of course they would not fail to recognize Li Sheng. In fact, it was because they recognized Li Sheng that they felt strange. Of course, speculation had already surfaced in their minds, but if it was just an ordinary staff member or a teaching assistant, it seemed that there was no need to make such a big announcement.

As for another guess, many people dare not think about it.

Presti nodded at this time, his expression became a little more serious, and he also slowed down his tone and said: "Please allow me to solemnly announce one piece of news to you--well, it should be two.

"First of all, we have confirmed that we have terminated the contract relationship with coach Scott Brooks. From now on, Mr. Brooks will no longer be the head coach of the Thunder.

"And the Thunder's head coach for the new season will be the one in front of you, Mr. Li!"

Whoa!
There was an uproar at the scene. Although there were not many reporters, it was as noisy as a vegetable market for a while.

The attention of the Thunder is not low, and Durant and Westbrook are league superstars, but no one expected such an explosive announcement beforehand for a rookie press conference, so not many media came.

But from this moment on, when the news spreads, there will inevitably be many media rushing here.

Or, prepare to go to Brooks for an interview.

However, Presti had already made an agreement with Brooks. Brooks was not the kind of big-mouthed person, and he also knew that this was a business alliance. He took money to do things, took money to leave, and kept a low profile.

After all, he will be employed again in the future, so at least everyone will call him wrong now, and there will definitely be no fewer jobs.

Seeing that everyone was in a mess, Presti could only raise his hand to signal everyone to be quiet for a while, and then said: "We believe that Coach Lee will have a new start in the Thunder, and he had an excellent season in San Antonio in the past.

"He won the championship with the team, which is the goal our entire team has been striving for in the past few years. I hope that in the new season, he can bring the DNA of the championship to our team, and let us taste the champagne of victory..."

At this time, no one was smiling. Almost as soon as Presti finished speaking, reporters kept raising their hands and asking questions.

Presti glanced at Li Sheng, which meant that it was handed over to you.

Of course, he didn't mean to watch the jokes on the sidelines, but Li Sheng had agreed with him before that he would face this press conference by himself.

He quickly picked a female reporter who was pleasing to the eye, but unexpectedly she asked a sharp question: "Mr. Li, what do you think is the reason you moved the Thunder to make them abandon their meritorious coach and appoint you as the team's new coach?
"The Thunder's record in the past few seasons has been at the forefront of the league. KD and Westbrook have a very good relationship with Coach Brooks. Do you think the players will resist you for this? If so, how will you deal with the team situation that was disrupted by yourself?"

Presti frowned, thinking that this question might be a bit embarrassing for a rookie.

Because if you say big things, you will be slapped in the face if you fail to do so, and you will feel guilty, but to be conservative, these media will not praise you for being humble. According to American culture, especially the court culture in the NBA, it does not agree that being humble is a good thing.

In fact, it is very simple to put it bluntly, that is, before you have achieved results, everything you say will be misinterpreted by the media. If you are not strong enough in your heart, you will fall down before you achieve success.

But Li Sheng smiled calmly: "I am sure that the team and I will be successful, our personnel changes in the new season are very small, so we will still at least maintain the original record.

"Of course, if you want to ask me what will happen in the playoffs, then I can only say that with Dewey around, we will go further than last season. If you want to ask me what my goal is, of course it is the championship, because I won the championship in my first season in the NBA."

This made Presti a little surprised, and the reporters were also a little surprised.

Zhang Yang did not lose his mind, he didn't casually fall into the hole dug by the reporter, instead he found another place by himself.

Of course, if the reporters don’t make troubles, they don’t feel comfortable with Sky, and of course they won’t give up so easily, so the second person called immediately asked: “Coach Li, you are a Chinese, what do you think of the current basketball situation in China?”

Li Sheng was a little helpless. He even took a look at the reporter's appearance to confirm that he had no Asian features at all. If he covered his face, he would really think that the question was asked by a domestic reporter.

Of course, he knew that domestic reporters might really want to get advice when they asked this question, and these foreign reporters were just making trouble.

Chinese basketball?

Things went from bad to worse after Yao Ming retired, and it will get even worse in the future, but of course they don't believe that Li Sheng, who has come through that kind of environment, has any real skills.

Li Sheng answered a bit conservatively about this, after all, it involves the motherland, "Objectively speaking, I don't know much about Chinese basketball, because if you know a little bit about my resume, you know that I gradually fell in love with basketball during the process of studying abroad.

"I only came into contact with the job of basketball coach after graduation. I started in the NBA. I think my understanding of the NBA must be deeper than that of Chinese basketball. Thank you..."

(End of this chapter)