Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 181
At present, the Thunder team has gone through 21 games, with 20 wins and only 1 loss. Naturally, such a record ranks first in the West and in the league without any suspense.

And if the previous [-]-game winning streak still made the outside world not have such strong confidence in the Thunder, and the doubts reached the peak after the loss to the Warriors, then now with Westbrook's return, the integration problem seems to be solved well, so that everyone's last worry about the Thunder is gone.

The Thunder has also gradually become the main favorite team for this season's championship. The main reason is that Westbrook's potential injuries, and the other is that the Thunder has too many young people. Although the four rookies have always made great contributions in the game, their performance fluctuates.

With Westbrook's comeback in these few games, Antetokounmpo's possession of the ball has been somewhat compressed, so it has been good and bad.

Newcomers are inherently unstable and need to practice more, but there are fewer opportunities to practice, and the advantages are not easy to show, but the shortcomings are more likely to be exposed.

These are also problems that need to be solved by Li Yong, especially when Westbrook and Alphabet are on the court at the same time, how to coordinate the play of the two of them is very important.

After all, although Antetokounmpo can average 1 three-pointer per game and has a 38% shooting rate, this is not his conventional method after all. If he is allowed to be a pitcher, it will kill his other advantages and reduce his room for growth.

For example, Gobert and Robertson are now blue-collar games, and the impact is not that great. Ennis is because Antetokounmpo has further reduced his position as a substitute for the ball, but he shoots more accurately and is still more stable than Antetokounmpo.

To put it bluntly, now is the contradiction between training rookies and the core style of play. Originally, Durant was the only ball that could be allocated.

That is to say, the team is in a good situation now, and there are no major problems.

However, Li Sheng had expected this a long time ago, so he didn't say anything or do anything immediately.

And how should I say it now, because Antetokounmpo has not reached that strength after all, so he must have to accommodate Westbrook instead of letting Westbrook adapt to his existence.

What's more, Brother Antetokounmpo can't play without the ball. In Li Sheng's previous life, he didn't always hold the ball in the Bucks. Especially after Brother Zhu joined, his personal ball holding decreased quite a lot, and he divided a lot of possessions to two helpers.

Especially in the regular season, it is no exaggeration to say that he is paddling.

As soon as the proportion of ball possession increases in the playoffs, the data will immediately increase.

It's just that his personal offense is not so strong now, and he is more of a threat to the organization. Besides, Li Yong knows his future development, and it is obviously not worthwhile to make a spot-up shooter even if he can train it.

But what Li Sheng can do is to let him hold the ball as much as possible. It is actually no problem to stagger his and Westbrook's appearances a little bit. Now it is really not suitable for the two to play together often, because if this is the case, there will inevitably be three bad shots on the court.

After all, it is impossible for the current Antetokounmpo to be a center forward...

Anyway, most of the role players on the bench can play without the ball, or they will fight in chaos. Whoever has the ball is good can do it directly. Li Yong will not stick to a certain tactical arrangement, but depends on the feedback of the on-the-spot status.

Because of the Thunder's tactical play during this period, even Reggie and Lamb have developed a certain habit of running without the ball in the previous games.

Whether the effect is good or not is another matter, but in the substitute rotation segment, when there are Antetokounmpo and Gobert on the field at the same time, the Thunder are easy to find opportunities on the offensive end. Even Robertson can also pose a threat, so playing like this is not a problem at all.

For Li Sheng now, it has become a happy trouble, that is, it seems that there is an extra Westbrook, but Westbrook himself will take up a large part of the playing time, possession of the ball and offensive power, which makes the Thunder feel a little bit offensively overflowing.

There are too many players who can play, and it is not so easy to arrange. After all, both the core and rookies need opportunities to perform.

But overall it's a good thing, especially when the team has a winning streak, the team has a good atmosphere, and everyone can play a good role.

The following Thursday the team had a day off for everyone to rest, and Li Sheng naturally had some time to do his own things.

Michael Johnson helped him accept another local program invitation. As a celebrity in Oklahoma City, being on TV is now commonplace for Li Sheng. As long as he wants to, he can actually fill up the announcements in his spare time.

Even in the United States, he is now a star of his size.

Compared with the head coaches of many other teams, even those coaches whose players have changed careers, Li Sheng is definitely young. He is not yet 30 years old, and he is already the head coach of a strong NBA team.

In addition, he is handsome, and he is also a native of China, so he naturally carries a bit of mystery, which makes him not less popular than those mid-to-upper stars in the league.

Of course, it is still difficult for the coach to turn attention into actual benefits, but as Li Sheng's image gets better and better, sooner or later he will attract better endorsement opportunities, such as some brands that may not have anything to do with basketball but want to enter this market.

Michael is already in contact with Li Sheng. If both parties have the intention to cooperate, as long as the other party is sincere enough, they can enter into negotiations and then agree on a contract. At that time, they will get a large amount of income.

"The guest we invited today is our respected head coach of the Thunder, Mr. Li from the Mysterious East!"

Li Sheng didn't come here alone, or it can be said that he appeared alone, but he also had a dog by his side.

This is at the request of the program group, because after being bought by Li Sheng, this dog has frequently appeared on his INS. For Li Sheng, who has attracted 200 million followers and can be called a "big Internet celebrity", people or things around him will naturally be followed.

In fact, it is because of the existence of some so-called wall, otherwise, with Li Sheng's current attention among domestic fans, 500 million attention can be easily achieved.

Now because of the need to climb over the wall, the number is limited.

And because the little golden retriever is so cute, many fans even specifically begged him to post some dog-raising daily routines from time to time.

Michael even opened a small account for him, an account specially built for the little golden retriever, which has already reached more than [-] attention in a short period of time.

So in theory, now it is a big Internet celebrity who brings a small Internet celebrity to the show together.

The host first praised the cute puppy, and then started the interview.

Although it is a regional program, it doesn't get as much attention as the Allen Show, but the other party respects him enough, and Li Sheng naturally reciprocates the favor and cooperates with them very much.

After recording the program, I was invited to participate in the dinner later.

It can be said that this kind of table talk is common all over the world, but it is not only found in China.

And because it is a local media, Li Sheng feels that it is good for him and the team to have a good relationship with them. If he can have a good relationship with the local mouthpiece, he can stand up and help speak out when necessary, instead of being like "The Oklahomaian". It is also good for the players' sense of belonging and cohesion.

(End of this chapter)