Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 21 Summer League
On July 7th, the Orlando Summer League officially started. Li Sheng personally led the team. Jalen Collins and Amy Udoka went to Oakland with the team.

And Gentry will rush directly to Messina in Oklahoma City, and will stay in the Thunder to handle follow-up affairs.

Orlando is located in the central Florida of the United States. There is an NBA team, the Magic, which has produced two "first centers", Shaquille O'Neal and Warcraft Howard, and then different people have the same ending. In the end, they all broke up with the team and went to the Lakers.

Of course, compared to O'Neal's Lakers career, Howard's is not considered a success, although he eventually won the championship with the Lakers.

After O'Neal left, the Magic fell into a period of decline, and then won the No. [-] pick, selected Howard, and rose for a while; with Howard's departure, this "center cursed land" could no longer breathe. When Li Sheng was reborn, the Magic was still not famous in the East.

The poor record is not the key, the key is that there is no hope in sight, almost no one plays here, and no star is willing to come here.

So much so that the Orlando Summer League was also suspended-of course, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with this.

This year's Orlando Summer League, there are ten teams participating, of course both East and West, including the Thunder, Jazz, Nets, and Texas Minor Team.

This time, the Thunder formed a motley crew consisting of four first-year rookies, undrafted picks, and trial free agents. The focus of course is to examine the performance of the four rookies.

Compared with the four young people who already have contracts and are in Li Sheng's plan, the other young and old are all trying their best to become a blockbuster in Xialian and soar into the sky.

In the case of the summer league, it really depends on the individual abilities of the players, because everyone wants to express themselves. If they play well, they hope to be signed by the team. If they play poorly, they can only prepare to go overseas for gold.

As for the tactical literacy, without the cooperation of teammates, it is useless to run tactics seriously, and the ball cannot be passed to you. Do you want to have a dazzling performance?

Not to mention those free agents of a certain age, the situation of losing the draft may be even worse, because their talents are not as good as rookies, and their experience is not as good as other free agents, so they can only rely on their hearts.

Of course, rookies are not treated the same as free agents. One is to show physical talent, and the other is to be obedient. So it is good to be able to hit good numbers. If you can’t hit it, it is a test. During the offseason, it is enough to do a good job of exercising against the exposed problems.

Therefore, the head coach of the general team will not appear on the scene of the summer league, because there is no need for sophisticated tactical arrangements, and there is no need to instill chicken soup for the soul. It is a waste of time for the head coach to appear here. It is better to stay on the team and make other plans.

Unless there are players that must be focused on, in order to enrich the team lineup, they generally just accompany the team. This is the stage for assistant coaches to play, and they cannot be robbed of their jobs.

And if it is a player who doesn't know how to fight for a contract at this time, there is no need to sign it at all, because they don't even have the only reliable energy and hard work, and they are not worth giving the opportunity.

The reason why Li Sheng appeared here was that besides the fact that it was his first time as a head coach, he wanted to experience the small scene of the summer league first to let himself get used to it, and more importantly, he naturally wanted to see what the current four rookies might be like.

Although I knew these four players in my previous life, and probably knew their style of play, but I didn't know how they performed when they first entered the league. No matter how good they were on the training ground, their performance on the court was the key.

Knowing their current strengths and weaknesses, they can teach them in a targeted manner, which is why Li Sheng also specially brought Amy Udoka.

Udoka has accumulated enough experience in the Spurs, coupled with the Spurs' unique "development" system, he naturally has a good eye for people.

If you want to compare the "future" of a player, he can't compare with Li Sheng, but since Li Sheng has given him a preconceived perspective, it is still possible to see the strengths and weaknesses of a player and find out the direction of development.

Although Li Sheng can do it by himself, multiple people can dig out more details and prevent going astray.

The Thunder's first game is scheduled for this afternoon, against the small Houston team.

At this time, Houston's signature is the Harlem combination, but Li Sheng knows that Howard will come this summer, and he will form a "new OK" combination with Harden at that time-but knowing this is useless, the Thunder have no room to grab.

Speaking of Jeremy Lin, in fact, when Mogou found out that signing Harden was a treasure, and Harden himself could be a point guard and attack with the ball, and his potential was much greater than that of Jeremy Lin, he was destined to be eliminated.

After all, he also needs to have the ball in his hand to play, and the ball-holding guard like Harden is suitable for a role player who can defend and shoot.

However, neither Harden nor Jeremy Lin can appear in the summer league. Li Sheng also saw his familiar figure in the opponent's lineup, such as rookie Isaiah Cannan. After all, he paid enough attention to Texas Xiaoqiang in his previous life.
Huh?
"Do you recognize that player?"

Li Sheng is of course very curious. Although he knows the names of many players and their future development, it is difficult to remember all their life experiences.

Just like the superb 3D puzzle in front of him, Li Sheng didn't expect to see him in this situation.

Of course he also knows that Covington is also one of the "Houston veterans", but he can't remember the exact time.

After all, Jalen Collins has only just come into contact with a new business and has not yet adapted to the new identity. It is because Udoka is well prepared, probably because he is in the Spurs and likes to "pick up leaks" like the opposing team.

"It seems... this year's undrafted pick..."

"Undrafted?"

Unexpectedly, he was actually a rookie this year, and he was also defeated.

Li Sheng was a little surprised, he really didn't know that Covington had such a bad start.

And it seems that Texas Xiaoqiang is not optimistic about him, but just gave him a chance. If he performs well in the summer league, he may still sign him and give it a try.

After all, Houston likes to pick up leaks. After signing a short contract, he can lay off people at any time, and he will not suffer.

It is estimated that Covington's experience in Houston was not very successful, and then the "Houston veteran" BUFF was triggered, allowing him to play better and better.

Some people are not strong at the beginning, they are growth-oriented, including Antetokounmpo and Leonard.

So after hesitating for a while, Li Sheng asked, "Can we find a way to get in touch and see if we can sign him?"

As a reborn, it is natural to have a collection habit, especially this kind of players who have not yet made their fortunes. They all want to get under their own command and "train" them. Of course, Li Sheng is no exception.

Uduka said with a wry smile: "I'm afraid it won't work. We can't just go directly to them to grab people. After the summer league is over, they will also have the priority to sign, unless you want to use our special case for an undrafted..."

Li Sheng thought for a while, but still shook his head. Although he felt a little regretful, there was nothing he could do.

Under the same contract, they definitely have no advantage, and the team has to keep a special case in case of emergency.

Even Li Sheng can't guarantee that he can fully grasp the future situation, so it is necessary to make some preparations in advance.

Compared with those "finished products" in the free market, Covington still needs to be refined after all, and it may even take two to three seasons to wait for him to grow up. This is not worthwhile, after all, there are enough rookies in the team.

And Covington didn't play out early in his career, so there's no need to rush to bet on him, it's the same when he's recruited at the right time.

(End of this chapter)