Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 23 (Bone) Age Sixteen

Bone age, this is a test that is sometimes ignored by people, or few people know about it, and most of the rumors spread.

The growth and development of ordinary people has two age manifestations, one is your age, and the other is "biological age", that is, bone age.

The bone age does not necessarily correspond to the age, and the future growth can be inferred based on the bone age. For example, Antetokounmpo is 19 years old this year, but his bone age is only 16 years old, which means that he actually has three years to grow and develop. This is incredible for a lottery pick.

What this means is self-evident.

Antetokounmpo's flaws are actually visible to the naked eye, but his true talent is not visible to everyone.

Li Sheng suspects that the Bucks may not be so sure before the selection, otherwise they should have approached the Thunder to ask for a trade.

Of course, in the future, the Bucks will accumulate many young talents through drafts and trades, and in the end, Antetokounmpo and Middleton will only be able to stand out, which is enough to explain the problem.

At the beginning of the previous life, the Bucks didn't pay much attention to Antetokounmpo, and even Kidd was not so optimistic about Antetokounmpo at the beginning. It was he who "survived" under Kidd's cruel system of "survival of the fittest" by relying on his own efforts and talents, and gradually became the core.

Even if there is controversy about big moves, Antetokounmpo's experience is definitely an inspirational example of a "little man" counterattack. He was not established as the core by the team from the beginning, but started from the substitute rotation.

Then step by step, he climbed to the starting lineup, became the main force, became the core, won two consecutive MVPs, and won the championship.

And now, he has come to Thunder, but there is also Li Sheng, a reborn who has already mastered his future development trajectory, of course it is impossible to bury him.

After that test, the team didn't have much doubts about Li Sheng's choice of Antetokounmpo. They just hoped that his growth would not disappoint their expectations. So now Li Sheng wants to make arrangements for Antetokounmpo, and Presti will try his best to cooperate.

Bennett is even more happy, because he seems to have seen the appearance of another "Durant". If Antetokounmpo can really reach Durant's level in the future, then even if Durant leaves the team in the future, he will not worry about it.

"Li, you really don't..." At this moment, Uduka was rather worried. He hadn't been in the coaching business for a long time, and he came to Thunder with Li Sheng because of his personal friendship and wanting to challenge himself.

Of course, the coaches also benefit from the Spurs' team culture, so he is still very concerned about the mentality of the players.

Antetokounmpo's performance just now is not good enough. Novices can't control fouls and mistakes when holding the ball, and Antetokounmpo's level of control can still be seen, but the confrontation is a bit weak, but the opponent's defense is strong.

Li Sheng smiled and shook his head, then pointed to Jalen Collins and said, "Xiao Jia, go and see him."

After all, Jalen has only recently retired, so he should be able to understand the mentality of the players' poor performance, and it is better to deal with the players directly.

He can talk about it, but Li Sheng is not easy to talk about it as the head coach, so let him make a stand first.

Of course Li Sheng will talk to Brother Antetokounmpo, but not now.

Jalen naturally had nothing to say, but watching him run over to appease Brother Antetokounmpo, Udoka raised his eyebrows and said, "Li, you really impress me. Although you did a good job in preparation before, your communication skills were too poor. Greg always told me that it would be great if our personalities could complement each other."

Li Sheng just smiled and continued to watch the game on the court.

After Antetokounmpo left the field, the Thunder looked a lot better. However, as Li Sheng replaced four rookies one after another, the team's defense became more slack. The players whose name Li Sheng was almost unimpressed played their own offensive end and defensive end.

Whoever was breached was his fault. Anyway, the others were too lazy to help, and they ran extremely aggressively in the fast break.

In this way, although the offense looks a lot better, the opponent is also a lot easier, especially Isaiah Cannan took advantage of this time period to attack the basket frequently, and found his touch on the outside. He scored 7 points from inside and outside, helping the team.

Before halftime, relying on Gomez's outside three-pointer, the Thunder temporarily fell behind by 47 points at 55:8.

During the break, Li Sheng didn't talk to the players, he just asked Jia Lun to encourage them, and then at the beginning of the second half, Li Sheng still used the opening lineup and played the same way.

Perhaps Jalen's conversation had an effect, Antetokounmpo played a little smarter, and the most important thing was that he was not obsessed with confronting his opponent.

In fact, Antetokounmpo's hand feeling before gaining muscle is not as bad as everyone imagined. He even has a bit of Durant's style of play, with large dribbles and high jumpers.

As long as the dribble is clear of the defender, there is enough space for him to shoot directly.

And the touch is not bad, he quickly scored six points with sudden shots, and Gomez, who broke through the ball and assisted the bottom corner, made a three-pointer.

However, the best performer was Ennis. He suddenly broke out and shot continuously from the outside. He made 4 of 3 three-pointers and had a 3+1. He scored 10 points and helped the team overtake by 1 point.

The opponent asked for a timeout, so it still had to be rearranged to some extent. Although the summer league is not that important to the team, as long as it is a game, no one wants to lose unless there is something more important than winning.

"here you go!"

When Antetokounmpo left the field, the three coaches of Li Sheng also went up to give him high fives, and the kid also had a smile on his face.

"We will continue to play like this, but I hope you can give Rudy a little more help on the defensive end. He will soon be unable to deal with that little guy."

Everyone else was smiling, but Gobert was depressed when he was told.

In midfield, the opponent obviously had plans, and Kannan was looking for him to play. As a result, he couldn't defend from the outside, and Kannan also hit two three-pointers.

But there is no way, Gobert's presence on the court is the guarantee of rebounds, and Isaiah Cannan has not yet reached the level where he can be trained casually. The advantages of keeping him on the court still outweigh the disadvantages.

Just like Gobert, who later became "Mr. [-] million", became the weak link of the team's defense and was targeted in the playoffs of the small ball era, but his role in protecting the frame is still irreplaceable in the team, just because it is too expensive, not because it is not easy to use.

If Li Yong can find a way to punish opponents with his rebounding and height advantages, in fact, this disadvantage can also be turned into an advantage.

After the timeout came back, the opponent's defense had changed significantly, and the defense line expanded, which was obviously aimed at the Thunder's three-pointer.

In this game so far, the Thunder has hit 10 three-pointers, and the hit rate has reached an astonishing 60%, so it has to be defended.

Of course, if the defensive line expands, there will inevitably be vacancies in the interior, and on this occasion, there is no way to put up a joint defense, which gives Antetokounmpo a chance to break through the interior.

But in the face of opponents who are good at oppressing with their bodies, the referee's whistle is relatively loose. Although Antetokounmpo broke through, it was difficult to attack at the basket, and then he tried to score the ball outside but was blocked by a mistake.

Li Sheng immediately called a timeout, and then replaced Antetokounmpo first.

On the one hand, it is because the offense is hindered and needs to be changed. On the other hand, of course, he cannot be allowed to play for too long, and being targeted all the time will damage his confidence.

This time Antetokounmpo was as disappointed and uncomfortable as the previous one. After all, he is not Durant, nor is he the Antetokounmpo in the future. For such a big man, he must not be able to compare with small guards in dribbling breakthroughs. At least it is not so easy to get rid of people.

Facing confrontation is his disadvantage at this time. He was happy for less than half a minute, and he seemed to be beaten back to his "original shape".

(End of this chapter)