Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 25

After this game, Antetokounmpo didn't play again, and the data was fixed at 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 turnovers, and four fouls. The data still cannot fully show his loss.

After Antetokounmpo left the field, Gobert was on the inside to control the rebounds, and Ennis and Gomez, who were hot on the outside, continued to shoot. At the end of the game, the Thunder won by 5 points and got off to a good start.

Of course, a summer league, even if it is a championship game, such a victory is not so happy, that is, players who perform well are more excited, especially free agents such as Gomez, because their chances of getting a contract have increased.

Of course, they will not know that Li Sheng does not plan to sign other players. In his opinion, the Thunder's current lineup is sufficient. If there are any changes in the future, it will not be too late to seek trade signings in the middle of the transfer period. It is useless to leave a special case at that time.

What Li Sheng didn't expect was that this mediocre game, but because of a program, it spread and made things different.

……

TNT's "NBA Insider" column group, after the hot topic about Heat James some time ago, has now chosen a recent hottest topic, which is the new coach of the Thunder.

As a column for digging out NBA gossip, because there are big mouths such as Barkley, Kenny Smith, and O'Neal, the entertainment effect of this program is also sufficient, of course, it will inevitably be somewhat exaggerated.

However, the cleverness of the program group is that they know that the same voice as the outside world, or that the program group maintains a consistent tone is not attractive. On the contrary, it is more effective to sing the opposite tune inside and outside the program.

What to do is also very simple, that is, first give a controversial topic, and then divide the guest hosts into pros and cons just like a debate contest, sometimes even a neutral third party, and then debate with each other.

Debate is not about getting results, so one side does not necessarily need to persuade the other side, because the actual results are what matter on the basketball court. No matter how extravagant you are, if you fail in the end, you can only get slapped in the face.

Moreover, the purpose of the program itself is to create controversy and cause controversy, so debates without results, or even quarrels, are more appropriate and more in line with the theme of the program.

After all, this is not science, but a kind of entertainment.

So this time is also the same. At the beginning, Kenny Smith played the red face, expressing that he noticed the current public opinion's malice towards a young director like Li Sheng.

"Let me first declare that I don't know Coach Li and I have nothing to do with it. I just represent myself and think that we should maintain a basic awe of new things and don't deny them completely. Maybe we should give him enough tolerance and let him have a chance to try."

O'Neill immediately echoed: "That's right, you can't deny a person because he hasn't made any achievements, because he hasn't made any mistakes yet. I agree with the theory of consequence, because if you do something, you will bear the corresponding consequences, but people should not be responsible for things that haven't happened yet."

Even so, O'Neill is obviously in a "neutral" attitude, so of course, Fliggy represents the current mainstream point of view, and stands in the opposite direction to demonstrate.

"I'm not optimistic about Coach Li's new season, but I don't think it's necessarily his problem..."

"Wait, that's not the same as what you said at the beginning, you said you don't think a rookie head coach can succeed in the NBA..."

"I never said that!" Barkley immediately denied, and then immediately said: "Who didn't come from a rookie, whether it's a player or a coach, Phil, Greg, none of them came from a rookie, and they didn't fail, but they succeeded in the end.

"I don't know if Lee will be successful in the future, but I think his rookie season will be a failure, but this may not be his problem. This is the team's responsibility. Maybe the purpose they brought him in is to let him bear this responsibility."

Originally, he was only used as an opponent, but I didn't expect Barkley's brain circuit to be quite strange, and he was able to find such an angle.

Kenny Smith and O'Neill looked at each other, and O'Neill smiled and said, "I think you were persuaded by Kenny and changed your mind..."

"No, no, that's what I thought at the beginning." Barkley said with a smile: "I think maybe Weiss' injury made the Thunder plan to give up this season, and maybe Bennett has already started thinking about how to make money. This is the biggest difference between the Thunder and Mr. Scott Brooks...

"In comparison, Li is younger and cheaper, and he is still a Chinese. I think you can understand the commercial value of Chinese people, Shaq."

Of course O'Neal understood. Yao Ming soon challenged his position as the All-Star starting center after he entered the NBA. The Chinese people's enthusiasm for the NBA surprised everyone, so even if he is a head coach, his commercial value will not be ignored.

After all, since Stern waited in front of CCTV with a videotape, the NBA's development of the Chinese market has never stopped.

Although the big pot of porridge was almost ruined because of a few rat droppings, I won't say much about it.

And O'Neal and Yao Ming's "falling in love and killing each other" also began with the defeat in the All-Star starting center competition. After that, he vowed to see Yao Ming beat him once, but in the end Yao Ming was convinced.

Of course, this is only a superficial statement. In fact, it is just because the big shark, who has passed his peak, chose the most favorable rhetoric for himself in the face of the little giant who is going to the peak.

O'Neal can obtain such a huge commercial value as a center. He knows how to show off, and he knows how to find opportunities to make money.

Moreover, it is definitely not easy for a player who can become a good player in the media after retirement, including Perkins in the future.

But it may be that Yao Ming stumbled too hard. When encountering matters related to the Chinese, Sir Ba, who has always been a big mouther, became cautious this time, and did not directly speak nonsense.

But this obviously also shows that he is not optimistic. Of course, Sir Ba's poisonous milk name is also very loud, so Thunder fans will probably be happy to hear what he said.

The mouth will not bite you smaller than his. Smith smiled again: "I don't think this is like the usual you. I hope to investigate whether there is another person under this mask, and whether the real Charles has been dropped?"

Barkley said: "Actually, if it wasn't on this show, I would have chosen not to have anything to do with this matter. Fans know that I have always been a neutral and objective person..."

Jazz Ba, who is not very clear about himself, obviously succeeded in making his colleagues laugh, and the recording scene was full of joy.

O'Neill even laughed and took up another topic: "We have no way of judging the coaching level of Coach Li, but I think his level of judging people is obviously not very good."

While he was talking, he let everyone watch a video of the game. It was the game between the Thunder and Texas Xiaoqiang in the summer league. The player on the court was the Thunder's No. 12 rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Judging from this video, this tall and thin player has not been able to show his ability as a lottery pick. The team let him control the ball, but he basically either hits the iron or makes mistakes. The organizational ability is invisible, but the confrontation ability is visible to the naked eye.

(End of this chapter)