Coach: Coaching the Grizzlies at the beginning, playing the bantam

Chapter 194 The "Lu family" coach is finally about to spread out?

After the meal, Lu Yong and Iverson bid farewell to each other for a short time, and then returned to the hotel to think about the next step.

Lu Yong knows that coaching the 76ers will be a season of "difficulty in hell", but once he can lead the team to success in the last season of Iverson's career, he will become a proper winner in life, even if someone calls him a "difficulty in hell". The Whip of God" is not an exaggeration.

This is a win-win cooperation, and it has nothing to do with the 76ers. Lu Yong is interested in accepting the challenge only because of Iverson's retirement tour stunt.High difficulty means high return. If you want to stand out among many champion coaches, you must show hard power. He is charging for the position of the first coach in history.

There are not many teams for him to choose this summer. Lu Yong will definitely join a big city after leaving Seattle. The defending champion Lakers are currently in the territory of "Zen Master" Jackson. This guy is in a relationship with the team owner. He wants to Getting in is not easy.

The Los Angeles Clippers are bad enough, and the head coach Vinnie DeNagro is not well-known, but although the Clippers and the Lakers are in Los Angeles, the number of fans is very different, so they can only be used as alternatives.What's more terrible is that the Clippers management is a bunch of useless heads who are unwilling to delegate power, and Lu Yong doesn't want to make trouble for himself.

As for Chicago and Houston, it is even more inappropriate. The former has completed two three-peat championships under the leadership of Jackson. No matter how good his record is after he coaches, it will be difficult to change the fans' yearning for the Jordan Bulls back then. Lu Yong does not want to Be a stand-in for anyone.

The reason for not going to Houston is even simpler. The boss Alexander is stingy and the general manager Morey is a stupid dog. He couldn’t help spitting on away games there before leaving. Even if the Rockets offered him an annual salary of 1000 million, Lu Yong would not will go.

Of course, with the piss of the boss Alexander, it is impossible for him to hire a coach with a high salary. After all, his goal has never been to win the championship, but to make money for the team to enter the playoffs. Without dreams, it is doomed to be difficult to develop.

The New York Knicks is undoubtedly the best place for Lu Yong's next stop. The market is huge, the management is willing to spend money, and it is no problem to pay the luxury tax in order to win the championship.There are also many outstanding stars in the team, such as Anthony, Stoudemire and Billups. Except for the fans' temper, New York is simply a perfect place for Lu Yong to develop.

It's a pity that the current head coach of the Knicks, D'Antoni, can be regarded as a first-class coach in the league, and has led the team to a good record this year, and there is no danger of getting out of class in the summer.

But safety now does not mean safety in the future. Lu Yong knows very well that D’Antoni’s dismissal time is not far away. If he can lead the 76ers to excellent results next year, the Knicks management will definitely spend a lot of money and invite him with a flattering attitude. to coach.

At that time, Lu Yong will not only get a sky-high annual salary, but also have enough confidence to bargain with the management, strive to control more rights, and express himself on a bigger stage.

Joining the 76ers is only a transitional season, but it is crucial to the improvement of Lu Yong's historical status, betting on an unimpeded future.

Lu Yong intends to sign a one-year contract with the 76ers and accompany Iverson to the last dance. Regardless of whether the dark horse wins the championship or not, he will not stay for long.The 76ers without Iverson are not attractive to him, far inferior to New York and Los Angeles.

Iverson's character has never been willing to bow his head to others, but now he has lowered his posture and begged himself. Lu Yong also wants to try, whether he has the ability to help Iverson realize his dream and fulfill his entire career during the retirement tour season. career.

As for whether Iverson can be suppressed, Lu Yong is not worried.

Next season will be Iverson's last year in the NBA. He cares more about winning or losing than Lu Yong. As long as his mind is in order, Iverson will not sing against him. It will only be a lose-lose situation.

One day later, the All-Star Weekend officially arrived.

The first-day rookie challenge was an upset, as the first-year rookie, led by Wall with 21 assists and Cousins ​​with 32 points, beat the sophomores 148-140.

虽然巴丁格开场连得9分带领着二年级队以12比3取得了不错的开局，在这12分中巴丁格一个人就拿下了9分。

After the score became 18 to 6, the first-year team launched a counterattack. Cousins ​​and Jeremy Lin made consecutive strong kills to the basket. Wall also hit a three-pointer and sent a wonderful pass to help Griffin succeed in an alley-oop dunk. , Completed the overtake directly with a wave of climax.

Not long after, Wall, who reappeared, sent consecutive wonderful passes to assist his teammates to score. Finally, after the first half, the first-year team led the second-year team with a score of 78-73.Budinger scored 18 points, Blair and DeRozan scored 13 points, Harden 10 points, Wall 10 assists, Curry 6 assists.

Budinger continued his scoring performance in the second half, and soon his score came to 25 points. At the same time, the second-year team was also tightly entangled with the first-year team.

Of course, the first-year team was not to be outdone, and under the joint efforts of Wall, Cousins, and Jeremy Lin, they rushed to catch up. Griffin also received passes at the basket many times and staged dunks, which caused the fans to scream.

In the last 5 minutes of the game, the two sides began a real contest. With Jennings and Curry each hitting a three-pointer to help the second grade lead 121 to 119, the Supersonic rookie Jeremy Lin stepped forward in time, scoring 7 points in a row from inside and outside. , Helping the first grade regain the lead.

In the last 2 minutes of the final quarter, the sophomore's three-pointer lost sight, and Curry made several jumpers and three-pointers to ruin the game. In the end, the first-year team upset the sophomore team, and Wall was elected as the MVP of the rookie game with 21 assists.

Jeremy Lin's first game and Wall's partner in the backcourt also scored 21 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Although he missed the MVP, he successfully proved himself.

The sophomore rookie of the Supersonics, Budinger, was reduced to an empty cut. He scored the highest score with 34 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. However, the freshman went crazy tonight and was unstoppable.

On the second day, the All-Star Weekend featured three challenges.

In the skill contest of the first item, Curry succeeded in having the last laugh.

Although he was not as good as Westbrook in the preliminaries, Stephen Curry played even better in the final. He finished the race with the fourth best time in history of 28.2 seconds, defeating Westbrook to win the championship of the skills competition.

The three-point contest also broke out a little cold. The favorite Ray Allen only shot 11 points in the first round of the contest, and was eliminated in the first round, which made the fans look stupid.

In the end, with 20 points in the rematch, James Jones from the Miami Heat won the All-Star Weekend Three-Point Contest. He defeated Paul Pierce from the Celtics in the final, sending him and teammate Ray - Allen went home to fish together.

The strength of the players participating in the slam dunk contest this year is not bad. There are No. [-] pick Griffin from the Clippers, DeRozan from the Raptors, McGee from the Wizards and Ibaka from the Bobcats.

The first player to play in the first round was DeRozan of the Raptors, the runner-up of the last dunk contest.DeRozan received a pass from his teammate who smashed the neck of the basket and then changed hands to dunk. However, he failed to succeed several times in a row, and finally succeeded in the fifth attempt. The referees only scored 44 points.

The second player to play was Ibaka. After he played, he was followed by a group of beauties carrying banners.Ibaka started a run-up from behind, and finally took off from the free throw line with one hand and successfully dunked with one hand, but his posture was not beautiful enough, and he only scored 45 points.

McGee of the Wizards played third, and saw "Big Smart" dunking two baskets with a basketball in each hand, but failed several times in a row.Although full of creativity, the difficulty was too high. In the end, McGee ran up from the side, completed double goals and dunked two baskets, and won the first full score of 50 points in this competition.

The finale of the first round was Griffin, who started from outside the three-point line, twisted and dunked continuously in the air, but failed the first few times, Griffin took off on one foot for the third time, and spun in the air for a half circle Then he dunked with both hands and scored 49 points.

DeRozan, who had the lowest score in the second round, was still the first to appear on the court. After throwing the ball and hitting the ground, he caught the ball with one hand and flew into the air. Out of 10 points, DeRozan scored 50 points.

Ibaka played second, hung a small animal toy on the basket, and performed a dialogue with the small fans.Then he ran up from behind the basket, bit the animal with his mouth after dunking, but then announced a comeback.Ibaka assisted again, first bit off the small animal with his mouth, dunked the ball into the basket with one hand, and then gave the toy to the child, scoring only 45 points.

Ibaka's dunk this time was only novel but not difficult, and he was out early.

The much-anticipated Griffin's dunks in the second round were also very average. He chose to cooperate with his teammate Davis. He sprinted to the bottom line and received a pass from Davis on the backboard.In the end, Griffin received the pass, gave up the reverse spin, and directly received the smashed board and passed back to the windmill for a dunk, scoring 46 points.

The "big smart" McGee, who is full of physical fitness, reproduced his unique skills. A group of men in black wearing sunglasses and McGee's mother appeared on the stage with a safe and gave McGee a colorful basketball.McGee held a basketball in each hand again this round. After completing the double dunk, he had to catch the colored ball from his teammates to complete three dunks.After several consecutive failures, McGee finally dunked two basketballs respectively, and then dunked the colored ball passed by his teammates, scoring 49 points.

Sitting on the sidelines, Lu Yong couldn't help but applaud him. In Lu Yong's mind, the quality of McGee's dunks this year far surpassed that of Griffin, which was a bit less enjoyable to watch, but almost every dunk was extremely difficult.

It's a pity that in the final, Griffin first hit the board and then caught the ball with one hand in the air for a dunk, and hung half of his arm into the basket, paying tribute to his predecessor Carter.

Then he asked the staff to drive a car into the field without talking about martial arts, and won the championship with a slam dunk of a Feiyue sports car, creating the dunker who used the most auxiliary props in the history of the slam dunk contest.

So far, all the challenges of the All-Star Weekend came to an end. Griffin defeated McGee to win the championship and became the new slam dunk champion.The slam dunk contest is no longer a simple slam dunk. In addition to the competition of bounce, creativity has increasingly become an indispensable element in the slam dunk contest.

After the game, McGee joked in an interview: "Perhaps, the only thing that can beat a car is an airplane."

On the third day, the high-profile All-Star Game kicked off.

Interestingly, the atmosphere of this year's All-Star is a bit wrong. Some players cannot accept the fact that they were not selected for the All-Star Game due to some subjective reasons, which caused some inevitable disputes within the All-Star.

After the game started, Stoudemire received two assists from James and staged an alley-oop dunk, helping the East take the lead in taking the initiative.Then Durant and Kobe stood up, scored frequently in individual singles, and established a leading advantage with a wave of climax.

Under the leadership of Durant scoring 8 points in a row, the West gradually opened up the score. After half a quarter, 24 to 13, the West has established a double-digit lead.

Heat coach Spoelstra took Bosh early, allowing the Heat's Big Three to debut at the same time, which caused a burst of boos from the Staples fans at the scene.

Although the stars in the East scored points one after another, the West still maintained its advantage driven by Durant who scored 14 points in the first quarter. Griffin also dunked consecutively after coming off the bench, and the West led 41 to 30 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, James missed a streak in the first half, and Griffin and Ginobili helped the West open the score.Joe Johnson has since scored three consecutive goals for the Eastern Conference, narrowing the gap.

But with Kobe, Durant, Yao Ming and others returning to the court again, the West has rebuilt its double-digit advantage.Unlike previous All-Star games, this year's All-Star game was a real contest. Kobe defended James tightly, and Kobe also encountered multiple double-teams when he attacked under the basket.

Kobe's offensive desire was released on his home turf, and he scored 11 points in a single quarter, helping the West lead 82-66.

Entering the third quarter, Rose and "The Little Overlord" Stoudemire scored points for the Eastern Conference one after another. Durant hit a three-point jumper and raised his personal score to 25 points. This scene deeply stimulated Kobe and made Kobe feel The risk of the MVP leaving him.

Lu Yong sat on the sidelines and watched Kobe and Durant's secret rivalry without saying much. He didn't let Durant's adult beauty, and he didn't let Adu go all out to score points. He just watched the two "cut each other" like an audience.

After all, Durant is also one of the top players in the league. The only difference between him and Kobe is seniority. If the two really want to compete, he doesn't plan to participate. How to decide is left to Adu himself.

Driven by James and Wade's strong attacks one after another, the Eastern Conference barely narrowed the point difference to 10 points, but after that James was dribbled by consecutive steals, and the Western Conference took advantage of the opportunity to hit a wave of climax and re-establish the lead.

Kobe scored another 10 points and 3 rebounds in this quarter, and Durant, who was feeling hot, was not to be outdone. He scored 11 points and 2 rebounds in a single quarter, making the already depressing MVP competition even more confusing.

In the early part of the last quarter, Kobe and Durant both went off the court to rest.

James took this opportunity to hit the rim continuously and use free throws to score points. In addition, Rose's fierce momentum scored 8 points after his debut, which put enough pressure on the West.

Lu Yong was not in a hurry to sit on the sidelines, and it was not until more than 7 minutes before Kobe, Durant and other main players were brought to the court.

Chris Bosh, who came off the bench, broke out in this quarter, hitting mid-range jumpers without missing a beat, helping the East narrow the point difference to single digits. After that, Rose, Joe Johnson and Stoudemire scored points one after another, and James looked angry. After reaching the basket and winning free throws, the East chased to 139 to 142, and they just brought the game back to the same starting line.

In the last 3 minutes, Durant played singles with the ball not to be outdone, received a pass from Dayao and made a pull-up jumper, helping the West to expand the point difference to 7 points.

The offensive firepower of Stoudemire and James is good, and they tenaciously lead the Eastern Conference to 147 to 151.

It wasn't until 26 seconds before the end of the game that David Lee scored an offensive rebound under the basket and scored, and the West was able to stabilize the situation.

With Derrick Rose and James missing three-pointers, the Western Conference star team narrowly secured the victory.

终场，161比154，西部明星队获胜。杜兰特24投14中，砍下全场最高的38分6篮板4助攻2抢断，力压科比当选本届全明星赛MVP。

However, defeating Kobe in Los Angeles is not a good thing. When Durant was announced as the All-Star MVP, there was a huge booing from the fans at the scene, and the local fans who couldn't afford it obviously accounted for the majority.

After the game, Lu Yong responded to the incident on behalf of his disciples in an interview. "Although we slaughtered the Lakers in the opener, the boos tonight are still chilling. Basketball is a pure sport. If they can't maintain their sanity, they better hope that this year's playoffs don't meet the Sonics. .”

No way, who let the Sonics kill the Lakers with a big score in the opening game, Los Angeles fans have a hard time liking Durant, which is probably why Durant desperately scored points and wanted to compete with Kobe in Los Angeles.

If it is discussed carefully, with Adu's temperament, he will definitely be willing to give up the MVP to Kobe for his adult beauty.But the more the fans booed him, the more Adu wanted to prove himself, and he was unwilling to bow his head to others. Regarding this rebellious psychology, Lu Yong could only say, well done!
After the All-Star weekend, the regular season continues.

Lu Yong returned to Seattle and asked general manager Sam Presti to have dinner with owner Bennett. He simply revealed that this year is his last season of coaching the Sonics. Become a legend on the high stage.

There's no need for him to hide this kind of thing, the relationship between the few of them is not bad in private, it's better to make the parting public.

Presti understands that Lu Yong will leave sooner or later. The city of Seattle is still a bit small for him. A city that focuses on tourism is indeed not suitable for his future development, but he did not expect this day to come so soon.

"Thank you for your dedication to Seattle over the years. Now that you have made your decision, I think it will be difficult to persuade you to stay, so I wish you all the best." Boss Bennett looked very open, and raised his glass to Lu Yong sent blessings.

Under his leadership, the Supersonics’ market value has doubled by N times in the past few years. Bennett is a businessman, and the team is a tool for making money in his eyes. s Choice.Just as he focuses on "money", it is impossible for people without pursuit to get to this point.

He didn't show any dissatisfaction, because Lu Yong has done enough for the Sonics. If it weren't for him, the Sonics would have already become history.

"This season I will try my best to lead the team to compete for the championship and leave no regrets. There may be many coaches who want to coach the Sonics in the summer, but my suggestion is to select from within. Tony, Snyder and Brooks are all very good. Coach, I can guarantee this." Lu Yong recommended with a smile.

After all, he is a coach with the label of "Lu family". If possible, he naturally hopes that the coaches of his faction can spread out, instead of being picked off the ready-made peaches.

Next year, the Supersonics coaching staff is likely to face disintegration. No matter who is lucky enough to stay, the remaining two will definitely find their own way out and find an opportunity to become the head coach.

The "Lu family" coach has finally reached the day when he is spreading his branches and leaves, and he is one step closer to his goal of thirty disciples.

Presti nodded. "I will definitely give priority to the assistant coaching team around you. I believe that they are definitely not mediocre after working with you for so long, otherwise they would have been kicked out of the coaching staff by you."

"Hahaha, you still trust my eyes so much."

"Of course, it's just a pity. How will I live without you in the future."

"Be confident, Sam, you have a good vision, and the Supersonics will not be buried in your hands." Lu Yong raised his glass and touched it, and said with a smile: "Next season, we will all jump out of our comfort zone to meet greater challenges. Wish us all the best."

"all the best!"

Clinking glasses lightly, the two drank in one gulp.

(End of this chapter)