NBA's strongest prince

Chapter 2 The Coaching Team Gets It Done
D'Antoni talked eloquently about his basketball philosophy, and he is very confident about his profession.

"The players need the support of the manager to keep them confident..."

"Professional basketball is already in an era of change. In modern basketball, NBA-level players cannot be defended by traditional methods. It is simply impossible."

"The 24-second attack can be divided into 4 periods: 0-6 seconds, 6-12 seconds, 12-18 seconds, 18-24 seconds. If we attack in the first two periods, the team's efficiency value will be higher, The defense wasn't set up, it was still in the stage of seeing what we were going to do. We could just score and beat the opponent."

D'Antoni's player career and coaching career in Europe were very successful. During his player period, he was the best point guard in the Italian league and won five Italian league championships and two European championships.

During the coaching period, he was elected as the best coach of the Italian league twice.

But he is more eager to succeed in the NBA. He couldn't stay in the NBA and ran to Europe in despair. He needed to return home to prove himself.

After D'Antoni returned to the NBA, he got a chance to coach the Nuggets, but the team's record was so poor that he didn't last a season.

The old man in his 50s has already developed an obsession. He didn't give up. He put down his body to work as a scout, and worked as an assistant coach in different teams, and finally got another chance.

The Suns chose to rebuild last season, and he temporarily took charge of the coach.

The record is naturally not good, but you can't ask for more from the rebuilt team.

D'Antoni performed conscientiously, but he didn't expect the team owner to change as soon as he said it.

"I can lead the team back to the playoffs." D'Antoni said firmly.

But my heart is still a little empty. If Xia Tian can't add suitable players, it will be more difficult to hit the playoffs.

And...he looked at Russell who was leading the interview, his eyelids twitched non-stop.

Isn't it good for the rich second generation to honestly go to meet young models? Why do they come to play basketball.

Are the rich so capricious? They spent more than 4 million yuan to buy the team and throw it directly to their son who just graduated from college. This young man still insists on becoming a part of the stadium.

Isn't this nonsense? Anyone who is the head coach has to be embarrassed.

But if you want to ask D'Antoni if ​​he will do it if he is given this opportunity, D'Antoni will answer without hesitation, he will.

Isn't it just kneeling and licking the rich second generation? As long as he is given a chance to prove himself, it will be fine.

His biggest advantage is not the perfect tactical concept of fighting monsters and upgrading in Europe, but the cheapness.

The team only needs to give him the assistant coach's money, and let him work hard as the head coach, which is a good deal.

In the original history, D'Antoni became the head coach of the Suns with a low salary.

Then the Suns set off a whirlwind in the league, and D'Antoni became the best head coach.

And it didn't cost him much to renew the contract with the Suns. As a result, four seasons later, D'Antoni, who was still under contract, was poached by the Knicks, and then D'Antoni, who had the name of a famous coach, lived in the Knicks. The happy life of counting dollars and losing.

Clap clap, Russell took the lead in applauding.

"Yes, you are the head coach of the Suns." Russell said casually.

D'Antoni surprise!

"However, as long as the annual salary is tens of dollars, is this looking down on our Russell family? We will never treat hard-working employees badly. 4 million in 600 years, that's the deal."

D'Antoni was shocked!

The title of staff is a bit strange, but it's nothing, a scholar dies for his confidant!

In fact, the annual salary of this coach is average. The salary of NBA coaches in this era varies greatly, and even those who are strong can get several million, but D'Antoni originally got less than this in history.

D'Antoni is the best choice for the Suns now. He can quickly improve the team's record. He is worth the money. Russell does not plan to cooperate with the opponent for a lifetime, but he will not treat him too badly.

After finalizing the head coach, Russell continued to sweat on the training ground.

Bruce Fraser appreciates Russell's hard work. He makes bold shots and doesn't need to worry too much about training. Where can he find such a good client.

However, he felt that Russell's abilities were too mediocre, and compared with those real NBA players, he lacked a bit of spirituality and aggression.

Russell mainly played wild ball in his previous life, so now he is very careful not to bring over the bad habits of the wild field. He plays cautiously and tries not to make mistakes.

Forget it, for the sake of the dollar, Bruce Fraser decided to work harder and focus on developing Russell's three-point ability, which is also what he is best at.

If Russell meets the requirements for three-pointers, it is still no problem to become a drinking fountain tool in the NBA who dribbles halfway and then goes to the three-point line. Frazier has this confidence.

Russell trained hard, but didn't know the change in the trainer's mind.

If there is no system, that is really possible, but soon he will be a cheater, thank you.

Coming out of the training ground, Russell received a call from Warren to report to work.

Warren has now become the general manager of the Suns, and his first task is to go on a business trip to find an assistant coach that Russell likes for the team.

In addition to Warren, a tool man, Zhang Burke became the assistant coach of the Suns.

When Zhang Boke was at Arizona State University, in order to mix with Russell, he worked as an assistant coach for the school team for free. This kid is very good at learning, and Russell wanted to train him.

On Harris' side, Russell partnered with him to start a company called Good Choice.

The company has a lot of business planned, but for the time being, it only plays the role of an agent company. Russell asked Harris to care about the young players participating in this year's draft.

Since Warren and Harris feel that they are not so reliable, Zhang Burke, who is not yet able to follow the team to learn, will first help them.

"Boss Russell, Tom Thibodeau is disrespectful." Warren complained on the phone.

"You wouldn't speak like this when you met him, would you?" Russell frowned.

"Of course not. I was about to kneel down and beg him. If the boss doesn't believe me, don't you believe Zhang Boke?" Varen complained, but the boss didn't believe him.

Chamberke is now helping Wallen fight for Thibodeau. The future best coach Tom Thibodeau is good at defense. It doesn't match D'Antoni's philosophy very much, but they can complement each other.

Russell running the team is not a joke, what he wants is a championship, and a championship team must have both offense and defense.

"Increase the price." Russell said lightly, "Tell him clearly that he will be the first assistant coach of the Suns when he comes here, and he will be able to lead the team to play in the summer league immediately to show his ability."

"And...the title of the league's first high-tech assistant coach will be helpful to his future development."

Soon, the good news came that Tom Thibodeau accepted the Suns' four-year, $4 million offer.

In this era, he is the highest paid assistant coach in the league.

Thibodeau, the future famous coach who likes the main force, said that he is not for money, he is mainly optimistic about the Suns' passionate love for basketball.

Russell smiled slightly, and the next step was the draft.

(End of this chapter)