basketball hero

Chapter 610 Obsession with starting
Coach Casey went to Gay to find out, and found that the facts were exactly as he had guessed——Guy's problem was not physical, but psychological.To be precise, Gay wanted the starting spot.

Casey actually saw the signs of this last season. Gay was traded from the Grizzlies and changed from a starter to a substitute. He was dissatisfied.He thinks he is better than DeRozan, and he should start at the No. 3 position.However, considering that the team's starting chemical reaction had already formed at that time, he reluctantly accepted the status of a substitute under the appeasement of the assistant coach.

In the playoffs, on the one hand, Casey played one big and four small ones because of tactical needs. On the other hand, he was also using the starting position to give Gay some comfort. , because this kind of thing caused internal strife and affected the team's combat effectiveness.

——But after all, the problem has not been fundamentally resolved. This season has just begun, and the conflict has finally intensified...

Seeing that he could not convince Gay, Casey reported the issue to the management and asked the team management to come forward to talk to Gay. It is up to the management to decide whether to start Gay or DeRozan.

For Casey, whether Gay starts or DeRozan starts, he feels that his formation will not be affected, and the team will not hurt the muscles and destroy too much chemical reaction.Gay's advantage is that he can swing from the 2nd position to the 4th position. He is tall and long with long arms.With Ying Xiong as the starting partner, he has no problem playing a secondary offense at all.

And DeRozan's advantage is that he can swing down and can defend a lot of No. 1 positions. On the offensive end, he is not as open and close as Gay, but he plays smarter, whether it is fouling or holding the ball. Offensive tricks, all excellent.With Ying Xiong as his partner, he can share Ying Xiong's offensive pressure, and it's no problem to play a secondary offense.

So it was a helpless move for Casey to throw this hot potato to the management.After all, the head coach is also a part-time worker, and his salary is not even a fraction of Gay's.His status in the arena and the power given to him by the team are not big enough to adjust the team's future development plan and player training plan at will.Among the head coaches in the league, apart from Popovich, no other coach seems to have the management power of the team.

Gay wanted the starting position. Although Casey and the team management didn't say it, the players are not fools, so how could they not feel it.And this also affected their emotions to some extent. In the away game against the Eagles on November 11, they narrowly lost their opponents and ushered in their first loss of the season.

The management of the Raptors was worried that Gay's problem would affect the team's record, which in turn would affect the team's championship defense, so they hurriedly negotiated with him.

Gay said in a dialogue with the management that he was traded last season and did not require any ball guarantee or tactical status. The only requirement is the starting position.Last season, I had been wronged and sacrificed a lot. This season, I can say that I can't sacrifice anymore, so I can't convince myself.In addition, he believes that he is better than DeRozan in terms of status and statistics, and he is the orthodox No. 3 position, which is more suitable for starting with Ying Xiong.

Naturally, the management will not agree to Gay's request. In their view, DeRozan's previous statistics are not as good as Gay's, but he is younger. Although the 3-pointer is not very good, he is improving every year.He has the potential of an All-Star in the future, not to mention that he is still a high-ranking rookie selected by the Raptors. He has been trained by himself, so he is considered a "son".On the other hand, Guy doesn't dare to say that his peak has passed, but his potential is already very small.As a management, it is natural to consider the future of the team.

In addition, DeRozan signed a four-year contract worth $10 million with the team in October last year. The team naturally hopes to vigorously train him. If he plays well, the team will earn money.And Gay's big contract expires in the summer of 4. If he plays well next summer and jumps out of the contract, it will be difficult for the team to provide him with a bigger contract than his current contract.

Gay is the kind of player whose absolute strength is not enough to be a superstar, but who is better than ordinary role players. If you give him a big contract for this type of player, he will pay a premium, and you will feel distressed, but if you give him a small contract, he will If you are not satisfied, you may leave, and the team may not get anything.

Of course, in addition to these, DeRozan is low-key and humble, plays hard, and has a good personality. This is what the management prefers.

The Raptors management does not want to destroy the team's hard-won chemical reaction and team atmosphere, so it has been persuading Gay to let him stop obsessing over the starting position and let him focus on the game.They even promised him no less playing time than DeRozan, and they also promised to make him the core of the second team.

But Gay just won't budge, he seems to want the starting position, and nothing else will be discussed.Neither side made concessions, so the conversation continued.

And here, the Raptors also affected their regular season record because of the emotions of their internal players. After they narrowly beat the Bucks in an away game on November 11, they lost consecutively to the Heat in the next three games The team, the Bobcats and the Pacers ushered in a 3-game losing streak, with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses, ranking outside the 2th place in the Eastern Conference.

The defending champion's record at the start immediately aroused strong media attention. Many reporters rushed here like a cat smelling fish to find out.

Even though the Raptors have done a good job of keeping secrets, some reporters still saw clues. They believed that there were conflicts among the defending champion players, and internal strife made this team, which was not plagued by injuries, far less effective than before. It's season.

The players of the Raptors already knew that Gay asked for a starting position. Ying Xiong also approached Gay in private, but he still couldn't convince him.

Gay told Ying Xiong that he has no opinion on any teammates, he just wants to get the respect he deserves, if the team refuses to make concessions, then he can only apply for a trade.

Ying Xiong is also very helpless, Gay belongs to the type of "I have made sacrifices and concessions for the championship, now that the championship is won, why should I continue to sacrifice".

For such a situation, even a player like Ying Xiong who is quite eloquent and has quite a status in the league can't do anything.Is it to persuade Gay to give up starting?Give up fighting for your rights?This is not the same as persuading a person to give up his own interests. This is too difficult, and it is simply a dead end.

(End of this chapter)