Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 97 Brokerage Firm
"I just dealt with it very well. By the way, have you ever thought about finding an agent?"

After the post-match press conference, Li Sheng came to find Brother Antetokounmpo and asked him a question.

Antetokounmpo currently handles all kinds of affairs by himself, including interviews with reporters. He also sees other people's answers by himself, and then writes them down and uses them directly when the time comes, so it seems very routine.

Just before signing the contract, he went to consult a lawyer.

According to him, it's all about saving money.

But right now he's just a rookie, and there aren't that many financial interests involved, so he can be sure.

In the future, when he becomes more and more famous and needs to get in touch with endorsements, business orders, and participate in various activities, he can't do everything by himself. Let alone whether he can, he doesn't have so much free time and energy.

Brother Antetokounmpo would hit a snake with a stick, and immediately asked Li Sheng if he had any suggestions.

Since Li Sheng came to ask this question, of course he had a suggestion, let him sign under Michael Johnson first.

Probably the previous trip to China made Michael realize that Li Sheng had more money than he thought, so not long after he came back, he resigned from Bennett's company and then devoted himself to serving Li Sheng.

Currently funded by Li Sheng, the framework of a brokerage company was first set up. Michael was not here before to do this. Anyway, Li Sheng can't use him here for the time being.

And after the company's affairs were done, Michael came back and quickly aimed at Brother Antetokounmpo. After all, it seemed too shabby for Li Sheng to be the only one in the company.

It just so happens that Brother Antetokounmpo doesn't have his own agent yet, and because he has just emerged, although someone may have contacted him, those big-name brokerage companies have not noticed him yet.

With Li Sheng's relationship, they naturally have an advantage, but it still depends on Antetokounmpo's opinion.

Brother Antetokounmpo probably has more trust in Li Sheng, the coach who selected him, on the one hand, and on the other hand, he has no idea, at least he doesn't think about where he can go in the future.

So after thinking about it for a while, I agreed first.

If there are changes in the future, he can still change people, and he has not signed a lifetime contract. As long as he plays his own value, he will not suffer no matter whether he stays or leaves.

In the final analysis, the NBA speaks on strength. If you have strength, the team and capital will support you and accommodate you. If you don't have strength, it will be considered as inflated, and there will be times when the bubble bursts.

But Li Sheng naturally told Michael not to rush to help Antetokounmpo accept the endorsement contract, at least wait until after half a season.

At that time, his performance will be at least the first among rookies, and his exposure in the Thunder will not be bad, so even if it is a hook, he should be given a good treatment.

Then sign a small contract for two or three years first, and then make it to the All-Stars, and if your performance gets better, you can sign another contract.

Of course, these business matters are just an episode for Li Sheng. Regardless of Michael targeting Gobert and the others, Li Sheng will let him handle it by himself, and his main task now is to stabilize the team's record.

After experiencing the first battle with the Suns, Li Sheng improved some of Antetokounmpo and Gobert's offensive roles in the training game, emphasizing their task of connecting the team.

At present, the Thunder's biggest killer must still be KD, and how to maximize his role requires other players to cooperate with him more.

Therefore, the use of offensive tactics such as KD and Ibaka's pick-and-roll, Eagles offense, and Spanish pick-and-roll, using the passing ability of Antetokounmpo and Gobert, the team's tactics have gradually become more complicated.

Of course, the requirements for players will become higher and higher. For example, Reggie and Lamb can't play this, or they will forget when they play.

It must be said that some players are naturally not good at fine tactics, just like Oubre in the Warriors in the future, he played a "Thor collision zone", and it took more than half of the season to be able to integrate into the team's tactical system. The result was injured again.

Then after he left, the team won the championship again...

Of course, there are also those like Durant who don’t need to be fully integrated and can directly and seamlessly connect various systems. They just need him to clarify his tasks. Even if he is the core or the protagonist, don’t just steal the show at will, and don’t do things that you are not good at.

Of course, fortunately, now that Westbrook is not here, Durant must also add a part of the ball-holding scene. Li Sheng just transferred some tasks that originally belonged to Westbrook to Antetokounmpo and the others, so as to reduce the situation where Reggie's chaos affects the team.

The current use of Reggie will gradually become the use of Westbrook in the future, but the proportion of ball possession will definitely increase. After all, the team still needs his breakthrough, and it is impossible to self-block the most lethal thing.

But even for Westbrook, he still needs to appropriately reduce his forced breakthroughs and increase some shots-at least when he has a chance to shoot, he has to choose to shoot decisively.

Of course, this is also for his future considerations. Li Sheng doesn't want him to face the situation where he averages a timer per game and is criticized by the fans and even overthrows his achievements in his youth.

Not to mention Durant, although his dribbling is good, but his ball protection actually has obvious weaknesses. As the game progresses, this weakness will become more obvious and easy to be targeted by opponents.

It is better to let him continue to "single with a stick". With his height and style of play, as long as he is careful not to be assisted in defense or double-teamed, it is difficult to interfere with his shots.

Li Sheng has always felt that Durant was not smart enough to play, and the Thunder played too simply. If you look at the playoffs between the Thunder and the Warriors, you can find that the style gap between the two teams is too great.

The strength of the Heat and James Way is that they can work together to dominate both offense and defense. At their peak, a few minutes of extreme offense and defense can often end the battle. The Thunder, or Dewey can't do this, so they need to rely on teammates to make up for it.

Now Antetokounmpo can hold the ball, and Ennis can hold the ball for a few minutes. They are much more stable than Reggie or even Westbrook.

Li Sheng still has to consider whether to continue to strengthen Antetokounmpo's offense with the ball in the future, for example, to set a template for him.

But for now, let's see if he can make a breakthrough in the game, after all, he also trained himself in the previous life.

……

The next game was at home, and the Thunder's opponent became the Mavericks, who later became the Mavericks.

Of course, regardless of the Mavericks or the Lone Ranger, this is a change in the Chinese translation. In fact, their team name has not changed, or they can be called "Dallas Cowboys".

In 11, the Mavericks swept the Thunder in the Western Conference finals, reached the finals and "revenged" the Heat, winning the only single-core championship in recent years.

But in the following year, because there were too many veterans in the team, Cuban directly dismantled the championship lineup. After that, he spent two failed seasons, and his performance was not good.

The Mavericks also have some personnel transfers in the new season, but they still don't seem to be competitive enough.

It's not that Cuban wants to be bad, it's that he's not good at operations, and he's done a lot of money-losing business.

This loss-making business has done too much, and the contract has been locked up. If you want to adjust the lineup, it is not something you can do if you think about it.

Of course, the most important thing is that the driver is also a veteran. I am afraid it will be difficult to have another 11 years of magic, and it will become more and more difficult to compete for the championship with him as the core.

The past performance of the Mavericks also makes them less attractive to free agents. If they fail to find a good helper, how can they hope for good results?
But the Mavericks have an amazing coach Carlisle, another famous coach that Li Sheng met.

(End of this chapter)