the rest, only noise

Chapter 1501 Summer Melancholy

On September 2002, 9, the Boston Celtics' preseason training camp started in a low-key manner at the Waltham training base.

Yao Yueban reported to the training camp on time.

He had a fulfilling but confusing summer.

The reason for the enrichment is that after a whole year, it can be said that there is no personal time at all.

After the NBA season ended, he returned to the national team to report.

This summer is the year of the World Championships. As the champion of the Sydney Olympic Games, the Chinese team is the favourite.

The Chinese team, which has won the Olympic championship, naturally also wants to compete for the world championship.

But Yao Yueban discovered that the national team had changed since Louis' term ended.

The most intuitive manifestation is that the strength-oriented recruiting method during Louis' tenure has become a common large-list system in China.

What is the big list system?That is, the head coach doesn't care about the list of players for the national training team. The Basketball Association decides who to recruit for the national team training. Finally, a list of 20 players is selected for selection, and then they are eliminated.

In fact, the Louis era also had a big list system, but the big list in the Louis era was customized by Louis himself, and the current national team coach Del Harris does not have this right.

Aside from Wang Mukong's retirement, only Yao Yueban, Wang Zhizhi, Hu Weidong, Liu Yuqing, and Qi Chengyan are currently active players in the NBA.

Others, such as Kang Chengbiao, whose personal style is extremely controversial but powerful all-rounder, didn't even make the training list.

has a problem?The answer is that Brother Biao does not match the style of the new national team.

Louis once praised Kang Chengbiao, saying that he can match any tactical system in the world, and then he will not match the new men's basketball team.

The more Yao Yueban thinks about this matter, the more headache he gets.

Although the brothers are eager to win the championship, they are not the strongest lineup in themselves. Coupled with a few undisputable teammates who don't know how to enter the national team, in the end, this men's basketball team fell at the gate of the World Championship finals. Serbia and Montenegro, led by Bodi Loga, took revenge.

After the World Championships, there will be the Asian Games. Yao Yueban did not participate in this competition, because there is no need for it, and the domestic group is enough to keep the championship.

As a result, the most oolong thing happened.

The Basketball Association, which thought that the gold medal in the Asian Games was an honor that can be easily obtained, actually formed a domestic team without the experience of NBA players.

You know, in this era, it is ten times more difficult for the men's basketball team to form a national team without NBA experience than to form a national team with all NBA experience.

But they made it anyway.

This group of domestic athletes who are holding the Olympic champions may be stronger than the Asian heroes, but if they want to win the away game, there is no sure championship without the strength to beat their opponents by more than 15 points.

The men's basketball team encountered the biggest Waterloo in history in Busan, and was defeated by the Korean with an 8-on-5 advantage, finishing second.

Back in Boston, Yao Yueban decided to empty his mind and not think about those heart-warming things.

Today is the first day of the training camp, and he was about to practice casually when he suddenly saw President Lu walking into the training center in casual clothes.

"Hey, Xiao Yao, are you here so early?" Lu Yi is very good at picking which pot to turn on, "Is the national team's game over?"

Yao Yueban showed a smile uglier than crying: "Director Lu, when will you return to the national team?"

"Go back?" Louis smiled lightly, "Why should I go back?"

"Since you left the team, the national team has become weird."

"Oh" Louis said casually, "Xiao Yao, have you ever thought that what happened to me in the national team in those few years was just a coincidence? Monsters are the norm, no matter where they are, look at the United States. Didn't the team gather the national elites and get humiliated at the World Championships?"

Now, Yao Yueban knew that it was impossible for him to return to the national team for his longing for Director Lu.

That's right, he doesn't even bother coaching NBA teams now.

"Xiao Yao, have you had any special technical training this summer?" Louis seemed to just ask casually.

Yao Yue said with difficulty: "I really want to do special training, but I don't have time. The national team has competition tasks."

"You don't need to report to the national team next year. I'll talk to Director Li." Louis said, "It's just an Asian championship, and you should be able to win it without you. You need to pay close attention to your special training."

What Yao Yueban wants to know is, what is he going to conduct special training on?
Seeing Yao Yue half hesitant to speak, Louis knew what he was thinking.

"Xiao Yao, do you usually feel that you can't play hard in the third and fourth quarters of the game, and the quality of defense has also declined?"

Hearing this, Yao Yueban nodded vigorously, feeling too much.

Yao Yueban believes that he only has the physical strength to play 25 minutes of high-quality games, but Thomas usually needs him to play 34 minutes, so in the second half of the game, his offensive and defensive efficiency will drop a lot.

When he heard that Chamberlain, who is said to have scored 100 points in a single game, averaged 48 minutes per game this season, he was overwhelmed with admiration.He really can't imagine that an inside line can maintain the same efficiency and play the whole game after taking into account the work of blocking, assisting defense, rotation, confrontation, and assisting defense at both ends of the offense and defense.

"With your size, it's unrealistic to improve your physical strength, so you usually try to save your physical strength." Louis said, "In the first half of the game, you can carry out some simple offensive methods, such as picking and rolling and pulling to the third. Out of line."

Yao Yue said with difficulty: "I'm not used to the three-point line in the NBA."

"Then get used to it. Your free throw percentage is so high, which shows that you have a shooting touch. I believe you can develop a stable three-pointer."

Yao Yueban said, "I will try my best."

"It's not about trying, it's for sure." Louis said, "There's nothing wrong with shooting outside. You just need to remember that this is a strategy. You save energy by shooting in the first half, and then you can focus on playing inside in the second half."

"I understand, I must practice a threatening three-pointer."

"Okay, then starting tomorrow, I'll let John Lang watch you to practice extra three-pointers."

After speaking, Louis returned to the office.

The time Yao Yueban saw him again was when the group photo was taken on the media day.

For Yao Yueban and the Celtics players, Louis is a mystery.

Everyone only knows that he is the president and Thomas' immediate boss, but they rarely see him.

In the long run, doing so will greatly help Thomas' coaching work.

Players will gradually be convinced of Thomas' authority.

Louis asked Yao Yueban to practice three-pointers, not only to let him save energy in the game, but more importantly, to lay a solid foundation for possible transformation in the future.

It is impossible for a core center to play forever. When he gets old, if his skills can't help him change his role, he will be eliminated by the NBA.

Such a tall figure is naturally a barrier to protect the basket, and the position is also very useful. If you add a three-pointer with one hand, it should not be a problem for Yao to play like Lopez in the Bucks.

Moreover, being able to shoot three-pointers at the fifth position can greatly enrich the tactical expansion.

In the afternoon, Isiah Thomas came to Louie's office and explained which system to start the new season with.

After the end of last season, Lambiel proposed three major tactical systems, Thomas likes them all, and he likes the folding tactics.

Fold zone offense is very popular in high school because it does not highlight star players and requires players to run and cover constantly, and the route designed by this tactic is very easy to form a memory point in the mind.This kind of memory point can be regarded as the inertia of tactical running, just like the muscle memory of shooting.

The play begins with the point guard dribbling toward one side of the court, the weak-side player on the baseline setting a lateral cross screen for a teammate, and if there is an open pass opportunity, pass the ball for the basket.If not, the player in the high position makes a down screen for the teammate, that is, the screener makes a screen, the bottom line player uses the screen to cut up, and the player who has completed the screen turns around and looks for an opportunity to catch the ball and score.

If there is still no chance to score, the defender passes the ball to the teammate who cuts up with the screen, and continues to make horizontal and vertical screens on the other side.

To use a less mind-boggling explanation, this tactic requires players to make a lot of running, to perform horizontal and vertical screens in a continuous cycle, and to constantly create balanced scoring opportunities for teammates.

"Your idea is very good, but it is a bit evasive. Although the University of Maryland won the national championship this year with the fold offense, it is unrealistic to achieve the same results in the NBA by relying on this tactical system. This is Rick Pi. It’s something Tino can do.” Louis said irrefutably, “The flex offense and block and cut system should be trained at the same time and tested in the game at the same time.”

Thomas hesitated. "That would lead to a lot of turnovers."

"If it can be easily achieved, wouldn't everyone be able to be a head coach in the NBA?" Louie said heavily, "Go and arrange it."

(End of this chapter)