the rest, only noise

Chapter 664 Before Ewing Returns
"Coach Lu, what do you think of Sean Kemp?"

The only New York Times writer with whom Louie was in good touch was Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Anderson, who posed the question to Louie at Media Day.

If it were someone else, Louis would not bother to answer.

"Although he is 19 years old, in essence, you can still treat him as a child. His talent is very good, but his mentality is still relatively fragile, just like a child, it is not easy to adapt to the atmosphere of the Knicks team, but compared to the first day of training camp, he has grown a lot now."

Kemp is not timid in the face of numerous media.

He showed off his domineering dunks, posed various poses, and took many photos.

Ewing's injury concerns people's hearts, but the depth of the Knicks' lineup is strong enough to wait for his comeback with peace of mind.

Sam Bowie quipped to reporters: "I thought it was impossible to start in New York, now look. Hehe."

On the media day, the Knicks showed a more relaxed side to the outside world.

They took a group photo on the Blue Palace's pitch.

Ewing still dragged his injured leg to take the photo. This guy, being injured doesn't stop him from asking the photographer to take a set of photo albums.

Training camp continued, Ewing is not in, Wilson assumed the task of the former.

Push teammates like Ewing.

Kemp's life is a little easier, because Ewing is the one who has the strictest demands on him among all the old players.

Willis Reed was the same old man, treating him like a training machine.

"Please, let me rest for a while!"

After Ewing left, Kemp begged for mercy more often.

But this time it was Wilson's turn to discipline him: "Sean, if you don't want to be scolded, train hard."

Kemp believes that Wilson is the only good big brother in the team who treats him sincerely and obeys him.

But Reid's rough special training will never reduce the intensity because of Kemp's plea for forgiveness.

Louis saw that he was being trained around like a dog, and he was quite pitiful.

Another rookie, Doug West, was equally miserable. He had very little training with the ball and a lot of training without the ball.

Proportionally, he works with/without the ball at a ratio of 1 to 9.

Ninety percent of training is off the ball.

Any player with such a disproportionate amount of training will experience a regression in skill and confusion in muscle memory.

Fortunately, West's technique is not considered good in the first place, and it doesn't matter whether it degenerates or not.

His physicality ensures that he will be a sharp knife when countering.

The focus on developing his defense is to make him a functional player like Alex Stevens.

West's life was not as difficult as Kemp's, mainly tired and boring.

Needless to say, he was tired and boring, and he ran through his one-month training camp life.

Because this is training without the ball, there is no fun, only the same training content repeated.

The purpose of training is only to master and improve, and no one can find pleasure in it.

Recognize your goals and know what you want in order to stick to it.

West wanted to give up many times, but his head trainer and assistant coach Zhao Yuanzheng told him: "From our personnel reserves, this is the only way you can play in the team in the next few years."

West knew that Zhao Yuanzheng was an assistant coach that Louis relied heavily on, and at the same time he was the maker of the game plan.

If Zhao Yuanzheng said that he needed this to play the ball, then this must be the only way.

He had nothing to say, just put his head down and worked hard.

Another new aid, Reggie Williams, who is at the same level as Miller, was injured in the team match like his seniors.

When Williams was in Georgetown, Louis concluded that he would be selected as a lottery pick in the future.Unexpectedly, in the 1987 draft, the Warriors selected him with the second pick, and then it took only two years to confirm that he was not a talent to make, and gave up decisively.

Because Williams was too glassy, ​​he played less than 30 games in two years with the Warriors.

However, he has performed well in the limited number of games played, especially the defense is very good.

This is why Louie chose to sign him.

At that time, not only the Knicks wanted him, but many teams wanted him, but Williams came to New York with all his heart to join his seniors, and now he is on the DNP list with Mr. You.

Even with the injury, Louie shined with his performance in training camp.

In addition to defense, his offense is also very good.

Able to shoot, beautiful shot posture, and has a three-point range, organizational skills, and ability to hold the ball. It can be said that he can do everything, and he can do everything well.

He was supposed to be an Iguodala-style all-around wing that sells defense, but injuries stopped him.

This kind of talented but injury-ridden player, if he can play as a substitute with peace of mind, will be an important supplement to a strong team and can also prolong his career.

Another new aid, Sam Bowie, was in good spirits after Ewing was injured.

He's ready to take on starting duties during Ewing's injury.

Louis looked around, and the most tired one was Kemp.

Every afternoon at [-] p.m., when everyone was ready to rest after practice, Reed would point to the weight room.

That means, continue to practice.

Then Kemp would act like he was drained, walking to the weight room with his hands hanging limp.

"Willis, even a Texas mule doesn't make such a fuss, does it?"

A hard-hearted Louis can't bear it anymore.

Reid laughed, "You let Sean make his own decisions."

"Pin Xiao," Louis turned into a mother fan and prepared to protect Kemp, "You can choose to leave with me, or you can choose to stay here with Willis for more training."

Desperate to deepen his relationship with Louie, Kemp sneaks a look at Reed.

Compared with Louis, the head coach who holds power but does not care about training, Reed, the assistant coach who is mainly responsible for training him on weekdays, is the immediate boss who directly manages him.

The thought of being lazy was instantly stifled.

"No, I'm young, I'm staying and training," Kemp said, "Thank you for your kindness, coach, I really don't need it."

Wow, did he work so hard?Louis almost cried to death, why did he have such a big prejudice against Kemp before?

Louie said helplessly to Reed: "For God's sake, be nice to that kid."

Training camp ends in early October.

After only two days of rest, the Knicks headed to Las Vegas to play the preseason game.

The NBA has been expanding the reach of the league.

Every season, there will be strong teams coming to Las Vegas to play preseason games.

Usually the defending champions or strong championship teams come to represent the league.

The first game of the preseason, against the Houston Rockets.

Ewing was recuperating, so Louie tried as many combinations as possible.

For example, let John Sely and McHale partner inside.

This combination has more than enough defense, insufficient rebounds, and poor offensive creativity.

In the first game against the Rockets, the opponent obviously regarded the game as a real game.

Olajuwon played 39 minutes, scored 32 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks, leading the team to victory over the Knicks.

In the next game, Louis simply started without a center.

The five starters are Stockton, Miller, Wilson, Rodman, and McHale.

They swept Washington's bullets, whose blood suppression power had failed.

This game gave Louie confidence.

It fully shows that when encountering this kind of team without a strong center, it doesn't matter whether they have a center or not, they can completely crush them with athletic ability.

In the third preseason game, the opponent was the Milwaukee Bucks.

Louis made McHale a substitute for the first time, Salley served as the center position, and the other four points remained unchanged.

The result was another big win.

According to the control variable method, can it be concluded that McHale is not important?
Louis didn't think so, because the Bucks didn't want to win at all. They practiced marginal players all the way, and the main players played for less than 20 minutes on average.

In Game [-], against the upstart Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference, Louie had mixed feelings.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this Heat team was built by him remotely.

In just two years, they had a wonderful book lineup: Willie Anderson, Brian Shaw, Vernon Maxwell, Cheeks, Petrovic, Hank Gaithers, BJ Armstrong.

What are the shortcomings of this lineup?
Louie looks and looks, that is, he lacks depth in the interior and has good players in other positions.

The most powerful No. 24 pick, Hank Geithers, averaged 9 points, 4 rebounds and [-] assists in the previous preseason games. His heart problem was obviously controlled after the Heat specially asked a doctor to use specific drugs.

In this battle, neither the Knicks nor the Heat are good centers.

Louie's first attempt at starting Sam Bowie, paired with McHale, gave the Knicks some unexpected benefits.

After really coaching Bowie, Louis can understand the obsession of Jack Ramsey and Stu Inman to him.

To some extent, Bowie and Walton have similarities.

When he's healthy, he's an all-around big man who can shoot from deep, post up, protect the rim and rebound, and even have the quickness to join a fast break that Walton doesn't have.

That's exactly what he showed in this game.

His influence in the paint made it difficult for Gaithers.

Gaethes was blocked from hitting the basket several times. With the body whistle given by the referee and a half-block, he scored 19 points and 12 rebounds.

But Bowie seems to know that this game is Louie's inspection of him. If he plays well, he may be able to secure the starting position before Ewing returns.

He doesn't value status in the team because he knows there is Ewing in the team.

If Ewing is not there, of course he will try to start.

Who is not a proud son of heaven? No one really wants to sit on the bench all the time unless there is a good and necessary reason.

17分10篮板5助攻和4盖帽，鲍维在29分钟里拿到了这个数据，带领尼克斯以24分的优势大胜热火。

Facing the reporter's interview, Bowie expressed his heart even more bluntly: "I want to hold the New York paint area before Patrick returns!"

(End of this chapter)