start with scouting

Chapter 76
On the night when the best coach in the league was awarded, when the Trail Blazers beat the Spurs, Su Yang got an opportunity to attend the post-match press conference as an assistant coach, which is unique in the entire history of the NBA.

Hearing what McMillan said, he was a little surprised, and then nodded in agreement.

Whether it is a tacit understanding or a support, anyway, he is happy to be praised by the entire coaching staff.

After celebrating with the players, he walked back to the locker room, washed his face with water in a hurry, and used Webster's gel cream to style his hair a little bit, looking like a spirited guy, then ran to the media room, took a deep breath and prepared.

The embarrassing thing is that the staff responsible for reporting the scene was not ready yet, and he was not notified that he was attending the press conference, because McMillan was being interviewed by a local TV station in Portland, and he would have to wait a while according to common sense.

Su Yang didn't hesitate, he calmed down and went straight to the stage, sat down and raised his hand to signal the start of the interview.

Perhaps it was because Portland did not receive much attention from the media, and there were only a dozen or so reporters attending the press conference. But even then, there were no staff members to help shout their names.

Seeing this situation, Su Yang raised his finger to the reporter on the Blazers official website: "Casey, you should ask first."

Casey nodded: "OK, let me ask everyone the most concerned question first, that is, from the beginning of the game to the end of the third quarter, the team has been double-teaming Tim Duncan, even though the Spurs hit 6 three-pointers in the first quarter, why did they do that? ?”

Hearing the words, Su Yang thought about it for a while, and at the same time, he opened the statistics form of the audience on the table, and took a quick glance.

Statistics show that Duncan played 41 minutes, made 9 of 1 shots in total, scored 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Compared with the amazing data in the first round, it seems like the MVP has regressed to the water fountain level and suddenly can’t play. .

"We have learned a lot from past games, especially the 20-point win by the Spurs at the beginning of the season, which made us realize that defending Tim Duncan alone is a very risky strategy, so before this round of games, our coach The team tried their best to study the game video. Monty first proposed to double-team Duncan. After discussion, we thought we could try.

In addition to the coaching staff, the scouting department also provided great help. You may not know that after the third quarter, I asked Bob to temporarily check the game video.In short, double-teaming Tim Duncan is our decision after working together.

As it turned out, that was very correct and even became the key to our victory. "

What Su Yang said is not all the truth, for example, Monty wanted to change his strategy midway.He didn't want to shout that he was important, and he planned to have some reservations about the media. After all, it was enough for some things to be clear internally, and there was no need for the media to guess.

Casey nodded to express understanding, Su Yang raised his finger to the female reporter again: "Maggio, you can ask."

Maggio smiled and said: "The team had an 8-0 advantage in the opening game, but was quickly tied or even overtaken by the Spurs. That situation continued until the third quarter with a big counterattack. How did you manage to be patient for a long time?"

Su Yang replied without hesitation: "Experience! It is experience that helps us maintain patience. During intermissions and intermissions, Monty shared with the players his experience playing in the Spurs and how the Spurs dealt with similar situations.

Nate also shared his rich experience in the playoffs to help the players predict those situations.

I also used my own observations to emphasize to the players that the Spurs consume more than us and need to continue to persevere.

The team members are also encouraging each other. In short, we worked hard until we launched a counterattack. "

After the words fell, Maggio responded with a smile, but it didn't seem to be because of how good the answer was.

Su Yang also smiled, and then raised his finger to a white man who was biased: "Heard, it's your turn to ask questions."

Hurd was obviously a little surprised, and hurriedly asked: "How did you maintain the leading momentum in the second half?"

Su Yang shrugged slightly: "To be honest, we just played normally, but the Spurs don't know why, the number of turnovers is more than before, and the speed of basketball transfer is slightly slower than before. We seized the opportunity, that's all."

"It's that simple?" Hurd asked back, "Don't tell me you let Roy control the rhythm?"

Su Yang waved his hand: "There is nothing to say, anyway, you are doing analysis at Warner, if you are interested, find the video yourself."

Hurd smiled and spread his hands, and Su Yang pointed to the ESPN female reporter: "Irene, do you want to ask?"

Erin sat up straight when she heard the words: "Why did you yell at the end of the game for Brandon Roy to play singles?"

"Some psychological tricks..."

Su Yang said with a smile: "At that time we were exhausted, but I believe that Brandon still has energy, because he helped the team more through passing and defense in the first three quarters. He double-teamed Tim Duncan crazily. attack.

I wanted to encourage him to finish the game, and as you can see, he did, he played like an MVP. "

Same as the previous answer, Su Yang also only said part of the reason. It was true to encourage Roy, but the Spurs' serious lack of physical strength was also an important reason. At that time, Duncan had given up close-fitting blocks in the face of a breakthrough, and it was the best choice to use cover to force a breakthrough.

"The last question is for the friends of the Seattle Times. What is your name? I don't know your name yet." Su Yang raised his finger to a middle-aged male reporter with glasses, intending to leave a picture for more interviews in the future.

"Just call me Nelson..."

The male reporter with glasses paused for a moment: "How do you evaluate the working relationship with Nate McMillan? Some people say that this year's best coach should actually be awarded to you. They think that Nate McMillan is a free cake."

After Nelson finished speaking, he stared straight at Su Yang, and other reporters also showed curiosity.

The question is sensitive, even embarrassing, and intuitively has to be answered with care.

"You don't have to answer, this is an unplanned topic." The staff reminded me aloud.

Su Yang chuckled, and said calmly: "Nate and I have a division of labor and cooperation.

He did a lot of work in the first two seasons, allowing players such as Jack and Outlaw to establish tactical awareness and training them to improve their strength. Later, he allowed players such as Roy to grow rapidly, which can be regarded as laying a solid foundation for the Blazers.

And based on the foundation he established, I came up with many ideas to make the players perform better.

He still has a lot of experience from the game, such as sharing with the players how to adjust their mentality during the halftime break.Those are things that I don't have, he must have done better than me, it's just hard for you to see or hear.

I did do some of the things that a head coach does, and that's where Nate was smart as a leader. He allowed me to give full play to my individual talents and also let our entire coaching staff fully cooperate. It was difficult to coordinate.

Nate is also responsible for communicating with the management, and also bears the risk of public opinion. After all, he will be scolded for his poor record.

Therefore, I do not agree that the best coach should be awarded to me.If I have to be involved, it should also be awarded to the scouting team headed by Bob and the training team headed by Geoff. Our work is very important and deserves to be praised. "

After the words fell, applause broke out, the press conference was declared over, and Su Yang returned to the locker room.

In the early morning of the next day, ESPN and other media pushed news, which rarely mentioned Su Yang in large numbers.

"The reporters who participated in the interview last night were quite surprised. Su Yang actually knew their names, as well as their work units and general responsibilities. That kind of thing is often done by public relations personnel, which makes the reporters feel valued."

"According to anonymous sources, many team managers and owners in the league appreciated Su Yang's interview last night. They were worried that Su Yang's flamboyant personality would be too self-praising, but Su Yang repeatedly mentioned the team, which made managers and The bosses believe that Su Yang, as the head coach, can lead a team well and handle the relationship with the media well."

"The news revealed that there are two teams in the West that are planning to let Su Yang be the head coach instead of the chief assistant. Now the only concern of those two teams is that it is difficult for Su Yang to train young players from scratch because he lacks experience."
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Ask for a ticket!

(End of this chapter)