basketball player

Chapter 261 259: The best coach in the preseason?
In the past few seasons, in the summer league, fans can get a glimpse of the status of several Pacers players this season.

But since the Pacers did not participate in the draft this season, they are not too concerned about the summer league.So the time to spy on the status of the defending champion was postponed to the preseason game in early October.

At this time, there were no absentees in the Banker Life Arena. Although it was only a preseason game, since becoming the defending champion, the Pacers' commercial appeal has increased significantly.

In the preseason games of the seasons led by Jim O'Brien, Pritchard sold tickets at half price, and the arena was full.But this year, the Pacers sell tickets at normal prices, and fans are willing to buy them.

Therefore, the essence of competitive sports is victory.As long as there is victory, everything else is there.

Today, the Pacers' first opponent in the preseason is not strong, but the Orlando Magic after losing Howard.

Although Howard left the team through a complicated four-party transaction, the Magic did not actually get any good bargaining chips.

The Magic got Aaron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, and the 76ers' first-round pick Mo Harkless, and got a protected future first-round pick from each of the three teams from the Lakers, 76ers, and Nuggets, and got a second-round pick from the Nuggets.

Just such a pile of chips is enough to turn the Magic from a championship contending team to a rebuilding team!Henson couldn't even believe that the Orlando Magic only played the Finals with the Lakers in 2009, but now only three years later, the Magic has become like this bear.

The world of the NBA is so changeable, and Henson is sometimes afraid that the "building" he built with his own hands will collapse overnight.

There is no suspense in such a matchup between the defending champions and the rebuilding team.Throughout the game, Henson's butt never left the bench.This guy also whispers and chats with the players from time to time.The task of directing the game was given full authority to Vogel and Stevens.

The two assistant coaches took over all of Henson's work, and Henson's mission today seemed to be to meet the fans.
In the end, Vogel's defense combined with Stevens' offense, as well as Paul George's 26 points and Ray Allen's 18 points, allowed the Pacers to easily win their first preseason victory.

"It seems that the defending champions are still in a hot state! Although the Pacers did not undergo a large-scale lineup transformation this summer, I don't think they have lost their competitiveness!" Reggie Miller smiled on the commentary stand. Just two days ago, ESPN made a ranking of "teams most likely to win the championship in the new season". As the defending champions, the Pacers only ranked third, with the Lakers and Heat ahead.

It seems that the "gentleness" of the Pacers this summer has made ESPN forget how terrible Henson's army is.I hope this preseason game can wake everyone up from their illusions.

After the game, a reporter found Henson on the sidelines and asked him how to evaluate the coaching of Stevens and Vogel.

"They are fully capable of becoming their own head coach. In fact, I am just in charge of playing tricks. The head coach of the Pacers has always been someone else on the coaching staff." Henson spread his hands, as if he was not surprised by the performance of Vogel and Stevens.

"One of the most frightening things is that Coach Henson is cultivating his own descendants." After the game, some journalists with good vision saw the other side of the matter.

Look at the coaching staff members of the entire league, whether it is head coach, assistant coach or other positions, the Spurs coaches and Popovich's direct descendants account for almost half of the country!Why are the Spurs so strong?This is inseparable from their superior coaching staff.

Now, Henson has undoubtedly developed his own "clique".The more capable his assistant is, the more capable the Pacers will be!And when the members of a coaching staff are candidates for the head coach, then his ability to control the team will be unprecedentedly great!
So in the second game of the preseason, everyone found that Henson had disappeared at all!Vogel and Stevens became veritable head coaches, but under their leadership, the Pacers still won.

The Pacers won 5 of the 4 games in the preseason! T.NT even conducted a fan poll, and Vogel and Stevens became the best coaches in the preseason!
And Henson, he only commanded the last game of the preseason, the game between the Pacers and the Bucks, and he lost!

As a result, some outsiders began to question Henson's coaching ability.

"The two assistant coaches have better team leadership results than Henson, so the Pacers really kept Henson just to play tricks?"

"Henson Joe is a half-baked guy. He was able to succeed because his assistants are too powerful!"

"Coach Henson Joe's arrogant attitude will make him pay the price in the real game!"

Seeing some abuse from the media about him, Henson smiled.My assistant is too powerful, which is a good thing!Why do those reporters just think that they are facing a catastrophe?
As for the loss to the Bucks, Henson was just experimenting with the lineup, not aiming at winning at all.It's as if the defending champion would be honored to win against a team like the Bucks whose biggest goal is the playoffs.

Therefore, Henson didn't have time to get angry because of the comments from the outside world. Today he called Ray Allen into his office. The Chinese-American coach still has business to do.

"I can accept coming off the bench. As long as the playing time is guaranteed, it doesn't matter whether it's a substitute or a starter." Ray Allen originally thought that it was a very important matter for a coach who was younger than him to find him. Little did he know, Henson just wanted to confirm whether Ray Allen was willing to accept the role of a substitute in the new season.

You know, Ray Allen played as a substitute for the young player Bradley in the Celtics last season.And this experience made Ray Allen feel humiliated, and it was also one of the triggers for his complete break with the Celtics.He couldn't bear that being one of the giants, his tactical status in the team was so low, not as good as a rookie!Sometimes, Rondo even deliberately refused to pass the ball to Ray Allen!

So when negotiating with the Pacers this year, Ray Allen made two points clear.First, he must have a stable playing time, he is not willing to mix rings on the bench.Second, there must be a tactical position, instead of following young people up and down.

For a former superstar player like Ray Allen, these two points are his most basic bottom line, and they are also indicators for him to verify whether a team respects him.

Henson agreed to these two requests at the time. After all, he didn't sign Ray Allen to make him wave the towel.It's just that neither side made it clear at the time whether Ray Allen needed a starting position.

George's starting lineup is definitely unshakable, and Green and Leonard must occupy a starting third position.Therefore, it is almost impossible for Ray Allen to squeeze into the starting lineup in the Pacers.

In order to eliminate misunderstandings and avoid the Celtics-like locker room contradictions from appearing on him, Henson called the veteran shooter.But Ray Allen's attitude was unexpectedly gentle.

"Well, I just want to make sure of that. You know, I have to make sure that all of us are happy with where we are. Otherwise, we can't win."

Henson smiled. At this point, he undoubtedly handled it much better than Rivers.

To be precise, Rivers was also Angie's man last season, so he directly put Ray Allen on the bench without getting a "vaccination".When Ray Allen was in trouble, Rivers never stepped forward to help him.Now that Henson can talk to Ray Allen very formally about this matter, Ray Allen is very happy.

The reason is simple, he felt the respect he hadn't received for a long time in the Celtics!
"Don't worry, Henson, uh. Boss." Ray Allen hesitated for a while, and called Henson "Boss", even though he was older than Henson.

In private, Ray Allen can call Henson whatever he wants.But he is very clear that in the team, he also has to respect the head coach.

You see, sometimes, if you respect others, you can really easily win the respect of others.

"I'm a little worried. Are you really ready for the first game of the new season? The media has been full of insults about you recently." Ray Allen frowned. If Rivers had been scolded like this, he would probably have gone crazy.

The same question, at the press conference the day before the official start of the new season, the reporter also asked Henson this question, but Henson's answer at the press conference made Ray Allen smile knowingly.

"The situation is different now. Even my assistant is the best coach. Are you still worried that I can't win?"

(End of this chapter)