Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 220 Lucky Pizza
Jeff Bzdelik packs his bags and prepares to leave his Denver rental.

Earlier, he was preparing to have his own breakfast, while preparing to discuss plans for next season with assistant coach Michael Cooper and others.He believes that the team builds a team with Anthony as the core, and needs to match better defensive players and organizers so that Anthony can concentrate on scoring and give full play to his advantages.

But what he waited for was a call from general manager Kiki Vandeweghe. The content was very brief. The Nuggets will pay his $150 million salary next season, but he needs to find another job.

Combined with recent reports, George Karl decided to leave after the Bucks were eliminated, and the Nuggets are very interested in hiring Karl as the coach, all of which is self-evident.

Bzdelik took the Nuggets' media brochure from the shelf, turned to the page with the head coach's profile, tore it off, and put it in his briefcase. He needed to write a new resume , and this introduction might be useful.

After cleaning up, he decided to eat a pizza to adjust his mood. Two years ago, it was in a pizza shop that he received a call from Kiki Vandeweghe and became the head coach of the Nuggets. The first season was successful, and finally won Anthony, and in the second season, it increased by 26 wins and entered the playoffs.

It's a pity that George Karl's reputation is greater enough to match Vandeweghe's ambitions.

Bzdelik came to the Laca pizzeria he often goes to, where the Neapolitan pizza is very authentic, and the clerks who often watch basketball also know the gold nuggets who always wear the same suit as his hair color coach.

As soon as he sat down, his phone rang, and it was an unfamiliar number.

"Hi, I'm Jeff Bzdelik. Owner of the Denver Nuggets... oh, sorry."

"Hello, I'm Jim Buss, the vice president of the Los Angeles Lakers, in charge of team operations."

After learning the identity of the opponent, Bzdelik was very calm. Although Phil Jackson's contract expired after the end of the season, he led the team to win consecutive championships and was in a hot state. There was no reason for the Lakers to support Phil Jackson at this time. Jackson looking for a spare tire.

"Mr. Bass, you must have seen the official announcement before calling me. To some extent, this is also thanks to you. If our team can win one or two games, maybe I can stay as head coach for two more days." Bzdelik said half-jokingly.

"Coach Jeff, Kiki Vandeweghe wants to achieve some big results, but he chose the wrong person. George Karl is not the right person. Time will tell everything." Jim gave the Nuggets management the operation definition.

"I'm sorry I didn't understand what you meant, you mean..." Bzdelik was a little dazed by Jim.

"I mean, would you like to be on the Lakers coaching staff? Honestly, I think you've got a great idea defensively, and you've got Andre Miller, Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby and It is not easy to train a few colanders like Skitishvili into a Western Conference playoff team. I talked to Michael Cooper and he thinks some of your ideas are very constructive ’” Jim said what he meant.

"How could Michael... I forgot the team he played for, so the Lakers plan to hire me as... um... assistant coach?" Bzdelik reflected that Cooper was a famous Lakers background , confirmed Jim's invitation.

"Yes, both Mickey and I think you can bring great help to the team. I hope you can consider our proposal."

Compared with being a head coach, it is not a bad thing to be an assistant coach and concentrate on giving full play to one's strengths. The head coach has to bear much more pressure than an assistant coach. Once the team's record fluctuates, they will be used as scapegoats Handling, Bzdelik, who is over half a century old, needs a stable job to show his talent.

"Mr. Bass, are you still there?" Bzdelik asked after thinking for a while.

"Coach Jeff, about my proposal..."

"Maybe joining the Lakers is also a good idea. I am looking forward to fighting with your team."

Maybe the pizzeria really is the key to luck.

After finalizing the preliminary intention, Mitch Kupchak will be in charge of contract negotiations and other matters, but Jim feels that spending premium contracts on talents is better than hiring mediocre talents with cheap contracts.

Sure enough, Jim’s preemptive move paid off. According to Kupchak, the Wizards, Heat and Grizzlies all invited Bzdelik, but the Lakers offered him the best offer and gave him more authority. On Jim's preconceived invitation, in the end, Bzdelik announced that he would join the Lakers coaching staff next season.

Here Jim is busy recruiting, while the playoffs are still in full swing.

In the second round, the Lakers met the Timberwolves on a narrow road.

Under the leadership of Garnett, the Timberwolves fell in the first round every year, but just two years after Garnett left the team, the Timberwolves broke through the curse of the first round, which made the former wolf king a little embarrassed. , Garnett's big contract has become the chief culprit hindering the development of the Timberwolves.

"Please, look at the specific situation before saying this! Who were the opponents of the Timberwolves in the past few years? Spurs! Mavericks! Supersonics! Blazers! They are all Western Conference finals or championship-level teams! Losing to them is shameful Is it?" Of course Jim wanted to support his players.

I don’t know if it was the taunting of the media that aroused Garnett’s fighting spirit, or he was more enthusiastic about facing his old club. In the first game of the Western Conference semifinals, when the Lakers played against the Timberwolves at home, Garnett broke out and scored 27 points and 18 points. 6 rebound and [-] assists, completely blowing out Nesterovic.

Of course, Garnett's excellent performance is not unrelated to the wonderful performance of his inside partner Karl Malone. Facing Jermaine O'Neal, who is already among the top power forwards in the league, Malone did not fall behind at all, making 13 of 7 shots. Scored 17 points and 11 rebounds, and faintly suppressed O'Neal on the scene, limiting the opponent's scoring to 15 points.

Facing his old team, Billups also showed no mercy. He made 5 of 4 three-pointers and scored 14 points efficiently. Although Arenas scored 21 points, he took 23 shots and was very efficient. low.

As for Kobe, this game was quite satisfactory. He scored 20 points in a small test.

The inside line was exploded, and the outside line didn't take advantage of it. The Timberwolves suffered a blowout in the away game and swallowed a disastrous defeat.

(End of this chapter)