vertical and horizontal point guard

Chapter 41 Timberwolves Inside
Chapter 41 Timberwolves Insider

McHale's office does not have too many luxurious decorations, it is simple and clean inside.

As a coach transformed from the player era, McHale has always maintained the self-discipline of the players. On his desk, you can see the neatly arranged team planning reports.

"What would you like to drink, coffee or tea?" McHale asked back.

"Tea, thank you!"

Li Shihao reached out to take the tea made by McHale, staring at McHale through the steaming mist, wanting to see what the head coach who had high hopes for him would have to say.

"Look at this report!" McHale threw a document report to Li Shihao, and drank coffee quietly by himself.

This is a report on players, and the object of the above investigation is none other than Marc Gasol, a young center from Spain who is about to come to the team.

Marc Gasol was originally selected by the Lakers in the second round. The young Spanish center was not reused by the Los Angeles Lakers and was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in a trade shortly afterwards.

In that transaction, he swapped clubs with his All-Star brother and came to distant Memphis, where he did not enjoy the popularity and support of his brother, but instead received hostility and insults from the fans.

It was just like this that the MVP of the Spanish League was aroused into anger. He is not a coward, and what his brother can do, he can do the same!
His performance in his rookie season was astonishing, averaging 11 points and 9 rebounds per game, which attracted him a lot of attention and won the hearts of some rational fans. His value is far more than a simple second-round pick!
This player report describes in detail Marc Gasol's playing style, technical characteristics, and even subtle offensive and defensive habits on the court, etc. The final evaluation of Marc Gasol in this detailed player report is:

"The future All-Star center! He may even become the best center in the league!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Li Shihao's eyes. This evaluation is not low. The best center in the league. Now that the dominance of Warcraft Howard is becoming stronger and stronger. If you want to get the best center in the league in his hands, will this judgment be too much? Impractical!
He turned to the last page of the player's report, but the signature over there shocked him suddenly.

"McHale!"

He raised his head and glanced at the head coach who was silently drinking coffee in disbelief. The writer of this player report was actually inspected by head coach McHale himself!
He read through the player report again, and he found that Marc Gasol's technical characteristics are not outstanding, but very comprehensive, but this does not mean that he can become an All-Star!
After a long silence, Li Shihao asked in a deep voice, "Mike, are you optimistic about Marc Gasol?"

McHale nodded, pondered for a while, and said: "Bruce, you know, I was a power forward in the player era, and I also had an outstanding career. Those inside players have a sharper ability to judge, and I can see that Marc Gasol has great potential and will be one of your indispensable helpers in the future."

The words were very sincere. Since McHale chose Li Shihao as the core of the team, he naturally gave Li Shihao great trust and respect.

"Indeed, your vision on inside players is extremely prescient, but after Mark comes to the team, can he fill in the gap of Al perfectly? You know, our team's offensive and defensive system has just Established, and now suddenly losing an All-Star player, I'm afraid it will have a huge impact."

"I have also considered this point, but Bruce, you are wrong about one thing! Marc Gasol will be more suitable for our team system than Al!"

McHale shook his head, denying Li Shihao's idea in his words.

"Al's offense is really good. His low-post attack has always been a great help for the team on the offensive end, but his defense has always been problematic. He is not tall enough. After moving him to the center position this season, he His performance will be greatly reduced, and he often cannot guard against the center player."

Li Shihao is silent, this is not wrong. When facing the Trail Blazers, Al faced up to Oden, and it can be said that he struggled a bit. Facing King Oden, who is much taller than himself, Al was frequently exploded and became The team's huge loopholes on the defensive end, while facing the defensive center Oden on the offensive end, his offensive efficiency is not very high, and he often needs Love's support.

If the team hadn't changed their offensive tactics in that game, maybe their duel with the Blazers would have ended in failure.

"Love is a player I personally inspected. When he was at UCLA, I noticed him. Love will be your good helper in the interior. He can give you great support on the rebound and offensive end, but he Still not good enough on the defensive end, and Marc Gasol is the one to fix that!"

"Mark has comprehensive skills. He can not only build a thick barrier for the team on the defensive end, but also like his brother, this is a player who is very suitable for the triangle offense. Their coping ability is very good. I believe he can perfect into the triangle offense!"

Li Shihao nodded. He still believed in McHale's vision of inspecting inside players. As the power forward with the best footwork at the basket in the history of the league, he had the most right to evaluate the quality of an inside player.

Think about Garnett, Al, Love, these people are already famous, or have great potential, I believe Marc Gasol's future will not be bad!

"In addition, Bruce, you need to hone the offense and defense of our team's bench lineup during this time. If you want to hit the playoffs, it is not enough to rely on the strength of the starters. You need more help!"

Li Shihao nodded. The strength of the Timberwolves' starting lineup can be rest assured for the time being. What needs to be paid more attention to now is the strength of the team's substitutes.

Dakomilicic's strength is still good. Although the No. 03 pick in [-] was dubbed a "parallel importer", his potential is still worth looking forward to.

His technical style is quite comprehensive. As long as he is given a certain amount of playing time, the Timberwolves' bench lineup cannot lack him. Getting it right can be difficult.

This requires him to spend more energy to explore. Since he is the leader of the team, he will naturally shoulder the rise and fall of the Timberwolves. How to make his teammates better is what he must learn!

The conversation lasted for more than an hour. McHale and Li Shihao discussed the Timberwolves' offensive and defensive system for a long time. As the team's backcourt brain and team core, Li Shihao has the right to speak in this regard no matter what point.

McHale is not a traditional academic coach. He has always taken a listening attitude to the opinions of the players. He also knows that what the players see on the court is often different from the head coach. After two weeks of regular games, Li Shihao, Some suggestions for the team also made him quite moved.

When Li Shihao left, he clearly heard McHale's words full of trust:

"Bruce, I chose you! Don't have any hesitation, I believe you can do better, the future of the Timberwolves is on you!"

Li Shihao paused, then walked out of the head coach's office with firm and steady steps.

He will not be afraid of the unknown future, he has always believed in his own "paranoia"!
When the footsteps faded away and the office fell into silence again, McHale stretched out his hand to caress his temple, with a desolate and lonely expression.

Whether today's Timberwolves can go further in the West depends not only on the strength of the players, but more on his planning behind the scenes.

He is not a master tactician. Facing a game, he often needs to spend all night thinking hard about the case.

McHale looked at the photo of himself winning the championship in the player era on the wall, with distant and peaceful eyes: "You were mediocre back then, I would not have chosen you, but Don Nelson's proposal moved me, I believe that old lunatic His vision, his vision on the guard has always been ahead of its time."

"I didn't expect you to be able to explode more, but I understand that this is far more than that, you can become stronger! That guy Don Nelson will never value you just because of your current strength!"

"Now I also choose you, I hope you can lead the Timberwolves to regain their glory!"

A sigh came from the empty and silent office, unable to conceal McHale's deep exhaustion.

The future is unknown, but there is already a glimmer of hope!

In the following time, the Timberwolves played against the Rockets, who were also short of major generals, without the starting center Al Jefferson. Unfortunately, the team felt cold. Field failure.

On the evening of November 11, the Timberwolves rushed to the Portland Rose Garden to play an away game against the Trail Blazers. This was the third matchup against the Trail Blazers this season. This time, the Timberwolves played extremely hard without Al Jefferson. Always lagging behind, in the final quarter, Li Shihao broke out and scored 22 points in a row, saved the team from falling, and successfully hit the lore when the time was about to end, evened the score and dragged it into overtime.

Regrettably, the game ended in a loss. The team suffered a two-game losing streak in Portland, and Li Shihao's two consecutive 27+ performances came to nothing.

On November 11th, all members of the Timberwolves played against the Clippers in Los Angeles. The No. 24 pick Griffin was reimbursed for the season due to injury. The victory stopped the team's three-game losing streak.

At this time, the Timberwolves ranked seventh in the West, with a record of 9 wins and 4 losses behind the Utah Jazz. The playoffs are a bit unstable. They will face Denver, the team that reached the Western Conference finals last year on November 11. Nuggets!
Fortunately, on November 11, Marc Gasol passed the player's physical examination and successfully returned to the team that morning.

　One chapter arrives tonight, go to bed early after reading~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)