Superstar Tyreke

Chapter 38 Voluntary Substitute
The next day, Coach Westphal took Marcus Thornton to the pre-game press conference between the Sacramento Kings and the Houston Rockets.

After the two were seated, coach Westphal announced that Thornton would be the starter for this game, and reporters immediately started asking questions.

"Mr. Westphal, I'm ESPN's reporter, Kelvin Watkins, may I ask Marcus Thornton to start, and will his partner in the backcourt be Udry or Evans? "

All eyes turned to coach Westphal, "Marcus will partner with Benno as the starting backcourt for this game."

"Wow..." Hearing Coach Westphal's answer, the audience was in an uproar.

Watkins continued to ask, "Mr. Westphal, will Evans be on the bench for this game?"

"That's right, Tyreke will play off the bench in this game."

"Hello, Mr. Thornton, I'm Greg Rajan, a reporter from the Houston Chronicle. Does Coach Westphal mean that you pushed Evans to the bench?"

Journalists just play tricks and fan the flames to exaggerate the facts and create the effect they want to make their news more sensational.Facing the reporter's sharp questions, Thornton has always regarded Tyreke as a competitor in his heart, and he was a little happy to hear the reporter say this, but he still played a sloppy eye, "I just play ball."

Coach Westphal took over the question, "Due to his own reasons, Tyreke applied to the coaching staff to play as a substitute. It will take a process to recover from the injury. You have also seen the first two games when Tyreke returned to the court. The performance in the game was not satisfactory, and he has to find his form slowly."

When the home players entered the field for this game, the audience found that their team's star Tyreke Evans was actually standing on the field to welcome the starters.

"Gentlemen and ladies! This is Grant Napier, the sideline commentator for today's game, and this is my partner, Jerry Reyz. The team has made major personnel changes today. The team's All-Star player Tyreke . Evans sat on the bench in this game. He has not started a game in all the games before this season. At the same time, Marcus Sol Don will be the starter. Jerry, what do you think about this change?"

"Tyreke did not perform well in the first two games after his comeback. Judging from his state on the field, there is no problem with his physical condition. It should be a problem with his personal mentality. This is up to him to adjust. Now Thornton's Playing so well, the team needs to score points now, and Thornton starts and Tyreke comes off the bench, which I think is fine."

"Jerry, before the game, I also heard that a reporter broke the news that the team's coaching staff originally planned to let Tyreke continue to start, but in order to coexist with Thornton, let Tyreke play the third position, but was rejected by Tyreke. "

"Grant, I've also heard this news. Let's not talk about the authenticity. I think that in the current situation of Tyreke, being yourself is the first thing to do. And Tyreke's technical characteristics and physical conditions can be used to play three No. It is not ruled out that he can continue to improve himself, but it is more likely that he will change from a star player to an ordinary player. If this news is true, although players have to obey the arrangements of the coaching staff, I think Tyreke should indeed reject."

Jerry Reirez once coached the Kings in the late 80s, and now he still has his own keen views as a sideline commentator. He also has his own understanding of Tyreke playing the third position.

In the case of Tyreke playing the third position, everyone has different starting points and different considerations. It is impossible to say who is right and who is wrong. Disputes between the coaching staff and themselves.

Yao Ming is still in a state of injury in the Houston Rockets. In fact, Yao Ming will retire due to injury in 4 months. However, although the team does not have any big-name stars, the current record of the Rockets is not bad. The 10th place in the West is 9 games away from the Sacramento Kings, who are ranked 3th in the West.

Marcus Thornton, who started this game, has a very strong desire to perform, even stronger than in the previous 5 games.Thornton's way of playing already requires a lot of ball possession, coupled with his desire to perform, it almost becomes the other four people on the field watching him play.

In the previous games, Thornton could score balls in various singles situations with his fiery touch, but how could such an indescribable thing like touch happen in every game?In this game, Thornton hit the iron frequently, and he had to create opportunities to shoot when he had no chance. Sometimes his teammates were in a better position and he would not pass the ball when asked for it. Coach Westphal saw such a situation on the sidelines. The situation is also shaking his head.Basketball games can sometimes rely on individual ability to resolve battles, but most of the time it requires the cooperation of the whole team.

On the bench, Tyreke sat next to this season's "water cooler manager" Whiteside.Whiteside pushed Tyreke with his shoulder, and whispered in his ear: "Brother, why did you propose to be a substitute? You are a role model in my heart, you are my elder brother! But look at that Dun, the first few games were so crazy, and the performance was just like this when he really played the first game.”

The coaching staff of the Kings are well aware of the characteristics of Thornton's playing, and let him start the game because of his scoring ability during this period. Although they knew that he needed the ball, they did not expect his performance desire to be too strong. Fortunately, if you don't feel good and don't pass the ball, you will hurt the team. Coach Westphal quickly replaced Thornton with Tyreke.After Thornton left the field, coach Westphal patted him on the shoulder and kept whispering in his ear.

"Jerry, look, the first quarter has already dug a big hole, 15 points behind the opponent. In this quarter, coach Westphal gave Marcus enough opportunities, but Marcus' performance desire It’s too strong, even if the fiery feeling from before has not been continued today, I still don’t know how to share the ball, and I still insist on playing by myself.”

"Marcus is a player with abilities, but his style of play is that of a superstar. His touch is gone, and his own hard power has not reached this level. At this time, he has to play as a whole and cooperate. It seems that The coach still needs to work harder on this player."

After Tyreke came off the bench, his worries still persisted. This was a subconscious worry, so he changed his style of play. This game became more of an organizer of the team than a terminator.Tyreke played a little better in this game, but connecting teams is not his strong point. Although Thornton played a bit later, but also dug a lot of holes in the first quarter, the Sacramento Kings finally won 102. Lost 113 to the Houston Rockets...

(End of this chapter)