The invincible kryptonite of basketball

Speaking of which, he had never met Jefferson before, let alone any grievances.

Could it be that this guy is naturally withdrawn?

But he didn't care, he closed the car door and walked towards the elevator.

Several reporters in the parking lot were snapping pictures of the players entering the stadium.

"godfather!"

Someone spotted Tang Tian, ​​and immediately all the reporters walked towards him, and the spotlight flashed for a while, it was definitely the treatment for a superstar to appear on the stage.

Although the filming of "The Godfather" has been temporarily suspended, the popularity accumulated over the summer is really not something that can be said to disappear immediately.

Tang Tian was more easy-going and stopped to take pictures for the reporters.

Over there, Jefferson waited for the elevator, glanced back at Tang Tian, ​​a disdainful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, then turned around and entered the elevator to close the door.

"Wait a minute." Danny Green also arrived at this time, and stopped Jefferson from closing the door.

After entering, he yelled at Tang Tian: "Tang, come quickly, this elevator will take a long time."

Tang Tian heard that Green was calling him, and after greeting the reporters, he walked over quickly.

"Thank you." After entering, he thanked Green.

Compared to Jefferson, Green's teammate is obviously more like a teammate.

"You are really welcome, I have to ask you for an autograph later." Green said with a smile.

"Do you want to sign? Ten will do." Tang Tian replied.

Green was amused by Tang Tian's words.

The two chatted speculatively as soon as they met.

After going up the elevator, a short walk leads to the dressing room, Tang Tian pushed the door and went in.

"Oh, our godfather is here!" Ginobili looked at Tang Tian who opened the door and came in, and shouted.

There was a whistle in the locker room.

"I have to take a photo. I'm on the same team as the godfather." After finishing speaking, Ginobili came to take a photo with Tang Tian with his mobile phone.

This guy seems a little flamboyant.

"Tim, come here, I'll take a picture for you." Ginobili shouted at Duncan who was changing his clothes.

Duncan turned his head, smiled for a while, and then turned back again.

Tang Tian was a little surprised. Ginobili's flirtatiousness was in his expectation, but Duncan laughed so easily in the locker room?This is a bit different from what he imagined.

"Manu, well, let's let our big star go first, come on, Tang." Parker came to greet Tang Tian at this time.

"This was originally Steve Novak's cabinet, but now it belongs to you." Parker led Tang Tian to a cabinet, which still had Novak's name written on it, and it probably hadn't been replaced in time.

Novak, Tang Tian couldn't help laughing when he saw this name, this is really a predestined relationship.

After Tang Tian, ​​Leonard and Joseph also came one after another. Leonard still had a cold face, as if the whole world owed him an expression, and Ginobili didn't respond to his insults.

"Alert Level [-]." Ginobili pushed the door open again, and said in a low voice after entering.

After he finished speaking, the team members packed up the things in their area one after another, and Green gave Angel Tang a wink.

After a while, Popovich pushed the door and came in, followed by the team's assistant coach Mike Budenholzer.

It seems that the old man still has requirements for the personal hygiene of the players.

"In addition to the basic training today, we will have an additional full-court confrontation. The preseason will start on the 18th. This year is different from before. We don't have much time to run in. Everyone should be more serious." Popovich Qi was more serious when he spoke, and the team members listened carefully.

After finishing his opening remarks, he then pulled the hanging tactical board over, and then talked about some basic tactics that will be used in training later, as well as some points that need attention.

Popovich gets into shape very quickly.

In fact, not only Popovich, other players also quickly entered the state.

Speaking of which, the Spurs are one of the teams with the least fluctuations in personnel in the league. This kind of tacit understanding is really rare, and Tang Tian blended in unconsciously.

After Popovich finished speaking, he pushed the tactical board away.

"Welcome back, guys, I miss you." At this time, Popovich suddenly said with a smile.

"Don't do that!" Ginobili complained with a smile.

Duncan smiled and shook his head, while the others booed.

1 Chapter 4 The first training session (10/[-])

The atmosphere of this team is really good.

After Popovich finished speaking, he left the locker room first, and the players began to change clothes one after another.

Budenholzer called the three rookies together at this time, and then asked them about picking their jersey numbers.

"No. 50 belongs to David Robinson, No. 44 belongs to George Gervin, No. 12 Bruce Bowen, No. 6 Avery Johnson... these 7 numbers have been retired and cannot be selected, of course there are these, You can’t choose the teammates you already have, and the rest are 0~99.” Budenholzer reminded.

"I'll take No. 5," Corey Joseph said.

"Is there any reason? Just asking." Budenholzer looked milder and said with a smile.

"I used to wear No. 6, but it has been retired, so I will choose No. 5." Joseph's reason is relatively simple.

"No. 2 and No. 15 belong to Bonner." Leonard said.

Budenholzer nodded.

"Godfather, what about yours?" Budenholzer asked with a smile. He really had a more easy-going personality, which was directly called Tang Tian's nickname.

Tang Tian wore No. 12 at UConn, and it didn’t have any special meaning. It was purely because there was a striker from UConn who ran for the election after finishing his freshman year. He had new clothes that he didn’t wear. I've always worn that number.

Most people use college jersey numbers in the NBA, such as Joseph's No. 6, and Leonard also wore No. 15 at San Diego State University.

"No. 31." Tang Tian thought for a while and said.

"No. 31? You didn't seem to have this number when you were in college?" Budenholzer said.

Tang Tian nodded.

"Don, Sean is also number 31." Joseph said.

"Sean?"

"Sean Battier."

With Joseph's reminder, Tang Tian remembered that he was Battier in the draft, and the number he chose was the same as him.

"Because of this?" Budenholzer asked next.

"No, it's just because I was selected by No. 31, it makes a lot of sense." Tang Tian said.

Choosing this number is a commemoration of the draft, and it also reminds him of the fact that the Heat released him.

"OK, the jerseys will be ready in a week. Before that, you should wear training clothes for training. This is made according to your size." Budenholzer said and gave them a few jerseys.

After they all changed their clothes one after another, they followed them to the training hall.

Budenholzer called the team together, let the players run a few laps around the field, and then did a dozen sets of suicide drills.

Tang Tian persevered, but he found that none of his teammates were left behind. Except for Joseph who was a little out of breath, everyone else had finished and seemed relatively relaxed.

This is the gap between the NBA and the NCAA. Physical fitness alone is not an order of magnitude.

Of course, this also has something to do with the self-discipline of the Spurs players. Many players need a month or two to recover their shape and fitness after returning from the offseason. For those people, the new season will definitely not be easy.

Popovich nodded in satisfaction. This year's lockout may be a good thing for the Spurs.

After physical fitness is shooting. Shooting coach Ingold is leading them to practice.

Tang Tian's quick three-pointer has already adapted to seven seven eight eight. At this time, the shooting percentage of open shots is very close to that of the NCAA period.

"He's really underrated," Budenholzer said next to Popovich.

"Otherwise, why would I be willing to spend 100 million." Popovich said with a smile, he rarely buys draft picks with money.

After the shooting training is over, there are passing and dribbling projects.

Joseph did a good job here.

Popovich and Budenholzer always have smiles on their faces, and it can be seen that they are quite satisfied with the performance of the three rookies this year.

The last event of the training is full-court confrontation, with a starting team, a substitute team, and a bench team, a total of 15 people in three groups.

Blair, Duncan, Jefferson, Green and Parker are the starting group.

Splitter, Bonner, Leonard, Ginobili and Gary Neal are on the bench.

Ike Diogu, Malcolm Thomas, James Anderson, Tang Tian, ​​and Joseph are on the bench.

(Note: The Spurs had a total of 16 players in the preseason, and Mills did not participate in the full-court confrontation due to injury.)

The three groups alternately play the full court, and Budenholzer and Popovich will observe their performance from the sidelines.

First, there was the match between the starters and the substitutes. Tang Tian and the others watched from the sidelines.

Both Duncan and Ginobili are in their thirties, and Parker is about to hit three, but they are still the best performers on the court.

Duncan still had no solution inside, Parker's breakthrough also made it difficult for Neal to parry, and Ginobili's various breakthroughs and pass passes stalemate on the bench.

In 10 minutes, the final starting group won 20-16.

After a short break, there was a match between the substitute group and the bench group. Ginobili's body was warmed up in the previous game, and he was almost unstoppable. The performance of the bench group was a bit ugly because they played together for the first time. The biggest The highlight is Tang Tian's beautiful misplaced defenses against Neil several times.

The substitute group finally won by a score of 22 to 9, and Ginobili scored 16 points alone.

"Manu is in good condition." Budenholzer couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"He's young," Popovich said.

Budenholzer laughed at Popovich's bad joke.

However, last season Ginobili returned to the starting lineup with an eye-catching performance, and it is indeed a second spring.

After a short rest, the last group confronted the whole court.

At this moment, Tang Tian called several people from the bench team together.

"We attack with pick-and-rolls and air cuts to open the space. On the defensive end, we can defend the 2-3 zone defense. Parker can't make three points. There are only two preseason games this year. If we don't show some good performance in the training game , didn’t have a chance to play in the preseason, and probably won’t have a chance for the whole season.”

After Tang Tian finished speaking, the others nodded in unison. There was nothing wrong with what he said, and it reached their hearts.

Popovich looked at Tang Tian, ​​who was talking to his teammates, with a smile on his lips and he was very interested.

People from the starting group and the bench group all appeared one after another.

The bench group took the lead, Joseph took the ball to the frontcourt, Tang Tian and Anderson opened up the space, Dio Guti put on the pick-and-roll, Joseph quickly went to the basket for a layup, and was chased by Duncan.

Back on the defensive end, Duncan caught the ball in the low post and hit Thomas with his back, turned around and hit the board with ease.

It is difficult for the bench group and the substitute group to parry, and it is indeed too difficult for them to play against the starting group.

After playing for more than three minutes, the score was already 8-0, and the bench team hadn't scored too much.

Ginobili couldn't help scratching his head while watching this scene.

But after scratching it twice, he remembered that his hair seemed to be running out, so he let it down unconsciously.

Chapter 151 Flowers need green leaves to set off (5/10)

"Cory, calm down, pay attention to the positioning of James and me. Tim is too intimidating on the inside. The outside is our opportunity. The old man is a player who likes to play with his brain." Tang Tian went to Joseph at this time and said. reminded.

After Joseph's first ball was taken by Duncan, he has been desperately breaking through to score.

Tang Tian knew that he was trying to prove himself in front of Popovich, but performance was not just about scoring. His words were a timely reminder.

"I see." Joseph nodded, he was indeed a little crazy just now.

Duncan is holding the ball in the high position, and he has not looked at the basket. Obviously, he doesn't want to abuse the team's benches too much. At the beginning of the season, players' self-confidence is still very important.