The Basketball Court Swordsman

In the past few seasons, in the summer league, fans have been able to spy on the state of the Pacers players this season.

But because 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 in early October.

At this time, the Banker's Life Arena has been sitting in full, although it is only a preseason game, but since becoming the defending champion, the Pacers' commercial appeal has increased significantly.

During the preseason seasons when Jim O'Brien led the team, Pritchard sold tickets at half price, and the arena was unhappy. But this year, the Pacers sell tickets at regular prices, and fans are willing to buy it.

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

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-way trade, the Magic did not actually get any good chips.

The Magic got Aaron Afflaro, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, and the 76ers first-round pick Mo. Harklis, and from the Lakers, 76ers and Diggers King received a protected future first-round pick from all three teams, and another second-round pick from the Nuggets.

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

The NBA world is so changeable, Henson sometimes fears whether the "buildings" he built will collapse overnight.

The defending champion faces the rebuilding team, and there is no suspense in such a matchup. Throughout the game, Henson's **** never left the bench. This guy often chats with the players. 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 seems to be to meet the fans...

In the end, Vogel's defense combined with Stevens's 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 state of the defending champion is still hot! Although the Pacers did not make a large-scale lineup change this summer, I don't think they have lost their competitiveness!" Reggie Miller smiled on the commentary stage. , Just two days ago, eSPN made a ranking of "the team most likely to win the new season". As the defending champion, the Pacers only ranked third, and the Lakers and Heat were still in front.

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 make everyone wake up from their fantasy.

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

"They are fully capable of being the head coach on their own. In fact, I'm just in charge of making a fool of myself. The Pacers' head coach has always been the rest of the coaching staff." Henson opened his hands, as if to Vogel and Steven Si's performance was not surprised.

"One very scary thing is that Coach Henson is cultivating his own direct line." After the game, some journalists with good vision saw the other side of the matter.

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

And now, Henson has undoubtedly developed his own "faction." The more powerful his assistant is, the more powerful 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 simply disappeared! Vogel and Stevens became veritable head coaches, but under their leadership, the Pacers still won.

In the entire preseason 5 games, the Pacers won 4 of them! T.NT even conducted a fan voting survey, and Vogel and Stevens became the best coaches in the preseason!

And Henson, he only commanded the last game of the preseason, the Pacers vs. Bucks, and he lost!

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

"The two assistant coaches have better performances than Henson, so the Pacers kept Henson just to make fun of it?"

"Henson Joe is a half-hearted man. He was able to succeed because his assistants were too powerful!"

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

Seeing some abuse from the media about himself, Henson smiled. My assistant is too powerful, but this is a good thing! Why do those reporters just think that this is a disaster?

As for the loss to the Bucks, Henson was only in the experimental lineup, not at all for winning. It seems as if the defending champion wins a team like the Bucks that only takes the playoffs as its biggest goal.

Therefore, Henson did not have time to get angry because of the comments from the outside world. Today, he specially called Ray Allen into his office. The Chinese coach still has business affairs to do.

"I can accept coming off the bench. As long as the playing time is guaranteed, it doesn't matter whether the bench or the starter." Ray Allen originally thought that there was something very important about this younger coach looking for him. As everyone knows, Henson just wanted to confirm. Ray Allen is willing to accept a substitute role in the new season.

You know, Ray Allen played a substitute for Bradley in the Celtics last season. And this experience made Ray Allen feel humiliated, and it was also one of the fuses for his complete break with the Celtics. He can't bear that as one of the giants, his tactical status in the team is 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, to have a stable playing time, he is not willing to mix rings on the cold bench. Second, you must have a tactical position, instead of following the young people up and down.

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

Henson agreed to these two requests full of mouth, after all, he did not sign Ray Allen to make him wave a towel. It's just that neither side made it clear at the time whether Ray Allen needed a starting position.

George's starter must be unstoppable, and Green and Leonard must occupy a starting position three. So Ray Allen wants to squeeze into the starter in the Pacers, it is almost impossible.

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

"Well, I just want to confirm this. You know, I have to confirm that all of us are satisfied with our current state. Otherwise, we won't be able to win."

Henson smiled, at this point, he is undoubtedly much better than Rivers.

To be precise, Rivers was also from Angie last season, so he directly pressed Ray Allen on the bench without a "vaccination." When Ray Allen was in trouble, Rivers never stood up to help him. Henson can now talk to Ray Allen very formally on this matter, and Ray Allen is very happy.

The reason is simple, he felt the respect he had not received in a long time when he was in the Celtics!

"Don't worry, Henson, uh... Boss." Ray Allen hesitated for a while before calling Henson "Boss," even if he was older than Henson.

In private, Ray Allen can call Henson whatever he wants. But he knows very well that in the team, he 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 bit worried. Are you really ready for the first game of the new season? The verbal abuse in the media recently has flooded the river." Ray Allen frowned, if it was Rivers I'm probably going crazy for being scolded like this.

For the same question, at the press conference the day before the official start of the new season, the reporter also asked Henson this question, and Henson's answer at the press conference caused Ray Allen to smile knowingly.

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