The Godfather of Basketball

Tang Tian still has respect for Popovich.

Being able to coach a team for more than 20 years, and always lead the team to the top, constantly learning, improving, and changing, is really beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Everyone has a different evaluation of the coach. In Tang Tian's eyes, the old man is one of the greatest coaches.

"Okay, when?"

"How about tomorrow? I'll wait for you in San Antonio, and I'll reimburse the air ticket." Popovich said with a smile.

"good."

The two chatted for a while, determined the time and place, and settled the matter.

The next day, Tang Tian asked Thibodeau to lead the team for daily training, then put on a suit and went directly to Popovich's house.

San Antonio and Houston are both in Texas, and it takes about an hour to fly there.

Tang got out of the car and took another taxi. Half an hour later, he showed up at Popovich's house.

The master has worked in the league for more than 20 years. Although he is not as rich as a player, he also lives in a manor in the suburbs.

When Tang Tian arrived at the door, he was greeted by Popovich's daughter Jill, a woman in her thirties, who could tell by her face that she was his own.

"Welcome, Tang, my dad is in the wine cellar, he'll be here later." After Jill finished speaking, he led Tang Tian to the living room.

Although it is called a manor, the whole structure is still very retro. There is a chimney in the living room, and there is a firewood burning in the chimney. There is a big Akita dog sitting next to the firewood. When he saw Tang Tian, ​​he kept looking at him. It wasn't until Jill scolded a few times that he lowered his head and continued to lie there.

Akita dog Tang Tian knows it. In his previous life, he watched a movie called "The Faithful Dog Hachiko", which told the story of an American professor and an Akita dog. The Akita dog would wait for his master at the train station every day. One day, the professor suddenly died of a heart attack, but the Akita dog didn't know it. It had been waiting at the railway station, starving and freezing for nine years, until it finally died.

When watching the movie, he, a man in his thirties, was seen crying.

The movie is based on real events, which shows that the loyalty of the Akita is well known even among dogs.

Popovich raised this kind of dog, which suits him very well.

"Don."

While thinking about it, Popovich's laughter sounded from the Holy Queen.

The old man was wearing a blue and white casual sweater, holding two bottles of vintage red wine in his hand, standing behind him with a smile.

Seeing Tang Tian's dress, Popovich laughed and said, "Why are you dressed so formally? This is not a date. I am not a pretty girl."

Tang Tian was stunned for a moment, but he probably guessed the old man's character, and said with a smile, "This is respect."

"Respect?" Popovich paused, then nodded, "Yes, respect, to be honest, I really like you a little bit."

After he finished speaking, he sat on the sofa, took out two red wine glasses from under the table, wiped them with a white cloth, then opened one of the bottles of red wine, and began to pour in it.

"This is the 1990 red wine from Chateau Yquem, France, try it."

In 1990, it was still the world-famous Yigan Winery.

Just from these two prefixes, you know that this wine is extremely precious. Popovich is really kind.

Tang Tian also drank red wine in his previous life, picked up the wine glass and shook it lightly, smelled it with his nose, there was a faint fragrance, and then took a small sip.

The taste is sour with a touch of sweetness and a strong fruity aroma.

It really is a good wine.

Popovich also picked up the wine glass at this time, but it was different from Tang Tian's drinking method. After the old man shook it, he drank half of the glass in one gulp, and then poured another half into it. I was taken aback for a while.

This bottle is less than tens of thousands of dollars, Popovich's drinking method is really a bit extravagant.

And the older the red wine, the stronger the stamina, isn't the old man afraid of getting drunk?

Oh yeah, forgot Popovich was a big drinker.

Tang Tian picked up his wine glass and took another sip.

"Yes, what you are wearing reminds me of one thing. I have a niece who is about the same age as you and is very beautiful. Would you like to introduce me to you?"

"Ahem..." Tang Tian just took a sip of wine, when Popovich said this out of the blue, and coughed.

"I have a girlfriend." He went on to say that Popovich doesn't follow entertainment news and probably doesn't know about him and Swift.

"That's a pity. If you become my niece and son-in-law, we can drink often." Popovich said with a little regret.

Tang Tian smiled wryly for a while. I heard that Popovich was more interested in drinking than basketball. He even sold his niece, which is really worthy of the name.

At this time Jill brought up some fruit plates, which contained some dried fruits and snacks.

Popovich picked up the wine glass and drank half of it, and then said: "Who do you think is the real coach in this league now?"

real trainer?

Tang Tian glanced at Popovich. It is definitely not appropriate to say that you are or I am at this time.

But it's quite interesting to talk about this with the old man.

He thought about it, Auerbach has passed away, and Pat Riley also changed careers last season to become the general manager, so what's left.

"Phil Jackson, he has already worn nine championship rings." The first reaction in Tang Tian's mind was him.

"Phil is half of it. That guy is very good at dealing with star relationships, but half of it is luck. If there is no Jordan, Kobe, and Shaq, he can't get a single ring." Jackson wasn't too cold.

Jackson doesn't even like it?

"Larry Brown? He is an epoch-making coach and a living fossil of the league." Tang Tian continued.

"Larry is a respectable coach, but his coaching method is too old-fashioned and can't keep up with the times." Popovich shook his head with a smile, and then poured half a glass of wine into the glass.

"Jerry Sloan, his pick-and-roll tactics are well-known in the league." Tang Tian continued.

Popovich laughed straight away, then shook his head.

"Does Jerry have a championship ring?"

"Don Nelson?"

"He has absolutely no idea what defense is right now."

"Rick Carlisle? I played against him in the first round, and I can feel his excellent tactical level." Tang Tian continued.

"Yeah, Rick's tactics are good, but he's terrible at anything other than tactics."

"Rick Adelman, Mike D'Antoni, George Karl, or Doc Rivers?" Tang Tian really didn't know which one would be better for the old man, so he directly moved out all the remaining well-known coaches.

"Rick and Mike only know how to play offense, and they don't have any defensive awareness. George is even worse. If the defense is not good, the offense is not even as good as Rick and Mike. As for Brother Dao, before last year, they didn't know what level he was. "

"Then I don't know who else is there." Tang Tian said shaking his head.

"I think..." Popovich put down his wine glass at this moment and looked at Tang Tian.

At this time, Tang Tian subconsciously grasped the wine glass harder, and then turned his head to look at the sky outside the window.

This rhythm, why does it feel a bit wrong!