The Godfather of Basketball

The giant wheel of time rolled over the last ditch in 2009, climbed up the Kangzhuang Avenue in 2010, and the new year came as scheduled.

On the first day of the new year, the Cavaliers will usher in a contest with the Eastern rival Celtics.

After the easy schedule, the following games will not be so easy.

Casey is leading the team to make intense preparations before the game.

The contest with the rivals in the Eastern Conference has a great impact on the morale of the team, and no one wants to lose such a game.

Tang Tian found that O'Neill hadn't come yet, and was about to ask Kassel about it, when he suddenly found Green sitting on the sidelines with a frustrated expression on his face.

The team has performed well recently. O'Neal and Rasheed Wallace have rejuvenated their second spring. Good sixth man momentum.

To say that the only one whose performance has declined is probably Green in front of him.

Louis Williams is a combo guard, Matthews is also a stronger and more explosive scoring 3D player, and the small forward has James and Artest, two top ten small forwards in the league, and Green is a swinging forward People's playing time is naturally compressed.

At the beginning of the season, he averaged about 20 minutes per game, and he was able to contribute 8 points and 3 rebounds steadily. After the time was compressed to about 15 minutes, it has directly become 2 points and 2 rebounds, and his poor performance has further reduced his playing time. Now there are only 10 minutes, and the performance is getting worse and worse.

He didn't perform well and the team's status became more and more marginal, so it's no wonder he behaved like this.

Tang Tian walked straight over to him.

Green, like Matthews, is part of his future plans, and this situation is obviously not what he wants to see.

"Danny." He walked over and called out.

"Coach!" Seeing that it was Tang Tian, ​​Green was about to stand up.

Tang Tian motioned for him to sit down, and then sat next to him.

"What? Seeing that you are a little absent-minded?"

"No, it's just that the pet was a little noisy last night and didn't sleep well." Green forced a smile.

"Pet, cat?" Tang Tian naturally remembered what McGrady had lied to him before, but it seemed that Green didn't seem like the kind of person who drank his worries away.

"No, two Columbia boa constrictors."

"..."

Tang Tian was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that Green was really the owner of pythons in his impression, but he was not as famous as "snake man" Mickey Moore.

But pets are just an excuse.

"I have coached many rookies, and they will also become frustrated because of not getting playing time and poor performance. DeAndre Jordan, you know?" Tang Tian continued.

"Yes, the Rockets' backup center, he is very strong." Green nodded. The Cavaliers had played against the Rockets before.

"When he was first selected by the team, he was just like you, but he was more active than you. After he was selected, he asked me why the team chose him. First, he did not try out for the team, and second, he did not play. Chance, do you know how I answered him back then?"

Green looked at Tang Tian suspiciously.

"Kobe basically spent the first half of his rookie season on the bench, while Arenas almost sat on the bench for the entire rookie season, but in the end, they both became the hottest stars in the league." Tang Tian Say what you said to Jordan at the beginning.

Green was thinking.

"Sitting on the bench is not a punishment, but a kind of training." Tang Tian said, pointing to the position of his heart, "The training of the mind."

After hearing this, Green suddenly realized that he himself was a player with a high IQ, but he just fell into it for a while. Tang Tian reminded him with a few words, and let him get out of it.

"Tang?" At this moment, Kassel called Tang Tian.

Tang Tian saw that Cassel's expression was not very good, so he reached out and patted Green on the shoulder: "Be patient and wait for the opportunity. I won't let a person who is working hard and in good condition sit on the bench all the time."

Green nodded vigorously.

Tang Tian got up and walked towards Kassel.

"Shaq's got an ankle problem," Cassell whispered.

Tang Tian froze for a moment, then walked out of the training hall with Cassel.

"He didn't feel well when he got up this morning. After arriving at the arena, he went directly to the team doctor. Now the inspection report says that his ankle is inflamed. It is estimated that he will have a truce for about a week."

Tang Tian frowned after hearing this.

"Shaq is 37 years old after all, only 3 years younger than me." Cassell continued.

Tang Tian nodded after listening.

When O'Neal was young, he basically didn't train. He relied on his talent to play wildly. Now that he's older and gained weight, it's normal for his ankles to be unbearable.

Speaking of which, O'Neal was forced to retire because of a serious ankle injury in his previous life.

It is only a week of truce now, which should be regarded as a blessing in misfortune.

"Sam, wake up the coaching staff when the training is over, let's have an impromptu meeting." Tang Tian continued.

At the beginning of the season, because we were rushing to show off, we deliberately recruited these famous veterans, and we also took injury factors into consideration.

It's just that after the plan is changed now, even if the veteran's playing time is intentionally reduced, the injury still hasn't escaped.

But it also reminded him.

Although these veterans still have fuel in the tank, they are still efficient in a reasonable playing time, but after all, they are approaching the age of retirement, and it is best to save the fuel for the playoffs.

"We need to further reduce the playing time of veterans, and it is best to control them to maintain their state. This can reduce injuries like Shaq and give young players like Green more time to exercise. The outcome is not for us. First and foremost."

In the interim meeting, Tang Tian focused on this issue.

Casey and Cassell both agreed. As smart coaches, they knew that it was enough for the Cavaliers to make the playoffs. If the goal was to win the championship, those opponents had to win one by one. important.

In the night's start, O'Neal was sidelined due to injury, and Rasheed Wallace also disappeared from the starting lineup.

The combination of Frye, Anderson, James, Matthews and Beverly, all young players started.

At first glance, this kind of lineup is the same as the bad lineup at the beginning of the game, but after the real fight, the performance of the young players is much tougher than that at the beginning of the season.

After all, two months of competition is not for nothing, not to mention that with Tang Tian around, the daily training of the Cavaliers is getting twice the result with half the effort.

In the end, these young players of the Cavaliers played against the Celtics for three and a half quarters. Although they lost in the end, the team's momentum did not decrease at all.

Of course, what pleased Tang Tian the most was Green's performance.

The words before the game let the top 3D let go of his burden, and scored 12 points and 6 rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time, which was a very good performance.