The Godfather of Basketball

Sean Livingston.

When Stevens mentioned this player, Tang Tian remembered it all at once.

When he first debuted, he was the pride of heaven, a tall point guard with excellent dribbling and organizational skills, and was known as the "successor of the magician".

But in 2006, he fractured his foot at 90 degrees during a layup, which directly caused this basketball genius to fall.

He remembered that in his previous life, the videos of Livingston's injuries were all banned series, and people with weak hearts would not dare to watch them.

In his previous life, he continued to enter the NBA after recovering from injury. After several ups and downs, he finally served as Curry's first substitute. He won two championships with the Warriors. His low-post back and back is comparable to a textbook. He is an inspirational representative of injured players. up.

However, at this time, Livingston was still wandering from team to team, and had not found his position.

This season in the Wizards also has few opportunities to play. After being waived in November last year, he did not find a next home and is still a free agent.

Livingston's ball control is very stable, and playing with one hand behind the back can also enrich the team's bench tactics, but now there are 15 players on the team list, and one must be traded to sign Livingston.

Reggie Jackson is an option, but after trying that for a while, his trading value has reached the bottom, and it is obviously a bit of a loss to trade him at this time.

Moreover, when Kidd retires next season, the team also needs a third point guard. Jackson's draft pick is not high, and it belongs to that kind of cheap contract, so there is no harm in keeping it.

After Tang Tian finished chatting with Stevens, he took out the team list.

The starting five and Harden must not be moved. Among the remaining players, Tucker and Brown are the core rotation, and they must not be moved. Middleton, Bazemore and O'Quinn are all high-quality rookies, and they must be have to keep it.

If Jackson is excluded, the remaining three are Collison, Sefolosha and Cole Aldridge.

Collison is good and cheap, and he has been in the team for 10 years. He is a big player in the locker room and seems suitable for trading. Only Sefolosha and Aldridge are left.

Middleton's recent stellar play has edged out Sefolosha, a defensive player who has become less important to the Thunder after both Durant and Harden's defense improved. As for Aldridge, who has always been reserved as the third center, and Brown signed a long-term contract, he seems relatively dispensable.

Tang Tian called Jones to the office and asked him to put Sefolosha and Aldridge on the shelves in private to see the market conditions first.

After finishing this, Tang Tian and San Shao boarded the plane to Houston.

Apart from the game day, this was the first time Tang Tian returned here in a serious manner since he left Houston three years ago.

This is the starting point of his coaching career, just like his first love girlfriend, there is a feeling of familiarity and strangeness when we meet again.

And what's interesting is that the last time the All-Stars settled in Houston happened to be in 2006. Tang Tian missed it perfectly, and this time he added the last link of his Rockets plot.

The first day of the competition was uneventful, and the rookie competition still attracted the most attention.

This year's rookie game is still divided into the Barkley team and the O'Neal team. In the end, the Barkley team defeated the O'Neal team with Irving's 32 points and Faried's 40 points. The outstanding performance of 40 points and 10 rebounds won the MVP of the rookie game.

The second day will be the highlight of the All-Star Game, where the skill challenge, three-point shooting contest and slam dunk contest will be staged in turn.

Tang Tian brought Anna to the sidelines of the arena.

Although the Thunder did not participate in the three-point contest and dunk contest, Harden had to represent the West in the skills challenge in addition to participating in the main game.

In order to attract the attention of fans, the All-Star Game introduces new gameplay every year. This year, the individual events have been combined into a team game.

Take the Skills Challenge as an example, three people from the east and the west will be divided into two teams, and the winning team will have a 30-point point advantage, and then the best performers in their respective teams will go to the finals.

The competition system is novel, and the attention of fans will naturally be higher.

The roster of this year's skills competition is much less than last year's starlight. The eastern side is a combination of Holiday, Brandon Knight and Jeff Teague, and the western team has Jeremy Lin playing at home. And James Harden and defending champion Parker.

After the preliminaries, the Eastern team was 3 seconds faster than the Western team, winning a 30-point advantage.

The final was played between Holiday (29 seconds 8) and Harden (29 seconds 3).

Holiday is the point guard, and he was faster than Harden in the stages of dribbling over obstacles and passing the ball into the frame. However, in the final three-point shot, he missed two consecutive attempts. Harden came from behind and won the first place. He made the first three-pointer and directly beat Holiday to win the championship.

The good show of reversal also ignited the atmosphere of the scene.

If this year's individual event is divided into East and West, Harden will be playing at home and win the West's first championship.

Harden, who won the championship, also seemed very excited, ran to the sidelines laughing and shouting, as if he had won the championship.

Such an entertaining performance also made fans love him more.

The skills competition is over, and the three-point shooting competition needs time to set up the venue, and the scene has also entered a short break.

Tang Tian had just finished chatting with Harden in the arena, and when he was about to return to the stands, he was directly caught by the reporters in the arena.

Seeing Tang Tian appear on the big screen, there was a burst of cheers at the scene.

He broke up with the Rockets three years ago, but it has been three years since he left the Rockets. Those fans who care about him have long let go, and the Rockets have not made the playoffs for years, which is completely incomparable with the three consecutive championships. They missed Tang Tian more and more, so naturally most of them cheered at this time.

Tang Tian greeted the fans with a smile.

"Coach, how does it feel to be back in Houston?" The reporter also asked.

"It's very special. I started my career in this arena six years ago, and I won my first three consecutive championships here. Coming here is like coming home." Tang Tian opened his mouth, and the crowd cheered It just exploded.

"we need you!"

"return!"

"go home!"

...

Some fans shouted at the scene.

Tang Tian smiled and didn't care.

"Harden won the skills competition. Do you think he has a chance to become as good as Kobe Bryant, or a better star?" After talking about a few topics related to Houston, the reporter asked again .

"Yes, I think he has a chance. Although it will be a long way, as long as he maintains 100% dedication and hard work, everything is possible." Harden was on the sidelines at this time, and Tang Tian did not hesitate to praise, Give your disciples the greatest praise.