The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon finally succeeded in convincing D'Antoni. In fact, the bargaining chip given by Leon was very simple, that is, the championship, and he used D'Antoni's method to win the championship.

D'Antoni very much hopes to rely on his own ideas to win the championship, so if Leon talks to him about how to defend, how to add defensive elements while maintaining the original offense, or ask D'Antoni to change his strategy and follow him Go, then no matter how many rings Leon wears on his hands, D'Antoni will leave the Suns.

However, Leon did not. He did not advocate and sell any of his own tactics, strategies, or experience in winning championships. He said that he was not responsible for offense or defense. From beginning to end, he never told D'Antoni what he was going to do. . He just chatted with D'Antoni, talked about Nash, talked about Stoudemire, talked about his feelings in the Suns in the past few years, and talked about the anger and loss when facing the San Antonio Spurs.

The more the two chatted, the closer D'Antoni felt that he and Leon were getting closer. There were some things he had never even said to his father, D'Antoni Sr., so much so that D'Antoni Sr., who was sitting aside and listening to their chat, said: The son said: "I didn't expect you to be like this D'Antoni."

Leon doesn't talk much. He is good at listening. This is some experience he has gained from being a coach for several years. Sometimes, for a coach, listening may be more important than speaking. In the past, he believed that he was like a commander who had to convey his orders and thoughts to the minds of every assistant coach, staff and player, so that they could execute them, and then the team would win the game.

Indeed, they did it in 2004, and then they did it in 2005. At that time, Fox-Leon felt that he was an amazing organizer and conductor. But in 2006, when Arenas left, Auerbach became seriously ill, and various conflicts in the team accumulated and broke out, they began to have various problems.

Not only on the court, but also off the court, there are many accidents in the lives of players. Many of these accidents are just minor problems. In the past, Leon took everyone to have a dinner at home, which might have been solved. But in 2006, everything became different. Everyone wore two shining rings. Everyone left an important mark in the struggle for the championship. They were no longer Under-Dog, they were He is a warrior who becomes a dragon after slaying it.

During that period, when Auerbach was unable to exert any influence, Fox-Leon felt helpless for the first time, no matter how many phone numbers he had in his mind, no matter how many notes and notes he kept in his little notebook. Records, he couldn't imagine which phone call could give him help and comfort, which record could bring him back to life.

In the regular season that year, they fell to fourth place in the Eastern Conference, behind the Detroit Pistons, the Miami Heat, and the New Jersey Nets. Everyone believed that the Boston Celtics' good days were over.

Things took a turn for the better in March 2006. On the last day of 2005, Fox-Leon and Khomeinis held a wedding in Boston, and they started a family together. At that moment, Leon discovered that his life had changed. Although Khomeinis had always been with him in the past, his girlfriend and his wife were different.

After officially starting a family, Leon's life was no longer what it used to be. He was a single man who worked every day, flew here and there, and ran around. Khomeini was in Los Angeles. He sometimes lived in a house with When I was living in an apartment, my life was irregular. But it was different after getting married. Khomeinis moved back to Boston from Los Angeles, commanded the brokerage business in Los Angeles remotely from Boston, and then spent more time with Leon.

There will be some quarrels and conflicts between them, which rarely happened in the past. Leon discovered that there are actually many differences between the two. But this kind of running-in made Leon start to think. In this world, he is indeed very, very smart, but he can never make others become as smart as him. He began to communicate with his wife, and at the same time he began to communicate with the players. He rarely threatened them with fists or gambling, but cared and understood like an elder.

He has done this in the past, but he didn't do it well enough because he was too smart and it was too easy for him to understand others, so that many times, the other party would feel there was no need to say anything to Leon, since he understood everything anyway.

Then, the playoffs started, and the Celtics entered the playoffs in fourth place. They were defeated by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. LeBron James was semi-mature, he was so talented, so The Celtics have an impact, and he has begun to have ambitions to challenge the Eastern Conference order, and there is no better rite of passage than killing the defending champion Boston Celtics.

Then they were swept by Leon's Celtics 0:4.

In the playoffs, the Celtics regained their vitality. Leon abandoned the "ultimate defense" he had always emphasized, liberating the players from the rules and regulations he set, and everyone let go and play.

Yes, a team that has already won two championships and a group of players who have proven themselves, what else does it need to restrain and guide them? All they need is the heart of a champion.

So in the semifinals, the Celtics defeated the aggressive Detroit Pistons 4:2. They won the best record in the regular season. As a result, in the playoffs, they lost their tenacious defense and were defeated by the wolf-like Celtics. The man was bitten to pieces.

The only obstacle was the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals, where the Heat and Celtics defeated their opponents in seven games. Then in the Finals, the Celtics, whose morale had reached its peak, defeated the inexperienced Mavericks. The Bostonians completed another three consecutive championships since 1966. A full 40 years have passed. In that year, Auerbach died without regrets.

After that, Leon retired, not only because of Auerbach's death and Danny Ainge's backlash, but also because he wanted to find the true meaning of becoming a real coach in college, not just being Arnold Orr. Bach's shadow. From then on, he put away his cigars, and only when he missed the stubborn old man, he would go to the balcony to take a few sips in the dead of night.

Now in the Suns, Leon knew exactly what he was really about to do.

……………………

After staying one night at the old D'Antoni's house, Leon and Mike D'Antoni drove back to Richmond early the next morning, and they were preparing to go to New York together.

"Why do you still want to go to New York?" D'Antoni had already rejected the Knicks' invitation. Unexpectedly, Leon was going to New York.

"New York is my base camp, where rumors are flying everywhere. I want to get some valuable intelligence there to see if I can bring some help to the team in the free market." Leon said.

"But I think that's what Steve Kerr should do. We'd better prepare for summer training." D'Antoni feels that it is a bit unprofessional for coaches to participate in player selection, unless it is something that can be changed. The core players, such as Nash, were recruited by him personally.

"The main part of Steve Kerr's job is to recruit me. The less he does other things, the better. In fact, he is more suitable as a coach. This guy learned a lot from Popovich and Jackson. "In Leon's opinion, Steve Kerr is not doing his job properly as a manager.

"But the team's salary space... I think it's difficult to make big changes or get a big fish other than making trades."

"No, there is no need to trade. Why trade? If I trade, how can I ask you to be an assistant coach? This is the lineup you have trained by yourself. They are excellent. Believe me, I am not the kind of person who likes to start from scratch and add fertilizer. People who water the water. That was a special case in Boston. I worked for them for three years for nothing, but things are different now.”

The two were chatting on the road when Leon received a text message on his phone. Leon opened it and read, "I have seriously considered that maybe I can play in the NBA for another year, but I hope to be guaranteed playing time."

After taking a look at the sender's number, Leon knew who it was. It was Jasikevicius, because he had the phone numbers of almost every player in the league in his mind.