As the team general manager who has worked for the Timberwolves for ten years.
"Refrigerator" Kevin McHale is actually under greater pressure than team leader Kevin Garnett this season.
As a player, McHale and "Big Bird" Larry Bird won three championship trophies for the Celtics in the 1980s.
McHale has also been selected to the All-Defensive Team many times and won two Best Sixth Man awards. He can be said to be the top three power forwards in the league in the 1980s.
After retiring, McHale came to work for the Timberwolves.
Just in time, Glen Taylor purchased the team in 1995 and immediately promoted McHale to assistant general manager.
During McHale's tenure, the team selected "Wolf King" Garnett in 1995, and "Lone Wolf" Marbury in 1996.
This allowed the Timberwolves to reach the playoffs for the first time in team history in the 1996-97 season. Since then, they have become a regular guest in the playoffs in the Western Conference with outstanding results.
Compared with the other young small-market teams in the league, such as the Grizzlies and Raptors, the Timberwolves have grown rapidly.
To be able to create a popular team in a third-tier city like Minneapolis, which is surrounded by ice and snow, that has made it to the Western Conference playoffs year after year, with an attendance rate of over 90% at the Target Center Arena.
The arrival of Garnett is naturally the first contribution, and Kevin McHale's management skills are also worthy of praise.
However, in the 1998-99 season, the yin and yang contract between the Timberwolves and Smith was severely punished by the league, and the first-round draft picks for the next five years were directly deducted. McHale cannot escape the blame for this.
Even though the penalty was later reduced to three first-rounders, it still greatly affected the Timberwolves' reinforcements in the following years.
This season, the Timberwolves introduced "Madman" Sprewell and "Alien" Cassell, directly transforming into a championship level.
This made general manager McHale even more famous, and he almost overpowered Grizzlies general manager Jerry West and won the best general manager award this season.
However, the "Alien"'s injury in the Western Conference Finals has once again cast a shadow on the Timberwolves' championship prospects.
Fortunately, Lin Fei came out of nowhere, and seven three-pointers in the last quarter pulled the Timberwolves back from the edge of the cliff.
But it is obvious that the Timberwolves, who are trailing 2:3, are still on the cliff.
The next away game in Los Angeles, G6, will be the most critical game that determines whether the team can win the championship this year.
As long as they can win G6 and return to home in the tiebreaker, the Timberwolves' chances of winning will become even greater.
McHale has no time to think about Lin Fei's contract extension. He is worried about how the team should play in the next game.
And can Lin Fei, this magical kid from China, continue to help the Timberwolves in G6?
How should this "spear but no shield" purely offensive three-point shooter be used to achieve the most suitable effect for the team?
Once effectively targeted by the Lakers, will his true colors be revealed immediately?
"Refrigerator" McHale frowned. It seemed that he had to study it carefully with Flip Saunders and the Timberwolves coaching team.
…
Target Center Arena Conference Room.
Timberwolves' postgame press conference.
Head coach Flip Saunders brought "Wolf King" Garnett and "Madman" Sprewell to participate.
As the two core players of the team, Garnett's 31 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks tonight, and "Madman"'s 28 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists are fully worthy of their respective statuses.
The dominance played by the two together can be said to have completely destroyed the Lakers' OK combination tonight.
Of course, the biggest contributor to the Timberwolves' ability to reverse the game is Lin Fei.
Lin Fei's contribution to the team tonight was not just those 7 three-pointers. His sharp movement at the last moment attracted Kobe Bryant's defense.
Directly let "Madman" break out and score another 7 points.
Garnett and "Madman" also chose to believe in Lin Fei in the final quarter, and then each easily received two assists.
There was an endless stream of questions from media reporters.
But it was obviously a pity that Lin Fei, a Chinese rookie who became famous in one battle, could not attend the press conference in person.
After all, although the popularity of the star player is high, Lin Fei’s battle to become famous tonight broke many historical records.
Obviously, it can gain more traffic and fans' favor, and it is also more inspirational.
"Kevin, tell me what you think of Lin? Do you think his seven three-pointers tonight were entirely due to God's favor?"
"Of course not, God is indeed on the side of the Timberwolves tonight!"
"Lin's seven three-pointers were partly due to luck, but more of it was due to his hard training behind the scenes day and night!"
"He is an integral part of the Timberwolves!"
Garnett was still a little excited at this time, talking eloquently into the microphone, and blew Lin Fei's attention without leaving any trace.
To be honest, Lin Fei made 7 of 7 three-pointers in the final quarter tonight, which really gave the Wolf King a sense of dependence.
If Lin Fei can continue his magical performance in the next game, even if the shooting rate is half that of tonight, 50% of the three-pointers will be enough to give the team a huge help.
"Latrell, Kobe Bryant chose to let you go and defend Lin at the last moment. Does this mean that in the mind of 'Zen Master', Lin's personal offensive threat tonight has exceeded yours?"
The "madman" was simple-minded and nervous, and could not hear the trap in this reporter's question. This was clearly meant to alienate the trust and unity of the players.
"Although I don't know how this kid will perform in the next game, tonight, Lin is the team's well-deserved MVP!"
"How the hell am I going to compare to a guy who can hit a three-pointer from 39 feet away as an offensive threat?"
The reporters burst into laughter, and the questions continued:
"Mr. Sanders, how much playing time do you plan to give Lin in the next Western Conference Finals G6?"
"Kevin, if Lin hits 7 three-pointers again in the next game, or even more, and helps the team win another game, are you willing to give him one-tenth of your salary?"
"Kevin, who do you think Lin's ceiling is? Does he have a chance to become an All-Star like Ray Allen?"
"Latrell, do you know anything about Lin's personal life? Does he have a girlfriend now?"
Originally, Lin Fei miraculously saved the team by making 7 of 7 three-pointers tonight.
Whether it is the head coach, the Wolf King or the "madman", they are all very excited and grateful. They regard Lin Fei as the savior of the team, and it is reasonable to brag about it in front of the media.
But what I didn't expect was that the reporters' next questions, one after another, all revolved around Lin Fei...
The clown turned out to be themselves.
Ten o'clock in the evening, on the basketball court of the Target Center training hall.
The crisp sound of a basketball being hollowed into the net sounded out rhythmically one after another, like the sound of nature...
"Uh-huh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"
Lin Fei was sweating profusely while performing three-point shooting training under the guidance of team trainer Thomas.
There are 5 points in total: the bottom corners of the three-point lines on both sides, the 45-degree angle of the three-point lines on both sides, and the top of the arc. Shoot 20 times at each point, for a total of 100 times in each group.
Rest for 5 minutes after each group. After an hour, Lin Fei can probably complete 4 groups of shots, a total of 400 times.
Lin Fei spends at least three hours on three-point shooting training every day, which is 1,200 three-pointers.
This amount of training can be said to be more severe than that of peak Curry.
Before time travel, the original owner was already a training maniac who worked tirelessly for his dream.
Now that Lin Fei has a system, he can get free attribute points as long as he trains, so he has to work even harder.
And according to the system's explanation, no matter which basketball attribute it is, it must always maintain an NBA-level training volume, so that the high level can be consistent, otherwise it may decline at any time.
Since then,
Lin Fei's daily three-point shooting training cannot be stopped.
"Uh-huh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Shua..."
Seeing the basketballs thrown from Lin Fei's hands hitting the net one after another, with almost no miss, trainer Thomas couldn't help but widen his eyes.
Szebiak, who was sitting on the sidelines watching Lin Fei's shooting training, was also shocked.
This was no less shocking than Lin Fei's three-pointer and seven-hit streak in the game.
"398, 399, 400..."
When Lin Fei finally breathed a sigh of relief after shooting his 400th three-pointer, Szebiak also stood up and walked over with great excitement, his eyes radiating with dazzling light:
"Oh my God, Lin, you shot 400 three-pointers and only missed 8. Damn it, your shooting percentage is too scary, right?"
As an All-Star substitute-level team shooter, Szebiak's three-point shooting percentage in training only remained at around 70%.
He also knew that Lin Fei's three-point shooting percentage in training was not as high as his own.
Trainer Thomas quickly took out his Nokia mobile phone to calculate:
"OMG, 392 out of 400, a full 98% three-point shooting rate!"
"Lin, did the outbreak of this game tonight completely change your three-point shooting?"
Lin Fei smiled awkwardly, did he still use his mobile phone?
Well, choose to understand, after all, not everyone can be admitted to Qingbei!
Szebiak couldn't help but sigh:
"Lin, I really regret that I didn't use a camera to record the entire process of your four hundred three-point shots. Otherwise, if you uploaded it to a video website, it would definitely go viral!"
Lin Fei took the towel and Red Bull handed over by the trainer and said with a calm smile:
"Wally, take a break and there are still 400 left. You can record videos anytime you want!"
At this moment, the system prompt also sounded:
[Ding, congratulations to the host, you have completed 400 three-point shooting training, free attribute points +5]
