Mike Malone lost his job before Christmas of 2012. He was terminated from his contract with the Cavaliers and was no longer an assistant coach with the team.
Being unemployed before Christmas is really not good news. The only advantage is that you can reunite with your family in advance and don't have to follow the team to play the Christmas game.
Malone has been working for the Cavaliers for seven years. In 2005, he followed Mike Brown to join the Cavaliers and witnessed the most glorious period in the Cavaliers' history.
Reached the finals in 2007, 2011, and 2012, but unfortunately always failed.
Before the start of the new season this year, Mike Malone already had a premonition that Mike Brown would not be with the Cavaliers for too long.
After losing consecutive games in the finals, the team cannot replace players at will, let alone trade James. The only one who can do that is the head coach.
Mike Malone was right. After the Cavaliers experienced a poor record at the beginning of the season, they indeed chose to change coaches in December.
But Mike Malone's guess was not entirely correct, that is, Mike Brown did not leave the Cavaliers, but became the team's director of player development.
What Mike Malone didn't expect was that the Cavaliers directly parachuted in the Clippers' assistant coach Cole, who became the team's head coach.
In fact, Mike Malone originally planned that if Mike Brown dismissed get out of class, he, the first assistant coach, could temporarily replace the head coach.
If the Cavaliers perform well, he may be able to secure his position as head coach, become a regular coach, and officially enter the NBA coaching industry.
Unexpectedly, Cole's arrival disrupted Malone's calculations. On the day the Cavaliers officially announced that Cole would become the head coach, Mike Malone knew that his assistant coaching career with the Cavaliers had entered a countdown.
It's not that he doesn't have the confidence to cooperate with Cole, he is still very confident in his own abilities and his love for basketball.
It's just that every coach has his own team and collaborators. When a new head coach arrives, it is inevitable to clean up the old ones.
If we don’t clean up and stabilize the situation this season, we will definitely clean up before the start of next season in the off-season.
It’s just a difference between leaving early and leaving late.
Steve Kerr is indeed very capable. After coming to the Cavaliers, it took him a few days to gradually adapt to the team's working atmosphere.
Then began to gradually transform the team and release the team's offense. It improved from a defensive-oriented team during the Mike Brown period to an offensive-oriented team.
Mike Brown belongs to Popovich's lineage in terms of heritage, and Popovich goes back further to Larry Brown.
An ultimate defensive coach, a representative of the academy, and a model for coaches to control players.
Although Steve Kerr also worked with Popovich, he was obviously more influenced by Phil Jackson.
Jackson took another route, pursuing a balance of offense and defense, while emphasizing the need to explore the players' initiative and let the players determine the game on the field.
So after coming to the Cavaliers, Cole mainly did three things. One was to let the players boldly shoot three-pointers. The other was to try to let James play the fifth position. The third was to create a more relaxed and harmonious atmosphere in the team. .
He is not eager to establish his authority like some new coaches who like to take advantage of players to establish his leadership position.
On the contrary, he gave other players more autonomy, which seemed not to be very "respectful" to James, the core of the team's power.
Let him play the fifth position in training today, and let him defend the interior and protect the basket in training tomorrow.
When the game came, he criticized James for holding the ball for a long time and wanted to try to practice playing without the ball.
Malone has been working with James since 2005 and has witnessed with his own eyes how the league's "little emperor" has grown step by step.
The two actually have a good relationship in private, because in terms of off-court personality, James is actually more like an ordinary person and easier to get along with.
Unlike those superstars in history, he is a leader on the court and a fan idol with a strong willpower. He is not very likable off the court.
James is the other way around. He is sometimes a little pretentious on the court, and sometimes puts on some shows off the court in order to cooperate with Nike and the league.
Privately, James is relatively easy to get along with.
But once it comes to the court and the shaping of James' image on the court, James and his team are not so easy to talk to.
In the Cavaliers, James has absolute say on the basketball court. He is indeed very strong and the team listens to him from top to bottom.
Mike Brown has been running the Cavaliers for 7 years. Essentially, he has nothing of his own and no foundation, because everything he has depends on James.
If James had left the Cavaliers for another team in 2010, Mike Brown would have followed suit.
On the contrary, for some teams, no matter how big-name players leave, the coach's position will still be as stable as a rock.
Because coaches, like players, also have family members and mercenaries.
Mike Malone never expected that an airborne mercenary coach like Steve Kerr would dare to attack James' style of play.
In particular, the idea of him trying to get James to play inside made Mike Malone find it incredible.
What's even more incredible is that James actually cooperated with Cole's tactical experiment from beginning to end.
Play the fifth position in training, even if you complain a few times from time to time, you will still play like this in the next training.
Even during the game, Cole tried to get James to play deeper and participate more in interior defense.
Later, James was also tired from training, so he simply said to Cole in the locker room, "You should let me play the fourth position, I can't stand the fifth position!"
As a result, Cole began to move James to the fourth position, and gave the small forward position to Sean Battier, allowing Battier to start.
This change obviously worked quite well. In mid-December, the Cavaliers began to win consecutive games.
On December 11, against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavaliers won the focus game at home 111:107, with a 4-point advantage.
James scored a triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
After that, they defeated the Pacers, Bucks, and Knicks.
Especially on December 15th, back-to-back challenges against the New York Knicks.
The tactical advantages of the Cavaliers' new formation and tactics in this battle were very obvious.
Facing the smooth offense of the Knicks after having Kidd, the Cavaliers played a better offense, raining three-pointers in Madison Square Garden.
The Cavaliers used a high-scoring victory of 119:107 to achieve 5 consecutive victories, and the team's Eastern Conference ranking also improved to the third position.
Now Steve Kerr is firmly in the Cavaliers' coaching position.
It's just that when Cole's position is secured, Mike Malone and other old officials will not be far away from leaving the Cavaliers.
On Christmas Eve, Steve Kerr and the Cavaliers management, who were ready to form a new team, began a purge.
First assistant coach Mike Malone has been relieved of his duties. He will leave the Cavaliers to find a position that suits him in a new place.
Until he left, Mike Malone still didn't understand why James could accept Cole's casual manipulation?
Does James have any leverage that Cole has in his hands? impossible.
Because the two had a good personal relationship, James immediately sent a text message to Malone to express his regrets.
Malone asked James the doubt that had been hidden in his heart for a long time: "LeBron, why are you willing to make such a big change with Steve Kerr?"
To be honest, this question is a bit offensive. Do you mean that if I refuse to change with Mike Brown, others will change for me?
But Ma Long couldn't control that much anymore. This question had been lingering in his mind and couldn't be dispelled. Now that he was gone, he had to ask clearly.
But James' answer was more like a joke, "I think in order to win, I need to make some changes."
This is all just showmanship, polite words, making changes and making sacrifices for victory, nonsense.
Within days of leaving the Cavaliers, Malone received job offers from several teams.
For example, the Hornets, Warriors, and Kings have all promised to give him the position of first assistant coach, and even said that they can train him to become the head coach.
Mike Malone has not agreed yet. He wants to take a moment, observe, and wait for opportunities.
After working in the NBA for so many years, Malone still has some connections in the league, so he doesn't have to worry about work.
His father, Brandon Malone, has been a coach in the NBA for almost 30 years. He served as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks in the 1986-1987 season.
Later, he assisted Chuck Daly in the Detroit Pistons, Jeff Van Gundy in the New York Knicks, and Stan Van Gundy in the Magic. He entered the Finals with the team 4 times and won the championship twice. It can be said that He is a gold medal assistant coach.
He also worked as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers during the 2004-2005 season. It was at that time that he brought his son to the Cavaliers, and the son inherited his father's career and inherited the coaching job.
It can be said that the current NBA has become a closed and small circle based on personal relationships. There are only two ways for outsiders to enter this circle: unparalleled talent and enough luck.
After his father learned that Ma Long was unemployed, he also called and hoped that he would consider his next job.
Mike Malone has been an assistant coach for nearly 10 years and is already the first assistant coach.
The next step is to be the head coach. If he doesn't have this ambition, he will be an assistant coach for the rest of his life just like his father.
Brandon Malone said to his son on the phone: "Mike, the head coach is the one I know. The most mental pressure in the world is the most unhuman job. If you have considered being a head coach, then you should choose A place that needs your talent and respects it. If you want to be like your dad and be an assistant coach for the rest of your life, then go to a city that is suitable for living and make your family more comfortable."
"I know, I know dad, I'm thinking about it, I'll think about it carefully."
Mike Malone understands his father's earnest words.
He does want to accept invitations from weak teams like the Kings and Hornets.
These teams are weak, have simple relationships within the team, and have little-known head coaches.
Mike Malone is confident that with his intelligence and crazy professionalism, he will definitely be able to climb to the position of head coach in a short time.
But there were always some doubts swirling in his heart, like dark clouds blocking the sun, making it difficult for him to see the direction.
This dark cloud isn’t just James’ deference to Steve Kerr, but what Steve Kerr brought with him from the Los Angeles Clippers.
In his brief cooperation with Cole, Mike Malone could feel that many of Cole's coaching and management concepts were brought from the Clippers.
Once or twice, Steve Kerr slipped up and said, "That's not how we do it in the Clippers..."
Of course, it was not a good thing to say such a thing, and Cole never said that again later.
But when communicating in private, Cole will indeed talk about interesting things while working in the Clippers.
He said that the Clippers' system is quite relaxed, with more money and less work, and a culture of not working overtime.
The management has no requirements for the team's record and never holds meetings to discuss related issues based on winning or losing.
From top to bottom of the Clippers, from the management to the coaching staff to the players, everyone is focused on one thing: playing basketball well.
"As for winning or losing, that's just the result, that's what we don't care about the least."
When asked why the Clippers have such a basketball culture, Cole shrugged and said: "What do you think, of course it's because of that person. He will never criticize you for losing, nor will he criticize you for winning. Praise for the ball. He only cares about whether we played well."
Needless to say, "that person" must be Smart Min.
In the perception of the other 29 teams, Smart is a lunatic.
Since his debut as the general manager of the Clippers, all kinds of outrageous things have happened one after another.
Unexpectedly, they won the championship in three seasons, got the No. 1 pick in the new season, and led the league in lineup and play style.
In Steve Kerr's description, the Los Angeles Clippers are simply the Mecca of basketball, the Jerusalem in the hearts of NBA basketball fans, and the Hollywood Dream Factory where basketball dreams can truly come true.
Mike Malone became deeply curious about the Clippers. What kind of team is this, and what kind of person is Smart Min?
At this time, LeBron James sent a message to Mike Malone and asked him if he had found a new job.
Mike Malone said not yet, he is still considering it.
James asked him if he was interested in going to the Los Angeles Clippers, who were considering recruiting a new assistant coach.
When Malone heard this, what did he mean? He got rid of Cole and then hired another coach, a coach from the Cavaliers?
The two teams have nothing to do, so why not swap coaches?
I have seen teams trade and exchange leading stars, such as Kidd for Marbury and Francis for Tracy McGrady.
I have never seen two teams change their coaches in the middle of the season.
And Malone thought, what if I go to the Clippers?
Cole left the Clippers and went to the Cavaliers to pass on successful experience and help the poor with technology.
And me? Go from the failed Cavaliers to the Clippers to visit and learn championship experience?
It feels awkward no matter how you look at it, and Malone also finds it difficult to face the Clippers.
But the strong curiosity about the Clippers and Min Congda made Mike Malone decide to give it a try.
"Just give it a try, interview casually, don't expect to pass, just feel the atmosphere of the Clippers."
Mike Malone thought so and dialed Smart Min's phone number that James had given him.
(End of chapter)
