Summer always passes quickly. Children return to school after their summer vacation. There are fewer and fewer people sunbathing on the beach. Various popular leagues in California are gradually coming to an end. The attention of basketball fans around the world has shifted again. In the NBA, the journey of the new season is about to begin again.
On October 7th, in Oakland, California, the Golden State Warriors’ new season training camp is about to begin.
The new Warriors head coach Steve Kerr came to the team's training center very early. Before the players arrived, he sat alone on the sidelines and thought about it in his mind. Thinking again and again about what to do on the first day of training camp.
He has been planning for this day for a long time. Ever since he agreed to sign with the Warriors in the summer, a series of plans and ideas have been swirling in his mind, like an albatross in the wind, unable to land no matter what.
Of course, many fans or media may not understand his current state, because the Warriors lineup in his hands is so luxurious, and he feels that he should be able to win no matter how he plays in the new season.
The Warriors directly recruited two superstars without touching their core lineup structure, which is extremely rare in NBA history.
David Lee's style of strong offense and weak defense is not suitable for a championship-level team, and Harris-Barnes is not worth mentioning in front of Durant and James.
Coupled with the growing backcourt of the Warriors and Clippers, a good inside line, and two super forwards, they are super favorites to win the championship in any year in the NBA.
In the words of some fans, "Even if you tie a dog to the bench, this lineup can win the championship."
But Steve Kerr knows that a certain team may really be able to win the title, but the Warriors definitely cannot.
Kerr reached an agreement with the Warriors in June to take over Mark Jackson's coaching position and become the new head coach.
After Durant applied for a trade in August, the Warriors acquired Durant and followed James on his journey westward, bringing his talent to the West Coast.
Therefore, Cole did not expect to have such a card in his hand at first, an excellent card, and it is not easy to play such a good card well.
Because this deck contains LeBron James.
"Hey Steve! Good morning! You're so early!"
Someone shouted to Kerr, and it was LeBron James, who was the first to arrive at the practice facility.
In terms of diligence, James is absolutely nothing to say. The hard training day after day has given him a superhuman physique and stable skills.
James' skills are not gorgeous. In low-intensity confrontation or no confrontation, they are even quite ugly. It is easy for people to question "Can this person play ball?"
But once in a confrontation, in the highest-intensity game, James can still maintain his skills, never miss the dribble, and make stable layups. This is not only his talent, but also inseparable from his self-discipline and daily hard work. train.
"Good morning, LeBron, nice to see you so early. You are indeed the first one to arrive, a good role model."
"Of course, I am the king, the early king!"
King is the nickname given to James by fans, a nickname that is somewhat flattering.
But James seemed to take advantage of it, often calling himself king, although he was never crowned.
With that said, James went to the locker room to change clothes, and Cole thought about talking to James later.
In fact, Cole really didn't expect that James would choose to leave the Cavaliers and join the Warriors.
Because once he joins the Warriors, it means that he has completely given up on pursuing Jordan.
It can also be seen from public opinion that although there is controversy about James' joining, most of them are relatively mild and there are no fierce remarks. Many Cleveland fans do not blame James. Many people even think that James should leave and pursue a career. Championship ring.
What does this mean? It means that the public's expectations for him have been lowered. Just imagine if people's expectations for him are to become the best in history, then his behavior of changing teams and teaming up with Durant will undoubtedly be criticized by many people. of contempt.
If you are an ordinary player, even an All-Star, you can basically join whichever team you want to join. The free market is free.
But superstars are different. They are burdened with the expectations of fans, and some expectations are even unreasonable and harsh, because if you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight. If you want to get the ultimate evaluation, you must create the ultimate achievement.
James joining the Warriors means that he voluntarily gave up all these expectations and threw away the weight that was weighing him down.
In the summer, Nike renewed James' contract, but the contract amount did not increase. It was just the same as before, which is enough to show Nike's disappointment in him.
Judging from public opinion, the voices criticizing Durant are much louder than those criticizing James, because Durant is younger, and Durant also joined the Warriors who just defeated them in the Western Conference Finals. Isn't this surrender?
Charles Barkley once did this, but at that time he was already late in his career, and everyone was very tolerant of veterans chasing championship rings.
But Durant is only 25 years old, why is he so frustrated and wants to leave?
These public opinion controversies will trouble both players and coaches. The Warriors will face tremendous pressure from public opinion in the new season.
If he fails to win the championship, it is hard for Cole to imagine what kind of public attack Durant and James will receive. It will definitely be a storm.
Similarly, Cole, who is sitting on such a lineup, will also be criticized. There is absolutely no way to escape this, so such a good hand is not necessarily a good thing for Cole.
Because if you win, it means your lineup is great, if you lose, it means your coach is incompetent.
It's just that Cole really didn't expect these two guys to come to the Warriors.
James put on his training jersey and came to the court and began warm-up training. He first performed shooting exercises to find out his touch.
Cole got up and came to the court to help James pick up the ball. James' shooting action was still awkward and ugly, but his shooting percentage was pretty good.
"LeBron, what are your thoughts on the new season?" Cole asked James.
After James decided to join the Warriors, Cole did not have in-depth communication with James.
At that time, Cole just sent a text message to James, and the two had a brief exchange, but there has been no communication about the new season since then.
This is Cole's biggest problem in the offseason. He and James worked together in the Cavaliers for a season and a half, and it was relatively unsuccessful in terms of results.
Although there was a very good start, Cole used certain means to get James to switch to the fourth position and take the super-support route, but it didn't last long before James returned to his old ways.
The loss to the Heat in the playoffs caused James' trust in Cole to decline. At the same time, Cole failed to deal with the Kyrie Irving issue, which led to the collapse of the Cavaliers last season.
In Cole's view, the root of all this is that James is unwilling to position himself, and it is difficult to try a new style of play that suits him.
If he is still so stubborn and insists on building a ball-holding style of play with himself as the core, then Cole will have a very, very headache, and the system he has always wanted to build will be in vain.
Therefore, he wanted to find an opportunity to have a good exchange with James, and it was best to convince James that he could play the fourth position and become the ideal super support.
In Cole's mind, if James can play the fourth position with peace of mind and serve as a transfer hub, the strength of this Warriors will definitely be amazing, and his ideal system will definitely be realized.
Especially with his passing system, the Clippers have gone further and further down another path, diverging from the path Cole had previously imagined. Cole is eager to prove himself with the Warriors.
James is undoubtedly the key.
"Ideas? Of course I won the championship. Needless to say? I want to stand farther away and try to make three-pointers from a longer distance."
"I'm talking about your thoughts, not your wishes. What you think about the team, tactics, and teammates. You should try more long-range three-pointers."
James took the ball from Cole. At this time, he stood two steps away from the three-point line, opened his hands and shot a three-pointer. His shooting posture was very stable, and his elbow was turned out as always, but the ball hit the backboard. , the rebound went into the basket.
"Phew! Luck!" James smiled, and it could be seen that he was still in a good mood.
Despite another disappointing season and a difficult decision, time will always make things better.
James certainly has his own ideas about the new season. In fact, this summer he experienced the most painful and torturous thinking in his life and completed a spiritual transformation.
"Thinking about the new season, to be honest Steve, this is not something I should think about. I am just a player. I will do whatever you ask me to do."
With that said, James took the ball and shot it again. The ball went hollow into the net and was a good shot.
It can be seen that James has strengthened his three-point shooting training in the summer.
When Cole heard James' words, he couldn't believe his ears. What did James mean that everything was at the mercy of the coach?
No, is this still James? How could this be him? He has always asked the coach to match tactics according to his style of play.
Isn't this a deliberately low profile for a new team?
It was the same when he first joined the Cavaliers. James also said that he would do anything to win.
Later, after a lot of beatings, my true colors were revealed.
So, Cole picked up the ball, patted it, and threw it to James again.
"Then according to my arrangement, you will still appear at the power forward position in the new season, and you will be asked to hand over the control of the ball to Lillard and the first shot to Kevin Durant. You have to What do you think about focusing your energy on two very important things, one is support and the other is defense?"
Cole deliberately revealed his tactics to James to test James' attitude.
When James received the ball from Cole, he had already reached a 45-degree position on the left, one step beyond the three-point line.
Taking a look at the basket, James took another three-point shot. It was still an unsightly shooting posture, but it was very stable.
However, the ball was still hit. It can be seen that James' shooting touch is pretty good today.
After another hit, James did not answer Cole's question head-on. Instead, he asked: "Steve, how do you feel about my new shooting posture?"
Cole whispered to himself, new shooting posture? Is this a new shooting position? It feels no different, just as stiff and ugly as before.
"Oh, good. I can see that you made some adjustments, and the effect seems to be... good." Cole thought about it carefully, and it seemed that it was a little different from the past.
"Yes, I have changed my shooting posture. I used to shoot from the front, but now I shoot from the side, so that the axis of my shooting will be straighter, reduce valgus, and the shooting speed will be faster. There are also , I used to shoot at the highest point of the jump, but now I shoot while rising, faster and farther!"
With that said, James received the ball from Cole and quickly shot a three-pointer!
There was a sound of "Bang", the ball didn't go in...
"Huh, this ball feels a little bad."
Then, James shot several more three-pointers from long range, with a pretty good hit rate.
James was sweating slightly and had finished his warm-up. At this time, he said to Cole: "I did a lot of targeted training this summer. I strengthened my three-point shooting, lost some weight, and I specifically found a tactic. The coach came to teach me tactics, and also participated in Olajuwon's training class to train my low-post footwork. In short...I am willing to do anything for victory and championship. As long as we can win the championship, I will completely listen to your command. You can ask me to play the fourth or fifth position, no problem."
"Steve, I have no way out." James finally added.
Cole was very touched after hearing this. He thought James might really realize that he had to change.
Just like the last basketball emperor Wilt Chamberlain, after moving to the Philadelphia 76ers in 1966, Chamberlain began to transform from his previous crazy scoring style of play.
He started passing the ball and assisting his teammates, which ultimately helped Chamberlain defeat the Boston Celtics in 1967, end the Celtics' eight consecutive championship dynasty, and win the precious championship.
At that time, the team Chamberlain left was the Warriors, but now that James has come to the Warriors, his changes may also be to end the Clippers dynasty.
About half an hour later, the rest of the Warriors also came to the training facility, Durant, Lillard, Bogut, Thompson, Green...
Everyone came very early, and it can be seen that the Warriors players are full of hope and confidence for the new season.
Last season, they reached the Western Conference finals as the sixth seed in the Western Conference. They have two strong opponents in the offseason, and they are targeting the Clippers and the championship in the new season!
For Cole, the first training session is extremely important. He must set a tone for the entire season and lay a good foundation.
He replaced Mark Jackson as the team's head coach. The Warriors' young players were somewhat unconvinced because Jackson's performance in leading the team was very good.
Cole must show something different between him and Jackson and perform brilliantly in the regular season to convince the crowd.
So, after gathering the players, Cole gave a brief speech:
"I came to Oakland and the Golden State Warriors to only do three things, win, win, win! I know what you are thinking, and I also know who our biggest enemy is in the new season. I will say it bluntly here, Our enemy was the Los Angeles Clippers. I coached there and built their offensive system, and we were successful, but my philosophy was not fully implemented and I was abandoned. Why do we need to win, why do we We need to succeed, why win the championship? If we win the victory and the championship, the world will not change much. The mountain is still the same mountain, the sea is still the same sea, and the sun still rises from the east as usual. What really changes is Ourselves are our hearts. We have proven ourselves. From then on, we stand on the ground with our heads held high and say to our opponents and our descendants, 'We have been here, we have climbed, and we have reached the top.'"
"Starting from today, I will put up this slogan in the training hall, locker room, and gym, 'We have no retreat, only victory and advancement.'"
(End of chapter)
