I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 302 The hardest-working group of people (first update)
In June of this year, Kerr resigned as the general manager of the Suns, ending his short career as a professional manager.

He returned to the commentary position of the sports channel of Turner TV Network, and commented on the ball as a professional player.

As a member of two championship teams, Cole, who is not very talented, can be valued by Phil Jackson and Popovich, which is enough to show that he has a high basketball IQ.

It's just that the test of professional managers is not only basketball IQ, but also a lot of work outside of basketball that needs to be dealt with.

When he first arrived in the Suns, there was a problem with his team-building strategic thinking. He dismantled the team in exchange for O'Neal, who had passed his peak, in order to solve the Sun's phobia and fight against the Lakers' top three.

As a result, he was killed cleanly by the Spurs in 08. Cole realized that the era of inside behemoths was over, and immediately transformed.

The 10-year Suns were successful, but the upper limit has been reached. Cole has proved himself in three years, and he does not have enough motivation left behind.

In addition, the owner of the Suns, Sarver, really made Cole unable to appreciate him. Cole, as the noble man who helped Sarver buy the Suns in 2004, Sarver refused to give a lot of money to take charge of the team after Cole's contract expired. In order to succeed him with a generous contract, he will be given a 10% salary cut, and Cole will naturally not stay again.

He returned to the Turner TV station where he had worked, and continued to serve as a game commentator while waiting for new opportunities.

Cole thought of staying dormant for a while, waiting for the world to change, and then going out to assist a team to realize his career of dominance.

Although Cole won a lot of rings during his player period, he won the championship as a marginal role player after all. He is not considered a core member, and the weight of the ring is not heavy enough.

And Cole is a person with great ambitions, and it can be seen from his temper that he is not willing to be just a supporting role.

When he was playing for the Chicago Bulls, he had a conflict with Michael Jordan in training. He dared to punch the No. 1 player in the league and started a fight.

By the act of rushing at him, you can know that his spirit is very high, and he is definitely not a thing in the pool.

In the short three seasons of the Suns, the large-scale reforms and transactions can show its courage, connections and abilities.

After thinking wrong, he quickly adjusted, rebuilt the team, made good use of Nash's last peak, and reached the Western Conference Finals.

Even if they failed to realize their dreams of the finals and the championship, they swept the Spurs in the semifinals, venting the anger of being eliminated in the playoffs for many years.

After resigning from the Suns, many teams offered Cole an olive branch. Cole refused one by one, and resumed his work as a TV commentator. new trends.

Unexpectedly, the opportunity came quickly. The Clippers, which have attracted attention in the past two seasons, sent an interview invitation to Cole, hoping that he could come to the team as an offensive assistant coach.

The person who found Cole was the Clippers chief coach Kim Hughes. This old man was a representative of mediocrity in the player and coach era, and he is a typical good old guy in the league.

As a player, he played in small and medium teams like the Nuggets and Nets, and as a coach in a bad team like the Clippers, he is a character that Cole can't quite look up to.

But the NBA circle is small, after all, he is an old man, he still agreed to Kim Hughes' invitation to meet Lao Jin in Phoenix, and talked about the Clippers' recruitment of assistant coaches.

Cole originally wanted to be perfunctory, but what Kim Hughes said aroused Cole's great interest, especially Kim Hughes said that Smart Min asked the team to implement "everyone has a ball to play" The principle of gradually introducing the tactical system of passing and cutting made Cole's heart shine.

In the past few years, he has been thinking about the future development direction of NBA tactics all the time. Having personally experienced a near-perfect championship team, he has a unique understanding of championship-level teams. He is trying to find a team that can become the new Chicago Bulls or Spurs. Lead them to glory.

The Suns are not the answer, and other strong teams in the league are more or less meaningless, but the Clippers have always been the object of Kerr's attention.

After all, the Clippers left a deep impression on the entire league last season, especially their general manager Smart Min. Many people think he is a lunatic and a sensationalist.

But more and more cases are proving that this guy may be a genius, a person who may upend the league.

Of course, most people can't detect it, and only a few people feel the subversion of Min Congda.

Cole is one of these very few people, because Min Congda selected Curry in the 09 draft.

When Cole was still the general manager of the Suns in 09, he was very optimistic about Curry and hoped to trade for the Warriors' No. 7 pick to win Curry, even at the expense of Stoudemire as a bargaining chip.

The Suns obviously have the absolute point guard core Nash, but Cole still wants Curry, which is enough to show how much he fancy Curry's potential.

It's a pity that neither Cole nor the Warriors got Curry because they were cut off by the Clippers with the No. [-] pick.

Based on this, Cole decided that Smart-Min was not ordinary. His series of operations last season made the Clippers look brand new.

It's just that the overall style of the Clippers is "stable", and Cole is not sure about the future of the Clippers, so he didn't think much about it.

Unexpectedly, not long after the start of the season, Smart-Min started to "act as a monster" again. He wanted to change the team's tactical system and hire a new assistant coach.

Cole temporarily agreed to Kim Hughes, saying that he still needs to think about it and observe.

After the Clippers lost the game against the Suns, on October 10, they played away against the Kings.

The Kings deserves to be the league's first warm-up team. After using three deadly centers in the last game, this one turned into a big and four small. Dalembert started, Evans, Mo Jr., Udrih three-back lineup.

Big for a while, small for a while, are you Monkey King's golden cudgel?
From this point of view, the Kings are even more unreliable than the Clippers. When Min Congda saw this starter, he called the experts directly. He wanted to learn from the Kings' head coach and general manager. Can you teach you how to do it? Make this behavior seem so reasonable.

But with such a weird lineup like the Kings, the Clippers, who have an absolute advantage inside, still have an inextricable fight with their opponents.

The two sides fought fiercely to the last moment of the game. At 98:99 behind the Kings by 1 point, James Harden stepped back from the top of the arc and made a mid-range jumper. The buzzer beat the Kings!

Opponents that could have been easily defeated, relying on the lore to pass the risk, the Clippers will really increase the popularity of the NBA.

At the same time, it also shows that the Clippers' pass-and-cut tactics have a little bit of a look, and they are not as engaging in performance art as they were at the beginning.

Then on December 12 and January 29, the Clippers lost to the Utah Jazz and the Atlanta Hawks.

The two games were very intense, but the Clippers still had an offensive problem. They scored less than [-] points in the two games. They were too obsessed with passing and cutting, resulting in more turnovers and low offensive efficiency.

Cole explained the two games, and looked at the clips of the Clippers' previous games. He came to a conclusion: "The Clippers have made a little progress in every game, indicating that they may have found some training. trick."

However, when Kerr called Kim Hughes and asked if the team still needs an offensive assistant coach.

Kim Hughes said: "Of course, of course we need it. We are still inviting assistant coaches from other teams. Of course, if you are willing to come, you will be the first choice."

Cole said: "But I see your team's offense has improved in the past few games, and you are getting better and better. You know, how difficult it is to suddenly change the tactical system in the middle of the season. .”

Unexpectedly, Kim Hughes' answer shocked Cole.

"Forget it Steve, some of us old guys can't find a clue to design a new tactical system. Their progress comes from their own exploration after the game and training. It is their own progress. But this is not the way, Always have to find an assistant coach who understands the pass-and-cut offense."

"What? You said, the players figured it out by themselves?"

"Yes Steve, they are the hardest working people I've ever met."

(End of this chapter)