Coach: Coaching the Grizzlies at the beginning, playing the bantam

Chapter 206 Cleaning the coaching staff!Recruit new teaching assistants and continue to flourish!
In mid-July, the 76ers held a press conference for the newly joined players, showed their jerseys in front of the media, and accepted interviews.

Lu Yong praised the rookies and veterans who just joined the 76ers in the summer, and made positive comments on everyone.

At this time, even if you tell nonsense with your eyes open, you have to find a way to gather the morale of the team. You can't pick and choose the players, and spray a wave first.

Seeing the scene of the 76ers holding a press conference for new players on TV, the veterans who were rejected by the management in the summer felt sorry.

The first veteran who was rejected by Lu Yong was the former Rockets star Tracy McGrady. He can hardly run anymore, his athletic ability and lateral movement speed have dropped sharply. Apart from his popularity halo, his current strength is not as good as last season's 10.5. Jody Meeks with 2.3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

Meeks shot 39.7 percent from [-]-point range last year, and he's a quality shooter in his prime.

In contrast, the 32-year-old McGrady played for the Detroit Pistons last season, averaging 23.4 minutes per game, scoring 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and his shooting percentage was just over 40%.The core ability to play is insufficient, and the ball is needed to play a role player, which is not suitable for the 76ers' tactical system.

In Lu Yong's eyes, McGrady's strength at this stage is not even as good as "General" Arenas. The latter can still be used as a bench gangster after shedding the aura of a superstar. He is good at attacking with the ball and without the ball.But McGrady, who has no defense, still maintains the core style of play. This is a very hurtful thing for the team, and it is also the reason why McGrady has not been accepted by most teams like Carter in the twilight of his career.

After joining the 76ers, McGrady officially signed with the Eagles today and signed a one-year contract on veteran terms.

McGrady has contacted many teams in the free market, including the Bulls and Eagles.

Because of the difficulty in renewing Jamal Crawford, the Eagles have been looking for guns, hoping to find their own sixth man. McGrady came into their sight in this context.

It stands to reason that McGrady is more likely to sign with the Bulls, because the Bulls' current head coach Tom Thibodeau once coached McGrady.However, the Bulls are overcrowded at shooting guards and small forwards. The Bulls now have Bogans, Ronnie Brewer, Korver and Ruhr Deng at this position, so McGrady failed to join the Bulls in the end.

McGrady is expected to be the team's sixth man after joining the Hawks. It is not an easy task to enter the Hawks' starting lineup. His competitors are Joe Johnson and Josh Smith.

The Atlanta media reported the news of McGrady's joining one after another, seeming to regard McGrady as a perfect substitute for Crawford.

Unfortunately, only Lu Yong knew that Tracy McGrady's competitive state plummeted after joining the Hawks. Not only did the playoffs fail to take the Hawks farther, but they stopped the Hawks, which reached the semifinals last season, in the first round.

Then, this guy was completely unemployed, left the NBA and joined the Qingdao Club of the Chinese CBA League. He averaged 25 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game in a single season, and he also won an All-Star ticket.

McGrady, who couldn't even hit the ball in the NBA, went to the CBA to kill without thinking. It can only be said that the road of Chinese basketball has a long way to go.

Yao Ming's former teammate "Streetball King" Alston also wanted to join the 76ers, but Lu Yong resolutely rejected it. The reason was that Alston would only play nonsense on the field, and other point guards would get older with experience. The more demonic it is, the better it is, the more you fight, the lower the efficiency.

Alston used to be Yao Ming's comrade-in-arms and the Rockets' best ball handler in the entire "Yao Ming era". He averaged 10.1 points, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game in his career.

However, since he played for the Nets and the Heat in the 09-10 season, he left the NBA. Last season, Alstom joined the CBA Zhejiang Guangsha team ahead of McGrady. He scored an average of 8 points and 19.2 steals in 2.3 games. Not as good as Maddie.

In the end, I don’t know if the domestic CBA league gave him confidence. Alstom actually thought that he still had the strength to compete in the NBA, so he started the idea of ​​​​coming back, hoping to continue his career.

According to Alstom's agent Eddie Law, "Streetball King" is very much looking forward to returning to the NBA, and he is in contact with many NBA teams.Alstom is expected to return to his jersey once he is formally invited by one of the teams.

Currently, Alstom is coaching the high school basketball team and waiting for an invitation from an NBA team.

In addition, the 32-year-old "bearded" Baron Davis also recommended himself to the 76ers management. He played for the Clippers and Cavaliers last season, averaging 13.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game. , the strength is very powerful.

According to common sense, the 76ers will definitely not lose money by signing him, and it is worse than the "General" Arenas. Unfortunately, Davis was found to have a serious intervertebral disc injury when he played for the Cavaliers last season. Played 15 games for the Cavaliers before being cut.

For Davis, it was never strength that affected his signing, but an injury that was enough to make him retire on the spot. Few teams are willing to give him a chance.

It is precisely because Lu Yong knew that Davis was in a sluggish state after this injury and had no choice but to retire after playing 29 games for the Knicks in the new season, so he politely rejected him.

Injuries are always the biggest enemy of NBA players. Lu Yong and Iverson only have one year, and it is impossible to wait for Baron Davis to recover, so this signing can only fall through.

Fortunately, the 76ers' signings and reinforcements in the summer went relatively smoothly. The current 15-man roster is full, and Lu Yong no longer has to worry about the lineup.

The next morning, Lu Yong called the new players to the arena to conduct a simple test on their current competitive state.

The main tests were fixed-point three-pointers and catch-and-shoot shots. As a result, both old and new players performed better than Lu Yong expected, which can be regarded as an end to his worries.

Among them, the veterans Peja Stojakovic and Vujacic played the best. They shot accurately in every position, especially at 45 degrees on both sides. They could almost shoot without missing a shot from the open space and completely crushed the 76. other players on the team.

Arenas and Thomas Jr.'s shooting percentage is also very good, but the bottom corner position is not stable enough, and the most efficient area is the top of the arc, which is good at frontal projection.

Yi Jianlian's partiality is even more serious. The only two accurate points are 45 degrees on the left and 60 degrees on the right. The shooting rate in other positions is poor, and the mid-range shot is relatively stable. He needs to train hard in summer.

The worst thing is Vucevic. In the early stages of his career, his skills and body were not at a disadvantage, but his shooting stability was not good, and he had a good percentage of open shots. Once someone interfered in front of him, his efficiency would be greatly reduced.

Fortunately, Vucevic's mid-range shooting rate is outstanding. It is enough to play the role of Dayao last season and play high positions. He has a solid foundation in shooting. More practical and ready-to-combat rookies.

Iverson also went to the scene to observe the training of the new players, and sat on the sidelines with Kevin Garnett, chatting and laughing.

A star of Garnett's level doesn't need to rely on tests to prove himself even if he transfers to another team. Lu Yong only asked him to cooperate with his teammates for a few help defenses. After the defense awareness was still at the top of the league, I didn't pay much attention to it.

He knows that Garnett will not neglect training in the summer, and Iverson, who is eager to win the championship, will definitely encourage this old friend by insinuating.

After the observation, Lu Yong had a little understanding of the competitive state of the new players, and asked them to practice shooting more during the holidays, and to conduct proper pace training to slow down the decay of explosive power before taking the holiday.

This is just an in-team test for the coaching staff and players to get acquainted with each other. The real team training camp will not start until September.

Back at the hotel, Snyder followed Lu Yong into the room, and said straight to the point: "Lu, the 76ers' defense is good, but the offensive firepower is still a bit weak, not as good as the Supersonics. I think the team should Recruit a shooting coach who is responsible for watching the players practice shooting and running positions. The current shooting coach in the team feels very unreliable to me. I seriously suspect that he came in through the back door."

Lu Yong only took Quinn Snyder with him when he switched jobs this time. Now the assistant coaches around him are all from the original team of the 76ers, so it is really inconvenient to use.

The current shooting coach of the 76ers is a black guy who was promoted from the Development League. He is young and enjoys getting along with the players, but his professional ability is very average. Compare.

Without Snyder's reminder, Lu Yong has long wanted to clean up the coaching staff and re-organize his team, but he has never spared time.

When the management of each team recruits the team coach, they will ask the new coach if they need to reorganize the team. This is the unspoken rule of the NBA, and it is also one of the reasons why the coaching circle is divided into cliques. The competition for this position is far more intense than that of players. It's a lot easier to mix.

In Lu Yong’s previous life, only the 34-year-old young coach Saunders could become the Timberwolves coach because of his relationship, because he is the son of the famous NBA coach Philip Saunders. Without this relationship, he would not be able to climb to death. head coach position.

After all, Sanders had a total record of 26 wins and 69 losses during his coaching period in the Timberwolves. Such a record is very poor, and it is not as good as a dog tied to the coach's bench.

Although this guy finally dismissed get out of class after only two seasons of coaching, he can only be blamed for not seizing the opportunity. There are countless capable assistant coaches in the league who don't even have the opportunity. It takes a lot of age to get over the addiction of being a head coach.

It is much easier for Lu Yong to form his own coaching staff than others. Just like scouting Snyder from the Development League, the names of high-quality assistant coaches are all in his mind.

"I'm planning to clean up the coaching staff, and I'll send an email to the general manager Ed in the evening, asking him to try to contact him." Lu Yong nodded and said. "However, I don't have a clue about the candidate for the shooting coach. Do you have a good candidate? Let me recommend it."

Snyder thought for a while, then smiled and said: "Really, Fred Hoiberg, we two have some friendship in private, he was invited to coach at Iowa State University last year, but if you have the opportunity to enter your The coaching staff, I think he might be interested."

"Hoiberg? You even forgot about him. If he is willing to come, he is indeed the best candidate." Lu Yong nodded slightly.

Fred Hoiberg is a former NBA player who served as a guard on the field. He has played in the NBA for 10 seasons and has played for the Pacers, Bulls and Timberwolves.He played a total of 541 games in his career, averaging 5.4 points and 1.6 assists per game.

Hoiberg is the quintessential pure shooter, shooting 43 percent for his career, including nearly 40 percent from three-point range.

In the 04-05 season, Hoiberg's three-point shooting percentage reached a terrifying 48.3%, becoming the league's "three-point king" that year.

Lu Yong is no stranger to him. After retiring, he first worked as a head coach in college for a few years, and then was invited by the Bulls to be the head coach of the team in 2015, officially stepping into the coveted NBA circle.

Although Hoiberg's coaching ability is indeed mediocre, he led the Bulls to a record of 42 wins and 40 losses in the first year of coaching, with a winning rate of more than 50%, which is by no means a mediocrity.

The most important thing is that Hoiberg shoots three-pointers very well. He has been elected as the league's three-pointer champion.

For him, this is an opportunity to knock on the door of the NBA, and it also means leaving the comfort zone to accept greater challenges, and being bound together with the flourishing Lu Yong.

Lu Yong didn't know if Hoiberg would agree, but he really wanted to try to recruit.

"I will send the recruitment list to Ed in the evening, and you can also check Fred's tone in private. It would be great if he is willing to join the coaching staff," Lu Yong said.

"No problem. I'll talk to him in the game tonight. If he doesn't come, I'll kick him out of the union." Snyder laughed loudly.

"." Lu Yong turned his head blankly. "The friendship between you and him is based on playing games?"

"Of course not. We've known each other since high school. It's just that the union has activities at night, and I can't be absent." Snyder said seriously.

"Get out, please leave my room in a smooth manner immediately!"

"Ha ha ha ha."

Two days later, news came from the general manager Ed.

Two of the three recruiting emails sent by the 76ers gave affirmative answers, expressing their willingness to join Lu Yong's coaching staff and will go to Philadelphia to sign the contract soon.

Only three-time championship player Brian Shaw rejected the invitation of the 76ers and will go to the Pacers as the chief assistant.

After retiring, Brian Shaw stayed with the Lakers as a scout until the 04-05 season, when he was hired as an assistant coach of the Lakers and became the right-hand man next to "Zen Master" Phil Jackson.

This summer "Zen Master" announced his retirement. Brian Shaw chose to leave the team after failing to run for the head coach of the Lakers. He will join the Pacers coaching staff as the chief assistant and assist Frank Vogel in the new season.

It is not surprising that Brian Shaw rejected Lu Yong. After all, he is the chief assistant coach of the Pacers. Can't be called a hero.

After careful consideration, Brian Shaw still rejected Lu Yong's invitation and chose to join the Pacers.

As for the two assistants who were invited to join the Philadelphia coaching staff, they were Hoiberg and Jacqui Vaughn.

The former is mainly responsible for the shooting training of the 76ers players, and has the right to participate in tactical discussions, and his salary is higher than when he was the head coach in college.

And the name Jacqui Vaughan will not be unfamiliar to most fans. This guy is the person who later replaced Nash as the head coach of the Nets. The record is still good, and the team basketball system has played a huge role.

After being appointed as the interim coach by the team, Vaughn led the Nets to an impressive record of 12 wins and 1 loss in February, and was elected the best coach of the month in the NBA Eastern Conference.

Vaughan is a very capable person. Although he is not a first-class coach, he is good at communicating with players, especially with core players. The 76ers have many veteran players in the new season, and they need a Vaughan type. The TAs help condense the locker room.

Lu Yong is more optimistic about Vaughn's coaching talent, and he will definitely help the team in the new season.

With the joining of Hoiberg and Vaughan's two right-hand assistants, the strength of the 76ers' coaching staff has grown again. When the contract expires next year, Lu Yong can take them away together and train them as confidantes.

(End of this chapter)