Chapter 262 261. At least the basics are maintained
Carlisle: "I watched Paul's college performance and rookie year video and thought he could become a player like Brian Grant and Matt Harpring. I didn't expect that he actually had the talent to become a player like Charles Oakley."

In his rookie season, Millsap had obvious advantages, but he also had many disadvantages and looked very rough.

Even during his college years, Millsap did not show much ball-handling ability. He mostly scored by cutting in and attacking on second chances. He did show some talent in mid-range and long-range shooting.

As for passing, his performance in this aspect in college was almost zero, otherwise he would not have fallen to the second round if he had averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game as a junior and won the district rebounding title for three consecutive years from his freshman to junior year.

Millsap's performance in college really did not seem like a player with the potential to develop skills, and he played center most of the time, but he was only 201 cm tall.

When Carlisle took over the Bobcats, Millsap was almost 23 years old. Normally, such a short and rough inside player would not have much potential. He did not pay much attention to Millsap during the training camp and only regarded him as a blue-collar substitute.

But tonight, when Millsap replaced Hill, he was very proactive and active in responding to passes from Zhang Yang, Felton, and Okafor, either passing or shooting. His performance was average, but his awareness of receiving and assisting passes made Carlisle's eyes light up.

Bickerstaff responded: "I remember last year in training camp, Raymond said Paul had a good sense of passing. I gave him a chance in the team training game and tried to let him assist, but his dribbling and passing were too bad. I thought it was Raymond who misjudged him, but I didn't expect it was me who misjudged him. After a year, Paul's ball control, ball protection and passing have improved. In training camp, I saw him training with Grant. He might want to learn Grant's assists."

Carlisle's eyes widened: "Why didn't you tell me earlier!"

Bickerstaff: "I thought you were the one who arranged for him to learn from Grant... If it wasn't you, then it was Raymond, who is keen on helping his teammates improve their abilities."

Felton... Carlisle admires this team leader very much. Although he seems a little bit stupid, he does a good job in leading the team, whether it is leading the team in training, doing team building, or playing with teammates.

Carlisle sighed: "We have to adjust the tactics again. Since Paul already has a certain foundation in passing and controlling the ball, and has shown a talent for supporting, we must cultivate him well, otherwise it will be a big loss."

Bickerstaff smiled and said, "Rick, don't be anxious, take your time. You have just taken over the team. Michael and I will not put pressure on you."

Carlisle angrily said: Take your time? No hurry? Why don't you take over a defending champion team and try it! And the expression on your face, dare you say you are not gloating?
He would not say this directly, but just looked at Bickerstaff with angry eyes, while Bickerstaff was enjoying himself like a naughty old boy.

After the meeting, Carlisle returned to the room, took out the tactical manual, and drew out several tactics that were suitable for adjustment.

As he said to Bickerstaff, Millsap must be trained and the tactical system must continue to be adjusted. The most difficult part is that the intensity of training needs to be controlled and the measure is very delicate.

At present, Millsap has only shown his talent and needs to be given certain tactical resources, but not too many... Make a phone call to mobilize some players!
Who are the teachers who are good at training supporting power forwards and centers?

Sloan, who trained Malone, Boozer, and Okur! PJ Carlesimo, who trained Rasheed Wallace! His college teacher... was too old, so it was embarrassing to disturb him in the middle of the night, but he had a junior named Donovan, a young coach in his early 40s who had more ideas and had just won two NCAA championships in a row. He called to ask.

Who are the old teammates who are good at assisting? If there is McHale who is a coach now, let's call him too.

Big Bird is the best at this, but he just had a falling out, so he shouldn't go to him... Carlisle looked at the time, it was two o'clock in the morning... No, he must go to Big Bird, even if he has to beg for advice humbly.

So, Carlisle called people all night, and kept holding Big Bird from 2 to 4 in the morning. After 4 o'clock, he called McHale again. When it was almost dawn, he called the teachers who were old and didn't sleep much...

After a sleepless night, Carlisle, with the help of many parties, finally completed the early plan for training Millsap. He wrote more than ten pages in a small notebook. Although he didn't know how effective it would be, he had a direction.

When he was about to take a shower and catch up on some sleep, he saw several strands of hair fall out when he lightly grabbed them... The hair growth agent was useless!
Do you still buy hair growth products and hair growth shampoo? Although his annual salary of 400 million is not small, he can't afford such a toss! His wife even joked that he could open a hair growth product expo...

...

Yao Ming was substituted after playing for just a few minutes in his first preseason game. His performance was extremely poor during his time on the court, but it did not cause much stir in the United States. Skiles said after the game that Yao Ming was unwell, but no one paid much attention to it.

But in the country, all kinds of strange remarks are emerging rapidly.

Strangely enough, after Yao Ming changed teams, the real stakeholders were all thinking about how to stop losses and how to seize new opportunities in Chicago. The various industries surrounding Yao Ming have ushered in a major reshuffle.

Yao Ming is no longer the young and ignorant man he was five years ago. Seeing that Zhang Yang's family had already started purchasing assets and developing surrounding areas around Zhang Yang, he was already preparing for these things when he decided to change teams. This time, he took the initiative to occupy a lot of resources.

But those big germs who have nothing to do with the team, and no one gives them any benefits, but they bring their own food and criticize Yao Ming from the perspective of the Rockets and Alexander, becoming the spiritual shareholders of the Rockets and being angrier than anyone else.

Of course, there are also many comments expressing concern for Yao Ming.

两天后，公牛队第二场季前赛，打魔术队，姚明面对新生代最有天赋的中锋霍华德打了28分钟轻松拿到15分10板2助攻2盖帽，和霍华德对位期间，他防得霍华德只拿到6投2中加上4中1的罚球只拿到5分8板……轻松击破了国内那些攻击他的言论。

The Bulls' running-in progress was very fast, and they were basically well-integrated by the end of training camp.

Yao Ming is a very standard traditional center who stands still and is suitable for a lot of offensive and defensive tactics. Although Skiles will not adapt to the league trend in the future, at the end of the traditional era, he is quite capable and has well combined the Bulls' strong mobility on the outside with Yao Ming, who is the league's top defensive efficiency under the basket.

Compared with Yao Ming who is in a team that mainly uses traditional tactics, Zhang Yang's side... The Bobcats lost the last three games of their four consecutive away games against the Hawks, Heat and Magic.

On October 10, the morning after playing against the Magic, the Bobcats flew back to Charlotte after an eight-day, four-game road trip.

On the plane, the atmosphere was rather gloomy. Although it was a pre-season game, winning or losing didn't matter, but as a man, who doesn't like to hear someone say "you're awesome"? No one wants to lose.

Although the atmosphere was low, everyone was still very enthusiastic and sat in groups of three or four to discuss. Alan Anderson and Afflalo followed the boss's instructions and took the initiative to ask Mike Miller and Cardinal for advice on tactics and positioning.

Millsap followed the boss's instructions and followed Hill to listen to Hill's stories.

Okafor, Perkins, Muhammad, Rondo and others are communicating about defensive issues.

Hermann sat alone by the window reading a lonely book...

Zhang Yang and Felton sat together to watch video clips of the games against the Hawks and Heat.

In front of his younger brothers, Felton confidently directed them to do what they should do.

But when he and his younger brother were sitting alone in a corner, the fat little boss began to complain: "Rick adjusts tactics too frequently. There are so many adjustments in every game. He keeps increasing and decreasing tactical runs for each person, increasing and decreasing ball transfers... I can hardly keep up."

Zhang Yang: "I'm also struggling, but Rick's idea is good. Don't you think those tactical adjustments are great?"

Felton: "The tactics are very good. You, Emeka and I, the three of us led very good tactics and played well. The three of us played together, with Grant playing power forward and Mike. I feel that our offense was better than last season's Eastern Conference Finals and the Finals. What's the word you mentioned? Basics! Yes, basics, we held on to our basics.

But other tactics... I can't say they are bad, but Rick changed his mind too quickly. In the last game, he gave Rajon the power to break through and start the offense, but in the next game, he reduced Rajon's break through and let him play pick-and-roll with Paul. As a result, when playing against the Magic, he let Paul play without the ball..."

Zhang Yang: "Rick does have too many ideas and is too anxious. He wants to try every possibility, but both Rajon and Paul are too young and their basic skills are too poor. They can't play as he wants. He can only adjust, but there is nothing he can do. He is under a lot of pressure."

Felton: "Michael and Bernie didn't put pressure on Rick, did they?"

Zhang Yang: "Probably not. Not only will they not put pressure on Rick, they may even lower their expectations for the new season's results. But being the head coach of our team is a very stressful thing in itself."

Felton: “Why?”

Zhang Yang: "Well... let's put it this way. If you first studied at Duke for two years, and people thought you were already one of the strongest players in the NCAA, and you transferred to North Carolina in your junior year, but North Carolina just won the championship in your sophomore year, and their core player retired. After you transferred to North Carolina, you immediately became the core player. What would your goal be?"

Felton: "Of course it can only be the championship, so many people are watching... So that's how it is. If North Carolina won the championship when I was studying at Duke, no matter how much I like North Carolina, I would not go there. When a team changes its core, the tactics will inevitably change greatly. The playing styles of both the new core and the old players need to be adjusted. If I were Rick, I probably wouldn't choose to come to our team. With his ability, he can find a job anywhere."

Zhang Yang: "So Rick is very respectable. He did not run to the Bulls to compete with Skiles for the head coach position. Instead, after seeing us win the championship, he still insisted on his original choice and became our head coach."

Felton: "I understand. Other teammates can complain, but as the boss, I can't complain at this time. I have to support Rick!"

Zhang San gave a thumbs up to Little Fatty Boss. In many aspects outside the court, Little Fatty Boss was not very smart, but when it came to leading the team, with Little Fatty Boss around, Zhang San had nothing to worry about!

Zhang Yang was not anxious because of the unsatisfactory progress of the team's offensive running-in. As Felton said, the basic foundation of their team is there. The three core players have improved compared to last season. There is also a front line support core that did not exist before, and Millsap's supporting talent has also been valued.

He, Zhang San, only needs to focus his work on how to shoot the ball into the basket in tactics and non-tactics, and on improving his one-on-one defense ability. Even if the team's offense is slow in running-in, he can just shoot a few more times. He is already prepared to take the blame and make shots if the team's offense fails.

The area where the coaches sit.

Looking at Carlisle sitting by the window writing and drawing in a tactical notebook, Bickerstaff said to his father, "Bernie, don't you want to comfort Rick? How about I go? I think he's under too much pressure."

Bickerstaff: "If you go to comfort him, he will be more stressed. What he needs now is not comfort, but someone who can help him find a solution to the problem. Do you have a way to solve the problem in a short time?"

Little Bickerstaff shook his head honestly: "No, I am far behind him. He is so anxious, how can I possibly do anything?"

Bickerstaff: "Neither do I. He wants to do a lot of things, and every time he takes action, there will be more problems. This can only be solved with time... But there are ways to help him reduce the pressure."

Little Bickerstaff: "What method?"

Bickerstaff: "Help him do subtraction, so that in the next tactical meeting, you tell him in a fierce tone that our rhythm is too intense and needs to be adjusted, and you are very dissatisfied with his highly intense coaching style."

Little Bickerstaff: "Hmm, then what?"

Bickerstaff: "Then I fired you to show the team's attention to him. Before you were fired, you strongly expressed your dissatisfaction and suggestions to him. Because of your dismissal, he will think about whether it is necessary to do subtraction, and maybe it will work."

Little Bickerstaff: ???
You are really my biological father!
Bickerstaff saw his son's shocked expression and said, "Haven't you been wanting to change jobs for a long time? I gave you the chance, but you didn't want it?"

Little Bickerstaff scratched his head awkwardly and said, "I've heard that Rick's coaching style is very strict. After he became the head coach in July, I realized how strict he is. He personally takes care of everything. Every time he makes a suggestion, it is better than what I think. Compared with him, I feel like a fool."

Bickerstaff was embarrassed to say this to his son. It was too tragic...

(End of this chapter)