Chapter 54: Exploring the Future
drop!
Heat coach Spoelstra requested a substitution. He didn't know why he asked for it. It was Pat Riley who was sitting on the bench who told him to do so. Joel Anthony came on to replace Yang Mo, who was playing well.
Yang Mo was also confused when he was substituted, thinking, "I was playing well, wasn't I? Why did I suddenly leave the court?" It was not until Pat Riley waved at him that he realized what was going on and hurried over.
When Yang Mo was substituted off the field, there were some cheers from the audience. It felt like Chinese New Year, which showed how terrible the shadow Yang Mo had brought to them was.
Yang Mo walked straight to Pat Riley's side after leaving the court. After he sat down, Pat Riley personally took a towel and put it on Yang Mo. This scene surprised the audience in front of the TV. Didn't Pat Riley always treat his players harshly? Why did he put a towel on Yang Mo now? Did he change his attitude towards the soft side?
When the outside world was surprised by his action, Pat Riley whispered to Yang Mo: "Now do you know what a superstar is?"
"I know." Yang Mo nodded, with a bit of aggrieved tone in his voice. It was clearly a good block, but it was called as a foul.
"Next time if you see a superstar making a layup, just knock him over and make a louder noise. This way, it's possible that a foul won't be called. Do you understand?" Pat Riley taught patiently.
"..." Yang Mo was slightly puzzled, and said: "I understand."
"You can be more aggressive on the defensive end. You must show your momentum, make your opponent afraid of you, and make your opponent subconsciously dare not challenge the restricted area you guard. This is the quality that a great defender should have." Pat Riley continued. When he was in New York, he was known as an iron-blooded coach. He is very good at training the bad guys in the restricted area. Moreover, Yang Mo does have this potential. But... Pat Riley has a bigger plan in mind. He decided to make Yang Mo an all-round superstar, not a super blue-collar worker. Although this plan is a bit too shocking, he is willing to try it. After all, the influence that a Michael Jordan can have is much stronger than that of a Rodman.
"Yes." Yang Mo nodded. He now believed what Pat Riley said. To some extent, he regarded Pat Riley as his godfather.
Pat Riley paused and suddenly asked: "What do you think about Dwyane Wade not passing the ball just now?"
"Huh?" Yang Mo was a little unresponsive and didn't know why Pat Riley suddenly asked this question.
"I don't mean anything else, I just want to hear your real thoughts." Pat Riley said seriously.
"What are you really thinking?" Yang Mo muttered to himself. He didn't hide anything and said directly, "I was definitely unhappy at the time. If he passed the ball to me, I would be 90% sure that I could shoot it. It would be an unguarded three-pointer. But since he chose to shoot, I couldn't do anything about it. After all, my main job in the team now is defense and rebounding."
"So , you still mind a little bit?" asked Pat Riley.
"Yes." Yang Mo answered very truthfully. He didn't want to deceive Pat Riley, and he didn't want to deceive himself even more.
"Then do you want to know what Dwyane did back then?" Pat Riley asked himself and answered , "When Dwyane came to the team, Miami's core players were Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, and his shooting rights could only rank in the top three at most. But later, he gradually seized every opportunity, and his score became higher and higher, so high that we could not ignore him. So, the next year we determined him as our outside core, and then we traded for Shaquille O'Neal, and then we won the championship in 2006. He was the Finals MVP."
"I understand. I will wait." Yang Mo said thoughtfully.
"I'm glad you understand." Pat Riley nodded and said with a smile, "I hope that one day, you can give us Miami executives a headache, wondering whether to choose you or Dwyane. But I hope that you can achieve a peaceful transfer of power, just like David Robinson and Tim Duncan of the Spurs. What you should do now is to be a good assistant to Dwyane Wade."
"Okay." Yang Mo nodded, paused, and then asked: "Sir, are you so confident in me? I may be a blue-collar worker for the rest of my life."
"Impossible." Pat Riley shook his head firmly, looked directly into Yang Mo's eyes, and said with certainty: "From the moment you stepped onto the court, I knew you would never be a blue-collar worker forever. Your strong self-confidence will not allow you to do so. Powell is right, you are a Michael Jordan-type player. Although you are not as strong as Michael Beasley now, your ceiling will definitely be higher than Beasley. Attitude determines height. I have always believed that this sentence is correct."
"Hehe." Yang Mo smiled faintly. He neither denied nor acknowledged Pat Riley's judgment.
The two chatted happily off the court, which attracted discussions from many commentators who were broadcasting the event.
"I've never seen Pat Riley be so friendly to any player. He actually put a towel on Yang. This is surprising." ESPN's Mike Breen said in amazement. For him, this was even more surprising than Yang Mo's superb performance on the court.
"Neither do I." Mark Jackson shook his head and said to Jeff Van Gundy on the far left: "Jeff, you are familiar with Pat Riley. Have you ever seen Pat Riley like this?"
"No." Jeff Van Gundy shook his head decisively and said, "Pat is very strict. He even requires coaches and players to keep a proper distance."
"That's really strange. Is Yang his illegitimate son?" Mike Breen joked with a smile.
The ESPN commentator teased the relationship between Yang Mo and Pat Riley, but the CCTV commentator seemed very excited. In this country where everything is based on personal relationships, they naturally regarded Pat Riley's closeness to Yang Mo as a leader's support and care for his subordinates, and believed that Yang Mo would definitely get better and better in the future in the Heat. After all, the general manager is so optimistic about him.
