He didn't say a word in the whole game, but his last word was so cool!
Zhang Hao's voice was quite loud, and his teammates gathered around him consciously.
On the other hand, Larry Johnson of the Hornets was alone and he chose to turn around and leave.
It’s not that he is afraid of the large group of people on the opposite side. When he gets angry, he dares to beat up all the people on the opposite side by himself.
But, he lost!
The rookie single-handedly secured the victory at the crucial moment!
Kenny Anderson breathed a sigh of relief - it's not easy to be the boss!
…
The next morning, Zhang Hao got up early again.
I secretly drank again last night, and my teammates ran out to have fun after the game. Charlotte is a good place. The city is not prosperous, but it is a coastal city, with a large green area and a good environment... There are many beautiful girls, and there is an NBA team. The nightclub business is booming. Not to mention Charlotte, the richest city in North Carolina, the town of Rutherford, although it looks like a fringe area between urban and rural areas, there are wild flowers blooming everywhere in the fields.
Celebrating the victory was secondary. The eight main players discovered some ideas of the coaching staff, and Zhang Hao also knew it, so he took the players with non-guaranteed contracts and training camp contracts out for some drinks. Perhaps, some teammates would never be seen again in a few days. Even if they had different status in the team, some people had already become friends with some of them.
Zhang Hao felt Mike Bibby's mentality this time...
However, due to his age, Zhang Hao interacts less with others, so this aspect of the situation does not exist.
It's quite cruel. Sometimes, when two people become friends, confide in each other, and form a friendship, it really depends on their positions. People who are not on the same path may never be able to get close to each other.
Looking at the bottle of wine on the bedside table... Kenny Anderson brought it back last night. He said he would treat Zhang Hao to a drink, and he really brought wine back. However, Zhang Hao didn't drink too much. Zhang Hao only drank half a glass. Because only half a glass was poured for him, the rest was drunk by Jason Williams who came to Zhang Hao and Kenny Anderson's room later.
500 US dollars!
Jason Williams received a technical foul for standing up for Zhang Hao and was fined $500. However, Zhang Hao's technical foul was canceled after the game. If a provocation without specific action causes a conflict, a technical foul will be called during the game, but it is mainly to appease the players of the other team. However, it will often be canceled after the game. Only technical fouls of players who have actually taken actual actions will be confirmed.
These days, the scale is very big!
But Jason Williams loved drinking. He came to Zhang Hao's room originally to ask Zhang Hao for reimbursement, but when he saw the wine, he forgot about it.
Thinking of this, Zhang Hao became happy again.
Thinking back to what I said after the game last night, if I can come up with a quote one day, it will become a famous quote - but it was just a preseason game, but I was as excited as if I had won the playoffs...
When Zhang Hao thought about it carefully, he felt a little sad.
But at least, this group of people have not lost their fighting spirit, at least, this group of people still want to win, at least... if they try hard, they can still win the game!
As for how many games we can win, does it matter?
Maybe it's important, but before the training camp started, the team's desire to survive was as quiet as dead water, and now everyone is trying their best to taste the victory... How many games can be won is no longer important .
What matters is that they want to win!
There are still some problems. For example, they played against the Hornets, who they didn't pay much attention to for half the game, but still won with great difficulty. Moreover, they rotated 9 players and didn't replace any of the players who couldn't play. On the other hand, the Hornets rotated a total of 17 players in the first half.
The only time the Hornets really played seriously was from the third minute into the third quarter to the end of the game.
But that doesn’t matter…
Everything is moving in the right direction.
There will always be times when you lose. Even the strongest teams will lose sometimes. No matter it is the regular season or the playoffs, there has never been a perfect record, let alone the Nets?
What Zhang Hao hopes is that their team can maintain a good mentality even after losing and not collapse.
…
26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal, and a near buzzer beater! Zhang Hao is in the news again after the game!
These data, even in the preseason, are good enough for a rookie, especially a controversial high school rookie like Zhang Hao.
Antonio McDyess and Damon Stoudemire, two of the top picks for the best rookie, were overshadowed by Zhang Hao.
It's not that he had a burst in the middle of the season that temporarily overshadowed his peers. Instead, he performed better than anyone else in the same class from the very beginning!
Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Joe Smith, Stackhouse... and others seemed even duller in front of Zhang Hao.
All this seemed unimportant to Zhang Hao. He was thinking about how he could improve himself. In a suite in the hotel where the Nets were staying, two core members of the Nets coaching staff were having a secret conversation.
The Nets' coaching staff consists of a total of four people, which is quite shabby. Two of them are basically useless.
The year before Butch Baird became the head coach, the Nets made the playoffs and had the strength to make the playoffs for several consecutive years, but the Nets management gave up. They wanted more. Although they didn't have any plans, they just thought far ahead.
It's just a gamble on luck, otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to Butch Baird's choice of Zhang Hao.
Butch Baird did not object when asked to help lead the team as head coach, as the salary of being a head coach is much higher than that of being a scouting director.
It was also at that time that Randy Whitman went from being Chuck Daly's assistant coach to Butch Baird's head assistant coach, and it was Chuck Daly who taught him to do this.
Because only in the Nets can he, as an assistant coach, have such great power. He is responsible for everything, including tactics. He can try out the tactics he thinks of without having to worry about the results.
Originally, both of them were very satisfied with this arrangement, but now...
"Butch, are you sure you want to do this?"
"Why not? I think we can win some games. Our players should also want to win and want to work hard to win. Randy, don't you want to see your players work hard to win?"
Adjectives used include trying hard to win and wanting to win.
Randy Whitman shook his head but said, "Of course I do."
Randy Whitman always has some extra preferences for the players he personally selected and who he had to spend a lot of time and effort to get the management to agree to select. It was easy for Randy Whitman to understand Butch Baird's thoughts.
I never said it, but I always took extra care of it.
When we talk about "our players" now, we are actually only referring to Zhang Hao. If Zhang Hao had not been selected, if Zhang Hao had not shown such talent, if Zhang Hao had not allowed him to see so many possibilities, he would never have made such a change.
This could cost them their jobs! If they affect the team's tanking plan, the first people to be sacked will definitely be the coaching staff, who will be replaced with a new one that is willing to take the blame.
After a long silence, Randy Whitman said, "I suddenly don't care so much about my current job. Oh, damn, why would I want to go crazy with you? I have to support my family!"
Listening to the management's arrangements and working well is also a way for other teams to notice them. Listening to arrangements is an advantage. This is where the Nets need them, and this is also the type of coach that many teams need.
If a team plays badly, someone has to take the blame. It's not appropriate for the players to take the blame, the coach is the most suitable person to do so.
If they continue like this, maybe after this tanking journey is over, there will be teams looking for them to work. There will always be teams that need to tank and want them, as long as they are successful in tanking.
But if you can do something that others can't think of, it can also attract the attention of some teams, such as leading a team that no one is optimistic about to win more games.
And if the latter brings greater benefits, then the former is less important, even though the latter may involve risks, but benefits always come with risks.
Another point is that if a coach is known for his bad performance, no team may want him to work for them. Asking this coach to join means publicly announcing his plan to tank.
"Since you don't refuse, it means you agree."
"But this is difficult. If our players lose a few more games, their fighting spirit may disappear quickly."
"So we have to play well in the preseason. For us, winning any game is a win. I think you guessed who I wanted to help, but he really made me rekindle my passion for basketball."
"Yes, I didn't expect our players to be so serious and eager to win in the game, and it's just a preseason game. Just like his name, he is really an unpredictable factor. Every time I see his expression when he is about to step onto the court, I can't help but get excited even though I have retired for so long... But I still didn't expect that I would go crazy with a lunatic like you. When you said you wanted to choose a high school student, I knew you were a lunatic..."
…
On the afternoon of the 13th, Zhang Hao followed the team to the next stop of the preseason, and will challenge the Bulls away tomorrow.
The sudden high praise from the media in the news made him a little dazed. He thought that his good performance would attract attention, but he didn't expect such high attention.
The outstanding performance of rookies will always be highly regarded and be labeled as "future".
After the trance, Zhang Hao had a headache. How could he keep a low profile?
He really wants to keep a low profile, but it seems like no matter what he does, he ends up becoming very high profile.
He really doesn't care about these things, he would rather not have them.
Because he has felt the benefits that his opponents have brought him by not caring about and ignoring him, he needs such benefits, which represents time and the opportunity for him to better adapt to NBA games.
He was thinking about this from the airport to the hotel, but when he arrived at the hotel and lay on the bed... he found that these were just unimportant things.
Now, when he arrived in this city, his fame was nothing.
I was lying there with my mind empty, when the phone in the room suddenly rang.
Just as he picked up the phone, Butch Baird on the other end said before he could ask any questions: "Axl, from today on, when you play away games, you must return to the hotel before 11 o'clock the night before the game. We need to check the rooms. Please pay attention to the time when you go out at night."
"receive."
"Okay, I have a call to make, so I'll hang up first."
Zhang Hao didn't think anything of it and prepared to continue lying there.
Lying down is really comfortable. Although it is lazy, laziness is a comfortable thing.
Not long after, there was a knock on the door. Zhang Hao got up helplessly and opened the door. It was Kenny Anderson and Graham.
"Aix, you also received the phone call, right? I've been with this team for so many years, and I've never encountered a team curfew. You're smart, help me analyze this."
Zhang Hao didn’t think much about it before. He thought that what Kenny Anderson said was a bit wrong, but he didn’t think much about it because he was sure he could do it.
After analyzing the situation, Zhang Hao said, "Does the coaching staff want to emphasize discipline? Let's take a look at the situation first. You guys don't have to go out to play tonight."
Graham wanted to go out tonight and asked, "The coach is so easy to talk to, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Kenny Anderson quickly stopped him, saying, "No, no, no, you don't know him. I have worked with him for more than four years. He is very easy to talk to and can get along well with anyone. Coleman and the boss have always had conflicts, but he can always get along well with Coleman. He kept saying last season that Coleman was not for sale, but it was .
Do you know what his reasoning was to Coleman? "
Zhang Hao asked curiously, "Boss, do you know?"
"He and I were in the same agency before, and I had just changed agents when the lockout occurred."
Hearing this, Zhang Hao seemed to see the time when the Valco Agency had absolute power.
The No. 1 pick in 1990 and the No. 2 pick in 1991 are both represented by the same agency... Why do Europeans and Americans love to use their own names as company names?
After all, it is a product of the old era. Zhang Hao is more curious about the reason why Coleman was traded.
This aroused the curiosity of Zhang Hao and Graham, and Kenny Anderson enjoyed the process very much.
Just when Zhang Hao felt that his boss should change his surname to Hong, Kenny Anderson finally spoke.
"After the regular season ended last season, we had a charity event for an orphanage, remember?"
"Uh-huh."
"It was a Friday and Coleman was wearing black. The coach said the color of his clothes was unlucky and traded him."
“…”
“…”
This is a perfect reason! Would Coleman be accused of looking too bloody and scaring the children when he wore a festive red outfit that day?
…
…
After chatting for a while, Graham decided not to go out.
Zhang Hao continued reading. He also brought books for professional courses. When he got bored of reading "Position Master", he studied professional knowledge in college.
Nothing happened that night, and there was no ward check at 11pm.
The next morning, the entire team was called together for breakfast.
Zhang Hao, Kenny Anderson and Charles sat together to have breakfast.
Kenny Anderson felt that this familiar team had become unrecognizable to him, and asked, "Axl, Chris, what do you mean by coach? This is not the way to enforce discipline, right?"
Charles shook his head.
Zhang Hao did not answer this question, but asked, "Was there any ward rounds last night?"
"I checked it!"
"I got a knock on the door too, and it was before 11 o'clock."
Zhang Hao was puzzled: "I didn't. I waited until 11:30 on purpose, otherwise I would have gone to bed early."
Kenny Anderson and Charles looked at each other, and both understood what the other meant, but did not say anything.
There were many people who sat together and discussed things like the three of them.
After a while Butch Baird showed up.
As usual, Butch Baird said with a kind smile: "Yesterday we announced a new rule. I discussed it with the management and felt it was necessary. We need to establish a good team environment.
I am glad that everyone here complied with the rules.”
Everyone here...
Zhang Hao looked around...it seemed like someone was missing! There were only 19 players!
Butch Baird deliberately took some time to pause, then continued: "It's a pity that there are still people who don't follow such a simple rule. Although I'm very sorry and regretful, the rules are the rules. Gerard Glass did not follow the team rules. There is a game today, and he didn't come back all night last night. Therefore, I made a decision. The team has officially terminated the contract with Gerard Glass."