A coach's job is more than just directing from the sidelines.

Li Liang has a deeper understanding of this after becoming the head coach of the Kings.

At the beginning, in his [Bench Life] tasks, several sideline commanding tasks were completed very well.

When I really became a coach, I found that the energy consumed by the sideline command was only the tip of the iceberg of the entire coaching work.

And for Li Liang, on-the-spot command and scheduling are actually his strengths, and he doesn't need to learn much, and he does it quite well.

After playing the Lakers and Warriors, the Kings suffered two straight losses in the preseason.

In Game 3, the Kings played Maccabi Haifa at home at the Golden 1 Center.

This game, the Kings finally showed the strength of the NBA team, with a wave of 43:22 in the first quarter, venting the resentment of the first two losses on the poor Maccabi team.

Because the opponent is too weak, Li Liang has more room to deploy the lineup and test tactics.

In the first quarter, Li Liang controlled the ball by himself and hit three points in a row from the outside, allowing Sacramento fans to see what a historic three-point king is.

The rhythm of the whole king followed D'Antoni's idea, pushing slowly, shooting quickly, and playing crisply and neatly, and the effect was really good.

In the second quarter, the bench lineup came on, and Li Liang tried to let Rondo play with the bench, wanting to test whether he could make Rondo a sixth man.

But it didn't work out very well, even if the opponent was Maccabi.

In today's NBA, the sixth man still needs a microwave oven player with strong projection ability.

A player like Rondo, who is good except for his projection, is a waste to be the sixth man.

In the third quarter, Li Liang tried the UCLA tactical system with blocking, reversing, and 1-4 high and low placement as the core.

Because Li Liang carefully studied the UCLA tactical system with the Jazz team in the system last summer, he has a deep understanding of this tactic.

The effect seems to be relatively average at present, mainly because the players did not cooperate tacitly before.

The high post is not fast enough to hold the ball and pass the ball, so you have to hesitate and think.

Obviously, I had a chance to play, but because I wanted to pass, I wasted both opportunities.

However, Li Liang believes that the king's lineup configuration, if it can be adjusted well with the UCLA system, is indeed a long-term solution.

Like Li Liang's long-term style of play, which is more suitable for fighting bayonets and stepping up in the playoffs.

UCLA's system is suitable for regular season play, with low energy consumption and long standby.

In short, after a game, all kinds of personnel and tactics have been tested.

The only thing that made Li Liang feel dissatisfied was the team's defense.

Mike Brown, the bald head, has not yet given a satisfactory answer to Li Liang.

As the owner of four championships, Li Liang knows that without tenacious defense, he will not be able to win the championship.

Defense is the most effective tool for uniting the will of a team.

Any coach who has just taken over a weak team will always focus on defense first.

Offense can be solved by the ability of one or two superstars, and it can bring an instant boost to the team.

Defending is not good, defense must require the efforts of everyone in the team.

The sense of participation in defense is the highest, and no one is missing.

If you want to build a basketball team and pinch everyone together, you must start from defense.

In this game with Maccabi, the Kings had no difficulty, 139:95, a huge margin of points, won the first preseason victory.

Three days later, on the 13th, the Kings avenged their first loss by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers at the T-mobile Center.

However, in this game, Wade and Leonard did not appear.

Overall, the Kings are still scouting newcomers, while letting Li Liang experiment with tactics and adapt to his role as head coach.

To be honest, Li Liang adapted very quickly, so fast that Divac, as the general manager, felt a little incredible.

After the game, he chatted with Li Liang in the locker room and asked Li Liang, "Did you start wanting to be a coach for a long time?" Coaching isn't that easy, you adapt to your role too quickly, especially when you're directing on the pitch. ”

No matter on or off the field, Li Liang can't stop for a moment.

And there's a little bit of a good thing about the player-coach that you can set up your tactics without calling a timeout.

For example, on the court, free throws, bring the players together and say a few words, and the effect will come out.

The timeout is more about substitutions, resting, and adjusting the mentality of the players.

In the face of Divac's praise, Li Liang thought to himself, could it be that I have already done the thing of the head coach in the system, and I still want to tell you?

The Kings' management is still obedient to Li Liang, and Li Liang's power in the Kings team can be said to be quite huge.

However, Li Liang did not abuse his power, and he only made suggestions on the departure and retention of marginal players, without making final decisions.

'I think we need to be a little bit thicker up front, it's the age of the front line and sometimes I feel stretched thin when I make substitutions. But I'm not in a hurry, there is still time. Li Liang said to Divac.

Because of Li Liang's good lead, the league has entered the era of the front.

There are several strong teams in the West that have very strong forward players.

Needless to say, the Warriors have Leonard, the Thunder have Durant, and the Spurs have Wiggins.

And although the king has Li Liang, Li Liang is now undertaking too many and too heavy tasks.

Up front, he needs help.

Now the Kings' starting small forward is Guy, and it is Cosby who sits on the bench.

To be honest, neither player meets Li Liang's requirements on the defensive end.

Divac touched his beard and nodded that he would do his best to meet Li Liang's request during the season.

"There is another question, tell Mike, let him think of a good defensive system as soon as possible, otherwise fire him, don't say what I said." Li Liang has been forcing Brown to come up with a defensive strategy plan for the past two days, but Brown's hair has fallen out (in fact, there was none), and he still hasn't given a strategy that satisfies Li Liang.

Now, Mike Brown is at home every day watching videos, flipping through notes, and even talking on the phone with his old boss Popovich, hoping to tailor a good defensive strategy and training plan for the Kings.

But Li Liang doesn't seem to be satisfied, after all, the two have a friendship between master and apprentice, so it's not good to say anything directly.

The guy used Divac to smack Brown's bald head.

On the one hand, let Brown hurry up the shipment, and on the other hand, he always took revenge for the past that he had always arranged to go to!

Divac understood what Li Liang meant, and the next day he took time to talk to Mike Brown.

Brown was dumbfounded, if he was fired, according to the contract, he would not get enough salary, and a large part of it would be deducted.

The Kings really give too much, more than the average head coach.

So of course he has to work more!

It's October 14th, and the NBA regular season kicks off two weeks away.

Mike Brown decided to stay out of the retreat and took out the video clips of the games of the last five years of the strong teams and watched them all.

After repeatedly looking through the past notes and experiences, and still rummaging through the defensive tactics and strategies of various well-known school coaches, and even digging out a lot of things buried in his head, he must give Li Liang a satisfactory answer.

Then, on the 15th and 18th, the Kings defeated the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers in the preseason.

D'Antoni has implemented a very good tactical system on the offensive end.

The principle of "slow push, fast ball" was gradually accepted by the players.

And D'Antoni is not a point guard, and Rondo is like a fish in water in D'Antoni's system.

D'Antoni focuses on building a pick-and-roll offensive system with "Li Liang Rondo" as the core.

Cousins is functionalized as a whole, but because of Rondo and Li Liang's excellent ball handling ability, Cousins will not be less in the offense.

At the same time, the entire Kings team practiced very hard, and almost all the players practiced after training.

There's no way, Li Liang's hair dryer is too powerful, if you don't practice, you'll wait to be scolded to death.

And Mike Brown is in a trance during the day and stays up late at night to devise defensive tactics.

By the 18th, the Kings had finished all of their preseason games and began making final preparations for the regular season.

Li Liang came to the base early in the morning to train, looked at Mike Brown, and felt a little wrong.

"Mike, why did you grow your hair?" Li Liang suddenly realized that Mike Brown's originally bare head, which was like a braised egg, actually had a thin layer of hair!

Brown touched his head and said, "Oh... I may have been a little tired lately. ”

Li Liang thinks it's incredible, people lose their hair when they're tired, why do you still grow your hair?

In fact, Brown shaves his head and beard every day, and if he doesn't shave, he will grow a little hair.

Although there are not many, because the hair follicles are almost destroyed, there are still survivors, and as a result, they have been living in anxiety recently, and they have choked their hair out.

Li Liang looked at Mike Brown, who had grown hair, and suddenly felt a little distressed.

I wondered if I was too embarrassed for him.

In fact, he thinks the plans given by Brown are good.

It's just the first time to be a head coach, and he has to face such a strong opponent as the Warriors in the season, Li Liang still hopes to have a system that is most suitable for the Kings.

"Mike, if you really don't have a good idea, let's follow the old one, people-to-people, the easiest, but also the most effective, isn't it?"

Mike Brown touched his "bald head" with his hair growing and said, "No, no Bruce, I've got an idea, I've got an idea!" That's why I grew my hair, and I thought of a system that worked for us, and it was aimed at the Warriors! ”

"What system?"

"Swarm Defense."