On December 30, the NBA's official league office officially issued a notice that the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Hornets trade was established, effective on the same day. On that very day, Joe Johnson left Boston on a plane for distant New Orleans, while two Hornets players, PJ Brown and Courtney Alexander, also flew from New Orleans to Boston at the same time.

In the afternoon, the Celtics headquarters conducted a health check on the two players, because the trade has just taken effect, the two have not officially entered the team squad, so the game against the Memphis Grizzlies on December 31, the two will not be able to play, and they will not stand on the court in green jerseys until 2003.

Leon's main task in the past two days has been to fine-tune the team's new roster, especially the positioning of PJ Brown, and after Tony Barty and Portapenco were traded, the Celtics' options at the center position were Brown, Blount and Durham Porter. PJ Brown, as an interior player who swings between power forward and center, has the strength of most of the interior in the hardtop league and the flexibility of a power forward, making him a rare multi-functional defensive interior player in the league.

Having such an interior player should feel like a treasure for any coach, especially for the Celtics, who are now lacking in interior defense, which is why Angie went to great lengths to trade Brown. However, Leon is a little worried, he is not worried about Brown's ability, but how long it will take him to adapt to the current tactics of the Celtics.

Judging from Brown's playing experience, the teams he has played for are the Nets, Heat and Hornets, among which he was a defensive stalwart next to Mourning during the Heat period, and the two were the league's most vocal interior duo under Pat Riley; Brown was also a defensive stalwart at the Hornets, was named to the All-Defensive Second Team, and was an out-and-out defensive mainstay. on this. Many Boston media outlets praised Angie after the trade was completed, believing that the Celtics had finally solved the problem of interior defense and rebounding protection, and the deal was considered the best deal in the league so far.

However, as the head coach, Leon knows that a team's defense cannot be immediately improved by a good defensive interior line, and a suitable defensive system must be established to allow an excellent defensive interior like PJ Brown to play a role in it. in order to maximize his advantages and bring help to the team. Otherwise, all he can bring is a few more rebounds and a few more blocks, and it will not be a substantial improvement for the team.

This is also the biggest difference between defense and offense, offense can rely on a superstar's individual ability, and defense must rely on the system.

The Celtics' current defensive system, designed by Dick Hart and Leon, is a simple, flat defensive system based on individual defense, which does not pursue excessive rotation, packing, and defensive traps, but requires everyone to do their part and deal with the people in front of them. It's best to leave everything else alone. Dick Hart is not without a better defensive strategy, but after pondering with Leon repeatedly, he thinks that with the current defensive fundamentals and defensive awareness of the Celtics players, it would be good to be able to keep the people in front of him from being lost, and stop thinking about large-scale rotations, double packs and traps.

And the core component of a defensive system has always been the interior player, whether it is a fill after the rotation, a trap in the defensive trap or as the last barrier, the interior player needs to take responsibility. Before Brown came. The Celtics didn't have such players, and now they have. But what about the system that was established before? Whether to disband on the spot and start from scratch, or whether to continue to stick to the existing system, step by step, and slowly transform it in one or two seasons is a question that Leon must consider.

So before training on the morning of the 31st, Leon found Dick Hart. The two had been discussing this on the way to training camp, and in the end Hart made two comments, firstly, PJ Brown is indeed a very good defensive player in the league, and secondly, the current construction of the Celtics' defensive system is reasonable. Start by improving your players' basic defensive skills, one-on-one defensive ability and defensive awareness, so as to lay a solid foundation for instilling in them a more advanced defensive philosophy in the future.

Leon is now worried about whether Brown's arrival, management's ideas, and pressure from the media will force him to change his plans. It's like a class that is still in elementary mathematics to lay the foundation, and suddenly a student who is proficient in advanced mathematics comes, for him to improve the difficulty of the textbook to help him, or let this guy also learn elementary mathematics?

…………………

At half past nine in the morning, Leon met the new members of the team in the training hall, and did not see Joe Johnson training in the training hall.

PJ Brown, 6-foot-11 tall, weighing 255 pounds, has an iron-like face, and Leon already knows in the team's physical report that the 32-year-old PJ Brown is quite healthy and in good shape. When Leon arrived at the gym, Brown was doing strength training in the gym, and Leon didn't bother him or go up to say hello, but had a pre-training session with the coaches as usual.

At the training meeting, Cowens proposed that defensive practice could start today, and after adding new important defensive players, it is very necessary to have a defensive joint practice, and Leon agreed with Cowens and decided to start defensive practice today.

Before the start of training, Leon had his first conversation with PJ Brown in the gym, he walked up to the barbell and greeted Brown, while Brown just nodded and counted in his mouth, he was doing deadlift exercises to work his back muscles, and it seemed that he didn't have much interest in talking to Leon. It's no wonder that PJ Brown entered the draft in 1992, failed to play in the NBA because he was not favored, went to Europe, returned to the United States in '94 to play in New Jersey, and has been on the Eastern team ever since.

In the 90s, the interior of the Eastern NBA was an area where a group of tough guys and bullies were rampant, and PJ Brown endured beatings and torments in this three-foot place, and practiced a defensive kung fu like steel, which made him very unhappy with the current style of play of the Celtics. The two teams met once on December 1st, PJ Brown handed out 10 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks, and the Hornets completely suppressed the Celtics in rebounding, but the Celtics relied on fast offense and accurate three-pointers to break the Hornets.

PJ Brown is very unconvinced by this, thinking that the Celtics' style of play is opportunistic, and they can steal some wins in the regular season, once they reach the playoffs, this tactical system that relies on fast breaks and three-point points will only be shattered by the high pressure of the playoffs.

Leon didn't care about Brown's slightly rude performance, he knew that if he wanted to conquer this old ball, he could only rely on strength and wisdom, and playing clever and reckless words would have no other effect than to intensify the conflict.

It's just that Leon doesn't care about Brown, but Brown doesn't give Leon face at all. When the Celtics began to practice defensively, Brown began to give his opinion in practice, believing that the team was not perfect in many details of the practice, and the defensive tactics were too one-dimensional.

"There's a good defensive trap here, so why not use a three-man trap? Me, Pierce, and Arenas on the line, the two of them just need to move their positions a little bit to make some defensive stance, and then I'll put him... This one, Reed, rushed inside the encirclement of the defense. Make mistakes, what a beautiful defense! During one of the confrontation exercises, Brown even called off the practice, pointing out that the team had a better defensive strategy in this situation.

Everyone stopped and listened to Brown. The oldest player on the Celtics team now, apart from Steve Kerr, is PJ Brown, and Leon is even two years younger than Brown. In the past, everyone was young, no one came out, everyone was very obedient, but now there is an old man, and everyone unconsciously follows his opinion.

At this time, all eyes are focused on Leon, and in the face of the player's technical and tactical doubts, Leon must respond.

Leon walked to the middle of the pitch, came to Reed, tossed the ball aside, and said to everyone: "Since there are people who have doubts about our tactical model, let's have a training session with Celtics." Now, the defensive training is over, and we need to do a half-hour off-ball simulation workout! ”

The players in the stadium immediately stirred up, and Antoine Walker walked up to Brown and said to him in a funny voice: "See, see what we are really training for!" (To be continued.) )