The conflict on the Celtics' training day was eventually resolved, with his old Bulls teammate Steve Kerr pulling him back before Dennis Rodman burst out of the arena and was caught directly by the media. If there is anyone else in the Celtics other than Leon who can convince Rodman, it is this year's new signing Kerr.

However, even if he did not leave the training hall, Rodman did not participate in the team's collective offensive training in the afternoon, and Rodman was dispensable in O'Brien's offensive system anyway. Rodman vented all his sulking in the power room.

O'Brien changed the past Pitino's excessive pursuit of three-point routines in the offensive system, and decided to take a balanced offensive line inside and outside, with Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce as the absolute core of the offense, one inside and one outside, one left and one right, and the requirements for other players in the offense are not to possess the ball, have strong ability to run without the ball, grasp open opportunities and strive to compete for rebounds in the front court.

Tactical training is boring, especially for young players, whose every move is captured on a video camera, edited after training, and then constantly watched to correct mistakes in tactical movement. As a typical academy coach, O'Brien has a wealth of tactical reserves after years of experience in college, and he can easily point out the mistakes of players in their positions without even having to read a playbook on the sidelines.

"At this point you should be out! Why not play, Gilbert? Don't just look at the basket, look at your teammates and see how they can get out. "O'Brien had a lot of fire today, and Arenas was reprimanded for not getting the ball out in time during a tactical set-up.

The NBA's tactical training is more combat-oriented, with fewer routines but more variety, and because the offensive time has been reduced from 30 seconds in the NCAA to 24 seconds, players are left less time to react, requiring players to make judgments in a short period of time.

This is very uncomfortable for a new player like Arenas, and although he has done a lot of individual training in the offseason, the tactical awareness is not something that can be acquired by himself or watching the video.

In contrast, a veteran player like Steve Kerr is completely familiar with this kind of tactical training, and can run the prescribed routine with his eyes closed. Seeing Arenas being reprimanded, he also walked up to Arenas to comfort and guide him. Arenas' position at Arizona has always been somewhere between point guard and shooting guard, and now that the Celtics are playing at point guard, it's clear that he's not comfortable at point guard.

At 3 p.m., the first day of training ended in a mess of bad discipline and a lot of noise, with some players going straight into the physiotherapy room to shower and change their clothes, ready to go home and enjoy the after-work time, while others stayed to continue their training. That's the difference between NBA and college training, where everyone is relatively free and whether or not they want to use their non-working hours to hone their skills is purely a matter of personal opinion. Pierce, Michael Reed, and Arenas all chose to stay, and Dennis Rodman slipped away after an hour of practice at the gym.

Leon was going to stay and watch today's training footage, and even if he wasn't happy with O'Brien's training plan, his job still had to be done. However, Steve Cole invited Leon to have afternoon tea at Telfair's restaurant in Boston, and Leon thought about it and seemed to have no reason to refuse, so he agreed to Cole's invitation.

Kerr has been in Boston for some time since he was traded by the Spurs to the Celtics, and most recently he has been staying in a fancy hotel not far from the Massachusetts government, not far from Leon's apartment, and the Celtics will pay for about two months of hotel accommodation, after which it will be up to Kerr to solve the housing problem on his own.

After making an appointment with the restaurant, Cole drove Leon to the city in the Chevrolet he rented in Boston, and along the way Cole appeared very enthusiastic, constantly chatting with Leon, and he spoke a standard American English accent because he was Lebanese and learned standard English.

"You and O'Brien don't seem to be in a good position today, it looks like he didn't follow your training plan, right?" Kerr quickly shifted the conversation to today's team clashes.

Leon didn't know how Kerr knew the specifics, but he replied: "Yes, but he's the manager, and everything has to be up to him." ”

Cole smiled and said, "At the Celts, everything will only be up to Mr. Arnold Auerbach." ”

In the draft, although Leon led the strategic direction of robbing the Spurs, it was Danny Ainge who ultimately decided who to pick from the Spurs. The reason why Angie picked Kerr, in addition to the Spurs' intention to send Kerr away at that time, hit it off, and the Celtics needed a veteran like Kerr to press the lineup, and Auerbach's decision also played a decisive role.

Unbeknownst to Leon, while he was training in Los Angeles, Auerbach met with Steve Cole twice in Boston, once for Steve Cole's signing ceremony and once in private. Kerr is nearing the end of his career, and as a successful role player on the court, he's just as good off the court, and he's close to team management at every team, and it's foreseeable that he'll get a good basketball-related role when he retires in the future.

As the flagship figure of the NBA, Auerbach made a commitment to Kerr that he would be able to help him after he retired, whether he wanted to be a commentator, manager or coach, Auerbach would provide his connections and resources, and the price of Kerr's comeback was to support Leon on the team.

However, Cole's support method is very unique, he did not go against O'Brien in training, but instead came to be a peacemaker to help O'Brien resolve the crisis, and this is where he is smart, his actions not only resolve O'Brien's embarrassment, but also resist the harm that public opinion may cause to him after the conflict becomes public. Although Leon has begun to have his own small influence in the New York media industry, in Boston, the media circle will not be polite to Leon.

Cole invited Leon to afternoon tea in order to find out who he was, and what a smart man Leon was, when Cole said that "everything will only be done by Mr. Auerbach", Leon probably knew the situation. Leon has never had direct contact with Auerbach since he left New York for Los Angeles after the draft, and the old man seems to have forgotten about him, but he still cares about him in a nuanced manner and sends people to protect him everywhere.

"I've seen your training plan, including a whole set of analyses of the team's running and tactical philosophy, and it's a fax from Mr. Auerbach to me, and to be honest, it's one of the best training plans I've ever seen in my career. But Mr. Auerbach had long guessed that O'Brien would probably not use your plan, and he instructed me to deal with any contradictions that might arise. At the Telfer restaurant, Cole said to Leon over coffee.

"So what should I do next? Await? Or do something. Leon asked.

"Do your job and by the middle of the season I think something will change." Cole said, sighing, and then in a different tone, "You know, I have heard of Mr. Auerbach for a long time, and now I know how capable he is. I want to ask you Leon, do you know how hard it really is for a person to become a head coach in the NBA? ”

Leon listened, shook his head, for him the position of head coach seemed to be within reach, although his mentality is still very stable, knowing that it will take a lot of effort to get to that point, but he really has no idea how difficult it is. There are some things that cannot be pieced together by logic alone without experience and experience.

Cole said: "Do you know Jeff Van Gundy? Now the coach of the Knicks, that workaholic with dark circles. He once gave up his Yale enrollment to study at a small college for a spot on the basketball team. He began his career as a basketball coach in 1985 and was an excellent assistant coach who assisted four head coaches, and when he was in office, his team made the playoffs every year. He's hard working, he's studious, and I've been in contact with him, and he's a basketball maniac who stays up late every day just watching videos or playbooks. It was not until 1995 that he finally became the head coach of the New York Knicks, and he led the eighth-place Knicks to the Finals in 1999. ”

Cole's words meant something, and he undoubtedly felt that Leon wanted to take the position of head coach too early, and at the same time, he was also a little envious and jealous of Leon, because there was an Auerbach who was trying to get him into the coach position by all means. Cole didn't understand what kind of ability, or magic, this man had, that made the cardinal want him to pay so much for him.

Cole still remembers Auerbach smoking in his study, squinting slightly, raising his head slightly, slowly exhaling the smoke ring in his mouth, and then gently leaning back in his chair, looking at each other in a relaxed but majestic posture, with a smile on his face, as if he had seen through everything, which impressed Cole.

In the face of Cole's question, Leon picked up the black tea in front of him, squinted slightly, raised his head slightly, took a sip of tea, and then leaned on the back of the seat relaxedly, looking at Cole with similar eyes with a smile on his face.

"I thought, maybe, I'm better suited for this job." Leon said.