Pat Riley's coaching career is quite similar to Fox Leon, both from assistant coach to head coach, the previous coach did a good job, coached teams are all historical giants, both are under huge pressure, and at the same time the results are very fast, which shows that their ability to withstand pressure is extraordinary.

The difference between the two is not just Riley's playing experience, winning a championship in his first season or having more superstars on the Lakers, but also how they plan for their coaching career. In fact, Leon is walking on a path that seems very similar to Riley, but is actually very different, but in the end it feels like a different path.

This is also the reason why Riley is willing to come to the summer league to meet Leon for a while, from many rumors, Riley continues to hear about Fox Leon's name, and even watched the promise made by Fox Leon many years ago come true in the draft - maybe many people don't remember it, but Riley still remembers it very well.

And when Fox Leon said the name "Alstom" to himself, Riley knew that he was a very threatening guy. Because the signing negotiations between the Heat and Alston have been relatively secret, not because Alston is in demand, but Alston is just a small point guard who has been transformed from a street player, and it is not noticeable at all. Riley has a very good look at people, and thinks that this guy may be able to develop a little and have the intention of signing him.

However, Riley is still only willing to pay a one-year contract, and he will not allow any small signings to affect his big moves in the future.

Now the two sides are still in the stage of arguing, Riley decided to put Alston aside to dry, he is sure that nine times out of ten no one will give this street player a long-term contract, his three years in Milwaukee can be described as mediocre, last year in the Raptors quite improved, but he is a point guard with a big flaw, in all aspects, especially before the projection ability is improved in all aspects, it is difficult to get a long-term contract.

Riley has his eye on some of the potential in him, and he likes to squeeze the potential out of his players, whether it's a superstar or a water cooler manager. But he didn't expect that Fox Leon didn't know from what kind of channel he actually learned that the Heat were contacting Alstom. If Alston is some great superstar, then even if Leon doesn't investigate, the media will spread the news all over the city. But Alston is not, and Riley also thinks Leon will not be idle to investigate the player's condition.

Unless the Celtics also want to contact Alstom directly and sign him, but judging from the news from Riley, so far only the Heat have inquired about Alstom, and there is no second one, let alone a team that wants to give him a long contract.

There is only one explanation left, that is, Fox Leon has a large network of agents and scouts, and the agents and scouts who make up this network are relatively low-level characters in the entire ecological region, but these low-level characters can be closer to the earth and hear more nuanced and detailed things.

"It seems that Mr. Leon is quite well-informed." Riley responded without yin or yang, Leon's style of taking the grassroots route and Riley's style of taking the superstar route and the upper route are obviously very different. But because of this, Riley couldn't help but feel a little jealous in his heart, because he knew that Auerbach used similar means to control almost half of the league through the draft.

"I'm just looking for the right people for my team, you know, I had some friends in the Scouting Team in the Development League, and I always got some news." Leon spread his hands and took another puff on his cigar.

Riley hesitated for a moment and got up from his seat, he knew that it didn't make much sense to negotiate terms with someone like Leon, both of them were too shrewd, as long as the cards were played, the hole cards would soon be clear. What's more, this is just a small game, and everyone has just a little chip in their hands, and it's not interesting to play.

"I heard that Mr. Leon is very good at gambling, and I hope that one day you can come to the casino in Miami and try your luck." After saying that, Riley took out a sticky note from his pocket, tore off a note, wrote a phone number on it and threw it to Leon and said, "This is Alstom's personal phone, I don't know if you have it." As for his agent, I think you must have his phone number. ”

Riley was preparing to leave, and he was a little deflated in this small encounter, but it turned out that being able to take Haslem was definitely a good choice for the Heat.

At this time, Leon stopped Riley and said, "Mr. Riley, thank you for your kindness...... I'm not saying Alston, Haslem isn't bad at all, it's just that we don't have a place for him here, he's Miami, and I think he'll be happy to let him go home. By the way, this is something for you, as a reward for inviting me to smoke a cigar. ”

As he spoke, Leon also took something out of his pocket, a small box of round cakes and sent it to Riley. This is a jar of Klips's premium hair wax, and Pat Riley is a loyal user and spokesperson of Klips's hair wax, and he has relied on this reliable wax for decades.

Riley took the box of wax, his face was not wavering, but a layer of frost condensed in his eyes, but soon he grinned brightly, shook his head helplessly, put the jar of wax in his pocket, and left without a word.

Leon certainly didn't come unprepared, he had been holding this jar of wax in his pocket for three days. He was ready to negotiate terms with the old Foxes when he knew that Pat Riley was also coming to summer training camp, and when Aegie signed Strickland some time ago, Leon wanted to add a younger point guard to the team.

The Heat's Eddie House was in Leon's consideration, and he knew the Heat wouldn't exercise the team option, but House overlapped too much with Arenas in terms of style of play, and House was shorter, poorer defensively, and not very playmaker. Glancing around, Leon set his sights on Alston, but he soon got the news that Alston was talking to the Heat.

Alston's agent is the NBA's well-known contract robber, the greedy Dan Fagan, Leon knows that if the Celtics participate in the bidding, Fagan will definitely open his mouth, and if the Heat and Celtics smash each other's contracts at that time, the Celtics will definitely not be able to compete with the Heat, who has a lot of space.

It just so happened that Leon found out that Riley was interesting to Haslem, and he also found that Haslem was indeed a good material, but he was underestimated by many people, so Mrs. Jiang waited for Riley with hair wax in his fishing pocket for several days, but he didn't expect this guy to come almost with a cigar cover.

In the end, Leon still got Riley's promise that they would withdraw from the Alston talks, and the Celtics would follow suit, and they would be able to acquire the young point guard who still had room to carve in at a lower price.

In fact, Riley overlooked one point throughout the process, and it wasn't for nothing that Fox Leon came to Orlando a week early, not just to escape the media harassment in Boston, but also because Orlando used to be the home base of his scouting team, where he had the most friends and eyeliner. At the same time, Orlando is very close to Miami, and if there is any news here, it will soon be reported here, and Riley thinks that he has the upper hand, but in fact he has fallen behind everywhere, all because the information is not collected carefully and completely.

Of course, Leon knows that the old fox of Pat Riley will not rest on his laurels, and that he and his Miami Heat will be a formidable obstacle in the days ahead. (To be continued.) )