Chapter 365: The New Season Begins

The Suns' rookie training camp lasted three days, coming to the University of Arizona gymnasium early every morning, and everyone practiced on their own, while Leon watched from the sidelines. But no one dares to be lazy www.biquge.info even the Brent Barry veterans practice very hard, and Fox Leon's hawk eyes are like a pair of surveillance, making everyone feel like they are being stared at. Then in the afternoon, Leon would take the whole team – including the staff – to Lake Havasu for a driveboat, to nearby Las Vegas for a slot game, or to the Hoover Dam for a photo tour.

For three days, the group didn't get anything out of training, but they had a lot of fun, and all the expenses were all covered by Leon - Leon later went directly to the Las Vegas casino for reimbursement. This made the newcomers who were originally a little nervous completely relaxed, everyone thought that Fox Leon was a cold-blooded iron fist coach, but they didn't expect him to be a fun-loving and playful guy, especially his amazing gambling skills, when everyone gambles together, no one can play him.

On the fourth day, Leon did not arrive at the gymnasium very early, and he arrived at the gymnasium at nine o'clock at the usual time. This time the first three days were different, the first three days he was dressed casually, wearing jeans and shirts to the stadium, today he changed into a sportswear, with a whistle around his neck, and a tactical board and folder in his hand, everyone knows that the good days should be over, and today he will definitely start training.

Sure enough, as soon as he arrived at the arena, Leon gathered everyone together. With the experience of eating, drinking and having fun together in the first three days, the players and staff are familiar with each other a lot, and they all talk and laugh and look relaxed. However, seeing Leon standing in front of him with a serious face, everyone did not speak, waiting for the head coach to give orders.

"Hi everyone, I'm Fox Leon. I'm sorry to introduce myself four days after I've been here, but I think you've known me before, but you don't know me very well. So I spent three days getting along with everyone in as relaxed a way as possible, which can be regarded as a special way to introduce myself. I don't know what your impressions and thoughts of me were before that, but now I think you must have your own opinions. ”

Leon made a belated self-introduction, which made everyone's mood relax again, and the relaxation of these three days has indeed changed the inherent impression of many people about Leon.

Leon continued: "Some of you are young, some are about to retire, it's a pity that I haven't coached you before, but you have more or less contact, after all, in the past few years, there are many teams that have been killed by me, and there must be your team. I know all about your technical characteristics and your past performances on the court, so there's a reason why I asked you to join the Suns because I think you can help this team and make a difference for us, including me, of course. ”

None of the people present thought that Leon would say such a thing, as role players in the NBA, they still have a number of pounds and taels for themselves. Except for people like Jasco Vitius who want to prove themselves, the other players are more thinking about how to get along well in the team. Rookies want to play hard and try to survive in the NBA, and veterans want to don't get hurt and play for a few more years to get more money. The Mesozoic ones have to work hard for their next contract.

They just didn't expect that Fox Leon, the championship coach, would think that they could make a difference for the Phoenix Suns - for the Suns, they have only one goal for change, and that is to win a championship.

"Alright friends, from today onwards, we have to train for the real season that is coming up. After three days of playing, I hope that in the next few days, you can adapt to my training, I wish you all, happy training camp! ”

After saying the above, Leon finally blew the whistle in his hand and really began to guide the training of the rookie training camp. So far, though, no one understands why Fox Leon has put so much effort into this group of bench benches.

……………………

In mid-October 2007, the NBA was finally coming to an end for the holidays, and teams were opening up their training camps in preparation for the upcoming season and preseason. On the day of training, the Phoenix Suns held a press conference in the press room of the American Airlines Center to announce that Fox Leon and the Suns have officially signed a three-year contract. Suns owner Saver, general manager Kerr, and former head coach and current assistant coach D'Antoni were all in attendance.

Of course, the reporters at the scene will not let go of this opportunity to "interrogate" Leon, but it seems that Leon is in a good mood today, or he has just arrived in Phoenix and does not want to make the relationship with the local media in Phoenix too stiff. In Boston, he has long since broken up with the sports media scene there, after all, his media relations resources are all in New York.

Compared to the difficult reporters in Boston and New York, the Arizona media people seem much more innocent, asking less pointed questions and more about the Phoenix people's worries about the Suns' future next season.

"Will the Suns go defensive next season?"

This is the most problematic that Leon encountered before and after the press conference, because the impregnable wall he built in Boston was really terrifying, and the Mavericks, who are also the top three in the West, also made a qualitative breakthrough in strength in 2006 because of the defense brought by the junior general Johnson. Now the most concerned thing for Suns fans is whether Fox Leon will also develop the team to a balanced offensive and defensive route after he arrives.

But Leon's answer was very dry: "No, I'm not going to let the Suns go the defensive route, the Suns have proven in the last three seasons that they can take the league by storm with offense, it's just that their performance in the playoffs is regrettable." I don't have to overturn the Suns' efforts for a little playoff shortcoming, which is unfair to the Suns players and Coach D'Antoni. So, all I have to do is make the Suns play better and attack stronger. “

Leon's answer greatly surprised the reporters on the scene, just like when Pat Riley went to the Knicks, everyone thought that he would bring the Knicks the same offense as the Lakers, but they didn't expect him to turn the Knicks into a muscle-blooded army.

After that, Leon didn't explain much about his thoughts, but left the press conference room and went straight to the Annexus training ground at the American Airlines Center, where today will be the Phoenix Suns' first all-team training session of the new season, and practice officially begins at 10 o'clock.

The first meeting between the coach and the players in training is very important and will determine the first impression of a coach in the minds of the players, which will directly affect the authority of the coach's voice in the team. Although Leon is a well-known championship coach, it is not easy for a team like the Suns with a mature roster and a successful history to earn the respect of the whole team. After all, a famous coach like Larry Sanders was despised by the entire Pistons when he went to Detroit.

However, Leon is not Larry Sanders, he is not wearing a tracksuit today, but a crisp brown light striped suit, shiny leather shoes, and his curly hair, which was originally a little messy, was very well groomed yesterday. After many years in the NBA, the scars on his face have faded a lot, but a closer look can still see them, especially the faint bruise under his right eye, which was punched in the ring before he crossed over to the Boston bar.

This makes him look elegant and rude, wise and savage. In contrast, D'Antoni followed him, wearing a white sports T-shirt and gray sweatpants, looking like a high school physical education teacher.

Leon walked into the Annexus training ground, where the Suns' players had gathered, Nash, Stoudeyer, Marion, Bale, Dio, and the rookies from the team who had previously participated in the rookie camp. They saw Leon walk into the arena and stopped and gathered towards the sidelines. Leon is not tall, he is considered short among NBA players, but he stood on the sidelines, looked at everyone without saying a word, and for a while no one dared to speak.

D'Antoni remembers that every time he arrived at the gym for the new season, everyone would say hello jokingly to him, and then giggle all morning, and it would be almost tomorrow before the real practice began. As for Leon's stop here, he has not had any contact with the Suns' main players before, and everyone knows about him only from past games and media.

But when he actually became the head coach of the Suns and stood in front of everyone, the Suns players knew how the title "Attila" came about.

"Good morning, everyone, it's an honor to be your new coach. I'm not a person, give you five minutes and get ready for the match. One group of main players and one group of new players to the team. I'd like to see if you guys have any surprises for me this summer. ”