While Morey was convincing Ciri in Minnesota, Leon had left New York and returned to Boston. This summer, ahead of the training camp, his focus will be:

on his coaching team.

The Celtics selected power forward Luis Scola from Argentina with the 21st pick in the second round of the draft, which Chris Wallace stayed on before leaving the Celtics

As a final legacy to the team, Wallace has been keeping an eye on the American forward since 2000 and kept Scola before resigning for the Grizzlies

Full scouting report. Eventually, the Celtics finally listened to Wallace once — and after his resignation, they picked the forward in the draft.

Of course, after being drafted, the Celtics got the news that Scola would not be coming to the NBA anytime soon, as his parent club Lithuanian Tau Ceramics made an offer of $3.5 million

Buyout costs, which the Celtics can't afford. So they kept Scola signed, but he wasn't able to come to Boston to play.

This effectively means that the Celtics have won almost nothing on the player market so far other than to re-sign Paul Pearce, and they don't have any big deals

Rumors, no room to sign blockbuster free agents, no high-quality rookies to join, and only two marginal players from the league have been gained, which made it to the Eastern Conference finals just last season

The Celtics were described as "unmotivated." ”

The summer offseason always goes by fairly quickly, and in the blink of an eye it's August. On August 3, a big trade finally happened in the Eastern Conference, and the Celtics' biggest rival in the East, the Nets

The team and the Philadelphia 76ers, the former Eastern Conference champions, made a blockbuster substitution. The Nets sent center McCulloch and forward Van Horne to the 76ers and got Dee, the 76ers' main center

Kembe Mutombo.

For a while, the Eastern Conference team can be described as a rumor, especially the sensitive Boston media, which automatically substituted the Nets as the strongest opponent to challenge next season, thinking that the Nets would make up for it

strong, making the gap between Celtic and opponents even wider.

"The Nets may not have the Celtics in mind at all, and they added Mutombo to play against the Los Angeles Lakers. The fact that they were swept in the finals made them understand

Without a strong interior line, you can't challenge for the championship. And look at our Celtics, they don't even have a decent center. "This is the Boston Tribune

days after the deal comes out. The evaluation of this comparison is accompanied by complaints about the Celtics' inaction in the player market in the summer.

At this time, Fox Leon and his new coaching team are embarking on a week-long team run-in trip in the Appalachian Mountains. Back in seven

In the middle of the month. Leon sent an invitation to the core members of the team's coaching staff this year. Take a trip to Mount Catadine in Maine. In the hot summer, to the forested mountains

It is really a good choice to escape the summer. At the beginning of July, the Celtics completed the signings of Cowens, Siegfried and Hess, and of course not

With the media attention, Cowens' return may attract some attention, but in Boston, which is full of celebrities, there is really nothing to focus on.

Returning to Boston undoubtedly made Cowens and Sigfried a little excited. Without hesitation, they agreed to Leon's invitation and arrived early in Augusta, the capital of Maine.

Leon and Dick Hart also waited here for a long time. Hess, who was far away in Denver, spent some time dealing with his gym career in Denver, but he was also in Leon

Arriving at Augusta the day after arriving, the five-person group took the train to Mount Katadine.

As a part of the Appalachian Mountains, Mount Catadine is formed very early, so the mountain is gentle, the altitude is not high, and the terrain is not complicated, especially the Mount Catadin

Dense forests. After arriving at Katading Mountain, the five people in the off-road vehicle drove in the shade of the trees, completely avoiding the summer sun and enjoying the shade of the mountain.

Their destination was Lake Catadin, near the Katading Basin, the lowest elevation in the Katading Mountains, where León booked a lakeside hut as a stop

Dot. In addition to Hess, people like Hart and Siegfried are all approaching 70 years old, so it is necessary to ensure their health and safety, and activities such as mountain climbing and hunting are

Not anymore, but things like fishing and boating will be the best leisure activities.

Of course, Leon didn't really come here with a group of old men for leisure, and in addition to Hess, this coaching team is strictly construed by Cowens and Sigfried

Al Auerbach recruited him for the job, and Dick Hart is the legacy of O'Brien from before, and as the head coach of the team, there is no way to be on this team

If he gains enough prestige and the trust of the old men, then he will not be able to sit firmly in the position of head coach.

On the first night at a campfire party next to the cabin, Leon was challenged by Dave Cowens.

"I've been reading Boston newspapers lately, and the Nets got Mutombo, a good deal, and I think it's going to make the Nets stronger than they were last season. But look at ours

Who did the team, our inside, get? That Chinese, Wang? To be honest, I don't even know if he's going to defend or grab rebounds, he's like a noodle. say

Say what you think, kid, as a member of the coaching team, I feel entitled to know what you think, and we can not be involved in this signing. "Dave Cowens: No

Affectionately questioned Leon's intention to sign Wang Zhizhi, which caused a lot of controversy in Boston, and many people thought that Wang Zhizhi was just a business consideration

Consider. Especially after Wang Zhizhi came to Boston, he immediately held a press conference, announcing that he would return to China to participate in the national team competition, and made a statement for his previous reckless behavior

Deficient. And just two days after the press conference, Wang Zhizhi flew back to China. Actively engaged in the preparation of the national team for the World Championships.

It's hard not to understand this behavior as a move by Celtic to attract the Chinese fan market, but signing Wang Zhizhi didn't cost Celtics too much

salary, so the doubts about it quickly died down.

For such doubts. Leon has never expressed his opinion in public, but he will have to explain in front of Cowens that the same straightforward white center is not

He's a fool who was indignant that Auerbach traded his best friend, and he also announced it on the bus because he was tired of basketball

Retiring, this time he returned to Boston, and Auerbach must have made a big compromise. But to really get his heart back to the Celtics, Leon needs to show that he's building the team

Rationality and long-term thinking.

"People always tend to make up for their shortcomings rather than play to their strengths. It's like the New Jersey Nets. They were torn apart by O'Neal in the finals, so they had to be replaced

Come to Mutombo, but since Mutombo couldn't stop O'Neill in 2001, then I believe he won't be O'Neal's opponent in 2003. And where is the advantage of the Nets?

Where is it? Gorgeous and fast fast attack. Pressing perimeter defense. In the Eastern Conference Finals, we lost here. Lost to their pressing defence, our attacking space

They were crushed into small pieces. But instead of trying to reinforce these two things, they think, 'Enough is enough, we should do something else.'" I bet, with

The growth of our perimeter players, their pressing defense will not be as powerful anymore. So, where are our advantages? Attack speed. Individual offense

Talent, and motivation on the defensive end. Wang is not a very good player. I'll admit that his overall quality isn't enough to keep him in the NBA for long, his

The strength and speed are not up to standard, and the defense is even more of a mess. But I don't expect that on him, think about Dave, a fast offense, an outside player who can individually

What kind of interior helpers do teams with strong strength need? A good interior player who can protect backcourt rebounds and make a pass, I'm sorry, I'm planning to get him next year, a big man who can run and jump and grab rebounds, we have it, Chris Anderson, and a 7-foot three-pointer who can shoot three-pointers from the outside and pull the big man out of the three-second zone. Of course, the first is the most important, and the third is the least important, but we only paid a small price, didn't we? ”

Leon isn't a man who likes to talk at length, and he doesn't expect to be able to convince an experienced basketball worker like Cowens to agree with him in just a few words, and everything won't be apparent until the season begins. It's just that now, even if Leon is verbally able to take down Cowens's problems and express his distinct views and ideas to them, whether they can be recognized or not, if they don't express their thoughts, even if they make achievements one day, they will be considered blind.

"Then why did you sign Malik Ciri? He has not fully recovered from his injury. It is said that this is to get Kevin Garnett, as Ciri is a good friend of Garnett. But I don't think it's a good idea to put the signing on one of his so-called friends. Now that the league knows almost all of the Celtics want Garnett, it's not Auerbach's style, and it's dangerous to let your opponent know what you have in mind before a trade actually works. Sigfried also voiced his own problem. Over the course of a month, Sigfried made up for his knowledge of basketball, tried to form a basketball team at the correctional center, and trained for several weeks to find out what he was like coaching, and the results were good.

In response to Sigfried's questioning, Leon turned the bonfire with a branch to make the fire more vibrant, and replied: "There is an old Chinese saying that 'three people become tigers', which means that three people take turns to go to the street to shout that there is a tiger, and everyone believes that there is a tiger." The current era is different from the past, all transactions and contracts are carried out under the sun and transparency, there is no market for conspiracy, and we need to conspire. When we leak news like this repeatedly, one day when Garnett wants to leave the Timberwolves, the first thing that comes to mind will be us. And I know a little bit about Garnett's character, I have carefully observed him for a long time, he is a person with a very serious internal and external personality split, on the one hand, he is very emotional, but he also attaches great importance to financial interests, on the other hand, he is tough and fierce, but he has a fragile side in his heart. The best way to deal with this swing personality is to attack him with a firm and consistent attack, and to be honest, he deserves such a comeback. In the current league, no one is better suited to Boston than him. ”

In this way, Leon turned on the tongue battle mode in front of the bonfire, from tactics to psychology, from operation to rules, responding to the questions from the old people one by one, and at the same time completely revealing his team building plan.

As the night deepened and the bonfire grew colder, the coaching staff's trust in Leon increased little by little. (To be continued.) )