"Tracy, you and Tyshawn have to be more ferocious, Ace has to shrink a little quicker, interfere better with Greg's catches, and Josh, you have to move a little bit faster inside and outside...... Josh, you come down first, and learn the timing of expansion and contraction with Rashid......"

Mike Woodson is coaching new defensive runs, Stockton and Malone, two assistant coaches and trainers, have become part of the training, plus the recalled Tony Allen and Ariza, as the 12-man squad players trained for the team, even Ostertag has been hired as a sparring partner, which can be regarded as a job opportunity for Ostertag.

……

Two defensive training sessions, each of 40 minutes each, plus a 20-minute break for exactly 100 minutes, came to Coach Kruger's office after practice.

"Mike, how's it going?" Coach Kruger already had hundreds of tactical drawings on his desk, most of them crossed out, and only a few were neatly placed in the folder next to him.

"I think it's going to be going well." Mike Woodson laughed.

"That's good, we're running out for time, let's use the last few games of the month to experiment, and if it doesn't work out, there's room for adjustment." Coach Kruger nodded.

The defensive end was handed over to Mike Woodson, Coach Kruger was not worried at all, Coach Kruger took the offensive and tactical running training charts of the small-ball play style that was as perfect as possible last night and this morning, and thought that the training maps were relatively perfect, and communicated with Mike Woodson about the connection between grabbing defensive rebounds and pressing the defense and then counterattacking, and then went to ask the players to practice offense.

Turning to a small-ball style of play, for the Hawks, the offensive end is not troublesome, mainly the defense is more troublesome.

For Liu Mang, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown, as well as the likes of Muhammad and Jason Terry, playing small ball is familiar.

The Eagles have a common tactic, called cavalry tactics, which is a little similar to running and shooting, but it is not the same, it is not the same as the small ball, it is not a team offensive tactic, but it is the same, they are all small lineups.

The biggest problem is that the Eagles used to play cavalry tactics, and the defense was traditional defense, at most outside pressing, but now, in addition to facing teams with super interior lines, they need to use traditional play, and most teams have to try fast-paced defensive changes, and the connection from fast-paced defensive changes to fast offense is the most important thing to strengthen now.

There is another reason why the offensive tactics are summarized quickly, that is, although the Suns are still regarded as an alternative among fans, and there are too few live broadcasts in the United States to not too many people understand the charm of that kind of basketball, but in the coaching world, it has shocked traditional coaches.

As for the Suns' running and bombing, Coach Kruger has been paying attention to the Suns' running after 20 days of playing.

After the Pistons' record changed to 9-1, the Suns finished first in the league with a 10-1 record, while also setting a new record for the Suns that had the best start in franchise history set by Barkley in the '92-93 season.

With such a strong performance, other teams will definitely pay attention.

But Coach Kruger, including Coach Kruger, is not optimistic about the Suns' mini-lineup of Nash, Quentin Richardson, Joe Johnson, Marion, and Stoudemire.

The lineup is too small, the tallest Stoudemire is only 2.08 meters, and the two forwards are 2.01 meters, that is, there is basically no interior defense, and the rebounding is extremely poor.

The rebounding difference is not to say that the Suns have fewer rebounds, they rank first in the league with 45.1 rebounds per game, more than the Bulls' 44.3 rebounds per game and the Hawks' 43.6 rebounds per game, but the Suns are averaging 47 rebounds per game, the league's bottom-to-last.

Their strength lies in their large number of pitchers, the team's average three-point shooting rate per game is 41 percent, and they have a super high shooting rate by relying on fast-paced offensive and defensive transitions, and the overall shooting rate is 48 percent per game, second only to the Eagles' overall shooting rate of 48.3 percent.

If the Hawks are allowed to play pure run-and-run like the Suns, Coach Kruger will strangle Liu Mang to death, but if he joins the defense and tries to make some changes, Coach Kruger feels that he can still give it a try.

The key reason for Coach Kruger's attempt to make a switch is that the Eagles don't have any big advantage on the inside this season! The Hawks started the season less dominant than last season because of the weakening of their interior advantage.

The defense is okay, the interior defense composed of Rashid Wallace, Kwame Brown, Muhammad and the two rookies inside is still very good, but the interior offense has become a lot weaker, Boozer and Raheem left, which made the Eagles' interior offense plummet, not that there are fewer scores, but that the interior independent offense is basically gone, as far as Liu Mang and Maddy have the ability to score independently under the basket, it seems that the Eagles' interior scoring has not become much less, mainly relying on Liu Mang and Maddie's outside containment.

Boozer and Raheem brought a great threat to the interior last season, Boozer went to the Jazz this season, and the Jazz team was rotten for Bodron Williams, Boozer became a big brush of data, averaging 22 points and 11.5 boards per game at the beginning of the season, and the posture of one of the best skilled power forwards in the league can brush this kind of data, and the strength of the interior scoring should not be underestimated.

Raheem also averaged 24 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists per game at the start of the season.

After averaging more than 20 points per game this season, as many as 34 players have averaged more than 20 points per game after 10 games played so far, more than double the same period last season.

Because of the loss of the two replacement teams, both of which have an average of 20+ independent scoring ability per game, the Hawks have more time to focus on the triangle offense this season, so as to make up for the lack of independent scoring ability on the inside.

But the triangle offense can't fully play the advantage of the Hawks' interior athleticism, and can only rely on Liu Mang and Maddy, Jason Terry and Calderon and others to help create opportunities on the inside, but instead give the outside players the burden, when the outside line is not accurate, it will encounter the situation of playing the second game of the Trail Blazers, and the interior athleticism cannot become an interior advantage, but becomes a drag on the offensive end.

So Coach Kruger has been thinking about changes, but the NBA and even the NCAA have a deep-rooted traditional style of play, which makes it difficult for Coach Kruger to feel the clue of change, which is also the general state of the NBA, not many teams are willing to play and run to give up defense, because simple running and bombing is too easy to be limited in the playoffs, and the old Nelson was tyrannical by the Spurs and Kings in the playoffs, and then resigned from the conflict with Cuban.

And this ingrained notion also allowed Steve Cole to find a balance 10 years after the rules in favor of running and bombing appeared...... The main reason is that the Warriors are miserable for more than twenty or thirty years, Curry gets a "child labor salary", the best defensive player is the second round pick with a base salary, Klay Thompson is also in the last year of his rookie contract, so that the Warriors in the 14-15 season have a large number of high-quality role players, and then seeing that the 15-16 season Finals were overturned 3-1 There are signs of collapse, and the league's salary cap has risen sharply to sign Durant naked, which can be said to be a character that has been saved for 30 years, and once it exploded.

The Warriors' model of success is not replicable, similar to how Larry Bird's successor is a pitfall.

But the Eagles are different, they have Liu Mang! At least before Liu Mang retires, don't worry about role players, every season there are underrated rookies who fall to the end of the first round and the second round, these college players are underrated because they don't perform well in college or have injuries, they won't be overestimated because of Liu Mang's appearance, at least most of them won't, so the Hawks can enjoy the rookie bonus of the bench for a long time, and have the opportunity to copy, or even stronger than the Universe team.

Liu Mang discussed with Mike Woodson about infinite defense change as early as two seasons ago, this is the fusion of what Liu Mang remembers, Luke Wharton, assistant coach of the Universe team, learned from the Warriors and the Spurs, the efficiency is very good, and the Lakers who are so bad that they can once play the top three defenses in the league, Liu Mang only roughly understands that concept, but Mike Woodson is a defensive master, after hearing the concept that Liu Mang said, he was immediately fascinated by the advanced defensive concept, and has been studying, I want to wait until I become a head coach in the future.

It's just that for the time being, Mike Woodson won't leave the Eagles, and what about the defending champions, who will give up the chance to potentially defend the title? The Hawks' lineup in the previous two seasons was very traditional, defensive center, shooting power forward, explosive small forward, 3D scoring guard and a Langbi point guard, which also allowed the Hawks to continue to maintain the style of play of the first two seasons at the beginning of this season, but the ability to score independently on the inside is really too poor, and now Coach Kruger is trying to change the team's offensive structure, and Mike Woodson has always wanted to experiment with his own defense that integrates the small-ball concept brought to him by Liu Mang, and he can finally start!

The main training is to strengthen the pressure of the defense, accelerate the frequency of expansion and contraction of the defense, and force the opponent's rhythm to speed up and make mistakes, which is very different from the traditional NBA defensive concept, the traditional NBA defensive team, all want to press the defensive rhythm as slow as possible, consume the opponent's patience, and let the opponent make a mistake in choosing because of anxiety, and the goal of the Hawks' training now is to make the opponent make decisions quickly, so that the opponent can make mistakes in judgment in the fast pace.

The purpose of both defenses is the same, which is to make the opponent miss the shot or pass, but if it is fast-paced, it is very beneficial for defensive counterattacks.

That's where Mike Woodson needs to help the team work out.

And Coach Krueger and Stockton, the two are mainly responsible for the offense, and they need to make the cavalry tactics "bigger", let everyone participate, and make full use of the team's current athleticism on the inside, there used to be Boozer and Ratliff, as long as any of them were present, they couldn't play the team's fast attack, both of them were slow, and now it's different, the team offensive style of play is possible.

And because of the foundation of cavalry tactics, the training on the offensive end is much easier than on the defensive end.

During the offensive training, a group of players who can run and jump are very happy, and they are also very active when they are in position according to the tactics, but when they train the defense, they complain, this kind of defense with the concept of small ball, it is too tiring, the physical consumption is very large, the loss is that the depth of the lineup is strong enough, everyone practices for a while, the consumption is not too big, and it will not affect the game at night.

But when Coach Kruger came to train the offense, the whole team was in high spirits and running like a thief.

And the new tactics always make young players feel interesting, especially the similar style of play that may be similar to the legendary Suns who can score for everyone on the team, so that the players who usually don't have many opportunities to perform are excited to devote themselves to training, although they complain, they are very active in training, and they want to show that they can do it.

……

……

"Ace, make sure finally, if you take this step, there is no way back!" Maddie is still so indecisive.

"Alright, Tracy, you go and tell the coach that you don't want to play small ball, and tell him you're joking with him." Liu Mang made a very challenging suggestion.

Maddie glanced at Liu Mang and ignored Liu Mang, he now understands that he has been cheated again!

Although I don't know what Liu Mang thinks and why there are always so many bizarre ideas, Maddie knows that she is right.

It's only been so long since the Eagles! I've been cheated countless times.

Maddie thought that Coach Kruger hadn't slept all night, his eyes were bloodshot when he was training in the morning, and he was like an angry eagle in training, and now when Coach Kruger was catching up on sleep, he went to tell him that yesterday was a joke, and Maddie felt like he was dying.

After Liu Mang and Coach Kruger left at home yesterday, Coach Kruger first called Mike Woodson and then called Maddie, and this kind of thing has to be agreed by the other core.

At that time, Maddie couldn't resist the temptation of the assist king and agreed, and now Maddie is starting to regret it again.

Mistakenly board a thief ship!

That's how Maddie feels right now.

At this point, Maddie can only choose to look at the offensive running line, and the tactical positioning of the defensive pinch, and other teammates who have the opportunity to play are also studying their new positioning.

In the morning, there was an offensive training session for the new tactics, and two defensive training sessions, and in the afternoon there was no training, so that the players could rest and prepare for the evening game.

The Eagles' players, especially the role players, are now more clearly positioned, closer to the role players of later generations after the change in the tactical system, and each player has his own clear positioning on the offensive end.

This is not before the post-90s generation has not entered the NBA in large numbers and the average strength of role players has not risen significantly, it is difficult to change to other teams, but the role players of the Hawks are all talented role players that Liu Mang picked up with his eyes, Tony Allen and Ariza can only be leveled in the Development League, which is not a problem, let the three rookies and Korver focus on one aspect of ability first, and their progress will even become faster because of this, after all, Xi Qiquan is not as fast as Jing Yi.

The Eagles' small-ball tactics are still called cavalry tactics, and the name of the "whole team runs to death together" tactic proposed by Liu Mang was once again vetoed, and Liu Mang was very sad about it.

This group of people doesn't understand romance at all!

Liu Mang wants to demonstrate the new version of "cavalry tactics", the playing style of the ball control core is a very good thing for Maddie, he does not doubt that Liu Mang will play well in this regard, and there were cavalry tactics before.

Playing the Rockets tonight is undoubtedly a good experimental target, the opponent's point guard is too bad, and he basically has no ability to control the rhythm, and the rhythm of the Rockets is actually Yao Ming, the center!

Although this has exercised Yao Ming's ability, the limitations are too great, so Team Rocket is the best target for experimentation.

……

Maddie is sad over there, the role players led by Jason Terry are very high, Rasheed Wallace doesn't care about the data, just win, as a romantic lover of literature and art, Rasheed Wallace has taken an average salary cut of nearly 10 million per year and renewed his contract with the Hawks, who cares about the data.

Of course, Rasheed Wallace is not because he came to the Hawks to take a salary cut, he will choose to take a salary cut when he goes to any team that has a chance to compete for the championship, and in the original history, he went to the Pistons, and his salary was reduced from more than 17 million in the 03-04 season to 10 million in the 04-05 season with a six-year contract, but when he arrived at the Hawks, he dropped more than one million.

Jason Terry can run and play, and it will be more hilarious for him, and Kwame Brown, Josh Smith and others are the ones who benefit the most, and the physical fitness of the two is fantastic, especially Kwame Brown, who has benefited the most from the Hawks interior this season, and now the pace is up to the pace, which is more beneficial for a physical flow offensive player like him.

As for the outside players, Prince doesn't care about that, but the role players do!

After the pace became faster, those of them who could only be fixed-point pitchers had more opportunities to perform, and they could get more playing time by seizing the opportunity, which was much better than the previous fixed minutes of playing time.

It is much better to fight for the opportunity to show your strength than to wait for the opportunity, which is also the key reason for the Suns' rampage this year, because of Nash's selfless passing, anyone in the Suns team has a chance to score as long as they are on the court, all by their own efforts, and when the effort is sure that it will pay off, everyone will become very hardworking......

The Eagles' training this morning went well because the players learned about it, so they worked hard and embraced the team's new decisions.

After a break in the afternoon, the role players spontaneously found Liu Mang and Maddie, wanting to practice more offensive runs, this is their opportunity, and they naturally have to take advantage of it.

Maddie saw that this group of teammates had been poisoned by Liu Mang, and felt that she was not far from being poisoned......