On Dec. 17, the day after the Pacers' win over the Pelicans, they had the second game of a back-to-back away game.

The Detroit Pistons, a team that spooked the league in the '90s. After entering the 21st century, the name of "grassroots champion" has been passed down as a good story.

But since the miracle in 2004, the Pistons have been living in dire straits. In the blink of an eye, it's 2016. In half a month, it will be 2017.

During this period, let alone the championship, the Pistons have not experienced what the playoffs are like for six years now. This team is in tatters like the city of Detroit.

While the Pistons now have a talented interior Drummond, Henson has always considered Drummond to be an overrated player. As a center who relies on his body to eat, Drummond's finishing ability and pie-eating ability are actually not strong, and his defense is not as good as everyone remembers.

So today's game, although it was back-to-back away games, the Pacers played extremely easily.

At this time, sitting on the bench at the Palace Stadium in Auburn Hills, looking at Paul. George was "beating" Caldwell-Pope on the court, but Henson's mind had already flown to the Denver Plateau.

Due to back-to-back away games, Henson was unable to discuss Jokic with Bird in time. Yesterday he only proposed the idea with Bird, but Henson has not yet made up his mind about how to implement it.

Therefore, Henson also told Bird not to act rashly. If the two people do not agree on the same idea, it is easy for the other party to grab the handle and raise the price. Everything will have to wait for Henson's return to Indianapolis to decide.

However, it is very unfortunate that after playing the Pistons today, there is only one day off, and the Pacers will have a back-to-back round of away games, playing the Wizards and Knicks respectively......

This week, Henson's days in Indianapolis add up to just a few days. Therefore, the general manager and head coach is not so easy to do.

"Henson, it's time to call a timeout." Just as Henson was thinking, Becky beside him. Harmon spoke.

"Huh!? Are we lagging behind!? Henson looked up in surprise and looked at the big screen.

"Uh...... No, but I don't think the main players have to play. We should call a timeout for substitutions, don't you think? "Becky. Harmon shook her head, she knew that Henson must have "fugued" again.

"Oh, that's it. From now until the end of the game, the game is in full charge of you and McMillan. When to make substitutions, what tactics to use, you decide. ”

Becky. Harmon didn't object, after all, it wasn't the first time Henson had done so.

So for the rest of the game, it was found that the Chinese coach just sat there dumbfounded, even during the timeout, and would not move his ass.

Henson's contemptuous attitude upset Detroit fans, but even more unpleasantly, even with such contempt, Henson still won.

"105 to 90, an understatement victory. The Pistons are no match for the Pacers at all, and there is nothing to say about this game, and the difference in strength between the two sides is visible to the naked eye. "After the game, even the commentators didn't know what to do to summarize.

Reggie. Jackson's sparse defense and Drummond's sparse offense left the Pistons with no strength at all.

After the match, Henson looked very excited. Reporters had thought Henson was excited about a 12-game winning streak.

But in reality, Henson's excitement was that he could finally return to Indianapolis and have his "robbery plan" in mind with Bird.

※※※

Bird came to Henson's door with a bottle of red wine and rang the doorbell.

Due to the tight schedule, Henson came back from Detroit in the morning, and after today's team practice in the afternoon, he had to go home immediately to spend time with his wife and children. So, I didn't have time to meet with Bird at all.

So, the two made an appointment to simply have dinner at Henson's house and talk while eating. And this kind of meeting is also 100% guaranteed that there will be no rumors.

So at this moment, Bird appeared at the door of Henson's house with a bottle of red wine.

"I haven't finished the wine you brought me last time, do you have a wine cellar or something?" As soon as Henson opened the door, Bird made a joke.

"You heartless fellow, if I hadn't come to you, I wouldn't have been willing to bring this wine. Hey Angeli, how's it going? Bird walked through the door and greeted Henson's wife warmly.

"Look at this little one, she's growing so fast! In half a year, she will be a year old. Oh time! Hurry up and scare people to death! Bird then teased Henson's youngest daughter. At this time, Bird didn't seem to have the slightest ferocity of "forcing the king", but completely became a good-faced uncle.

At the dinner table afterwards, Henson and Bird did not talk about business. Henson and Angeli chatted about the embarrassment of raising children, and Bird complained about the frightening low temperatures of this winter.

Both Henson and Bird have a tacit understanding that they don't talk about business in front of the Canadian family. Two extremely principled men are a bit like two gangster godfathers who are meeting.

So when is it time to talk about business? After dinner, sitting on the couch, Henson and Bird began their conversation while Angelie went to lull the child to sleep.

"Nikolai. Jokic, another terrible second-round show. The whole world can see that he has potential, Henson. This is also where the difficulty lies, no one will give up a potential stock easily. Bird shook the red wine in his glass, "When are you going to make an offer to the Nuggets?" ”

"There is no hurry, if we offer now, we will be very passive. Indeed, Jokic's potential is well known. But the Denver Nuggets, in fact, haven't established Jokic as the core. Gary. Harris, Emmanuel. Moodier, another white hunk Yusouf. Nurkic ...... The problem with the Nuggets is that they have too many potential stocks. I think we can make a big deal out of that. ”

"What do you mean?"

"As we all know, the Nuggets originally wanted to use Moodier as the core of the team. But his performance still fell short of expectations. With Moodier's lesson, the Nuggets won't be so easy to put another young man at the center. They must have been quite cautious and quite tangled. So, we need to make an offer when other young players are playing well. At that time, it must have been the easiest time for the Nuggets to slacken. ”

"And what about our chips?" Bird took a sip of red wine and continued to ask.

Kevin. Rooney and Josh. Richardson, no matter how bad it is, we can add draft picks. "Henson likes Rooney and Richardson too, but sometimes he can't make decisions based on human feelings.

This is the NBA, and if you want to get a player, you have to give up your heart.

"Rooney and Josh. Richardson ...... These two little guys also have potential, but I don't know if the Nuggets want to. It's okay, let's play the game first. There is still a long time before the trading market closes, and we can slowly get through it with the Nuggets. ”

"That's right, that's why I came up with the idea of trading so early. We need time and wait, but we won't be stupid either. I have other reinforcement plans, but ...... Let's do it one by one first. Henson's head raced, and many names flashed through his head.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Bird went home, and Henson continued to work until 11 o'clock, and then rested on time.

The next day, Henson woke up early. After all, the team had to travel early in the morning to Washington, D.C. to play away.

As usual, Henson woke up and looked at the sports news first to see if there was anything worth noting.

Today, there really is one thing that Henson deserves his attention. But for Henson, this is not good news.

Nuggets reporter Mars. Thornton broke the news: Nuggets are interested in trading Yusuff. Nurkic. ”

"!" Seeing the news, Henson scolded secretly.

The Nuggets want to trade Nurkic and don't seem to have anything to do with Henson. But in reality, the relationship is bigger.

Because the Nuggets have this idea, it means that they have probably decided to make Jokic the core! That's why it was decided to trade Nurkic, who is in the same position as Jokic.

Before Henson's plan even began, the difficulty had already become even greater......