559: Expectations for two people

Henson was in a very good mood today, in Detroit, at Auburn Hills Palace Stadium, and the Pistons played a three-man 20-point performance today.

Even so, the Pacers still won the game. The Pistons' offense played well today, but the defense was as sloppy as ever. As a result, fans saw a hearty scoring battle today.

In the end, the score of 121-115 also fulfilled the overall tone of the game. Before you know it, the Pacers have won another six-game winning streak.

Of course, Henson's good mood doesn't stop there. Just half an hour after the game, Raptors general manager Ugery called Henson. Half an hour after the call, NBA officials announced the news that the Pacers and Raptors had reached a deal.

Kevin. Rooney and Pascal. Siakam swapped owners, and the humble deal went unnoticed. After all, the "weight" of these two inside lines is a little less meaningful.

Looney is a small backup for the Pacers, Siakam, and many people don't even know who this guy is.

This kind of small transaction, which usually doesn't get much attention from other people. After all, no one expected this deal to send both teams a huge boost.

But Henson will try to make this humble deal work out for the best it can be. You know, a Chinese coach never does anything meaningless.

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This year, winters in Indianapolis have been exceptionally cold. But such temperatures are not worth mentioning for Siakam, who has lived in Toronto for a long time.

After all, in the icy north of Toronto, the extreme low temperature in January can even reach minus 30°C. Compared to Toronto, the cold in Indianapolis is nothing in between.

Following the crowd down the passage, Siakam was undisturbed by anyone. The lad didn't wear sunglasses and didn't do any disguise. But few people know that he is an NBA player.

That's the difference between a bottom player and a top player, a player who hasn't played a few minutes in the NBA, how many people do you know?

As he walked, Siakam thought in his head. He didn't know if it was a good thing that he was traded to Indianapolis.

After all, the Pacers are known to be strong. After yesterday's win over the Magic, their record this season has turned into a dreaded 32-3. There is speculation about whether the Pacers can win another 70-win line. And 60 wins are no longer worth mentioning for them.

With such a strong team, it must be more difficult to get into the rotation. What's more, what about the "monster" of Antetokounmpo who has been in the Pacers' No. 4 position for a long time?

If Siakam can play in the NBA with the Pacers, it must be the best. But if he can still only play NBDL, Siakam will undoubtedly be very disappointed.

Just as this Cameroonian guy was thinking, he had already walked to the airport gate. But as soon as he reached the door, Siakam froze.

Because he didn't expect that Pacers head coach Henson. Joe, who actually came to pick him up in person......

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Siakam is not very talkative, and that was Henson's first impression of the kid.

Sitting in the taxi, Siakam nervously grabbed his pants. His eyes were drawn to the streets of Indianapolis and he kept glancing out the window, perhaps perhaps because he was too embarrassed to look at Henson. 、

"What do you think of this?" Henson broke the silence once more, having failed to open Siakam's heart several times before.

"Everything is different here, and it makes me feel like the world is spinning." Siakam smiled restrictively, his hands still neatly resting on his thighs.

"You're going to love the city, at least, it's a lot better in winters than in Toronto."

"yes, yes." Siakam smiled, then turned his gaze out the window.

Henson shook his head, the group of people on his team were really different personalities. There's a comedy like Stephenson and an introverted player like Siakam.

Seeing that the greetings were useless to Siakam, Henson didn't plan to talk nonsense, but decided to get straight to the point.

"I know, you want to play in the NBA. But to be honest, you're not up to my standard right now. ”

Finally, after Henson said this, Siakam stopped looking out the window.

"Coach, I listen to your arrangement, I ......"

"No, you shouldn't listen to anyone. You should tell me I'm going to train hard to meet the standards and you're going to get me on the field! Aggressiveness and confidence, Pascal, you should be aggressive and confident on and off the pitch. ”

Henson interrupted Siakam rudely, and then uttered several foul words in succession.

For the first time, Siakam felt the difference in this Chinese-American manager.

"You're not up to my standards right now, but if you train hard, I promise, you'll get the opportunities you deserve. I didn't bring you to Indianapolis to be your mascot. I know that you have desires and beliefs in your heart, and I know that you are carrying the expectations of another person. Whether you can establish yourself in the NBA depends entirely on whether you work hard enough. ”

Henson said, gesturing at Siakam's heart. He said that Siakam's heart was up, and yes, he was carrying the expectations of another man.

In 2014, Siakam, who is originally from Africa, chose to join the University of New Mexico to begin his basketball journey in the United States.

In October of that year, he was preparing for the first battle of his college career when bad news struck. Siakam receives a call from his eldest sister, Lessa, whose father has died.

Two weeks ago, Siakam's father was injured in a car accident and eventually died of his injuries. His mother refused to allow Siakam to return to Africa and told him that it was his father's last wish.

Before he died, his father wanted Siakam to stay in the United States to play and fight for his dreams. At first, Siakam didn't agree, but after much consideration, he knew that his parents' words were right. From then on, Siakam's heart burned with a fighting spirit to fight for his dreams, not just his own, but his father's.

Since my father has always wanted to have a son who plays in the NBA, I must fulfill this long-cherished wish for my father.

That's why Siakam worked so hard. Even when I was playing in the Development League, I would practice late into the night. He wants to prove himself to his father, and he is burdened with the desires of two people!

'I know you're a very good player, Pascal. But I know it's useless because others don't know. And all I'm going to do is get you ready and give the bastards who used to look down on you a damn surprise! As long as you follow my training plan, trust me, Pascal. It won't be long before you'll be a star, not just an average NBA player. ”

Henson continued to "go on the offensive", and before that, Henson had studied Siakam well. Therefore, it is not difficult for Henson to motivate this uncomplicated child.

Siakam's eyes widened, and since he came to the United States, no one had ever described him as "a good player".

In fact, before entering the 2016 NBA Draft, Siakam had always been a very confident player, and he considered himself to be strong enough in all aspects of his skill set that he would be appreciated by many teams for his outstanding performances in college.

Only this time Siakam miscalculated, although he tried out for many teams before the draft, but he was not selected by the Raptors until he was 27th in place.

As a rookie in the NBA, Siakam tried out for various NBA teams, and he was extremely impressed with his tryout with the Raptors.

At that time, Siakam, who was still warming up on the sidelines, saw that Rabisier and Poeltl, who were above him, had already appeared on the training ground. Siakam naturally didn't think he was worse than them, and he pondered for a moment to slam a slam on Labisier's head and give Poeltl a big hat.

Just as Siakam walked onto the training pitch with confidence, a coach stopped him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the coach said, "Poeltl and Rabicière are on separate tryouts, and you're going to try out with the others. ”

To put it bluntly, Siakam is not the Raptors' focus at all. At that moment, Siakam felt inequality, and anger.

Siakam was angry at the time, but he couldn't do anything, so he turned that anger into energy and blew everyone else around him in the next team tryout.

And the reason the Raptors selected him may be that he blew up other tryout players in a practice matchup game.

But this training game was precisely Siakam's dissatisfaction with the Raptors, because the Raptors did not try out for him alone at that time, which made Siakam very angry.

After entering the Raptors, Siakam was still not taken seriously. Within a few minutes of playing in the NBA, he was relegated to the NBDL. If it weren't for the trade, Siakam would probably have forgotten about the Raptors' management.

Because of this, Siakam's self-confidence is nowhere near as high as it was in college. And because he lacks self-confidence, it is difficult for him to play aggressively on the court.

But just now, the Chinese coach said, "You are a very good player", which made Siakam very encouraged!

"I'll listen to you, Coach. You make me train, and I'm going to train all the time. If you want me to play, I'll do my best to grab every rebound. In short, I will fight hard for you. Siakam's eyes were determined, and in just a few minutes, Henson managed to close the distance between them.

"Very well, in fact, I've got your training plan in place. Maybe it's going to be lonely, maybe you still can't play for too long. But trust me, Pascal. When that's all over, you'll be in the playoffs. ”

"How do you need me to train? Instructor. ”

"First of all," Henson curled the corners of his mouth, "I need you to step up your three-point shooting." ”

"Three-pointers!?" Siakam was shocked, he didn't know what kind of monster he would be made into by Henson.