Early the next morning, Pitino woke up from his sleep feeling a little heavy in his head, and he had been dreaming all night.

He dreamed of being humiliated by a cleaner in his office at the Auerbach training camp the other day, and he repeated his tactics word for word from beginning to end, as if they were all nursery rhymes in elementary school textbooks.

He has been dreaming of the same scene for the last few days.

As the most powerful coach in the NBA right now, Pitino has been under tremendous pressure for three years, especially last year, his third season with the Celtics.

After continuing to fail this season, Pitino has seen a little bit that it has come to this, especially after bowing to Auerbach, the initiative of the entire Celtic team is no longer in his hands, he can only take one step at a time, do his job well and prepare for possible changes in the future.

For Pitino, there was only one last straw, and one that all NBA coaches would have been able to do – to lead the team to victory in the new season.

No matter how flamboyant and colorful it is, the core of success in professional sports is such simplicity and brutality – victory, victory, victory.

After waking up, Pitino washed his face with cold water, cleaned up and went out to the restaurant on the second floor for breakfast.

Tomorrow is the day of rookie camp, but that doesn't mean teams won't have anything to do before camp officially starts, it's time to make a big fuss.

Today Pitino asked a few NBA reporters to do a simple training camp interview, which is what NBA coaches often do before the draft, revealing their thoughts to the outside world through the media.

And these thoughts are often not their real thoughts, but smoke bombs released in order to confuse other teams and achieve their true goals.

As early as 1997, Pitino did something similar, and through a smoke bomb strategy, he successfully pulled out his beloved disciple Ron Moser in the sixth pick, which can be regarded as the proud work of the original glory when Pitino first joined the Celtics.

Now, no matter whether there is a suitable candidate in mind or not, it is necessary to let go and disturb the hearts of the people at the draft venue in order to fish in troubled waters.

When Pitino arrived, there weren't many people, and Chris Wallace had already arrived before him, sitting in a corner of the four, drinking milk and eating a sandwich with another person across from him.

"Hey, Rick, come here, I'm going to introduce you to someone."

Wallace also saw Pitino and beckoned to him.

Pitino took a milk, egg, and banana salad and walked towards Wallace's place, but the closer he got to their seats, the slower his steps became, for the more familiar he felt as he looked at the back of the man sitting across from Wallace.

"Come here, Rick, look, this is our new scout, Fox Leon. I met him in the restaurant this morning and he saw me and asked me if I was Chris Wallace, and I asked him how he knew me, and he told me he was the new scout for the Celtics. I couldn't believe it, I thought he was playing tricks on me, and I didn't know this guy was lying until he showed him the work card the team gave him...... Hey, why don't you sit down, Rick, sit down and eat. ”

Chris Wallace chirped, but he noticed that Pitino's face was not very good.

Sitting across from Wallace was Leon, who got up early in the morning and came down for dinner, and he was used to getting up at six o'clock every morning.

"Hello, Mr. Pitino, it's a pleasure to see you again."

Leon stood up and greeted Pitino.

Pitino didn't stand there, he smiled and greeted Leon as well, and sat down with his things in his hand, his face sank again, and he bowed his head and began to eat breakfast.

"You knew each other before?"

From the conversation between the two, Wallace heard that the two should have met each other, which was much more than he expected.

"Yes, we met at Auerbach camp, where I was volunteering at the camp, and Mr. Pitino came over to give a talk, and then we had some basketball exchanges, which was very rewarding."

Leon chimed in, giving the listener the impression that Leon had been a member of the basketball circle for a long time, and that he was very modest.

Leon didn't mean anything else when he said this, but it sounded a little harsh to Pitino's ears, as if he were sarcastic.

Pitino swallowed the sandwich in his mouth and said, "No, on the contrary, I gained more, and I was surprised that there was such great basketball talent in Boston." ”

This is a bit of a contradiction, but Chris Wallace didn't know about the two of them, and he didn't hear the prickly words in Pitino's words, thinking that the two were holding each other's stinky feet.

And Pitino, who has always been proud of his personality, took the initiative to praise the new scout, saying that he was a surprisingly outstanding basketball talent in Boston, which made Wallace have to take a look at Leon, and felt that it was not for nothing that Auerbach parachuted this scout.

"What school or team did you work for before? There aren't many scouts as young as you on an NBA team. ”

Wallace asked curiously, now this Leon was full of mysteries.

Leon smacked his lips, looked up and replied, "I used to do boxing-related work in Boston, and then I met Mr. Auerbach, and he thought it would be a good idea for me to be a scout, so he recommended me to the Celtics." ”

Leon was still a little embarrassed to say that he was playing fake boxing, so he said that he was doing boxing-related work, anyway, Pitino didn't know his real details, so he was fooled for the time being.

The three of them had breakfast for a while, and soon Vogel and Jim O'Brien had come down from their rooms and had breakfast in the dining room.

Now Leon finally met with the main four members of the Celtics scouting team.

Frank Vogel, a man who seems to be quite mental, about the same age as Leon, but with a slightly receding hairline, gives the impression of an energetic workaholic.

Leon could guess by looking at his eyes that this guy must have stayed up late last night to watch information or watch videos, because although the eye bags under his eyes were treated with eye cream, there were still slight marks.

Jim O'Brien looks older, with a lower hairline, a wide forehead, and small, piercing eyes.

O'Brien seems to have a more amiable personality, and is noticeably more enthusiastic than Vogel when it comes to introducing each other.

They all asked Wallace the same question, and Leon gave the same perfunctory answer, except for Pitino, who didn't say a word, sneering secretly in his heart, thinking that no matter how smart Leon was, he was also a layman to basketball.

If you want to become a scout, memory is not enough, experience is more important than written knowledge, so many scouts are professionals who have been engaged in basketball coaching or video analysis for many years, and have a deep understanding and rich experience in basketball itself.

Pitino felt that Leon was nothing more than a-stirring stick sent by Auerbach, a nail planted in the coaching staff.

While Pitino relies on Auerbach's current support, he also doesn't like having someone on his team, especially since he has allowed himself to be humiliated.

"Fox, training camp starts tomorrow, tell us what you think of this year's rookies. You know, the quality of this year's rookie is mediocre, we've been talking about it together for quite a long time, and now we need some fresh input. ”

After drinking the milk from the cup, Pitino lashed out at León and asked directly what he thought of this rookie.

This is a big problem for Leon, you must know that three days ago Leon was still cleaning the glass in Auerbach training camp, and three days later he will sit in an NBA professional team to release his views on this rookie, just like the junior who was still in the high school classroom the day before yesterday, and today he is going to give an academic speech in the college class.

Vogel, O'Brien and Wallace all stared at Leon for the new scout to have something high.

Leon unhurriedly finished the hot dog in his mouth, took a sip of orange juice, and said: "As Mr. Pitino said, the quality of this rookie is not too high, this is the consensus of everyone, but there are still newcomers worth paying attention to. For example, Kenyon Martin from Cincinnati, a 6-foot-9 forward, excellent physical fitness, aggressive style of play, has a good sense of smell and enthusiasm on the defensive end, although it is difficult to become a defensive pillar player due to his size, but one-on-one defense will bring trouble to most interior lines; It's just that the offensive end doesn't show a lot of potential, the shooting is stiff, the footwork feels average, and the scoring means are not rich in college, but they are very good at using their bodies. ”

"There's Darius Myers, a high school player, who is also a physical forward, but who lacks a lot of strength compared to Martin, but he's playing at a small forward position. It has all the makings of a good No. 3, except for the lack of consistency in shooting. However, his biggest problem comes from his attitude on the defensive end, and without his college training, defense would be a huge problem. ”

"Chris Meme, a great center at the University of Texas, has all the qualities of a white center, is well-rounded, can shoot, has mid-range, has a low-post offense, has skills on the defensive end that have been honed by the university and has the potential to be a standout center. It's just that the NBA hasn't had a homegrown white center for nearly 20 years, and he lacks some of the spirituality needed for the center position, which is worth looking forward to if he works diligently. ”

"Mike Miller, white forward, almost every white forward has to be compared to Larry Bird, but there's only one Larry Bird in the NBA. Miller also has a well-rounded skill set, and if a white player in the NBA doesn't have a full range of skills, he won't even want to score the goal. He's not just well-rounded, but he's better than everyone around him in every aspect, scoring, rebounding, assists, and his size and skill set him up to be a versatile player. Of course, at a higher level, the all-round can probably become all-in-one, and that's a cause for concern............

Leon, who was sitting at the dinner table, gushed endlessly, almost telling the most interesting basic evaluation of the rookie in this class.

Although the content he told is not unique, and there is not much difference from other mainstream evaluations, it is absolutely impossible to say that the characteristics of these players are one by one, without making a lot of effort, at least taking a serious look at the player information.

These newcomers are not like the NBA's superstars, who can learn a thing from other people's mouths, except for scouts, no one will revolve around them every day.

As they spoke, Wallace and O'Brien also began to interject into the topic and exchange their opinions with each other, especially Wallace is responsible for the excavation of overseas rookies, and he has a lot of say in some overseas rookies.

After a while, Vogel began to speak out, his views more technically, which was clearly in line with his profession as a video analyst.

Only Pitino never said a word, he originally wanted to embarrass Leon, but he didn't expect Leon to win the approval of others, they all felt that Leon was a scout.

Pitino was embarrassed to jump out, pointing out that Leon was just a cleaning volunteer without any basketball background, and he must have relied on memory to forcibly memorize the information handed to him.

Leon asked for another cup of coffee and sat silently in his seat listening to the others talk about the draft, and now for him, listening is more important than talking.

At the same time, he looked at Pitino, who was not speaking, and couldn't help snickering in his heart, thinking: "It seems that there is no problem with the information given by Auerbach, especially for Pitino." ”

Last night, in the profile of the Celtic coaching staff in the drawer, Auerbach personally wrote down his assessment of Pitino: Arrogant, arrogant, too much self-esteem can make him succeed and hurt him, take advantage of that, either satisfy him when you need it, or stimulate him, and it will make you take the initiative.

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