“…… Good! That's all for today's exercise! Come here, everybody! ”

It was July 27, 2012, London.

Olympic Village, the training ground of the Chinese men's basketball team.

"Come here, come here! Come here! ”

The interpreter next to Deng Huade shouted loudly, and the players stepped forward one by one wiping their sweat, panting, obviously the intensity of training was not small.

“…… You should move the ball to the weak side, the defense is in front of you, it doesn't make sense to play like that! ”

On the way, the players were still discussing tactics with each other. Liu Wei, the starting point guard, was obviously very dissatisfied with Gu Yu's offensive choice when he was in the group confrontation just now, and said with a frown.

"Uh-huh, you're right."

Gu Yu nodded, then patted his chest again, and laughed loudly: "But it's okay, I can throw in, don't worry, Brother Wei, I'll take you to heaven!" ”

"Hahaha, Brother Wei......"

The players apparently had some kind of little blue pill in mind......

Huh? You ask me why do I know that pill is blue?

I...... Because I sang it in "I've Been Annoying Lately"!

What......? You said that the song sang about the little blue pill, but you didn't say what the medicine was and what it was for, why did I know it was Brother Wei?

This and this......

Read the text well! Those things don't matter!!

"I ......"

Liu Wei was also speechless, looking at Gu Yu's arrogant and domineering appearance, there was no way at all, he shook his head with a smile, and reached out to touch Gu Yu's head.

"Hairstyle hairstyle!!"

Gu Yu hurriedly rearranged his hairstyle.

"Poof! The hairstyle brother really lives up to his name! ”

The players burst into laughter.

"Huh...... Okay, let's get down to business. ”

Deng Huade was also amused by Gu Yu's optimism and positivity, smiled, and said: "The first game will be in two days, and we will start to enter the pre-game training recovery period." So from this afternoon, there will be no more high-intensity confrontation exercises, mainly physical recovery, tactical analysis, video analysis, and so on! ”

“GOT-IT！”

Chen Mu and Gu Yu nodded in unison.

The rest of the players are silent, you look at me, I look at you, I don't know what Deng Huade is talking about.

"Uh......"

Sun Yue and Yi Jianlian, who could also understand Deng Huade's words, knew what the problem was, and glanced at Gu Yu and Chen Mu.

You can understand it, but others can't! Wait for the translator to finish and then give a reaction!

"Oh, yes, yes......"

Gu Yu also came back to his senses, glanced at Chen Mu, and shrugged his shoulders at the same time.

This is the disadvantage of foreign teachers.

"The first game was against Spain, everybody...... Familiar with it, right? ”

Deng Huade looked at the players and said: "Strong team, if you don't look at our past glory, in terms of pure strength, Spain should be the second strongest team in this competition." ”

That's right.

The players know very well that the Chinese team won the championship of the Beijing Olympics, but as Chen Mu said, many of the championships were caused by coincidence.

Now that Yao Ming is retiring, the impact on the Chinese team is not as simple as "missing an All-Star level center" on the surface.

In the past many years, since Yao Ming became the first person in domestic basketball, the selection of players for the Chinese team, and even from a deeper perspective, the construction of the entire Chinese basketball youth training system has been carried out with one goal as the core:

Find the most suitable partner for Yao Ming.

Therefore, in the point guard position of the Chinese team, it is Liu Wei, who has been friends with Yao Ming for many years.

The flanks of the Chinese team are one shooter after another.

The substitute inside line of the Chinese team is a big tall blue-collar who is willing to do dirty work.

The future star echelon of the Chinese team is a big forward like Yi Jianlian who has a mid-range shot, can open up space, and can also rush to grab rebounds and do a good job of defense.

Of course, this is not to say that these players can get their current status, it is all due to the selection system, their own strength is the reason why they can become the pillars of the country.

But to a certain extent, the reason why they can reach this height must be related to Yao Ming's existence.

"Actually...... The lineup should be changed......"

Deng Huade was talking about the next arrangement, and Gu Yu and Chen Mu discussed in a whisper.

"yes, but what's the solution?"

Chen Mu shrugged helplessly: "After practicing for a while, how do you feel?" I mean teammates? ”

"Hmmm......"

Gu Yu frowned, thought for a while, and said: "The execution is good, but there are still problems with the basic skills, and I feel that there is not much progress in four years." And ......"

"And?"

"It's too slow."

Gu Yu said bluntly: "Now the rhythm of FIBA games has changed, and I think we can't keep up." ”

"That's right."

Chen Mu nodded: "We can't keep up." ”

Now that Yao Ming has retired, the limitations of the Chinese team's lineup have been revealed:

There are few qualified ball-handling attackers at international level.

Because when Yao Ming was there, everyone didn't have to think about attacking with the ball at all. Every attack is as close as possible, and the ball is handed over to Yao Ming for handling every round, and everyone is scattered on the outside or weak side in a row, just waiting to eat cakes.

As a result, some domestic players who are also excellent in strength and clearly have national team-level abilities unfortunately failed because their style of play and Yao Ming's playing style are not too compatible.

The gap caused by missing an international competition, missing a national team, or missing countless run-in training opportunities will make the gap between these "missing pearl" players and Zhengyin players widen.

When it comes to the next selection, on the one hand, the gap is even greater, and on the other hand, inertial thinking is a problem, and the selection of players cannot change much at all.

Deng Huade and others are very clear about this, and the experts and leaders in the domestic basketball circle are also very clear, but they are helpless.

The pressure of public opinion is on the table, the oath of the leader is on the line, and the chain of contempt for the players is on the side of each other. It's not that easy!

In fact, according to Chen Mu's style of play and characteristics - he is undoubtedly the absolute core of this Chinese team - to match him with players, it should be in the direction of fast agility.

Chen Mu is a big forward, and in the international arena, it is not much of a problem to play center, he is good at attacking the basket between the marches, and pulling away the back in positional battles. The latter point, like Yao Ming, the players can play according to the original idea.

But a quick run? Offensive and defensive transitions?

Except for Chen Jianghua, the Chinese team does not have a qualified offensive and defensive conversion promoter at all!

"We are missing Yao, although we can still play according to the original routine, but the lack of Yao means that Chen has to go to the strong side and become the first singles point. So the weak side...... Who will take on Chen's task back then? ”

Deng Huade said a word, and everyone was speechless.

"I'm not trying to demoralize you, it's just that at this time, I still have to make it clear what needs to be said."

Deng Huade is also a cheerful person, and continued: "Yi, you are very strong, and your style of play is also very suitable for becoming the first contact point on the weak side. But do you think you can reach the height of 08 Chen? ”

"I ......"

The UAE has nothing to say.

"Our advance speed is not fast enough, and it is difficult to play the offensive and defensive transition, Liu, Chen Jianghua, can you ensure that when you have the opportunity, you can smoothly advance to the front court as soon as possible?"

Deng Huade continued to ask.

"This ......"

Liu Wei and Chen Jianghua are a little bottomless.

"We've got to find someone."

Unsurprised by this reaction, Deng continued: "A man who can take on two tasks. First, when Chen Qiang is single, he can be with Yi and respond on the weak side and score neatly. Second, when the opportunity to switch between offense and defense appears, you can get on the ball as soon as possible, and you don't need to pass the ball accurately, but you must have accurate offensive judgment and can grasp the best time to hit the ball, or the best time to break quickly. ”

The task ...... It's not easy!

The players looked at each other, and no one dared to raise their hands easily.

"After this period of intensive training, I think I have found the most suitable candidate."

Deng Huade started, walked to Gu Yu's side in a few steps, stretched out his hand and patted Gu Yu's shoulder and said, "Gu, interested...... Is it ...... to be our tempo switching engine? ”

"Humph......!"

Where would Gu Yu be a little cowardly? He snorted arrogantly a few times, patted his chest and said loudly: "Give it to me!" ”

He......??

As soon as Deng Huade's words came out, everyone who had been fighting with Gu Yu before felt a little uncomfortable.

Yes, your hairstyle brother is indeed in full swing now, and his popularity is very high. In terms of quality, especially in attack, you are indeed a big cut above us.

That's all true, but the question is:

You're a shooting guard!

And you're not an all-around scoring guard like Harden who can organize offense with his own system, you're a pure scorer!

Why should a scorer be the team's tempo engine?

Isn't that the job of a point guard?

"Okay, disband!"

However, Deng Huade was not ready to explain to the players, but just clapped his hands and signaled that everyone could go their separate ways.

Gu Yu naturally felt a few players, and there seemed to be something more in his eyes when he looked at him.

But he didn't care.

Because of his two years of hard work in the NBA, he understood a truth.

No matter how unhappy you are, no matter how many people stab you in the back, no matter how complicated the situation is.

In the world of basketball, there is only one truth.

"That's the ...... strength!"

In the afternoon of the same day, Deng Huade organized the players to carefully watch the video of the Spanish team in the qualifiers.

From inside to outside, from players to coaches, from tactical arrangements to personnel rotation, from offense to defense.

The super strength of the Spanish team can be seen on paper, and any fan can feel it when they watch the game.

But after Deng Huade's explanation, the reason why Spain is strong has also been analyzed.

And this result made the Chinese players feel a little empty.

Two days later, the main basketball arena of the London Olympics.

The first group game of the Chinese team began.