"Coach Li, I really didn't expect that you would remember me, I ...... I beg your pardon, I'm really excited, I'm your fan! Brad Stevens said loudly.

Li Wei said: "Haha, this is such a coincidence, I am also your fan, you have to sign me in a while!" ”

Brad Stevens laughed, "I'll give you an autograph?" You're so exalting me! ”

Li Wei said: "No kidding, I'm very serious, can you wait for a while, and then sign my name?" I'm so sorry, I'm too busy right now. ”

Li Wei is really busy, he is surrounded by fans who hand over all kinds of jerseys and items and ask him for autographs!

"Of course no problem!" Stevens Road.

The two chatted like this.

After the autograph time was over, Li Wei invited Stevens to his room as a guest, and Stevens was embarrassed to go, but asked a question.

"Coach Li, I'm working at Eli Lilly now, which is a big pharmaceutical company and relatively stable. My annual salary this year is $44,000, and if I keep doing it, it will be even higher in the future. But I kind of hate this 9-to-5 life, I love basketball, and I want to be involved in basketball. ”

"Basketball-related jobs? Do you want to be a coach? Li Wei raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, it's hard for me to be a professional footballer, but it's a bit of a possibility to be a coach. But as you know, I'm only 23 years old now, just over a year out of school, and while I'm confident in my abilities, no team would allow such a young man to be on the coaching staff.

However, Butler University is recruiting basketball volunteers to work for their basketball team, a job that is not paid. I wanted to apply for this job because the volunteers are doing a good job and are very promising to join their coaching team and become an assistant coach at the school.

But if I were a basketball volunteer, I would have to quit my current job, and if I quit Eli Lilly, it wouldn't be so easy to find the same good job, and if I couldn't get into Butler's coaching staff, the future would be bleak. ”

"Haha." Li Wei smiled lightly.

In his previous life, Stevens left Eli Lilly and Company this summer to work as an unpaid volunteer at Butler University. He had no place to live, so he lived in the basement of a friend's house, and had to work part-time at a chain restaurant to make ends meet.

His luck was good, and a year later an assistant coach at Butler University, Jamal Meeks, was arrested, leaving the assistant coach position vacant.

Although young but hard-working, Stevens was familiar with the team's system, and was soon favored by Butler University's head coach Todd Liclet, and was eventually promoted to assistant coach!

After another six years, Todd Licklitt jumped to the NCAA University of Iowa and became a senior assistant coach, but Stevens, who was still young, was finally favored by Barry Collier, the director of the athletic department at Barrett University, and was promoted as head coach!

The head coach who is only 30 years old is too young, and although Barrett University is not a prestigious school, it is also a team in the NCAA Division I League, so it is really not a wise move to appoint such a young man to lead the team.

Many people think that the management of Butler University has a disease in their heads, and even if this kind of young man can become a head coach, he should go to the third division to practice and come back, but Stevens slapped these people in the face!

The second-youngest head coach in the entire NCAA Division I led Butler to a record 30 wins in his first year, beating big names — the University of Michigan, Texas Tech, Florida State University, and Ohio State — along the way.

In 2010, Stevens led the Butler University Bulldogs team to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in school history, which was also the first time that a team reached the Final Four since the establishment of the Horizon League.

At the age of 33, Stevens became the youngest coach to reach the Final Four since Bob Knight (32) in 1973!

They then eliminated Michigan State University in the semifinals to meet Duke University in the finals!

Coach K's Duke University was very strong, but Butler University still fought them until the end, and in the final moments, Haywood's three-pointer thrown at halftime missed the basket, and Butler University lost 59-61.

In 11 years, Stevens led the team to the finals again, losing to the University of Connecticut, an old famous school with stars such as Kemba Walker, and missed the NCAA championship again!

Li Weidao: "I understand what you are thinking, many people are like you, with ideals on one side and reality on the other. It is good to pursue ideals, but it is likely that you will be so poor that you will have nothing to eat, live on the streets, and end up with nothing. But if you choose reality, you will not be reconciled, after all, you are still young, and you still want to fight for your ideals, basketball is your dream, and you are willing to give everything for it. ”

Stevens nodded: "Yes, I'm not as rich as you, I can buy a team as a head coach, if I want to become a coach, I can only start from the bottom, if I can become a college coach, I may have a chance to enter the NBA in the future!" ”

Li Wei patted him on the shoulder.

Stevens gave up a stable job to pursue his ideals, and of course he agreed, because this guy is indeed a talent who can become a famous coach, and he also has the opportunity to become a famous coach!

Still, he had a better idea than going to Butler University.

"Brad, if you want to work in basketball, come to the Knicks. I won't be as harsh as them and won't even give me a paycheck, but you also have to work hard and be worthy of the position I gave you. ”

"Can I go to the Knicks?" Brad Stevens' eyes widened in surprise.

At the age of 23, it is very difficult for him to apply for a college teaching assistant, and it is tantamount to a fool's dream to go to a professional league and the NBA, which is also the highest level!

But now, Li Wei actually said yes!

"Haha, from you, I see my former self. Like you, I love basketball so much that I bought the Knicks. Many people don't understand, saying that I am so rich, why do I still play. It's like they don't understand why you want to volunteer at Butler University as an unpaid volunteer when you can be a white-collar worker at Eli Lilly.

So, I decided to give you a chance. We don't have a video editor right now, a staff who watches the videos of the teams, breaks down all the tactics, and cuts them into clips.

You are the main defender of the varsity team in high school and college, and you should not lack tactical literacy, and you should be able to edit and video work. You'll also have a video coordinator on top of you. Video coordinators need to have a lot of tactical skills, they need to sort your edited videos into categories, organize them, and provide them to our coaching staff.

If you do a good job of video editing, can memorize hundreds or thousands of tactics, and analyze their strengths and weaknesses, then I can promote you to video coordinator. If you do a good job of video coordination and provide valuable intelligence and tactical analysis to our coaching staff every night, then I can promote you to assistant coach. ”

Speaking of this, Li Wei paused, and then said, "Are you willing to go to the Knicks to be a video editor?" The work is very boring, every day is to keep staring at the videos of each team, analyzing, cutting, and writing summaries, but if you do well, your technical and tactical ability will be greatly improved, and it will be easy to apply for coaching jobs in the future. ”