"Luke? What's wrong with each other? Kupchak didn't look too surprised, but asked with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

As the general manager of the team, it is impossible for him to be ignorant of what is happening in the team, but he didn't expect the problem to be so serious that the team's two major summer signings actually asked him out separately to talk about this problem.

Of course, Tang Shuai also knew that Kupchak couldn't be ignorant, so he said bluntly: "Luke is a good coach, and we also know that it is not appropriate to go past the head coach to find you, but we know that if we don't say anything, things will fall into a situation that gets out of control." ”

"Well, you say." Kupchak's face was a little serious, and he felt the sharpness of this contradiction from Tang Shuai's words.

"Luke is very fond of small-ball tactics, just like Phil Jackson's obsession with triangle offense, but the current team, one has no three-point shooter, and two can't do the kind of defense that the small team can do on the defensive end, we are not saying in vain, the team has a record of 2 wins and 3 losses after using a small lineup, which may not be so obvious, but the two games won are 1 point, and the games lost are at most 20 points, which is why we chose to say it at this time."

After speaking, Tang Shuai turned his head to look at Gasol.

"Yes, we won those two games, Don scored more than 40 points, and he played more than 40 minutes, and I can feel that his physical strength is seriously overdrawn, and the reason why this is the case is completely because the defense of the small lineup is not good, and it needs to be made up for with offense, and the team has no other consistent three-point shooters." Gasol followed.

"That's ......" Kupchak fell into deep thought after listening to what Tang Shuai and Gasol said.

As the general manager, of course, he already knew about the team's loss, and because of the team's record, the team's senior management had also asked Wharton, and after some exchanges, they decided to give Wharton another time, what he didn't expect was that Tang Shuai and Gasol would talk to him about it privately.

"Mitch, it's not the first time we've worked together, and I don't talk too much, when I came to the Lakers, you told me that you wanted to bring these young people and let the team rejuvenate earlier, which I think was very successful at the beginning of the season." Gasol saw that Kupchak didn't react, and then turned his head to look at Tang Shuai, "Don is a player with a lot of potential, he showed me and others a lot, I'm sure you know, and the team's record is quite good, but since Luke started trying to play small, the situation has become out of control." ”

Kupchak heard what Gasol said, and nodded: "I have already communicated with the coaching staff about the team's loss, and it originally meant to give Luke a little more time, you also know that although he is an old man of the Lakers, he has not been a coach for a long time, and Paul, you also know that changing the head coach is not something to be said casually......"

"Mitch, we're not trying to replace Luke, we just hope he's not obsessed with small-ball tactics anymore, that tactic doesn't work for the team right now, maybe someday things will change someday, like we get some three-point shooters, or like the Warriors did when they first discovered Draymond, and find someone who can play the fourth position in small-ball tactics, but it's proven not to work now." Tang Shuai hurriedly said.

"Hmm......" Kupchak paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Regarding the small ball tactics, I will communicate with Luke well, Don is right, the team's lineup is set by us in the offseason, it is impossible to make adjustments so quickly, and teach according to his aptitude, this is something Luke should think about as a coach." ”

Hearing Kupchak say this, Tang Shuai and Gasol finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's not talk about this for a while, recently Jesse is going to resign as the team's assistant coach because of personal matters, Don, I heard that Chauncey has a good relationship with you, and now he is at home, I don't know if you can persuade him to come to the team? He's a very good coach and proved to be a great assistant coach with the Clippers last season. Kupchak asked, changing the subject.

A team has a coaching staff, and there are more than a dozen or twenty assistant coaches under the coaching staff, but there are generally a few people in charge, the chief assistant coach, who is generally responsible for the team's tactics, and the rest are in charge of some content, like the Lakers, in addition to Brian Shaw, there is also the "mad dog" Mark Madsen who originally played for the Lakers is the assistant coach in charge of the team's interior big man, and Jesse Maymer, who Kupchak said in his mouth, is the assistant coach in charge of the outside players.

"I'll try my best." Tang Shuai didn't make a promise, but replied in a tactful way.

Billups is proud of him, the Timberwolves invited him to be the head coach was rejected, and joined the Clippers because he fancied the strength of the team, and the current Lakers are on the road to revival, but I don't know how long this road will take, frankly it is not much different from the original Timberwolves, the head coach is not interested, and now he is invited to be an assistant coach who is not a chief, the possibility of this kind of thing is too low.

The three of them talked about some other topics, looked at the time and ended the exchange.

Overall, Tang Shuai and Gasol achieved what they wanted, and the next thing is to see what Wharton does.

After five days and two back-to-back schedules, the Lakers have two more games in November, at home against the Thunder on November 27 and on the road against the Nuggets on the 30th.

In the daily training on the morning of the 27th, Tang Shuai and Gasol were waiting to see what decision Wharton would make, but they didn't expect that in the training session, Wharton didn't come directly, and Xiao took them to practice.

This particular situation made Tang Shuai and Gasol a little confused.

After the training was over, Tang Shuai found Xiao and asked about Wharton's situation, and Xiao also shook his head vigorously, it seemed that he didn't know what was wrong with Wharton.

Curious and confused, an hour before the game, when all the players showed up in the dressing room and began to change their shirts, Wharton finally appeared.

"I'm sorry I missed the morning training because of some personal matters, but judging from Brian's feedback, everyone's mental state should be good." Wharton appeared in the locker room smiling.

"There are two big men on the Thunder inside, Paul will be the team's starting interior with Knowlens in this game, Don will return to the No. 1 position, you guys change your jersey first, and the next tactics to play, I will let Brian talk to you in detail." Wharton said this with a smile, then turned and left the locker room.

When Wharton left the locker room, Tang Shuai and Gasol looked at each other, and both showed a burst of smiles, and it seemed that the communication with Kupchak was immediate.

Tang Shuai and Gasol are in a good mood, but Barnes's face is not too good-looking, after the team used a small lineup, his performance is getting better and better, and now he suddenly has to change back to the original lineup, he must be the one who is the least happy.

After the players had changed their clothes and went to the stadium, he went to find Wharton alone.

When it comes to the biggest signing of the 2016 offseason, Durant's departure from the Thunder to join the Warriors is undoubtedly at the top of the list, and this news directly blew up many sports forums around the world.

When the two teams met in the regular season, they were full of sparks, and there was even a move where Green kicked Adams's lower body, which can be said to be bitter and bitter, comparable to the grudge of the Clippers and Warriors in the playoffs last season.

But it was in this situation that Durant chose to join the Warriors after his contract expired, and there was a lot of uproar for a while.

Last year, the two teams met 4 times in the regular season, although the game was intense, but the Thunder only won once, after Durant announced the news, "can't beat to join", "Warriors Du Lao Si" and other nicknames full of black nature were born, and even Thunder fans dug up 11 years Durant said when interacting with fans "I will be the Thunder for the rest of my life, unless they don't want me" Such words have been dug up.

After Durant left the Thunder, the team became the undisputed Westbrook team.

The Thunder played 12 games and had a 7-5 record, but Westbrook averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 10.6 assists per game, including a triple-double in two games, putting him in a strong position on the MVP list.

In addition to Westbrook, the team's perimeter pick, Roberson, has also shown his strong potential, averaging 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, a top-tier perimeter pick.

Coupled with the good performance of new signing Oladipo, this team did not fall because of the loss of Durant, but showed another kind of competitiveness.

The game's commentator is Bill McDonald and guest commentator Rick Barry from ***.

"Joan, today we will have a contest between two regular season MVP candidates, and both are point guards, so you can imagine that such a contest will definitely spark!" Before the game even started, McDonald had already started his pre-match warm-up.

"Yes, it's going to be a good game, both teams are always good at attacking, and the super attacking performance is going to make the blood pump." Barry chimed in.

"Joan, who do you think Don or Russell will have the upper hand in the confrontation?" McDonald then asked.

"Haha, I knew you would ask a question like this, which might be difficult for others to answer, but for me, it's a giveaway." Barry said with a smile.

"Oh? So who do you think will perform better? Or who is more likely to lead the team to win this game? McDonald asked.

"Hey, Beal, those are two questions, anyone who has watched the Lakers games knows that Don has almost half of the Lakers' shots, and he will probably score a decent score, but I think Russell will lead the team to an easy final victory." Barry said without hesitation. (To be continued.) )