Chapter Twenty-Nine: Li Shihao's Ambition

In the first quarter of the game, Li Shihao began to gradually concentrate the team's offensive focus on the interior, and under his organization and offense, Al Jefferson and Kevin Love began to score continuously, and Biedlins on the Warriors' interior gradually showed that he was unable to support himself.

Whenever Lee Shihao accurately passed the ball to Al Jefferson or Kevin Love, they were always able to steadily and efficiently put the basketball into the basket, and the two interior monsters began to gradually wreak havoc on the Warriors' interior defense.

Warriors head coach Don Nelson stood on the sidelines, without saying a word, quietly watching the situation on the court continue to change, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, he was a little surprised by Li Shihao's performance, the young man in front of him has exceeded the performance of a rookie, he is indeed too far ahead of most of the rookies in this class.

Even if he has a bullish attitude towards this Chinese rookie, but at the moment Li Shihao's performance is far beyond his expectations, in Li Shihao's body, he does not see the characteristics of a functional guard, this young Chinese young man, is a little bit of transformation, the speed of progress is getting faster and faster, and it seems to be moving towards the ideal state of point guard.

In the first quarter of the game alone, under his organizational passing, the Timberwolves successfully overtook the score by virtue of the advantage of the inside, what surprised him was not Li Shihao's passing awareness, what he saw was the most essential factor buried in this quarter of the game, and he clearly saw the most rare big picture of a point guard from this Chinese young man.

Nowadays, in the media close to the NBA, it is often seen how the modern uncrowned king praises a player's big picture, they often judge a player's internal ability arbitrarily based on the merits of the data, and even to a certain extent, they see the core player who controls the ball as a cash cow that can bring news effect. Once a player plays well and leads the team to victory, they will easily put a series of praise such as "big picture", "greatness", "all-round" and so on those players.

In Don Nelson's eyes, this is undoubtedly an insult to basketball itself!

Even in the NBA, Don Nelson has been in the business for decades, but he still has the most essential characteristics of a basketball man, he is a stubborn old man, crazy and rational, and he is the most valuable characteristic of a conservative basketball man.

Yes, he understands what a player really needs, and now he faintly sees such a characteristic from Li Shihao, which is really beyond his expectations.

There are many point guards in this league, and they have a skill, whether they are a breakthrough at a faster pace, or a stable shooting ability, or a brilliant organizational ability, or an inexplicable passing skill, all of which have made the NBA league have countless star point guards who shine brightly.

They received cheers, received high praise from the media, became famous, and fans flocked to them.

But in Nelson's view, most of them are just functional point guards, and maybe being the core of a team is enough, but they are still far from embarking on that legendary road full of ups and downs and glory!

In today's league, Jason Kidd and Stephen Nash are undoubtedly the most famous stars in the league's No. 1 position, they have been famous in the point guard position for many years, but only Stephen Nash can be regarded as truly touching the essence of the legendary road, but what is helpless is that the poor defense has made today's Stephen Nash drift away on this legendary road, and gradually lost the essence of those legendary point guards!

And Jason Kidd, the triple-double king in this league, may only be counted as half.

Don Nelson's cloudy eyes revealed a little thoughtful light, and he suddenly didn't want to interrupt Li Shihao's performance, he wanted to really see how much amazing talent this young Chinese rookie could show in this game.

When the first quarter of the game ended, the head coach of the Timberwolves, McHale, found Li Shihao, as a young head coach, McHale is undoubtedly inexperienced in this position, and he is more willing to let the star rely on his own play to take over the game and lead the team to victory.

And in the first quarter of the game, Li Shihao undoubtedly did this perfectly, his organizational skills are undoubtedly extremely eye-catching, the data of four assists in a single quarter allowed the Timberwolves to gradually open up the situation on the inside, under his organization, Kevin Love and Al Jefferson are often able to shoot the basketball into the basket in the most comfortable position, so now, McHale wants to hear the thoughts of this young disciple in front of him.

"Bruce, you played very well in the first quarter, and the team's offense on the inside gradually opened up the situation under your guidance, but I want to know more about your thoughts on this game."

Li Shihao didn't rush to answer when he heard this, he thought for a while, and said: "The Warriors won't have much breakthrough in these two seasons, they are now entering a rebuilding period, head coach Don Nelson wants to sharpen the young players in the team today, they expect to use the regular season to cultivate the future of their team, but the victory in this game is really important to us, we not only need to win this victory cleanly, but also need to sharpen our latest tactics in this game!" ”

McHale pondered for a while when he heard this, he was a little surprised in his heart, and he asked: "Bruce, the team's recent run-in is deepening, and now our offensive and defensive system is only preliminarily established, but I can still see the hidden power under this immature system, which is very unusual!" It's all about your efforts, but I wonder if you care so much about winning or losing the game to lead the team to the playoffs? ”

Li Shihao was silent, he understood that this was a bit incredible, there are very few players in history who can be the core of a team to rush a once bottom team into the playoffs, counting the phenomenal rookies in NBA history who have done this, and they have basically become superstars in the league - Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Dwyane Wade, Melon Anthony......

They all undoubtedly had an amazing rookie season, and it is undoubtedly extremely rare to be able to play phenomenal performances in their first year!

But such rookies, even in the vast history of the NBA, are only a minority after all, and most of the rookies tend to only shoot desperately in their debut season, practice offensive methods, accumulate game experience, and they often don't care about the team's victory or defeat.

However, now Li Shihao has an ambition, he doesn't want his rookie season to be so mediocre, he is more eager for his rookie season to shine on the more competitive playoff stage.

"Boss, I want to bring the team to the playoffs, I know it's hard, especially in today's competitive West, it's too difficult for a weak team to rely on a rookie to make the playoffs, but I want to try to do it, I don't want my rookie season to be ordinary, I want to be challenging and unknown in the playoffs," he said.

McHale had a glimmer of appreciation in his eyes, he was also a star player, as one of the legends in Celtic's history, he understands the importance of honor for a player, and he is glad that Lee Se Ho can show such a desire, as a head coach, no one does not want his players to work hard, and have a vision of the playoffs where challenges and opportunities coexist.

Li Shihao was able to have such an idea, he naturally felt very relieved, he nodded, and said slowly: "Bruce, let it go!" The focus of today's Timberwolves rebuilding will be on you, you will be the future of the Timberwolves, give it a go! You are the heart of the team and I will support you! ”

Li Shihao raised his head and looked at head coach McHale in surprise, he didn't expect McHale to have no intention of messing up.

If the team gives up the hard work this season and finishes the season with a bottom-of-the-league record, it will undoubtedly get a high draft pick next summer, and a higher pick will mean being able to pick up more potential rookies, just as the Trail Blazers have done, relying on draft picks year after year to gradually gather a group of young and talented team stars.

However, to Li Shihao's surprise, head coach McHale actually chose to trust him as a rookie and left the direction of the team's rebuilding to him to choose, he was a little moved, looking at the sincerity in the eyes of head coach McHale, he understood that he was lucky, he met a head coach who could really be trusted.

Maybe McHale, as a head coach, is not good at commanding on the spot, he is not very good at adjusting the relationship between players, his ability to adjust players is not very good, and there are not too many complicated and cumbersome tactics in his mind, but what is commendable is that McHale is a head coach who is more willing to believe in players!

McHale, who has come from the playing days, can understand the players' minds more clearly, so he has a better understanding of Li Shihao's thoughts, and he will not be as stubborn and unchangeable as the academy coach.

Then the game restarted, Li Shihao took the ball from Brewer's hand, began to control the ball and advance to the court, he gave Brewer a look, signaling him to get a shot through more running, as long as Brewer was in an open position for a moment, Li Shihao's pass could instantly cut through the Warriors' defensive line and come to Brewer's hands.

This is Li Shihao's self-confidence, his passing skills are based on mistakes again and again, he is not a talented person, he understands the importance of when a technique is familiar with thousands of times, it is a kind of quantitative change gradually transformed into qualitative progress, just like his passing, shooting, breakthrough, after hard practice again and again, gradually began to become difficult to defend.