Chapter 20: Nash's Talk

When he learned that Li Shihao was going to fly to Phoenix, Yun Fei was still quiet, and their relationship was now in a delicate state. Li Shihao also doesn't want to break this balance, and is already very content with having a girl he once had a crush on by his side.

When the moment before leaving home, Yun Fei hesitated for a long time at the door, but still put a box of cold medicine in the palm of Li Shihao's hand, and said with concern: "There will be two consecutive back-to-back games later, pay attention to your body, don't catch a cold, this box of medicine is prepared by your side, you can use it when you need it, take care of yourself, old classmate!" ”

Li Shihao listened to the warm words spoken by the girl, and there was some warmth in his heart, he hummed softly, waved his hand at Yun Fei, and turned to leave.

While on the plane, Lee Se-ho listened quietly to the music and thought about the strategy against the Suns.

This season, the Timberwolves are headed by McHale, but the old man who was a great old man as a player did not shine in his coaching career.

Most of the tactics carried out by the Timberwolves this season were initiated and organized by Li Shihao, and McHale delegated some of the rights of the head coach to Li Shihao.

Li Shihao has no complaints about this, as a rookie, it is extremely rare to be able to get such trust in his rookie season, not to mention that although having the right to execute tactics will make Li Shihao sometimes more stressed, but it is also the greatest effect on his sharpening.

McHale also approached him at the beginning of the season, saying that after waiting for the results to stabilize in the middle of the season, he would step down as head coach and continue to serve as the team's general manager to focus on running the team's operations.

As for the selection of the head coach position, McHale, a Hall of Fame player, made a rare sale in front of Li Shihao, and he smiled mysteriously: "That head coach is very interested in you, he wants to know where your ceiling is, so your performance this season will determine whether he will come to coach or not!" ”

Li Shihao couldn't help but be full of doubts when he thought of this, Larry Brown, Phil Jackson...... The names of famous handsomes flashed in his mind, but he couldn't guess an answer.

After thinking hard for a long time without results, Li Shihao began to study the soul of the Phoenix Suns - Stephen Nash.

Canadians, who have been playing in the league for more than ten years, have gradually shown their twilight, although the passing and offense are still at the master level, but the decline in physical strength has made him no longer have the grand occasion of winning the MVP in the past year.

The years are fleeting, and it is hard to regret it!

After experiencing the painful memory of not even making the playoffs last season, the Suns have gathered Steve Nash, Amarestaudemire, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill and many other powerful players, and plan to attack the championship again in the new season!

Especially Grant Hill, the former Jordan successor, rejuvenated himself in Phoenix Phoenix after an injury that could ruin his career, and the veteran Hill, who played his first 82 regular season games last year, averaged 12 points per game without injury-free. 9 rebounds 2. 3 assists, a perfect connection to the Suns' bench firepower, and even more commendable, his shooting percentage reached an astonishing 52. 3%, the efficiency is not amazing!

This season's Suns are really full of attack power and full of unknowns!

In the subsequent match against Nash, how to limit Nash's ability as much as possible will be a big problem for Li Shihao.

I have to say that Li Shihao doesn't like many stars in the NBA, Nash is definitely one of them, the two-time MVP has brought the point guard's ability on the offensive end to the fullest, so to speak, he represents everything the point guard can do on the offensive end, breaking through layups, mid-range shots, three-pointers, free throws, all these scoring means are as simple as drinking water and eating for him.

The scariest thing is that he often doesn't need to score points to help his team win!

His playmaking pass is the biggest lethal weapon!

Thinking of this, Li Shihao couldn't help but feel a little distressed, it can be said that it is his honor to meet such a historical-level point guard, and it is also a sadness!

In the next game, the Timberwolves, who have just shown a little good chemistry, may be severely defeated by the Suns led by Nash.

This is undoubtedly the most annoying thing for the team in the rebuilding, a little good chemistry will be completely destroyed after encountering a strong team, if they can't maintain that little bit of team cooperation in the defeat, then, waiting for them is only a losing streak!

After the team's plane landed in Phoenix, Li Shihao received a mysterious phone call, and when the other end of the phone was connected, Li Shihao heard a familiar and unfamiliar voice.

From the leader of the Phoenix Suns, the opponent of this game - Steve Nash!

"Hello Bruce, I'm Steve Nash, would you be interested in getting together?"

The words were gentle and cordial, not at all unfamiliar, but like an old friend for many years, and Nash's humble demeanor can be seen.

Li Shihao was surprised for a moment, so he gladly accepted, and after asking about the meeting place, he asked for a leave of absence with the team leader McHale and went to a Chinese restaurant in Phoenix.

When Li Shihao arrived at the meeting place, he found that this was a very distinctive Chinese restaurant, and the Chinese classical decoration style was particularly conspicuous on the American streets across the ocean.

The waiter at the door looked like a Chinese face, and when he saw Li Shihao enter the door, he hurriedly stepped forward and asked in a friendly manner, "Sir, is there anything I can serve you?" ”

Li Shihao reported the room number given by Nash, and the waiter understood as soon as he heard it, and took Li Shihao to a room with a quaint and quiet environment, where the decoration is in the style of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the screen in the room is lined with porcelain and antiques from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

As soon as he entered the room, Nash got up with a smile and greeted, "Bruce, come, this way!" ”

Li Shihao responded with a smile, found an empty seat and sat down, and found that Xiao Si, Grant Hill and a group of Suns players were there.

Nash is still personable, this old Canadian man is in his thirties, and his demeanor is still the same, he smiled: "Bruce, Yao and I have talked about you many times, and he has always paid attention to your performance!" ”

Li Shihao was a little puzzled, he didn't know much about the relationship between Yao Ming and Nash.

Nash seemed to see his confusion, explaining: "In the NBA, there aren't a lot of foreign players, and we foreign players are kind of connected to each other, just like I have with Nowitzki and Yao from China, and we all have a good relationship, and we often have dinner with each other after playing on the road and go to our own parties. ”

"Back when you were in college, your big brother Yao talked about you more than once. Even though you weren't brilliant at the time, he was very optimistic about you! ”

Li Shihao was very surprised in his heart, his freshman year was the darkest period of his life, he had no playing time, he was not trusted, he silently insisted on such an unattainable ideal alone, but he didn't expect Yao Ming to start paying attention to himself at that time!

"Yao highly recommended you to our team after your first year in the NCAA, and although your performance at that time could be said to be a bit dismal, I still suggested to the team management that if you don't participate in the draft, we will offer you a 10-day non-guaranteed contract!"

Li Shihao has some bad feelings in his heart, Yao Ming is really dedicated as the leader of Chinese basketball, he can be said to have no strengths in his freshman year, but Yao Ming is still trying to find a way to find an opportunity for himself to enter the NBA, this heart is really touching.

"But what amazes me is that after three years of training in the NCAA, you have changed at an imperceptibly slow pace, and in three years, you have been improving a little bit, very slowly, but you have been moving steadily, and when our scouts compared your draft numbers from three years ago, we were all shocked!"

Li Shihao was silent and didn't speak, no one knew how he gritted his teeth and persevered during that gloomy period of life, and no one knew how hard he worked to make himself still progress after being questioned!

"When you were a junior, I told team management to pick you with the team's only first-round pick, but you know that after your fight with UConn, your pick is worth much more than just a 14th pick!" Nash smiled helplessly.

Li Shihao understands that he was selected by the Timberwolves in the sixth place in this year's draft undoubtedly to occupy the influence of that six-overtime game, otherwise with his not outstanding physical fitness, not many teams would choose him in that position.

Nash paused and continued: "You know, if you come to Phoenix this summer, we will give you a lot of playing time, after all, we have observed you for three years, we have watched you transform little by little, and, you know, I am no longer at my peak, I will train you to be the future leader of Phoenix!" ”

Li Shihao was a little flattered when he heard this, since he entered the league, the media has questioned him a lot, and very few people are willing to express optimism about his NBA career! Only Stockton at the time praised himself after his own draft. What he didn't expect was that as a two-time MVP winner in the league, Stephen Nash would also be optimistic about himself.

Li Shihao was a little embarrassed, in the face of such praise from the top point guard master in the league, Rao is a person with extremely firm beliefs, and he also blushed a little.

He said embarrassedly: "Steve, I'm still just a rookie, don't praise me so much, I still have a lot of things to improve, tomorrow against you, I'm afraid I'm going to get a fiasco against your Suns!" ”

Steve Nash shook his head with a smile and said, "No! I've seen your game, you've been too far ahead in this year's rookie, your ball quotient is good, your mature way of playing can make you adapt to this league as soon as possible, you will help the team more, in my opinion, maybe Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors will be able to compare with you in the future! ”

Li Shihao didn't expect that Nash was optimistic about Stephen Curry?

As a good friend of Stephen Curry, Li Shihao is naturally extremely happy, after all, Curry and he have known each other since high school, and until now, the relationship is naturally deep, and he also hopes that Curry can have a legendary and great career!

However, Curry, who is still a little immature compared to him, doesn't understand why Nash is so optimistic about him!