The Warriors' 2000-2001 season finally ended on April 18, and although the contract had not yet expired, Richard had already asked the team's assistant coaches, in addition to Frank Vogel, Del Nigro and Chip Engelland, to find a home for himself.

Because the free agent market opened on July 1, there are still more than 2 months to go, and even the draft is held on June 26, and there is still a long time to go, so Richard decided to put the reorganization of the coaching staff to the front first, as for the team's draft, trades or something can be put aside first.

So Richard chose to go to New York, where he hoped to recruit Tom Thibodeau, the famous defensive guru of later generations.

Tom Thibodeau in 2001 was still the right-hand man of New York coach Jeff Van Gundy, and this season Jeff Van Gundy, with the help of Tom Thibodeau, built the Knicks into one of the strongest defensive teams in the East, limiting opponents to a horrific 86.1 points per game. If it weren't for the Knicks' poor offense, they would have been in first place in the East in the regular season.

Richard approached Tom Thibodeau, hoping to recruit the defensive guru with a high salary and higher salary, but Richard called Tom Thibodeau several times in a row, but they were all rejected.

However, Richard did not give up, he chose to come to New York in person, found Tom Thibodeau, and persuaded him to join the Warriors in person.

Walking on the streets of New York in early spring, Richard looked at the small note in his hand from time to time, which was the address of Tom Thibodeau in New York that Chris Mullin had found, and looked around, and Richard soon found the destination he was looking for.

"This is it, 118 Elland Road." Richard looked at the apartment in front of him, it was supposed to be a duplex apartment, and two or three steps up the door was the door, and Richard walked up and knocked on the door.

After a while, the door opened, and it was Tom Thibodeau, the main owner that Richard was looking for.

"You are? Richard Cohan?! Tom Thibodeau recognized Richard at once, and then he smiled wryly: "Oh! Mr. Cohan, I said I'm definitely going to be with Jeff next season, and there's no reason for me to leave this team. ”

"No, no, no, Tom, I think you should listen to the terms I give." Richard shook his head quickly, trying to convince Tom Thibodeau.

Tom Thibodeau was still a little reluctant after listening to Richard's words, but Richard had already said so, so he could only step back and get out of the way.

Soon after, Richard sat down at Tom Thibodeau's house, and when he sat down, Richard asked, "Tom?" Do you believe in defense? ”

Tom Thibodeau, who hadn't sat down yet, was stunned for a moment, then sat down slowly, and replied as he should: "Of course! ”

"Then my team will give you complete freedom, and the team's defensive system can be built by you!" Richard didn't talk nonsense either, and threw his hole cards directly.

However, Tom Thibodeau only held his chin and pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "Thank you very much, Mr. Cohan, I don't think your team can fulfill my defensive vision because your team doesn't have the players I want. ”

"Whatever players you want, I can get one or two."

"Marcus Camby, Cott Thomas and Ratley Les Preville." Tom Thibodeau slowly said the three players, Richard was silent for a moment, the Warriors really can't help Thibodeau find similar three players, maybe the current Eric Dampier is a center at the level of Marcus Camby, but Antoine Jamison is not a player who can shoot and defend like Ate Thomas, and even if Richard chooses a defensive small forward in the draft, the Warriors' defensive ability at the small forward position will not exceed that of Ratlis Prewell.

"With all due respect, Mr. Cohan, your warriors have a long way to go, and perhaps it doesn't suit my defensive philosophy." Tom Thibodeau said another sentence, which was enough to make Richard smile bitterly, and he personally came to New York to persuade him, but it seemed that he was going to fail in the end.

The reason for the failure was that Tom Thibodeau was not optimistic about the current Warriors, which made Richard a little helpless, but Richard also knew that the current Warriors did look a little mediocre, even those players who performed well last season were mostly not favored.

For example, Michael Reed, after joining the Warriors last season, averaged 18.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, although the score was close to 20 points, Michael Reed's strength was also recognized by many NBA experts, if it was compared to Alan Houston in New York, it was too far behind, although the data of the two were about the same, but the difference in fame was too big.

Let's talk about Antoine Jamison, the arrival of Richard has allowed Antoine Jamison to play the statistics of a first-line power forward, averaging 25.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game, but even those NBA experts believe that Antoine Jamison is just a second-rate power forward. There is also Eric Dampier, after Richard became the owner, Dampier averaged 8.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, but Dampier received very little recognition, in the final analysis, the Warriors' record is not good, and no matter how good the performance of the players is, they will not be recognized.

Richard was helpless, so he was about to say goodbye and leave, but then Tom Thibodeau suddenly said: "I see that Mr. Cohan is very interested in finding a defensive coach, and I have a coach here that I can recommend to you, but I don't know if you can see it." ”

Richard immediately raised his head in confusion: "Oh? Don't know who it is? ”

"You may not have heard the name, his name is Mike Malone, but his father is Brandon Malone, the Knicks' chief assistant coach, and at the moment he is the Knicks' trainee coach, and he is very good defensively." Tom Thibodeau said slowly.

Richard's mind quickly searched for the name Mike Malone, and soon he got the information of this Mike Malone from the memory of his previous life, Mike Malone, is the son of Brandon Malone, a well-known NBA coach and current Knicks assistant coach, and served as an intern coach under Jeff Van Gundy, but what made Richard interested was some things that happened later in the memory of his previous life.

During the 2008-2009 season, Mike Malone served as the head defensive coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers, building the league's second-best defense for the Cavaliers. Then he joined the Warriors in the 2011-2012 season and became Mark Jackson's assistant coach, helping the Warriors complete the playoff breakthrough. Then he became the head coach of the Kings in the 2014 season and almost led the Kings to the playoffs, if it weren't for the injury of DeMarcus Cousins!

Richard pondered for a while, maybe in the case of Tom Thibodeau's reluctance to join, Mike Malone is a good choice!

So he quickly raised his head: "So can Coach Tom help me get in touch?" ”