"Whew~", "Whew~"

Zheng Ke gasped for breath and was doing simple strength training in the gym at home.

In the panting body again and again, in the sweat, the muscle lines on Zheng Ke's body became clearer, and the high bulging biceps seemed to tell people what kind of huge energy was contained in it.

The season has ended and the Target Center has been used for other commercial purposes. There is no special training gym, Zheng Ke chose to do some simple force stretching exercises at home. NBA stars were known training freaks when they were players, and with the exception of a few who wasted talent, most of them chose to maintain a certain amount of training like Zheng Ke in the summer.

It is a certain training for them, but it is extremely terrifying training for ordinary people.

"Gram, there's your phone."

Taylor's head poked in through the door, and at a glance he saw Zheng Ke lying there bench press, and raised the phone in his hand with a smile.

Zheng Ke let go, pushed the barbell to a safe place with one move, and then got up from the bench. Reach for the phone Taylor had sent.

"Which one?"

"Mm-hmm, I know it, come over right away."

After Zheng Ke hung up the phone, before he could start speaking, Taylor was the first to speak: "What's wrong?" Is there anything the team wants you to go over? ”

"Well, Kevin (McHale) called me to go to the arena, and the new coach has come to the target center, hoping to meet me first."

"Oh?" Taylor was slightly surprised and said, "Has the manager been decided so soon?" Who is it? ”

"It's Tom Thibodeau." Zheng Ke looked at Taylor confused. Obviously not knowing who this was, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, he remembered that Taylor was only half a fan after all. She had heard a little about some of the best stars in the league, even second-rate stars, and she had told her that it was normal for an assistant coach who had never been a head coach to really know what to do.

Zheng Ke sniffed his body and found the smell of sweat all over his body, and immediately smiled, "It's really a little disrespectful for me to meet the new head coach like this, so let's go take a shower first." ”

"Then you go." Taylor looked at Zheng Ke with some strange eyes. He was still found still.

"You're not with me?" Zheng Ke looked at Taylor's graceful body, his heart was on fire, and he thought about it and thought about it.

"Forget it." Taylor's face was slightly red. He laughed in a low voice: "When the time comes, it's been a long time, do you want to be late for the first day to meet the head coach?" This is very rude. ”

"Okay." Zheng Ke thought it made sense, so he lowered his head and kissed Taylor on the lips, and then walked into the bathroom by himself.

It didn't take long. Zheng Ke ran out dry. Changed into a casual suit, picked up the car keys on the table, waved to Taylor, and walked through the door

When I came to the Target Center, the general manager's office, McHale was already sitting with a man. Zheng Ke pushed open the door and walked in with a big grin.

"Zheng Ke."

McHale was a little surprised that Zheng Ke came so quickly, but he reacted immediately. walked over and hugged Zheng Ke, and the two hadn't seen each other for months.

"Good, nice to meet you. Zheng Ke. ”

Thibodu was a little fatter than he expected, and when he saw Zheng Ke coming over on time, he grinned and even narrowed his eyes.

"Me too, nice to meet you, Coach Tom." Zheng Ke laughed, held Xibodeo's big hand, and the two bumped shoulders and hugged, but there was no embarrassment and estrangement when they met for the first time.

After a pleasant exchange, Zheng Ke sat down on the couch in his office, and then McHale began to speak.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat, smiled at Zheng Ke, and said, "Zheng, there is good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?" ”

"Good news!" Zheng Ke Hale smiled, thinking that after the coach was hired, McHale was much more relaxed, and he would joke with him.

Xibodeo, who was on the side, also chuckled twice when he heard this.

"The good news is that I've negotiated with Kyle Lowry's agent, and Lowry is willing to stay with us with the Timberwolves." McHale laughed.

This news is indeed good, but Zheng Ke frowned the media a little and asked: "But two days ago, I saw that someone seemed to be chasing Lowry and made an offer?" "Yes!" McHale said: "James of the Cavaliers is afraid that he is leaving this summer, and he has not yet made a decision, but the Cavaliers are still using all possible means to save the little emperor." It was also the Cavaliers who made the offer to Lowry, $24 million over four years. "That being said, there are still a lot of free agents in the free agency market this summer. We're pretty much restricted free agents this year. "Well, almost, '06, '07 will be free agents in the next year or two. Two days ago, there was news that the Thunder and Durant signed a five-year contract, and gave up the player option for the last year, the contract will take effect next year, expire in the summer of 16, and the value is about 5 years and 85 million. McHale said quietly, apparently stimulated by Durant's waiver of the player option for the next year.

Zheng Ke smiled, thinking that he didn't have to leave again. "And what about the bad news?" Zheng Ke asked.

Zheng Ke asked about the bad news, McHailton and Thibodeau looked at each other and smiled, and then McHale didn't speak, and Thibodeau said: "The bad news is that since I have agreed to be the coach of the Timberwolves next season, then I must be ready to make a career, so I may start the team training camp early this summer, well, I hope you are ready." ”

"Hey, that's it, it scared me, I thought there was another player who couldn't think of asking to be traded." Zheng Ke was frightened into a cold sweat by the serious atmosphere of the two.

"Zheng, it looks like you're going to an international competition this summer, right?" McHale suddenly remembered something and said to Zheng Ke.

"Yes, my national team is going to the World Championships."

"Then you have to pay attention to your body. You played 82 games last season and played the most minutes in the league, so even an iron body needs to be well maintained. McHale was a little worried. He also came here as a player, and what he was afraid of was the kind of injury that came from fatigue, which was extremely ferocious.

"It's fine." Zheng Ke is not worried about his body, and the full value of 99 in stamina is not a joke, comparable to any of the most famous iron men in NBA history.

Thibodeau said: "I might make some changes to the team. ”

"What adjustment?" Zheng Ke was a little puzzled.

"The main thing is the allocation of personnel playing time, task assignment and so on. I even make small trades when necessary."

"What?" This took Zheng Ke by surprise. This Timberwolves team was picked out by him with a golden finger in the draft, is Thibodeau going to tear down the team when he comes up? This made his brow furrow furrow deeply.

"It's mostly the inside side." Thibodeau didn't seem to see Zheng Ke's frowning brow, and said to himself. "Inside? What happened to the inside line? Zheng Ke still didn't understand. Lefou, Gibson, Pekovic, Jordan Jr. What's bad about Anderson's inside line? "The Timberwolves' interior defense - too scum!" "Mrs. scum?" Zheng Ke couldn't believe Thibodeau's assessment of the Timberwolves. The word "too scum" echoed in my ears for a long time, and I couldn't return to my senses for a long time. "The Timberwolves don't have height inside, Jordan Jr. is too tender, Gibson is too rushing, Love is too soft, Pekovic is too hard, Anderson is okay, but it's limited to a backup center." Thibodeau finished his opinion on the inside line of the Timberwolves in one breath. Then after a pause, he continued: "Lost to the Spurs in the playoffs this year. A large part of the reason is that the interior line can't guard Duncan, of course, Duncan is very difficult to guard. In my tactical system, a defensive pillar like a pin-and-needle is very important. "Dinghai Shen Needle? A defensive pillar? Zheng Ke muttered, lost in thought.

Thibodeau is very satisfied with Zheng Ke's thoughtful appearance, he knows that every outstanding top star has the ability to read the game, and the tactical level is also not weak, if you want to convince Zheng Ke, you must show some real talent, which is also what McHale told him just now.

He looked at McHale, who gestured to continue, and he froze. "In my 18 years as a teaching assistant, I've thought a lot about tactics. I think great defense is inseparable from a top defensive pillar, and like in the past at the Rockets, I wanted Yao Ming to be able to take on that responsibility, but alas. He's tall but a natural offensive finisher, and defense isn't his forte. Later at the Celtics, Garnett was one such pillar. Later, the Bulls and the Timberwolves invited me, and Noah had this potential in my opinion, and I even valued Noah more than Rose, and the Bulls once made me very tempted. "But the Timberwolves are also very good." Thibodeau's eyes lit up, as if he thought of something, and became dancing, "I didn't come to the Timberwolves, and I didn't know that the Timberwolves had so many excellent seedlings, whether it was Gibson or Jordan Jr., they were all excellent defensive players who could be adjusted." I know that the Timberwolves are an outside-based team, of course, the main melody of the league now is that the outside players control the world, which is not unreasonable, but under my tutelage, I can let Zheng Ke you attack unscrupulously, and the Timberwolves defense will be the top five in the league! "Si~"

Zheng Ke gasped, this Thibodeau is really boasting, without his own defense, he is the top five defense in the league, which means that if I participate in defense, the Timberwolves are not the first in the league?

But the strong confidence revealed in Thibodeau's words still infected Zheng Ke, and Zheng Ke became quite interested in this coach for the first time. "Of course, I also know that a person's style of play will not change easily, you start defense, let you go lazy, you probably won't be able to."

After Thibodeau finished speaking, he slapped Zheng Ke on the back, which made Zheng Ke very useful, he has always attached importance to defense, otherwise the system would not still have the "Blockade Defender" skill. (To be continued......)