On October 1, the NBA players in the United States officially returned to the team as fans in China began their National Day holiday, and the 2013-2014 training camp officially began on this day. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although many Spurs players have already returned to San Toonio to train, the real training camp started on this day.

On this day, Popovich did not arrange other training, but directly played an intra-team match, in the name of seeing the results of the players' training this summer.

As a result, most of the players are in very good shape, even those who didn't return to San Donio early, and it's clear that the Spurs players have been training at a certain intensity this summer.

Of course, the form of these players is far less than the surprise that the improvement of Li Yang and Leonard has brought to the Spurs coaching staff and Spurs players.

When Li Yang broke through the dribble again and again, and then used the turn or European step to score under the basket, Parker and Ginobili were happy, and they kept saying to Duncan: "Hey, Tim, see, Yang taught this by me." ”

When Li Yang stood in the bottom corner from time to time in the game to receive a pass from a teammate and shoot a three-pointer, or ran to catch the ball in the middle distance to complete the shot, England De happily said to Popovich: "Yang is very strong in terms of understanding and adaptability in shooting, and his shooting will become more and more stable and excellent." ”

Of course, there is also Leonard, watching Leonard turn around and jump at the baseline again and again or make a mid-range stop-and-go jump shot, even Li Yang can't prevent it, and the Spurs players are extremely surprised.

Among the three, Danny Green is the least likely to see improvement, he has been working his physical strength and shooting this summer, and of course he has practiced his ball-handling offense, but that is still not his strong point, so it is difficult for others to see his progress.

But in fact, this summer of training with Li Yang and Leonard, Danny Green, who is often opposite the two, has risen a level in physical confrontation, and his shooting has become more and more consistent.

For these, Popovich is naturally in his eyes, which makes him very happy, although he has been paying attention to the training of several people this summer, and even often appears in the stadium to train with a few people in the future, but seeing that several people can show their improved ability in the confrontation game, Popovich is naturally happy in his heart, and even the matter of being poached with assistants has been left behind.

A few days after the start of training camp, the NBA preseason began, but in Popovich's view, the NBA preseason was purely redundant, honing tactics?

In Popovich's opinion, such a game is not as intuitive as his in-team training.

In the regular season, Popovich will choose to rotate players in large areas, let alone in the preseason?

In the seven preseason games, the GDP combination barely played much, even if there was one preseason game against the Heat, and the outside world was looking forward to the exciting battle in the Finals again.

But when it came to the game, the three veterans of the Spurs took turns resting, and they were speechless for a while......

Seven preseason games, not only GDP playing time less, even Li Yang, Leonard, Green not much playing time, including Split, Dio, these players who can get stable playing time in the regular season, Popovich is a symbolic time for players to play.

There is not much playing time, and Li Yang's results of hard training this summer naturally do not have much time to show, but Li Yang is not in a hurry, there are 82 games in the regular season, and there is time.

The preseason is over, the regular season is approaching, and Popovich suddenly came to him when Li Yang was training in the arena that day, and he wanted to talk to him.

Li Yang followed Popovich to a corner of the court, Popovich glanced at Li Yang and said, "Yang, we are surprised by your progress this summer, I want to hear how you position yourself for the next season." ”

"Positioning?" Li Yang was stunned, then shook his head and said, "Pop, I didn't think about it. ”

Li Yang is telling the truth, this summer he was silent in training every day, feeling his little bit of progress, and he didn't think about this problem at all.

"You're good enough to be a starter on any team in the NBA. Popovich said this, paused slightly, and glanced at Li Yang before continuing.

"But I want you to continue to play a substitute role next season, of course, not as a regular substitute, you can think of Manu a few years ago, although he was a substitute, but he would be the most important part of the team. ”

"Sixth person?" Li Yang understood the meaning of Popovich's words.

Popovich shook his head, "Super Sixth." ”

"Super Sixth Man? Li Yang smiled after hearing this.

Popovich immediately continued: "Yes, Super Sixth Man, you're going to have more ball and offensive power off the bench, and with what you're capable of, it's hard for the average bench player on other teams to defend your offense, and you're not only going to be the most important weapon on the bench, but you're also going to be a contender for the league's best sixth man." ”

"Sounds good. Li Yang smiled, he knew at this time, Popovich was starting to pour chicken soup on himself, and the purpose Li Yang naturally knew that after seeing his ability to improve this summer, he hoped that he could continue to be a substitute willingly.

However, Li Yang doesn't think there is anything wrong with this, in the Spurs, in fact, there is not much difference between the playing time of the starter and the sixth man, just look at Ginobili last season. And in the starting lineup, Parker will occupy the absolute ball, stay on the bench, and hone his offensive skills and improve himself by attacking more with the ball, which is actually a good arrangement.

"Of course, it's very good. Hearing that Li Yang was about to go on the road, Popovich immediately nodded heavily, he felt that his flickering was almost successful.

"Okay. Li Yang also nodded at this time, "My goal in the new season is the best sixth man, pop, I think with your full support, I will definitely be able to win this award." ”

Popovich was about to nod, but found that something was wrong, he seemed to be talking about a chance to hit the best sixth man award, when did he say that he fully supported it?

At this time, Li Yang had already continued to speak: "POP, if you want to hit the best sixth man, playing time is the key, I think 35 minutes per game should be about the same, well, that's it." ”

After saying this, Li Yang spread his legs and left, as if he was afraid that Popovich would regret it, Popovich was also happy at this time, he originally wanted to fool Li Yang, but now it's good, this guy is now fooling himself.

It's still 35 minutes, go on a dream, and in your own hands, how can you outperform a player who has been on the pitch for 30 minutes. However, the playing time of the main players will not exceed 30, so the playing time of this kid as the sixth person will not be less. (To be continued.) )