Two days later.

Rondo and Jeff Green both completed their medical exams and came to report to the team.

Both joined in the day's training.

The state of these two, Jeff Green is very motivated, and he is still working hard to integrate into the team.

I don't have any thoughts about Jeff Green, after all, he has changed more than a dozen teams, and each team is a conscientious type and has no complaints.

But Rondo's state is a little different.

During today's practice game, it was clear that Lillard was the team's main starter.

And Rondo also knows Su Chen's coaching style, although there have been different systems, but Su Chen has not come up with a traditional point guard system.

Trading Paul away at the start of the season is the best proof of that.

But Rondo didn't understand very much, since Su Chen didn't play the traditional point guard system at all, what was the point of naming him?

Rest time at the end of training.

"Would you like to come to my office and talk?"

Su Chen smiled and sent an invitation to Rondo.

Rondo was stunned for a moment, but nodded in agreement.

In any case, Su Chen is the head coach and president of this team, and it is he who really wants to anger Su Chen and suffer more.

Maybe for Lillard, Su Chen can't be directly pressed on the bench for a season, after all, it was traded with the team boss as a bargaining chip.

But Rondo also knows his worth, so he will only replace Clarkson or Dinwiddie, after all, it is rumored that Su Chen wants a forward, so Jeff Green must be worth a good price.

At the end of the day, he was just one of Clarkson and Dinwiddie as a bargaining chip, and the Clippers, who were stacked at guard, also had one who couldn't play the ball slowly.

Although Rondo was very unhappy, he fell out with Su Chen, and it was easy to directly lose his value.

Office of the President.

"Sit."

After Su Chen achieved his position, he gestured to Rondo.

Rondo found a seat for himself.

"Rondo, I know what you're thinking, do you think you can't start?"

Su Chen asked Rondo first.

'The training position today and the situation of the team, I think it's obvious.

Rondo also doesn't beat around the bush when he speaks, and he says it directly if he has something to say.

"I can't really guarantee you a starting spot, but we're going to be in the playoffs and you're a big piece of the puzzle."

"If Lillard loses us because of him, then you're going to take his place, are you willing to accept a backup for the championship for the time being?"

Su Chen directly faced Rondo with a pie.

Hearing Su Chen's words, Rondo hesitated a little.

"I've done it in the last two seasons and it's up to you to believe it, and if you don't believe in it and don't accept the role of a substitute, I won't embarrass you."

"I'll give you playing time and try to trade for a team you want next season without affecting the team to win."

Seeing that Rondo hesitated, Su Chen painted him another big pie.

Su Chen's words were also very straightforward, he had already given Rondo enough respect, and it was up to Rondo himself whether or not to have this respect.

However, this was said to Rondo stunned, as if Su Chen could win if he wanted to.

Instead, it looks like he doesn't want to win and drags the team back.

Su Chen's words are beautiful, but the meaning is also very straightforward, if you can accept the substitute, you can play hard.

If you don't accept a substitute, then don't think about how much playing time you have, and trade him next season.

As for what he wants to go to, try to trade to what team he wants to go to, that's a bit of.

To put it bluntly, it doesn't have to be the right chips.

"Winning has always been my goal, so why not have a better way to come off the bench?"

Rondo said after thinking for a moment.

Su Chen was not surprised at all by Rondo's answer.

Rondo's impression to the outside world has always been that he is unruly and unruly, and no one is convinced.

But in fact, after the 16th season to the Bulls, Rondo has accepted the role of the bench and has been conscientious.

Rondo and Paul, two good brothers, in fact, the biggest contradiction is here, Cannon pays more attention to personal interests and Rondo just wants to win.

If a player has the same opinion about the championship, then even if he is unruly, it is at least negotiable.

Putting aside the personalities of the two.

Paul is more valuable after all, and if he makes trouble, it will be too big a blow to the team.

Rondo is almost a rookie single change, and Rondo has to make trouble, even if he presses on the bench, it doesn't matter at all.

On the contrary, it is precisely because of such problems as Rondo's personality that Rondo's value becomes low, and he can exchange it for the price of a rookie.

Rondo is too good value for money, and his ability is actually much better than his value.

After chatting casually with Rondo for a while, Rondo consciously went to the stadium to train.

At this time, the Clippers' season lineup can basically be determined.

Clippers starting lineup: Nikola Jokic (C), Nicolas Batum (PF), Paul George (SF), Reggie Jackson (SG), Damian Lillard (PG)

Clippers Subs: Clint Capela (C), Kyle Anderson (PF), Marcus Morris (SF), Jeff Green (SF), Torrey Craig (SF), Jerami Grant (SF), Rajon Rondo (PG)

There are also some other water cooler members in the big list, and Su Chen hasn't written it in yet, so it doesn't matter.

For the current lineup, Su Chen is still quite satisfied.

You can keep this starter in the regular season, and then in the playoffs, you can put Morris in the starting lineup if you need a striker.

Or Anderson, Craig, Grant, who played well to start.

In fact, the three positions of PF, SF, and SG in this lineup are relatively vague.

Jackson and Lillard can make cameos in SG, and even George can make cameos in SG.

As for SF and PF, there is no specific distribution, and the team is now hoarding a lot of forwards, many of whom can play SF and PF.

Except for the two distinct positions of PG and C, the Clippers do not have too many other specific positions.

For this lineup, Su Chen didn't want to change it too much.

Probably use this lineup to make the playoffs.

Minnesota.

Target Center Arena.

As the defending champion, the Timberwolves ranked fifth in the West at this time, which was a little embarrassing.

Compared to last season, the Timberwolves, as the defending champions, actually don't have much personnel turnover.

With the exception of Lore Deng, who was poached, the Timberwolves retained most of their championship roster.

It is worth mentioning that after Rivers was rejected by the Clippers to renew his contract, the Timberwolves threw an olive branch to recruit the former championship coach.

The Timberwolves, as a small-ball market, even if they win the championship, are still not attractive in the free market.

There are no strong veterans to vote for the base salary, and no famous coach takes the initiative to apply for the vacant coaching position.

If Rivers hadn't agreed to coach the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves would likely have hired an experienced veteran coach with a mediocre record this summer.

Although Rivers is often scolded by fans, in fact, Rivers' ability to keep the lower limit is okay, and it is not without reason that he was selected as a top 15 coach.

In addition to the Celtics' Big Three, Rivers coaches the Civilians to be among the top on the lineup.

Rivers has a set.

But Rivers also only has one set.

Regardless of whether the team is a superstar team or a civilian team, their record is about the same.

Unless it's the crushing power of the Celtic Big Three.

It can be said that he is a coach with a high lower limit and a low upper limit.

In fact, Rivers also has his own ideas about joining the Timberwolves, since Su Chen has stolen his team, then he has to use Su Chen's former team to win it back.

And he also felt that the overall lineup of the Timberwolves was very suitable for his coaching style, so when the Timberwolves invited Rivers, he agreed without much hesitation.

However, the current Timberwolves' results are the same as Rivers' career, a bit of a bad look.

By this time, both teams had already entered the field.

Su Chen returned to Minnesota, and when he returned to the court, most of the Timberwolves fans on the court gave Su Chen applause.

Minnesota fans are all about tolerance.

Unless Butler did it later, he made trouble when he was on the team, and then made all kinds of remarks against the team.

Garnett, who left the team, returned to this land, and Rubio, who had been adrift for a long time, was also greeted with cheers and applause when he returned to the arena.

Compared with Garnett, Su Chen at least brought the first championship in team history to the city.

Even if Su Chen went to the Clippers, there were still a large number of fans in the arena who gave Su Chen respectful applause and shouts.

This made Rivers a little uncomfortable.

Not to mention the team that robbed him, it also made the fans of the current team biased towards him.

What made Rivers even more unhappy was that his own players didn't warm up and ran to hug Su Chen and catch up.

Is there still a head coach in his eyes?

However, with so many shots, Rivers couldn't get mad, so he could only stand on the sidelines with his hands folded.

After a while, the players went to warm up.

Now that everyone is already an opponent, it is natural that they still have to go all out.

After warming up for a while, the game is about to begin.

Timberwolves starting lineup: Sergi Ibaka (C), Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF), Andre Iguodala (SF), Jimmy Butler (SG), Patrick Beverley (PG)

Clippers starting lineup: Nikola Jokic (C), Nicolas Batum (PF), Marcus Morris (SF), Paul George (SG), Damian Lillard (PG)

In the Timberwolves' lineup, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Butler are still relatively stable.

Although Giannis Antetokounmpo started this season like he didn't know how to play, after all, Giannis Antetokounmpo has proven himself in the playoffs.

Rivers has also patiently given him adjustments, and now Giannis Antetokounmpo is back in some form, but it is still much worse than last season.

However, Butler has not changed, although the increase in skill is less, but Butler's increase in the offseason has been offset by it.

This season, Butler has the meaning of being the boss of the team.

However, compared to Su Chen, who likes to use Butler to play point guard and come up with a five-forward combination, Rivers doesn't like to let a Butler who is biased towards scoring ability play point guard.

But Beverley's organizational skills have not been trained, so it is more Butler to complete the task of scoring, and Beverley's so-called organization is to dribble the ball through the half.

And the lineup on the Clippers' side is Su Chen who has made certain changes.

For the Timberwolves Su Chen knows too well, Giannis Antetokounmpo is now purely a rookie sophomore, and he doesn't need to pay too much attention to making Batum defend alone.

Even last season, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who used fixed stats, lost efficiency after the Trail Blazers took out Batum's defense.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, a rookie sophomore, is more than enough for Batum to deal with.

The most critical Cavaliers are still Butler, Reggie's defense is a little difficult to defend Butler, or let George defend.

With this lineup, Su Chen feels that it is still quite suppressive of the Timberwolves.

Ibaka's low-post defensive ability still makes Su Chen remember it vividly.

Due to Ibaka's weak lower body strength, Duncan Sr. was able to score points on Ibaka when he played the Spurs last season.

And Jokic's tonnage, coupled with the back-to-back technique, and the ability value fixed skill given by Su Chen, this is enough for Ibaka.

At the same time, Beverley's independent offensive ability is weak, and Lillard will not be broken through too much.

Even if you want to name Lillard, the three-point accuracy of Beverley and Iguodala may not be able to stabilize Lillard.

Although Beverley has a strong ability to prevent bites alone, the core of the Clippers is Jokic, not Lillard.

Jokic attracts the defense and can naturally assist Lillard, or other teammates.

And the development of the game at this time is similar to the plan made by Su Chen.

It was very difficult for Butler to force George, and it was not always possible to name Lillard, and it was a waste of offensive time to point and point.

At the same time, with Giannis Antetokounmpo not having the ability to shoot, Batum can play some sweeping defense on the inside.

Coupled with Batum's agility as a front, it is not so easy to attract Batum's defense, and it is not so easy to assist Giannis Antetokounmpo on the inside.

Giannis Antetokounmpo wanted to storm Batum, and it was also inefficient.

Batum has a set of defenses for this kind of breakthrough power forward.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, who didn't shoot, and Towns, who had projection, had a hard time beating Batum.

Ibaka also doesn't have the ability to force Jokic, and although Jokic doesn't look good defensively, it's not easy to really play Jokic on the inside.

Standing in the bottom corner, Ibaka, let alone how much of a threat he can pose to Jokic.

On the contrary, Jokic on the offensive end, frequently singled Ibaka to win.

This made Rivers a little anxious, and arranged Giannis Antetokounmpo and two forwards to help defend.

But what Jokic is waiting for is to help defend.

No matter how tricky the angle of the defense is, Jokic can find the current flaws of the Timberwolves through the gaps.

Batum, Morris, and George got open three-point shots one after another.

(End of chapter)