Bishop of the Devil

The friendly match can no longer be played, so naturally the next step is free training!

Zhang Weiping came this time, and Richard directly asked him to take O'Neal to train...

Although O'Neal Jr. has a basket, his style is an extremely traditional inside line. To evaluate his style, you can use the analogy of Aldridge in later generations.

It belongs to the defense to strengthen the offense and weaken Aldridge who is more focused on the inside.

Of course, the offensive weakening here refers to the shooting ability, not the offensive ability at the basket. O'Neal's offensive ability at the basket is better than Aldridge.

Richard didn't expect O'Neal to specifically develop and improve his shooting ability, let alone develop his three-point shooting ability.

At least I don’t have this idea at the moment…

Richard's goal is to let O'Neal continue to focus on attacking the basket. After all, this is what a traditional inside line should do well.

And Zhang Weiping is obviously the candidate to guide O'Neal's offense under the basket!

It cannot be said that he is the best candidate, but he can still be called a qualified candidate.

…

Since the old Curry did not come to the training camp so early, Richard's idea of ​​​​wanting the old Curry to guide Rasheed Wallace and Kobe Bryant's shooting has come to nothing for the time being...

But that doesn't mean that the two of them stopped practicing. Richard directly arranged for Dazhi to be Rashid's sparring partner, which was beneficial to both of them.

Da Zhi can learn defensive experience from Rashid.

And Rashid can also have a good sparring partner...

…

As for Kobe, Richard arranged an extremely perfect sparring partner for him...

Big book!

When he won Ben and Kobe at the same time in the draft, Richard had already determined that the two would become a training team!

Kobe is Ben's sparring partner!

Big Ben is Kobe's sparring partner!

…

Ben needs to constantly train his rebounding ability, and for a short insider like him, what he needs to train most is his sense of where the rebounds fall!

You can't even find the backboard, so how can these short insiders survive?

And Kobe is simply the best person to train his sense of touch on big rebounds!

Kobe has unlimited iron, and Ben has unlimited time under the basket to observe the placement of rebounds...

Perfect!

Kobe is the perfect training partner for Ben!

In addition to practicing shooting every day, Kobe also naturally needs to train for breakthroughs...

Big Ben, a top defender, will be his breakthrough target...

Also perfect!

They are simply a couple destined by God...

The training of Xiao Ou, Ben, Kobe and Rashid has been arranged. Of course, Richard cannot let the remaining players who come for training to fend for themselves...

Assign several Boilermakers players to these players and serve as sparring partners for them...

This period may be the peak period of these players' entire careers, because almost every one of them has a future All-Star player as a sparring partner!

When they retire in the future, when they think about this, they will probably be proud enough to brag about for the rest of their lives.

…

The training has been ongoing, and the intensity is not too high. Basically, four hours of training time are maintained every day, and the remaining time is allocated freely by the players...

However, even with free allocation, Richard prohibits newcomers from training for more than eight hours a day.

Ultra-high-intensity training can indeed improve players' strength in the short term, but the cost is too high, which will affect the length of a player's career.

Let no one else say it, the old Sabonis of the Trail Blazers is the best example!

The old Sabonis is actually not old, he is only 32 years old at the moment. At this age in the NBA, not to mention the golden peak, at least the team will not specifically limit his playing time...

Generally, those whose playing time is limited are veterans after the age of 35!

Of course, there are two different things about veterans who are not good enough and cannot get playing time.

Sabonis is the kind of player who has strength but can't play for too long...

The reason why Sabonis is in this situation is that he conducted too many high-intensity and unscientific training when he was young, which resulted in many injuries on his body!

Americans who don't like Sabonis very much once joked that Sabonis is in his thirties, but he has the knees of a hundred and thirty years old...

Richard doesn't want all the newcomers he's optimistic about to grow old before they get old...

Kobe is a training madman, and he always squeezes eight hours of training time every day. It is conceivable that if Richard hadn't restricted his daily training time, it is estimated that this madman would spend 24 hours a day in the training ground.

…

In the blink of an eye, the time has arrived in mid-September, and there is only half a month left before the preseason in early October!

It’s time for the Trail Blazers to start preparing for a training camp for all members of the team!

Half a month of training time, plus more than half a month of pre-season games, is basically enough for the players in the team to get used to it initially.

"Li, this is our player list for the new season. Do you think we should prepare the starting lineup?" In Richard's office, Carlisle handed Richard a list.

Richard nodded. As the team's chief assistant, Carlisle has to participate in all the team's tactical construction, so he has to know the team's starting lineup!

The player's position was not marked on the list. Carlisle knew that Richard had other arrangements for certain players on the team, so he deliberately did not mark the position and waited for Richard to make the final decision.

Richard took out his pen and began to write down the list.

Center: Jermaine O'Neal, Arvydas Sabonis.

Power Forwards: Ben Wallace, Dontunio Winfield.

Small forward: Rasheed Wallace, Harvey Grant, Gary Trent.

Shooting guards: Clifford Robinson (S-m), Dell Curry, Rumir Robinson.

Point guard: Kobe Bryant, Randolph Childress.

The S-m behind Robinson is naturally not the abbreviation of shaman or that kind of alternative hobby.

It is the abbreviation of Swing-Man. A very few fans believe that the concept of swing-man appeared because of Tracy McGrady...

If Julius Erving knew this point of view, he would probably be angry to death.

…

Excluding the players who were traded, plus some players who did not get the chance to renew their contracts, there are currently only eleven players left on the Trail Blazers roster.

Next, we will definitely have to introduce three to four players, at least one more player, to make up the total of twelve people...

"Carlisle, for the remaining three or four spots, go ahead and pick a few of the undrafted players. You are fully responsible for this!" Richard said with a smile.

He is preparing to be the hands-off boss on this matter...

For the few spots left to make up the numbers, Richard was ready to hand over the full power to Carlisle. After all, Carlisle led the summer league, so he would have a better idea of ​​the strength of the players in the summer league.

If Richard were to choose, he would not have any goals. The only undrafted gem in the 1996 draft was Big Ben, who had already been pocketed by Richard...

For the other undrafted players, Richard doesn't care who he picks, he just makes up the numbers anyway!

Carlisle nodded with a smile on his face...

It may seem like the right to pick a few players to make up the numbers doesn't seem like a big deal, but for an assistant coach, this is already an incredible privilege!

Even if it is a player with a minimum salary who can make up the number, it is still a contract of 200,000 US dollars. Signing two is equivalent to the annual salary of an assistant coach...

Just imagine, your company boss gives you full responsibility for a project equivalent to your annual salary. You can do whatever you want, do whatever you want, and do whatever you want. Even if you lose everything, you will not be held responsible. Is this considered a privilege? .