start with scouting

Chapter 2 Go back and wait for the notice
The Clippers base is located in the Praia area, four miles away from Los Angeles International Airport. It is surrounded by the sea on three sides and backed by the interstate highway. It is very convenient to travel, and you can also go to the beach to see beautiful women.

Su Yang pulled over and parked, glanced at the speedboat-shaped training base, closed the car door and walked in.

He went to the front desk to explain his purpose, and after checking the appointment arrangement, the staff took him to a glass-walled reception room.

He came a little early, and the person in charge of the interview hadn't arrived yet, so he had to read the news about the Clippers in the newspaper first.

Last season, the Clippers rarely made it to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, and lost to the Suns 3-4. Owner Sterling was quite happy. Unfortunately, this season, due to injuries, Cassel They played less games with Livingston. The Clippers missed the playoffs at the last moment. Owner Sterling was so angry that everyone on the team was a bunch of waste.

Despite the objective factors of injuries, the outside world agrees that the bigger reason for the Clippers' failure to enter the playoffs is that the old coach Dunleavy's tactical system is too backward, and he deliberately imitated the triangle offense in order to prepare in advance for the Lakers in the playoffs. .

The Clippers' triangle attack attempt obviously failed, but coach Dunleavy believes that some games were lost because the tactical scouting work was too bad. As a result, in some games, the Clippers failed to keep up with the opponent's adjustments and changes, and regretted losing many times.

According to the old Dunleavy's speech at the season summary meeting, as long as he can win two more games, he will not be ninth in the Western Conference.

Probably because of this reason, after the end of the season, all the Clippers who were in charge of tactical scouting were fired.

Scouting work is like this. If you do a good job, you don’t get any credit or reputation; fly.

After waiting for half an hour, footsteps finally sounded. Su Yang raised his head subconsciously and saw a middle-aged white man with a long nose coming, followed by a bald old white man, who turned out to be the old Clippers coach Deng Levy.

I thought it was just the scouting director who was in charge of the interview, but I didn't expect the Clippers to take it so seriously in such a big battle.

"Hello, I'm Neil Ossie, assistant to the general manager. This is our head coach and general manager, Mr. Mike Dunleavy. You should be Su Yang, right?" Su Yang.

Just as Su Yang was about to shake hands, Ossie said in a little surprise, "Did someone tell you that you look a bit like that handsome star..."

"A few times, they are as good at discovering and happy to praise as you..." Su Yang smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet you two, thank you for taking the time to conduct an interview for me."

Old Dunleavy didn't gnaw. Ossie waved his hand and sat down on the sofa: "Don't be nervous, let's sit down and talk."

Su Yang sat down, and Ossie raised his legs: "You know what? I grew up in Flushing, New York. There are many Chinese in that place. I often go to Chinese restaurants to eat, and I still use chopsticks."

Flushing is a well-known gathering place for Chinese people. Su Yang knew a little about the first generation of Internet celebrity Sister Feng working as a manicurist there.

Just as he was about to respond, Old Dunleavy suddenly said, "Let's get straight to the point. You mentioned in your scout resume that you have conducted in-depth research on the draft in the next few years, which can maximize the draft effect of each team."

Su Yang nodded.The corners of old Dunleavy's mouth were slightly raised, revealing a rather smug smile, as if his scheme had succeeded.

"But I don't want to discuss that rookie will perform better, because that has not happened yet, and it cannot be verified for the time being, just like there are always people who say that Durant will be better than Oden in the future, and it is completely impossible to distinguish between right and wrong.

You hear me clearly, my question is, if you take a time machine back to the scene of the 1984 NBA Draft, how are you going to persuade the general manager of the Blazers at the time to give up Sam Bowie and choose Michael Jordan instead? "

After Dunleavy finished speaking, he looked at his watch, as if something was urgent.

Ossie tilted his head towards Su Yang, smiling professionally and encouragingly, with a hint of comfort in his eyes.

The incident happened suddenly, Su Yang didn't expect to ask such a question, he was a little surprised, and then turned his head to think about organizing words.

At the time of the 84 draft, the Trail Blazers general manager Stuynman rejected the suggestion of his friend Bobby Knight to choose Jordan to play center, and insisted on choosing Bowie, who was seriously injured in college, and became a famous joke in the history of the draft.

The Blazers made that choice at the time, mainly because the team already had a potential shooting guard like Drexler in the team, and only a big man who could guard the inside was missing. Without Olajuwon, Bowie became First choice.

It can be said that it was quite reasonable to make that choice at the time, because even the Bulls did not expect Jordan to be so powerful.

If you want to dissuade the pioneers from the perspective of the future, you can only do it around the loopholes in the pioneers' investigation at that time.

"I'll tell them that Sam Bowie is pretending to recover from his injury..." Su Yang said slowly.

Before the draft in 84, the Trail Blazers team doctor checked Bowie's injury, but Bowie was worried about losing the draft, so he endured the pain during the inspection and said that there was no problem. However, the medical testing methods were relatively backward at that time, so the Trail Blazers team doctor was foolishly deceived. up.

"I will also tell them that the Bulls did not want to select Bowie. The news published in the Chicago newspapers is all fake news released by the Bulls. The Bulls are very afraid that they will select Jordan with the second overall pick in advance..."

Before the draft in 84, the Bulls conducted a lot of investigations on Jordan, and even let their scouts enter the North Carolina training ground through personal relationships to observe Jordan's performance for a long time, and they were very optimistic about Jordan's future potential.

But many die-hard fans with Bulls season tickets called the Bulls general manager of sales, hoping to choose Bowie, and the Bulls management took advantage of the fans' opinions as a cover, pretending to want Bowie very much, and successfully confused the Blazers.

"I will also take the example of the Rockets who have center Ralph Sampson but choose Olajuwon, emphasizing that the draft should select the strongest, even if it is not compatible for the time being, it can be traded in the follow-up process. After all, the team The cornerstone of the championship in the next ten years is more important than the one-time record, and there were many cases before 84, so we must fight for the upper limit!"

Of course, the draft must focus on the strongest pick. It must not happen like the Kings, who let go of the tragedy of the super rookie Doncic because they were worried that the main point guard Fox would not be happy. Terrible.

After Su Yang finished speaking, he looked at Deng Lewei, waiting for his evaluation.

Dunleavy did not speak, but Ossie said with a smile: "We have discussed this issue before, and some of your answers just now agree with our thinking. This question is mainly to test your intelligence collection and language organization skills. I think you answered Better, how about you?"

Ossie turned to look at Dunleavy.Dunleavy did not respond for a long time, and folded his hands on his chest, as if he was thinking about something.

The atmosphere in the reception room became a little awkward, Su Yang used his brains, and wanted to take the initiative to talk about some interesting topics.

Suddenly, Dunleavy raised his eyebrows and said, "Talk about the triangle offense. Do you think Kobe and Jordan are necessary options for the triangle offense? Without Jordan and Kobe, can the triangle offense play such a big role?"

Hearing this, Su Yang thought to himself why the problem span is so wide, but this is very familiar, so he opened his mouth immediately.

"Triangle offense emphasizes that every player on the court should read and act on the game form. There are four basic styles of play, such as Low Post and Corner PNR. It is a dynamic offensive system centered on powerful low-post players...

Therefore, strong low-post players like Kobe and Jordan who can pass and play are necessary options for the triangle offense. Without such powerful low-post players, the power of the triangle offense will be difficult to achieve the desired effect..."

Dunleavy interrupted: "Do you agree with the outside world's evaluation of our attempt to try the triangle offense?"

Su Yang was stunned for a moment. He didn't know much about Deng Lewei's character. He only knew that the other party's performance in leading the team was average and his coaching style was not good. He didn't know whether the other party had enough heart to admit defeat in private, especially in this interview environment.

If you tell the truth, it may make Dunleavy unhappy, and even affect the results of the interview, causing the previous efforts to be in vain.

This question can be said around, for example, it is difficult to see the effect in one season, more time is needed to observe the running-in, and so on.

But if he talks around or lies, he is not used to it, so he can at most change it to a statement with a higher emotional intelligence.

After thinking for a while, Su Yang said with a smile: "I don't think the Clippers are suitable for the triangle offense at present, because..."

He wanted to explain the reasons in detail, but Dunleavy rushed to say: "What tactics do you think we are suitable for? Or, what kind of tactical system do you want to design for the current Clippers? You have to clearly explain the conclusions and reasons. "

This issue is very big and broad, and it will definitely not be finished in a while, and it is difficult to describe it in detail with just words.

But even if it takes a few hours, equipped with various tools to make it clear, it may lose its effect due to off-season trades.

In short, it is very inappropriate to bring it up in this kind of interview situation, and the object is to interview unpaid scouts.

Su Yang glanced at Deng Lewei, and found that the other party didn't want to hear the answer, and seemed a little angry.

Weighing over and over again, he said: "The current tactical system is very good. As long as the point guard is strengthened, it will take a while to get in and make up for the impact of Livingston's injury. The Clippers are still a strong contender for the playoffs..."

This is what he said sincerely, because the Clippers mainly focus on routine offense, with Elton Brand as the core, and launch tactics through various build-ups and dismantlements. The overall basketball IQ of the team is not enough to implement the dynamic system tactics of the triangle offense for a long time.

As long as they can be disciplined and seriously attack and defend, the Clippers can indeed occupy a place in the playoffs.

Of course, the upper limit will be lower, but that's not because the tactical system is not good, but because the player's strength is just like that.

"Okay! You go back and wait for the notice!"

Dunleavy put down a word, got up and walked out of the reception room quickly, as if he didn't want to stay for a second longer.

"Let me go out with you, let's talk again by the way..." Ossie raised his hand to signal.

Hearing this, Su Yang knew 90.00% that he was completely cold, so he immediately got up and walked towards the door.

The two walked side by side, all the way to the gate of the base, Ossie smiled and waved goodbye.

Su Yang walked out of the base, stopped next to the Mazda, touched his pocket and took out a bag of Zhongnanhai.

Lighting up a cigarette and taking a puff, he complained in his heart: "This is too sudden. The assistant general manager and the head coach came to the scene at the same time. They thought they were particularly optimistic about me, but the interview process took less than 10 minutes. Is it just a joke? No wonder it has been rotten for so many years! "

The only interview he had to wait for for two months failed. He felt unwilling, but he didn't think too much about it. The past was over.

Just about to think carefully about what to do next, the phone rang: We want to roam the world, and the miracle is just around the corner.

"Hi, who is this?"

"Hi, I'm looking for Su Yang, spelled SU..."

"That's me, what's the matter?"

"Hello, I'm the assistant general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers. I want to inform you to participate in our scouting interview..."

(End of this chapter)