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Chapter 591 - 256. Teammates with distinct personal characteristics_2

Chapter 591: 256. Teammates with distinct personal characteristics_2

"I strongly suggested Michael to trade him back in, just to use his motivational career to inspire others, hard work eventually pays off!"

Zhang Yang: "Uh, is this what they call workplace PUA?"

Jim Carrey’s enthusiasm was almost choked by Zhang San’s comment.

Carlisle angrily said, "It’s not workplace PUA, it’s necessary ideological guidance. Every team has many players with relatively average talent, who want to get their contracts renewed, who want to stay in the professional arena for a long time. What else can they do besides work hard?"

Zhang Yang: "Oh, I accept that explanation."

Carlisle was speechless for a moment, then said, "There’s actually another reason, he reminds me of my own playing days.

"I was almost cut after being picked by the Celtics in ’84, but I worked hard, spent the entire summer in the Boston Garden, helping the coaching team with odd jobs, organizing files, taking notes on their discussions. By the way, I won a championship earlier than Michael, in my second year, and we swept him in the first round. I was matched up against him!"

Seeing Carlisle’s proud look, Zhang Yang said, "So, you’re saying that when Michael scored 63 points, your defense played a major role?"

Carlisle: "I was matched up against him for less than 3 minutes in 3 games, his 63 points had nothing to do with me."

Zhang Yang: "..."

...

The time came to September 25, the set date for the team to reconvene, and the Bobcats’ full roster was finally complete, with Carlisle starting some of the training camp work early.

Actually, as of the 22nd, 13 players had already reported back, only Herrmann clocked in at the last minute.

Carlisle complained to Zhang Yang while chatting idly on the 23rd: "If Walter had been here, we could have started the training camp work earlier, and started preparing for the new season sooner."

Zhang Yang’s response was: "The agreed date was the 25th, Walter wasn’t late, we can’t hold it against him just because others came early."

Carlisle didn’t expect Zhang Yang to be so tolerant; the other geniuses he had worked with, Bird, Big Ben, Miller, were all strict to the core. Whoever was the last to join the team would either get an earful or be subjected to their fierce glares, urging them to report back earlier next time.

Zhang Yang was quite laid-back; if there was no tardiness, there was no error. If you want to grind, you can’t force others to grind as well.

Besides, for preparing for the new season, a couple of days didn’t make much of a difference.

Zhang Yang could understand Carlisle’s urgency. Taking over the Bobcats, Carlisle was indeed under a lot of pressure.

Last season, under Bickerstaff, they had a legendary season. Carlisle was taking over a defending champion team, and they were one core player short, gone from the ’four cores’ to ’three cores’... A bit of impatience was normal.

But Zhang Yang still wondered, Herrmann was quite the worker last year, among the top in the team in terms of training effort, the whole off-season he spent in the gym. What happened this year?

When in doubt, ask the boss!

Zhang San waved his hand grandly, and big boss Felton was deployed!

That afternoon, Felton had scouted out some information. He had a college senior also playing in the NBA, with an Argentine team player on his team, who got along well with Herrmann.

The Argentine team player revealed that Herrmann was considering retirement.

The reason...

Zhang Yang: "He’s won every medal, got no motivation left?"

Felton: "Yes, Walter won the World Championship runner-up in ’02, the South American Championship in ’03, the Olympic gold in ’04, the FIBA Americas Championship in ’05, and last season he won the NBA Championship with us. His career has no further pursuits, he wants to retire and focus on learning to write."

Zhang Yang: "That’s quite a rich basketball resume."

This presented another complication for the Bobcats’ upcoming season.

Last season, Herrmann’s playoff minutes weren’t many but very stable, his mental quality honed in world competitions shone brilliantly. Even though he averaged only 5 points in over 20 playoff games, his 52.7% field goal shooting was second only to Perkins’ 60%, and his 46% three-point shooting was the highest on the team.

During the off-season, Carlisle mentioned in a chat with Zhang Yang that he considered this international player an important rotation on the wing for the new season. Although Herrmann was quite tall at 206 cm, he could play positions 2-4. Even with Hill’s arrival, he was the third option for various positions, ahead of Afflalo and Cardinal.

Zhang Yang was conflicted for a moment, then decided to let Carlisle, Bickerstaff, and Jordan worry about it.

He actually quite understood Herrmann’s thoughts.

This teammate wasn’t an ambitious player; he played basketball simply because he loved it. Winning world championships and an NBA championship might have been one of his dreams, and now that he had achieved it, he didn’t lack the money from playing basketball. Just the money he got from the Spanish government alone was enough for him to live lavishly, so it was perfectly normal for him to want to leave the professional stage after fulfilling his dream...

It’s just that, Zhang Yang felt his teammates really were... quite a character!

On the 25th and 26th, the Bobcats went through physical, technical and shooting tests.

Every test of Zhang Yang was observed by the full coaching staff, with Bickerstaff and Jordan also coming to the sidelines to watch, setting up cameras to film.

After two days of testing, on the evening of the 26th, the management and coaching staff worked late to analyze the progress of the players over the summer.

Their expectations for Zhang Yang were very high, and he didn’t disappoint them; his physical condition was normal, technical progress, improved shooting, all met or even exceeded their expectations.