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Chapter 596 - 257. Coach, shouldn’t you synchronize your style with the management?

Chapter 596: 257. Coach, shouldn’t you synchronize your style with the management?

The topic was bound to revolve around joining the national team, and he was as humble as ever. At this time, it was best to stay low-key and respond with "I’ll try my best" regarding achievements to avoid being embarrassed. Of course, come game time, he would do everything within his power to strive for victory.

For the entire next day, Zhang Yang was extremely busy. Today was the Bobcats’ training camp media day—photo shoots for the team’s promotional posters, billboards, arena posters, interviews... He was occupied from morning till night.

After a busy day, October 2nd arrived, which was the Bobcats’ training camp open practice day. Zhang Yang no longer cared whether there were cameras or not; he was immersed in preparing for the new season. The excitement and joy of joining the national team were set aside—cameras, shoots, nothing mattered now.

If it hadn’t been for the FMVP of last season, if he hadn’t shattered the illusory prosperity of the domestic basketball scene in these two years, would it have been so easy to make those old fogeys at the basketball association compromise?

Only by becoming stronger and performing better is the true way to succeed!

As days went by, the progress of the Bobcats’ training camp steadily moved forward.

During this period, Zhang Yang experienced Carlisle’s professionalism. In terms of preparing for battle, Carlisle was even better than Bickerstaff!

It might have to do with Bickerstaff’s age. Over the past two years, during the dozen days of preseason preparations, it wasn’t Bickerstaff but rather the younger Bickerstaff, Randy Brown, Ingles, and other assistant coaches who were responsible for most of the work. Bickerstaff was over sixty years old, and his energy and physical strength weren’t up to the task of coming to the arena every day from seven or eight in the morning and working till late at night.

Carlisle was different; he was hands-on with everything, trusting no one else, wanting to go over everything himself. In terms of coaching ability, he was clearly stronger than the assistant coaches.

This was a good thing for the players. Carlisle was the architect of the team’s new system; he undoubtedly understood every tactic and detail better than the assistants. Under his supervision, the players could avoid many detours.

Man, Zhang Yang thought as he looked at Carlisle’s head, this guy isn’t even fifty yet...

October 7th arrived, the last day of the training camp. Today, the Bobcats conducted several simulated scrimmages to test their tactics.

By 5 p.m., the last day’s training tasks were all finished. Carlisle announced that they would have a day off tomorrow and assemble the morning after to leave Charlotte and head to Chicago to start the preseason journey.

From the 25th to today, after more than ten days of continuous training, they could finally rest. The Bobcats’ players cheered collectively, also looking forward to the upcoming new season.

Hearing the players’ cheers, Carlisle smiled. Coaching such an energetic team felt so great!

Nevertheless, as enthusiastic as he was, he also felt immense pressure.

During today’s simulated scrimmage, the players executed the tactics very well, but this was only an intra-team training game. Although he had arranged it to be like a real combat, the players, whether on offense or defense, clearly focused too much on "running the tactics." To truly test the tactics, they would have to wait for the preseason or even the start of the regular season matches.

His pressure stemmed from the fact that he had almost completely overturned the Bobcats’ championship-winning playstyle from last season!

Last season, the Bobcats’ offense mainly focused on attacking the basket, a combination of inside and outside plays, with tactics almost always revolving around the core scorer drawing double teams and distributing the ball.

For defense, it was primarily individual defense on the perimeter and frontcourt, with a focus on connectivity.

Bickerstaff was slick in making on-the-spot decisions, but his system building was very traditional.

Actually, if possible, Carlisle would have liked to continue using the system Bickerstaff left behind and change it gradually.

But with Gerald Wallace, the core figure in the Bobcats’ inside game and the best defensive player in linking inside and outside leaving, he had no choice but to start over.

Carlisle planned to go out for a meal, take the video home with him, and stay up late watching training footage to think about what needed to be adjusted. At that moment, a handsome young fellow approached him.

Carlisle: "Jack, what’s up?"

Zhang Yang: "Rick, have you ever thought about changing your hairstyle?"

Carlisle, touching his head, replied: "Are you trying to make fun of me, Jack? With my hair this thin, what kind of hairstyle can I even have?"

Zhang Yang: "Like... a bald head? Don’t be mad, look, our owner is bald, and so is the general manager. If you were bald too, it would be a uniform style, wouldn’t that be cool?"

Carlisle, with a dark expression, responded: "Then I suggest you shave your head too. The owner, general manager, head coach, and star player all bald—that would be the ultimate uniform style!"

Zhang Yang: "I’ll pass, Raymond is bald too, right? He can unify the style with you guys... Hey, you can’t catch me!"

Seeing Zhang Yang agilely dodge away, a hand reaching out to grab him, Carlisle smiled helplessly.

He touched his head again; his hair was indeed getting sparser. He’d tried several brands of hair growth products to no avail... maybe he should start saving some money? Spending hundreds of dollars a month on shampoo and hair growth products that he never finished using, yet he kept buying them every month...

After routinely teasing Jim Carrey, Zhang Yang was about to go for physiotherapy when Felton pulled him into the resting room.

Felton: "Jack, take a look! The King’s media is shameless!"

Zhang Yang’s interest was piqued immediately. What new trick did the royal media come up with now?

Zhang Yang glanced at the computer screen... and wow! The royal media had released player rankings and team rankings!

It wasn’t the old way of categorizing teams in tiers but actual rankings.

According to the webpage’s description, the royal media had invited numerous journalists and experts to vote for the rankings of current NBA players and teams.

Zhang Yang didn’t care about the details of the rankings; he scrolled down, and there it was: First place, Kobe Bryant; second place, Tim Duncan; third place... LeBron James!