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Chapter 603 - 261. At least the basic support has been maintained.

Chapter 603: 261. At least the basic support has been maintained.

Carlisle: "I watched Paul’s college performance and rookie year footage, thinking he could become a player like Brian Grant or Matt Haplin, but I never expected him to have the talent to become a player like Charles Oakley."

The rookie season for Millsap showed clear strengths, but also many weaknesses, and he looked very raw.

Even during his college years, Millsap didn’t show much ball-handling ability, scoring mostly on cuts and put-backs, although he did show some talent for mid- to long-range shots.

As for passing, his college performance in this regard was nearly nonexistent; otherwise, averaging 18 points and 12 boards in his junior year and winning the rebounding title in his conference for three straight years from freshman to junior wouldn’t have dropped him to the second round.

Millsap’s performance in college really didn’t seem like that of a player with the potential for technical development, and most of the time he played as a center despite being only 201 centimeters tall.

When Carlisle took over the Bobcats, Millsap was almost 23 years old. Normally, not much potential could be expected from a rough interior player of that height with no obvious upside, and during training camp, he didn’t pay much attention to Millsap, treating him as nothing more than a blue-collar substitute.

But tonight, when Millsap replaced Hill, he actively and enthusiastically offered support to Zhang Yang, Felton, and Okafor, either passing or shooting, with average performance, but it was his awareness in providing support and passing that caught Carlisle’s eye.

Bickerstaff responded: "I remember last year at training camp, Raymond said that Paul had a decent sense of passing. I gave him a chance in the scrimmages to try and let him orchestrate the plays, but his dribbling and passing were too poor. I thought Raymond was mistaken, but it turns out I was the one who was mistaken. In one year, Paul has improved his ball-handling, ball protection, and passing. During training camp, I saw him training with Grant, so he might be trying to learn Grant’s playmaking."

Carlisle’s eyes widened, "Why didn’t you tell me sooner!"

Bickerstaff: "I thought it was you who arranged for him to learn from Grant... If it wasn’t you, then it must have been Raymond. He’s keen on helping teammates improve."

Felton, ah... Carlisle had great respect for this team leader, although he seemed a bit slow-witted, he was indeed doing a good job in leading the team, whether it was conducting training, team-building, or just hanging out with his teammates.

Carlisle sighed, "Looks like I’ll have to adjust the tactics again. Since Paul already has a solid foundation in passing and has displayed playmaking talent, we definitely need to cultivate it well; otherwise, it would be a huge waste."

Bickerstaff laughed, "Rick, don’t rush, take it easy. You’ve just taken over the team. Michael and I won’t put pressure on you."

Carlisle angrily retorted: Take it easy? Not rush? Try taking over a defending champion team! And that look on your face, dare you say you’re not gloating?

He wouldn’t actually say this directly, just gave Bickerstaff an angry look, while Bickerstaff was grinning like a mischievous kid.

After the brief meeting, Carlisle returned to his room, took out his tactics manual, and drafted several tactics suitable for adjustment.

As he said to Bickerstaff, he definitely needed to develop Millsap and continue adjusting the tactical system, with the most challenging part being that the intensity of cultivation needed to be controlled, a very fine balance to strike.

Currently, Millsap had only shown potential and needed a certain focus of tactical resources, but not too much... time to make some calls!

Who are the teachers skilled in cultivating playmaking power forwards and centers?

Sloan, who developed Malone, Boozer, and Okur! P-J Carlesimo who brought up Rasheed Wallace! His college coach... too old, it would be impolite to disturb him in the middle of the night, but he has a junior called Donovan, a rather thoughtful coach in his early forties, who just won two consecutive NCAA championships; worth giving a call.

Which former teammates are skilled in orchestrating plays and are currently coaching? There’s McHale, might as well give him a call too.

Larry Bird is the best at this, but after recently falling out, better not to contact him... Carlisle checked the time, two in the morning... no, he had to reach out to Bird, even if it meant groveling for advice.

So, Carlisle spent the night making calls, holding onto Bird from two to four a.m., then calling McHale after four, and when dawn was nearly breaking, he made calls to the senior coaches who didn’t need much sleep...

Without a wink of sleep, Carlisle, with help from various quarters, finally completed the early plan for developing Millsap, filling over a dozen pages in a small notebook. Although unsure of the outcome, he had a direction in mind.

When he was about to take a shower to catch some sleep, he noticed that several strands of hair fell out at the slightest tug... Damn hair tonic, utterly useless!

Hair tonic, should he still buy hair regrowth shampoo? His $4 million annual salary wasn’t small, but it couldn’t withstand this kind of stress! His wife even teased him about being able to open a hair tonic expo...

...

Yao Ming played only a few minutes in the preseason opener before being substituted off. His performance on court was abysmal, but it didn’t cause much of a stir in the United States; Skiles said after the game that Yao Ming was not feeling well, and not much attention was given to it.

However, in China, all sorts of strange commentary emerged quickly.

Strangely enough, true stakeholders around Yao Ming, after his transfer, were thinking about how to limit losses and seize new opportunities in Chicago. The industries surrounding Yao Ming were undergoing a major reshuffle.

Yao Ming was no longer the green rookie from five years ago. Seeing how Zhang Yang’s family had begun purchasing assets and developing peripheral products around him early on, Yao decided that when it was time to change teams, he was already preparing for these things. This time, he actively took control of many resources.

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