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Chapter 608 - 263. Big Shark is really old now

Chapter 608: 263. Big Shark is really old now

The Hornets, while adding two assistant coaches, also fired Dan Issel, the original offensive strategy assistant coach.

Now, the Hornets’ coaching staff is completely reconfigured with head coach Carlisle, lead assistant coach Sam Vincent, player development coach Randy Brown, defensive assistant coach Paul Silas, and shooting coach Chip Engelland.

From the choice of assistant coaches, Carlisle has revealed his identity as a "Celtics-system coach."

Vincent is Carlisle’s long-time partner, having joined the Pistons as Carlisle’s assistant coach in 2002.

The two not only have been colleagues in the coaching staff for many years, they also sat together on the bench in 1986 watching Bird, the "Refrigerator", and the Chief win championships, and have maintained a good relationship for over twenty years.

Vincent’s capabilities are also commendable. Being the lead assistant coach essentially equates to being the ’deputy head coach,’ responsible for everything. Bickerstaff used to do similar work before.

Paul Silas, a Celtics legend, won 3 championships as a player, was selected to the All-Stars twice, and made the All-Defensive Team five times, and has ten years of NBA coaching experience, many as an assistant coach. As a head coach, most of his seasons were disappointing, but during the iron-blood era at the turn of the century, he excelled, leading the Hornets to the playoffs for four consecutive years and even to the second round, with outstanding defensive expertise.

For the past two years, the Hornets had no defensive coach because Bickerstaff himself was one of the finest defensive coaches, and he took on that role.

But Carlisle needed such an excellent defensive assistant coach to assist him and had eyed Paul Silas’ capabilities early on.

Carlisle, on the other hand, didn’t need an offensive coach, just as Bickerstaff didn’t need a defensive assistant.

Usually, when a team changes its head coach, the assistant coaching staff should be changed as well, but Carlisle had rejected Bickerstaff’s suggestion to update his coaching staff months ago for two reasons.

One was that they were defending champions, and it wouldn’t look good to have an incomplete team during the ring ceremony at the opener.

The other was that he needed the old coaching staff to help him take control of the team faster. Bickerstaff was very helpful in this regard, allowing him to quickly understand each player.

After the offseason and training camp, Carlisle had truly taken control of the team. Initially, he wasn’t in a hurry to change the coaching staff, as he needed assistant coaches who were more familiar with the players to quickly build the new system.

But now with Bickerstaff fired and the system building slowed down, Carlisle took the opportunity to update the coaching staff.

The two who weren’t changed, Engelland is the top-tier shooting coach, with whom Carlisle wanted to work long-term, ideally to become one of his own people, like Vincent.

Randy Brown is directly linked to the owner, untouchable, so Carlisle invited his best relation and long-time collaborator, Vincent, and the long-admired Paul Silas to join.

On October 26, the Hornets were playing their final preseason game at home against the Miami Heat.

The local Charlotte fans were very excited for O’Neal’s visit, hoping to see Big Shark’s outstanding performance.

As the preseason progressed, people had new opinions about the top four candidates in the East.

The Chicago Bulls, as rising stars, naturally were among them.

The Pistons had been in the Eastern Conference finals for five years, just as the Jazz in the ’90s and the Spurs in the new century, stable and strong.

Although the Hornets had been struggling since winning the championship, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, so they were not excluded.

Originally, the top four favorites were the Knights and the Toronto Raptors, but as the preseason progressed, the Miami Heat’s support grew louder.

As everyone knows, O’Neal loves to boast, and the key thing is that many people believe his boasts.

During an interview, O’Neal said that he was healthy again this year and as strong as before, and that he would return to his status as the first-string all-star this season and reclaim his position as the league’s number one center.

Even the Hornets fans believed him, because after all, it was the invincible Big Shark saying it.

Then... the Hornets thrashed the Miami Heat 104 to 87.

Wade played decently, appearing for 27 minutes, 5 out of 11 field goals, plus 5 out of 7 free throws, scoring 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists... and was forced to take a break after three quarters.

By the end of the third quarter, the Miami Heat were already trailing the Hornets by 21 points, 60 to 81.

Whether defending or shooting, they couldn’t manage.

Though O’Neal, who boasted loudly, scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds tonight, making him the highest scoring post player from both teams, 5 out of his 13 field goals and 4 out of 8 free throws brought him only to 14 points.

The fans at the venue were very disappointed. Although he was an opponent, no one wanted to see Big Shark get old; if that were the case, the league would only be left with one dinosaur.

For the Hornets, Zhang Yang played three quarters, appearing for 26 minutes, 7 out of 14 field goals, including 2 of 3 three-pointers, plus 4 out of 5 free throws, scoring 20 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block, performing excellently.

When facing Wade’s offense, he didn’t defend well, restricting Wade’s shooting percentage to below 50%, mostly with the help of the post players behind him.

However, against Wade’s defense, his one-on-one performance improved a lot compared to last season, taking 6 shots in 7 one-on-one situations and scoring 3, plus drawing a foul once.

With natural strength gains from age, better shooting accuracy, and a better technical foundation... when facing Wade, Zhang Yang was able to make better use of his height advantage.

In the game, when the two stood together, Wade’s height was teased again.

Zhang Yang, who is 196 cm tall with a 210 cm wingspan, reached 266 cm when touching high, while Wade, who claims to be 193 cm tall with a 210 cm wingspan, only reached 250 cm when touching high...

...

After the preseason was over, the Hornets got four days off. Their home opener was on October 31 against the Knights.

On the 27th, a rest day, Zhang Yang, Felton, Alan Anderson, Rondo, Okafor, Millsap, and Afflalo gathered at Zhang Yang’s farmhouse to drink tea.

Alan Anderson, Millsap, and Afflalo sat and rested for a while before going to play cards, leaving the other four to continue chatting.

The conversation started with the progress each had made over the past four months.

Felton’s organization in offense was the same old style, solid but not surprising; however, he had made significant personal offensive improvements, shooting more accurately and adding variety to his skills.

Okafor continued to make steady progress, balanced and well-rounded in offense and defense, but with no particularly outstanding aspects.

Rondo was slightly more solid, controlled the game better, and improved his set shooting accuracy. In the seven preseason games, he took 10 three-point shots, made three, and made eight out of eleven free throws.

Zhang Yang scored more steadily and powerfully, shining brightest on defense.

Zhang Yang, who had never taken on a leading defensive role, caught his teammates off guard in the first preseason game. After playing a few more games, he quickly became the best individual defender on the Hornets’ perimeter. Only Rondo and Hill were slightly better than him in overall perimeter defense.

Zhang Yang felt both pleased and helpless about this.

He was pleased that his physique had thickened, and with his superior defensive fundamentals compared to his peers, he could perform quite well defensively right from the start.

However, he couldn’t really say his one-on-one defense was that great; he was first-rate when defending against technical players, but against the particularly strong and aggressive ones, he defended quite poorly, like last night against Wade, who he really couldn’t stop.

When Zhang Yang talked about his shortcomings, he was genuinely being modest, but Felton started rolling up his sleeves, Rondo rolled his eyes, and even Okafor squinted at him—What? You, Zhang San, want to perform like a prince in your first main defensive role?

The youngest ever All-Defensive Team member, the Metalworker, was 21 when he first made the team, and the second youngest, the Stone Buddha, was 22. You’re only 19, and you’re complaining about being at this level of defense?

It was clear that he was showing off!

Seeing that his teammates seemed inclined to bully the league’s youngest, Zhang Yang hurriedly changed the subject, steering it back to preparations for the new season.

Felton sighed, "The preparation phase is finally over. If we hadn’t slowed down the pace of system building, I really don’t know if we could have managed to keep up."

Rondo and Okafor nodded in agreement.

Zhang Yang: "Rick wants to build the system quickly, and I want that too, but taking it step by step is more suitable for us right now."

Felton: "Right, not letting Rajon and Paul directly take on certain strategic cores, but having them play supporting roles in multiple strategies instead lets them better demonstrate their organizational attacking talents. Rick is very capable and has good insight, but they are the ones playing the games. They need to find their way of playing comfortably first, then build tactics around them. That’s a more appropriate way to develop them."

Zhang Yang, Rondo, and Okafor looked sideways—Little Fat Boss is stepping up!

Zhang Yang: "But Rick stirring things up like this has one advantage."

Felton: "What advantage?"

Rondo and Okafor were also curious. What had the league’s youngest kiddo noticed that they hadn’t?

Zhang Yang: "Rick has high expectations for us, but many of us can’t deliver the performance he expects, which forced him to slow down the progress of building the new system... Most of us might not have this concept, but we have been training harder and more focused than before, which is actually due to the guilt and dissatisfaction of not meeting the coach’s expectations."

Felton: "Hey! That’s true. I wasn’t performing well in under-basket shots and close-range fadeaways during games, and Rick removed these from our tactics, so I was really bothered and practiced them every day, and that was because of this."

Rondo and Okafor pondered...

After resting for a day, on the 28th, the Hornets continued prepping for training. Their preparations weren’t for their opener against the Knights but were centered around team coordination tactics derived from the triple-core offensive strategy, which were actually based on the individual offensive capabilities of Zhang Yang, Okafor, and Felton.

As for playing against the Knights... just prepare the day before and on the day of the game.

Seeing the Knights, the Hornets’ management and coaching staff were very pleased; the Knights hadn’t achieved much during the offseason!

The regular season was about to start, and today’s training volume wasn’t huge; they wrapped up by 4 PM.

Hill was getting ready to leave when Zhang Yang stopped him.

"Grant, I want to learn your breakthrough moves..."