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Chapter 699 - 293. Student KING has really changed!

Chapter 699: 293. Student KING has really changed!

After the meeting ended, Zhang Yang carelessly showed off a bottle of soda, and then belched.

Before the coaching change, Zhang Yang had thought that the new coach might encounter various troubles, and he might need some help, like on the tactical level, he was willing to communicate if the new coach was capable enough and fit their team, and he wouldn’t mind sharing the ’proven useful’ tactics he understood.

However, in this respect, Carlisle didn’t need his advice and created a triangle attack-based extensive pass conduct tactic, which was very suitable for the NBA environment in the coming years. The advice provided by Zhang San was just the icing on the cake.

Not needing to worry, Zhang Yang was naturally happy, and he could focus on himself.

But unexpectedly, Carlisle started having issues with his mindset, and it began during the preseason.

Other teams had players with attitude problems, and the coach would find ways to guide them, but here in their team, the players needed to help the coach calm down.

But then again, thinking about Carlisle’s past six years of coaching experience...

Carlisle’s first six years of coaching were more ’spectacular’ than many who had been coaching for ten or twenty years.

Beginning as the best coach, he perfected the system in two years and then reaped the benefits.

Changing teams to build a new system, he achieved 60 wins right off the bat, and by the second year, he was leading the league, then there was a brawl.

After bleeding for two years, the team began to rebuild. Clearly having a chance to get a super shooter with a three-point ability not inferior to Reggie, the general manager swapped for Peja to make way for his old team, who faded late in the season and completely disappeared in the playoffs.

Six years of coaching, every word a tearful saga—

Carlisle was desperate to prove himself, and his impatience to immediately solve problems when encountering them, his lack of calm and patience, was understandable.

The ’calm’ during the 13-game winning streak and lack of patience didn’t conflict. There were no problems then; it was easy to say ’stay calm,’ ’don’t be careless.’

Zhang Yang was so understanding at this time mainly because Carlisle’s coaching ability was indeed good, besides being hasty. After taking over as the head coach of the Bobcats, Carlisle performed very well in other aspects.

If Carlisle were stubborn like an old senior, only capable of coaching defense, he’d make Carlisle know what it’s like to be a professional critic if he tried to lead a team lacking defensive capabilities to fight for the East.

...

Zhang Yang felt he was kidnapped by his blanket.

He went to sleep early last night. The winter in the north didn’t even allow for a leisurely stroll outside, so he went to bed around 10 PM and woke up at 6 AM, but he was kidnapped by the blanket until 8:30 AM when Alan Anderson came to call him, and he struggled to free himself from the blanket to have breakfast with his teammates and go to the Air Canada Centre.

After resting for another night, Zhang Yang was much more spirited this morning than yesterday, not claiming to have swept away the fatigue from the consecutive away games, but he was the most energetic in the team during the morning’s preparatory training.

The volume of the morning preparatory training was very small, just half an hour in total.

After the team training, Zhang Yang and Hill chatted while practicing the butterfly step, initially just playing around to see if it could enhance ball sense, not expecting it to be so effective during simplified drills.

As they chatted, they talked about the upcoming Christmas showdown in two weeks, and Hill asked, "Jack, is this your first Christmas showdown?"

Zhang Yang, "Yes, what about you?"

Hill, "I haven’t played in a Christmas showdown for many years. When I was with the Pistons, I played every year, and during the first two years with the Magic, the league arranged Christmas showdowns too, but I was sidelined for the season both times, so I didn’t play. After that, the league didn’t schedule any Christmas games for us."

"..." Zhang Yang exhaled and said, "Time flies so fast, we’re almost at the mid-season, and that’s why I thought why the training intensity has been decreasing lately. It’s probably not just because of potential physical crises during consecutive away games; the coaching staff must also be preparing for mid-season."

How did the topic drift here? Still, Hill replied, "Yes, Rick always pays close attention to these details."

Zhang Yang, "Ah, the season is almost a quarter over, and I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time."

Hill, "Why do you say that?"

Zhang Yang, "We’ve been playing for so long this season, and apart from being second on the scoring list and first in results, I haven’t gained anything."

Hill, "..."

You’re even better at pretending than I am!

At 3:10 PM, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the field.

Every winter playing an away game in Toronto is the earliest game of the season for the Bobcats if there is no overtime. If not, it usually ends just as it gets dark.

After the entrance ceremony, Zhang Yang went to the sidelines to be interviewed by the official court reporter.

There was no live broadcast, just that the Bobcats only come to Toronto once a year, and the TV station wanted to shoot some footage, ask some questions for use in their sports news program.

While Zhang Yang was answering questions, he saw the reporter trying to suppress his laughter, turned his head, and saw... the dinosaur coming to photobomb!

Having competed so many times, even though last season due to stirring up trouble with Kobe against the Toronto Raptors and scoring 83 points, Zhang Yang was targeted by the Raptors for two games, but he and Bosh had no personal grudges.

He brought Bosh into the frame ahead of time, and introduced in English, "This is Chris Bosh, one of the NBA’s top scoring power forwards. In my eyes, he’s no worse than his contemporaries like James and Wade..."

Bosh was thrilled to hear this; it wasn’t his first time photobombing, but it was the first time someone was so friendly and praised him so much!