Chapter 1484 1483. Training Camp Starts Early, Aiming for Championship

Watching Grant Hill and Michael Finley, the strongest swingman in 1994 and 1995, chatting happily, I don't have much doubt about the integration of the veteran Finley.

In terms of strength, Liu Mang will not have particularly high expectations for Finley. After all, he is at this age, and Liu Mang can't say how Finley will be in the next state. What is needed is experience and Finley's good mentality. This is what Liu Mang learned from Coach Kruger when discussing tactics before.

Finley's consistent positive defensive attitude and rigorous training attitude have always been a role model for his teammates. He is often praised by his teammates. Moreover, he takes team winning as the first goal and never gets involved in disputes on and off the court. He is the type of player that coaches are most assured of.

The most important thing is that Finley accepted the role that he might not get a chance to play after Wade's return in the early season. This is the most important thing. Although the active list of a team has been increased to 13, there are always two reserve players who have no chance to play under normal circumstances.

Although the Hawks have developed a tradition of resting players, they will only rest players when the season progresses to a certain stage. There will definitely be a period of time when two players will not get a chance to play.

Gasol is one. He is not at the NBA level yet. Except for some targeted plans that require him to play, it is estimated that he will hardly have a chance to play in the first two years. He weighs 135 kilograms...

The other... It will be the turn of Finley, a veteran who clings to the thigh for the championship, to take on such a role.

In the past few days, Liu Mang discussed tactics in detail with Stockton, Stan Van Gundy, Coach Kruger, and Chip Engelland.

Before the draft, Liu Mang discussed the team system for next season with Coach Kruger and Stockton, and clarified the recruitment plan. Coach Kruger also discussed the specific details with Stockton many times in the past two months.

Liu Mang could not help much with the tactical details. He just proposed a core plan, and the details had to be handed over to the tactical coach Kruger.

On defense, Coach Kruger and owner Price handed the task to Stan Van Gundy, the newcomer.

Van Gundy's enthusiasm was beyond Liu Mang's expectations. Liu Mang didn't expect Van Gundy to come up with so many defensive plans at first. It took less than six days from the trade for Van Gundy on July 1 to the meeting between Liu Mang, Stockton and Van Gundy on July 6.

Liu Mang did not make any changes to Van Gundy's relatively traditional defensive system construction methods. Respecting the opponent is important, and if the imaginary enemy is the Lakers, the Bulls and the Bulls, the traditional defensive system is very necessary. The specific choice should be left to Coach Kruger.

Any offensive or defensive assistant coach can come up with a lot of team systems if he is asked to do so. After all, he is a professional, but in the end it is up to the head coach to choose.

However, Liu Mang gave Van Gundy an additional defensive tactic he wanted. At that time, Van Gundy was also confused. Why did Liu Mang and assistant coach Stockton meet with him together? Stockton talked about the team's ideals, but when it came to discussing tactics, it was Liu Mang. However, he also wrote down the tactical ideas proposed by Liu Mang on a small note and went back to study them carefully.

Later, after studying the defensive tactics given by Liu Mang, Van Gundy was a little fascinated...

It was a brand new defensive tactic, which could be further expanded and developed into a defensive system. After all, it was a successful defensive tactic after many practices of the Heat Big Three and the Universe Team in the original time and space. Liu Mang only remembered how to operate it roughly, and professionals are professionals. After Liu Mang told Coach Kruger and Van Gundy about the core offensive ideas and the defensive strategy he wanted, more than two months later, the two famous coaches, the Offensive Tactics Library and the Defensive Tactics Library, gave specific defensive details that were much better than what Liu Mang thought.

This detailed team system is not as good as these two. Liu Mang is good at occasional flashes of inspiration.

After digging Van Gundy, Van Gundy constantly adjusted several defensive systems based on the Eagles' signings in more than two months, which made Coach Kruger's eyes light up!

Compared with the tactical system that Mike Woodson had worked with for many years, some of the defensive systems that Van Gundy thought of may be too taken for granted and have more flaws, but Van Gundy, who has never had much contact with the Hawks players, can come up with several defensive systems and create a defensive tactic independently in accordance with Liu Mang's ideas, which is already very impressive.

The next step is to slowly adjust in the training camp, preseason and regular season. Nothing can be achieved overnight.

In the past few days, Liu Mang discussed tactics with the coaching staff. Liu Mang had few opportunities to interrupt, mainly listening and learning.

However, Van Gundy was not used to some places... because Coach Kruger and Stockton always had a sentence when they expressed their offensive tactical ideas...

This sentence is-"Ace, if you don't want to play one-on-one, we will..."

The premise of the tactic is that if Liu Mang doesn't want to play one-on-one, this makes Van Gundy very uncomfortable.

Thinking of this team reaching the finals for the past four years and winning three consecutive championships, Van Gundy feels even more incredible.

But he is a champion coach and one of the top three point guards in history. After retiring, he was also an excellent offensive assistant coach. He had no choice but to listen to such unreliable things.

Fortunately, no one raised any objections to Van Gundy's defensive system, which made him very satisfied.

Van Gundy's defensive accomplishments have long been well-known. This time, he was so active in providing up to 4 defensive system plans, which made the original coaching staff of the Hawks and Liu Mang very impressed.

The cultivation of team chemistry and the selection and modification of tactical systems all have to start from the training camp.

On the morning of the 20th, when Liu Mang arrived at the stadium, he found that two veterans who entered the NBA in the mid-1990s had arrived earlier...

After greeting them, Liu Mang felt the excitement of the two veterans. Last season was the first time that Grant Hill made it to the second round, the first time to the Eastern Conference Finals, and the first time to the finals. After seeing Liu Mang coming, he actively expressed to Finley the incredible feeling of last season.

This is not the first time Finley has transferred. He was a rookie of the Suns. Later, he and Nash became the bargaining chip for Kidd. In the summer of 2005, he went to the Spurs. This was the third transfer. Moreover, the purpose of the latter two transfers was clear, which was to hug the thighs and win the championship. The two veterans were very happy to discuss how to get along with teammates in the new team.

Other teammates came one after another.

O'Neal, McGrady, Kwame Brown...Looking at the three high school students who somehow got along, Liu Mang felt as if he was really fighting with high school students, and there was never a shortage of high school students around him.

Veterans have the advantage of veterans. They have clear goals at this stage of their careers, and there is no need to worry about conflicts with young players in terms of playing time. O'Neal played as a substitute from time to time in the Pacers last season, averaging only 24 minutes per game.

Brad Miller was abandoned by the Kings and came to the Hawks and accepted his fate. He has always been a very hard-working player. From being unselected to play in Europe to being an NBA All-Star substitute, his efforts to come back are definitely much more than those players who were core inside players from the beginning, and he is more successful than most players who were core players from the beginning.

Liu Mang was most impressed by Greg Monroe, 25, in 2015. He rejected the offers from the Lakers, Celtics, Mavericks, and Spurs, and went to the Bucks. Finally, at the age of 28, he went to the Raptors to play as a substitute for the minimum salary. He didn't care about the playing time at all, and was finally cut...

Wade also came to participate in the training camp that started early, but he followed the trainer to do rehabilitation in the physical therapy room. Minimally invasive surgery is a long recovery process. Wade has been doing some rehabilitation work since June. After minimally invasive surgery, it is impossible to get back to the previous state without perseverance and willpower.

However, Mason... From the signing on September 15th to the days before the gathering on the 20th, Liu Mang often saw this new teammate in the gym, but he didn't see him training once. Instead, he often saw him painting everywhere in the gym.

Drawing people, championship trophies, stadiums...even drawing against a pillar...

When Liu Mang learned that Mason's paintings start at 20,000 to 30,000 US dollars, and his income from painting in the past seven years exceeded 10 million US dollars, Liu Mang had nothing to say.

Mason has always had a good professional attitude and dares to fight. As for not fully cashing in on his talent for winning the dunk king that year, it is none of Liu Mang's business.

Rookie Liu Mang can say something, but he is a veteran, and it is useless for Liu Mang to say more. The other party will be 31 years old in February next year, and his age and playing experience are older than him.

The teammates who have arrived one after another make Liu Mang feel that the whole team is brand new.

Outside line: Liu Mang himself, Jason Terry, McGrady, Wade, Grant Hill, Michael Finley, Desmond Mason, Rondo.

Inside line: Marion, Kwame Brown, Brad Miller, O'Neal, Gortat, Luis Scola, Gasol.

There are seven new teammates. Rondo, Gortat, Marion, Grant Hill and other four people are only in their second season as teammates. That is, among the 14 teammates, 11 have joined in the last two seasons. Only McGrady, Jason Terry and Kwame Brown are old teammates...

Looking at these new teammates, Liu Mang feels that his team is basically completely different from the previous three-peat Hawks.

Compared with last season, when they were still the defending champions, everything is a brand new beginning now!

…

The Hawks confirmed the 15-man roster for the new season on September 15 and gathered on September 20. On the 20th, the coaching staff arranged the task of getting the new teammates familiar with each other and arranged the two-stage early training camp arrangement from the 21st to the 25th and the 27th to the 30th. The official training camp time starts on October 1st, and there are training camp interviews and other things to do. It is arranged all the way to October 7th, and the preseason will start on October 9th.

Good teams will get better and better. The Hawks have been a top team in the East since Liu Mang joined. More and more advantages have appeared in the Hawks. For example, their current execution has surprised Grant Hill, Finley, O'Neal, Brad Miller, Mason and other five veterans who have not experienced the Hawks training camp plan. The goal is too clear!

The championship team knows how to do the best possible from the beginning of the training camp!

From this point alone, including Grant Hill who joined the Hawks in the middle of last season, the five veterans all feel that it is right to come to the Hawks this time!

They have not considered how to play in the second and third rounds at all, and have only one goal - the championship!

The imaginary enemy is the four major teams of Lakers, Horses, Bulls and Japan, and the East does not take it seriously at all.

As time enters late September, the Hawks start training camp, and other championship teams are still sitting in the final reinforcement.

On September 25, a deal that made many championship contenders want to strangle the Magic management was born.

The Magic and the Lakers reached a deal, sending Trevor Ariza in exchange for Lakers pitcher Maurice Evans and 2 million in cash compensation.

When Liu Mang saw this deal, he felt that the Magic really treated the Lakers as their own father. The Magic always seemed to like assisting the Lakers. The Lakers were short of small forwards. This summer, the Lakers' small forward reinforcement has been targeted by other teams, just like the Hawks were targeted last summer, but the Magic actually sent a small forward to the Lakers!