Chapter 834 833. I Have a Good Apprentice

Sometimes it’s good to lose a game, that’s what Coach Kruger thinks.

After losing to the Magic, he clearly saw that the players were more active in training, and the two-person and three-person off-ball pick-and-roll training became more serious.

If they could maintain a high frequency of orderly pick-and-roll passes and cuts when the opponent forced them into a positional battle, they would not be restricted by the Magic.

But it was because they were not skilled enough that the opponent threw away their rhythm.

What Coach Kruger was most satisfied with but also worried about was Liu Mang. In home games, especially consecutive home games, Coach Kruger usually came to work at around seven in the morning. Liu Mang had been training a lot, and it was even more excessive in the past two days. Yesterday, which was the second day, when Coach Kruger arrived at the gym at 7:30, Liu Mang had already arrived at the gym. In the evening, Coach Kruger has been working overtime lately and left at eight or nine o'clock. This is a common situation for the head coaches of most NBA teams when the team has problems that need to be studied, and going home does not necessarily mean resting. When the head coach does not watch the game for more than two hours on the sidelines and guide the training, it is over. Otherwise, how could there be so many head coaches who are Mediterranean and have white hair in their forties.

When Coach Kruger came this morning, Liu Mang had already arrived. In Coach Kruger's opinion, Liu Mang was stimulated by Rahim.

Seeing Liu Mang so enthusiastic about training and putting aside his worries, Coach Kruger was really happy. He had already won so many honors, big contracts, and super endorsements, but he still didn't relax. Instead, he trained more and more seriously. He was really a good disciple.

Seeing Liu Mang's training attitude, Coach Kruger felt that the best thing in his basketball career was meeting Liu Mang as a disciple.

Losing not only brought the efforts of the team members, but also the public opinion that looked down on them a lot, but gave them a chance to breathe.

After the Suns defeated the Knicks on the evening of December 1, their record improved to 15 wins and 3 losses, surpassing the Hawks and ranking first in the league.

After the Pistons won the game on the second, their record became 15 wins and 4 losses, half a win behind the Suns.

Although the Hawks are still the favorites for the regular season championship, with the Suns and the Pistons competing at the same time, the Hawks are not as hated as they were last season.

Coach Kruger felt that he could slowly hone his tactics with peace of mind, and it would not be too late to explode after the All-Star Weekend, so that the team's chemistry would become better and there would be strategies to deal with various situations.

Moreover, the regular season championship has been won twice, so it doesn't matter now. The most important thing is to prepare for the playoffs.

There are only 14 games in December, and there are many breaks in between. It happened that the team found the problem, and the coaching staff had time to study and discuss countermeasures.

Losing to the Magic team exposed some of the Hawks' problems to other teams, which had some benefits, so that other teams did not think that the Hawks were unbeatable.

No, during the few days of rest, the Hawks were questioned more and more, and Coach Kruger was very satisfied with this, and the team could slowly develop.

Just when Coach Kruger was thinking about tactics with the mentality of being able to develop, the door was pushed open by Moron Willie, the team's vice president of logistics.

Moron Willie rushed in without knocking on the door.

Coach Kruger saw this familiar scene, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly asked, "Moron, what's wrong?"

"Long, it's bad!"

Sure enough, Moron Willy said this sentence that Coach Kruger was very familiar with and painful.

"Could it be?" Coach Kruger asked with a glimmer of luck.

"Yes, Ace recorded a TV show again!"

...

...

ESPN blackened Liu Mang, but Liu Mang still had to cooperate with them. They were all business. They needed to attract attention and increase ratings, and Liu Mang needed exposure to increase commercial value. They just took what they needed.

And Liu Mang's idea was that since he was going to offend someone, he would make trouble! It was just right to increase the rogue value. It was not easy to collect 100 million rogue values ​​before 2007.

On the afternoon of December 3, 2004, ESPN Sports released a message of a temporary additional interview. At 8 o'clock in the evening, it would use satellite communication technology to broadcast a live interview with a mysterious star.

It is rare for major TV stations in the United States to broadcast interviews temporarily, because temporary broadcasts mean that the publicity is not strong enough, especially for sports TV stations. Interviews with players in the four major leagues in North America, especially interviews with NBA players, will be promoted many days in advance. They need to rely on this to increase the ratings. If the publicity is not strong enough, it will affect the number of viewers, which is a waste of resources for TV stations.

The four major leagues in North America, ice hockey, baseball, and rugby, all emphasize team-based. They are all more valuable and commercially valuable. Relatively speaking, the stars of those three leagues, whether in the United States or in the world, have a relatively general influence. It is a league that relies on the team to drive the value of players.

The NBA is different. The NBA emphasizes personal heroism, and the value of the team is driven by the stars. Jordan is the greatest example. He brought the NBA to the world by himself, and Magic Bird laid the foundation for Jordan to bring the NBA to the world.

Generally speaking, NBA players and TV stations want to see as many people as possible interviewed. Some stars do it to promote their positive image, some to whitewash themselves, and some to appear on TV...

There is only one person who suddenly came up with an idea and had to add an interview immediately.

Fans didn't need to guess much, they knew that it was the long-awaited interview of Ace Liu!

TV station + Liu Mang, there is never a lack of ratings!

Not only in the United States, but also in China and Chinese communities in various countries, people are excited. The excitement of the first month of the season in November has passed, and after the beginning of December, it has been relatively dull. Fans want to see something worth getting excited about. Look, it's finally here!

At eight o'clock in the evening, the ratings of ESPN North America, ESPN Taiwan, and ESPN Asia TV, that is, Japan, were all low. In Asia, Japan and Taiwan, millions of people turned on the TV on time to watch the program early in the morning. It was prime time in the United States, and tens of millions of people switched to ESPN Sports.

Just at eight o'clock, ESPN's additional interview program began. First, the ESPN Sports logo and the photo of ESPN's current Taiwan flower and the sexiest host selected by Playboy, Erin Andrews, appeared first.

Then the screen switched to a live broadcast, and it was obvious that it was a rented conference room in a hotel.

People's attention was not on the background. The camera zoomed in from far away, and Erin Andrews appeared in the center of the TV screen.

Erin Andrews is the host of the interview program covering both the NFL and NBA, and a ratings guarantee for ESPN.

"Welcome to watch the ESPN special interview. I'm Erin. When my boss asked me to work overtime, wow, I was about to date Brad Pitt, and he asked me to work overtime. I said I didn't want to come, and my boss asked me to hand in my resignation report. Ace, how are you going to compensate me for my loss?" Erin Andrews started with a long talk show.

Liu Mang didn't expect that this woman, who had been in the TV industry for more than a year, had become so eloquent. Liu Mang made a surprised expression, ignored the compensation, and asked: "Uh, Erin, does Brad Pitt know that he wants to date you?"

"He doesn't need to know."

"Wrong?"

"Do I need his consent to dream? God, I also dreamed that I was standing on the deck with Leonardo and enjoying the breeze!" Erin Andrews made an expression of "I am so awesome".

"Hahaha...you win." Liu Mang couldn't help laughing.

"OK, that's all for the opening remarks. We have limited time for the interview. Ace, can you notify us earlier next time? When I arrived in Atlanta, I didn't even bring my pajamas." Erin Andrews expressed their dissatisfaction on behalf of the filming crew sent by ESPN.

"OH, Erin, believe me, I will definitely notify you in advance next time." Liu Mang said seriously.

"I don't believe a word you say..." Erin Andrews rolled her eyes, and the cameraman immediately cut to a close-up, with professional techniques and precise angles.

"Okay, Ace, let's get to the point," Erin Andrews saw that the opening time was almost up, and asked: "This time last year, I remember we just met, and I was interviewing you. At that time, you announced that you wanted to win the scoring title and get at least 68 wins. You have done all these. For this year's scoring title, Ace, what do you want to say this time?"

"Erin, who do you think will win the scoring title in the NBA this year?" Liu Mang asked back.

"OH, Ace, is there any doubt about this? You are the scoring champion, you are like Michael Jordan, and everyone else is a long way away." Erin Andrews said in cooperation, and then asked in a sharp tone: "Ace, everyone says that you are brushing your data and relying on the strength of your teammates to make yourself perform better. What do you want to say about this?"

"NONONONO... Erin," Liu Mang waved his hand, "It's not that I want to be the scoring champion, I don't want to be the scoring champion at all."

"Haha, Ace, are you kidding me?" Erin Andrews teased.

"No, Erin, I actually don't want to be the scoring champion this season, but I don't know how I ranked first in the scoring list, Erin, do you understand what I mean?" Liu Mang said that, with a clear look of pride on his face.

"Oh? Then what do you mean, Ace?" Erin Andrews asked very cooperatively.

"What I want to say is that I don't particularly want to be the scoring champion, but no one competes with me, you know?" Liu Mang said, taking a deep breath: "It's not that I score too well, I think my scoring ability is very average, but my opponents are too rubbish. I'm not targeting anyone, but all the players whose average score is not as high as mine..."

...

...

The end of the five-minute live interview is the maximum limit that ESPN can give. They adjusted the entire night program plan because of this. It's not a small project. In the United States, if there is no prohibition on consumption of laundry detergent, it will be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the TV program is adjusted for too long, who knows who will sue it again.

After watching the whole interview, seeing Liu Mang shake hands with Irene Andrews, the TV screen switched to the advertisement. In the president's office in the Phillips Arena, the coaching staff and the boss were speechless, knowing that they couldn't let this kid idle.

Coach Kruger felt a little desperate: This bastard, the biggest failure of my life is to bring this kid into the basketball world!