Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 407 Without Change, How Can We Win the Championship?

Are our grades good?

D'Antoni countered with a question.

Gentry sat down opposite him and retorted, "Isn't it good?"

The Suns are currently 8-4, fourth in the Western Conference, which is not bad.

And what were their results last season?

Gentry believes that, regardless of whether they can contend for the championship, the Suns' current performance should make it back to the playoffs without any problem.

After several seasons, being able to return to the playoffs is a huge improvement.

D'Antoni waved his hand irritably, as if to say that Gentry was too easily satisfied.

Back then, Kwame Brown led the Magic to the NBA Finals.

With the Suns' current roster, D'Antoni doesn't really think it's much worse than the Magic's back then.

Why did the Suns set such low standards? Why can't they aim for the Finals?

Who doesn't want to be a champion?

"Alvin, look at what the newspapers are saying."

D'Antoni picked up a stack of newspapers and handed them to Gentry.

Gentry took it and glanced at it casually.

In fact, Gentry knew what the newspapers were saying, and he had read them.

Various media outlets are criticizing the sun.

The newspapers in New York, in particular, were the most enthusiastic about it.

However, the New York media has a great influence, and their reports can immediately attract widespread attention.

Moreover, the media wasn't content with criticizing D'Antoni; they started criticizing the players.

Some say Howard only relies on his physicality to play basketball.

Gentry would say, what else can an inside player rely on besides his physicality?
They also said that Ray Allen could only shoot three-pointers, and that Nash had zero impact on the court and didn't deserve to be called a point guard.

Major media outlets reported on it, and smaller media outlets followed suit with hype; it was quite a spectacle.

This made Gentry uneasy.

The sun used to be a nobody, living in obscurity, and never received this much attention.

I don't know what happened this season, it's like I've become the enemy of the entire league.

Gentry put down the newspaper and said, "Mike, the media is always talking nonsense. They don't know anything, so why should we care about them?"

"Like me, when I was with the Clippers, you had no idea what the Los Angeles media was saying about me, and I never paid any attention to it."

The Clippers may have low profile, but they are still based in Los Angeles.

During those years, Prince Beile was often scolded and took the blame for many things.

They keep repeating the same things, saying the lineup is so good, a bunch of young talents, but what happened? They brought a pile of crap.

Gentry sometimes wants to have a good argument with reporters and let them know how difficult it is to be a head coach.

Don't just look at the team's roster strength.

Those were five people, five living, breathing people with their own thoughts and emotions.

Combining them into a cohesive unit to execute one's tactics is not something that can be accomplished simply by talking.

Not to mention, they also have to take care of the players' emotions and balance the relationships between teammates.

Just like the sun today.

Howard is a silly, cheerful kid who cares more about who he beat today, how many points he scored, and how the media will praise him than whether the team wins or loses.

He gets upset for two days whenever the media or anyone online says something unpleasant.

For example, after suffering a crushing defeat against O'Neal, Howard was depressed for several days.

Then there's Nash, Ray Allen, Marion, Joe Johnson—they're all taciturn types.

But everyone has their own agenda, and it's really not easy to bring them together.

Therefore, Gentry never pays attention to what the media says.

"Different."

D'Antoni shook his head again and said, "The problem is Alvin. I think they're right."

Some reports are simply emotional outbursts.

But some reports, D'Antoni felt, hit the nail on the head.

For example, Howard relies too much on his physicality, and the team plays around him, resulting in overly simplistic tactics.

Some say Nash had zero impact on the court and failed to organize the offense.

They say the team's defense is weak, and that they easily leave open players on the perimeter when playing zone defense.

D'Antoni found some of the suggestions to be very reasonable.

Most importantly, some reports say that the Suns are only superficially successful now, and if they don't change, they will never have a chance to win the championship.

These words struck a chord with D'Antoni.

I came all the way back from Italy just to prove myself.

He wants to win the championship himself, not just lead the team back to the playoffs.

With such a great roster, and the added benefit of Howard's rookie status, the championship window only lasts a few years. If he misses it, who knows when he'll have another chance to coach a roster like this? Thinking of this, D'Antoni silently clenched his fist.

Change is necessary.

If the goal is to make the playoffs, then playing casually like this is acceptable for now.

But if the goal is the championship, not making changes won't work.

Thinking of this, D'Antoni jumped up.

Gentry was startled and asked D'Antoni what he was doing.

D'Antoni offered no explanation and headed straight for the training ground.

He figured it out.

If they just play haphazardly like this, relying on the players' abilities and seeing where things go, then there's no need for Colangelo to fire them; they should just leave as soon as possible.

To avoid delaying each other.

Now that I've taken on the role of head coach and assembled the lineup according to my own ideas, I have to play according to those ideas.

The first step in making changes is to identify the core issues.

The team has shifted from being centered around Howard to being centered around Nash.

In D'Antoni's tactical philosophy, the point guard is the starting point of the tactics and the key to whether the tactics can be executed successfully.

Looking at the entire league, D'Antoni believes that only Nash meets his requirements.

The players had arrived, and D'Antoni gathered everyone together and, in front of everyone, clearly announced that the team would begin rigorous tactical training.

The core of the team's tactics is Nash.

Nash paused slightly in the crowd.

The team has an excellent starting lineup, and Nash is ready to sacrifice himself to serve everyone.

Unexpectedly, D'Antoni suddenly designated himself as the core of the tactics?
What about Howard?
Nash immediately turned to look at Howard.

Ray Allen, and many other players, all turned to look at Howard.

Although D'Antoni has never explicitly stated that Howard is the core of the team.

But that's exactly what he did.

They used to rely on mindless one-on-one play, and now they're even playing around Howard.

That clearly shows that Howard is the core player.

And in everyone's eyes, there was no problem with it.

Howard was the number one draft pick, a super genius chosen by Townsend.

He has both the physique and the skills; he reached his peak upon entering the game and is now arguably the fourth-best center in the world.

The key is that they are still young.

As a rebuilding team, who else could the Suns build around if not an inside player like Howard?

How to defend against Nash who gets stabbed by thousands?

So now that D'Antoni is suddenly doing this, how could Howard not have any objections?

The players were nervous, and D'Antoni himself was nervous too. After announcing the decision, he immediately looked at Howard.

Howard was whispering to Hunter.

Perhaps because they were both connected to Tang Sen, the two of them became quite close.

Hunter sensed something was wrong and quickly nudged Howard.

Howard then looked up, staring blankly at everyone, and asked, "And then?"

He did hear it, but his reaction was as if he didn't care at all.

D'Antoni breathed a sigh of relief.

He had been unable to make up his mind because he was worried that Howard, this prodigy, wouldn't be able to accept it.

But now I realize that this kid doesn't actually care that much.

At 19, he probably didn't care about these things at all; he was only thinking about getting high scores.

"That's it, training."

D'Antoni clapped his hands and called everyone to begin training.

They ran the tactics step by step.

V-shaped positioning, horn-shaped attack, pick-and-roll cut.

Every move and stance has its own rules and methods.

The specific choice is up to Nash.

Therefore, D'Antoni paid the most attention to Nash, personally mentoring him and helping him understand his tactical philosophy.

The direct result of choosing to change tactics was that they were stung by the Hornets again the next day when they played against them.

After a few days of rest, they played the Jazz away from home. Their tactics were a mess, and their shooting touch was off, resulting in a narrow 2-point loss to the Jazz.

The team only managed to stop their losing streak when they played the Cavaliers the very next day, with three players scoring over 20 points.

But in the next game against Wolves, they immediately reverted to their old ways and suffered a crushing defeat.

However, D'Antoni doesn't care. Even if they lose, he still has to work out the tactics.

(End of this chapter)