The Whip of the God of Basketball

Pat Riley's coaching career is somewhat similar to that of Fox Leon. Both were promoted from assistant coach to head coach. The previous coach did a pretty good job. The teams he coached were all historical giants. Both of them were They are under tremendous pressure and at the same time produce results very quickly, which shows that their ability to withstand pressure is extraordinary.

The difference between the two lies not only in Riley's player experience, winning the championship in his first season or having more superstars in the Lakers team, but the fundamental difference lies in their plans for their coaching careers. In fact, Leon is walking on a path that seems to be very similar to Riley, but is actually completely different, but in the end it feels like we have reached the same destination by different paths.

This is also the reason why Riley is willing to come to the summer league to meet Leon. From many rumors, Riley has constantly heard about Fox Leon, and even watched Fox Leon in the draft for many years. The promise made before came true - maybe many people don't remember it, but Riley still remembers it clearly.

And when Fox-Leon said the name "Alston" to himself, Riley knew that this was a very threatening guy. Because the signing negotiations between the Heat and Alston have been relatively secretive, it's not because Alston is in demand, it's just that Alston is just a small point guard transformed from a street player, and he doesn't attract attention at all. Riley is very good at judging people and feels that this guy may be able to develop a bit and has the intention to sign him.

However, Riley is still only willing to pay a one-year contract, and he will not allow any small signings to affect his big moves in the future.

Now that the two sides are still in the wrangling stage, Riley decided to put Alston aside to dry out. He is sure that no one will give the street ball player a long-term contract in all likelihood. His three years in Milwaukee can be described as mediocre. Unsurprisingly, he made a lot of progress with the Raptors last year, but for a point guard with big flaws like him, it will be difficult to get a long-term contract until he improves in all aspects, especially his shooting ability.

What Riley likes is some potential in him, and he likes to squeeze the potential of players, whether they are superstars or water cooler custodians. But he didn't expect that Fox-Leon would learn from some source that the Heat was in contact with Alstom. If Alston is some great superstar, then even if Leon doesn't investigate, the media will spread the news all over the city. But Alston is not, and Riley also thinks that Leon will not be free enough to investigate the player's situation.

Unless the Celtics also want to directly contact Alstom and sign him, but judging from Riley's news, so far only the Heat have made inquiries about Alstom, and there is no second one, let alone Some teams want to give him a long-term contract.

There is only one explanation left, and that is that Fox-Leon has a huge information network composed of agents and scouts, and the agents and scouts who make up this network are relatively low-level roles in the entire ecological zone, but It is these low-level characters who can get closer to the earth and learn more detailed and detailed things.

"It seems that Mr. Leon's information is quite well-informed." Riley responded in a neutral tone. Leon's style of taking the grassroots route is different from Riley's style of taking the superstar route and the upper-level route. Obviously very different. But because of this, Riley couldn't help but feel a sense of fear in his heart, because he knew that Auerbach used similar methods to control almost half of the league through the draft.

"I'm just looking for some suitable candidates for my team. You know, I had some friends in the scout group of the Development League, so I could often get some news." Leon spread his hands, and then took another A puff of cigar.

Riley hesitated for a while and stood up from his seat. He knew that it didn't make much sense to negotiate terms with people like Leon. Both of them were too shrewd. As long as the cards were played, the cards would soon be revealed. Clearly. What's more, this is just a small card game, no matter how small. Everyone only has such a small amount of chips, so it is not interesting to play.

"I heard that Mr. Leon's gambling skills are very good. I hope you can come to a Miami casino to try your luck one day." After saying that, Riley took out a note pad from his pocket and tore off a piece of paper. He wrote a phone number on it and threw it to Leon and said: "This is Alston's personal phone number. I don't know if you have it. As for his agent, I think you must have his phone number."

Riley was about to leave. He was a little bit deflated in this small confrontation, but it turns out that being able to win Haslem is definitely a good choice for the Heat.

At this time, Leon stopped Riley and said: "Mr. Riley, thank you for your kindness... I'm not talking about Alston, Haslem is not bad at all, but we really don't have a place for him here. , he is from Miami, and I think he will be very happy to let him go home. By the way, this is something for you, as a gift in return for inviting me to smoke cigars. "

With that said, Leon also took something out of his pocket, a small round cake box and delivered it to Riley. This is a can of Klipsch's high-end hair wax, and Pat Riley is a loyal user and spokesperson of Klipsch's hair wax. He has kept his oily head without mess for decades because of this reliable hair wax. maintained.

Riley took the box of hair wax without any emotion on his face, but there was a layer of frost in his eyes, but soon he grinned brightly, shook his head helplessly, and put the box of hair wax away. He picked up his pockets and left without saying a word.

Of course Leon didn't come unprepared. He had been carrying this bottle of hair wax in his pocket for three days. When he knew that Pat Riley had also come to the summer training camp, he was ready to negotiate terms with the old fox. When Angie signed Strickland some time ago, Leon was thinking about joining the team. Add a younger point guard.

The Heat's Eddie House was once under Leon's consideration. He also knew that the Heat would not implement the team option, but House's style of play overlapped too much with Arenas's, and House was shorter and had worse defense. , organizational skills are not strong either. Looking around, Leon focused on Alston, but he quickly got the news that Alston was talking to the Heat.

Alston's agent is the greedy Dan Fagan, a well-known NBA contract robber. Leon knows that if the Celtics participate in the bidding, Fagan will definitely open his mouth. If the Heat and Celtics then If people compete with each other for contracts, the Celtics will definitely not be able to compete with the Heat, who have a lot of space.

Just in time, Leon found out that Riley was interested in Haslem. He also found that Haslem was indeed a good material, but was underestimated by many people, so Jiang Taigong waited for Riley for several days with hair wax in his fishing pocket. , I didn’t expect that this guy also came to the door with a cigar cover.

In the end, Leon got Riley's promise that they would withdraw from the negotiations with Alston, and the Celtics would follow suit. By then, they would be able to acquire this young point guard who still has room for improvement at a cheaper price.

In fact, Riley ignored one point during the whole process. There was a reason why Fox-Leon came to Orlando a week early. He was not just to avoid media harassment in Boston, but also because Orlando used to be the base camp of his scouting team. , where he has the most friends and informants. At the same time, Orlando is very close to Miami, and any news will be quickly heard here. Riley thought he had the upper hand, but in fact he was at a disadvantage everywhere. It was all just because the information collection was not careful and complete enough.

Of course, Leon knows that the old fox Pat Riley will not give up. In the days to come, he and his Miami Heat will definitely be a terrible stumbling block.