The Godfather of Basketball

Winning the Raptors boosted the morale of the Nets team.

After winning the Raptors, the team also ushered in a relatively comfortable schedule.

Against the Pistons, six players from the team scored in double figures. Deron and Yi Jianlian both scored 20+ points, beating their opponents 107 to 89.

Against the Eagles, they lost 93 to 103, but they fought their opponents in a stalemate at the last moment. Deron and Barton scored 20 points each.

Against the Suns, Lopez ushered in an explosion, scoring 22 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. The team also defeated the opponent 101 to 94.

Against the Kings, a 101-76 victory, Jokic performed well, scoring 16 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists in a quasi-triple-double.

5 matches, 4 wins and 1 loss. Although it has something to do with the strength of the opponent, this kind of stable performance also makes people feel the changes, atmosphere, and mental outlook of this team. These are what Tang Tian said at the press conference. Things are forming little by little in the Nets.

The players are no longer upset about losing the game. On the contrary, no matter after losing or winning, they will conduct some tactical analysis and learning under the leadership of the coaching staff, and they can feel their progress.

But in such a positive team, Joe Johnson seems a bit out of place.

Since sitting on the bench for almost the entire game against the Raptors, he has changed from a starter to a substitute, and his still inefficient scoring has made him slowly fade out of the rotation in subsequent games.

It's hard to imagine that a team's highest-paid player will always sit at the end of the bench.

But this is Tang Tian, ​​and it is also his consistent coaching style. No matter how much money you get, you have to sit obediently on the bench if you can't play competitively.

The time came to late January unknowingly, and the Nets gradually entered the regular stage.

Before Tang Tian took over, the team's record was 10 wins and 20 losses, and it had just experienced a wave of 10 consecutive losses. But after he took over, the team's record was 11 wins and 5 losses, and the total record has reached 21 wins and 25 losses, ranking among The ninth place in the Eastern Conference has great hopes of entering the playoffs.

At this time, the starting lineup of the All-Star Game has been announced. The Big Three of the Cavaliers and the Thunder are selected for the All-Star Game again, but this time they are not the focus of the All-Star Game. The Warriors are the team that attracts more attention.

The Eagles play team basketball under the leadership of Spurs head coach Mike Budenholzer. In this All-Star Game, with Korver replacing the injured Wade at the last moment, 4 out of 5 starters were selected for the All-Star Game The game refreshed the history of the team.

The performance of the Warriors is even more shocking. Under the leadership of new coach Steve Kerr, they have a record of 40 wins and 6 losses, ranking first in the league, even surpassing the Thunder.

In this All-Star game, the team's splash brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were also successfully selected.

ESPN was also ridiculed for a while at this time. You must know that they had placed these two teams outside the top eight in the league before.

For the Nets, Deron was re-selected to the All-Star bench two years later with his outstanding performance (18.9 points, 7.3 assists, 49% field goal percentage).

In addition to Deron, Jokic (11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (9.2 points and 2.1 assists per game) were also successfully selected for the All-Star Rookie Game.

Bojan Bogdanovic will be in the All-Star Three-Point Shootout.

This All-Star Game is jointly hosted by the Knicks and the Nets. The main game is held at Madison Square Garden, and the other individual events are held at the Barclays Center. Let New York fans look forward to the game.

The All-Star Game is approaching, and the players are beginning to look forward to it.

On this off-season day, after training as usual, Jones suddenly came to the office to find Tang Tian.

"Joe wants the team to buy him out or trade him."

Jones' words made Tang Tian frown slightly.

Speaking of which, Joe Johnson is indeed the team's biggest problem right now.

Before, he hoped to stimulate the former "Eagle King" by reducing his playing time, but it didn't work at all. The latter was still as unresponsive as before, just like his personality when he was lore, "The waves are calm ".

So in the end, he just let him go. Anyway, after this season, there is only one year left on the contract, and it will be fine to get some role players or trade draft picks at that time.

It's just that he didn't expect that he would ask Jones to make such a request.

"I see." Tang Tian didn't say much.

At the end of the training session the next day, Tang Tian called Joe Johnson into his office alone.

"Joe, Keith told me that you hope the team can buy you out or trade you?" After sitting down, Tang Tian asked directly.

"Yes, I need to play, I need to go to a place that can provide playing time." Joe Johnson said calmly.

Tang Tian looked at Joe Johnson's eyes, knocked on the table and said, "Let me just say it directly, because your contract is too big, the team will not consider buying it out for the time being. As for the deal, I will give you a first-round deal now." , and no team will accept you."

Joe Johnson finally froze for a moment, what Tang Tian said was really straightforward.

"I know you will be dissatisfied. After all, the team paid a lot of money to trade you from the Eagles. In the past few years, you have also been the team's unshakable starter, but I have already said it in front of everyone. However, this is a team that needs to compete, and whoever he is with what kind of contract, you should know, right?"

"I just want to change the environment." Joe Johnson said after a pause.

Tang Tian smiled. It seems that Joe Johnson has been in the Nets for a few years.

"Alright, I'll give you two options. First, just sit quietly at the end of the bench, don't complain or talk, and sit until the offseason of next season. At that time, your contract has only one year left. We may I can consider negotiating a buyout with you; second, take out the remaining passion and blood in your bones, try hard to get a rotation position, play value, and we will see if you still have value in the trading market."

Joe Johnson remained silent and did not speak again. The two choices Tang Tian gave were reasonable, but no matter which one he chose, he was not very willing. He only wanted to change the environment and play well.

"The choice is yours. You can go back and think about it carefully, but I want to remind you that there is no third choice. If you make other choices, the management will ignore it at all."

"I see." Joe Johnson nodded at last.

Watching him finally leave his office, Tang Tian felt somewhat helpless on his face.

Although Joe Johnson is old, his strength still exists. After leaving the Nets in his previous life, he has played high-profile performances in both the Heat and the Jazz.

It can be seen from the conversation just now that this is more a matter of attitude and psychology.

But just like Tang Tian said, the choice is in his own hands.