The Whip of the God of Basketball

People's inspiration always bursts out in an instant, just like an apple hitting Newton's head and making him discover gravity. Maybe this story is a compilation by later generations, but the connotation of this story is by no means false. Leon felt that his brain must have been smashed by an unknown apple. Before that, he had been thinking about a set of questions. When Nash, Stoudemire, and Diaw are on the court at the same time, how should they be arranged and combined to maximize their effectiveness.

Nash is undoubtedly the most versatile of the three. Whether it is the pick-and-roll with Stoudemire or the pass-and-cut cooperation with Diaw, this MVP can do a good job. The problem was between Stoudemire and Diaw. Stoudemire is a face-to-the-basket attacking style of play, and Diaw showed his outstanding low-post support skills in 2006, but such technical characteristics undoubtedly caused conflicts between him and Stoudemire.

Stoudemire needs enough space inside for him to sprint, but Diaw needs to open up the battlefield in the low post to command. Leon's initial idea was to increase Stoudemire's mid-range and let him and Diaw at the top of the arc. Cooperate with high and low positions. However, Stoudemire's technical characteristics lead to such a cooperation that only Diaw passes the ball to Stoudemire to shoot, and there is no Stoudemire passing back to Diaw for involvement. Such a purely one-way assist loses the tactical system. The role of Stoudemire turned into a pure mid-range shooter is also a waste.

Leon thought about letting Diaw go to the high post again, but he had two shortcomings when he was in the high post. One was that his mid-to-long-range shots were not stable enough, and the other was that when Stoudemire caught the ball, it was almost impossible to attack facing the basket. Passing the ball back to the high post is also meaningless in a one-way pass. The problem seems to lie with Stoudemire, but as an efficient offensive machine, his efficiency in scoring is impeccable, and Leon is not prepared to change Stoudemire's style of play.

Leon also thought about adding Nash to become a bridge between the two, but the three-person offensive team could either play independently, or the two could be combined to form a complete cycle. The way one person builds a bridge and forcibly establishes a connection between two people is really deceptive. Leon was thinking so hard that he thought what would happen if he added Jaskovicius? I asked him to come here just to replace some of Nash's functions.

"Replacing some of Nash's functions?" Leon's attention was attracted by his own idea.

A sudden inspiration came to his mind: Why must there be a connection between Dior and Stoudemire? Wouldn't it be over if Nash and Stoudemire formed a tactical system? As for Dior, I can let him be the second Nash!

Because during the Celtics period, Leon never fixed Diaw's position on the field. As a jack-of-all-trades, he played in almost every position, surpassing Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Over Gilbert Arenas. His outstanding performance in the Suns in 2006 blinded Leon, so much so that he even wanted to let Diaw enter the core tactical system by changing Nash and Stoudemire.

In fact, Nash and Stoudemire have very little room for change. On the contrary, it is Dior, this guy is the real plasticine. I left the piece of plasticine alone without squeezing it, but went to squeezing the two diamonds! Only then did Leon realize that he had been thinking in a complicated way from the beginning. Of course, he wanted Nash to score more points and let Stoudemire support the system alone, so he followed this line of thinking when it came to Diaw, but he entered an extremely complicated maze.

Only then did he realize that what he had to do was not to continue exploring in this maze, but to turn around and leave, because there would not be the answer he wanted in this maze.

He called a timeout, replaced Nash, and then said to Boris Diaw: "Boris, I want to give you a task. I hope you can complete it well. If you do it, I will treasure it." I’ll give you a Cuban cigar.” Because the suspense of the game was no longer great, Leon said it easily.

Dio must have a mission and frowned. He was here to play the game and did not want to complete any of Leon's missions. But when he heard the cigar, his brows relaxed again and said: "No problem, just ask. "

"Next, I ask you to take Nash's place, play point guard, and organize the offense on the court. It's very simple, isn't it?" Leon gave instructions to Diaw.

Dior was stunned for two seconds, nodded, and said, "No problem, just like I did in Boston."

"Yes, I know you can do it, like a real point guard. My request to you is simple, don't make mistakes." Leon finally reminded, and then the timeout ended, Leon used Brent Barry After replacing Raja Bell, before going on the court, Leon said to Nash: "Try to be a shooting guard. If there is a good opportunity, don't let it go, score, go score."

Nash nodded. So far tonight, he has "only" sent out 6 assists, but has already scored 22 points, and many offenses in the game are no longer initiated by him. In the past, it was almost impossible for the Suns to make any offense without Nash's hands, but today Nash's role no longer seems so important.

After finishing the arrangement, Leon sat back on the bench with a sigh of relief. D'Antoni came up and asked: "Is this your solution? Let Boris play point guard?"

Leon nodded and said, "Yes, you are right, sometimes seemingly complex problems have the simplest solutions."

"But I don't think it's that simple. Boris can indeed play several positions, center, forward, and defender, but he can only serve as a temporary replacement. People call him the French magician, but he is not a real magician. On weekdays, There are almost no tactics involving Boris as a point guard in training. We have experimented with enough lineups and tactics so far that I am afraid that the players will fall into chaos."

D'Antoni's concerns are justified. So far, Leon has added too many things to the Suns' original tactical system. They have four to five routines in every offense, which is very detrimental to a well-functioning team. Not a good thing. In the past, they only had one brain, two arms, and two legs, but now they have three heads, and for a while this head is a head, and that head becomes a leg.

Leon agreed with D'Antoni and then responded: "So, it's time for you as an assistant coach to come into play."

"What?"

"Do you remember the conversation I had with you in Maurice? I said you would be in charge of the offense, and I would keep the team's lineup and let the offensive style of play continue in the Suns. Remember? I'm implementing it now In my opinion, I gave the Suns some small suggestions and directional guidance, but the details of the offense and how to adjust the tactics ultimately depend on you. Mike, the master tactician?"

Leon did not forget to give D'Antoni a top hat when he spoke. D'Antoni could only shake his head helplessly. Leon was right. The reason why he was willing to stay as an assistant coach at that time was because Leon promised him that the Suns would be here as long as possible. Maybe keep the original offensive style and win a championship. Now that he has made some useful adjustments, it will naturally depend on D'Antoni, who is more familiar with the player's situation, to improve it and do the fine work.

Only then did D'Antoni discover that the problem Fox-Leon had racked his brains for before was ultimately just one question: how to be a hands-off manager.

……………………

In the end, the Phoenix Suns easily defeated the Seattle SuperSonics on the road 123:102, with a 21-point advantage, and won their first victory of the season. In the second half of the game, Boris Diaw came on as a point guard. After the game, he did not attract much attention from the media and fans because his performance as a point guard was really not good. Obviously he was not very good. I'm used to it, but my teammates are not used to it either.

Only some professional football commentators and senior fans have seen some clues and believe that Leon is bringing changes to the Suns, but what kind of changes are there are too few samples to know. People paid more attention to Nash's assists. He only got 7 assists in this game, but scored 25 points. The Suns have not reached the point where he must score, which is different from him in the past, but also because the sample is too small, people are still just guessing, and Leon did not reveal any relevant information at the post-game press conference.

For the SuperSonics, Durant scored 20 points. There is no doubt that this is a rising star with an unlimited future, but the current NBA does not belong to him yet. The Suns' focus has already been on the next game. Their opponent in the next game is the one who is really at their peak and has a great relationship with the Suns in the playoffs - Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers. .