Butler University suffered two consecutive losses in January. They first lost to their division rival Gonzaga University with a score of 62-63, and then were slaughtered by Milwaukee University away, losing 19 points to their opponents.

Li Rong's performance in these two games has declined, and his shooting percentage has been much lower than the start of the season in both efficiency and shooting percentage.

After analyzing his performance, Li Rong felt that there were two main reasons. One was that his physical strength reached a bottleneck in the middle of the season; the other was that the "quick gun" skill he had been practicing, and the speed of speeding up his shooting still had some impact on his normal shooting movements, which led to a decline in his shooting percentage.

Stevens, the assistant coach of the team who has always cared about him, also gave a third reason. Li Rong still has a technical weakness, that is, his lack of ability to score without the ball.

Previously, most of his scoring methods came from playing ball or receiving passes from teammates from outside to make fixed-point shots. Relatively speaking, although he would occasionally shoot in open positions during the game, his off-ball run mostly came from his own sense of pulling on the field space, and actually lacked real running and scoring skills.

Stevens worked hard to cut some of his previous game's off-ball running clips into a video tape, and then pointed to one of the rounds and analyzed: "The quality of this ball Julian's screening is very high. When you receive the ball, you can completely drive a step to the left and shoot directly, but you are too deliberately pursuing a three-pointer and then get another step. At this time, the defensive players have enough time to bypass the screen, so he interferes with your shot."

The two then watched the video for a while, and Stevens concluded: "When you have a shot opportunity through running, don't hesitate, don't consider where you are. If you can, try to take action, don't give the defender a chance to catch up."

"Thank you, coach!" After watching the video, Li Rong said sincerely to Stevens.

These tasks were not within his responsibilities, but in order to help Li Rong improve, Stevens still worked tirelessly to do a lot of extra work.

He didn't need to do this at first. After clocking in and going home after get off work, no one would blame him for his wife and children, but he still sacrificed his rest time without hesitation. You know, his first child was not one year old.

Stevens stood up and stretched, smiling: "This is what a coach should do," then he patted Li Rong on the shoulder, "I heard that some NBA teams are interested in you."

Li Rong had nothing to hide about this matter, nodded and said, "You also know that Dan Feigan contacted me before, and he thought I was likely to be selected in the second round."

Stevens showed a happy look when he heard this: "This is a good thing. No matter what, Lee, I will be your loyal fan."

"Thank you," Li Rong thought for a while, "but he is still a little uncertain about the future."

"No one knows what will happen in the future," Stevens said earnestly, "You just need to obey your true heart. When I decided to resign from a pharmaceutical company, many people said it was unwise. At that time, Tracy (Stevens' current wife) and I had no stable jobs and could only work in fast food restaurants and live in a simple basement, but now looking back, the decision was undoubtedly correct."

"Or," Li Rong hesitated for a moment, "I'll stay and fight for another year?"

Li Rong was full of gratitude for this young coach. In the past six months, thanks to his care, Li Rong has come to this day step by step. He feels that he needs to do something for Stevens, such as staying for another season. After all, next season is Stevens' first time as the team's head coach. If he stays, he will definitely strive for better results for the team and relieve the pressure on the rookie coach.

"No!" Stevens naturally understood what Li Rong meant, but he still refused firmly, "As I said, no one knows what will happen in the future. Since you have the opportunity to enter the NBA this year, don't miss this opportunity."

In fact, many players who have the strength to enter the NBA still choose to stay in school, such as the University of Florida Trident, Noah, Horford, and Brewer, who won the NCAA Championship last year, did not participate in the draft and chose to stay in school after winning the championship for the team.

However, the risk of doing so is also very high. Last year, Noah was once a popular candidate for the No. 1 pick, but this year it fell to the edge of the lottery zone on major draft websites. Instead, Horford and Brewer's draft markets have risen, especially Horford, which may be selected by the top teams in this year's draft.

Therefore, staying at school is a double-edged sword. If you play well, the draft market may rise in the coming year. If there is no progress or even regression, the draft market may fall.

Moreover, basketball players are injured frequently. If they suffer injuries after staying at school, it will definitely affect the future draft market.

Although Li Rong does not think that staying in school will affect future drafts, Stevens still does not allow him to do so. After all, this is related to a player's lifelong fate. He does not need Li Rong to sacrifice his future to achieve his coaching results.

"Okay," Li Rong had to shrugged helplessly, "But if my draft market is not good next year, coach, you can't keep me out."

Stevens laughed when he heard this: "That only means that your level has dropped. I will have to consider it carefully before I can make a decision."

In the subsequent training, Li Rong focused on adding to the off-ball running exercises. He thought clearly that if he was really selected in the second round, his positioning in the team would definitely not be high at the beginning, and his playing style of holding the ball would not be suitable for gaining a foothold in the NBA in the future.

Add unball running and empty cuts, and start with marginal players to slowly gain more opportunities to play.

Many college players are not used to the NBA because they are not clear about their positioning in the team. In the past, these talented teenagers were the absolute core of the team when they were in high school. However, after entering the NBA, unless you have absolute talent like James and Wade, the team will not play around a newcomer like in the previous high school or college.

Even if a team does this, you have to see if the veterans in the team don’t agree with you, otherwise it will inevitably happen like Ricky Davis, “I thought the team chose James to assist me”.
Chapter completed!