"Hornersek and I spoke on the phone and refused our invitation. He said he had lived in Salt Lake City for many years and the family had adapted to life there. He didn't want to go anywhere else before his daughter went to college." After the game with the Grizzlies, Kupchek informed Ke Yan of the news.

Most NBA players yearn for big cities like Los Angeles and giant teams like Lakers, but some people prefer a quiet and natural life in small cities.

Hornersek doesn't necessarily want to be a coach, but he wants to spend some time with his family. After all, when he is a professional player, he is not enough to accompany his family. It is normal to choose to give up some things after retirement.

Moreover, the salary earned by Horacek as a player is not squandering, and it is enough for the family to live a luxurious life.

In Ke Yan's impression, Horacek did not come out to join the Jazz's coaching staff until around 2009, and later went to other teams to serve as head coach. Calculate the days, he almost left Salt Lake City after Abby went to college.

Everyone has their own ambitions. Hornersek chose to be a good father and delayed his career development for his daughter. Ke Yan was not inconvenient to force it. He had to pray that there would be no problem with Monty Williams's contact, otherwise no one would be able to stand it if he encountered a tough day and night.

After the game against the Grizzlies, the Lakers returned to home court, losing to the Dallas Mavericks 106-110, and suffered a second loss after Ke Yan took office.

The poor performance of the "position battle" has always been the key to the Lakers' rankings this season. Since the Suns and Spurs occupy the division championship positions in the Pacific and Southwest regions respectively, if the Lakers want to enter the top four in the Western Conference and have a home advantage in the playoffs, they must defeat the Mavericks.

However, in this game, the Mavericks, who were more powerful, performed more steadily. Although Kobe scored 36 points, surpassed Nowitzki's 27 points, the Mavericks also had Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Michael Finley, and even the "Second Center in the West" Danpier who won a premium contract, was stronger than the Lakers' inside.

The Mavericks scored 20 in three-pointers, and Danpier grabbed 17 rebounds in the game, suppressing the Lakers' inside.

After the game, the Lakers' record reached 25 wins and 14 losses, continuing to rank fifth in the Western Conference, and the gap with the Mavericks was widened to 3 games.

This result is acceptable to fans and Ke Yan himself.

At least with the current record, there is no possibility of being squeezed out of the top eight in the West. This is Ke Yan's great success. The Lakers in history are very miserable!

On January 13, the Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 121-77 at home and refused to lose in a row. (26-14)

In this game, the Lakers played an amazing defensive intensity and defended their opponents from all points. Odom, who was beaten by various All-Star insiders, faced Boozer in this game. His opponents made 5 of 15 shots, 6 free throws, and only scored 16 points and 6 rebounds. He finally made a proud look. Arroyo, who led Puerto Rico to beat Dream Six in the Olympics, made 4 of 12 shots in the game under Kobe's defense and scored 12 points, which was also inefficient.

On the Lakers side, Kobe continued to output 30. Now in the scoring list, Kobe, who averaged 30.2 points per game, was only 0.4 points behind Iverson and had the opportunity to hit the scoring champion.

However, with the recent decline in the Lakers' record, he fell back to fifth place in the MVP list, which is also a pity.

There is no way, MVP needs to be supported by the team's record. If the personal peak and the team's strength do not overlap, such a tragedy will occur. If Kobe wants to win a more substantial MVP trophy, he really needs more substantial helpers.

West, Dior is likely to be unable to come at the moment, Ke Yan needs to consider other candidates. Just as he was looking for a candidate, bad news came from the team doctor. Kobe injured his thigh muscles during training and needed to have a quit for about 4 weeks.

"WTF!" Ke Yan, who has always been quite civilized, directly spit out swear words after receiving this news!

For an agent coach, what is the biggest tragedy? He clearly built a tactical system around the team's tactical core, cultivated tacit understanding, and established a balance, and then he was injured!

At the first moment, Ke Yan looked at the schedule. A thing that I don’t know whether it was luck or unfortunate was that Kobe expected to include the Denver All-Star Game within the four-week recovery period. He can come back after the All-Star Game and lead the team to sprint in the final stage of the regular season!

Kobe's injury is a big deal for the Lakers. That is, an hour after the incident, the team's management and coaching staff gathered in the office to hold an interim meeting to discuss the current situation.

"At present, we are temporarily behind the Mavericks and the Supersonics for three games, half a season. If we perform well, it is still hopeful to catch up with them. But Kobe's injury has a great impact on us. Although he is unwilling to admit it, I think the team's realistic goal is to ensure a place in the playoffs and then strive for a good position within his ability to meet the Seattle Supersonics." Ke Yan said straight to the point.

His words basically meet everyone's ideas. With the team's lineup drastically changing and the only core player was injured for one month, dragging the team into the playoffs is already a difficult result!

As for the words of catching the supersonics, it is more of an excuse. Letting everyone accept that the team's record decline is due to long-term considerations, "We fell down just to play the supersonics."

"Kimi, how do you plan to make adjustments next? Do you need any personnel to supplement it?" After Ke Yan finished speaking, everyone was silent for a while. Jerry Bass broke the silence first and expressed his support for Ke Yan.

"Tactically, I will let Caron Butler play the role of Kobe. He also has strong singles ability and better tactical execution! But no matter what, he cannot replace Kobe, and the team's second scoring point vacancy also needs someone to fill. But if you want to trade such a player, you may need to use the team's future draft picks." Ke Yan looked at Bass and Kupchek and said calmly, "At the same time, I will also find ways to make up for it through tactical adjustments."

"Okay! Kimi, the team will be handed over to you. I hope you will continue to surprise us during this period!"

Jerry Bass finally was unwilling to follow Ke Yan's proposal and used some valuable assets or future draft picks to strengthen the lineup, but only symbolically encouraged Ke Yan.

A trace of unknown loneliness flashed in Ke Yan's eyes, and a sad feeling of "I am determined to kill the thief but unable to turn the world back" surged deep in his heart.

Whether it is Jerry Bass or Kupchek, he may have never trusted Ke Yan from the bottom of his heart, so he is unwilling to follow his own advice and take out the team's valuable assets to trade.

They are afraid that following Ke Yan's advice to operate will cause the team to lose high-quality assets, so even if Ke Yan has a good vision, Anderson, Barnes, and House will be able to make the best use of the goods, and they are unwilling to take this risk!

In other cases, Ke Yan can hold on! But without Kobe, can Ke Yan still hold on?

I am about to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?

(The Lakers in history also missed the playoffs because of Kobe's final injury. However, there are also reasons why Kobe missed the playoffs and was injured and well-behaved.)
Chapter completed!