Liu Mang and Levia went to a restaurant outside for a meal with Yao Ming and Richard Jefferson.

After finishing the meal, Yao Ming saw that neither Liu Mang nor Levia had the consciousness to be the host, and sighed sadly in his heart. Fortunately, Richard Jefferson took the initiative to foot the bill.

After Richard Jefferson joined the Rockets, he became very familiar with Yao Ming.

The reason is simple, he has never received so much attention!

In the past three seasons, the Nets were quite popular. They reached the Eastern Conference Finals for three consecutive years and the Finals for two consecutive years. However, Kidd was the only one who was popular with the Nets. This team was not popular. The Nets

Other players on the team except Kidd are even less popular. Kenyon Martin left Kidd for this reason. Only Carter can attract more attention than Kidd.

When Richard Jefferson was traded to the Rockets in the summer, he was not happy. The Rockets were in the Western Conference and it would be too difficult for him to reach the conference finals like the Nets did. In this way, it was difficult for Li, who still had a rookie contract, to reach the conference finals like the Nets.

For Chad Jefferson, he lost a lot of income.

However, when Yao Ming returned to Houston after the Olympics to prepare for the new season, when Richard Jefferson met Yao Ming as teammates for the first time at the Toyota Center, he felt like he was living in a dream!

There were not as many reporters following Yao Ming as Carter and Kidd. Not only reporters from China and Asia, but also many reporters from the United States interviewed Yao Ming after he returned to Houston. Richard Jefferson was the most important player for the Rockets in the summer.

After Yao Ming, he naturally became the second most watched star of the Rockets.

All of a sudden, from a minor supporting role next to Kidd and Carter, to the second male lead, Richard Jefferson felt unprecedented attention.

This kind of attention can easily make people obsessed. He quickly decided that he and Yao Ming would become good brothers and go wherever Yao Ming goes every day.

Although the purpose was very strong at the beginning, the two of them got along quite well, and soon they became really good friends.

Richard Jefferson is the kind of player with leadership talent. James, who has become famous in the future, strongly invites him to be the leader of the Cavaliers. When he fell behind 1 to 3 in the finals, he made 4 of 6 shots in the fifth game.

Scored 8 points and played a big role in helping the Cavaliers reverse the process.

The reason why he didn't show leadership ability in the Nets before was entirely because with Kidd around, Carter couldn't be a leader, let alone Richard Jefferson.

But now, with the Rockets, Yao Ming's leadership skills are not strong, and Richard Jefferson's leadership skills have been revealed.

The most important thing is that Richard Jefferson has improved so much!

In the last year of his rookie contract, Richard Jefferson averaged 23.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He was good at handling and attacking with the ball. Although he was not the best, his breakthrough and distribution skills were outstanding.

And after receiving the ball from Yao Ming, the open three-pointer is very accurate, he can hold the ball and play without the ball, and he cooperates well with Yao Ming.

Yao Ming has also made great progress, averaging 22 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.9 blocks per game. The only two centers in the league who average 20 per game are O'Neal and Yao Ming.

Yao Ming can perform so well in the Rockets, and Liu Mang is also happy for Yao Ming. Anyway, the Rockets can't make it out of the Western Conference. Since they can't make it out of the Western Conference, Liu Mang hopes that the Rockets will be as strong as possible, so as to give those strong teams in the Western Conference a chance to win.

Create more trouble in the playoffs.

The most regrettable thing is that the Rockets are reluctant to part with money. After the Mavericks gave up on Nash, it only takes less than four hours to drive from Houston to Dallas, Texas. The two core players of the Rockets now have rookie contracts, and the total is less than 800.

After sending away Francis and Mobley for $10,000, although they acquired Juwan Howard and still had a huge amount of free salary space, they did not give Nash a multi-million dollar contract immediately, thus missing out on Nash.

How would Nash meet Yao Ming and Richard Jefferson? This was also an interesting situation for Liu Mang, but unfortunately it did not happen.

Yao Ming, who has an ability evaluation of 90, is only 24 years old and has a bright future. There is also Richard Jefferson, who is also 24 years old and three months older than Yao Ming and has an ability evaluation of 88. Both of them have not yet reached their theoretical peak.

It's a pity that the point guard next to him is Bob Sura, a point guard who averages 10 points and 5 assists per game...

The Rockets have two very strong points, one of which is even the strongest in the Western Conference, but they can only be in the second half of the Western Conference playoffs...

Liu Mang deeply sympathizes with Yao Ming's situation. He has already said what he can say. It depends on Yao Ming whether he can wake up to Dawson or Alexander and find a point guard who can pass the ball to him without him having to score alone.

By myself.

Although Liu Mang has a good relationship with Yao Ming, he can't tell others to be different.

However, the Rockets are not that strong now, so they can be used as targets to try new ways of playing!

After having lunch with Yao Ming, Liu Mang and Levia sent Yao Ming and Richard Jefferson back to the hotel, and then took Levia to visit Tracy McGrady...

…

…

"Ace, you said we're going to have a run-and-gun attack?" McGrady asked confused, feeling that this statement was too ridiculous and unreliable. Anything would work, but not this.

"No, no, no, it's a small ball, not a run and gun!" Liu Mang emphasized. After talking for a long time, why couldn't this guy understand?

Liu Mang just told McGrady about the small ball tactics he had discussed with Mike Woodson many times, but Liu Mang looked at McGrady and seemed to regard it as a run and gun.

However, it's not that McGrady can't understand, it's just that he can't accept it: "Ace, I understand what you are saying. Use high-speed rotation defense to pressure the opponent's mistakes and counterattack, but O'Neal, Yao, Garnett, Duncan, J-O'Neal and so on

Players, it’s useless for us to use a small lineup to press the defense!”

Unexpectedly, McGrady was worried about this. Liu Mang replied: "Then we don't need a smaller lineup to beat them. And our lineup is not small. Kwame and Rasheed are both fast big men who also have inside height."

.”

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "..." McGrady discovered that no matter what he said to Liu Mang, Liu Mang always had something wrong!

"Tracy, think about it, it's because of you that we have the opportunity to play this style of play! Don't you want to win the assists title? You've already won the scoring title. It's boring, right?

"I'll take it from now on. Think about it, you serve as the starting point of the offense, allowing your teammates to score when they have the opportunity. We bring up the defensive pressure and create a beautiful transition between offense and defense..." Liu Mang started to lie... No,

After convincing McGrady, the power of the Head of State was activated.

McGrady still misses the assist king very much! Playing with Liu Mang, forget about the scoring king. Although McGrady is not too obsessed with the data king, who can he win?

However, McGrady was still a little resistant. This was too outrageous: "But I can't run and gun! The coach won't allow us to play run and gun! He shouldn't be the kind of coach who can play run and gun."

The coach knows it, he should know it... From Liu Mang's point of view, Coach Kruger is a super awesome college coach who can figure out a way to integrate the tactics into the team no matter what tactics are thrown at him, but he is only 40 years old inexplicably.

In my early teens, my forehead area became wider and wider, and my hair became thinner and thinner.

Forced to believe that Coach Kruger can run and gun, if you want to deceive others, you must first deceive yourself. Liu Mang's speech mode became more and more stylish, and he said to Tracy McGrady very confidently: "Tracy, what tactics does Coach not know?"

?He knows the triangle offense, Princeton, and pick-and-roll tactics! And ours is not a run-and-gun, it's a small-ball tactic! We are another giant leading the development of basketball! We succeeded this time and will be recorded in history!"

McGrady saw that Liu Mang was full of momentum and asked weakly: "Did you fail?"

"There is no failure! We will definitely succeed!" Liu Mang continued to say with certainty.

"But I don't know how to play this way..." McGrady still wanted to struggle. He felt that he was about to be convinced. This feeling was a bit strange.

"It's okay, I'll play against the Rockets tomorrow and I'll teach you how to win..."

…

…

Liu Mang rang the doorbell, and a middle-aged white woman opened the door. When she saw Liu Mang, she greeted her enthusiastically: "Ace, why are you here? I'm so happy. After little Jimmy left, our house was too deserted.

Yes, this is..."

Liu Mang quickly introduced: "Santa, this is my girlfriend Levia, Levia, this is the coach's wife, Santa."

"Hello, I'm Levia." Levia naturally stepped forward and hugged Liu Mang's "wife".

"Of course I know you, Levia, but Ace seems to be with one of my female students... Wow, Ace, I have you..." Shanta teased Liu Mang, but didn't care, and said to Levi

The impression of Ya is also very good. She is generous, polite and polite. She is not the kind of person who wants to get involved with Liu Mang to cheat money. That's enough.

Shanta knew Alexia very well. He used to be her student, but he didn't know much about Levia. Now that they were meeting for the first time, he felt that Levia was a nice person and didn't think too much about it.

Among the big stars of the four major leagues in the United States, who has a simple private life?

Hearing his wife's teasing, Liu Mang actually felt shy. He just felt sorry for Coach Kruger and his wife. Such a good couple, especially the friendly Santa people, actually lost the chance to have children.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, Liu Mang and Levia came to Coach Kruger's residence, which is a suite-style apartment next to the Georgia Institute of Technology. Many professors from the Georgia Institute of Technology own real estate here.

Coach Kruger used to be the head coach of the Georgia Institute of Technology Jackets, and his salary was at the level of a professor. He also had a lot of bonuses and was quite rich. Santa Kruger was also a lecturer at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Since little Jimmy went to high school in Southern California, Coach Kruger and his wife, Santa Kruger, have become "empty nesters" at home.

After an unexpected miscarriage more than ten years ago, Shanta lost the chance to have children. Apart from little Jimmy, she did not adopt any other children, which is a common situation in European and American countries.

Shanta rarely appears in the public eye. Except for Liu Mang's memory of occasionally seeing this teacher's wife at Georgia Tech during his college days, it seems that he has never seen her once in the more than three years since he entered the NBA.

"Ace, Levia, come in quickly..." Shanta greeted the two of them in enthusiastically: "Lang, Ace and Levia are here, come out quickly, I'll make tea, do you want black tea or coffee?"

"Black tea, mine should have less sugar and less milk. What about you, Levia?" Liu Mang asked.

"I'll go help Santa. Ace, you talk to the coach." Levia said and walked to the kitchen with Santa.

"Levia, you want to help me? That's great. I haven't made tea for Ace yet. I don't know what flavor he likes. It would be best to have your help. By the way, Levia, you and Ace

How did we meet Si..."

Listening to the whispers of gossip getting quieter and quieter, Liu Mang felt extremely painful in his balls. This lady was good at everything, but she was too gossipy. It was exactly the same as in his memory. Women’s gossip does not distinguish between ages and national boundaries!

After a while, Coach Kruger came out. He seemed to have combed his hair, oiled it up, and changed his shirt.

Not only did Liu Mang not think there was anything wrong with Coach Kruger always maintaining his manners in front of the players, he also envied Coach Kruger, a young man who always maintained his manners.

If he were in his forties and had Coach Kruger's motivation to be strict with him, Liu Mang would find it very difficult!

"Ace, it's rare that you come to my house. What's the matter?" Coach Kruger said with dignity.

This kind of majesty is very effective in the Eagles, but this kind of majesty has already given Liu Mang a strong immunity.

Liu Mang stood up and sat next to Coach Kruger opposite the coffee table, smiling non-stop.

Seeing Liu Mang's smile and this familiar behavior, Coach Kruger felt something in his heart, and an ominous premonition enveloped him...

…
To be continued...