NBA: Back to 97, to be the Jagged Bishop

Chapter 307

In the next Eastern Conference semifinals, the Philadelphia 76ers will face the Detroit Pistons, and the other Eastern Conference semifinals will be a pair of old rivals, the New York Knicks and the Toronto Raptors.

The Knicks and the Raptors are almost old enemies. They have met in the playoffs almost every year in the past five or six years.

At the beginning of the season, the Raptors' team record declined sharply due to infighting.

But then Kumbu made a move, traded the bus, and sent Boozer and Kirilenko over, which greatly improved the Raptors' record. At the end of the season, they took advantage of the trend to reach the third place in the Eastern Conference. s position.

If they don't get the third position, whether it is fourth or No.5, as long as they enter the Eastern Conference semifinals, their opponents will be the Philadelphia 76ers, which also marks the end of their playoff journey.

The two sets of matchups in the West are the Lakers against the Spurs, and the second Kings in the West against the Suns in the West.

The United Arab Emirates and Nash have led the Suns to the Western Conference semifinals this season.

……

"Michael, long time no see."

In the warm-up session against the Pistons, Combe greeted the Pistons substitute Michael Curry with a smile.

Michael Curry was the former seat of the players' union. Later, because of Combu's reasons, he voluntarily resigned from his position, allowing Grandpa Lu to take over smoothly.

"Kong, congratulations in advance for establishing a dynasty."

Michael Curry is a very down-to-earth person, and he is very aware of the gap between his Pistons and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Kong Bu waved his hand, "The game hasn't started yet, it's too early for you to say that, be careful not to be heard by your coach."

Michael Curry shook his head with a smile, "It doesn't matter, I'm going to retire after this season."

"Kong, can I be a teaching assistant in your new army?"

This is his long-standing plan. In order for this plan to succeed, he did not dare to offend Combe before.

Becoming an assistant coach of Kumbu has almost become the ultimate dream of some old players who aspire to enter the coaching industry.

The chances of Kumbu's assistant coach becoming the coach are too high. Over the years, almost every assistant coach under Konbu has taken the position of coach.

Although some of them only worked for one season, it was after all a matter of their own personal ability. At least Kumbu gave them the opportunity to become the head coach.

"Welcome, but our new army doesn't have that much money and wealth. The salary may only be 50 million US dollars. Can you accept it?"

Now when Comb is coaching Philadelphia, all his assistants are paid $80, and a chief assistant like Brian Hill can even reach a million annual salary.

Some head coaches in the league don't make as much annual salary as Brian Hill.

Next, to build a new army, after all, you have to spend your own money, and Kong Bu is not so generous.

However, even a salary of 50 million is quite competitive among teaching assistants.

"It's high enough, Kong, to be honest, don't say four to five million dollars, even if you don't pay, or ask me to pay you back, I'm willing to work as a teaching assistant for you."

"It's like an investment, investing in your own future, even if you go to college, don't you have to pay tuition?"

Michael Curry slapped Comb's ass a little.

For Michael Curry, Comb has nothing against him. This is a little man who is proficient in the philosophy of survival, and under normal circumstances, he himself has been mixed into the position of the head coach of the Pistons, and now it is more than enough to become his assistant.

"Boss, your operation in the regular season is really disappointing."

"If it was Boozer, I feel that I still have a little room to play around the basket. Now that I have become a bus, I already have a premonition of our end."

Da Ben came over and said with a sad face.

He has been teammates with Daba for two years, and he knows how powerful Daba is under the basket, and now he is partnering with Yao Ming.

A Yao Ming, Daben has no way to deal with it at all, not to mention another bus.

"Ben, did your Pistons discuss the protection list for the expansion draft?"

"Dumas should have told you about this?"

Combe asked curiously.

Although this season is not over yet, the championship is almost in his pocket, and Combe has already begun to focus on the next draft for military expansion.

Those weak teams don't have many decent players in the team, and the eight protection places can protect all their valuable players.

But the powerful team is different. There are many players who can play, and there may be fish that slip through the net.

"Mr. Dumars talked to us about this matter. I think coach, you don't have to worry about the Pistons. There is no fish that slipped through the net. Those who are not protected are marginal players who can't play."

"The only one that looks valuable is Chucky Atkins, and I guess you're not interested in him either."

Big Ben said with a smile.

Kumbu nodded with a sigh. It is too difficult to select players without flaws in the military expansion draft.

The only Chucky Atkins released by the Pistons is a point guard with a height of 180. He entered the league as an undrafted player in 1999. Now he is the starting point guard in the Pistons. It is actually very inspirational. up.

It's a pity that inspiration belongs to inspiration. It is useless to win this level of player Kumbu, but it will harm Atkins.

Even the top four Pistons in the East couldn't release decent players, and Comb was completely disappointed in the expansion draft.

Fortunately, there are a lot of draft picks in hand this year, and the lineup of the new army will not be so bad.

The first-round pick that the new team brought with them at the beginning was probably used to select Anthony, and then the three first-round picks given by the Magic, there is a high probability that David West, Barbosa and Josh Howard will be selected, and then returned in the second round. Korver and Kapono can be prostituted for nothing.

There is also a full body Hill.

Looking at it this way, the new army's No. [-] and No. [-] positions are considered perfect, and there is David West at No. [-], which is actually not a big problem.

It is the lack of the most important positions of the first and fifth positions, which makes Kumbu quite a headache.

Instead, you can try to let David West play the fifth position and Hill the fourth position. After all, it is not that Hill has never played the fourth position in the Pistons.

If you line up like this, the height of the lineup is really too short. If you meet Ao Pang or Yao Ming, you will have to be hammered into scum.

In addition, the number one position is also a huge problem. At least the number five position can have a solution, but the number one position is really helpless.

Fortunately, Hill has a very strong organizational ability. Comb is thinking about whether to put a shooting guard in the first position, and then let Hill organize the whole game, so as to avoid the problem of lack of point guards. up.

Soon the game on the field began.

Jordan is starting tonight, and he will face his protege Hamilton.

Speaking of the entire NBA history, there are only two players who can truly be called Jordan's disciples.

One is BJ Armstrong, the former small guard of the Bulls, who actually accepted Jordan's guidance.

It's a pity that the talent is too poor, it's embarrassing to use it, and it didn't produce anything.

The other is Hamilton, who was on the same team as Jordan during the Wizards. He learned from Jordan's defense, and the offensive end was guided by Jordan's mentor Doug Collins.

Yao Ming, Daba, Gerrard, Jordan and Iverson began their debut.

The Pistons' starting lineup actually looks quite luxurious, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Clifford Robinson, Hamilton plus Chucky Atkins.

Except for Atkins, which is a bit out of class, the other four positions are top-notch.

Originally, Kumbu thought it was just an easy game to win, but after the game started, the Pistons directly gave Konbu a blow.

As for the No. [-] position, Chucky Atkins is certainly not Iverson's opponent, but he is a relatively strong type of point guard. His body shape is a bit similar to Fan Crazy, or a mini version of bearded Davis.

He just tried his best to defend Iverson's breakthrough and didn't give him the chance to score the ball to the basket. As for Iverson's shooting, Atkins didn't care.

In the second position, Jordan faced his protégé Hamilton, how could he have an advantage at his age, whether it is offensive or defensive, it is obvious that Hamilton is stronger, the key is that Hamilton has the nickname of perpetual motion machine on the court, physical fitness Seemingly endless, he came to boil an old man like Jordan, and he could boil Jordan to ashes.

The third position is even more deadly. Clifford Robinson's advantage against Gerrard is simply ridiculous, completely beyond everyone's expectations.

Robinson entered the league in 1989, and is now a veteran who has played for more than ten years.

With a height of 208 cm, he has a good breakthrough ability, often appears at the small forward position, and has a brilliant shooting ability. He is completely a first-generation Durant.

Gerrard's defense is indeed good enough, but his good defense is based on his strength. He can defend well against small forwards who are good at breaking through, like Mashburn or Pierce.

But facing a player of Robinson's height, who can shoot straight up when meeting, Gerrard's strength is useless at all.

What's more terrible is that Robinson is not only good at offense, but also his defense is getting worse with age.

Last season, Robinson was also selected to the All-Defensive Second Team. He was 36 years old at the time.

When the Pistons played against Philadelphia in the regular season, Comb didn't think Robinson was outrageous. When it came to the playoffs, this guy faced Gerrard and directly taught him with forehand and backhand.

The Philadelphia 76ers can only rely on the offense at the basket to stabilize the situation, but the advantage at the basket is not as great as imagined.

Big Ben and Rashid were brothers in one mind, facing the Great Wall of China, and they frantically defended Yao Ming.

Bus wanted to pull out to shoot and share the pressure for Yao Ming.

But Robinson, a defensive champion, can still harass the bus's offense from time to time.

Iverson has been blocked by Atkins from breaking through, and it is difficult to pass the ball to Yao Ming.

After the first half, the Philadelphia 76ers didn't even have a slight advantage, but fell behind by one point.

Comb stood on the sidelines, looking at Pistons coach Rick Carlisle with apprehension.

This guy really has something, definitely not a guy like Rivers who dangles with a bottle full of half a bottle.

Just relying on the lineup in his hand, he was able to play back and forth with the ultimate lineup of the Philadelphia 76ers that Comb painstakingly created.

"Brian, what do you think?"

"It's time for us to make a little change in the second half."

Kumbu called the assistant to his side and began to study the countermeasures for the second half.

"We can't let Michael continue to play, his physical fitness can't take it anymore."

"Let Prince play the third position. With his height, wingspan and speed, he doesn't suffer so much against Robinson. Let Gerrard lock Hamilton."

"As much as possible, increase the playing time of Davis. I'm not saying that Allen is not strong enough, but that he is not strong enough. Davis can use his back to hit the basket and score the ball."

"In addition, Yao can't continue to guard the basket, he needs to pull it out a little bit."

"He has an absolute height advantage against Daben. It is easy to pull the ball out a little and catch the ball directly in front of Daben. Daben can't do anything about him."

"And Yao also has a good passing ability, and he can also organize offense in the frontcourt."

Brian Hill has also been an assistant coach in Philadelphia for three years without knowing it. He knows the Philadelphia 76ers as well as Comb.

Now that the team is facing difficulties, he gave his own solution.

Kong Bu nodded. Even if this series of solutions could not be called exquisite, it was the most feasible solution at present.

Whenever this kind of moment comes across, Kong Bu can't stop feeling emotional in his heart.

Fortunately, I am a time traveler, so I can choose so many high-quality players of all kinds, and I can deal with various situations.

If it weren't for the time traveler, with an ordinary lineup, Kumbu felt that his head would have to be blown off by Carlisle.

In addition, when the bus was traded before, Kirilenko was released. It is a pity to think about it now.

If Kirilenko was there, Robinson might not be able to play so comfortably. Like to pull up and shoot?Kirilenko, the super outside block king, specializes in this kind of dry pull.

According to Brian Hill's tactics, the Philadelphia 76ers began to change their style of play in the second half, no longer staring at the basket as before.

This tactical change directly had a good effect, and the Philadelphia 76ers gradually began to establish a clear advantage.

Jordan sat on the bench with an ugly face. He thought he could easily beat Hamilton. His memory of Hamilton was still in the Wizards period two years ago.

At that time, Hamilton was a new melon egg, and he was brutally abused by Jordan in training games.

It's a pity that two years later, Hamilton has gradually entered his peak period, and Jordan is older, the roles of the two have been reversed, and the abused one has become Jordan.

Although he was pushed on the bench, Jordan certainly can't blame Comb. The Philadelphia 76ers dynasty is coming soon. If it were Jordan himself at this point in time, he would definitely put himself on the bench.

After Prince came in, the effect was quite good, and Robinson was restrained.

After Yao Ming came out from the basket, it was easier for him to catch the ball. After getting the ball, he shot directly in front of Daben. Daben really had nothing to do with him.

There is a height difference of 25 centimeters between the two, and Daben himself is not the kind of player whose jumping ability is overwhelming. There is no way to make up for this height gap.

(End of this chapter)