Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 108 Chaos is the ladder

The Grizzlies' first day of training did not involve full-court confrontation. Hansen showed more of his three-point shooting and defense that day.

There is no need to say much about defense. What the Grizzlies need most is defense.

Even if Hansen does not show this aspect, the Grizzlies coaching staff will focus on it. After all, he is the only one on the team who has played defense on the perimeter.

As for the three-pointer, this is where Han Sen takes advantage.

The Grizzlies' tactics revolve around the inside, what do they need most?
space.

Low-post singles in the interior are most likely to encounter shrinking help defense.

If you want to have space, you naturally need a three-point point.

However, Hansen found that none of the Grizzlies' three-pointers were reliable.

During this period, whether it was Gay or Conley, their three-point shooting was only at a "usable" level and could not support the tactics at all.

So even though it was only the first day of training, when training tactics, Hansen had already surpassed Gay and Conley and became the person who fed the ball to Randolph when he was playing one-on-one in the paint.

Compared to Gay and Conley, who have to use the back door to take away the defender after passing the ball, which makes it easy for Randolph to be double-teamed, Hansen's method of directly creating space after feeding is much more comfortable.

However, feeding the ball to the inside is not that simple. This problem is a headache for Yao Ming's team, including the Dongda men's basketball team.

Hansen has this ability, in addition to his own stable three-point shooting ability, he also has to thank his experience with the Cavaliers. He gained experience by feeding O'Neal.

After the first day of training, the players returned to the locker room.

Han Sen sat in his corner to rest, and West sat next to him.

Earlier, Tois brought them to the locker room, and it was easy to do a small thing like changing the position of the wardrobe.

Han Sen was changing his shoes when he felt someone looking at him. He looked up and saw Guy turning his head away.

It seems that Guy already has something against him.

This made sense. Guy's tactical position was already limited, and Hansen had taken away part of his position as soon as he arrived. It would be a miracle if he had no objection.

But so what?
The so-called competition cannot be about everyone sitting down and dividing the meat in peace.

There is only a little bit of meat, and no one wants to take less, so everyone has to fight for it.

Just then, a person entered Han Sen's field of vision.

It's Conley.

Conley walked towards Hansen with a smile.

Han Sen didn't know what he was going to do, but he greeted him with a smile.

Conley sat down, and then Hansen knew what he was here for.

This guy actually came to discuss with him the details of passing the ball to the inside.

The gap between people has been revealed in this moment.

Because of his experience with the Cavaliers, Hansen doesn't judge people by appearances, but Conley completely matches his memories from his previous life.

A player who has played in the league for 17 years has never been ejected, never been called for a technical foul or a flagrant foul, and has never even been sent off. He was also selected to the All-Defensive Team, was named the NBA Teammate of the Year twice, and won the Moral Sportsmanship Award four times. You can see how cleanly this guy plays and how good of a person he is.

It was during the conversation with Conley that Hansen learned a lot about the Grizzlies.

For example, head coach Hollins.

The reason why Hollins has so much power in the Grizzlies, besides the fact that he can suppress Randolph, there is another more important reason: he is a "three-generation veteran" of the Grizzlies.

As early as the 99-00 season, when the Grizzlies were still in Vancouver, Hollins briefly coached the Grizzlies as a transitional coach.

Later in the 04-05 season, after Hubie Brown was fired, Hollins came in as a fire-fighting coach.

Finally, in the 08-09 season, the Grizzlies fell into turmoil again, changing three coaches in one season. Hollins once again acted as a fireman and has been coaching ever since.

So after talking with Conley, one thing Hansen was able to confirm was that Hollins was the real coach and had the final say in the Grizzlies.

Now Gay and Randolph's reactions make more sense.

After about a week of tactical training, Hollins finally began to arrange full-court confrontations.

The whole team is divided into three groups: starting lineup, substitutes and bench.

Starting lineup: Conley, Hansen, Gay, Randolph, Gasol

Substitutes: Delonte West, Tony Allen, Sam Young, James Johnson, Haddadi
Bench: Ish Smith, Asie Law, Rodney Carney, DeMarre Carroll, Dantonie Alton

The first game to start is the substitute and bench game.

Han Sen had been paying attention to the rotation players before, but only then did he notice a familiar figure on the Grizzlies bench.

Carroll is on the Grizzlies at this time?
This guy later got a contract worth tens of millions with the Hawks.

But after the fight really started, he found that Carol at this time was just a rough guy with a good body but no substance.

And it's not just Carroll. The offensive strength of the Grizzlies' substitutes is really unbearable to watch.

It felt like the Grizzlies had gathered all the players in the league who could only defend but not score.

In this comparison, West is actually the most offensive threatening person on the court.

Han Sen was sweating when he saw this offensive talent.

All I can say is that sometimes being too extreme is not necessarily a good thing.

After a series of missed shots, the bench team finally won 9-6 thanks to West's performance.

After a short break, it was the starters and substitutes' turn to compete.

The substitute team attacked first, and Hansen rested passively on the defensive end.

Tony Allen's threat on the offensive end was approaching zero, and Han Sen couldn't move even if he wanted to.

West finally made a mid-range shot after a pick-and-roll with Johnson.

Putting aside his personality issues, West's overall strength in all aspects is actually not bad.

Take the previous ball for example, he keenly perceived Randolph's defensive weaknesses.

Although Randolph looks big, his movement speed is comparable to O'Neal, and he is very afraid of this kind of pick-and-roll attack.

Conley advanced the ball to the frontcourt, and after Randolph got a good position in the low post, he passed the ball to Hansen, who passed it inside. After receiving the ball, Randolph singled out Johnson, moved his feet beautifully, turned around and shot backward to score.

Randolph's low-post singles ability was clearly visible, but what impressed Hansen even more was that this style of play was truly fucking retro.

Although it is not yet the small ball era, the passing and cutting cooperation in the league is increasing. For example, the Cavaliers' offense is essentially a pick-and-roll passing and cutting cooperation between the strong and weak sides.

But the Grizzlies use twin towers and play low, which is very similar to the twin tower Rockets led by Olajuwon in the last century.

However, this kind of positional play is indeed effective when facing teams with average offensive capabilities.

For example, at this moment, Hansen paid attention to defending Randolph, and the substitute team could basically only be widened by the starting team little by little.

It was only half a quarter and the score was already 10 to 2.

But just at this time, something small happened on the field.

When the starting team advanced to the frontcourt, Gay reached out to Conley for the ball and then started to play one-on-one with the ball.

It was a real one-on-one match, and even my teammates didn't even watch.

His style is very similar to that of Anthony, whom Hansen encountered in the All-Star Game before. He seems to be a triple threat with the ball, but in fact he only has two threats.

Sam Young on the opposite side entered the NBA in the same year as Hansen. He was the Grizzlies' second-round pick last year and is in good physical condition.

However, his talent was not enough in front of Gay, who passed him and scored a layup over his head.

Then, he did it alone for several rounds.

The biggest disadvantage of playing like this is that other teammates cannot get involved, including Randolph, who expressed obvious dissatisfaction with his body language on the defensive end.

Han Sen then observed Hollins' reaction on the sidelines, and Hollins also looked unhappy.

Is Guy so dumb?

It shouldn’t be!

Hansen had the impression that Gay wasn't that kind of guy, and you said he would understand if it was Cousins.

He thought about it for a while and seemed to have found the reason. Guy was expressing his emotions in his own way!
There is a detail that is easily overlooked here, that is, Gay signed a five-year maximum salary contract with the Grizzlies this summer.

Before signing the contract, Gay didn't dare to act rashly. After all, Hollins had a high status in the Grizzlies. If his tactical status was lowered, he might not be able to get the maximum salary.

But now, he has signed the contract, and because it is a maximum salary offered by a small market, his trading value is very low, so it is difficult for the Grizzlies to send him away.

So Guy has something to rely on, and he uses this method to gain a better tactical position.

This is not difficult to understand from a common sense point of view. After all, a player who earns a maximum salary but fails to produce matching stats will be subject to great criticism.

But this is a positive sign for Han Sen.

Guy's mentality is bound to cause friction between him and the coaching staff. If he can make good use of this friction, that will be his opportunity.

After practice that day, Randolph was swearing in the locker room.

Although he did not mention anyone by name, everyone knew who he was targeting.

But no one agreed with him, instead Conley went over to persuade him.

After all, among this group of young people on the Grizzlies, Gay was the first to join the team, and he is the leader of the young people.

Randolph was just a later arrival and was a notorious troublemaker in the league.

In this situation, most players will side with Gay, even if Gay did something wrong today.

For several days in a row, Guy has been expressing his dissatisfaction in this way.

Hollins is in a difficult situation.

He had asked Joerger to communicate, but Gay seemed determined to get more tactical position.

And Gay's singles ability is indeed strong enough.

Hollins tried to have Allen switch on him, but it didn't work.

Gay not only has skills, but is also very strong. Allen is at a disadvantage defending against players of this body type.

Moreover, Guy has worked hard on his skills over the past summer, and his strength is obviously a level higher than before.

So the whole situation looks like Gay wants more tactical status and he is proving that giving him the ball is the better option.

This is what really makes Hollins uncomfortable.

There are less than ten days left until the start of the season. If Gay's enthusiasm cannot be dampened, the Grizzlies may face internal strife in the new season.

Han Sen was late for training the next day, which was unusual for him.

Hollins looked very angry. He was in a bad mood and had no place to vent, so Hansen walked into the trap.

However, Han Sen's words calmed Hollins down.

He did not explain why he was late, he just said that he was late and should have gone to the second team for training.

Hollins is certainly not stupid. He was an All-Star player when he was a player and has been in the league for more than 20 years. This can be seen.

"Just this once, never happen again!"

After reiterating his coaching principles, he signaled Han Sen to return to the team.

Soon, the training entered the full-court confrontation phase.

This time, Hollins arranged the starting and reserve teams to play first, and swapped the positions of Hansen and Tony Allen.

Well, looking at the opposing team's lineup, Hansen had a strong sense of familiarity, because this was the Grizzlies starting lineup he was familiar with.

The confrontation between the two sides started soon, and it was still the substitute team that attacked first.

Hansen came up to receive the pass from West and tried a single shot first. In the end, his breakthrough shot went wide of the basket due to Gay's defense.

Guy's talent is indeed outstanding enough.

Back then, there was a classic "what if" among Spurs fans: If Gay had been selected by the Spurs instead of joining later, would the Spurs have had "Leonard" earlier and won more championships?

Back on the defensive end, Hansen immediately double-teamed Randolph.

Although he changed teams, the same thing was that he was still defending Allen.

Hansen's double-team was very decisive, forcing Randolph to turn to the baseline and attack the basket early, but Johnson interfered with him and his shot failed to go in.

However, Gasol Jr. scored a tip-in past Haddadi.

In the next round, Hansen changed his offensive approach from holding the ball to playing without the ball.

It was also at this moment that he created an opportunity. West's pass was delivered accurately, and Hansen took the ball and made a three-point shot with great speed.

This scene also made the eyes of several members of the Grizzlies coaching staff light up.

The Grizzlies used to play positionally, and this type of offense is quite rare.

Hansen high-fived West while retreating. The two of them had a great understanding of each other on this ball, after all, they had played together for a season on the Cavaliers.

However, Han Sen was more excited at this moment because he discovered Guy's defensive weakness in the previous round.

Compared to his ability to defend players with the ball, Gay's ability to defend without the ball is average, even a little poor, because he seems to care more about what the player with the ball is doing than his defender.

This reminded him of an old friend.

The starting team continued to play Randolph, and this time Allen moved to the far corner on the weak side.

But Hansen didn't care about Allen at all and double-teamed Randolph in advance.

Randolph showed off his passing vision and threw the ball to Allen along the baseline.

Allen got a three-point opportunity, but he seemed a little hesitant after getting the ball. Finally, he cut into the basket, but was blocked by Hansen who was returning to defense. His shot went wide of the basket, and Hansen also grabbed the rebound.

Just as he showed in the previous one-on-one match with Durant, Hansen has improved his physical fitness and will do better than last season, whether it is returning to defense or fighting for rebounds.

And after grabbing the rebound, he immediately rushed forward with the ball.

The rest of the Grizzlies were used to the position and didn't react until he was out of the free throw line.

Conley went over to defend Hansen, but Hansen just threw the ball forward and West was already out of the three-point line.

Produced by the Cavaliers, each of them is a fast break master.

West scored a layup on a fast break, the score was 5-2, and the bench team took the lead.

For Han Sen, who led the third team to beat the first and second teams in the Cavaliers, he is very experienced in this situation.

It was at this time that Gay reached out to Conley for the ball.

This time Conley passed the ball to the defense without hesitation. The inside offense was not going well, so Gay was needed to open up the situation.

Guy held the ball and broke through Sam Young, but just as he passed Young, Hansen came to him and cut the ball to put pressure on the ball.

Guy was forced to slow down and actively fight against Hansen, but soon found that he could not push Hansen.

Although Hansen now weighs 2 kilograms less than last season, the improvement in core strength has not reduced his confrontation ability.

Just as Guy was about to turn around, he found that Sam Young had also returned to defend.

Being trapped, he still did not pass the ball and forced a jump shot, but Han Sen seized the opportunity and cut the ball off again.

This time, Hansen made the steal with great speed and directly shook off Guy.

And West was also following up with a fast break on the other side, so Conley couldn't provide the help on defense.

As for the other players of the Grizzlies, the biggest drawback of the twin towers was proven last season after Brown replaced O'Neal and Ilgauskas with an inside combination, that retreating defense is always a big problem.

Hansen rushed to the frontcourt in a flash, and after seeing Conley let West come over to assist in defense, he directly pulled the ball up with his right hand.

Conley tried to cut the ball but failed and ran away.

"Oh!"

Han Sen's one-handed gliding slam dunk!
The sound is muffled, but loud.

The people sitting on the bench shouted excitedly.

After landing, Hansen turned to look at Hollins on the sidelines and saw the corners of Hollins' mouth turned up.

Chaos was a staircase, and he was already on it.

(End of this chapter)