Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 397: To Win
Last season, the Celtics were just one game away from the championship. Now that the Cavaliers are without Hanson, their strength has declined significantly, and no team in the East can beat them head-on anymore.

In the West, the Pelicans were swept in the finals and their strength is far behind the Celtics; Paul of the Rockets always fails to perform well at critical moments; although the Kings have Hansen, the others are still rookies who need time to develop; the Warriors, the only team that could threaten the Celtics, are also facing uncertainties in the new season.

So Durant is not being mysteriously confident, but is just telling the truth.

So it was not wrong for him to thank Hansen. After all, if Hansen had not left the Cavaliers, the Celtics would have been beaten and disintegrated just like the Heat in the past, within a year at most.

"Good luck to you then."

Hansen sent his blessings to Durant.

Although they have always been opponents on the court, the Durant of this world deserves a championship.

It was already the end of August, and Hansen returned to the University of Tokyo after finishing training camp.

After completing his routine trip to Tokyo, he flew to Jakarta with Yao Ming to watch the Asian Games finals held there.

After Yao Ming took office as the chairman of the Basketball Association, he mainly did two things.

The first is to focus on the basics, that is, youth basketball, establish youth basketball leagues at all levels, and seek more fresh blood for professional basketball.

For the University of Tokyo, although there are many people playing basketball, the number of people who are actually registered as professionals is pitifully small.

This has to do with national conditions and the environment. Yao Ming is unable to change the former and actively improve the latter.

The second is to form red and blue teams and train coaches and players through alternating matches.

Han Sen knew all of this in "History", and the early results were actually very good.

Although the men's basketball team during this period found it difficult to make it to the top eight on the world stage as in earlier years, it still had unparalleled dominance in Asia at least.

The turning point in "history" is the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup.

In that big exam, the men's basketball team suffered a defeat because of a sideline ball, and in the end all that was left was the tragic Yi Jianlian and a completely failing test paper.

Dongda basketball is all about results, and a failing test paper means that Yao Ming is not good enough.

Since then, Yao Ming was gradually sidelined, his policies could not be implemented, and he eventually resigned in disgrace.

But now "history" has begun to change dramatically because of Hansen's appearance.

Although basketball is not a one-person sport, with the No. 1 player in the NBA leading the team, the Dongda men's basketball team is guaranteed to be a top four team.

This is not optimism, but the current men's basketball team has also undergone some changes compared to "history" due to the butterfly effect brought about by Han Sen.

Although Ding Yanyuhang can only get a two-way contract in the NBA now, he did not have to go through those closed injections, so at least he is healthy.

Although Zhou Qi sat on the bench most of the time with the Warriors, at least he was not cut. He maintained a very good competitive form by training with the Warriors.

Zou Yuchen was selected by the Rockets with the 43rd pick in the second round of this year's draft, and he played quite well in the previous summer league.

The overall level of Dongda basketball is similar to the same period in "history", but the emergence of Hansen and the influence he brought have significantly improved the overall strength of the national team.

Of course, there is also the passion of the fans.

Although the game was played in Indonesia, the crowd at the scene was almost entirely Chinese fans.

They were not coming for the Dongda men's basketball team, but for Han Sen.

Han Sen was also very considerate, or he would appear here just to warm up for next year's World Cup. When the East China University men's basketball team was warming up before the game, he went down to the court to warm up for a while and dunked a few times, instantly igniting the emotions of the fans on the scene.

Of course, the most excited ones are the guys from the Dongda men's basketball team.

People used to talk about what would happen if Jordan joined the Eastern University men's basketball team, but now, teammates who are even more powerful than Jordan are about to arrive.

The red team participating in Jakarta this time is led by Ding Yanyuhang and Zhou Qi.

Perhaps influenced by Han Sen's presence, although playing away, the men's basketball team quickly gained the upper hand at the start and never gave the Persians too many opportunities. In the end, they defeated their opponents with a big win and won the Asian Games championship.

This undoubtedly makes fans look forward to next year's World Cup even more.

It was September when Hansen returned to Sacramento from Jakarta. After a short break, the Kings' training camp for the new season finally officially kicked off.

Han Sen finally met his teammates officially.

Although many of the new players of the Kings were selected by him and they had played against each other in games, just like he was still unfamiliar with the Golden One Arena, the Kings were a team he did not pay much attention to in his previous career.

But now, he will fight with them for that ultimate goal.

This feeling was a bit strange to Han Sen, because the youthful atmosphere of the training camp made him start to feel a little old.

However, the relaxed atmosphere of the training camp did not last long because that man came.

The lights shining overhead reflected a dazzling light. Van Gundy appeared on the sidelines with a big bald head and then conducted rigorous training for the players.

Van Gundy is not a successful head coach because he is as stubborn and old-fashioned as Hollins and is not good at adapting.

But he will definitely be a great assistant coach because he is extremely serious.

If it is a team with many old players, this is likely to cause fierce conflicts, but for a team with mostly young people, this will be very effective.

At the end of the first day of training, there were two people who left a deep impression on Hansen, one was Tatum and the other was Stan.

But it’s not because of their performance, but their attitude.

Hansen's current status in the league is unparalleled. When the newcomers on the Kings saw him, they acted almost like fans seeing their idol. They surrounded him whenever they had time, like African bees.

But Tatum was the only one who kept his distance from Hansen intentionally.

Was it because of the previous trade rumors? Did Tatum think Hansen wanted to trade him?

Hansen thought back to last year's individual training camp. Although Tatum participated with Mitchell, he seemed to have a similar attitude.

Tatum did not even attend this year's individual training camp.

It seems that there are some things that Han Sen doesn't know.

But he didn't care. After all, now he only needed to consider how to win the game, and other things were for others to consider.

As for Stan, it is about training attitude.

This guy's movement speed is indeed excellent for a big man, but his defensive intention is not strong. Instead, he is somewhat similar to Howard on the offensive end. He is eager to score after blocking the ball.

This was not what the coaching staff asked him to do, and Van Gundy also gave reminders on the sidelines, but he didn't seem to care.

It seems that things will not go as smoothly as imagined.

So the next day, Hansen started to make trouble for Stan.

He usually asked Lu to put him on the bench, and then he and McGee frequently used pick-and-roll to play one-on-one against the opponent.

After finding an opportunity, he slammed the ball into the basket directly over Stan's head.

Stan did a good job of moving on this ball, but after Hansen's wingspan increased, the difficulty of defending his dunk increased exponentially.

After completing the dunk, Han Sen was also very blunt: "You've played in the NBA for four years and all you've learned is how to get dunked on?"

Stan's face instantly turned red and he clenched his fists. If it were someone else, he would probably go up and fight with the other person.

But facing Han Sen, all he could do was vent his anger on the field.

He began to show his ability on the defensive end. In a round of mismatch defense against Mitchell, he even kept up with the opponent's speed and seized the opportunity to give Mitchell a big block.

He is indeed as talented as Lu said.

Hansen was very satisfied with Stan's performance, as that was what the Kings needed him to do.

Just when Hansen thought things were getting better, the next day, Stan returned to his previous appearance.

It felt like he wasn't willing to do what he was good at, but just wanted to do what he wanted to do.

Han Sen did not continue to indulge him and directly asked Lu to throw Stan into the substitute lineup.

Don’t talk about being extremely talented or being the best match for Sabonis. Stan should stop thinking about starting until he understands what he should do on the court.

But Stan is not a gentle man. After several days of training with the substitute team, he finally found an opportunity to vent.

In an offensive round, he received a quick pass from Bogdan and completed a violent two-handed dunk over Sabonis, showing off his athletic talent.

But right after landing, he turned around and yelled at Lu on the sidelines: "You should put me back in the starting lineup!"

Lu, who was nodding for Stan's wonderful dunk in the previous second, was stunned in the next second.

Everyone else in the stadium was dumbfounded.

Stan is clearly challenging Lu's authority.

"get out!"

Hansen then signaled to pause the game and asked Stan to leave.

Lu hesitated to speak, but Hansen's words were orders. After Stan was stunned at first, Guy pulled him out of the gym first.

On this day, the new players of the Kings also realized that Hansen was not as easy to get along with on the court as he seemed off the court.

After the training was over, Lu took Han Sen to his office: "Han, I can solve it in a more gentle way."

Lu knew that Han Sen did that to maintain his authority as the head coach. He was not blaming him, but was worried that such a thing would have a negative impact on Han Sen if it got out.

You have to know that Hansen's choice of the king has brought him a lot of criticism, and his every move is now being watched by the haters.

"It was my decision to let Cawley go to the bench. If he really has any dissatisfaction, he can come to me directly."

Han Sen's meaning was very clear. He didn't need and wouldn't let Lu be a shield.

Lu was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then he was touched.

Before he came, he thought that his position as head coach was more symbolic, but Hansen needed to have "his own person" in the head coach position.

But from Hansen's warm hospitality when he first arrived, and when Hansen let him be a tool to recruit Van Gundy, to today's behavior, he realized that his idea seemed to be wrong.

Han Sen really regarded him as the head coach of the team just like Malone.

"I will find out why Cowley behaves like that, and I will fix it." Lu's tone was very affirmative.

Since he is the real head coach, he should also do his part well.

Han Sen didn't say anything. If there was anyone who could handle the team's internal problems better than him, that person could only be Lu.

"By the way, Jason is different from Cowley. He just has a childish temper." Lu took the initiative to mention Tatum at this time.

Han Sen couldn't help but touch his chin and look at Lu.

The tone of Lu's words just now was obviously different from before.

Well, it’s not like a head coach evaluating his players, but more like an elder talking to his juniors.

Seeing Han Sen's look, Lu immediately explained, "Jason is my nephew, cousin."

Han Sen was stunned.

Is Tyronn Lue Tatum's cousin?

This was the first time he knew about this!
Although it is superficial, this blood relationship is only slightly weaker than the father-son relationship between Rivers and Rivers Jr.

"Tyrone, I don't want to be a real king. Whether it's Cowley or Jason, as long as they can do what they should do on the court, I will not have any opinion on them. My only goal is to lead this team to win." Hansen said seriously after putting down his hands.

This is actually the reason why Hansen only targeted Stan and not Tatum.

"I understand." Lu nodded again.

In fact, what Hansen did seems similar to what James did with the Cavaliers, and it is indeed easy to be misunderstood, but in fact Hansen’s purpose is completely different from James’.

James is trying to ensure his absolute position in the team, while Hansen is trying to win.

He would be happy if Stan actually challenged him like he did back then.

After all, that way he could let people know that the reason he dared to kick Stan out of the training hall was not because of his power in the Kings, but because of his strong ability on the court.

A few days later, Stan was back in the starting lineup.

Of course, it wasn't by challenging like Han Sen, but Lu convinced him.

Before putting Stan back in the starting lineup, Lu and Hansen talked about Stan's current mentality.

Stan has high aspirations and has always felt that his talent is as good as Cousins'.

However, after the Kings selected him, they completely let him go. Not to mention the direction of his training, even his playing time was not guaranteed.

His average playing time in his first two years as a rookie was 21 and 19 minutes per game respectively.

He was the No. 2015 pick in 6, that big draft year!
Cousins ​​was only the No. 5 pick that year.

Moreover, all the previous coaches of the Kings, including the current one, just want him to be a defensive blue-collar player, but what he wants to be is Cousins.

Lu's response method was also very simple. He promised to give the opponent's main players stable playing time, and also designed some tactics for Stan.

In fact, as we can see from Stan's dunk over Sabonis, his athletic talent is still very explosive, and some pick-and-roll and open-cut tactics will have very good effects.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Stan can do what the coaching staff asks him to do, and do a good job on the defensive end first.

In fact, one thing that is easily overlooked is that Stan is the first among this group of rookies to face the issue of contract renewal. The contracts that a pure blue-collar player and a first-class inside player can get are very different.

So he will definitely pursue data.

Lu's way of handling the situation is the best alternative to trading.

Of course, after that, it depends on Stan's specific performance. If Stan really continues to do his own thing, then it will be Chris Wallace's turn to show his abilities.

(End of this chapter)