Capítulo 1309: Chapter 529: An Elementary Schooler’s First Descent Into Darkness (Part 4)

If it weren’t for O’Neal missing many games, he would have been sent to the Development League long ago.

Among the six new players joining this year, only Cunningham truly satisfied the coaching staff.

However, Zhang Yang felt the most comfortable teaming up with the new teammate who was Cunningham. This teammate was truly mature in both ability and personality. Whether playing shooting guard, small forward, or power forward, as long as he’s not tasked with something beyond his capability, he rarely makes mistakes, more reliable than many veteran players who have played for years.

Of course, you can’t have unrealistic expectations of this teammate; don’t doubt it, there will undoubtedly be no surprises.

After more than half an hour of the meeting, Zhang Yang held back a lot of complaints but didn’t say a word. He had voluntarily joined the coaches’ small meeting to listen, not to find faults.

Moreover, if he had to say anything, he also felt that nothing the coaches said was wrong; those problems indeed existed…

…

After the meeting, Carlisle proactively found Zhang Yang and said, “So, Jack, I told you not to come, but you insisted on coming. Our meeting, did it make you angry?”

Seeing Zhang Yang roll his eyes, Carlisle laughed, “When we coaches close the door and have our own meetings, we certainly don’t only say nice things. Our purpose is to raise problems and find ways to solve them. The good aspects of our play are correct in our view; it’s the mistakes that need correction, not the correct things.”

Zhang Yang nodded upon hearing this, “I understand, but I have a question. Tonight, it seemed like you didn’t mention me. If I weren’t here, would you also have a lot of criticisms about me?”

Carlisle’s forehead seemed to light up for a moment, and he said, “You indeed have a big problem, but we don’t know how to solve it.”

Zhang Yang: “Oh, then tell me, and I’ll think of a way with you. Don’t worry, I won’t get angry because of your direct words; anything that helps me improve, even the harshest criticism, I’ll try to accept.”

Carlisle shook his head, “This problem is very difficult to solve. Even you might not think of a way; your progress is too fast. Every time we find an area you need to improve, you solve it yourself and become even better than we expected, making us feel quite defeated.”

Zhang Yang: “…Rick, you’ve changed; you’ve become more worldly, no longer the young man full of spirit who dared to face off with Big Bird years ago.”

Carlisle touched his bald head: Me? A young man?

Is this how people born in the ’80s comment on others becoming slick operators?

After a joke, Carlisle returned to seriousness and said, “Actually, today’s meeting topic was to evaluate the ‘test’ of the first fifth of the schedule, evaluating the unsatisfactory parts. Next, before the All-Star weekend, we need to make some adjustments to the system.”

Zhang Yang was a bit surprised: “Isn’t our system already very complete? System adjustments? Not details?”

Carlisle: “No system is perfect. If you always stick to one style of play, Phil Jackson or Pat Riley wouldn’t have won so many championships. If you observe their coaching, you’ll see that their philosophy remains the same, but their style of play keeps changing.”

Zhang Yang recalled the ’92 East Final Game 7 and nodded. Indeed, the tactics of that Chicago Bulls team were entirely different from today’s Lakers team.

Carlisle continued, “Of course, we won’t make major changes casually but do it bit by bit.

We base our decisions on our mature tactical system, on the performance in past matches of the newly joined players, their summer league performances, and their training camp capabilities… we’ve assigned roles we need them to take on in our tactics to each new player.

We maintain patience; if we play well in one or two games, we are not too surprised; if we don’t do well in five or even ten games, we haven’t given up or reduced their playing time and tactical resources. From the preseason to tonight, we spent two months patiently testing. Now, it’s time to put away patience and start making adjustments… Jack, want to know what we’re going to do next?”

Zhang Yang: “Is it a realistic answer?”

Carlisle: “Yes, very realistic. We will decide a player’s future based on our assessment of him.

If his performance meets our requirements, his main rotation position will be stable.

If he has tried hard to adapt to his role yet still underperforms or lacks the capability, we must decide based on our perceived value of him—whether to adjust the system from a tactical standpoint to accommodate him or let him do simpler things.”

Zhang Yang: “It’s really realistic; doing simpler things means becoming a substitute player, doesn’t it? He no longer has a position in the tactics.”

Carlisle: “Haha, Jack, you don’t need to worry. Since we’ve raised so many issues in the meeting, it’s aimed at solving problems. If we intended to give up a player, we wouldn’t waste time identifying their problems.

Take Shawn, for example. Even though his first-month field goal percentage is only 38% and he often makes defensive mistakes, we will certainly give him patience. We are well aware that for a player in his thirties, who hasn’t been playing or training well for such a long time, adapting won’t be easy with declining physical fitness. For such a player, it’s worth waiting through the entire regular season for him to grow.

Zhang Yang: “So, does that mean, up to now, Wesley is the only one who has lost his position?”

Carlisle nodded: “Yes, Wesley is great. He’s talented and hardworking, but for us, he’s holding us back. We’re going to place him in the Development League next. Even if we lack personnel, we would prefer to increase others’ playing time or sign a substitute player. If he wants to regain playing time, it will have to come from his own efforts, progressing to meet our satisfaction.”

Zhang Yang also nodded: “In this team of ours with the sole goal of winning the championship, having one immature player in Serge is enough. More would be a burden for us.”

Carlisle completely relaxed. He was really worried that Zhang Yang’s attitude towards Matthews would be like Alan Anderson.

Had it not been for Matthews being the one Zhang Yang had requested to choose, Carlisle would have already placed him in the Development League. Now, this decision was made because they found out that Matthews and Zhang Yang were not as close as imagined, not even familiar with each other.

Carlisle speculated that Zhang Yang only developed appreciation for Matthews because Matthews was hardworking. He also appreciated Matthews, but the rookie might have been too sheltered by his mother. Carlisle thought sending him to the Development League to get a taste of hardship and learn how to get along with others and adapt to the professional court would be a better choice than rotting on the bench in the NBA…