Henson's free time with Angeli didn't last long, and it officially ended after the German and his Dallas Mavericks unexpectedly beat the Amish Heat 2-1 overall lead and moved infinitely closer to the NBA championship.

Next, he's about to be fully prepared for this year's draft. For Horford, Henson paid for this year's second-round pick and all two of next year's picks. In other words, after this year, Henson will not be able to play in the draft until at least the year after.

Although last season the Pacers finished fourth in the East. But this year's draft is still very important for Henson. The reason is simple, this year's rookie has Kawaii. Leonard!

Not long after the Finals, while the Dallas were still basking in the joy of winning the championship, the NBA Draft lottery had already begun.

For those teams that have fallen short this season, the outcome of the draft draw will be the capital of whether they can turn around. Take a look at the rise of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Derek. Rose's madness, you know how important the draft is to the belly team.

But this year, even at the draw ceremony for the draft, it was clear that the top brass of each team was worried.

This summer, teams seem to be more concerned about the outcome of collective bargaining than the NBA draft. If the negotiations continue to stalemate, there is a good chance that the NBA will have another shutdown since the 98-99 season!

Players are suspended, which will undoubtedly cost the team owner and players a lot of money at the same time! The emergence of the financial crisis and the increasingly difficult development of the small ball exposed after the James huddle incident are destined to make this negotiation extremely long.

But Henson doesn't care much about whether the league is shut down, firstly, because Vivek has already given him a "preventive shot", and the league and the team owner are definitely more anxious than his own coach, and they will do everything they can to facilitate the completion of the negotiations.

Second, Henson couldn't wait to take advantage of the chaos of the shutdown to rob the fire. Someone else's mind is on negotiation for the time being, so Henson puts all his mind on building a lineup.

So in the depressive draft draw, Henson got a first-round pick with the 23rd pick. Of course, the Pacers' draft picks don't have to be drawn, but are ranked by merit. The Pacers' 55-27 regular-season record this season is certainly gratifying, but it also gives Henson the lowest draft pick since becoming head coach.

But the Pacers are not a team that made their fortune on high draft picks, and Henson's 11th and 10th picks since taking over are actually not too high. What he does best is pick the most suitable players with modest draft picks.

So, with a 23rd pick in hand, Henson immediately flew to the Chicago Union Center with his team.

Of course, this time Henson is not going to play in the playoffs, but to participate in this year's joint tryout!

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At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Henson took his two henchmen, Frank Brown. Vogel and Stephen. Silas, along with some necessary staff, officially began their joint trial tour.

Henson looked very excited, as he was planning the draft long before the regular season was over. Leonard's alluring potential and physical condition had been on Henson's mind for a long time.

Until then, though, Henson has one more important thing to do.

"What!? You want me to be your assistant coach next season? "Stephen. Silas looked at Henson in amazement, and he thought that Henson would prefer to let himself scout the rookie.

"That's right, I want you to be primarily responsible for video analysis and data collection. Bird has agreed to the offer, and now I want to hear what you mean. Seeing Silas' surprised expression, Henson smirked.

Last season, the Pacers' coaching staff really played a guiding role, but it was actually only Henson and Vogel. There is no doubt that the work of four or five people is all on the two of them, and the workload is too much.

Henson was responsible for tactics, training plan collection, data analysis, and on-the-spot command, while Vogel was responsible for defending, leading the team in training, and sharing a large part of the tactical plan development with Henson.

Although the two worked together closely last season, the Pacers also played a big four and tough defense that shocked the whole league. But the workload is too much, which also means that the two can't concentrate on what they're good at.

If Vogel could focus on defense and Henson didn't have to analyze the footage and stats himself, the Pacers coaching staff would certainly be much more productive.

"Of course I do! Who wouldn't want to return to coaching? Silas was so happy that he almost didn't jump, and instead of running around watching young players play, Silas was naturally willing to become an assistant coach with the team.

And there is no doubt that the salary of the team's assistant coach is much higher than he is now.

Seeing that Silas readily agreed, a small stone in Henson's heart also fell.

The success of a head coach is actually inseparable from the efforts of those assistant coaches behind the scenes.

If you look at how many talented coaches from the Spurs are, you can see how much help Popovich can get. People say that Van Gundy was good at defending back then, but it's easy to ignore that his defensive coach was none other than Tom. Thibodeau.

Henson is well aware of the importance of assistant coaching to himself, and he is not his predecessor, Jim. O'Brien, always obsessive. A coach must have his own set of contacts and systems within the management team in order to be truly successful.

And now, from Vogel and Silas on the coaching staff, to Bird and Vivek at the top of the hierarchy. Henson's system in the management of the Pacers has also been initially established.

As usual, this year's joint trials were still very lively. Although the teams were somewhat distracted by the influence of collective bargaining, when Henson stepped into the joint trial site, he still saw a crowded scene.

As soon as he entered the scene, Henson couldn't wait to scan it with the data analysis module. When no one else knows what a rookie can do, Henson can control information that others don't know, which always makes him feel dark.

This year's draft was once again considered a draft year, and Henson found it not for nothing. He looked at several high-potential rookies who had already been hyped, but none of them had high potential.

I finally saw a player with good potential and physical condition, and when I looked at it, it turned out to be Duke genius Kelly. Irving.

Needless to say, the Cleveland native had already booked him as the champion. But apart from Irving's other hot rookies, it's a bit miserable.

"Alright, let's work in groups! It's going to be a hard day, but it's definitely going to pay off. Remember, don't forget our guidelines. Don't reveal our draft intentions to anyone, even if your mom calls you and asks, you have to answer that you don't know, clear? ”

After a few glances, Henson arranged for his team to officially start the joint trial.

In order to prevent the tragedy of the Timberwolves' sand scout from happening to him, Henson specially instructed everyone. Not letting others know what you want to do has always been Henson's code of conduct.

"Don't worry, Coach Henson, even my mom can't pry my mouth open with a crowbar." A little guy in charge of video analysis made everyone laugh.

"That's good," Henson waved his hand, "let's get started!" ”

Command everyone to set up cameras, prepare to record data, gather intelligence...... This feeling of being in control of the overall situation with one hand is indeed very refreshing for Henson.

Just two years ago, in this very place, he was called around by O'Brien. And now, he has his own team, and the draft plan can be exactly what he wants.

This year's draft is more difficult than last year's, because last year's Pacers could have taken George with the 10th pick, and no one else had to compete with them. But this year, it will not be easy to find a way to get Leonard with the 23rd pick under the Spurs.

Without much thought, Henson looked for Leonard, hoping to see how the taciturn kid would perform in the joint tryout.

But just as he was looking for Leonard, suddenly a big A+ jumped into Henson's eyes.

"Stephen, what's that guy's name?" Henson hurriedly brought in Silas, he didn't know the rookie, which meant that another potential top omission appeared!

Silas looked in the direction of Henson's finger, then picked up a thick rookie brochure and flipped through it.

"Jimmy, Jimmy. Butler, from Marquette University, is a senior and an older rookie. The latest predictions are in order, between the end of the first round and the top five of the second round. ”

Silas replied.