"Kids, are you ready for tonight's game!"

Wajovia Center Arena, Philadelphia.

Cheeks walked into the locker room, holding the tactical board in his hand as always, followed by the assistant coach, walked into the room with a smile on his face, looked at a room of young and energetic players, and said loudly: "The battle tonight is very tough, our opponents are quite strong, and now we are in third place in the West, we have a lot of work to do to defeat them." ”

With that, Cheeks clapped his hands, gathered the players to his side, and motioned for the assistant coach to turn on the TV in the locker room and start playing the highlights of tonight's opponent's previous game.

The footage is all taken from the opponent's game this season and looks like a highlight reel of the game without a soundtrack, with everything from attacking to defending to positioning details to the subtle choices of each possession alternation.

With Cheeks' explanation, the picture continued to play, and some key links were also played repeatedly, freezing from time to time, Cheeks used an electronic pen to draw circles on the screen, meticulously analyzing the characteristics of the opponent.

This has been done many times since the end of the last game and before the start of this game, but the Philadelphia players are well aware that each time Cheeks brings a video with a different focus, the editing is quite fine.

At the end of a match, review and analyze the previous footage, then temporarily store the past and start analyzing the new opponent. Based on the analysis, the coach and the players discuss with each other, study and find the best way to defeat the next enemy. After the exercises, Cheeks will make some fine-tuning and focusing exercises according to the problems exposed in the exercises, and immediately work on editing and adjusting the video highlights.

NBA head coach, this name sounds very loud, but only after actually entering the NBA and having contact with the head coach of the team. will understand how difficult it is to do this job with a good income and good social status.

NBA head coaches have their own personalities and work habits, and some famous coaches, such as KFC grandfather Phil Jackson, such as godfather Pat Riley, etc., although they are head coaches, the team around them is quite strong, and they have formed a group of assistant coaches for a long time. A lot of the work will be finely divided, and they themselves will just come up with the general idea and fine-tune the tactics that the teaching assistants have worked out.

The significance of the existence of these historical coaches, the tactical bonus is far less than the improvement of the team's morale, everyone knows how much help the players will have a winning general and historical coach in the team.

For other coaches, or most of the NBA-level coaches, their jobs are quite cumbersome. Of course. They also have their own teams around them, as well as offensive assistant coaches and defensive assistant coaches, but the ability of the helpers is of course incomparable, so there are many details. It's up to the coaches to do it themselves.

And an academic coach like Cheeks is a representative figure of meticulous tactics, even if the helpers around him can already complete most of the details, but Cheeks still maintains that he has to participate in every detail. It is necessary to analyze the habit of hard work, and it can be said that it is a model worker-level character.

Cheeks' coaching record is quite average at the NBA level. But this spirit of work is still worth encouraging. The players saw that the coaches were working so hard for the team, were they still embarrassed to be passive and slack off?

In addition, Cheeks' attitude of carefully studying every detail will make some unruly players a little unhappy and cause some unnecessary quarrels.

For example, Iverson, when he was still playing in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Son had many unpleasant encounters with Cheeks, and although they both reconciled in the end, it also made the atmosphere in the team quite tense for a while.

Nowadays, the players on the team are all young people, all of whom have not played in the NBA for too long and are highly motivated, and they are quite willing to listen carefully to these tactical arrangements of Cheeks.

“…… After their strong side blocking and pick-and-roll strategy, the number four position used a lot of tactics near the baseline, and the preliminary estimate is that the use rate of this season is 17.6%. This is a combination of the presence of substitutes, a mix of main substitutes, and injuries that lead to an incomplete lineup, and if only the starting lineup is counted, the percentage of players used will increase by two percentage points. ”

Cheeks' explanation continued, and the players listened carefully, they had heard these contents many times in the past two days, but every time they listened to it, there was a gain, and every time Cheeks gave a video clip, there was a certain difference. This proves that Cheeks is not just a simple edit of this season's footage, but also makes some adjustments after each analysis.

Cheeks, what a good coach.

While listening, Chen Mu thought of the years he spent with Cheeks after coming to the NBA. Yes, Cheeks has a limited level, not a generation of famous coaches, not to mention his contemporaries, even among the coaches younger than him, there are candidates whose level and potential are quite dazzling.

But in terms of work attitude, Chen Mu's respect for Cheeks is obvious.

Such a good coach is going to leave at the end of the season......

As soon as he thought of this, Chen Mu felt a trace of colic in his heart, the hateful Billikin, when he was at the bottom, he viciously pulled innocent people into the water. Although he is now ruined and very happy, Chen Mu always feels that this is not enough.

With Billikin's skill and ability, maybe in a few years, maybe not even a few years, in a shorter time, he can find a new home in other teams, in other cities.

You know, after Billikin joined the 76ers in the late 90s, it took only one year to become the team's general manager. Although in the past few years that Chen Mu has been on the team, Billy King's draft and trade vision can be said to be quite mediocre, but he was also a well-known manager who single-handedly built a top team in the East.

When he finds a new team and assembles a team that suits his heart, we'll meet on the pitch ......!

When the time comes, I must smash everything to him!

“…… Okay, it's almost time. ”

Cheeks's words woke Chen Mu up from his thoughts about the future, and the former clapped his hands and said, "There are more than ten minutes before the show starts, everyone make the final preparations, and then go on the field to fight for Philadelphia!" ”

"Yes!"

The players shouted in unison. The momentum is like a rainbow.

"Coach."

In the face of high-intensity NBA games, whether the players' skills and tactics can play their best level has a great relationship with the players' mentality. If you can't adjust your mood before the game, even if you have a terrible level on the training ground, you won't be able to play in the official arena because of nervousness, excitement, etc.

Seeing that Cheeks was about to walk out of the locker room, Chen Mu stepped forward and said, "Can you give me a few minutes?" ”

"Okay, what's the matter??"

Cheeks has never resisted solving problems for his players. Hearing Chen Mu's call, he immediately turned around and signaled to the teaching assistants with a smile, and then walked out of the locker room with Chen Mu.

"What's wrong, Philadelphia hero?" Walking out of the locker room, Cheeks groaned.

"When are you going to tell us?" Chen Mu asked.

“…… What to tell you? Cheeks pretended not to know.

"Tell us ......" Chen Mu pondered his words and gritted his teeth, "This is your last season in Philadelphia. ”

“……”

Hearing Chen Mu's words, Cheeks fell silent.

The two fell into a long silence, and Chen Mu did not continue to ask. Chicks didn't answer, just looked at Chen Mu quietly, the look in his eyes changed, and he became quite lonely. Then look to the far corner of the passage, the direction leading to the arena, and the pre-start light show has begun.

The cheers and shouts of the fans were passed through the passage. In this not very wide passage, the sound waves are mixed together, forming a wonderful roar. It's like a powerful beast outside the passage, waiting for the players in the locker room to come into battle and slay it.

In the midst of the brilliance of the lights, in the midst of the noise, Maurice Cheeks, lonely in place, did not say a word.

Going to go.

From player to coach, Cheeks has dedicated his two most prestigious years as a player to this city, to this team. For most of his life, he was intertwined with this historic eastern city. Cheeks has long been unable to tell how many of the memories of decades belong to him and how much belong to this team and the city.

Billikin's terms were accepted by the shareholders after discussion. First, this is the best way to solve the team that has just experienced the storm of public opinion, and second, in the past few years, Cheeks' coaching has indeed not brought qualitative changes to the team.

Last season, Cheeks led the team to the playoffs, which really attracted a lot of attention. This season, under the team's new lineup and new look, the winning streak at the beginning of the season has also added a lot of chips to Cheeks' contract extension.

However, the fact that the results of the second consecutive season in the middle and late stages of the season slipped made the team determined to send Cheeks away.

Regardless of who the new coach is, this action can somewhat divert the dissatisfaction of fans with the team's poor results in the second half of the season. In case the new coach can lead the team to play a brilliant record......

Young players, a team that keeps improving, and Philadelphia's record improvement next season is almost a certainty. It's just a pity that Cheeks, who planted this seed for the team, has become a scapegoat, an innocent sinner.

"Let's fight well."

Cheeks was silent for a long time, then turned his head and looked at Chen Mu with a hint of gentleness and helplessness in his eyes.

"This is my last season in Philadelphia."

Inside the stadium, there was a lot of shouting. (To be continued......)

PS: The 10,000-word explosion is complete, so let's recommend the monthly pass more violently!

It's always a little sad every time I write about someone leaving, but it's like this in both sports and life, maintaining a connection with the past and seeking a glimmer of light to the future.

We are all explorers on the road of life, with the past behind us that is about to be forgotten, and everything about the future in front of us is not clear.

We walk alone in the dark.

But if you give it up, the meaning of life will be lost. In order to forget the past, in order to open up a new future, we have to do something, work hard for something, in order to grit our teeth and persevere.

I think that's what sports mean the most.

The old coach is leaving, so just wait for the surprise brought by the new coach......!

76ersGOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOOO！！！！