Almighty Coach

Davis Institute of Joint Trauma Research, Seattle.

Professor Davis had obtained Wood’s latest MRI results through his contacts.

Looking at the results, Wood’s knees are still in bad shape. He didn’t recover at all! It doesn’t affect him at all during games. He’s still able to pull off incredible moves. What is going on here? He should not be able to play as he does. Professor Davis frowned. He couldn’t believe it.

He thought for a long time and couldn’t think of an explanation. He massaged his temples and went on the internet. He wanted to see Wood’s recent game.

An article titled “Resurrection of the Yellow Mamba!” popped up. He clicked on it immediately and he saw a news report on Wood.

“This is impossible!” Professor Davis exclaimed loudly.

He clicked on the video attached to the page. It showed the highlights of Wood scoring in recent games.

In the video, Hall’s various change of directions, as well as the picture-perfect sudden stop and step-back jump shot were shown. He constantly toyed with his opponents. It was very entertaining. Anyone who saw it could not help but cheer for Hall’s spectacular performance.

Davis was getting more and more somber. In his opinion, this was simply impossible.

“I have worked with Hall before. The menisci in his knees have been removed. How can he make such rapid shifts in direction and speed, especially that jump shot? Doesn’t he feel any pain?”

Although Professor Davis was not an athlete, he was an authority on knee trauma. Medically, he knew what happened to athletes who had lost both menisci. He also knew that it was impossible for Hall to perform those moves dubbed as “knee killers.”

The sudden stop and step-back jump shot, in particular, created massive pressure on the knees. Even if the knees were intact, the continuous use of that move would still cause joint pain. For a person whose menisci on both knees were removed, performing it caused friction in the knees and caused even greater pain.

Compared to Wood’s recovery, Hall’s recovery was less believable. Although Wood’s injuries were very serious and they happened frequently, every part of his body was still there. In theory, there was the possibility of rehabilitation. In Hall’s case, both his menisci had been removed.

This was comparable to when someone damaged the nerves in their hands. It caused functional disorders of the limbs. Under normal circumstances, it was difficult to get it back to its original state, but a miracle might happen and it might get better. If the hands were amputated, even if a miracle were to occur, there was no way for the hands to grow back.

…

The fans were not as professional as Professor Davis. They could only see that Hall had scored 35 points in a game. They only saw the beautiful change of direction and the perfect jump shot. The fans were not concerned about how his knees had gotten better.

The regular season had only started a month ago. When the Clippers introduced a large number of retired players and traded Ronny away, no one had been optimistic. People had called the Clippers a “Shelter for the Old and Weak.”

Now, Wood and Hall had recovered and Gray had lived up to his potential. The Clippers suddenly had three all-star players. They formed the most popular “Big Three” in NBA’s recent history. Coupled with veteran Karaby and rookie Kumar, the Clippers’ lineup was strong.

This change for the Clippers was not good news for other teams in the Western Conference. The competition in the Western Conference was already fierce. With another team having a “Big Three,” it was even more difficult to enter the playoffs.

There were six regular season MVPs in the Western Conference. Besides the one on the Mavericks, who was getting old, they were all in their prime.

In addition, there were several “quasi MVPs” in the Western Conference. These “quasi-MVPs” had ranked in the top five among the MVP candidates in the past few years. Their personal stats were nothing to shout about, but they had helped their teams achieve really good results.

A regular season MVP could change the flow of the entire NBA. If the five MVPs got together, it would be extremely difficult for the other teams.

Getting into the playoffs for the teams in the Western Conference was already very difficult. Now there was the Clippers’ “Big Three” to contend with. The situation in the Western Conference had become more chaotic and the competition between the teams had become more intense.

The Clippers had someone to organize the whole team, someone to score points, and someone to defend and attack inside the three-point line. This combination had someone both inside and outside the three-point line, and for both offense and defense. Of course, everyone took it for granted that the Clippers’ “Big Three” would make a massive difference to the competition.

However, the Clippers unexpectedly had a five-game losing streak. They fell to the ninth place in the Western Conference and were very far off from being able to make the playoffs.

…

In the conference room, the Clippers’ coaching staff were discussing the reasons for the frequent losses in the recent games.

“We lost tactically,” Cassel said carefully as he looked at Dai Li. He was worried that Dai Li would be unhappy. If they lost tactically, it must be because of the head coach.

Cassel was telling the truth. The Clippers had not established their own tactical system. With Dai Li’s lack of tactical literacy, there was no way he could develop such a system. Dai Li was not a professional basketball player. Even if he started to learn now, he wouldn’t be able to acquire enough knowledge on the subject.

The current Clippers relied on their star power. There wasn’t any precedent for this in the NBA. After all, NBA games were about personal ability. A superstar with outstanding ability could perform miracles with the ball in his hands.

At the beginning of the season, the Clippers’ playstyle achieved good results. The other teams did not understand the Clippers’ playstyle. Add to that Wood’s sudden recovery and Gray living up to his talent, and the other teams were caught off guard. The Clippers won and got a good record by surprising their opponents.

Each team was testing out their tactics at the beginning of the regular season as well. The players were still trying to adapt to the coach’s system. There were also some players who hadn’t fully adjusted. This inevitably affected the team’s overall strength.

Now that the regular season had been going on for a month, the Clippers’ tactic was known by all the teams. Their opponents naturally worked out a tactic to counter them.

More importantly, after a month of competition, each team had finished testing out different strategies and the players had gotten adjusted. The whole team gradually changed from the beginning of the season. They were slowly warming up and they started to show their strength.

There were always some “anticlimactic” teams in the NBA every season. They played very well at the beginning of the season. It was smooth sailing. They started falling apart in the middle of the season, and the other teams would catch up with them. By the end of the season, the other teams dominated them. There were two possible reasons for this. Either the other teams got stronger or the other teams found a way to counter the team’s tactics.

…

In the conference room, everyone concentrated on Dai Li. Decisions involving tactics required input from the head coach.

Dai Li tapped his index finger on the table a few times, trying to think of a solution.

Dai Li had no foundational knowledge about basketball tactics. He could not develop a complete tactical system.

Last season, the Clippers had relied on the “Evenly Matched” title to deliberately do badly. This gave them a slightly better record but made them play worse. There was no way he could continue to use the “Evenly Matched” title again this season.

I am not a basketball coach after all! Dai Li thought.

In terms of personal fame, Dai Li had more than the other coaches in the NBA. Tactically, however, even the assistant coaches were better than Dai Li.

Many NBA assistant coaches had been players themselves. They played for decades before becoming assistant/deputy coaches for seven to eight years. Their entire lives revolved around basketball and such accumulation was not something Dai Li could catch up to in a mere year or two. Even if Dai Li produced a tactical system, it would only be to show off in front of a true expert. If he did not shame himself, the product would still be far inferior compared to the others.

My advantage is in training. I have an advantage in that spending the same amount of time and intensity as other coaches amounts to better results. I can make athletes run faster, jump higher, and stronger. They won’t get injured either.

I have the athlete patches to make injured players recover. I have the age-reduction card that will allow those older players to return to their prime.

Understanding my own strengths and weaknesses, and then cultivating my strengths and avoiding shortcomings is the correct decision. That’s why I chose to use star players at the beginning. If I competed tactically, any random NBA coach would be better than me. I shouldn’t compete with others on things that I’m not good at.

As long as I am the head coach, we shouldn’t devise any tactical system. We can only rely on star power! Dai Li took a breath silently and accepted the helplessness of the situation.

Now, sending out star players has somewhat failed. We are on a five-game losing streak… Hmm…I know why!”

Dai Li grinned and finally looked up.

The rest of the coaching staff were all ears

Dai Li coughed and cleared his throat. He said, “The strategy we chose this season was to fully utilize the abilities of the star players. We are now on a five-game losing streak. This shows…”

Dai Li deliberately dragged out his words. The others immediately tried guessing what Dai Li would say.

“Is he going to admit that his strategy failed?”

“That it is necessary to use a new tactical system?”

“We need to learn from the Warriors? Or learn from the Rockets? Or learn from the Celtics in the Eastern Conference?”

They looked at Dai Li with anticipation.

Dai Li said, “We are now on a five-game losing streak. This shows that we don’t have enough star players!”

“What?” Cassel’s eyes widened and he looked as if he had just seen a ghost. He never expected Dai Li to give this answer.

The entire coaching staff suddenly went silent. Everyone looked at Dai Li with all sort of expressions. If Dai Li weren’t the head coach, some of them probably would’ve slapped Dai Li in the face a few times.

They weren’t winning because they didn’t have enough star players. What kind of logic was this?

The answer given by Dai Li was too illogical!

It was as if you were playing poker and you lost. Instead of blaming yourself for not playing your hand well, you instead choose to laugh and brazenly say, “If I had gotten a few more Queen of Hearts, I would’ve won!”

Wouldn’t this be nonsense?

If winning was only a matter of choosing the best lineup and sending out five superstars, then there would be no need for coaches!