Almighty Coach

The Clippers’ training center was certainly one of the newer ones in the NBA. The previous boss of the Clippers had spent $4.9 million to purchase the land in 2005 and spent three years erecting a new training center.

Three sides of the training center faced the sea. It was within a mile of the beach and it was also close to the airport. The Staples Center was more than a dozen miles away. The training center was opposite the highway, so it was considered to have traffic connectivity.

The United States was, after all, a country that relied on cars. Regardless of wealth, everyone had a car. The public transport system of the U.S. has always been criticized. If Americans didn’t have access to cars, their lives would change dramatically. Americans lived close to highways, just as the Chinese lived close to subway stations.

It was due to this convenient location that the property and land prices of the region around the Clippers rose quickly. That year, in that region, a 200 square meters residence could be sold for two million dollars. The Clippers’ training center had become an asset worth over 100 million dollars. That was one of the reasons why the Clippers could be sold for such a high price.

A bus stopped in front of the Clippers’ training center and multiple well-built young men walked off the bus. The shortest of these men was at least 6.2 feet and the tallest might have been over 6.8. Anyone could tell that they were basketball players.

However, these people were all Chinese. They seemed totally out of place with all the English signs surrounding them.

These were members of the Chinese national men’s basketball team. They were to train in the Clippers’ training center for one and a half months.

Some of the younger players looked around curiously. Even this wasn’t their first time in the United States, which it was for some of them, it was the first time they were receiving NBA level training. They were all eager.

Some of the players were much calmer, they seemed familiar with the surroundings.

In truth, some players used to receive their training in the NBA. Some had even played for NBA teams and took part in the NBA summer league. Although they did not have the ability to stay in the NBA, they were not strangers to it.

The first thing the team did upon arriving in L.A. was visit the training center. In truth, the basic facilities in every NBA teams’ training center were more or less the same. Every team was equipped with the necessary equipment. Compared to what they had in China, the hardware of NBA teams was clearly a higher level. They were also more professional. For the players who had never been to the NBA, it was overwhelming.

Later, the members of the team returned to their hotel. Everyone had just flown from China. It was good for them to rest, in order to get over the jetlag.

Dai Li discussed the upcoming training with their head coach, Chenggong Sun.

Chenggong Sun used to be a basketball player. He had been the key player for the Chinese men’s basketball team and had represented the team on multiple occasions. He represented the Chinese national basketball team in the Olympic Games as well as the World Basketball Championship. After he retired, he became the head coach of a team in the CBA and, later, was called upon to become the head coach of the men’s national team.

Dai Li was no stranger to Chenggong Sun. When Dai Li was still in school, he often watched Chenggong Sun play basketball. Even after he graduated and found a job, Chenggong Sun had still been a player.

Chenggong Sun also knew about Dai Li. Back when Dai Li was the head coach of the U.S. track and field team, Chenggong Sun knew that there was a fellow Chinese achieving success in the sports world over in the U.S. When Dai Li became the head coach of the Clippers, he became a peer in the same industry. Chenggong Sun followed news about Dai Li more closely, which included the over 60% win rate Dai Li achieved by the Clippers. Chenggong Sun also knew his stats by heart. Chenggong Sun probably would have been able to dictate Dai Li’s entire curriculum vitae.

…..

In the meeting room, Dai Li talked to Chenggong Sun in Mandarin. Cassel and the other assistant coaches could not understand anything. They only sat there and looked at each other.

“Coach Sun, may I know if your team has any demands for this group training?” Dai Li asked, smiling.

“We will just follow your lead! You need not be so polite. After all, the NBA has the best training in the world. Moreover, you are one of us. I believe you will definitely create an effective training plan for us,” Chenggong Sun said, laughing joyously. He passed the ball back to Dai Li.

Chenggong Sun knew that Dai Li was not originally a professional basketball coach. Yet he had still managed to lead a weak team to a win rate of over 60%, meaning Dai Li was genuinely capable. That was why Chenggong Sun did not try to show off. He was very receptive and would follow any plan. At the same time, he also wanted to test Dai Li’s ability.

“Since you put it that way, I’ll share my thoughts with you briefly,” Dai Li said. He stopped being courteous and cleared his throat. “A month and a half is neither too long nor too short. I hope that our team can benefit greatly in this one and a half month.

“I believe there is no need for tactical training. You and the other coaches should already have very detailed tactical plans and systems for the current team, so there is no need for us to intervene here. Moreover, the tactical coaches of the Clippers are all Americans and they do not understand the Chinese basketball play style. They also don’t know the traits and personalities of your players. If our tactical coaches interfered your system, I’m afraid it would be bad for the team.”

Chenggong Sun nodded. He had not planned on allowing Dai Li to interfere with his tactical system.

Dai Li continued. “I don’t see a need for technical training either. Any such training would be ineffectual over such a short period of time. Some techniques require months, even years of training. Furthermore, a lot of game time is needed for adjustments and improvements. If we use the time we have on techniques and skills, it would be a waste and the effects would be minimal.”

“Then, Coach Li, what you mean is…?” Chenggong Sun started to ask.

“I think that the best kind of training, in this case, is physical fitness training. Fitness training has the fastest results. Athletes can make significant progress and improve a lot in a short period of time. I want to use this time to make our national basketball team players stronger, with better endurance and resistance.

“I analyzed our opponents in Asia. At the moment, our main adversaries are Australia, New Zealand, and Iran. Australia has a lot of players in the NBA, and several among them are even considered stars. If they were to return and play for the Australian national team, the Australian team would have the capability to play evenly against the strong teams of Europe and America. Truth be told, if the Australian team manages to gather all their players, they are definitely out of our league.

“The situation in New Zealand is similar to the one in Australia. They have a lot of excellent players. If all of those players join the New Zealand team, they would have the strength to play evenly against the teams in Europe and America as well. However, the top players of Australia and New Zealand seem unwilling to represent and play for their country. Most of the time, we only face their second-tier team.

“Moreover, Australia and New Zealand are not participating in this upcoming Asian Games, so Iran is our main opponent. The skills of the Iranian team are pretty decent in the Asian region. The physical qualities of West Asian players are also ideal. However, in the past few years, as the Iranian team has gradually aged, the team is currently transitioning between the young and old players. They are no longer as strong as they were.

“Another thing is naturalization players. The Korean, Japanese and Philippines team all have naturalization players, right? The Filipino team actually has quite a few, even some who used to play in the NBA. It’s no exaggeration to say that some of their better players could single-handedly destroy the average team in Asia!”

As Dai Li spoke, he looked at Chenggong Sun, as if asking for his opinion.

Chenggong Sun shook his head in resignation. “This is indeed the case. The current Philippines team has more naturalized players than local ones. Some have dual citizenship so they are both Filipino and American. This means that they have a basketball background in the United States. Although some of their skills are coarse and they are unable to play in the U.S., they can dominate in Asia. The naturalized players in the Philippines really change the tone of Asian basketball.”

“That’s why I think that our players need physical fitness training. We need to let the players who only rely on the physical qualities to know our strength,” Dai Li said with confidence.

Not all of the naturalized players in the Philippines were amazing. Some of them only played in Asian basketball leagues and some only played in the local leagues in the Philippines. Those who only managed to play in the Filipino basketball league were quite bad.

In truth, these players weren’t skilled, so they couldn’t really play in the United States. American basketball players, who had skills and technique, could still play in the European basketball leagues to earn money if they couldn’t make it into the NBA. Those who had a little talent could play in the CBA for a decent wage. They did not have to be reduced to playing in the Filipino basketball league.

The Filipino team was also not physically the strongest when compared to the muscular Americans. However, when compared to local players in Asia, they were much stronger.

Regarding naturalized players in the Philippines, most played with their body. They only knew how to play solo and their skills and technique were rubbish. Such players could still manage when playing against average Asian players, they had an advantage with their bodies. However, when faced with players who were equally strong physically, their lack of skills would be exposed.

Chenggong Sun lowered his head and thought for over a minute. He finally nodded, agreeing Dai Li’s point.

To Chenggong Sun, what Dai Li said seemed reasonable. Since tactics and skills could not be developed in such a short period of time, physical fitness was the only thing left to be trained.

Basketball is, after all, a highly physical sport. Chenggong Sun also considered the fact that Dai Li was originally a physical fitness coach. Physical fitness training was probably the kind of training he excelled at.

“Coach Sun, if you have no objections, I will create a training plan as soon as possible. However, my plan will not be limited to only physical training It will also include the daily lifestyle and food intake of the athletes. I hope that during this period, players will be disciplined and follow my instructions,” Dai Li said.

“Naturally,” Chenggong Sun said, nodding. However, the word “discipline” seemed very out of place to him in a place like the United States.

…

Dai Li led multiple coaches onto the court. The players from the Chinese team immediately formed a line.

It was only then that the people discovered that among the group that followed Dai Li onto the court was a man who looked very familiar.

“Is that Wood?”

“Wood? Which Wood?”

“How many Woods do you know? He’s the youngest MVP ever in the regular season!”

“Wood is a Clippers’ player?”

“Wood, it’s really Wood! That’s right, it’s him!”

Wood’s appearance caused several seconds of ruckus in the line. They never would have thought that they would have the chance to meet a superstar because the Clippers’ season was over.

Dai Li walked in front and coughed to signal that he wanted them to quiet down. He then said, “I’m sure you already know the person beside me. From today onwards, Wood will be training with you!”

“Wood will train with us?”

“Train with an NBA superstar? Awesome!”

“Help me take a picture later. I want to be in a photo training with Wood.”

A few of the younger players seemed very eager to start.

Dai Li smiled and said, “Fellas, opportunities to train with a regular season MVP of the NBA are far and few in between. I hope that you will value this opportunity. The amount that you learn from Wood will depend on all of you!”

Not far from the group, Coach Chenggong Sun was shell-shocked. He never would have imagined that Dai Li could bring Wood to train with the men’s basketball team.

Looks like Coach Li has put a lot of effort into training the team. It was definitely the correct decision to work with the Clippers this time. From this alone, I can beautify the U.S. outstation training report more and hope that the basketball association can finish up our strategic partnership with the Clippers. Our players will get even more opportunities to train with these NBA superstars, even if we do just serve as their training partners. This is definitely better than training back in the mainland!