Because of the ability Stevens displayed, Demps also considered his opinion when choosing an assistant coach.

After listening to his opinion, Demps also consulted with Tang Tian before making the final choice.

As a result, Stevens and Tang Tian's ideas coincided; they both felt that Alvin Gentry was the most suitable person out of the four.

However, there were slight differences in their thinking.

Stevens valued Gentry's ability; the latter was known for his offense.

Last season, the Pelicans' defensive system was not yet fully formed, and the team needed defensive-minded coaches to assist.

But now that the team's defensive system was in place, and Stevens himself was a defensive master, he needed an offensive-minded assistant coach.

Gentry was the second run-and-gun master after D'Antoni during his time with the Suns, averaging 109 points per game in the season they made it to the Western Conference Finals.

That average score was terrifying in that era.

This was also Tang Tian's reason for choosing Gentry, but it wasn't the only one.

Another important reason for his choice was that Gentry had been an assistant coach for the Warriors for the past two seasons.

He and Ron Adams, one offensive and one defensive, were like Kerr's right and left hands.

Now, bringing in Gentry as the first assistant coach indirectly weakened the Warriors' coaching staff.

Moreover, for the Pelicans, having an assistant coach familiar with the Warriors' tactical system would help them a lot in the playoffs.

Just like Brown last season, with him, the Pelicans were able to limit James with half the effort.

After reaching an agreement on the contract, the Pelicans held a press conference for Gentry as soon as possible, welcoming his arrival.

After the Pelicans' press conference ended, the Warriors quickly responded.

They poached the Pelicans' player development assistant coach, Royse, to become the team's second assistant coach.

Before the season even started, this kind of personnel movement between the two teams' coaching staffs was like an NBA version of the Game of Thrones.

The backstabbing scenes delighted fans.

But that's the NBA; there's not much emotion in the business world, especially for coaches who don't have many job opportunities.

Tang Tian saw all of this, but he didn't care too much about Royse's departure.

People go to higher places, Royse's choice wasn't wrong, and Royse's departure didn't have much impact on the Pelicans' coaching staff.

Stevens + Gentry + Nash, these three were the core of the Pelicans' new season coaching staff.

At this time, Tang Tian was interested in two signings made by the Nets and the Mavericks.

The Nets signed Guo Ailun with a training camp contract, and the Mavericks signed Ding Yanyuhang with a non-guaranteed contract.

After the Chinese team won gold in Rio, some people said that Guo Ailun and Ding Yanyuhang should try to make it to the NBA.

Now it seems that the two of them listened, and they both succeeded!

Although the contracts that the two signed didn't have much security, at least the two would appear on the NBA preseason stage.

This was a breakthrough for themselves, or rather for Chinese basketball itself.

You should know that before, the only non-center players who could enter the NBA were Sun Yue and Tang Tian.

Even those who obtained training camp contracts, there was only Liu Wei.

Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

On October 2nd, the gate to the 2016-2017 season officially opened, and the NBA preseason games started first.

There were quite a few personnel changes for the Pelicans in the summer, half a month wasn't enough for Stevens to adapt, this preseason game was mainly to integrate the lineup and train newcomers.

The Pelicans' first preseason opponent was the Mavericks.

Carlisle's thinking was similar to Stevens', both sides used their main players in the first half, and they were both practicing tactics, not going all out.

It could be clearly felt that Conley's joining had significantly improved the Mavericks' strength.

Conley could attack, organize, and defend, very similar to Billups of the Pistons, and could be said to be the most suitable point guard for Carlisle and the Mavericks.

The Pelicans' first preseason game also gave people surprises, their offensive speed was obviously faster than last season.

The tactics in positional warfare became simpler, and the speed of defensive counterattacks was also significantly accelerated.

It could be foreseen that the Pelicans' average score per game in the new season would definitely rise.

After the first half, the two teams tied at 55.

In the second half, the two sides tacitly replaced their substitute lineups.

Both teams had major changes in their substitute lineups in the summer, the main players had integrated well in the first half, and the second half started to examine the substitutes.

It was also when the third quarter reached more than 7 minutes that the two teams successively replaced their bench players.

Brogdon and Siakam got opportunities to play on the Pelicans' side, while on the Mavericks' side, Chinese player Ding Yanyuhang also got an opportunity to play.

When Ding Yanyuhang was substituted onto the court, there was a burst of whistles and cheers from the scene.

Because of Tang Tian, New Orleans now has the best Chinese market in the United States, and there are quite a few Chinese people who come to the scene to watch the game.

Tang Tian had been chatting with Davis about new tactics in the second half, and when he saw Ding Yanyuhang on the court, he also turned his attention to the court.

The Mavericks were a championship-contending team, and it was too difficult for Ding Yanyuhang to stay.

But if you have a dream, go after it. Leaving aside strength, Ding Yanyuhang's choice was very manly.

Brogdon broke through Ding Yanyuhang as soon as he came up, and easily scored a floater after the confrontation.

The Mavericks' offense failed, and turning around, Brogdon signaled to pull away, and then broke through Ding Yanyuhang again, drawing a foul on him when he reached the basket.

These two balls let Ding Yanyuhang experience the cruelty of the NBA.

In the national team, he didn't need to bear the defensive task, he only needed to receive Tang Tian's pass on the offensive end, and try to score as much as possible.

But when he arrived in the NBA, he was the defensive breakthrough point in the eyes of the opponent's players.

Moreover, his very confident physical confrontation was completely at a disadvantage against a shooter like Brogdon.

In the end, the Pelicans' substitutes performed better, defeating the Mavericks 106-93 and winning the first victory of the preseason.

Brogdon performed very well, he made 7 of 13 shots in the game, 3 of 6 three-pointers, and contributed 20 points and 6 assists.

He could sort out the offense, find the opponent's defensive weaknesses on the court, and had a strong psychological quality, his performance made Stevens very satisfied.

Ding Yanyuhang performed poorly in his NBA debut, playing 7 minutes, he made 0 of 2 shots, did not score, only had 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 turnovers.

After the game, Tang Tian took the initiative to pull Ding Yanyuhang aside and said some encouraging words.

Ding Yanyuhang's mentality surprised him a little.

Although a little disappointed, Ding Yanyuhang's fighting spirit was not diminished.

"Tang-ge, I'm here to improve myself, if it really doesn't work, I will choose to play in the Development League for a year, I'm here for the NBA."

Ding Yanyuhang's words were sonorous and powerful, and Tang Tian couldn't help but give him a thumbs up after listening.

With this determination, whether it succeeds in the end or not, it is worthy of admiration.

Moreover, Ding Yanyuhang started to make a run for the NBA much earlier than in history, and with no injuries, the opportunity was still great.