Although recently, just thinking about stunning the world and dominating all directions in the upcoming Slam Dunk Contest made Su Feng feel incredibly hyped...

However, he knew that things had to be done one step at a time.

Moreover, as someone who had been there, Su Feng was well aware of the saying, "Even if you win ten or eight Slam Dunk Contest titles, they're not as good as one championship ring."

So, after adjusting his mindset, Su Feng quickly calmed down.

It's already 1999...

Steadiness is the key!

It's worth mentioning that after this new Raptors team officially gathered, Davis' two new assistant coaches, D'Antoni and Rivers, quickly sparked a "fire."

As the "Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix" that Davis had recruited in the summer...

These two, eager to prove themselves to Davis, had completely different views on the Raptors' starting lineup and bench usage for the new season.

From D'Antoni's perspective, who advocated for offense, the Raptors should design more pick-and-roll tactics around Nash to increase Nash's ball possession and playing time.

But from Rivers' perspective, who pursued defense, he believed that Davis should try to let McGrady be the starter and use Nash as the team's sixth man.

In short, for the time being, neither of them could convince the other.

And to avoid internal strife within his coaching team before the new season even started...

Under Su Feng's "hint," Davis suggested to D'Antoni and Rivers, "How about you each choose players and follow your own ideas, and we'll have a team scrimmage?"

D'Antoni and Rivers both thought Davis' suggestion was a great idea.

So, after some "fair, open, and just" player selection, Rivers chose a Red Team consisting of Su Feng, Big Ben, McGrady, and two bench players.

D'Antoni, on the other hand, chose a Blue Team consisting of Nash, Old Curry, Carter, Little O'Neal, plus one bench player.

In the Raptors' training hall, after the Red and Blue teams were formed, both Rivers and D'Antoni were confident in defeating each other and proving that their theories were correct.

However...

After the scrimmage started, the two realized that under their tactical arrangements, neither the Red Team nor the Blue Team could play with the smooth offense and solid defense that the Raptors had shown last season.

In the end, relying on Su Feng's clutch performance of repeatedly bullying Carter, the Red Team had the last laugh with a score of 113 to 124.

But after the game, looking at D'Antoni, Rivers found it difficult to confidently tell him that he had won.

Because regardless of the flow of the game or the result, Rivers felt that if he hadn't been the first to choose players in the previous selection process...

Then, as long as D'Antoni could have selected Su Feng, the result of the game would likely have turned in favor of the Blue Team.

As the losing side, D'Antoni was also very frustrated after the game.

Because last season, when he was the head coach of the Nuggets, he never understood why the Raptors could play a fluid offense with the same tactics, while the Nuggets he led could only be ravaged by others.

Meanwhile, after watching the scrimmage...

Touching the fat on his chin, Davis vaguely felt that the endless inspiration in his mind was now erupting like a spring.

In Davis's opinion, Rivers' and D'Antoni's suggestions both had their merits...

But they needed to be adjusted slightly.

"I think letting Steve be the sixth man is indeed a good idea." Looking at Rivers, Davis said with a smile.

On the other hand, when D'Antoni learned that his favorite Nash was going to be arranged by Davis to play as the sixth man, how could he not feel down?

However, just when D'Antoni thought that the situation was settled, Davis changed his tone and turned to him, saying, "But we should indeed increase Steve's ball possession and design more pick-and-roll tactics for him."

Last season, because the Raptors had Su and Jordan as ball hogs, it was difficult for Nash to get as much ball possession as he would in the future with the Suns.

In addition, with Nash's almost negligible defense, Davis would choose to send McGrady onto the court in the final moments of Raptors games and in some key battles.

But, times have changed.

This season, after Jordan retired, if the Raptors couldn't clarify the team's organizational core before the start of the new season, then even if the Raptors had high talent, they might end up playing chaotic basketball.

Therefore, in Davis's view, the current Raptors must conduct even more insane scientific experiments.

And today, after this free-for-all between Rivers and D'Antoni, Davis felt that he had gradually found the answer he wanted.

First of all, in terms of the starting lineup, Davis thought that Rivers was right.

That is, in this era dominated by defense, the Raptors must first stabilize their defense before they can find opportunities to counterattack.

So, he was more inclined to use a lineup of Big Ben, Little O'Neal, Su Feng, Carter, and McGrady as a swingman to make the first move.

However, if they only focused on defense, the Raptors' offense would definitely have problems.

Because neither Su Feng nor Carter...

In Davis's opinion, were outstanding organizational cores.

And although McGrady, under his cultivation, had been moving in the direction of "Magic Johnson"...

But in terms of organizational ability alone, even if McGrady improved as fast as possible, he couldn't be compared to Nash.

Therefore, in Davis's initial plan for the Raptors' player playing time in the new season...

After the first quarter, he would send Nash onto the court, withdraw Little O'Neal, and seize the opportunity by changing the tempo.

Then in the second quarter, he would replace Carter and McGrady with Old Curry and the bench players, and have Su Feng and Nash lead the team with Big Ben.

As for the second half, in Davis's plan, Nash would come on earlier in the third quarter.

In addition, in the fourth quarter, Davis would make a judgment based on the situation on the court at the time.

As a result, although it seemed that Nash would change from a starter to a substitute in the new season, in reality, on average, his playing time would be about 5 minutes more than last season.

In addition, with McGrady and Carter also being able to allocate more than 30 minutes of playing time, in Davis's view, his playing time plan was simply too perfect.

And when Nash was on the court, the Raptors would resolutely implement the run-and-gun style of play with Nash as the organizational core.

Which was also the suggestion that D'Antoni had made to Davis before.

However...

After listening to Davis's arrangement, although Rivers and D'Antoni both felt that Davis was right, but...

"John, if we really want to arrange it this way...

Then we must have someone who can swing to the power forward position when Steve and Tracy are on the court at the same time."

At this moment, looking at D'Antoni and Rivers asking him at the same time, Davis felt that these two had no idea about the power of a certain someone.

So, pointing to Su Feng on the court, Davis smiled at the two of them and said, "Don't worry, because we have...

Su!"

Su...

Su Feng?

Looking at Su Feng's strong muscles on the court, at this moment, Rivers and D'Antoni were no longer confused.

But, for some reason, the two always felt that Davis's arrangement seemed strange somewhere...

Because in the Raptors' new season player playing time chart that Davis had just arranged, even a tough guy like Big Ben would rotate with Little O'Neal in the game.

However...

If Rivers and D'Antoni had heard correctly...

"John, did you forget to arrange a substitute for Su?" Rivers and D'Antoni kindly reminded Davis, who suddenly realized the loopholes in Davis' arrangement.

In Rivers's and D'Antoni's view, Davis's arrangement was good, but it was important to know that all of this was based on the premise that Su Feng could always appear on the court...

And looking at the two people asking him at the same time again, Davis sighed and said to the two of them, "I didn't expect you to be so tacit...

Okay, let me tell you the truth, in my plan, unless the game enters garbage time, I won't substitute Su."

Rivers, D'Antoni: "!!!"

This...

Does this mean to play Su Feng to death?

So...

So, playing the main force to death is the so-called royal way of fighting?

Looking at Davis with a solemn expression, in the dark, at that moment, Rivers and D'Antoni both felt that they had learned some amazing knowledge from Davis.

And looking at Su Feng on the court again...

Vaguely, Rivers and D'Antoni both felt that players like Su Feng were paid millions of dollars more than other players for a reason.

However, the young Rivers and D'Antoni didn't know that it wasn't that Davis wanted to play Su Feng to death.

But Su Feng took the initiative to ask to be played to death, you know?

Last season, every time he substituted Su Feng early, Davis could see a look of disappointment from Su Feng.

Therefore, in Davis's view, as long as Su Feng wanted to play, he had to satisfy Su Feng.

After all, in Davis's eyes, the Raptors' success today was almost entirely due to Su Feng.

And although this idea was very biased...

But who could let Davis forget the figure who had saved himself and the team time and time again in the summer of '97 and last season?

So, don't look at Davis as a very kind, fair and just coach in the hearts of the Raptors players.

But in fact, in Davis's view, this Raptors team can do without anyone...

As long as Su Feng is still there.

And after the Raptors' coaching staff initially finalized the team's tactics and personnel playing time plan for the new season...

Next, it was time for the players to conduct in-depth exchanges and get to know each other through joint training.

And because the basic framework of the Raptors' lineup in the new season had not changed much, in fact, during the running-in phase, the Raptors players' main task was to generate good chemistry with Little O'Neal and other newcomers.

But the result...

I don't know if it was because he had been sitting on the bench in Portland for a long time, but recently Little O'Neal's performance in training could only be described as terrible.

"Su... can you help me?"

In order to quickly integrate into this Raptors team, Little O'Neal also found Su Feng privately after training that day.

"Your condition was pretty good when you were training in the summer, why did you change your mind as soon as you joined the team?"

Looking at Little O'Neal with an anxious expression, Su Feng asked curiously.

"I..."

After taking a deep breath, Little O'Neal then told Su Feng his heart.

Because he had been bullied by Ryder in Portland in his early years, although Su Feng and Davis had fed Little O'Neal a lot of chicken soup, in the case of desperately wanting to prove himself, this Little O'Neal had become unable to play basketball.

You must know that in competitive sports, if strength is a player's lower limit guarantee.

Then, mentality is a key factor in determining the upper limit of the player in many cases.

To put it bluntly, this Little O'Neal just wanted to prove himself too much, and as a result, he put a golden hoop on himself.

Therefore, after listening to Little O'Neal's heart, Su Feng patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "I think you must relax now."

As the saying goes, a mental illness still needs a mental medicine to be cured.

So, after signaling O'Neal to relax, Su Feng continued to say to him: "Jermaine, I know you want to prove yourself very much, but in my opinion, you don't have to.

Because, if it weren't for recognizing your strength, the Raptors wouldn't have used so many chips to exchange you from Portland.

So, forget about that damn past, because tomorrow will be a brand new day."

"..."

Looking down at Su Feng's handsome face, at this moment, Little O'Neal always felt that there was a huge pillar of light behind Su Feng.

Looking at Little O'Neal's cute face, Su Feng knew very well that it was impossible to restore Little O'Neal's confidence in just a few words.

Therefore, the next day, in the team's scrimmage, under Su Feng's suggestion, the entire Raptors team was trying to help Little O'Neal find his condition.

Plus all kinds of verbal encouragement from teammates...

For a time, Little O'Neal, who had become a "team pet", was so touched that he wanted to cry a little.

On the other hand, the stark contrast was:

"No, Vince, how can you miss this kind of open spot that even my grandma can shoot?"

"Tracy, defense! Defense! Defense!

Oh, I really want to kick your ass hard now, look at your damn defense, have you forgotten the humiliation of being 17-0 by Kobe not long ago?"

Get out of here...

Listening to Su Feng's training of Carter and McGrady, Little O'Neal, who originally wanted to say that Su Feng was very gentle, immediately took these words back.

However, after gradually integrating into the Raptors' happy family...

Little O'Neal himself probably didn't realize that the golden hoop that had been on his head was gradually disappearing at this moment.

If...

What is the biggest difference between the Raptors and the other 28 NBA teams...

Then it is probably as Su Feng said before, this Raptors team plays "brotherhood basketball".

No brothers, no basketball!

…

ps: Good evening!