Anthony the Reborn

Chapter 71 D'Antoni Takes Over
The second half of November was a tormenting period for Anthony and his Nuggets. Anthony was absent for more than half a month due to injury. The team's defense still did not improve, and the firepower dropped a whole notch.

On November 11th, in the game against the Bulls, they lost 11:85. Miller scored a team-high 90 points, and Nene also scored a double-double of 23 points and 18 rebounds. No one scored in double figures. On the other hand, the Bulls scored in double figures with five players. Jamal Crawford even scored a season-high 10 points. Anthony's friend and fellow rookie Kirk Hinrich Also scored a double-double of 30 points and 11 assists.

On November 11th, against the Orlando Magic, which had lost 15 games in a row, the team suffered an unexpected defeat at 5:83. Miller and Nene were heavily marked by the Orlando Magic. The former only made 101 of 15 shots, and the latter even Only 3 shots were taken, and the game entered garbage time within 8 minutes of the third quarter. The Magic's scoring leader McGrady faced White and scored 2 points, setting a new season high in one fell swoop.

On November 11, Leonard, who was plagued by drug problems, returned to the team. However, facing the powerful Timberwolves in the West with Garnett, Cassel, and Sprewell, the Nuggets only persisted for one and a half quarters. Disarmed and surrendered, 19:86, a big defeat, the Nuggets had no way to fight back.

On November 11th, in back-to-back games, the low-morale Nuggets faced the not-so-strong Bucks. Due to the double bottom of physical strength and morale, the two sides played until the fourth quarter. In the last 20 minutes, the boss of the Bucks Michael · Reed scored three three-pointers in a row and completely defeated the Nuggets. 5:85, the Nuggets added another defeat.

On November 11, the Nuggets took a day off to face the challenge of the Wizards at home. "General" Arenas showed his power and scored 22 points. The Nuggets had no temper, 35:86 However, no matter how motivated the fans are, the Nuggets have no offensive core, and no matter how hard they work, they will not be able to make up for the gap in strength.

After a five-game losing streak, the team's record went from 3 wins and 2 losses to 3 wins and 7 losses. It ranked second to last in the Western Conference, only one more win than the last last Sonics.

Coach Cooper, who had performed well at first, suddenly fell into a crisis of getting out of class. Although Anthony's absence has a lot to do with it, it is difficult to win one win in five games, which is obviously far from the team's expectations.

On November 11, the rest day of the game, the Nuggets held a press conference to announce that the team's acting head coach Cooper had become an assistant coach, and the former assistant coach of the Suns, Mike D'Antoni, officially took over the Nuggets. The head coach who once coached the Nuggets for one season entered the palace for the second time, and once again went to the plateau of Denver to pick up the team's coach.

In the training hall of the Pepsi Center, all the players are present, and they are conducting one-on-one defensive training under the leadership of assistant coach Cooper.

After nearly two weeks of rest, Anthony's body has almost recovered, and Su Xi's affairs have come to an end for the time being, and he is currently engaged in a one-on-one attack and defense with White.

With a "bang", Anthony hit White with his back and turned around and leaned back. The angle of the ball was a little worse, and it ended in a strike.

Anthony shook his arm. Although he has almost recovered, he hasn't trained for a long time, and it will take some time for the hand feeling to recover.

"White did a good job, just do it on the field!" Coach Cooper encouraged White from the sidelines. In the days when Anthony was absent, White was the team's starting small forward, but his performance was not good. The team's losing streak It caused a big change in his whole mentality.

Perhaps encouraged by the coach, White singled out Anthony, and after turning around, he quickly broke through and hit the board to score. After the goal, he beat his chest with excitement.

At this moment, Cooper suddenly called a stop: "Come on Pope, come on Melo and take a rest."

Anthony smiled and walked towards Coach Cooper without saying anything.

"How does Melo feel? You can take another rest if necessary. After all, tomorrow's game will be a tough one. If the injury gets worse, it will be more troublesome." Cooper said to Anthony who came down, his tone was not There is no intention of blaming, but to add some concern.

This is not surprising. Originally, the Nuggets were planning to fire Cooper directly, but Kronko accidentally consulted Vandeweghe for his opinion before making a decision, and Vandeweghe naturally asked Anthony for his opinion. , Cooper was proud to stay in the post and turned into an assistant coach in charge of the team's defense.

"I'm fine, it's just that I haven't trained for a long time, and my touch has not recovered." Anthony said with a smile.

"Well, by the way, Vandeweghe told me today that the team has already traded the Chinese from the Clippers, and the two sides have exchanged a second-round pick. If there is no accident, he should come to the team today. Report." Coach Cooper continued.

"Wang Zhizhi has already been traded?" Anthony said slightly surprised.

"Well, the Clippers have already treated the contract of more than 200 million yuan as a garbage contract." Speaking of this, Cooper frowned, "Melo, to be honest, that Chinese defense is really poor, and it can't be achieved at all." At the level of the NBA, players like this..."

Seeing Anthony's face change slightly, Cooper sighed and changed his words: "It depends on how powerful he can play in the team's offense."

"Don't worry, the coach. The team will play run-and-gun tactics in the future. I think Wang Zhizhi, as the fourth player, will be of great help to the team's offense. As for the defense, I think even if you can't do it well, coach, you can still let him play. Raised to the NBA level." Anthony said with a smile.

"Well, as long as it's not a matter of attitude, I don't think it's difficult." Cooper said a little complacently. As a famous defensive champion in NBA history, Cooper still has absolute confidence in his defensive skills.

"Squeak~"

At this moment, the door of the arena was pushed open, and a man of yellow race with a slightly plump face appeared at the door of the arena.

The abrupt figure quickly attracted the attention of everyone in the arena.

"Look, here we come." Coach Cooper said, looking at the door.

Anthony also looked up and saw Wang Zhizhi standing there with a smile at the door. His face was a little immature. He couldn't help being touched. After the game against the Clippers, he talked to Coach Cooper about trading Wang Zhizhi. , Originally Cooper was not the head coach, he thought it was blown up, but he didn't expect Cooper to really bring it up.

Looking at Wang Zhizhi now, I don't know if his move can change the NBA career of this chasing boy.

"Wang, come here." Cooper waved to Wang Zhizhi at the door.

"Come on, you all gather around and introduce the newcomers to the team." Cooper then greeted all the people who were training, because the team's head coach D'Antoni hadn't arrived yet, and he was still in charge at the moment.

Wang Zhizhi put the luggage on the stool next to him, and walked shyly to Coach Cooper.

"Come on, Wang, you introduce yourself first." Cooper said as he pulled Wang Zhizhi to the center of the players.

Wang Zhizhi walked to the center of the players, smiled shyly, then scratched his head and said: "My name is Wang Zhizhi, I am from China, I played for the Clippers before, and I just joined the team today. I hope everyone will take care of me in the future."

"Hello, I am……"

The players of the Nuggets all came forward to say hello in a coping manner. Everyone seemed to be unaware that a marginal player came to the team. Even Elson, who had a direct competitive relationship, was not affected much. After all, Wang Zhizhi gave The human feeling is really too weak, and a little fat, and the most important thing is that he is so shy.

Listening to Wang Zhizhi's introduction, Anthony couldn't help but frown. It is difficult to achieve results in the NBA if you don't get along with the players. Just like Yi Jianlian in his previous life, most of the time he had a sullen face and limited communication with his teammates. This also led to him not even getting a rotation in the end.

In contrast, Zhou Qi, who later landed in the NBA, kept communicating with his teammates during the game, whether he was sitting on the bench at the beginning or later became the ace of the team, and he also got along with others in private. It can be described as a completely opposite example.

This is a very simple truth. If your teammates don't support you, or if they are not familiar with you, how often will they pass the ball to you on the court?
Obvious.

"Hello." Wang Zhizhi walked into Anthony's side and greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, my name is Cameron, you can call me Melo, if possible, how about we practice more after training?" Anthony said with a smile.

A look of surprise appeared on Wang Zhizhi's face. Of course he knew Anthony, the player who had just tied the league's rookie scoring record, but Anthony actually proposed to practice with him, which was completely beyond his expectation. Respond: "I..."

"Why, you don't want to?" Anthony continued to ask with a smile.

"No no, of course I would, I'm just surprised." Wang Zhizhi hurriedly replied.

"Well, don't be so restrained, people in our team are very good at communicating, just let go of the communication." Anthony continued.

"Yeah, thank you, Melo." Wang Zhizhi said gratefully. A marginal man like him is almost too late to survive in the NBA. Coming to a new team is optional. I don't know why the Nuggets suddenly wanted to trade him over, and it is reasonable to be flattered by the team boss's sudden favor in a panic.

"Okay, Wang, you follow Melo to do some warm-up exercises on the side first, and later practice one-on-one offense and defense with Elson, and the others will attack the half-court offense and defense with me first." Coach Cooper said the players Arrange everything.

Anthony cast a grateful look at Cooper when he heard the words. He just took this opportunity to learn about Wang Zhizhi's strength. After all, even if he knew the generality before, he saw it on TV, and it was absolutely different from reality.

(End of this chapter)