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Chapter 354 New Backcourt Combination

Looking at the players standing neatly in three rows in front of him, McHale couldn't help but nodded slightly.Last season, the Timberwolves entered the playoffs as the eighth place in the Western Conference under the circumstances that everyone was not optimistic about. They even beat the Spurs and the Thunder to break into the Western Conference Finals by accident, which really shocked many people. This also makes him look forward to the team's record in the new season.

After flipping through the player list, McHale is very satisfied. There are suitable players in every position, and he can basically deal with any style of opponent.However, he still looked up at Xu Hao, Rubio and Ellington in the queue, and sighed slightly: The configuration of the backcourt has been greatly changed, I hope they will not feel bad because of it...

After coughing lightly, McHale said seriously: "Because of Ricky's joining, I will make subtle adjustments to the team's lineup. I also hope that the players who have changed positions can adapt as soon as possible. The team will not wait for you to move forward together." .”

When he put the adjustment on the bright side, everyone couldn't help gasping.In terms of numbers, it is of course slight, after all, only the positions of two people have been changed, but from the perspective of the team, it is tantamount to a big change of blood.

Just as Ellington had guessed before, he was indeed sent to the bench by McHale, and Rubio and Xu Hao will become the new backcourt combination of the Timberwolves.For Xu Hao, McHale is actually not worried. He is tall enough to be a shooting guard. I heard that he often switched positions with Harden when he was in college. He can handle all positions with ease, but he is more worried about Ellington, who has made many contributions to the team.

To be honest, if it weren't for Rubio's arrival, McHale would definitely continue to hand over the starting shooting guard position to Ellington.Although this guy may not be as stunning and talented as Xu Hao, he is definitely hardworking, and Ellington's positioning is very clear, that is, a 3D player, and he never needs too much possession of the ball. Just quietly doing his job: guarding the opposing perimeter scorer, then running out to catch the pass and hit the [-]-pointer with precision.

It's a pity that strength still has to speak for itself on the basketball court, and for young people, it's talent.No matter how hard Ellington works, his talent is definitely not as good as Rubio, and the latter has been playing in the Spanish Basketball League for many years and is known as the golden boy of Europe. He is definitely not a vegetarian.In this case, the only choice is to have Ellington play as a substitute, even if it is unfair.

So the arena has always been cruel. As long as you are not strong enough, you can only give up your position to someone who is stronger.So even if McHale is very optimistic about Ellington's future, he has to be Xu Hao's substitute in the new season.

But what McHale didn't expect was that Ellington accepted the arrangement calmly, but he still made a request: "Coach, if possible, can you reduce Chris's playing time a little bit? After playing every game for such a long time, how can I have anything left for me? If I don’t play more games, wouldn’t I be abolished?”

McHale was a little dumbfounded, but before he could answer, Xu Hao, who was a few steps away, glanced at Ellington and said angrily: "Want to get playing time from me? Yes, as long as you can give it to me after you come on stage." It’s not a big problem for me to play a few minutes less if I contribute to the team. But if you go up and slow down, be careful and I will beat you when you get down!”

Ellington rolled his eyes and shrugged at McHale.What else could McHale say?Although Xu Hao's words were not very polite, he generally agreed with them. It depends on how he arranges their rotation during the game.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help admiring Xu Hao even more. You must know that such feelings rarely happened to him, no matter when he was a player or a coach, but McHale really felt that being able to have Xu Hao was a gift from God.

Switching to any young player, he would not give up his playing time in such an understatement. Under normal circumstances, only veterans would do this, and the opponent must be a young player that the team focuses on training.But what about Ellington?To put it bluntly, they were competing with Xu Hao for his job. The two are rookies in the same class. It can be said that the span of their careers basically coincides, but Xu Hao is willing to reduce his playing time for him. This is not just casual. will be able to do it.

The morning time is mainly to let everyone get acquainted. This year, the Timberwolves have added three new players. Let alone whether they can integrate into the team's tactical system, at least they must first integrate into the locker room. Otherwise, it would be a tragedy to disrupt the atmosphere of the team.

What pleased McHale was that everyone got along fairly well. He never expected that the players under his command were also good friends in private. It is already very good to be able to maintain the harmony on the surface without causing conflicts.

At 02:30 p.m., the Timberwolves' training camp for the new season officially opened, but this time they did not invite the local media to watch the ceremony. After all, the training camps of the 30 teams in the league will not start together until about the same time as stipulated. They are tantamount to starting training by themselves in advance.The only difference between them and the mini-training camps spontaneously organized by players from other teams is that there are a large number of participants (there are not many full gatherings?), and there are professional guidance (such as the coaching staff).

Before the start of the training camp, McHale had already started to build a new tactical system for the addition of Rubio. Now it is just a test to see if the backcourt combination of Rubio and Xu Hao can exert its power.

Rubio still controls the ball habitually. After all, he played like this in Barcelona, ​​and he won't be able to change it for a while.Xu Hao shrugged. It seems that this European golden boy didn't understand the deep meaning of his words, but it was the first day of training camp, and he didn't want to have conflicts with Rubio, so he switched directly to playing without the ball. alright.

I have to say that Rubio's passing is very gorgeous, and his imagination is unbridled. He can often pass the ball from angles and routes that seem impossible to pass.Fortunately, Xu Hao also has a high football IQ. He made a few mistakes at the beginning, but later he basically understood Rubio's intentions and could always turn Rubio's passes into assists in a timely manner.

The connection between the two made the teammates exclaimed after seeing it, and they became more confident in the new season.But McHale on the sidelines frowned. The combination of Rubio and Xu Hao looked very powerful and had a tacit understanding, but this was not the result he hoped to see.If Xu Hao is simply regarded as a catch-and-shoot shooter, that would be the biggest waste!

(End of this chapter)