CHAPTER 1331: CHAPTER 534: “DETAILS” GO LIVE! (PART 2)

I really can’t bear to part with Louis, he’s so outstanding, and he’s willing to be a substitute..."

Kobe also felt quite regretful: "Louis’s performance, nowadays, a contract worth ten million would absolutely be no problem, unfortunately, we don’t have his Bird rights, originally he joined us for the championship with a very low salary, now his two-year contract is about to expire, he’s already 31, surely he’ll pursue a big contract."

Budenholzer: "I understand, after all, players eat the young man’s meal, Jim and Mitch both support him pursuing a big contract... However, I think Louis didn’t just join for the championship, more likely it was because of you.

By the way, Kobe, are you really not planning to become a coach? That ability of yours would be wasted."

Budenholzer is truly persistent with Kobe, choosing the Lakers among multiple teams like the Knicks Team, Hawks team, Lakers, Cavaliers, 30% because it’s the Lakers in Los Angeles, the main factor being Zhang Yang, and the decision was really due to Kobe.

This was influenced by Popovich, coaches of their branch have always been eager to coach Kobe.

All these years during reunions with old colleagues, Budenholzer was quite smug, he’s coaching the best perimeter player Popovich ever coached, and he’s also coached the dream player Popovich never got to coach.

Kobe laughed: "It won’t be wasted, I’ve already discussed cooperation with Time Warner Sports, originally, I was supposed to start a monthly show ’Details’ analyzing various teams’ tactics and star players’ styles during this season’s playoffs, providing support to teams, but I postponed it to next season’s training camp under the guise of needing preparation."

Budenholzer: "Oh? Is it specifically postponed to help your old team with the new work? We’re really lucky."

Kobe: "Why not, when Warriors only had Curry, Thompson, Green, and Iguodala, we were almost at our wits’ end, strong, selfless, and having a strong belief, now they’ve added a peak Durant, just thinking about it is terrifying.

Spurs managed to play 6 games against them, Leonard is better than I imagined, if Ginobili were two or three years younger, with better stamina, Spurs might be able to drag it into a game seven, then the results would be hard to say... But, we’re not bad either."

Kobe said this while looking at the three goofy guys huddled together to discuss, in his opinion, these three are even more amazing than the Warriors’ trio.

Budenholzer: "In terms of fit, Curry, Durant, Thompson are higher, but our three stars have stronger personal abilities, Jack and James are truly the strongest players, moreover, their relationship is very good, it’s almost like DeMar leading Jack and James into the court, they can make up for the lack of fit with personal ability, and their fit is only slightly less compared to those three, their most adept playing style is actually very compatible."

Kobe: "Yes, Jack and James can both score 60 points in a single game if they are given free rein, especially Jack, scoring 75 points in Madison Square Garden, I still remember each of his goals."

Upon hearing this, Budenholzer laughed: "Haha, Kobe, you still remember him stealing the spotlight during your tour?"

On January 16, 2016, the Lakers were playing an away game against the Knicks Team, Knicks Team held a farewell event for Kobe during halftime, playing a documentary, and gifted commemorative jerseys no. 8 and 24, that night, Zhang Yang made 40 out of 26 shots, 9 three-pointers, and scored 75 points including 14 out of 15 free throws.

Kobe refused to answer, saying: "Only Curry may be able to explode like Jack and James on the Warriors team, Durant needs top teammates’ support, otherwise his stamina can’t support a team to the end, he can score 30 points per game but finds it hard to score high... But I think Warriors Team, the hardest to deal with is actually Thompson."

Budenholzer smiled, didn’t continue the previous question, but replied: "Thompson is a pure shooter, his shooting ability is no weaker than Jack or Curry, and he absolutely doesn’t need ball possession, I remember in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, Thompson faced us and scored 35 points, with only dribbling six times, he played for 35 minutes, having the ball in his hands for only 3 minutes, less than a 10% ball possession rate, he is the most special player I’ve ever seen, and it might be hard to find someone like him again in the future."

Kobe: "That’s your headache now, I’ve done everything I can, now I have to work overtime, oh my, if I had known, I should have recorded a video for you all, as soon as I got back damn Jack gave me trouble, everyone asking how to deal with which player, only Jack said ’Wow, that guy is amazing, Kobe, can you learn this skill? Hurry and learn to teach me,’ is there anyone like him ordering people around?"

Budenholzer: "Hahahaha... Isn’t it always like this? Every time you develop new skills, Jack nags you to learn, this time you analyzed Curry and Thompson’s off-ball movements and receiving so thoroughly, he surely thinks you can find training methods to help him."

Kobe: "Is it right because it has always been like this? Tell Jim I want overtime pay!"

...

Meetings, discussions, watching videos... went on for the whole morning, by the afternoon, Zhang Yang finally touched the ball and started training with team members.

In the morning Zhang Yang mainly watched the Lakers’ previous two rounds crushing the Trail Blazers and Clippers videotapes, when he first arrived at the gym, he flipped through the playbook, the Lakers’ tactics this season aren’t complex, at least for him, based on perimeter ball-holding points and interplay running positions, it’s still Popovich’s style, Budenholzer has made adaptive improvements.