If you have a common hobby or have similar goals and similar current goals, two people you just met can also talk together.

That's how Zhang Hao and Avery Johnson are.

On the afternoon of the 2nd, Avery Johnson, who joined the Supersonics, held a formal trial before the official signing. Zhang Hao went to watch the trial of the steady man with the highest assist error among the player who averaged more than 5 assists this season.

Avery Johnson knew what he was attracted to.

One is that you don't have money.

This is very important. The Supersonics have a salary of $1.9 million in the next two seasons. The retired Murch Breckle has been occupied by the retired Muqi Breckle. Tim Hardaway joins. If he really wins the championship this year, he will have a basic salary contract to get in the next two years. Maybe he retires on the spot. The special case of a veteran with 11 years of football this year is 1.06 million in the base salary, so the Supersonics will have a space of $2.96 million in the next two years.

This is just the reason why Tim Hardaway is not chosen.

The most important thing is his passing ability.

The Supersonics have strong offense, strong defense, and strong passing... This season, the five people are rarely at a disadvantage. Even if the opponent's tactical response is excellent and his condition is in a very good way, the five major players basically have the advantage.

But the Supersonics' rotation lineup this year is not bad, just from Avery Johnson's perspective.

It's just that everything is a bit worse than last season.

The defensive ability is a little poor, the comprehensive scoring ability is a little poor, and the offensive ability is a little poor.

There is no way to defend, there must be someone to defend, and some people still have experience...

However, the comprehensive scoring and organizational offensive ability of the substitute lineup can be improved.

For example, one of Kassel, Jordan and Zhang Hao leads the substitute lineup, and the substitute lineup is all good offense.

But if all three of them rest, it would be more miserable, and of course it would not be bad either. However, Parker basically relies on breaking points in the organization of offense, and his passing is very accurate, but his organization's offensive experience and tactical ability are not good.

Kirilenko's basic passing skills need to be strengthened.

Dell Curry, Dan Marley, and Ewing are too old to attract defense.

Basically, the only one who can really attack in the substitute lineup is Anthony Mason Jr.

Moreover, Anthony Mason Jr. is often in a dilemma without the cooperation of outside organizers.

The Supersonics have solutions. The three major players with strong offensive capabilities in the lineup can always be left on the court and they can solve the problem.

But if it can be solved better...

This is why the Supersonics finally selected him and Tim Hardaway!

So, during the trial training, Tim Hardaway focused on organizing the offensive display.

Show off basic skills in passing!

If you can play in the NBA for so long, Avery Johnson is strong at this point. It only depends on the most basic passing skills. Perhaps only Stockton and Kidd can compete with Avery Johnson in the entire league.

The control of passing accuracy can be accurate to the calculation of errors in centimeters.

The control of the passing speed can be accurate to the calculation of the error in milliseconds.

Other point guards have played for 14 seasons and have more than 3 assists and turnovers in 4-5 seasons. The adjective "stable" can be added to the career evaluation.

But Avery Johnson, his career assists and turnover ratios are both above 3-1! He averaged 5.9 assists and 1.8 turnovers per game so far!

Not only Zhang Hao, but some teammates also came to watch Avery Johnson's trial and the test of basic passing skills can be described as amazing!

In addition, although Avery Johnson has almost no shooting ability outside the free throw line distance, his jump shot from the free throw line distance to the close range is very accurate. He averaged 9.1 points per game so far in his career, and his overall shooting percentage is 48.1%.

From Avery Johnson's playing style, it can be analyzed that Avery Johnson is very good in mid- and close shooting.

Although far less famous than Tim Hardaway and less honors than Tim Hardaway, Avery Johnson is still a well-known player.

The teammates were expecting, and seeing Avery Johnson's excellent basic skills, they all recognized Avery Johnson's performance.

After the trial, Avery Johnson officially completed the signing and joined the Supersonics.

Avery Johnson joins and will not participate in the game for the time being. He has to wait until after the All-Star Weekend. He has to remember the tactics first, and then be a sparring player in preparation for tomorrow's game, and be a sparring player before the game with the Lakers, and train well during the All-Star Weekend...

After completing the signing, Avery Johnson couldn't wait to find the coaching staff to discuss how he would integrate into the team's tactics.

This is also the reason why the Supersonics coaching staff, who is mainly concerned about stability, did not let Avery Johnson play immediately.

If a newcomer comes, you have to adjust. The difference between this season and last season is quite big. Last season's defense is based on, if you have a strong defense, you will integrate very quickly.

But this season's offense and defense are balanced, and offense is very important. Naturally, Avery Johnson will not only partner with the substitute, and scoring around Zhang Hao. It is the most important thing who is suitable for staying on the court in the current situation.

Obviously, Tim Hardaway is not much stronger than Avery Johnson at this stage, and the requests made are much more troublesome than Avery Johnson. The Supersonics still regard Tim Hardaway as one of the options.

Because it will be easier to integrate Tim Hardaway's playing style, Avery Johnson needs to be a part of the tactics, which is relatively more troublesome and may not be able to integrate.

If they can't integrate... the Supersonics won't lose too much. Next, they will pay Avery Johnson a salary of US$437,000, which is much less than the money Avery Johnson himself seeks to buy out.

Therefore, both sides will do their best to do this.

Zhang Hao was naturally called by the coaching staff to exchange tactics with Avery Johnson.

Zhang Hao didn't have much thought at first, but he thought that he was all teammates. The training method of asking for basic passing skills in future training is not a big problem.

But as he chatted, Zhang Hao found that Avery Johnson's tactical reserves were super powerful!

After the first discussion, the two chatted for a while. Zhang Hao learned that Avery Johnson had been preparing for retirement since he was 30 years old.

The normal thinking of people with brains, that their state may suddenly collapse after the age of 30 is common sense in the NBA.

But NBA players are smart and not rare, but nowadays, they are probably only two or three out of ten.

There are probably only two or three out of ten who can still have execution ability and start to make real preparations.

Avery Johnson is only one out of 50 people in the NBA. He will not be exaggerated if he chooses one out of a hundred.

But Avery Johnson himself did not expect that when he was 30, he began to prepare for retirement and joining the coaching staff in 1995 and going to high school or college as a coach. More than six years have passed, and he still has the ability to play as the main NBA player.

But every year he is ready to collapse in the next year.

Before the player collapses in this way, he may not know that he will collapse soon, otherwise there would not be so many examples of "not accepting old age".

Over the years, Avery Johnson has a very rich tactical reserve library, because he has been focusing on this in addition to training in his spare time.

Zhang Hao is ashamed of himself!

After the two started to communicate, it became more and more out of control. Zhang Hao invited Avery Johnson to go out for dinner and continue chatting at dusk.

In terms of tactical reserves, Zhang Hao is far inferior to Avery Johnson, but Zhang Hao's understanding of a tactic and the ability to sort out methods, Avery Johnson also seems to have met a soulmate...

...

On February 3, the Supersonics ushered in their second home match with the Hawks.

108 to 94, the Supersonics relied on Zhang Hao's 43 points, Jordan's 17 points and 5 assists, Cassel's 14 points and 7 assists, Ben Wallace's 5 points and 14 rebounds, Artest's 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, easily won the victory.

After the game, Zhang Hao and Jason Williams sat together and chatted.

"Jason, I think the Hawks owner's head doesn't seem to work very well."

"Why?"

"They originally had the strength to enter the second round every year with their iron-blooded playing style. In those two years, the 76ers and the Pacers both played hard when they encountered them, but they chose to give up this path and wanted to play badly, but they were not determined to play badly. In order to make money, they signed Mr. Jordan. After Mr. Jordan left, they finally got Curry and Bathir, but they couldn't help but urge to replace Bathir with Raheem..."

"Aix, I remembered that when you say this, I saw in the news that their boss Steven Price had undermined their general manager. He was originally doing it well, but he decided to complete Bathir's deal. He wanted to use the combination of Terry, Campbell, Raheem and Curry to rise, and hired Georgia Tech's head coach Lang Kruger, who is now in trouble...

Judging from the characteristics of the Hawks, none of them are core players. If you want to rise with this lineup, your head really doesn’t seem to be very useful."

"Yes, their lineup must at least have a ball-holding core who can sort out the offense. Terry and Raheem are both scorers, Curry is just a singles point, Campbell is a pure frame-protecting center..."

As we chatted, we talked about the opponents who had acquired the day.

The last opponent of the SuperSonics before the All-Star Weekend was the Lakers.

"Aix, the Lakers' record has declined a lot this year, and they basically rely on three stars."

"Yes, but I think Carlisle is intending to train Pierce, and Pierce will become a more difficult point to deal with in the playoffs."

"Pearce is very good. She was very stable last season's Western Conference Finals, but I heard that his relationship with Payton was very bad. If the Lakers don't win the championship this year, the Lakers may replace Payton next season, and Payton's contract will expire next summer."

"Why?"

"It seems that Payton often talks badly to you in private, and Pierce has had quarrels with him."

"It's a bit of a pity that brother... I think there is another reason for such rumors."

“What’s the reason?”

"Pearce also has a maximum salary next season. I remember O'Neal renewing his contract early to 2005. Next season, O'Neal's salary was more than 23 million yuan, Payton's more than 12 million yuan, and Pierce also has 11 million yuan. The salary of other Lakers players is generally relatively high. All the middle class special cases have been used in recent years."

"Yes, some experts analyzed that the Lakers have fallen into the middle class trap..."

As we chatted, we talked about the list of all participating in the All-Star Game that will be announced the day after tomorrow.

"Aix, I think Ben is likely to be selected as an All-Star, but it's difficult for Sam."

"This is a world that depends on your face."

"You forgot that you were selected as an All-Star in a rookie season?"

"When did I become an All-Star by my face? That's based on my strength!"

"Half the fans in Los Angeles vote for you based on your face."

“…”
To be continued...