104–97.
The Wolves lost by seven.
Sanders stood on the sideline, hands on his hips, and couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
They had brought in several excellent players, Garnett was maturing, and their record had been solid. He had felt they had the strength to go head-to-head with the Phoenix Suns.
But he never expected the gap to still be this wide.
Garnett played 47 minutes!
The other starters all played more than 40 minutes.
It’s truly demoralizing when you give it your all and still can’t win, only to realize your opponent wasn’t even going full-throttle.
He patted a dejected Garnett on the back and offered a word of comfort. Then, Sanders walked over to the other side, exchanged a few words with Skiles, and headed straight for Chen Yu.
"Chen, so, eight o’clock tomorrow morning? We have a flight to catch," Sanders asked with a smile, ignoring Brian, whose eyes were practically shooting fire.
"Sounds good."
After seeing Sanders off, Chen Yu turned and found West.
"David, you played great today," Chen Yu complimented.
West came off the bench. He might have coordinated with Hardaway beforehand, because Hardaway fed him a few great passes.
And he seized those opportunities.
One shot in particular, which he made with Garnett defending him, was quite stunning.
He went 6-for-8 from the field, efficiently scoring 12 points and grabbing 4 rebounds. It was an absolutely solid performance.
Brian had been worried that with Ma Long suspended, no one would be able to step up at the power forward position.
Now it looked like West was more than capable.
Chen Yu continued, "No one was familiar with you this game, so you got a lot of opportunities. But soon, people will start studying your tape. You have to play to your strengths. You’re a smart guy; you should know what to do."
Every single guy on this Phoenix Suns team was studied by their opponents.
The moment you play well, someone starts breaking down your game, trying to find a way to shut you down.
That’s the real test for a rookie.
That’s where the so-called "rookie wall" comes from.
"Sir, I’ll work hard," West said, nodding firmly.
Chen Yu smiled and turned to leave.
Chen Yu didn’t stay in Phoenix for long. After clearing his schedule of a few surgeries, he rushed off to Portland.
Nelson had told him that Milicic’s performance had been fluctuating lately; he might be hitting the rookie wall.
With Christmas approaching, the Pyramid Arena had a much more festive atmosphere.
Chen Yu and Nelson were sitting and talking in the food court just inside the main entrance of the arena.
In the distance, he saw the towering figure of Milicic walking over to the entrance with Alex.
Milicic didn’t have a driver’s license and couldn’t drive. Since the apartment the team arranged for him was close to the arena, he often just walked over.
Alex came from a well-off family, but having just started her job, she didn’t have much income of her own. She didn’t want to use her family’s money, so she didn’t have a car either. She usually took the light rail and then a bus to get to work at the arena.
"Are they dating?" Chen Yu asked, intrigued.
He didn’t see Farooq with them, and the two seemed quite close as they talked.
"From what I’ve observed, I don’t think so," Nelson said after a moment’s thought.
As the pair drew closer, Chen Yu called out to them.
Milicic, startled, finally noticed Chen Yu and Nelson. He subconsciously took a step back, putting distance between himself and Alex.
Alex, on the other hand, wasn’t flustered at all and quickly came over to say hello.
"Sir, I’m going to go get ready."
After a brief chat, Alex went on her way.
Milicic, however, looked a little awkward.
"Go on, get to practice."
Chen Yu patted his arm, and Milicic hurried away as if he had been granted amnesty.
His English was improving quickly; he could already handle simple, normal conversations.
Chen Yu’s eyes followed him as he left.
Just as Nelson said, the two of them probably hadn’t made things official.
But Milicic was definitely interested in Alex. His subconscious reaction gave him away.
Alex, on the other hand, probably didn’t see him as anything more.
"Let’s get going, too."
Chen Yu picked up his coffee and stood.
’It’s time for my team to officially get to work.’
After returning from Phoenix, Patterson hadn’t stopped making trades.
First, they sent Bonzi Wells to the Grizzlies in exchange for Vesri Pearson and the Grizzlies’ 2004 first-round pick.
Then, they granted Ruben Patterson his wish, sending him to the Hawks in exchange for this year’s first-round rookie from France, Boris Diaw, plus Chris Crawford as a trade filler.
At first, John Nash had wanted to get a draft pick from the Hawks as well.
But the Hawks clearly had him over a barrel. They knew the Pioneers were desperate to rebuild and get rid of Ruben Patterson, so they flatly refused to give one up.
John Nash considered it for two days before finally agreeing to the trade.
As the Pioneers traded away their veteran players one by one, Ruben Patterson, far from worrying about his own fate, had repeatedly called out the front office through the media, telling them to trade him quickly. He’d had enough of Portland.
When a player acts like that, you trade him even if it means taking a small loss.
And with that, the Pioneers’ rebuild was officially complete.
In the frontcourt, they had Milicic, O’Ku, Serk Rebrasha, Randolph, Tony Battie, Boris Diaw, and Chris Crawford.
Seven players in total.
But players like Chris Crawford were just there to fill out the roster and weren’t part of the Pioneers’ long-term plans.
On the wings, they had the highly talented trio of Darius Miles, Eric Williams, and this year’s first-round pick, Travis Outlaw.
In the backcourt, the lineup was led by Joe Johnson and Larry Hughes, with Derek Anderson, Vesri Pearson, and Brevin Knight rounding out the group.
Out of fifteen players, seven were rookies drafted in or after 2000.
The oldest player, Serk Rebrasha, was just 31 years old.
It was no exaggeration to call them a youth corps.
Youth meant energy and explosiveness, but that alone wasn’t enough. To win games, they couldn’t just be a chaotic mess on the court. They had to be molded into a cohesive, fighting unit.
Chen Yu led Nelson into the conference room, where Rivers and the others were already deep in discussion.
"Where were we?"
Chen Yu asked as he pulled up a chair and sat down.
Rivers quickly replied, "We were just discussing whether to run a zone or man-to-man defense."
The current Pioneers team had been completely overhauled, from the players to the head coach and even the front office.
Everything was starting from scratch.
Therefore, the first question facing them was what kind of defensive and offensive systems the team should run.
A team could never go far by relying purely on individual talent without a proper system.
Chen Yu nodded and asked for everyone’s opinion.
With zone defense now legal, there were only two choices: zone or man-to-man.
The specific details of how to run it could be decided later.
One head coach and four assistants, and they hadn’t yet reached a consensus.
Lynam was the main proponent of running a zone defense.
According to him, it was the new trend in the league, and every team was practicing it.
While zone defense had the disadvantage of being weak on the perimeter and giving up open outside shots, there weren’t many teams in the league that relied heavily on three-point shooting. Besides, with the hand-checking rules still in place, the focus should remain on interior defense.
Milicic was still young and not physically strong enough. It was completely unrealistic to expect him to guard a top-tier center like O’Neal one-on-one.
Rivers was more traditional and believed they should stick to man-to-man.
He argued that zone defense was difficult to master and required a high level of chemistry. With a team full of rookies and a roster in flux, there was no telling who would even be around in the future. It was entirely possible that they’d work hard to perfect a zone system, only for it to collapse the moment a key player left.
Man-to-man was the simplest and most effective approach.
Plus, with a young, athletic roster, a man-to-man defense should be even more effective.
Chen Yu’s gaze swept over the men in the room.
He had a feeling Lynam was deliberately contradicting Rivers.
"Mike, what are your thoughts?" Seeing Rivers looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to weigh in, Chen Yu turned to D’Antoni instead.
Chen Yu hadn’t interacted with him much, but Nelson had mentioned him when reporting on the coaching staff, saying he was a man with a lot of ideas.
D’Antoni was a little surprised to be called on, but he clearly had his thoughts prepared. After a brief pause, he said, "I support man-to-man. It’s the most straightforward way to get results. We’re rebuilding and don’t have much pressure to win now, so we should concentrate our energy on developing the players’ offensive skills."
"Mastering a zone defense would consume too much of our time and energy. The players are inexperienced, so building the necessary chemistry won’t be easy."
"Besides, I think we have some decent defensive assets. Hughes is a good perimeter defender. Miles has height, and like Milicic, he has a lot of defensive potential. As long as we conduct targeted training, we should be able to achieve good defensive results."
At this, he glanced up at the others, paused, and then added, "However, I think that while we’re focusing on man-to-man, we can also work a lot on switching."
"Especially with our bigs. Milicic has incredible athleticism. He can expand his defensive range, help more, and switch onto smaller players. His rim protection should be excellent."
Rivers nodded, a look of gratification on his face.
’As expected,’ he thought, ’one of my guys.’
He looked at Chen Yu again. In the current Pioneers organization, Chen Yu’s voice carried significant weight.
"Let’s go with man-to-man," Chen Yu said, glancing at Lynam, unafraid of ruffling any feathers.
Rivers was the head coach now; everything had to revolve around him.
Knowing his personality, Chen Yu figured he would get rid of Lynam as soon as he had a firm foothold.
Besides, Chen Yu also felt that a zone defense truly wasn’t a good fit for the current Pioneers. It was incredibly difficult for a group of young players to master a competent zone.
The Wolves ran a decent zone, but hadn’t O’Neal still dropped 28 points on them when they played the Phoenix Suns a few days ago?
A rebuilding team like the Pioneers didn’t need to contend for a championship, so there was no reason to waste energy figuring out how to stop O’Neal.
"Then man-to-man it is."
Seeing that Chen Yu was on his side, Rivers didn’t hesitate and made the final decision.
Lynam’s eyebrows twitched, but he said nothing.
With the defensive system decided, the next topic was offense.
Having won the first battle, Rivers’s mood improved considerably. He stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and walked to the whiteboard across from the conference table with an air of feigned gravity.
All the players’ names were written on the whiteboard.
He folded his arms, his expression intensely focused and serious, as if he were in the middle of a deep brainstorming session.
Just as Chen Yu was anticipating some brilliant insight, Rivers turned and looked at D’Antoni. "Mike, why don’t you start by sharing your thoughts."
Chen Yu silently rolled his eyes.
’Figures,’ Chen Yu thought. ’The guy’s all fluff and no substance.’

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