"Luke? What's the problem with you getting along?" Kupchek didn't seem too surprised, but just asked with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

As the general manager of the team, he could not know nothing about what happened to the team, but he didn't expect the problem to be so serious that the team's two major signings in the summer actually asked him to come out to discuss this issue alone.

Of course, Tang Shuai also knew that Kupchek could not know nothing, so he said bluntly: "Luke is a good coach, and we also know that it is not appropriate to cross the head coach to find you, but we know that if we don't say anything, things will fall into an out-of-control situation."

"Well, you said." Kupchek's face was a little serious. He felt the sharpness of this contradiction from Tang Shuai's words.

"Luke is very optimistic about small ball tactics, just like Phil Jackson's obsession with triangle offense. However, the team now has no three-pointers and cannot do the kind of assisting defense of a small lineup on the defensive end. We are not talking nonsense. After using a small lineup, the team's record is 2 wins and 3 losses. It may not be so obvious, but the two games won are 1 point, and the games lost are at most 20 points, which is why we chose to say it at this time."

After saying that, Tang Shuai turned to look at Gasol.

"Yes, we won those two games, and Tang scored more than 40 points, and his playing time was more than 40 minutes. I could feel that his physical strength was seriously overdrawn. The reason for this was that the small lineup was not good at defense and needed to be compensated with offense. The team did not have other stable three-pointers." Gasol said.

"This is what..." Kupchek fell into a deep thought after hearing what Tang Shuai and Gasol said.

As the general manager, he certainly knew about the team's failure, and because of the team's record, the team's senior management had already asked Walton about it. After some exchange, they decided to give Walton another time. What he didn't expect was that Tang Shuai and Gasol would talk to him about this matter privately.

"Mickey, it's not the first time we've worked together, and I don't say too much empty talk. When I came to the Lakers, you told me that I wanted to bring these young people to revive the team earlier. I thought this was very successful at the beginning of the season." Gasol saw that Kupchek didn't respond, and turned his head to look at Tang Shuai, "Dang is a very potential player. He showed me and others more. I believe you know, and the team's record is also quite good, but since Luke started trying a small lineup, the situation has become out of control."

Kupchek heard what Gasol said and nodded: "I have communicated with the coaching staff about the team's failure. The original meaning was to give Luke some more time. You also know that although he is an old man from the Lakers, he has not been a coach for a long time. Paul, you also know that changing the head coach is not a casual thing..."

"Mickey, we are not trying to replace Luke, we just hope that he will not be obsessed with small ball tactics. That tactics are not suitable for the team now. Perhaps all the situation will change some day in the future, such as we got some three-pointers, or like the Warriors discovered Draymond, they found someone who can be competent for the fourth position in the small ball tactics, but now it has proven that it won't work." Tang Shuai said hurriedly.

"Well..." Kupcheck paused for a moment, then nodded, "I will communicate well with Luke about the small ball tactics. Don is right. The team's lineup is set by us during the offseason. It is impossible to make adjustments so quickly. Teaching students according to their aptitude is something Luke should think about as a coach."

After hearing what Kupchek said, Shuai Tang and Gasol finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not to mention this for now. Recently, Jesse is about to quit his status as an assistant coach for his personal matter. Don, I heard that Chauncey has a good relationship with you. Now he is unemployed. I wonder if you can persuade him to come to the team? He is a very outstanding coach and was proven to be an excellent assistant coach in the Clippers last season." Kupchek asked as he changed the subject.

A team has a coaching staff, with more than a dozen or twenty assistant coaches under the coaching staff, but there are generally a few people in charge, chief assistant coaches, and generally responsible for the team's tactics. The rest are in charge of some content, such as the Lakers. In addition to Brian Shaw, there is also the "mad dog" Mark Madson who originally played for the Lakers. He is the assistant coach in charge of the team's inside line, and the Jesse Memer mentioned by Kupcheck is the assistant coach in charge of the outside players.

"I will try my best." Tang Shuai did not make a promise, but just replied in a tactful way.

Billups is proud of him. The Timberwolves invited him to be the head coach was rejected. They joined the Clippers because they were attracted by the strength of the team. The Lakers are now on the road to revival, but I don’t know how long it will take to go on this road. To be honest, it is not much different from the Timberwolves at the time, and the head coach is not interested. Now, I invite him to be an assistant coach who is not the chief. The possibility of such a thing is too low.

The three of them talked about other topics, and after reading about the time, the exchange ended.

In general, Tang Shuai and Gasol achieved their desired goals, and it depends on Walton's approach.

After ending the five-day two back-to-back schedule, the Lakers have two games in November, namely, the home game against the Thunder on November 27 and the away game against the Nuggets on the 30th.

During the daily training on the morning of the 27th, Tang Shuai and Gasol were waiting to see what decision Walton would make, but unexpectedly, Walton did not come in the training class, and it was Xiao who took them to practice.

This special situation made Tang Shuai and Gasol a little confused.

After the training, Tang Shuai found Xiao and asked about Walton's situation. Xiao kept shaking his head. It seemed that he didn't know what was wrong with Walton.

With curiosity and doubt, one hour before the game, Walton finally appeared when the players all appeared in the locker room and started changing jerseys.

"Sorry, I missed the morning training because of some private matters, but judging from Brian's feedback, everyone's mental state should be pretty good." Walton appeared in the locker room with a smile.

"The Thunder have two big men in the interior. Paul will be the team's starting lineup with Norrens in this game. Don will return to the No. 1 position. You can change your uniform first. I will let Brian explain the tactics to you next." After Walton said this with a smile, he turned around and left the locker room.

When Walton left the locker room, Tang Shuai and Gasol looked at each other and smiled. It seemed that the communication with Kupchek was immediate.

Shuai Tang and Gasol were in a good mood, but Barnes's face was not very good. After the team used a small lineup, his performance was getting better and better. Now he suddenly had to switch back to the original lineup, and he must be the one he was the one he was most unhappy about.

After the players changed their clothes and went to the stadium, he went to find Walton alone.

Speaking of the most important signing in the offseason in 2016, Durant left the Thunder and joined the Warriors, which was undoubtedly the first place. This news directly caused many sports forums around the world to be overwhelmed.

When the two teams met in the regular season, Mars shot everywhere, and Green even played the move of playing Adams' lower body. It can be said that he had a lot of grudges and was comparable to the grudges of the Clippers Warriors last season's playoffs.

But under such circumstances, Durant chose to join the Warriors after his contract expired, which caused a lot of controversy.

The two teams played four times in the regular season last year. Although the game was fierce, the Thunder only won once. After Durant announced the news, "I can't beat it and ask for joining", "Warriors Du Laosi" and other nicknames full of black nature were born. Some Thunder fans even dug out the words "I will live forever when Durant interacted with fans in 11 years, unless they don't want me."

After Durant left the Thunder, the team became Westbrook's team without any dispute.

The Thunder played 12 games, and the record of 7 wins and 5 losses was not very good, but Westbrook averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 10.6 assists per game, and 3 doubles in 2 of them. Such super data put him in a strong position on the MVP list.

In addition to Westbrook, the team's outside vanguard Robertson also showed his strong potential, averaging 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, and a top outside vanguard.

Coupled with the new player Oladipo who performed well, the team did not fall because of the loss of Durant, but instead showed another unique competitiveness.

The commentary of this game is Bill McDonald and the commentary guest Rick Barry from ***.

"Join, today we will usher in a contest between two regular season MVP candidates, and they are point guards. You can imagine that such a contest will definitely spark!" Before the game began, McDonald had already started pre-match warm-up.

"Yes, this will be a wonderful game. Both teams are teams that have always been good at attacking. The super offensive performance will definitely make people feel bloody." Barry echoed.

"Joan, who do you think Don and Russell will have the upper hand in the confrontation?" McDonald continued.

"Haha, I knew you would definitely ask such a question. This question may be difficult for others to answer, but for me, it is a free point question." Barry said with a smile.

"Oh? So who do you think will perform better? Or who is more likely to lead the team to win this game?" McDonald asked.
Chapter completed!