Chapter 2 The Next Day

The next morning, Tang Tian arrived in the suburbs of London.

The men's basketball team had rented a temporary training venue there.

The Olympic Organizing Committee provided training venues for teams that arrived early, but the training time was very short, which was inconvenient for the men's basketball team.

They rented one directly in the suburbs themselves, which was standard practice for the national team.

Deng Huade introduced Tang Tian to the other 11 players.

The players mostly looked at him with smiles, their expressions as if to say they already knew him.

Tang Tian also scanned his eyes over each of these players.

Yi Jianlian, needless to say, was the absolute core of this men's basketball team, having just renewed his contract with the Mavericks for 2 years, and also in his peak period of personal ability.

Wang Zhizhi, one of the 2008 Olympic members, a member of the Bayi team, the former chasing boy, but now 35 years old, still had stable firepower on the offensive end, but his defense had declined so much that it was unwatchable.

Zhang Zhaoxu, a 2.21-meter center, almost as tall as Yao Ming, with eyebrows comparable to Anthony Davis, but he looked very thin.

Ding Jinhui, not Ding Junhui, was the core of the CBA Zhejiang men's basketball team, a 2.04-meter short power forward, he was Deng Huade's beloved general, the national team's "bulldog", a rare domestic player with a fierce style of play.

Wang Shipeng, one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic members, a member of the Guangdong team, the top domestic shooting guard, known as "China Kobe", his claim to fame was his buzzer-beater against Slovenia in the 2006 World Championships to help the men's basketball team advance to the top 16, and he was also the only player in the national team to contribute a buzzer-beater in a major competition, with a big heart.

Zhu Fangyu, one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic members, a member of the Guangdong team, the number one domestic small forward, a smoking, drinking, and social elder brother, all-around fighter and three-point king, Zhu Ba's reputation in China was second only to Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and Wang Zhizhi, and now also Tang Tian, he was currently the closest domestic player to the NBA, but due to personal habits, he lacked sufficient self-discipline.

Zhou Peng, a member of the Guangdong team, was good at both offense and defense, and was the successor to Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fangyu in the national team.

Sun Yue, one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic members, a member of the Beijing team, a Lakers championship member, the first domestic shooting guard to land in the NBA, Sun Yue's strength stagnated after returning to China, and he was also exposed to scandals such as a car shock, and even recorded an MV, his lack of focus on basketball stopped the all-around guard who had amazed the world in 2008 from moving forward.

Chen Jianghua, one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic members, a member of the Guangdong team, was once given high hopes by countless fans, and was even evaluated by the New York Times as possibly the first world-class guard in China, he became famous in the 2008 Beijing Olympics against the United States, but his development in recent years could only be considered mediocre.

Liu Wei, one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic members, a player of the Shanghai team, Yao Ming's personal passer, was the most stable point guard in China.

Guo Ailun, an 18-year-old rising star of the men's basketball team, a rare American-style guard in China, although slightly rash, the national team made an exception to bring him to London this time.

Among the 11 people, 7 were members of the 2008 Olympics.

This was what Tang Tian had thought before, the men's basketball team had been living on its past glory.

After a brief greeting, Deng Huade then announced the team's new tactical system.

After Deng Huade finished introducing it, the players couldn't help but look at each other in dismay.

With only half a month left before the Olympic Games, they had to practice new tactics, this decision was really incredible.

"Come on! Guys, don't make that expression, this is not a complicated tactical system, I know you can do it!"

Deng Huade had a very good relationship with these players, and after a word, the players' eyes became much firmer.

His words were from the coach who had taken half of this team and staged a full-scale brawl with the Brazilian team in a warm-up match.

The label of this men's basketball team was iron-blooded and tough.

Training started quickly.

And at this time, a very obvious problem appeared.

The team's veterans couldn't keep up with the pace a bit.

Wang Zhizhi, Liu Wei, and even Zhu Fangyu and Wang Shipeng, couldn't keep up.

Even if Deng Huade kept shouting on the sidelines like he was driving donkeys, these big men just couldn't move their legs.

At the end of the first day of training, Chen Jianghua, Guo Ailun and other young players were fine, but Wang Zhizhi and the others were exhausted.

After the training session, Deng Huade also expressed his concerns to Tang Tian.

"Wang, Liu, and Zhu are all our starters, should we slow down appropriately?"

Deng Huade's worry was completely reasonable, if only 2 out of 5 starters in a team could adapt, then the tactical execution was out of the question.

"Then let them be substitutes."

Tang Tian said naturally.

Deng Huade was stunned.

This was indeed a solution, but it was too violent, those players had been starters in the national team for so long, and suddenly throwing them on the bench, a normal person's psychology would not be able to accept it.

"That will cause problems within the team." Deng Huade then said.

"No, it won't, Bob, you underestimate them, I know Wang Zhizhi and Liu Wei, they don't care about these, as for the others, we can't control so much, to win, we must make choices."

Deng Huade didn't speak.

"And I think Guo Ailun's speed will be very useful in our system."

After listening to what Tang Tian said, Deng Huade hesitated and nodded.

Since taking over the men's basketball team, he had reached the top 16 of the World Championships, and also won the double crown of the Asian Games and the Asian Championships.

But in fact, the pressure from the Chinese Basketball Association had always been great.

The top 8 of the 2008 Olympic Games brought too high expectations to Chinese fans, if he couldn't make a splash in London, he would still not escape the fate of being dismissed.

And this time the opponents in the group were very difficult to deal with, it might be five losses.

For the sake of his career, some adventures were necessary.

The next day of training, the team was missing one person.

Wang Zhizhi didn't come to the hotel because of a recurrence of his foot injury, and asked the assistant coach to ask for leave.

Deng Huade's expression didn't change much.

This wasn't the first time Wang Zhizhi had encountered such a situation, as a veteran, his body obviously couldn't stand so much torment.

But this just gave Deng Huade a chance.

In this day's training session, he intentionally grouped the young players with Tang Tian and Yi Jianlian during the grouping.

Sure enough, without the veterans, the speed and effect of the whole lineup immediately improved.

And Tang Tian also showed his excellent passing ability in training, revitalizing the entire team.

Deng Huade's face flushed on the sidelines, as if he was having an orgasm.

To be honest, the passing ability of these guards in the national team was really not good, none of them averaged more than 3 assists per game in major competitions, otherwise he wouldn't have let Liu Wei, who was good at mid-range shots, play the main point guard for so many years.

This didn't seem to be a Chinese specialty.

But Tang Tian really gave him a surprise.

As the veterans were put on the bench one by one, Deng Huade slowly figured out the starting lineup that was most suitable for this tactic.

Chen Jianghua, Sun Yue, Tang Tian, Ding Jinhui, Yi Jianlian.