Chapter 739 Woj Reveals the Inside Story of the 2011 Heat Draft (Fourth Update!)

When Dempsey and Stevens were discussing, they also called Tang Tian.

Tang Tian is the core of the team, and several of his suggestions have worked. Now his voice in the management is getting higher and higher.

Tang Tian was a coach in his previous life, and these coaches are all old acquaintances.

Hollins was the first he eliminated.

Hollins is that kind of star player in his playing days. He is arrogant at heart, has a strong desire to control the team, and has poor interpersonal skills.

In other words, this is a candidate who is more suitable to be a head coach rather than an assistant coach. If he comes here, he might quarrel with Stevens every day.

Then there are Brown and Bickerstaff.

Tang Tian is more inclined to Bickerstaff.

Bickerstaff is completely incompetent as a head coach, but he is excellent as a defensive assistant and is young and has potential. He will get along well with Stevens.

Brown can be considered a type between Hollins and Bickerstaff. He is from the Spurs and has nothing to say about his abilities.

But after all, he has been a head coach for most of his career, and he is James' head coach. It is hard to say whether he can convince Stevens, a young coach.

Demps asked Stevens after listening to Tang Tian's opinion, and Stevens had no objection.

He flew to Boston the next day to prepare for more in-depth negotiations with Bickerstaff.

But unexpectedly, he ran away this time in vain.

After hearing that the Pelicans were poaching again, Ainge and Bickerstaff talked all night and finally succeeded in convincing the latter to stay.

As a result, just like D'Antoni, the Pelicans' first assistant coach also left.

However, since he had previous experience in this area, Demps did not waste any time and flew directly to Cleveland to discuss the contract with Brown.

Brown is unemployed and at home, and the negotiations on his side are going smoothly.

Soon the two parties reached a two-year 2 million franchise contract.

Brown's situation is quite special. He returned to the Cavaliers as head coach in 2015, but was fired before the completion of his five-year, $20 million contract.

As a result, he is still receiving a salary of 5 million a year from the Cavaliers this year.

So his pursuit of money is not that high now. On the contrary, he urgently needs a place where he can be exposed and prove himself.

Because only then can he find a head coaching job in the league again.

The Pelicans are now the kind of place he wants to be.

After signing the contract, Brown went to New Orleans with Demps.

After arriving in New Orleans, Demps arranged a meeting between Stevens and Brown, and also called Tang Tian along.

After the three people met, they mainly talked about the team's defensive system.

Brown’s understanding is close to Stevens’ and has some personal insights.

He hopes to add more frontcourt pressing in the defense, which can reduce the time for opponents to launch positional attacks. It will be effective against teams like the Spurs and Clippers who are good at playing positional attacks.

He also feels that the current defensive system of the Rockets can be used as a reference. Let Jokic's defensive end try to hide under the basket to protect him, and it can also take advantage of Davis's characteristics of fast defensive movement and wide coverage area to a greater extent.

These two insights caused Tang Tian and Stevens to nod one after another.

As far as defense is concerned, Brown does have a skill, and it seems that he has not been idle in the past few years.

However, these were all things that Tang Tian expected. What really surprised him was Brown's communication skills.

This guy called Bread looked very naive, but he knew the art of speaking very well. In just half an hour, he praised Stevens and Tang Tian more than four or five times.

This kind of personality thing can only be known after getting along with each other. Now it seems to be an unexpected surprise.

With a personality like Brown's, he can quickly integrate into the Pelicans, and he can also play a part of Williams' role before.

But when you think about it, this is a reasonable thing. Brown was criticized by fans in the Cavaliers, but he has a close relationship with James.

This also illustrates his interpersonal skills in a different direction.

The next day, the Pelicans officially announced Brown's joining the coaching staff, but did not disclose specific contract details.

After the news was released, it also attracted heated discussions among fans.

"Brown is really getting worse as he gets worse. When he became the head coach of the Cavaliers, he won the best coach within two years. After that, he was fired continuously as the head coach. Now he can only be an assistant coach..."

"Isn't that the best head coach given by James? Manually funny"

"Brown's ability as a head coach is indeed a bit lacking, but I believe he can still be an assistant coach. His defensive skills are still very good."

"None of this matters. Haven't you noticed that something exciting is likely to happen this year? The Pelicans have a chance to reach the finals this year!"

"As James' mentor, Brown wants to play against James in the finals?"

"Not only that, but he is still receiving a salary from the Cavaliers~"

"Tsk! I suddenly look forward to the Pelicans getting past the Warriors this year and playing the Finals with the Cavaliers. That will definitely be fun!"

…

Fans were buzzing on social media, but the reality was more interesting than they thought.

Because Brown's first game after joining the Cavaliers was when the Pelicans faced the Cavaliers at home.

Fans are anticipating what might happen in the Finals, which will take place in New Orleans a day later.

The Pelicans and Warriors dominate the West, but the Cavaliers stand out in the East this year.

The run-in has become more complete and the lineup is unprecedentedly strong. Their current record of 34 wins and 8 losses is also very impressive.

Moreover, they previously defeated the Warriors on Christmas Day. If they can defeat the Pelicans again, their confidence in winning the championship this season will become unprecedentedly strong.

Not to mention Brown.

But these things became not so important after Woj broke the news.

According to Woj reports, during the 2011 Heat draft, Pat Riley asked James about whether to select Tang Tian. James’ opinion at the time was that the team already had Miller and Battier, and Tang Tian is not needed.

When the news came out, it immediately detonated the media and social media.

Woj is the most reliable reporter in the NBA, and the news he breaks is basically the truth.

Moreover, he has a normal relationship with James' team, so he chose to break the news before the two teams played, obviously to cause trouble.

But it doesn't matter whether there is trouble or not, because this news illustrates at least two things.

James interfered with the management during the Heat period, and James' opinions caused the Heat to miss Tang Tian!

Considering the various grievances between Tang Tian and James, this is definitely the most explosive news this year!