After defeating the Thunder, which ranked first in the Western Conference, Stotts, the head coach of the Trail Blazers, had greater worries about happiness.

That is the issue of allocation of player playing time.

The first is of course the center position of Zhang Feng. Compared with Robin Lopez, who only contributes on the defensive end but lacks the ability to actively attack on the offensive end, Stotts can certainly use Zhang Feng's appearance to strengthen the ball.

The team's offense, but Zhang Feng's defense is indeed a big problem.

And for Lopez, maybe losing a few minutes of playing time is no problem. But for Trail Blazers power forward Aldridge, Zhang Feng's appearance does have a certain impact on the All-Star power forward.

Aldridge, who is also the team's main offensive scorer, has averaged more than 37 minutes of playing time per game in the past five years of his NBA career. However, Zhang Feng's appearance was very important in the initial formation.

It is necessary to stagger Aldridge's playing time to ensure that Lillard and Zhang Feng can unscrupulously control the ball on the offensive end and create scoring opportunities.

As Zhang Feng performed well in several games, Aldridge's playing time was actually affected to a certain extent.

Of course, Stotts also thought about it and wanted to try the effect of Aldridge, Zhang Feng and Lillard on the court at the same time.

However, in terms of the characteristics of these three people on the field, even if the situation of three people playing at the same time has not been truly realized in a game, judging from the lineup on paper and the effect in daily training,

The three of them are definitely incompatible with each other.

Using Zhang Feng is purely for his offensive ability. As the team's All-Star power forward, Aldridge's offensive methods are all based on his own singles with the ball, while Zhang Feng is tied to Lillard.

Set together.

Stotts reluctantly dealt with the ball rights problem between Ade and Lillard on the court. If Zhang Feng is interspersed with this, it is not certain that the team may have conflicts on the offensive end.

And on the defensive end, Zhang Feng's weakness is still obvious. Although Zhang Feng's physical confrontation ability has been significantly improved, for a center above the league level, Zhang Feng still needs to gain further weight.

This also means that when Zhang Feng is on the court, he needs teammates in various positions to help him defend, or to guard other positions in the three-second zone to prevent the opponent's center from attacking Zhang Feng's defensive weakness.

In the previous games, the Trail Blazers' substitute power forward Freeland also needed to help Zhang Feng with many defensive tasks.

However, it is not appropriate to expect Aldridge to do the dirty work on the defensive end.

A player's physical fitness is limited. For an All-Star player like Adelaide, it is good to defend the players he is defending during the game. After all, this is just the regular season. Focus your physical fitness and energy on offense.

Expressing oneself in the best way is the choice that best suits the interests of the players.

Stotts also knows that it is unrealistic for Aldridge to take too much responsibility on the defensive end during the long regular season, so he has always avoided sending Zhang Feng and Ade to cooperate on the court at the same time.

Therefore, when Zhang Feng is sometimes given more playing time, there will naturally be protests from Aldridge whose playing time has been reduced. For this reason, Stotts can only give Aldridge more playing time in subsequent games.

Multiple offensive tactics and appropriate appeasement.

It can be said that being a head coach in the NBA is not something that can be easily explained, especially for All-Star players whose contracts are about to expire. The head coach can only use "coaxing" methods to try to keep the players.

The bosses are all satisfied.

Aldridge's contract still has two seasons. From a team construction perspective, of course we hope to retain such an All-Star power forward, but so far, Aldridge's own team problems have hindered contract renewal negotiations.

try.

So regarding the issue of Adelaide's current request to ensure Adelaide's playing time in all games, Stotts can only play haha.

If Zhang Feng does not perform well, then Ade's playing time will naturally return to normal. If Zhang Feng performs extremely well, then Stotts will let Ade rest for a while, and then try to make up for it when he is in the main lineup.

Come back some, after all, Stotts needs to consider the team as a whole.

Zhang Feng is an unexpected surprise outside the Blazers' plan, and the near return of CJ McCollum, another guard selected by the team in the draft this season, has given Stotts another problem.

The Trail Blazers, who are determined to rebuild and get out of the Roy era, never expected that the team that did not even make it to the playoffs last season and only won 39 games would turn around in the new season and grow into the current second place in the Western Conference.

A powerful player in the Western Conference that is only one game away from the first-place Thunder.

When a team performs well, it is actually extremely unfriendly to a rookie player who has never played.

A rookie is a rookie. Suddenly coming to the NBA stage, where the highest level of basketball is, and being as strong as James, it also requires an extremely long adaptation process.

This adaptation process requires a lot of game time to complete. Especially for a shooting guard like CJ, he needs the ball, he needs the right to fire, and he needs a lot of self-attack rounds to adapt to the rhythm of the NBA game.

, to find his own way of playing in the NBA.

But the Blazers' current record is second in the Western Conference!

Of course, Stotts still wants results in his heart, but if he wants to achieve results, can he achieve the goal of cultivating CJ McCollum required by the management?

In the two months before the new year, the Trail Blazers played extremely well. Now that McCollum has returned, if he really follows the expectations for him during the pre-season draft and adds him to the regular rotation, will it be a good idea?

Even if it's bad, Stotts doesn't have much certainty.

Just wait and see. For Stotts, now we can only see if McCollum can quickly adapt to the rhythm of NBA games. Otherwise, he will slowly start from the bench and gradually increase the game time.

Length may be McCollum's destiny.

The NBA season has been going on, but what surprised everyone was that after defeating the Thunder, which ranked first in the Western Conference, the Trail Blazers did not take advantage of the schedule to complete a winning streak, but only defeated Boss Joe by a big score.

After the Charlotte Hornets won two consecutive games, they lost to two weak teams, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Sacramento Kings.

The Trail Blazers, who had lost two consecutive games, not only failed to continue to put pressure on the Thunder and move toward the top spot, but their second spot was also snatched away by the calm and seasoned Spurs with their winning streak.

Victory can cover up many problems, but with the loss of the game and the internal conflicts of the Blazers, Stotts became a little unable to suppress it.

For example, the battle between Aldridge and Lillard for the ball was the product of two losses.

In an environment like the NBA that advocates individual heroism, if you can score the ball with an excellent shooting percentage, then others will definitely have nothing to say, but if your shooting percentage is low and you keep taking shots, unless you are in an absolute core position,

Otherwise, you will inevitably be questioned by other teammates.

Ade and Lillard are indeed the core, and no one dares to question the shooting choices of these two people. However, the two have many complaints about each other even though their shooting percentages are not high.

Ade believes that he mainly plays inside. Even if his touch is not good, because he has the possibility of successfully hitting inside when holding the ball, he should get more ball rights and shot rights, and have a greater possibility of scoring.

Lillard, on the other hand, also trusts his ability to score. As a shooting guard, Lillard needs to be confident every time he shoots. Therefore, when his teammates do not have a high shooting percentage, Lillard believes that he is completely

It can become a stable output point for the team, allowing individuals to dominate the game.

After two consecutive losses, the two core players of the Trail Blazers suffered from low scoring efficiency. This is a common problem for young teams that cannot maintain a relatively stable state. The fundamental reason is that the team does not have the support of an excellent system.

For experienced teams, although they also rely on the personal abilities of the stars, when the stars are not in good condition, relying on mature team basketball, there will always be others in the lineup who can serve as shining points and make up for the stars in occasional games.

of abnormal performance.

The current Blazers rely too much on the performance of star players. When Lillard and Aldridge are in bad shape at the same time, the Blazers' offense will completely stop.

After two losses, Zhang Feng's playing time was actually affected.

When Aldridge was behind in the score and insisted on playing time, even if Stotts wanted Zhang Feng and Lillard to play more, he still needed to take Aldridge's feelings into consideration.

As for Zhang Feng, he played nearly 10 minutes in each game and scored 4 and 5 points respectively. It can only be said that the offense he completed on the court was quite satisfactory, and it was not enough for Stotts to forcefully bench Aldridge.
Chapter completed!