Jordan: "Jack is very patient. It was money well spent to have Tim train him. His movements are more concise now, cutting out many unnecessary ones. His offensive efficiency is bound to improve."
Ingles: "His career planning is also well done. He didn’t blindly expand his skills. This off-season, besides focusing on refining his fundamental skills, he spent the remainder of his time strengthening his common techniques. I heard he even trained with Nash. He’s got talent, learning ability, effort, and patience."
Jordan: "Yes, I originally wanted Tim to remind him that at his age, he shouldn’t blindly pursue a wide array of skills but should master the skills he’s good at first. However, I underestimated him; he took the initiative before Tim could remind him."
Ingles: "Raymond has also made significant progress. His technical movements and shooting habits have greatly improved with Tim’s help, and so has his step-back shooting, faster than I expected!"
Jordan recalled the close-range step-back shots he had seen Felton practicing these days, his expression soured as he said, "Is that progress fast? Out of ten shots, he misses five, and that’s just in training. It’s utterly unusable in a game. I remember, didn’t you say he started practicing that move in August? Just this little progress in one month?"
Carlisle laughed and said, "Michael, not everyone has the same talent and solid fundamentals as you and Jack, where learning anything new comes quickly. This type of difficult offensive move, Raymond mastering the technique in one month is already good. For shooting accuracy, just let him practice slowly. He’s only 23, no rush."
That remark made Jordan feel better, but he still had a question, "Is that considered a difficult offensive move?"
The people present fell silent, but they also found it normal. In Jordan’s eyes, there were no difficult offensive moves; every technique was just about jumping up and throwing the ball in.
Ingles responded, "Raymond’s newly developed breakthrough to close-range stop-and-shoot step-back jump shot is indeed one of the most difficult offensive moves, involving breakthroughs, sudden stops, step-back shooting, rhythm control, and several other fundamental skills and techniques."
Actually, when he asked me to help him develop this move, I didn’t even know how to help him other than to break down each skill for him to practice individually, letting him figure out how to connect them together.
My abilities are still lacking. Nash can integrate each link and apply them comprehensively for him so clearly. The progress Raymond made in about ten days with Nash might surpass the progress made in six months to a year with me."
Ingles is a very comprehensive shooting coach, not only guiding players in shooting and related techniques, which he knows a lot about, but he’s also skilled in some dribbling techniques and is working hard to improve himself. In the past two summers, while working with the Legendary Trainer Tim Grove, he actively absorbed Tim Grove’s knowledge... but for the most elite techniques, he still cannot compare to those players who are truly skilled and use them in real games.
Jordan: "Is the gap really that big? Impossible!"
As a shooting coach, Jordan has great trust in Ingles, no less than in Lakers’ Frank Hamblen, with whom Tim Grove, who has worked with both Ingles and Hamblen, has also made such an assessment.
Carlisle interjected: "Chip, don’t be disheartened. You are definitely a better trainer than Nash. You are different from him; your guidance polishes players’ fundamentals, and with solid fundamentals, learning techniques becomes faster."
Raymond could make swift progress under Nash’s guidance because of the solid fundamentals you laid for him over the past two years. Furthermore, Nash’s method of teaching only produces copies of his techniques."
Your guidance, however, allows players more possibilities, giving them the chance to develop attacks with their personal characteristics."
Ingles, initially feeling a bit down, regained his confidence after hearing this, but he still had his thoughts: "Players with the talent to develop their style of play, even in the NBA, a team might not even have one. In our team, it’s just maybe Jack who has such talent? Most players still imitate the styles of famous stars."
Carlisle: "That’s correct, and that’s why the team needs veterans. Jack and Raymond personally went to Orlando to recruit Grant, probably for this reason."
Jordan, Ingles, Randy Brown, Little Bickerstaff... everyone nodded hearing this.
Only Bickerstaff thought to himself: Why do I feel that kid just wanted the team to sign Hill back because he likes him?
After ending the topic on Felton, they analyzed other players.
Okafor, stable with signs of improvement.
Millsap spent a month in the summer league, then trained with Okafor, and spent a month with Oakley, greatly improving his fundamentals, and his style of play became much tougher.
The same old problems still persisted—lack of court vision, guarding baseline cuts without the ball, and defensive rebounding were frustrating.
Luckily, the team had Okafor, Perkins, Muhammad, and others to cover for him, and since he was only a substitute, these flaws were acceptable, given his many strengths.
He had the talent for mid-range and even long shots, strong physical abilities, good offensive rebounding, an active playing style, and committed defense.