Carlisle rarely praised, spending most of the time discussing what wasn’t done well.
After a rather ’suppressive’ start, Vincent took the main seat, briefly analyzed the opponents for the next three away games, and then began to arrange training for the afternoon and the next morning.
After the meeting, on the way to the training ground, Felton said gloomily, "We clearly won eight straight, so how come it sounds from Rick’s mouth like we’ve started with eight straight losses?"
Okafor responded, "We started too smoothly."
Felton, "Is being too smooth a bad thing?"
Hill, "Emeka’s talking about smoothness, meaning we won too easily. Except for the Suns, in the other seven games, we only felt a bit of pressure against the Bucks. But once Jack exerted his force, we also successfully turned the tide against the Bucks. The other games were won quite easily."
Felton, "Oh, I see. Rick is worried we might become arrogant because of our eight-game winning streak? No, it’s not just that. I’m thinking, because the opponents were too weak and we won too easily, we failed to discover our own shortcomings? It seems to be more than that, like when we play most of the opponents, we don’t need to make many adjustments to win, which affects the development of our tactical system..."
Zhang Yang, "All of that, plus our opponents this month are also very weak. We’ve had too few games against strong teams from the start."
Felton, "Right, our preparation meetings analyzing opponents often only last a few minutes. Today we analyzed the opponents for the three away games in less than 10 minutes, but there really wasn’t much to analyze. The Nets, Pacers, Knicks, the Nets with the best record have only three wins and six losses... Hold on, I remember when we come back from the three-game trip, our last four home games of the month are also against weak teams, seems like we play against 76ers, Timberwolves, Celtics, and Rockets. No wonder Rick is anxious."
Mike Miller added, "Yeah, including the season opener, our 15 games of November have been too easy. I’ve never played a schedule , it feels like the league is afraid of us starting poorly, handing us consecutive wins."
Hill, "Mike, I think your feeling is right. We are the defending champions but lost a key defensive player. Everyone knows we had to change our playing style after Gerald Wallace left. Stern might be worried that our squad would weaken, and changing playing styles would affect our early record, preventing us from being compared with the Chicago Bulls. Right, Jack?"
"What do you mean?" Felton asked, not understanding.
Hill glanced at Zhang Yang’s reaction and laughed, "Jack and Yao of the Bulls are key to Stern’s strategy to open up the Chinese market... No, the entire Asian and even the whole overseas market. The Bulls, a 50-win team, got Yao in exchange for sixth man Ben Gordon, and their traditional style fits Yao, a super traditional center, perfectly. No one doubts they will become the strongest team."
Stern wants to create a competition between Jack and Yao, so he intentionally arranged such an easy early schedule for us, trying to give us a good record at the start, allowing us to slowly refine our new system without pressure."
Felton, "Then he did us a favor, right? But, how can we build a new system without any pressure? Now I recall, when we played against many opponents, any offensive tactic could create ideal shooting opportunities. Last night against the Suns, although our movements were quite average, open shooting opportunities still occurred. Penetrating into the lane was easy as long as the opposition didn’t move to block positions in advance. No wonder Rick wasn’t very happy."
Hill, hearing this, pursed his lips silently and said, "Yeah, even though we lost Gerald Wallace, we are not weak. Jack, Emeka, you, our three cores have improved over the year. Against weak teams, we don’t need a complete system, just mutual understanding among you guys will do... I guess in the coming period, every preparation meeting, Rick will be putting pressure on us..."
The next afternoon, the Charlotte Bobcats left Charlotte, starting the three-game trip.
After resting overnight in Jersey City, on November 17th, the Bobcats went to Continental Airlines Arena to challenge the Nets.
Zhang Yang, looking at the not very lively atmosphere, remarked, "Kidd tried for six years and spent his entire prime here, but still couldn’t make the Nets the main team in the hearts of New Jersey basketball fans. Once he left, the stands couldn’t even fill up."
Felton, "People in New Jersey either consider themselves New Yorkers or Philadelphians. The basketball fans here prefer the Knicks and the 76ers. Look over there, someone is holding a ’Go to New York, Jack’ sign ... Heh, why does it feel like our situation is similar? But we’re much better than them, we will definitely make our team as reputable as UNC and Duke, surpassing them!"
The more Felton spoke, the louder his voice became, ending in a shout. His teammates didn’t catch what he said at the beginning, but when they heard Felton shout, they all followed suit, shouting different things, but mainly focusing on being spirited.
At that moment, Zhang Yang was glad he hadn’t entertained the idea of being the leader, sticking to being the star player...
At 7 p.m., the game between the Bobcats and the Nets began.
The Bobcats started Felton, Zhang Yang, Mike Miller, Hill, and Okafor.
The Nets started Darrell Armstrong, Carter, Richard Jefferson, Odom, and Krstic.