"Don’t say you can’t do it, LeBron developed a three-pointer in Miami this season, and you know he didn’t have that for the first seven years."
Faried wanted to explain but was immediately silenced by Hansen.
Okay, no ground to argue.
"Come on, Kenneth!" Hansen said, patting Faried on the shoulder as he stood up,
"You have to realize that when the team decided to trade Joel (Przybilla) away, they were also carving out a spot for you. Your current strengths are more suited for the five-spot, but if you can develop a shot, you’d be invaluable swinging between the four and five."
The Grizzlies had Randolph, so there was no chance for Faried to start.
Faried surely knew this, too. He seemed to be fighting for a starting spot, but really, he was worried about falling out of the rotation once Randolph came back.
What Hansen said was true, too. If the Grizzlies chose Johnson to trade away instead, then Faried would have to compete with Speights and Przybilla.
Without a shot like Speights at the four-spot and without the height against Przybilla at the five, Faried would have had no chance at all.
Clearly, the Grizzlies had this in mind, and of course, this was also something Faried earned with his performance.
Faried stood up as well, nodding vigorously.
"I think Hansen could become a coach straight after retiring." Joerger couldn’t help but share his thoughts with Tois after seeing Faried stop fixating on the starting position and instead diving into training with even more enthusiasm.
He had been coaching for five or six years, had seen plenty of troublemakers, and knew how troublesome they were to handle, but Hansen had managed it in one go.
Though Hansen had only been with the Grizzlies for just over a year, nobody seemed to challenge him, even Guy and Randolph with their quirky personalities ended up getting along with him quite well.
That kind of interpersonal skill could be more powerful than one’s skill on the court, and he, adept at communication, knew that it could unleash the team’s greatest potential.
"Coach? I think he’ll go straight for being an owner," Tois said, knowing Hansen a bit better than Joerger.
NBA coaches don’t have much power, and Hansen wouldn’t want to put up with players’ nonsense.
"Like Michael?" Joerger said with a smile.
A week later, the Grizzlies were about to face the Lakers again. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚫𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵
After two months of recovery, Randolph was also ready to make his comeback in the game against the Lakers.
Because of what Hansen had said before, this rematch in Memphis, also a nationally televised game, attracted a lot of attention from the outside world.
At this moment, Hansen was also eager to try because under intense targeting by the opposition, his "Uncle Drew" improved rapidly and was approaching a bottleneck.
That allowed him to execute many difficult moves that he couldn’t have done before.
At the Lakers’ open practice before the game, Kobe left the court as soon as the practice was over.
Paul stayed behind for the media interviews.
"I know Randolph will be making his comeback this game, he wants to beat us, Hansen wants to beat us, and the teams in the West want to beat us, but we don’t care about those, our only opponent is ourselves."
When journalists questioned Paul about Hansen’s previous remarks, Paul appeared very calm.
When these words reached the Grizzlies locker room, however, the team members felt quite annoyed.
"That guy really thinks they’ve got the win locked in!" see, even Guy could detect Paul’s arrogance in his tone.
"You can act like that if you’re number one in the league," Randolph said, adjusting his headband.
"And that’s only because you were injured, right?" Guy complained.
Randolph stopped what he was doing and was about to stand up; he had been annoyed with Guy for a while now.
"Rudy," Hansen called to Guy, "’Hot-headed’ and ’Unhappy’ sure can’t be put together."
"Do you remember what LeBron said before we played against the Heat?"
"I don’t know how we could lose." Guy had a good memory.
"CP3 and LeBron are best friends," Hansen reminded.
The legendary Wind City Four Heroes: James, Wade, Anthony, Paul.
The best relationship among those four was between James and Paul, who were already close during their high school days. In fact, Wade and Anthony only met James because of Paul.
Additionally, James and Paul had a lot in common; they were both businessman-like players, or what’s commonly called "smart" players, making a fortune on and off the court.
Even in the "history" Hansen knew of, they were the only two who ever said, "I don’t want a championship if I’m not the Finals MVP."
"Birds of a feather!" Guy was not polite at all.
Hearing this, Randolph sat down again; James and Paul were even more irritating than Guy.
"So, CP3 will also pay for his arrogance."
Hansen’s words directed the locker room’s irritation towards a common enemy.
Whether it was James or Paul, each appeared foolish when they were supposed to be smart.
When you don’t respect your opponent, don’t expect respect in return.
Of course, there was also the fact that Okafor, who didn’t play last time because of an injury, would be in this game, with both teams at full strength.
Hansen also wanted to know how they would fare against this Lakers team, which Kobe fans claimed had already secured the championship through a loan.