For example, during full-court scrimmages, he wouldn’t always divide the team into starters, substitutes, and benchwarmers; instead, he often mixed things up, letting Hansen and Irving each lead a team.
Like today, he had Hansen lead the entire bench while Irving led the remaining starters.
The game started off evenly matched, but as the scrimmage moved into the second half, Hansen stepped up defensively, completely shutting down Irving, then swept the game with a personal scoring run on offence.
In these single-quarter scrimmages, there wasn’t a need to worry about stamina, and it was quite easy for Hansen to win.
"Boss, you seem even more pumped up than usual today!" Conningham said, sitting beside Hansen after the scrimmage was over.
Hansen turned to look at Conningham, with a "Really?" expression.
"You usually don’t kick into high gear until the official games," Conningham continued. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
Only then did Hansen crack a smile.
In his last season with the Grizzlies, he had donned a mask and turned himself into the Villain, pushing the team to train almost as hard as they played in official games.
But upon returning to Cleveland, he had thrown that mask away.
Living with the mask was too exhausting, and that approach actually did some damage to team relationships.
Teammates might be grateful for the success, but who really likes to be bullied by a colleague?
Normal people definitely don’t have any masochistic tendencies.
So when Conningham mentioned it, it really did resonate a bit.
Maybe it was because of Ajalee? Or maybe it was because tonight’s opponent was the Lakers?
Although the feud before the game was mainly between Irving and James, the things Hansen said in the off-season hadn’t been so quickly forgotten.
That night, Quicken Loans Arena was packed to capacity.
When Hansen entered the arena, he saw not just Christmas-related décor but also many conspicuous signs.
"LeBron × Hansen √", "We will never need traitor LeBron", "I don’t respect you, LeBron", "23+24 < 77"...
Unconsciously, more than four years had passed since James’s initial decision.
Time is the best healer; the fans’ raw emotions had already been significantly dulled by time.
But with Hansen and the former Cavaliers players’ return, coupled with the recent blow-up between Irving and James, those memories were all awakened once again.
Time might dilute the past, but it doesn’t make people forget it.
No wonder James had that look on his face at the airport; he must have anticipated what would happen tonight.
Here, there were certainly still people who loved him, but the haters were not as few as he claimed.
After taking his gaze back, Hansen caught eyes with Ajalee in the front row, who blew him a kiss.
This time, the front-row seats hadn’t been purchased by Ajalee, but given by Hansen.
After returning to Cleveland, the management gave him the best tickets.
Hansen usually gave his tickets to fans in need, but naturally, Ajalee received the best now that she was here.
After the warm-up ended, the opening ceremony began with the Lakers entering as the visiting team.
Players like Varejao, an old Cavalier, still received some cheers from the fans; despite being a loyal henchman to James, he had continued to fight for the Cavaliers for many years after James’s departure.
When James made his entrance, he was greeted with boos on a scale that rivaled his first return to Cleveland after the Decision.
Despite being prepared, the boos—amplified by energetic waving of signs—left James’ face an ashen color, his mood sinking to rock bottom.
In stark contrast, when Hansen stood up as the Cavaliers’ featured player, the cheers that erupted from the crowd dwarfed the earlier boos in decibels.
This Cavaliers team didn’t need a James anymore because they had Hansen.
Just as Irving said, in the hearts of most Cleveland fans, Hansen was the only one who could truly lead them to success.