NBA: Warrior godfather.

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Glenview Community, Oakland, California.

At seven in the morning, the alarm went off. Liam Gonzalez opened his eyes, sat up, and stretched comfortably.

After spending Christmas Eve at Green's house, he returned to Oakland. It so happened that the Dell family was visiting the Golden State, and Liam went to enjoy Christmas with them.

This was the second Christmas he spent with the Curry family. Naturally, they were very welcoming to Liam. Although it felt a bit strange spending the holidays with people who weren't family, the Curry family had long since stopped treating him as an outsider.

Of course, Jonathan had flown back to his home directly from Michigan. This time, the overtime work wasn't long, which made Jonathan feel relieved. However, his mother had gotten angry with him several times, urging him to come home quickly.

Liam opened the thick curtains, and snowflakes were floating outside the window. The ground, trees, and buildings were all covered in white. A thick layer of snow had settled, and there were low, gray clouds in the sky.

The weather in Oakland is relatively mild, but this year, they had a rare heavy snowstorm, which added a warm, icy feeling to Christmas, with the snow outside the window and laughter inside.

As Christmas approached and Tina also went home, Liam could only prepare a simple breakfast. After eating, he drove to Oracle Arena.

Although the Warriors didn't have a game on Christmas Day, they still had to face the Suns, who were coming to challenge them that evening.

Currently, the Suns ranked third in the Western Conference with a record of 19 wins and 11 losses. The Lakers and Mavericks were in the top two spots, having played extremely steady basketball since the beginning of the season.

Nash was like an eternal monster, still firmly holding onto the throne of the number-one point guard, leading the Suns into a storm of fast breaks and shooting in the league, reminiscent of the Wind Child who once dominated the league.

Although he only averaged 17.4 points per game, he had a terrifying 12.5 assists. His passing ability had reached an advanced level, with shooting percentages of 50.7% + 43.2% + 93.8%, reaching the 180 club, which was extremely efficient.

So, even though Curry had been performing very well with a high production and efficiency in three-pointers, many fans still insisted that Nash was a better shooter than Curry. The reason was that his efficiency was so high simply because he didn't take as many shots.

This statement had gained approval from many, but Liam didn't agree with it.

Throughout his career, Nash had maintained an extremely high efficiency. His assists were low, but his scoring output had never increased. He never surpassed 19 points in a season.

His high efficiency was the result of carefully selecting his shots. No player would deliberately suppress their scoring ability. He was a super point guard, but not a primary scorer.

As a floor general, he could lead a team to consecutive victories and significant progress, but he couldn't take the ball in the critical moments, make the final decision, and finish the game.

This is also the crux of building a team around a traditional point guard.

They are the engine of the team, the core of the team's offensive system, and the players with the greatest offensive influence on the court. They can fully elevate their teammates and play a high-paced offensive game like mercury.

But under the intensity of the playoffs and finals, the opponent won't give you space to pass the ball. This means the star player needs to step up and score, which traditional point guards can't do. Even though they can score more than 30 points in a game, they can't maintain a consistent 30+ points per game in a series.

This is also one of the key reasons why the Nets with Kidd as the core and the Suns with Nash couldn't make it to the end, while Magic and Assassin managed to win the championship because they had strong teammates around them.

This is also where Curry differs from them. No one would double-team a traditional point guard. The opponent would prefer them to attack alone throughout the game and never pass the ball to their teammates, forming a double team against the point guard. Hold him back and don't let him make any moves.

Of course, Curry wasn't as terrifying as he was at his peak, but his explosion against the Lakers had scared other teams, and they attacked Curry one after another. Liam just hoped this heat wave would pass quickly. The offense was very uncomfortable.

Due to the heavy snow, Liam drove very slowly and took half an hour to reach Oracle Arena.

When he entered the training room, the players were already there, practicing under the guidance of Silas and Ron Adams.

Liam looked at Silas, who had personally gone out on the court to demonstrate to Butler, and smiled.

He was very satisfied with his head assistant coach. Silas had a kind personality, managed relationships with the players well, was very good at guiding players' training, was interested in tactical details, and was highly qualified to be an assistant coach.

But he had a flaw, which was that his ability to adapt on the fly was relatively poor. However, Liam was the one who made decisions for the Warriors. This wasn't a flaw for Silas, as long as he wasn't the head coach.

In Liam's previous life, he had gone to the Rockets as a head coach. His record in his first season was extremely poor, but he successfully helped the Rockets get the second overall pick.

Although the Rockets' strategy that season was to lose on purpose and that was the outcome the management wanted, there was still a big difference between losing and losing with purpose.

The Rockets, coached by Silas, lost meaningless games. Besides letting the young players run free, the team's offensive and defensive systems were a mess, and there was no progress compared to teams like the Timberwolves. A team like Daigo could compete with that.

On the other hand, under Cole's leadership, the Warriors also had a bad season and won the second pick. However, the Warriors made people feel like this was a team with a system and a foundation, and losing in one season was simply an accident. They were still a strong team at their core.

He didn't disturb the players' training; he just looked around the court and noticed that the players were in a great mood after the holidays, so he went upstairs.

He reached his office, grabbed the newspaper that Jonathan had left on the desk, and began reading.

There had been five games in yesterday's Christmas war, the most eye-catching of which was, of course, the "23 vs. 24" showdown.

In this game, when the Cavaliers visited Los Angeles to challenge the Lakers, Kobe scored 35 points, but only hit 11 of 33 shots, and his efficiency was atrocious.

On the other hand, James scored 26 points, Mo Williams became a super sixth man, scoring 27 points, Stephen Jackson added 17 points, and only Monta Ellis had an off game with just 13 points, but it was enough for the Cavaliers to win. The next game was already set.

This victory also solidified the Cavaliers in first place in the league, closely followed by the Lakers.

Liam carefully read the reports on the game and then found the replay of the game on the computer, focusing on Monta Ellis' performance.

As he watched, a smile gradually appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The Cavaliers' draft pick he had in hand was definitely going to be valuable.

Monta Ellis couldn't get through Kobe's defense at all. Even if he broke through, it would be difficult to finish against the Twin Towers. He'd never been a good shooter from outside. His shooting ended up as brick after brick.

The Cavaliers' playoff opponents were mainly the Magic and the Celtics, who were both strong defensive teams. Liam didn't think Monta Ellis would perform well under that intensity.

And Mo Williams had already shown that he was useless in the playoffs, and Wu Sheng was no longer young. Despite a strong regular season, James should be worried when the playoffs came.

Several other games weren't as popular as Cavaliers vs. Lakers. The Celtics captured the Magic in a strong matchup, and the Heat defeated the Knicks easily.

None of these Eastern Conference teams were competitors for the Warriors. Only games between the Nuggets, Trail Blazers, and Suns against the Clippers caught Liam's attention.

Apart from the Clippers, the other three teams were direct competitors of the Warriors for playoff spots. Liam was always paying attention to their moves. The team's video analysis room contained many of their game videos if they made it to the playoffs, which could be used directly when needed.

Liam asked Jonathan to find the video of the Suns vs. Clippers game and studied it carefully.

In this game, the Suns defeated the Clippers 124-93. Under Nash's coordination, 7 players from the Suns scored in double figures. The scene was brutal. "Little Bully" Stoudemire made 10 of 15 shots for 26 points efficiently, destroying the Clippers' interior defense.

Liam watched the cooperation between Nash and Stoudemire repeatedly, and his expression gradually turned serious.

He then asked Jonathan to find a video of the Lakers-Cavaliers game, fast-forwarded it and watched closely James' attempts to attack the rim and the Lakers' Towers in low post situations.

Finally, Liam checked the time. Unknowingly, over three hours had passed, and it was 11:30. He leaned back in his chair and started thinking deeply.

Liam González had some plans for the Warriors' next path.

He wasn't expecting great results this year. As long as they could make it to the playoffs, that would be enough. He mainly used the games to train the young players, especially Curry and Butler.

Many players on the Warriors were not part of Liam's plans and were destined to leave or be marginalized.

In Liam's mind, the "iron triangle" composed of Curry, Green, and Klay would be the cornerstone of the Warriors. If the Warriors really wanted to build an offensive and defensive system, they would have to wait until next year's draft.

He found it impossible to abandon a successful path and start a new one.

In his past life, Klay entered the draft as a junior in 2011, while Green entered as a senior in 2012. After that, they spent another two or three years training, which allowed the Warriors to jump several years in their lineup before it took off in 2014.

But neither of them wanted to be older rookies, simply because they weren't favorites. Therefore, they had no choice but to continue playing in the NCAA and enter the draft after improving their numbers.

If possible, everyone would want to join the draft right after their first year to make money upfront and train earlier for the NBA.

After Liam made a promise to Green, Green certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to wait until his last year to enter the draft.

In response to the personal recruitment from the owner and head coach of the Warriors, Green immediately declared that he would train well according to Liam's request and enter the draft this year.

Mary Green even promised Liam that if Green didn't meet his goal, she would break his legs.

After taking care of Green, only Klay remained. Liam had asked Larry Riley to arrange for scouts to communicate with Klay and get preliminary feedback.

Klay was different from Green. Power forwards like Green, who were strong and not as highly favored by others, usually didn't get the attention they deserved. Even Hansbrough, who dominated the NCAA, was selected by the Pacers with the 15th overall pick after his final year.

Players like Klay, shooters, had always fared well in the draft. He delayed his draft entry until his third year not because he was worried about not getting picked, but because he wanted to enter the NBA with a higher selection.

Klay's father, Mitchell Thompson, was also a former first overall pick and won a championship with the Lakers. He was well connected in the league and getting Klay into the NBA wasn't difficult for him.

Therefore, Klay's response wasn't as positive as Liam had hoped. Mitchell Thompson, who was in charge of Klay's draft matters, focused on the draft picks the Warriors could offer and Klay's training plan, so the scouts couldn't get any solid answers. Liam could only ask Larry Riley to communicate with him.

This veteran in the NBA circles wasn't going to be as easy to deal with as Green's family, who were eager to change their destiny, but there was still a lot of time before next year's draft, so Liam believed it wouldn't be a problem. After all, Klay wasn't the number one pick like Irving. Yes, the Warriors were still very attractive to him.

And if Klay, Green, and Butler were all successfully selected, the Warriors would have a solid team to build on. After some good training, they could start the small-ball era and compete with the Central Plains heroes.

But there was a premise—taking full advantage of the rookie contract bonuses.

In his past life, Klay and Green entered the league relatively late. Curry had frequent injuries in his early years and signed a rookie-scale contract after his rookie contract ended. The cheap contracts for the three of them were an important factor in the Warriors' rise.

Now that Curry had escaped the fate of being a "glass man," it was likely that Klay and Green would enter the league after Curry's rookie contracts overlapped. If they didn't fully take advantage of the rookie contract bonuses, things would get complicated. As a result, when they played well, the Warriors would need to renew the contracts of the four potential new stars. They would soon become a well-paid team, and could only match the basic salary with other rookie contracts.

Although Liam had opened his "eyes to the sky," rookies needed to be cultivated, and the Warriors would find it harder to compete for the championship.

Liam originally wanted to accumulate some 3D players. This was a very scarce resource in the small-ball era and also fit well with the Warriors' tactics.

But today, after watching the game video from the perspective of a spectator, he suddenly woke up. His strategic judgment seemed to be off.

Although he had a nuclear arsenal that marked the beginning of the small-ball era and completely subverted the concept of basketball, that didn't mean the interior line was unimportant.

In his past life, the next ten years belonged to James, Curry, Durant, and Leonard. These four were at the top of the league and won nine championships in this decade.

There's no doubt that James was the greatest winner. He reached the Finals a total of 9 times, won 4 championships, and 4 FMVPs. He dominated the Eastern Conference and firmly established himself as the number one player in the league.

Looking at his opponents in the Finals, of the five losses, except for the two years he faced the Universe Yong and had no chance, the other three losses were to teams with dominant centers.

The 2011 Mavericks had the best defensive center in Tyson Chandler, who was named Defensive Player of the Year the following year.

Not to mention the 2014 Spurs, who had a young Duncan in the paint. Aside from sweeping the Cavaliers in 2007, Duncan had always been a pain for James. In the 2013 Finals, the Spurs only lost to the Heat.

The Warriors' starting center in 2015 was Bogut. Although this player had a poor character and basketball skills, he was excellent defensively. He was the leader in blocks and was selected to the Second Defensive Team, interfering with James' offense.

It's worth mentioning that when James faced the 73-win Warriors in the 2016 Finals, Bogut injured his left knee in Game 5 and missed the next three games. The Cavaliers took advantage of the opportunity and won three straight games, coming back from a 1-3 deficit.

In the other two Finals James won, one opponent was the Thunder with the little-known Patrick Perkins at center, and the other was the Heat, with Adebayo at center, who fit the small-ball style. In Game 1, he also suffered an injury, and his performance after the comeback wasn't impressive.

It's clear that James had more difficulty with teams featuring dominant centers, especially in his Cavaliers 1.0 and Heat 2.0 periods. At this time, there weren't enough shooters around him, and the spacing was inherently flawed. A dominant center could effectively contain him.

There's no doubt that James would not join the Warriors. He would be one of the Warriors' greatest opponents in the future. If the Warriors wanted to reach the top, they would have to overcome James.

Thus, a dominant defensive center was an indispensable configuration. Liam wouldn't forget that although James had been swept by Universe Yong once 4-1 and 4-0 another time, he played exceptionally well in the Finals. His statistics were beautiful, even though the four famous receivers of Universe Yong rotated in defense, none of them had great results.

Liam saw the scene on screen where James attacked the Lakers' interior, but missed a layup due to Bynum's interference. This strengthened his belief that the team needed a big center!

Biedrins was good, but he couldn't defend James at all, which became very clear against the Lakers.

He was suitable for offense in the small-ball era and defense in that era, but he wasn't capable of protecting James.

Basically, Green had been secured by Liam. He would be the answer for the Warriors' fifth position in the small lineup. What the Warriors needed was a big, heavy shield that could withstand the impact of James, not a light center like Biedrins.

Liam was a determined person. Otherwise, he wouldn't have personally recruited Green with the respect of the head coach. After making the decision, he canceled his previous plan without hesitation, took his phone, and called Larry Riley.

"Hey, boss, what's up?" Larry Riley's voice soon sounded on the other end of the phone.

Liam spoke in a deep voice: "Larry, I want to make a deal."

"Trade?" Larry Riley's voice showed a bit of surprise, but then he calmed down and asked: "What pieces can we offer? Who's the target for the trade?"

"I'm offering Andris Biedriņš and draft picks, and what I need is a center, a top defensive center!"

End of this chapter

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