The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 512 - 255 Old Knight Rendezvous_2

The situation with the Cavaliers was completely different from that of the Grizzlies.

Before Hansen had gone to the Grizzlies, the team already had a mature system in place; he was essentially a puzzle piece.

But as he played, he became the biggest piece.

However, the Cavaliers were about to change coaches and had to rebuild the team system from scratch, and the play style for the new season remained an unknown.

Only after these things were determined could they sign the players needed for the new system.

All of this had to wait until Malone arrived.

But the free agency market would open in just two days, so time was pressing for the Cavaliers.

Griffin had left, but Hansen wasn’t idle.

He had Rondo start looking for some suitable houses.

Although he had been in Memphis for four years, he had never planned to buy a house there because the place was too chaotic.

In contrast, Cleveland was a more pleasant environment, a livable city, and he planned to purchase a home there this summer.

After many years in the league, it was time he had a den of his own.

He himself drove to the Quicken Loans Arena.

Humans are creatures that need a sense of belonging. Over the years, he had played at the Quicken Loans Arena, but returning as a Cavalier felt different.

Especially when he parked his car, walked toward the entrance, and looked up to see the poster, he couldn’t help but smile.

At that moment, the facade of the arena proudly displayed a solo poster of him in the Cavalier’s number 77 jersey.

Four years ago, when he left the Cavaliers, he had lamented that the arena posters were always out of date. Little did he expect them to be updated so frighteningly fast this time.

The access card that Griffin had given him was very useful; he made his way to the locker room without any hindrance.

When he walked into that familiar "bathhouse" locker room, he found that the locker that had once been his was now totally cleared out and waiting for him, with his nameplate already slotted in.

Perhaps it wasn’t a sudden increase in staff efficiency, but rather management had given the order.

He rummaged in his pocket for a while and pulled out the nameplate Griffin had given him back then.

Previously, keeping it in his wallet as a memento, he had changed wallets a few times, but this nameplate had stayed.

Compared to the one in front of him, due to time, it had yellowed somewhat.

He inserted the old nameplate in front of the new one.

Looking at the scene in front of him, he couldn’t help feeling sentimental for a time.

Just like how in his previous life, before he went back in time, he always felt like he had just graduated from university, now he felt as though he had never left the Cavaliers.

He put his bag in the locker and began to change into his gear.

He hadn’t trained much these past few days, and now it was time to get moving.

Hansen was familiar with the practice facility as well.

He hadn’t been training for long when Conningham pushed the door open and entered.

The guy was originally on vacation in Miami, but when he heard that Hansen was back in Cleveland, he caught an early morning flight back.

Seeing Hansen, the excitement was unmistakable. If Hansen hadn’t stopped him, Conningham would probably have pounced on him like Harden on Yao Ming, crashing his two hundred pounds onto him.

"Boss, why didn’t you tell me before you came? I would have picked you up!"

Hearing the familiar yet strange address, Hansen just smiled and shook his head.

After seeing the crazy video of the Cavaliers fans, he chose to keep as low a profile as possible.

After all, the challenges of the new season were significant, and he needed to get himself into the best shape before the season started.

"I’m already here; go change and come to practice with me," Hansen said as he began to warm up.

Conningham nodded and ran to the locker room.

Soon after, he was back in his training gear.

The two of them played against each other for more than half an hour.

Conningham’s skills, especially his defense, had improved year after year, which was why he could continue to stay in the NBA despite being a shorter post player.

Of course, the gap between him and Hansen had already become very large.

Hansen was basically just warming up.

However, Hansen wasn’t in a hurry to train; after the scrimmage, the two sat by the court and chatted leisurely.

"Boss, if you hadn’t come back, I think I would really be heading to the CBA in a couple of years." Playing on a weaker team for a long time can slowly erode a player’s value.

"But now that you’re back, I feel like no one will want to face us in the new season."

Hansen couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this; this guy obviously hadn’t missed any of his news.

"Talk to me about the team’s situation," Hansen asked.

The reason he hadn’t talked to Griffin about it before was that compared to the management, players really know better about other players.

Conningham had been a substitute for the Cavaliers for years, first playing behind Jamison, then Thompson.

After his contract expired last season, the Cavaliers renewed it with a three-year, $8.9 million contract.

Although the contract and role weren’t significant, he had become one of the "old men" of the Cavaliers.

No one probably knew the situation of the Cavaliers better than him.

"Kyrie is a very contradictory person. He’s extremely confident; he believes he can handle everything by himself, but his emotional intelligence is quite low. Do you know what I mean, boss? He’s the kind of person who says we should unite before the game, then goes on the court, leaves everyone else out, and keeps the ball to himself."

Hansen rubbed his forehead subconsciously as he listened; he knew Irving was a handful, but this sounded even more troublesome than he had anticipated.

"However, off the court, he’s a nice guy. He always gives us gifts on Christmas, and he often helps those in need in the community."

Irving could be described as one of the NBA’s most complex characters.

"As for TT, he’s probably the toughest guy I’ve seen on the court, but he doesn’t have a great temper, and he frequents nightclubs. Who knows how he manages to party all night and still come back the next day full of energy."

After hearing this, Hansen laughed.

Thompson wasn’t much of a surprise; after all, he was the only guy in the NBA who managed to break through the Kardashian family’s tight defense.

The so-called "28 Kash" was just a legend; TT was the real tough guy.

"Spencer has a nickname, ’needle’; he hasn’t been with the team for long, but he’s the most popular guy. Just like his nickname, he’s really good at passing, and he also brings us together off the court. Plus, he’s a food expert and a stylist, which is super cool."

Hansen knew very little about Hawes; his impression from past engagements was just a tall guy who could shoot threes.

Now it seemed he was capable of much more than expected, kind of like a poor man’s version of Jokic.

"Luol is a very composed guy; he’s a born leader and a true team player. However, I don’t think he’s very happy here. He’ll probably leave this summer."

Deng was a player who could easily be overlooked, although Hansen knew from "history" that he once got a big contract with the Lakers while mostly sidelined due to injury, and that was more about injuries and age factors.

Before his decline, he was among the league’s top small forwards, and he still had near All-Star level ability; he was an extremely cost-effective forward.

Moreover, his defense was excellent, much better than Guy’s.

"Matthew is the hardest-working guy on the team. Boss, I rarely see anyone with the same training intensity as you, and he’s one of them."

Conningham also made special mention of Delavadova on the bench.

Hansen had a pretty solid impression of him because of Australia’s backcourt duo, Delavadova and Mills, who, at nearly 40, could still hammer East University Men’s Basketball Team’s perimeter.

Looking at this, the Cavaliers’ roster from last season wasn’t as bad as imagined. If anything, it might just have been Irving’s lack of leadership.

Or rather, the Cavaliers had previously lacked someone who could really keep Irving in line.

Griffin had moved quickly; he had flown to Sacramento while Hansen went to the Quicken Loans Arena to train.

And that very day, Malone had reached a buyout agreement with the Kings and then signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the Cavaliers.

The day before the free agency market opened, Hansen met the travel-weary Malone at the Quicken Loans Arena.

Compared to four years ago, Malone now seemed noticeably older. Although he was only 43, there were already grey hairs at his temples.

The pressure facing an NBA head coach is completely different from that of an assistant coach.

The mentor and disciple met, exchanged a knowing smile, and then shared a firm and strong embrace.

It’s worth noting that the salary a head coach can get from a buyout is different from being fired, and Malone had made a financial sacrifice in that regard.

But who could blame him when Hansen had returned to the Cavaliers!

Once they had both been just supporting roles in the Cavaliers, unable to determine the team’s destiny.

But this time, they would become the helmsmen of the Cavaliers.

The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on (f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦