Chapter 1164: Chapter 370: The Cold-Blooded Emperor
Last season, Allan Houston would give his all to defend against every opponent. During the first two games of the finals, even though he almost got exhausted chasing Richard Hamilton, he never stopped pursuing the masked man.
But today on the training court, he easily allowed opponents to break through and lazily chased them, giving Jason Richardson too many opportunities to shoot threes.
On the offensive side, Allan Houston’s movement wasn’t active either. As an off-ball scorer, not moving actively is akin to crippling oneself.
People who often engage in competitive sports know, if you don’t keep moving, you won’t find shooting opportunities.
After a 20-minute training match, Jason Richardson scored 21 points, while Allan Houston scored zero.
After the game, Allan Houston glared at Jason Richardson: "Too bad it’s just a training match. You won, but you won’t make headlines or become a star."
He was mocking Jason Richardson for taking the training match so seriously.
Jason Richardson shrugged: "It’s better than getting beaten badly."
To be honest, Jason Richardson wants to take down Allan Houston.
Last season, he might have been willing to back up Allan Houston and Tayshaun Prince.
But this season, he doesn’t want to waste time on the bench anymore.
Look at everything Allan Houston has gained, this summer he received more commercial contracts than he had in his entire career before.
Just because he’s the starting second position on the championship team.
At the third position, Jason Richardson has no competitiveness compared to Tayshaun Prince, because Little Prince’s biggest selling point is defense, which is something Richardson lacks.
But he believes he can do everything Allan Houston can do.
Jason Richardson is in a contract year, he also wants to sign a big contract, and he also wants countless commercial endorsements.
Ultimately, he wants to be the starting second position on the championship team.
Roger watched as Jason Richardson challenged Allan Houston, without interfering.
Sometimes, a bit more competition in the locker room might not be a bad thing.
In the subsequent days of training, Allan Houston was almost always repeating one thing, which was being defeated by Jason Richardson in training.
Jason Richardson was firing on all cylinders, every matchup with Allan Houston felt like playing in the finals.
And Allan Houston was being defeated not because he lacked strength, but because he was too content with his current situation and unwilling to fight hard on the training ground.
Why did he need to fight hard? His salary this season is as high as 17.53 million, and next season there’s 19.13 million waiting for him. The big contract signed years ago with the Warriors is still benefiting him now.
He has a championship, plenty of endorsements, and nearly 20 million annual salary, why shouldn’t he feel satisfied?
Last season, he fought so hard because he didn’t want to gain nothing in the Bay Area. Being introduced as a star player, only to accomplish nothing with the Warriors, hurt his pride as a man.
Therefore, he wanted to prove that the Warriors didn’t introduce him for nothing.
Now he has proven that. For Allan Houston, even if he got another ring, his life wouldn’t be much different from now.
Maintaining the desire to win after becoming a champion is not easy for anyone.
Passion, the first time is always the strongest. After the first time, it’s not easy to be as passionate the second time.
Erik Spoelstra could feel the growing tension on the training ground, so after today’s training match, he privately reminded Roger: "Aren’t you going to control it?"
"Control what?"
"Control this damn locker room, Allan and Jason are about to fight, I can feel it!"
"Oh, then let them fight." Roger replied casually.
"I don’t need to remind you what a locker room means to a team, do I?"
"Of course I know, I’ve been through the bloodiest locker room votes in NBA history, I’ve survived the best partner of the season deciding to leave me during the off-season. And yes, I’ve also punched teammates. So, I know exactly what I’m doing."
Erik Spoelstra suddenly realized, immediately breaking out in cold sweat: "Are you going to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys? You want people to see the consequences of being too complacent?"
"Why not? If he doesn’t want to climb up himself, then let him fall."
With that said, Roger, who had changed clothes, left the locker room.
Erik Spoelstra shook his head, wanting to be part of a dynasty isn’t all that easy.
In the subsequent training, Allan Houston’s performance slightly improved, but it was still not as good as last season, and far from Jason Richardson.
Finally, in the preseason, Allan Houston began to panic.
Not taking training seriously left him unable to find his game state; he initially thought that as long as he performed in the preseason, Jason Richardson could only watch as he continued to secure his starting position, but things didn’t go as smoothly as he imagined.
Rasheed Wallace had a saying: "Ball don’t lie."
Your attitude, your training, your desire to win, all of this will be faithfully reflected on the court.
If you lack strength, even if you’re the son of the GOAT, you’ll become a laughingstock on the court.