Chapter 733: Chapter 497: Coach and Mixed Scholar (Combined) Chapter 733: Chapter 497: Coach and Mixed Scholar (Combined) This was a special juncture of the season.

With two days left until the trade deadline, the SuperSonics and the Spurs were two teams that could be virtually certain not to make any major trades on the deadline.

The reason was that the Spurs had already done what they needed to do, while the SuperSonics belonged to the group that had no room for operation. For them, rather than making rash moves, it was better to wait and see.

As Tyronn Lue’s coaching debut, this game was the center of widespread attention.

The more optimistic media treated the influence Lue had on the SuperSonics as an experimental public test of sorts.

Bill Simmons had issued a bold statement: that there were probably only two or three coaches in the league that could influence the outcome of a game. That is to say, he believed that other coaches were dispensable.

George Karl was one of the few coaches Simmons deemed influential, and his departure was a significant impact for the SuperSonics. However, if his successor could make the SuperSonics look as if nothing had changed, that would only confirm his judgment.

The media, led by Simmons, hyped up tonight’s game with much enthusiasm.

This brought a lot of extra pressure to Lue.

Lue suffered from insomnia.

That afternoon, Lue appeared a bit jittery, and when rookie Alonzo Gee made a mistake in his positioning, he lost his temper, “Gee, you have to be more meticulous in your game! Stop making those stupid mistakes!!!”

“Tyronn, calm down,” Lue’s assistant coach consoled him, “the mistake is not a big deal.”

Lue knew they were right, he had overreacted.

But that was no consolation.

His nerves had been on edge for several days, and his coaching debut had the misfortune of facing off against a formidable opponent like the Spurs.

Lue was aware that first impressions were important. If he botched tonight, people would remember his failure for a long time.

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Lue deeply understood that he had a rare opportunity–if he could seize it, his coaching career would race ahead, just like the past Doc Rivers, treated as a “natural-born coach.”

Such pressure needed a release, and a rookie like Alonzo Gee became the scapegoat.

There was no way Lue could bring his pressure to Yu Fei or Durant.

The training went smoothly.

Lue had hardly instilled his coaching philosophy to the team because he simply didn’t have one. Last season he was still playing ball, and throughout the half-season, besides being Karl’s sidekick, he was responsible for cheering players from the sideline; he had zero foundational coaching skills in tactics, locker room management, game analysis, and the like.

It was akin to asking someone who had never practiced for a test to take a driving theory exam.

Fortunately, Lue had an experienced coaching team beside him, and the system left by Karl didn’t need his scalpel.

Therefore, maintaining the status quo, without any adjustments, was the right choice.

After training, Lue again gathered the assistant coaches to prepare for the pre-game meeting.

Yu Fei, seeing him bustling about as if he had boundless energy, couldn’t help but find it amusing: “Relax, losing one game won’t cost you your job.”

Coach Lu snapped back, “I **want** to win!”

“No problem, it’s just the Spurs team, right? When George was here, we won easily.”

The reason that drove Coach Lu up the wall was that the Spurs, during Karl’s era, were a team the SuperSonics easily dominated.

But that was then, and this is now. If one always compares the past to the present, why not compare one’s birth to now?

The Spurs were no longer the same!

They had gotten rid of the dissatisfied Caron Butler and almost got Andre Iguodala for free, whose philosophy of play was consistent with that of the Spurs; their strength greatly increased. As long as Duncan stayed healthy, they were a super team that could rival the SuperSonics and the Lakers.

This was the source of Lue’s frustration.

Anyone paying attention to basketball knew the Spurs were not the same, but if he dared to lose tonight, there would be countless people calling back to Karl.

For a coach, nothing is more difficult than having your team’s supporters reminisce about your predecessor right in front of you, which is even scarier than a woman telling her boyfriend that her ex was better in bed.

Yu Fei saw his nervous look, laughed, and patted his shoulder, “Ease up, the Spurs aren’t as terrible as you think.”

“What if?” Coach Lu looked steady as an old dog.

Yu Fei responded, “It’s your coaching debut tonight, I won’t let you lose the game.”

In the evening, the crowd poured into Key Arena.

Around the main venue of the SuperSonics, there were several major attractions, one of which was the conspicuous Reebok Building with a huge poster of Yu Fei on the side, and next to it was a bustling commercial area where countless shops thrived on game nights.

However, since the conclusion of the All-Star weekend, it had become a regular protest site for Seattle’s well-known civil rights organization, “Let Citizens Focus on More Important Matters.”

It was common knowledge that the SuperSonics would submit a financing proposal for a new arena to the city government in June of this year, and according to prior polls, Seattleites had no objections.

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But during the All-Star weekend, the team owner Clay Bennett openly sided with the capitalists, becoming a vanguard of the owner’s camp, and was then exposed for a net profit exceeding one hundred million US dollars yearly since Yu Fei’s transfer to the team.

This news detonated the civil rights activists.

They couldn’t accept a team with an annual net profit of over one hundred million US dollars using taxpayers’ money to build themselves a luxurious stadium.

The protest aimed at awakening citizens kicked off outside Key Arena.

As long as someone entered Key Arena, they would inevitably learn about the related issues.