However, the advantage of the Knicks' current roster was that as long as they could quickly bring everyone together, they could keep the locker room stable without any unnecessary issues cropping up.
Fortunately, Chen Xi was good enough, and his personality wasn't bad either. On top of that, years spent absorbing Westbrook's leadership had helped him develop a leader's presence. He should have no trouble taking control of the team and establishing his authority.
After all, Rose and he had a great relationship, and Grant, his former protégé, was hardly likely to "rebel." As for the old hands who knew all the League's unspoken rules, like Ingles and Gallinari, they'd already gone out of their way to get on Chen's good side.
So once the whole team had gathered and the assistant coaches had led them through a simple icebreaker, everyone quickly got to know one another.
After that came the usual morning practice.
The first day's training wasn't too demanding.
The goal was to help the players readjust to the intensity and let those who'd indulged themselves a little too much during the off-season gradually get back into shape.
So when practice wrapped up, most of the players still had plenty of energy in reserve.
Seeing that most of them didn't look particularly tired, Chen stepped forward and organized an extra round of practice.
"Come on, come on! Anyone still got some energy? Get over here and play a few rounds of one-on-one with me!"
Chen Xi clapped his hands, grabbed Grant beside him, and led everyone onto the court.
"How about we put something on the line? Three dribbles, first to eleven! Anyone who beats me gets five thousand dollars. Five thousand per game, no limit!"
To fire up the new players, Chen went straight for the simplest