A few days ago, the training ground of Olimpia Club Milan a young coach, David Blatt, who was specially invited by Lin Qi.
This young coach, born in Boston and raised in Massachusetts, was not yet a well-known star at this time.
From 1977 to 1981, Blatt played point guard at Princeton University, where he was deeply influenced by the passing and cutting philosophy of renowned coach Pete Carrier.
In 1981, he represented the Team USA at the Maccabiah Games and won a gold medal. He then went to play in the Israel league until he retired after the 1992-1993 season and took up coaching. In the years after his retirement, he coached in the Israel basketball scene and also competed in Europe competitions with his club. He has experience as an assistant coach and as an independent coach, accumulating solid coaching experience.
For Blatt, who was born in Boston, the Celtics ' invitation carried an extra layer of significance.
Lin Qi valued his understanding of the Princeton offense and his spatial awareness developed in Europe competitions, which is why he specifically invited him to the joint training camp in Milan. The two had already had in-depth discussions about joining the team. After the summer training camp, he will return to the United States with the Celtics to officially take on the role of the team's offensive assistant coach. Lin Qi brought him to Milan not only to let him get in touch with this overseas training team in advance, but more importantly, to formally introduce him to the team's head coach Doc Rivers, so that the two could work together on their coaching philosophies and discuss the direction of building the offensive system for the new season.
In the tactics room of the training hall, traces of the defensive test still remained on the whiteboard.
Lin Qi held a black Mark in his hand. Instead of erasing the complicated defensive routes, he drew four connected arrows in the blank space, then turned to look at the coaching staff sitting in the front row.
"As a team that just won the championship, do you believe that all the video analysts in the league are watching tapes repeatedly to dissect our offensive strategies?" Lin Qi's voice broke the silence on the sidelines. "Therefore, we can no longer run pick-and-rolls and half-court plays like we did last season, with fixed routes. If the point guard starts gesturing as soon as he crosses half-court, and the rest of the players just follow a predetermined formula, we're practically handing the opponent the standard the Answer."
Lin Qi tapped the whiteboard twice with his pen cap. "The problem isn't the high pick-and-roll, the low post offense, or any particular tactic itself, but that we've made them too rigid. Next season, opponents will definitely try their best to disrupt our primary receiver. Once the first option is shut down, the offense stops spinning. And then what? The rest of us just stand outside watching, waiting for Chris Paul or Kevin to go toe-to-toe with the defender?"
At this point, Lin Qi turned around and, in the center of the four interconnected arrows he had just drawn, wrote down a word that everyone present was familiar with.
Motion Offense.
"You're all familiar with this term," Lin Qi said, tapping the whiteboard and glancing at the coaches present. " Bob Knight won a championship in the NCAA with it, and the Princeton system is full of its influence. Sergio, David, you've certainly dealt with similar passing and cutting logic a lot in Europe competitions. It's not some mysterious new invention."
Lin Qi changed the subject, tapping the words on the whiteboard with his pen cap. "But the problem is, in the past, the NBA, including our Celtics team, has never treated it as a core, regular weapon. We always felt it was too 'academic,' too soft. Since we have the best physical talent in the league, why go through all that trouble? Giving the ball to the superstars, spacing the floor for one-on-one plays, or running those predictable half-court tactics seems much simpler and more direct."
"But if we want this championship-winning team to maintain its dominance in the long run and stop being completely figured out by other people's video analysts," Lin Qi looked directly at everyone, "We must truly transplant the underlying logic of 'dynamic offense' into this team. It's not about copying the off-ball movement from college, but about breaking down our existing fixed tactical routes into choices that automatically arise based on the defense's reactions."
Lin Qi paused, then pointed Mark marker at David Blatt beside him. " David, you played point guard at Princeton and coached in the Israel league for many years. You understand better than anyone what 'dynamic offense' looks like in practice. We've talked about it before. But to turn it into rules that players can understand and execute, it requires you people who truly understand tactics and training to break it down together."
Blatt nodded slightly, took the Mark, and added a few small triangles next to the four arrows Lin Qi had drawn.
"Lin is on the right track. Passing and cutting, positioning, weak-side screens—these are things college basketball and Europe basketball have had for a long time," Blatt said slowly. "What we need to do now is to break these principles down from fixed routes and turn them into a set of rules for reading and reacting that all players can understand."
Sitting on the other side, Sergio Scariolo frowned, tapping his fingers on the tactics book. "I understand the direction. The problem is, the concept always works on the whiteboard, but not necessarily in the last five minutes. How much freedom do we give the players? Who decides where to initiate the attack? If the two players on the weak side have different the Answer, the attack will die at our own hands."
"We're not completely abandoning tactics, but rather changing fixed routes to conditional rules," Lin Qi continued, writing four words on the whiteboard: Spacing, Cut In, Fill Position, Re-attack.
"Tactics are only responsible for creating the first advantage. From then on, all five players must continue to operate according to the same set of rules. Defensive switch, we attack mismatches. Defensive collapse, we get the ball to the perimeter. Defensive interception lane, we immediately cut back. Every defensive choice must automatically trigger the next offensive play." Lin Qi surveyed the court. "Currently, the league's illegal defense rules restrict defenders' positioning and help defense methods, but the rules won't remain unchanged forever. When defenders can collapse, help, and rotate more freely, teams that rely on fixed positions and isolation plays will be in big trouble."
The young Igor Kokoškov immediately added, "In training, we must first compress the choices. For example, make the first judgment within half a second of receiving the ball, forcing them to stop pointless ball stops."
Blatt continued, "Then we map each defensive move to a fixed trigger condition. If they intercept the ball, they cut back. If they drive to the strong side, a passing window must be maintained on the weak side. If someone cuts in, the adjacent player immediately fills the gap. We can't let them play completely freely; we need all five players to read the defense using the same set of rules, to know what the first choice is in each situation."
The coaches argued around the whiteboard for a few more minutes. Lin Qi was in charge of setting the direction, Scariolo kept asking about the risks in the game, and Blatt and Kokoškov broke down the abstract concepts into training rules that the players could immediately implement.
Finally, Scariolo closed the tactics book and nodded.
"Let's start with the four most basic rules."
Blatt walked to the sidelines, called over the starting lineup, and relayed the decisions the coaching staff had just finalized to the players.
Rule 1: Within half a second of receiving the ball, make the first judgment: shoot, pass, drive, or immediately start the next combination play; meaningless ball stops are not allowed.
Rule 2: When a defender presses and blocks the passing lane, immediately cut back. When a teammate with the ball breaks through, the player on the weak side must maintain a clear passing window.
Rule 3: When one player cuts into the penalty area, the adjacent players fill in in turn; no two players without the ball may be in the penalty area at the same time.
Rule 4: Whenever a switch or double-team occurs, the newly formed weakness must be attacked immediately.
On the court, Chauncey Billups Billups held the ball and positioned himself, while Garnett moved up high. Pierce positioned himself in the left corner, Rasheed Wallace stood at the left 45-degree angle, and Eddie Jones spread out in the right corner.
However, the smooth plan on the whiteboard ran into a wall in the first combat exercise.
In the first possession, Garnett moved up high, set a screen, and then suddenly cut to the basket early, but Pierce also cut inside at almost the same time, and the two Boston Celtics key players almost collided in the middle of the paint.
"Stop!" Kokoškov blew his whistle. " Kevin has already cut to the basket, Chris Paul can't squeeze into the same lane anymore. Move to the wing, or stay in the corner and spread out! If one player occupies vertical space, the adjacent player must spread out lateral space!"
In the second practice, the player responsible for defending Wallace suddenly pressed forward, blocking the ball's path on the wing. Billups, however, anticipated that Wallace would move towards the top of the key and passed the ball out in advance. Wallace was also a fraction of a second too slow and failed to cut back in time, causing the ball to fly directly out of bounds.
Blatt stepped forward and solemnly corrected him. "You're all wrong. Chauncey Billups, you can't pre-plan the Answer for your teammates. Rasheed, the defender has already blocked the receiving route; the agreed-upon first option is a back cut. Dynamic offense isn't about guesswork; it's about all five players reading the defense using the same set of rules. Let's start over!"
The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time...
The entire drill was fraught with difficulties and far from the smooth progress it appeared on the whiteboard. Doc Rivers stood on the sidelines, watching these seasoned players from official games repeatedly collide, arms crossed, deep in thought.
It wasn't until the seventh time that they started.
On the court, Garnett moved to the high post again, setting a screen in front of Billups, but suddenly cut to the basket before the two made contact. The defender guarding the right corner saw this and immediately left Eddie Jones, moving laterally to the edge of the paint to double-team Garnett was cutting to the basket.
Billups didn't force the ball into the crowd; instead, he turned to his left. Wallace had already positioned himself on the wing, setting a solid off-ball screen to block Pierce's pursuer. Pierce took the opportunity to rise from the baseline along the three-point line, and Billups ' pass landed perfectly in his hands.
After completing the cover, Wallace immediately sank to the left corner, giving Pierce space on the flank.
Pierce received the ball and, without stopping, sent it diagonally across the top of the penalty area, accurately finding Eddie Jones at the right corner. The defender who had just double-teamed Garnett was rushing back to the corner, but was still a fraction too late.
Jones received the ball and shot, the three-pointer going in cleanly.
"Whoosh!"
From Garnett cutting to the basket early to draw a double team, to Wallace setting a screen and dropping to the corner, to Pierce receiving the ball and passing it to Jones finishing on the weak side, the entire play took less than six seconds.
Doc Rivers stared at the positions on the court for a few seconds, his expression grave.
"At least for this round, their judgment was correct," Scariolo exclaimed. "Now let's try a different defensive approach and see if they can figure out a new solution."
In the center of the training field, Garnett excitedly pumped his fist. "That's how you pass it! Let's do it again!"
Lin Qi stood on the sidelines, picked up his water glass, took a sip, and his eyes revealed undisguised satisfaction.
At this stage, the dynamic attack is far from mature, and the understanding between players also needs time to be honed.
But Lin Qi had already seen what he wanted. He only put forward an abstract idea, which was quickly broken down by the group of coaches into a tactical prototype that the players could immediately put into training.