Early August, Italy, Milan.
The first few clubs wholly owned by Lin Qi all began to break even. He also acquired a long-established private hospital in Milan Milan the name of Olimpia Club, and reorganized its core resources to create a professional sports medicine center with top-notch sports rehabilitation and physical training equipment in Europe.
During this offseason, the Boston Celtics ' coaching staff and medical team used this location as their overseas base for summer training and rookie combine. After finishing his business in Boston, Lin Qi also took the opportunity to come to Milan to review the team's overseas development plan for young players.
In the multi-purpose conference room on the second floor of the medical center.
Lin Qi sat at the long table, flipping through two detailed player physical fitness assessment reports. Sitting on either side of him were head coach Rick Carlisle, chief athletic trainer Ed Lasset, and strength and conditioning director Mike Boyle.
"Let's talk about Mehmet Okur first," Lin Qi said, unfolding one of the reports. "We've decided to keep him overseas and have him play two more years in the EBA. Ed, what's his physical assessment like?"
Head trainer Lasset adjusted his glasses and pointed to the data chart on the report, "Exceptional physical attributes, 2.11 meters tall, and a soft shooting touch. Because his playing style leans towards creating space on the perimeter and avoiding frequent contact under the basket, his current bone and joint wear and tear is far lower than that of traditional centers of the same age."
"This is good news, but it's also a potential problem." Lin Qi placed his hands on the table. " Europe coaches have a habit of giving their core players a lot of playing time. A big man like Okur, with height and shooting ability, will inevitably be the tactical core in the EBA. Under such a high load, the most likely problem is the long-term accumulation of fatigue."
Lin Qi looked at the medical team and gave the order directly, "Starting from the new season, set a cap on Okur's playing time in the EBA. His playing time per game must be strictly controlled to within 28 minutes. We absolutely cannot allow them to overexert him in pursuit of better results. At the same time, the Boston medical team must monitor his physical examination data every month, focusing on the load on his lower limbs and Achilles tendon. What we need is a healthy long-term asset, not a ready-to-play player who will be wasted overseas."
Lasset carefully noted down this strict requirement in his notebook. "Understood. We will include the playing time limit directly in the memo to the Milan coaching staff and establish a dedicated Achilles tendon stress monitoring file."
"Next up is Tyson Chandler Chandler." Lin Qi flipped to another report.
Strength and conditioning director Boyle picked up the thread. "Boss, Rick, there's been some internal discussion within the coaching staff regarding Tyson Chandler's development plan."
Rick Carlisle frowned. " Mike Tyson Chandler is 2.16 meters tall, but he's a bit underweight. If he faces a center of O'Neal's size, he'll have a hard time holding his own in head-to-head battles. My suggestion is to develop a muscle-building program for him this summer and during his rookie season, helping him gain 15 to 20 pounds as quickly as possible."
This was also the standard practice in the NBA at the time: young big men entering the league usually needed to gain weight to adapt to the physicality in the paint.
"I prefer to slow down the pace of muscle gain." Boyle shook his head, pointing to Chandler's bone density and spine scan. "He's only 19; his bones and core muscles are still developing. If we force him to gain 20 pounds of muscle at this stage, his lower limb joints and lower back will have difficulty adapting, easily leading to back spasms or chronic joint wear."
The meeting room fell silent, and both Rick Carlisle and Boyle looked at Lin Qi.
Lin Qi looked at the physical data on the report. In the national high school scouting reports, Chandler, who had just entered the league, was highly anticipated by some, who even tried to mold him into another " Kevin Garnett "-like all-around forward. But Lin Qi knew very well that Chandler didn't need to become Garnett, and Boston didn't need two Garnett. What he really needed was to become Kevin Garnett's perfect inside partner.
" Mike's right," Lin Qi decided. "We don't need Tyson Chandler to go toe-to-toe with Shaquille O'Neal O'Neal right now. Ben Wallace can handle those roles in positional play. We need to take our time developing Tyson Chandler Chandler; we can't rush it."
"First, reduce excessive weighted squats to avoid putting too much stress on the spine." Lin Qi looked at Boyle. "Have him build aerobic capacity through low-impact cardio, such as indoor cycling, while protecting his knees and ankles. His muscle-building focus should be on core, hip, and chassis stability, rather than blindly pursuing upper body muscle mass; maintain his speed."
Rick Carlisle asked thoughtfully, "What's his target weight for his rookie season?"
Boyle glanced at the schedule. "Keep around 240 pounds during the rookie season, maintaining the current body fat percentage. Increase to 250 pounds in the second year. Strength definitely needs to be increased, but it's a gradual process that requires patience."
High school centers with a slender build like Chandler often have to struggle in the league for years before truly developing physicality and strength in the later stages of their careers. But Boston has top-notch sports medicine and nutrition science, which can precisely take advantage of his developmental window.
Rick Carlisle pondered, "If we don't let him blindly build muscle and follow the traditional center path, who will defend the paint when Ben Wallace gets older?"
Lin Qi stood up and walked to the tactical whiteboard in the conference room.
In the eyes of grassroots basketball across the United States, the traditional slow-moving, heavy center is under attack. Lin Qi secretly thought of the monster who would inevitably shock the league as a high school player a few years later— Dwight Howard. That kind of interior attack power, which combines terrifying explosiveness, jumping ability and 260 pounds of weight, will be the nightmare of all defensive teams for the next few years.
But he didn't say the name aloud; he simply deduced it from the scout's logic.
" Rick O'Neal's dominance is changing the logic of player selection. In the coming years, the league will inevitably see a new generation of physically explosive interior players. They will test every team's defense with their speed and explosiveness."
Lin Qi turned to Rick Carlisle and the medical team. "By then, Ben Wallace will be getting older, and Garnett will need to take on more versatile defensive duties. Our paint needs a rim protector who is tall enough and has the mobility of Spider-Man to cover most of the half."
Lin Qi tapped Chandler's report with the tip of his pen.
"We need to consider not only the current matchups, but also the changes in the style of play in the paint over the next few years. Tyson Chandler's development direction is to create a highly mobile, wide-ranging interior partner who will naturally possess top-tier competitiveness as he ages. We need to use scientific methods to help him skip the long adaptation period, and we must be mentally prepared to develop him for three to five years."
After listening, Rick Carlisle and Boyle exchanged a glance and gradually sorted out their thoughts.