Compared with last season, the Shanxi team has changed a lot, it can be said that it has been reborn, ranking fifteenth last season and entering the top eight this season. The local lineup of the Shanxi team is not too big, the core framework has not moved, two foreign aides have been changed, and the coaching team has changed blood.
Last season, Shanxi was a fish-belly team that was slaughtered. In fact, their lineup is not bad, but it does not form a whole, and it does not stimulate the potential and morale of the players. The key to this is still the adjustment of the coaching team, so the Shanxi team invited Yang Xuezeng back, and at the same time invited the old coach Pan Jianping to assist Yang Xuezeng.
The first change in Yang Xuezeng's return to Shanxi was the replacement of foreign aid. In the past few seasons, the Shanxi team has been a large and a small foreign aid combination, Scola, Jennings, Franklin, Morland, these two pairs have a strong fighting force, but they have not been able to bring the Shanxi team to a higher stage. Six-crowned coach Wang Fei also failed to make the Shanxi team improve. This season, Yang Xue has selected two small foreign aides, a striker and a defender, and the style has completely changed.
Two small foreign aides, the Shanxi team is obviously to speed up, with Feld as the core. Felder is short, fast, and has a strong ability to fight back, playing counter-attack is his advantage, and Feld is also a good show organizer, after all, he has played NBA guards. Simmons is in a bit of a poor shape, but there are also highlight moments, and it's okay to play a substitute.
Abandoning big foreign aid means that the local inner line has to bear more responsibilities. Previously, Ren Junwei was the core of shanxi's inner line, and after he left, the internal strength of shanxi team did not weaken, and Ge Zhaobao became a new inner pillar. In the past two seasons, Ge Zhaobao's state has not been good, and there are big foreign players, so his playing time has been compressed, and his tactical status is not high, biased towards blue-collar workers.
After Yang Xuezeng became the manager, he reused Ge Zhaobao and Xing Zhiqiang, and the two became the main force in the interior. Ge Zhaobao is a big man with all-round technology, low-level technology, good shooting feel, can shoot three-pointers, but the past 8 seasons have not reached the expected level, this season can be said to be a peak of Ge Zhaobao's career, even if he is 30 years old, the state is still good. Whether it is offensive or defensive, the combination of Ge Zhaobao and Xing Zhiqiang is very powerful, so Yang Xuezeng dares to boldly use two small foreign aides.
In terms of lineup matching, Yang Xuezeng also has a new change, boldly using first-year freshman Jia Hao as a starting small forward, letting Zhang Ning play the role of the sixth person, but also to increase the depth of the bench. At the same time, Zhang Hanjun's playing time was reduced, and he was the main rotation of the Number One position in the previous two seasons.
Today's Shanxi team is no longer a fish belly team that can be slaughtered, has the strength to fight a hard battle, and can defeat the top teams such as Liaoning, Guangdong and Guangsha, and is currently in the top eight. The Shanxi team has undergone a complete change, and the 62-year-old coach Yang Xuezeng has made great contributions, and it is his coaching team that has stimulated the vitality of the entire team and formed a strong whole.