As expected, Warriors chose to dig inside after Bob Myers left office and promoted Mike Dunleavy to be the general manager of warriors.
In just five years, Deng Liwei completed the three-level jump, and the scout who never worked in the Warrior base camp was promoted to the helm of the Warrior operation.
For Deng Liwei, taking over miles at this time is undoubtedly a huge challenge. He has to face the departure of Raymond Green, the advance renewal of Clay Thompson, the draft and the signing deal. Which direction does the warrior lead to next? It depends on Deng Liwei’s next operation. Can he solve the Warrior’s “Dynasty sequela?
In the 2001 NCAA final, Duke University defeated the University of Arizona to win the championship 82-72. Sean Battier won the “most outstanding player award”, but the scoring king of Duke University in this game was Deng Liwei who got 21 points, the all-round forward, who can be inside and outside, hit 5 points and 3 points more than the whole team of the opponent.
A year later, Deng Liwei participated in the NBA draft. In that year, warriors who lost 61 games crazily had a 22.5 percent probability of getting the first prize sign. They were aiming at Chinese giant Yao Ming. Yao Ming’s excellent skills and backed Chinese market made Warriors salivating. However, the rocket with a probability of only 8.9 percent of winning the first prize became the lucky one. The Warrior only drew the flower search sign and finally chose Deng Liwei.
Deng Liwei played for the Warriors for four and a half seasons, with 10.6 points and 4.7 rebounds on average. For a flower show, such data is obviously unqualified. In addition, Deng Liwei got a five-year renewal contract of 44 million dollars. He was a model of high salary and low ability in the eyes of Warriors fans. Oracle Stadium often saw boos and abuse against Deng Liwei. It is worth mentioning that Deng Liwei’s big contract was just discussed by Miles, who was still his agent at that time.
“Looking back now, I may not have the right mentality as a flower show at that time. As a flower show, you have to play data, but I am too team-oriented. My interest is how to make the team better, how to cooperate well with teammates. Perhaps, I should have been more aggressive and more self-directed.” Deng Liwei said when reviewing the career of warriors.
In the middle of the 2006-07 season, Deng Liwei was sent to the Pacers. He had an average of 19.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists in a single season. Unfortunately, he was knocked down by injury when he was in the best state, and he never recovered his courage in the 2007-08 season. Deng Liwei is not destined to be the core of team building, but he is an excellent puzzle. At the end of his career, even at the age of 35, he was still regarded as “adhesive” by the bull “.
“I have been in the league for 15 years. I have had wonderful moments and enjoyed this journey.” Deng Liwei said, “I can’t be happier. I also hope that I can get the championship ring, but I don’t insist in my life. This is still an interesting journey.”
Deng Liwei settled in New York with his wife and three children after retirement. With his super high basketball IQ, he could have become an excellent coach, but he did not intend to coach. When Warrior management changed dramatically, senior consultant Jerry West and general manager assistant Schlenk left the team. Myers felt that he needed to bring in cronies to help himself. Myers chose Deng Liwei, the former customer.
Deng Liwei’s initial identity is “Scout”. He can continue to live in New York, stay with his family, and usually be responsible for the inspection of the Eastern NBA team and the surrounding university team. Deng Liwei said frankly: “This workload is just right for me. I can learn something first.”
Miles trusted Deng Liwei very much. The two were complementary. Deng Liwei provided information that Miles could not notice. Miles made a decision: “We have always had some shortcomings in scout, professional Scouts need to watch the game in person. You think I can watch many games, but in fact, I usually watch the games of the Eastern team only when they come here to play away, this is not enough to complete the evaluation of players.”
So far, Deng Liwei’s greatest presence in Warrior decision-making is the 2019 draft conference. That year, Deng Liwei watched the training and competition of Villanova University many times, and he was very optimistic about Eric pascarl. In addition, Deng Liwei watched the Jordan-Poole match three times in the Big Ten championship. At Dunleavy’s suggestion, the warrior chose Poole with the 28th sign and pascarl with the 41th sign.
Deng Liwei evaluates that new stars attach great importance to technology and organizational ability. He himself is an all-round flank in the player era. From this perspective, although the performance of Poole 2022-23 season is not satisfactory, Deng Liwei may try to protect Poole after taking office as general manager, and the possibility of Poole being traded during the off-season this year has decreased.
In 2019, Deng Liwei was promoted to become an assistant to the general manager. He went through the off-season with Warriors. Kevin Durant left, and the Warrior finished the complicated signing before changing. In order to clean up the space, the warrior sent away igodala first. In those days, the core members of the warrior management were making crazy calls and discussing in the hotel room. It was common to be busy until early morning.
This is the line. Are you sure you want to do this line?” Miles asked Dunleavy. Deng Liwei gave a “certainly willing” reply, and then he moved from New York to the Bay Area and officially started his full-time management career. Deng Liwei’s promotion speed is extremely fast. He was promoted to vice president of basketball affairs operation in 2021, and his voice is getting more and more sufficient.
In the past year or so, Deng Liwei’s role in the Warrior has obviously changed. Looking back now, perhaps the warrior has been deliberately cultivating Deng Liwei in the direction of “Miles successor.
The collective meeting of the general manager of the alliance was attended by Deng Liwei. When warriors decide to strengthen the influence of the data analysis team in the technical and tactical decision-making of the team, Deng Liwei is also responsible for communicating between the coaching team and the data analysis team, he built a bridge of communication between XI Du, a data analysis expert, and Kenny Atkinson, a teaching assistant. When Cole was able to accept a lot of suggestions from the data analysis team in the troop arrangement, Deng Liwei played an important role.
Cole doesn’t think this is an interference in his coaching. He is a modern coach who can accept new things. In addition, Cole accepted the suggestions of the data analysis team because of his trust in Deng Liwei.
“I attach great importance to Deng Liwei’s suggestion. He is respected in the team. Yogueta to communicate with Cole, Cole will also listen to his suggestion. He plays high-level matches in his player era, having worked with many coaches, he can give you different opinions.” Miles praised Deng Liwei.
Cole also praised Deng Liwei’s existence “always can bring me help”.
During the off-season this year, Deng Liwei will face new challenges.
The 2023 draft conference is coming soon. How will warriors with the 19th sign handle this first round of signing? The development of cuminga and Moody’s did not meet expectations, and the rookie Baldwin in 2022 was still waiting for the opportunity. Add another rookie, even if it is an older rookie, the warrior does not have much time and space for young people to adapt and integrate, and cannot greatly increase by combat capability.
Green has a player option worth 27.6 million dollars, and his stay is suspense. Thompson’s contract is only the last year left. Will Warriors renew it with him in advance? After all, Warriors need to decide whether to keep the old Trident or not. If they are not handled well, they may suffer a lot of abuse.
Next season, the total expenditure of Warriors’s salary plus tax may exceed 0.5 billion dollars. Under the new labor agreement, Warriors will be subject to many restrictions. How can Deng Liwei help Lake reduce the salary burden? This is related to the retention of Poole and cuminga.
Miles’s departure and Deng Liwei’s succession are regarded as the starting point for Warriors to enter a new era, but if Deng Liwei can let Warriors return to the peak, everyone is waiting for time to give an answer.
