Almighty Coach

Auckland, Golden State Warriors Training Camp.

Fidel, the team doctor, hurried into the room. There was a TV on the wall. On both sides of the TV, there was a tactical board of the court. On the other side was a whiteboard.

This was where the team analyzed and discussed tactics. Fidel did not come here often. Right now, all members of the coaching staff had arrived.

Fidel felt like he was late. He said apologetically, “Sorry coach. I rushed here as fast as I could.”

After Fidel finished talking, he went to the back to find a seat.

“Fidel, sit here.” The Warriors’ coach, Nicholas, pointed to a seat close to him.

It was the seat facing the TV. Usually, the head coach, Nicholas, would sit there alone. There was an extra chair there today.

Although Fidel felt somewhat overwhelmed and a bit flattered, he nodded and sat next to Nicholas.

“Fidel, look at this.” Nicholas pressed the remote.

The game between the Clippers and the Blazers appeared on the TV.

Fidel didn’t understand for a while. He thought about it carefully. The Clippers and the Blazers were both teams in the Western Conference and the Clippers and Warriors were also in the Pacific Division. Their chances of facing off against each other were quite high. In the next two weeks of competition, the Warriors would not meet the Clippers or the Blazers. He was just a team doctor. He didn’t know much about tactics, so he didn’t quite understand the reason Nicholas wanted him to watch the video.

“Coach, why am I watching this?” Fidel asked.

“Look at him.” Nicholas pointed to Wood on the TV. “Look at Wood.”

“Oh, he played very well. There were a few very beautiful shots. It was enjoyable to watch!” Fidel was a bit slow to catch on.

“What else?” Nicholas asked.

“What else!” Fidel thought about it and said helplessly, “Well, you may not be happy to hear it, but my two sons are fans of his.”

Fidel’s slowness made Nicholas feel discouraged. If it weren’t for Fidel’s medical skills, Nicholas would have kicked Fidel out.

Nicholas had no choice but to clarify, “I want you to watch his movement. Don’t pay attention to whether or not they were well executed. Analyze, from a professional’s point of view, how much has his knees have recovered.”

Nicholas said everything very clearly. He was afraid Fidel might misunderstand again.

Fidel suddenly understood the situation. He gave a little smile. He then looked at the TV screen. After focusing on it for ten seconds, he said, “In my professional judgment, Wood’s knees are in better condition than most normal players. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to pull off such difficult maneuvers. For example, if you rewind a bit…”

Nicholas pressed the rewind button. Fidel pointed to the TV. “Yes, here, after the sudden stop, the immediate change in direction, then a jump-and-throw. Such coherent movements, coordination of the body, and explosive power require great strength. The average player cannot perform such actions. Doing something like this puts the joints on the knees under pressure in all sorts of areas within a short time span. Unless he has a very strong knee, he will get injured very easily…”

Fidel’s analysis was as fierce as a tiger. As he was talking, he suddenly stopped.

“Wait a minute. Is this Wood?” Fidel stared at the screen in surprise.

After repeated confirmation, Fidel found that this was not a simulation. Suddenly, he showed an expression of shock, “How did Wood’s knees recover? This is impossible!”

“So you also think it is impossible?” Nicholas asked.

Fidel nodded and thought for a while. “Wood’s injuries stem from a cruciate ligament tear. The torn cruciate ligament caused the subsequent menisci tearing. In fact, cruciate ligament rupture is a very common knee joint injury. The traditional medical treatment is arthroscopic ACL reconstruction, but the treatment for this is more complicated. As far as I know, Wood did undertake this treatment. This is an arthroscopic surgery. It is not only for the use of ACL reconstruction but also for the use of arthroscopic reduction and fixation surgery…”

Fidel’s professional analysis was, again, as fierce as a tiger. Professional jargon kept coming out of his mouth.

When Fidel finished his analysis, Nicholas asked, “So your conclusion is that it is impossible for Wood to recover from his injury?”

“In theory, yes.” Fidel shrugged and said, “But our reality is different from theory. Wood has really recovered.”

“Can you be sure? I mean, is it possible that he only did well this one game, but his knees still haven’t recovered?” Nicholas asked eagerly.

Fidel frowned. This time, he thought about for a long time. “This is a possibility, but I am not inclined to believe it is the case. From the technical performance shown by Wood, I think his knees have recovered.”

“What you mean is that his knees have returned to their state when he was in his prime?” Nicholas asked, unwilling to believe it.

“From this performance, I can draw such a conclusion,” Fidel nodded.

“Damn! Another MVP player,” Nicholas said somewhat angrily. “The competition in the Western Conference is getting tougher and tougher!”

…

It wasn’t only the Warriors, the defending champions, that paid close attention to the game between the Clippers and the Blazers. Other teams paid close attention to it as well. They focused on the fact that Wood had fully recovered.

This was not good news for the other 29 teams, especially for the ones in the Western Conference. It was very bad news. The competition in the Western Conference was fierce. The gap in skill between the teams in the playoffs was very small. It was often the case that three or four teams would compete for one or two places in the playoffs.

A healthy Wood meant that there was another MVP-level superstar in the NBA. It also meant that there was another team in the battle for a place in the playoffs in the Western Conference. That team was the Los Angeles Clippers.

An ordinary All-Star player could change the record of a team. An ordinary superstar player could change the results of the playoffs, and a regular season MVP was enough to change the situation of the entire NBA.

Every team had the same question. How did Wood recover from such a severe injury?

…

The schedule of the regular season was packed. The day after the Clippers returned from Portland, they had back-to-back games. Their first opponents were the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns wanted to tank this season. They didn’t want to win the game at all. Wood played very well in this game. He got 30 points, five rebounds, and seven assists. The Clippers eventually defeated the Suns.

Their next opponent was the Thunder. They had superstars on their team. This game was another battle between stars. In the end, the Thunder defeated the Clippers in the last 1.9 seconds. Wood’s performance in this game was still very good. He got a 20+10 double-double.

The record of two wins and one loss at the beginning of a new season was a very good result for the Clippers. This record convinced everyone that Wood had really recovered.

Many people had speculated, like Nicholas, that Wood’s performance was just a one time deal, and that his knees had not really recovered. They believed that he was only able to play the way he did because he had rested for a season, so his knees were slightly better. There was no way he would be able to maintain his performance.

Now, this speculation had been completely shattered. Playing as he did in one single game may be accidental, but doing it for three consecutive games dispelled any thoughts that it might be “accidental.”

…

After the back-to-back games, the Clippers had a two-day break, but the players did not rest. In addition to training, the Clippers arranged for a meet and greet with the media.

Although the usual practice for a meet and greet with the media was just to take photos and give interviews, the event was packed into a very short two hours.

Wood was clearly popular. He was a famous athlete when he was young. He used to be a popular athlete in the past, and only lost his popularity due to his injury. Now that he had recovered, he became interesting to reporters again.

Wood had suffered such a severe injury and had recovered in a short time. This was something that everyone was very interested in.

Dai Li accepted several interviews and left the scene. When he left, he did not forget to call Johnson, the general manager.

“Were there a lot of new faces today?” Dai Li asked with a smile.

“There were more people than usual. Many of them were indeed unfamiliar. They did not seem like they were reporters from Los Angeles.”

“They all came for Wood, right?” Dai Li stayed silent for two or three seconds, and then said, “How many of them were sent by other teams to gather information on us?”

“There were some, but probably not much,” Johnson said. “I think most of the new people were sent from hospitals. ”

“Hospitals? What do you mean?” Dai Li did not understand.

“Private hospitals, including joint research institutions and professional rehabilitation institutions. They must be very curious about how Wood recovered so well,” Johnson said. He lowered his voice and then curiously asked, “Coach Li, can you tell me, in secret, how you helped Wood recover? I won’t tell anyone.”

“Through rehabilitation training of course!” Dai Li said very casually.

Only a fool, however, would believe what he just said. Johnson didn’t.

“What? Don’t believe me?” Dai Li pointed to Johnson’s knee and said, “If you don’t believe it, tear your cruciate ligament, I will definitely help you recover…”

“Are you teasing me?” Johnson said with disdain.

“I won’t charge you for my service! That should be good enough right?” Dai Li replied.

Johnson looked at Dai Li with slight resentment. “If I really do what you said, tear my ligament and find you to help me recover, I would leave need money to treat my mental illness.”

…

At the meeting with the media, a reporter asked Wood how he recovered.

There was silence. Everyone’s eyes were concentrated on Wood. They hoped to get an answer from him. The reporter did not even press the shutters on their camera, fearing that the shutter’s “squeaky” sound would drown out Wood’s answer.

“This is how I did it. I did rehabilitation training. The effect of rehabilitation training was very good. My knees have recovered completely,” Wood said.

“Was it just rehabilitation training?” a reporter asked immediately.

Wood thought about it and replied, “To put it accurately, it was a long-term process, with large amounts of physical training. In fact, I started rehabilitation training since the end of the last regular season.”

Nobody asked you for the amount of time you trained… The reporters stared at Wood a little depressingly.

Another reporter took the microphone and asked what everyone wanted to know, “Besides rehabilitation training, have you used other methods to recover? For example, a new treatment method?”

“No, it was just simple rehabilitation training,” Wood’s innocent tone made the reporters feel like they had hit a wall.

“Just through simple rehabilitation training? Who would believe that?”

“Such a severe injury. How could it recover through just rehabilitation training? How is this possible?”

“Does Wood think we have no medical knowledge!”

“Wood is deliberately keeping it a secret. He does not want to tell us the truth!”

The reporters sent to inquire about the news all knew that they would have to return empty handed…