[Interview with Lyden in the new season, hope the result is better than before. The team will play faster]]
A few days ago, the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily took the lead in reporting that Shougang men’s basketball basically confirmed that he took over the team halfway last season and finally led the team to the top six Leiden, and would continue to serve as the team coach for the 2023-24 season. On the 2nd, Shougang released an official news confirmation on men’s basketball. On the 3rd, I interviewed Leiden. He revealed his recent situation in the offseason, why he renewed Shougang and the goal of the new season. Leiden said that he hoped the team’s performance in the new season would be better than before, and the team would still insist on playing fast, which was his coaching style all along.
Leiden became the acting coach of Shougang team in the late stage of the third regular season of the 2022-23 season. After Leiden took office, Shougang did not play the rhythm and main position attack before, nor did it dominate the concept of winning the defense. Instead, it fought a quick counterattack and quickly completed the attack in the counterattack. In the 7 regular season matches taught by Leiden, Shougang’s record was 6 wins and 1 loss, 4 playoff games, and Shougang’s record was 2 wins and 2 losses. Although Shougang failed to go further in the playoffs, at least it finally ranked sixth and completed the goal of the season. At the same time, Shougang men’s basketball, after Leiden’s coaching, has improved in various aspects such as competition rhythm and appreciation, which has also won some recognition from the outside world. Considering various factors such as Shougang men’s basketball comprehensive salary, it decided to renew the contract of Leiden.
Zhang Yunsong, executive vice general manager of Shougang men’s basketball, said: “I think the most important thing is the understanding and familiarity between the two sides, because after a year of work together, leiden is familiar with the working style of the club and the situation of the team. Through this season, he has also been recognized by everyone in the team. Based on these two aspects, we think it is still a better choice to renew the contract.”
At the end of last season, Leiden returned to Serbia, where he held a basketball training camp. Since then, Leiden has been working on basketball-related aspects in Europe. In an exclusive interview with me, Leiden said, “I think Shougang Basketball Club is a very good and standard club. Our team has many high quality and level players, of course Beijing is an international metropolis. But most importantly, everyone in this team has a good character and is a good person. We get along well together, whether it is training, competition or life. I hope to continue such a thing. I like this atmosphere and environment very much.”
For the new season, Leiden also expressed his views. He said: “We will have a complete summer, which is very important. We can do more training together and build better chemical reactions. As I said before, we have many good players in all positions, which is the basis for us to build a team. The next step is to make these players more familiar with the system so as to exert their stronger energy. I hope the team’s performance in the new season can be better than before. At the same time, Shougang men’s basketball still played fast in the new season, which is also my coaching style. I remember I said several times in an interview last season that I like to play fast, and sometimes I even think we can play faster.” Leiden will return to Beijing next week to start preparations for the new season.