Chapter 68 67. This person cannot be a close friend, but he is not bad as a tool (ask for the first order)
Zhang Yang: "...Please don't try it!"

Harden entered into the daydreaming mode of 'I, Harden, am going to play basketball with Luo, Er Zhang and San' and couldn't listen anymore.

Looking at Harden stroking his buzz cut and muttering "It's too short to have a middle part", Zhang Yang held his forehead with his hand.

It was Zhang San's fault. He knew that Erha was a silly person, but he still teased him.

Eh? Can I register the trademark of that design? Can I charge that person for copyright fees in the future?

Zhang Yang opened the "Gate of Experience" and spent more than 30 days to accumulate 4 shooting points, and was rewarded with a jumping talent +1.

He saw that the shooting value was only a few dozen points away, so he specifically challenged DeRozan to a one-on-one match and complete the task in the one-on-one match. Basketball is also a part of life, and there must be a sense of ritual.

The improved jumping ability is also good. Just imagine Jordan's turnaround jump shot in the air as if he was leaning against a wall... There is nothing cooler than that.

However, the growth rate of shooting value has slowed down. He has been very accurate in mid-range shooting training. If he wants to make further qualitative improvements, he will have to spend a lot of time. Seeing that the reward for the new task happens to be three-point talent, he will start practicing three-pointers!
Practicing three-point shooting is helpful to strengthen the long two-point shooting, and 10 years later, who will lead the NBA into the small ball era? The three-point shooting must be developed.

However, the three-point line distance when he was a student was only two points longer than the NBA. If conditions permit, he would like to expand the three-point shooting distance to NBA standards before leaving campus.

On July 7, Zhang Yang, DeRozan and Harden were invited to participate in the training camp held by Tyronn Lue at the Great Western Forum, with Tatum as the matchmaker.

After the Lakers moved out of the Great Western Forum, this arena that carried the glory of the NBA in the 80s quickly declined. There were no more concerts, large-scale events, or entertainment activities. It was on the verge of bankruptcy in just one year. Finally, this arena, which had a market value of over 80 million US dollars in the late 2000s, was bought by the Orthodox Church at a bargain price of million US dollars.

So it can be said that Jews know how to do business. After they took over the stadium, they immediately changed their business ideas, selling feelings, marketing the Lakers, and inviting Lakers players from the 1960s and 1970s to be spokespersons... and they really revitalized the business. Now every year a large number of Lakers role players and former Lakers role players come here to hold various training camps and youth competitions. The fees are extremely high, and those parents are willing to spend money on their children. Of course, the bulk of the money earned goes to the orthodox group.

The three brothers Zhang and Yang were invited as a "selling point", free of charge, and their travel, meals and lodging were provided.

Last year, when the three of them had not yet played well in high school, Tyronn Lue's attitude towards them was very good, which left a good impression on the three of them, so they accepted the invitation.

Most of the players who hold training camps at the Great Western Forum are there to make money, to put their names on the team and share the money. They don't care how the training camp goes. They just say something nice at the beginning of the camp and arrange the work of the trainers in front of the kids and parents, and that's it.

Tyronn Lue is an outlier among these people. He is really passionate about all aspects of the training camp, actively participates in teaching, patiently guides, and even teaches children basic movements. When someone asks questions, he also patiently answers them...

If it weren't for his uncle's good intentions, Tatum wouldn't have called Zhang Yang and DeRozan to avoid wasting their time.

They were not the only high school geniuses who accepted the invitation. There were also two All-American geniuses. One of them was the man that DeRozan locked his eyes on the moment they met - the former strongest junior high school student in the United States, who was compared to LeBron James in the 9th grade last season and was known as the 'next Michael Jordan'... OJ Mayo from Rose Hill Christian High School in Kentucky.

DeRozan is called the 'former strongest junior high school student', but the prefix 'California' is added, which is hostile to Mayo, whose prefix is ​​'All-American'.

But Zhang Yang was not interested in Mayo. He was interested in another genius - Kevin Love from Lake Oswego High School in Oregon.

In addition to these two people, Zhang Yang also met another future genius, Jason's neighbor, Bradley Beal, who is now 11 years old.

Bill is 5 years older than Jason. When Tatum introduced Bill, he said "I changed Jason's diaper" and was chased and beaten by his younger brother...

After a few days of training camp, Zhang Yang got to know the two future high-ranking NBA stars.

The ways of getting to know each other are different. As for Love, he became familiar with the people quickly.

This white inside player has a soft personality, giving Zhang Yang a feeling of being submissive.

Mayo and Zhang Yang did not take the initiative to contact each other, and it was DeRozan who brought him trouble.

DeRozan challenged Mayo for a one-on-one match for the first time, and lost 1-2 in three games. Mayo mocked that the players from Compton High School were trash.

DeRozan refuted fiercely, saying that he was not the strongest player in their school... Then Mayo came to challenge Zhang Yang one-on-one.

Zhang Yang is one year older than DeRozan, Mayo and others. As his basic skills and techniques improve, his physical advantage becomes more obvious... He has no advantage over Harden, who has grown taller and faster, but his strength is still unmatched among his peers. Zhang Yang was able to win by technique.

He is about the same height as Mayo and weighs several kilograms more. He is good at using his physical advantages, has good ball protection and makes fewer mistakes, has more comprehensive skills, and can also defend.

DeRozan had a hard time playing against Mayo and was completely unable to prevent his breakthrough.

But for Zhang Yang, Mayo, who is not good at shooting, is easier to defend than a mid-range shooter, and his interference success rate is higher. "Improved continuous jumping ability" can play a big role in defending Mayo.

In the first duel, Zhang Yang narrowly won. After that, Mayo set his sights on him and challenged him every day.

Mayo's arrogant attitude, proud and rude personality, and foul-mouthed way of speaking...

Arrogant, proud, and uncultured... If there was only one of these, Zhang Yang could still tolerate it. Every teammate on the school team had these problems to some extent. Tatum was arrogant, DeRozan was proud, Monroe and Kanter were always talking nonsense... But when they were put together, it really made him feel like a slap in the head. He had no interest in being friends with Mayo. However, Mayo took the initiative to be a "sparring partner", and Zhang Yang was still very happy.

If Zhang Yang wins, he doesn't need to say anything, Mayo will come to challenge him again in two hours. If he loses, he only needs to say something harsh to provoke the opponent's anger... It's not necessary to have him as a friend, but it's still useful to use him as a tool.

Zhang Yang restrained Mayo, winning more than he lost in one-on-one matches, and the one who suffered the most was Tatum.

Tatum challenged Mayo earlier than DeRozan, was beaten and ridiculed wildly.

DeRozan and Mayo lost more than they won in one-on-one duels. Tatum felt regretful but also a little happy. Hey, no one can beat him.

But Zhang Yang won...

Not only that, Tatum can't get the upper hand in the one-on-one with Harden. Although they are still going back and forth now, he had a one-on-one with Harden on Harden's birthday last August, and he definitely won at that time!

However, Tatum was introverted for a while, and then he entered the mode of working hard again.

He already knew that he was not as talented as Zhang Yang. He was envious, but not jealous. The other person had played for only one year and was better than him who had played for 1 years. The talent gap was so big that he couldn't even feel jealous.

Once upon a time, in Tatum's heart, his uncle Tyronn Lue was the strongest basketball genius in the world. When he saw his uncle had to sit on the bench after entering the NBA, the huge gap made him realize that there is a huge gap between geniuses.

For example, his younger brother and his neighbors were more talented than he was when he was a child.

He can't be defeated and never gives up. That's because he has a cheerful personality, not that he knows nothing.

Since Tatum couldn't beat the three brothers, he decided to have some fun and dragged them together to teach Bradley Beal a lesson.

Zhang Yang was very interested, Harden liked to join in the fun, DeRozan was not interested but since his friends all went, he went too.

As a result, young Bradley Beal suffered hardships that he should not have endured, leaving an indelible shadow in his young heart...

On July 7, the 21-day training camp trip of Tyronn Lue ended, and Tyronn Lue treated several talented high school students who came to support the team to a big meal.

After lunch, Zhang Yang, DeRozan, and Harden said goodbye to the Tatum brothers, Love, and Bill, and got in the car arranged by Tyronn Lu to take them back to Yinshan.

Zhang Yang felt pretty good about this training camp. Although Tyronn Lue is just an ordinary player in the NBA, he has played for so many years and is very experienced.

Zhang Yang didn't learn much in terms of technology, but after watching his training and one-on-one matches, Tyronn Lue gave him very targeted suggestions for adjustments in details.

During breaks, Tyronn Lue will also share some interesting stories about superstars such as Kobe, O'Neal, Jordan, McGrady, etc. to stimulate the basketball enthusiasm of young people.

Dribbling the ball across half court for the three big guys like Kojo and McGrady is not an easy job and is a nightmare for many point guards. But for Tyronn Lue, the memories of getting along with those big guys have become his "wealth".

After listening to his uncle's story, little Jason shouted "Kobe" while shooting.

After hearing this, Zhang Yang curiously asked why they shouted Kobe's name. Little Jason said that Kobe was cooler than the other three.

Cool...just saying that.

The evil blacksmith poisons young people.

What’s the use of being cool? Can you be a goat?

Back at Hidden Hills, the three continued their training, and on the 24th, Thomas finished his summer recruiting and returned home to rest.

Zhang Yang's parents invited Thomas and Andy to dinner.

Zhang Yang inquired about the recruitment situation and learned that the biggest gain of this summer is Drew Gordon, a talented junior high school student from San Jose, a 15-year-old inside player who is 206 cm tall and weighs 100 kg.

Thomas was extremely excited when he mentioned Gordon, and Zhang Yang could understand that. Compton High School had never recruited a top-notch inside talent, and the only first-rate inside talent they had recruited was Miller.

Last year’s freshman Alfred Abuya showed outstanding talent in the 9th grade, but this was a surprise. There was no such person in Abuya’s junior high school. He applied to join the basketball club on his own, won an official place on the freshman team on his own, and worked hard to make it to the reserve team in his freshman season.

This was the first time Thomas had recruited a junior high school center of Gordon's caliber.

(End of this chapter)