No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 104 - 83. Draft Conference

On the 20th, Zhang Yang arrived in Charlotte to attend the second trial for the Bobcats.

Previously, when Zhang Yang and Bynum had come for a tryout, the Bobcats had arranged a special session for the two of them.

This time, the Bobcats didn’t invite Bynum but invited four other high school students to the draft.

Louis Williams followed the staff into the training court and what caught his eye was the scene of Zhang Yang practicing catch and shoot turnarounds, making him almost give up on trying out.

How old are you!

Where is Ellis? Ellis, why aren’t you coming for the tryout? McRoberts went to college, and you are the leading man for us 12th graders... No! Even if McRoberts hadn’t gone to college, you would still be the strongest in the 12th grade! And you’re just going to watch me get bullied by an 11th grader?

After the trial started, Louis Williams kept praying that he wouldn’t be set up against Zhang Yang one-on-one again, but God doesn’t pay heed to the poor.

Like the Lakers, the Bobcats had invited several high schoolers, but the one they arranged to practice against Zhang Yang was still the highest-ranked one.

Louis Williams threw in the towel; when he attacked, he hugged the ball as if carrying a bomb and rushed towards the basket... and then got blocked several times.

Reed’s performance left Bickerstaff utterly confounded.

No, he remembered that when he tried out this top five national high school student last month, the performance wasn’t bad at all!

But Jack’s defensive awareness and habits were truly good; from the last trial, old Bickerstaff had grown profoundly interested in Zhang Yang’s defense.

How did a high schooler who had played for less than two years develop such good habits?

It has to be talent!

In the president’s office on the second floor of the training facility, Michael Jordan, the executive vice president, stood in front of the one-way floor-to-ceiling window.

He already had his favored draft targets in mind, yes, those guys from North Carolina.

For the 5th pick, Marvin Williams is the first choice, with Felton as the second choice.

With the 13th pick, those two T1 tier players would definitely be out of reach; the first option is Shawn May, and the second option is McCants.

As for this year’s trials, apart from the two that the four guys from UNC attended together, he hadn’t attended any of the other college players’, overseas players’, or high schoolers’ trials.

He came today because old Bickerstaff had pestered him several times about how outstanding that just-turned-17-year-old’s defensive talent was, so Michael couldn’t stand the harassment and agreed to come take a look, but he didn’t want to show his face in front of the high schoolers.

Michael watched a round of one-on-one between Zhang Yang and Reed, so what if it was very good? He could do it too when he was in high school. Although his footwork and defensive habits weren’t as good back then, his physical condition was better, his awareness wasn’t inferior, and anything Zhang Yang could do, he could do too, so there was nothing impressive about it.

Just as his interest was waning, the second round of one-on-ones started. Michael was about to leave when he saw Zhang Yang carry the ball to the right side of the free-throw line, backing down Louis Williams... Oh, these high schoolers even know how to post-up? That’s rare.

A few seconds later, Michael’s eyes widened.

To Michael, the post-up moves from the just-turned-17-year-old looked poor, but the movements, the posture, and the rhythm change from slow to fast...

Michael recalled the fear of being dominated many years ago during the playoffs.

Back then, he had just joined the NBA, delivering the second-best rookie season performance since the 80s, entering the playoffs with the ambition to conquer the world, and then he encountered Bird.

That guy played with their Chicago Bulls like they were nothing.

In his sophomore year in the league, he suffered a serious injury. After recovering and training hard, he entered the playoffs stronger and scored 63 points in a single game, breaking the playoff scoring record... but was swept away by Bird again.

No matter how he scored, Bird would calmly lead his team to match him blow for blow, even finding time to taunt him. At crucial moments, Bird would make one shot after another, keeping the Celtics ahead... He broke Baylor’s record for the highest points scored by a loser in the playoffs.

By that time, Bird, who was nearly 30, used a post-up move with the same eerie rhythm as the 17-year-old kid downstairs!

...

Downstairs, Zhang Yang won 10-4 against Reed in the first group practice; he felt that the other party was playing nonsensically.

He didn’t know why Louis Williams looked at him so resentfully... But it didn’t matter. He felt that old Bickerstaff was very satisfied with his first one-on-one, so he took a risk and tried out his underdeveloped post-up moves, thinking that even if he accidentally lost the second round, he was confident about winning the third.

The results were average, but he verified the effectiveness of the high post-up – one-on-one against a smaller player was almost impossible to get intercepted, with a very low turnover rate; turning for a shot after backing down the opponent has a very low chance of getting pick-pocketed; he was not good at exploiting the opponent’s close-up for a turnaround drive, but with this post-up move against a smaller player, it was easy to pin the opponent aside, leaving room for penetration and to protect the ball...

After a busy day in Charlotte, the next morning, Zhang Yang appeared at the Memphis FedExForum.

The Bobcats and Grizzlies timed their trials close together, and after the training ended yesterday afternoon, he rushed to the airport to catch the evening flight to Memphis.

The Grizzlies’ second trial was similar to both the Lakers’ and the Bobcats’ first trials – individual workouts with comprehensive and detailed testing content.

After another busy day, in the evening, Zhang Yang leaned back in the hotel restaurant’s armchair. It was like playing a ’back-to-back’, the intense kind that filled his day, and the young man felt the fatigue.

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