One Year Left to Play-Chapter 108 - 34: Da Zhi, Let’s Go to the United States!
This guy totally lacks perspective, and has no vision at all. But Jerry West is already used to it. The foolish son of this boss not only has no long-term vision, he doesn’t even know what to do now. Obviously, he was there at the Adidas Training Camp Elite Competition that day; Garnett and Zhang Hao’s talent was visible to the naked eye, but he didn’t see it!
Jerry West accidentally lumped most of the league’s team GMs and scouts into the same category as Jim Buss...
However, Jerry West couldn’t understand where the Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets got the guts to gamble on a high school student?
He learned through some channels that the Timberwolves had promised Garnett their draft pick, so he gave up on Garnett from the start and prepared to gamble on Zhang Hao. Even he was gambling on luck, but the Nets went ahead and picked Zhang Hao with the 9th pick. He was really puzzled and still couldn’t figure out where the Nets got the courage.
Jerry West put the matter aside for now and said to Jim Buss, "Jim, you and Mickey need to step up your game in Orlando, and remember, you must be careful to hide our identity, it must not be discovered that we are guiding the narrative."
Upon hearing Jerry West’s response, Jim Buss nodded, "I understand..."
Thinking of the time when he assigned tasks to Kupchek, Kupchek could easily guess the purpose, knew what to do, but when assigning tasks to the foolish son of the boss, everything had to be reminded, yet Jim Buss had to be involved. Only by giving most of the credit to Jim Buss when reporting back to the big boss could they potentially lift this bumbling prince into a position of power.
Exhausting!
Though Jim Buss isn’t very capable, he has excellent execution skills, especially in scheming and gossiping activities, Jim Buss is quite talented, so talented that Jerry West felt Jim Buss should have been born in an ancient dynasty’s royal palace, preferably swapping gender, to fully exhibit Jim Buss’s talents...
The attitude of the Nets surprised Jerry West when Sibaros was mentioned as a bargaining chip, the Nets instantly rejected it, estimating that they’ll have to up the ante later. Luckily, they’ve accumulated quite a few chips over the past few years.
...
Zhang Hao was unaware that the Nets had already engaged in negotiations with the Lakers, who were willing to trade Sibaros for him and were willing to up the ante. Otherwise, Zhang Hao would definitely cry and make a fuss wanting to play for the Lakers; staying put was always better. Having lived in Los Angeles for three years, he obviously became more accustomed to life here... Of course, the most important thing is he clearly knows what kind of attitude a team holds towards him.
Only a team that values him can make him feel stable and secure. What’s most crucial for him right now is stability.
Sometimes, not knowing about something, makes life more comfortable. Zhang Hao is currently training hard, aiming to quickly secure his own playing time and establish himself in the Nets for the new season.
Over a week of training, he noticeably feels his strength growing! His strength evaluation has swiftly risen from 76 to 79, reaching a major bottleneck!
This bottleneck was something Zhang Hao discovered when he used the Mid-range Growth Card before, the difficulty in improving from 79 to 80, the required training duration, is more arduous and longer than the leap from 80 to 81.
What surprised him the most is that during this period of strength enhancement, it didn’t affect his speed and agility!
The Growth Card’s most amazing effect reappeared!
When he first arrived in the United States, the head coach required him to toughen up his frame. Almost his entire first year in high school was spent training on stamina, shooting, and laying up fundamentals. In the second year, he directly jumped to take on the role of the team’s main player as a senior.
During that time, he initially saw improvements in strength, speed, etc., but once his physique became robust to a certain extent, strength training affected his speed and agility. At this point, Coach Scott Hollins stopped the physical training and let him focus on honing his skills. Once his body was fully developed, they’d consider whether to pursue dexterity or strength.
Zhang Hao’s idea was to walk the path of speed and agility while young, and switch to strength once he passed the peak of his athletic prowess as he aged.
Originally, this time using the Strength Growth Card, Zhang Hao had many concerns, worrying he might train too hard and get injured, planning just to try it out. If it impacted his speed and agility or posed injury risks, he’d temporarily halt the training.
After all, for him, speed, agility, and stamina constitute an essential part of his off-the-ball style of play.
He plans to go down the power route when he’s older, not only due to the decline in physical attributes but also because, in seven or eight years, it’s unlikely he’ll just be a shooting specialist. Over time, his individual skills like isolation plays will surely improve.
"Could it be that using the Growth Card to enhance a specific physical attribute eliminates the negative impacts of that particular training, or minimizes them?"
Zhang Hao pondered and decided to continue training to see. If it affects his speed and agility, he’d temporarily stop and focus on shooting and movement training.
While the training results are pleasing, there’s still something troubling him lately.
It’s about recruiting an agent.
One factor affecting his current appeal to top agents is—he’s already independently signed his rookie contract!
