One Year Left to Play-Chapter 129 - 41: I Want to Wear Number 8 (Happy New Year, Please Vote!)
After finishing breakfast and tidying things up, with the help of the hotel staff, he loaded several large boxes of luggage onto the car and headed to Rutherford Town.
Eighty percent of this pile of luggage was brought by his parents when he came to the United States for studying, many things haven’t been used at all, but he didn’t throw them away. Now that he’s moving to a new city, he had thought about just tossing everything when he left Los Angeles, but ended up bringing it all.
Although he saw a lot of negative reviews about the Brooklyn Nets, especially concerning the Nets’ location, they were terrible. Since arriving in Jersey City yesterday afternoon, Zhang Hao felt awful. When he first got to the Four Seasons Hotel, he overheard fans who recognized him pointing fingers, so early this morning, he tipped a bit and let the hotel staff help rent a car to report to the Nets early.
When the car exited the city, passed through an industrial area, and entered an agricultural area, Zhang Hao was already losing his composure. Fortunately, a few minutes later, houses started appearing, sparsely but enough to see the population wasn’t too small; it actually appeared denser compared to the suburban areas of Los Angeles. After all, New Jersey is one of the most densely populated states in the United States.
Finally, he arrived at the town center of Rutherford Town, composed of several streets.
The landmark building here is the Continental Airlines Arena, the home stadium for the Brooklyn Nets.
After entering the boundaries of Rutherford Town, the scenes Zhang Hao saw helped him construct a rough image of the town’s situation in his mind—large areas of agricultural land, houses along the land are chaotically yet densely arranged, centered around a town center composed of several streets, the tallest building in the town center being a 16-story hotel. From the Nets’ visitor guide, Zhang Hao learned it claims to be a 4-star business hotel, but doesn’t carry an official star rating...
Compared to Jersey City’s highly developed manufacturing and transportation industries, Rutherford Town is just a densely populated agricultural township.
In simple terms, it’s an urban-rural fringe!
"Playing ball in this place, the mind can easily focus on basketball..."
...
...
Zhang Hao’s heart sank halfway; no wonder the location of the Nets is little known. Before joining the Nets, he didn’t know there was such a place as Rutherford Town in Jersey City.
The key is the awkward geographical position. Although it’s under Jersey City’s jurisdiction, it takes an hour to drive to Jersey City. While not congested, commuting one hour each way by car daily is still too far.
Crossing over to neighboring Pennsylvania is actually closer than going to Jersey City.
Trying to find a positive aspect, Zhang Hao managed to comfort himself with one point—at least the environment is nice, surrounded by farmland and gardens. Compared to severely polluted Jersey City, the environment here is at least good.
However, upon reaching the arena, Zhang Hao found that the Continental Airlines Arena actually looked quite nice. After making the playoffs for two consecutive years in 1993, it received a large investment for renovations, and now it looks like a new arena.
With the security’s help, he moved his luggage to the rest area, then Zhang Hao went to the head coach’s office to report.
Head coach Butch Baird was very satisfied seeing Zhang Hao’s maintained physique, recalling that core point guard Kenny Anderson had returned to the team gaining over 20 pounds during the two-month lockout, becoming nearly a 90-kilogram Big Fatty... Kenny Anderson is only 183 cm tall, which gave him a headache.
Butch Baird asked, "How’s your condition, Aix? Want to do a physical test today or rest for a few days first?"
Zhang Hao replied, "I can do the physical test anytime. I want to start training under the coach’s guidance as soon as possible."
Butch Baird nodded, which aligned with his impression of Zhang Hao. Although he couldn’t interact with players during the lockout, NBA teams were busy sending scouts to monitor what the players were doing. Among the players that the Nets focused on was this high school rookie Zhang Hao, knowing he hadn’t idled away the entire summer, unlike some rookies entering the NBA who acted like nouveaux riches upon earning money.
For instance, the point guard chosen by the Blazers, Sean Respet, hadn’t played a single NBA game yet racked up over 500,000 US Dollars in debt in Las Vegas. As soon as the lockout ended, the Blazers traded Sean Respet to the Bucks, forcing the Bucks to pay 30% of his salary for three years in advance to prevent Sean from being sued by the casino. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
In contrast, when the Nets advanced Zhang Hao 30% of his one-season salary, they were using the process of elimination.
If Zhang Hao were to become complacent upon receiving the money, then he wouldn’t need to be a focus for developing, considering the lottery ticket scratched failed.
Anyway, the salary must be paid regardless. If the lottery ticket scratched failed, Los Angeles also has willing takers...
"OK, Aix, let’s go to the locker room first..."
Under Butch Baird’s lead, Zhang Hao arrived at the locker room, where the innermost locker belonged to the Nets’ current only All-Star player, Kenny Anderson. Having heard Pierce’s gossip, Zhang Hao chose the locker closest to the locker room door.
Butch Baird was secretly satisfied, as this rookie was handling things quite well, asking, "What number do you want for your jersey, Aix?"
Jersey number... Thinking for a while, Zhang Hao recalled a news he saw during breakfast today and said, "Number 8, Coach. Is anyone using it?"
Butch Baird replied, "No one... Why choose number 8? It isn’t associated with any famous players; the only one I remember is Moses Malone, and he didn’t wear it for long."
