One Year Left to Play-Chapter 132 - 42: Genius! An Absolute Genius!
Seeing that the teammates had arrived, Zhang Hao had already learned from the information Pelinka provided about who these teammates were.
The core player of the team, Kenny Anderson; backup shooting guard, Greg Graham; veteran backup from the ’84 golden generation, Vaughn Fleming; backup power forward, Jason Williams.
These four teammates had returned to the team early, among them Kenny Anderson looked different from what Zhang Hao expected, quite fat...
"Why is it another chubby guy? Can the difference between photos and real people be this big these days?"
After complaining to himself, Zhang Hao proactively went up to greet the teammates.
Greg Graham and Vaughn Fleming hugged Zhang Hao warmly.
Graham is a reserved young guard, 193 cm tall, slim, only 83 kg. He was a first-round pick in the strong draft class of ’93, about to start his third season. His skills are average, athletic ability okay, good at off-ball defense, but his offensive shooting is inconsistent.
After the lockout ended, since Graham had signed a 5-year rookie contract, he wasn’t well regarded by the 76ers. When the Brooklyn Nets traded away Coleman, they brought Graham back as a gamble. He would turn 25 at the end of November, and some players can break out at 25, anyway, Graham’s rookie contract wasn’t expensive.
Fleming was also re-signed by the Brooklyn Nets after the lockout. At 33, he was nearing retirement, having played 11 years with the Pacers but never quite becoming a star, though he’s a seasoned veteran good at catching and shooting.
These two were quite friendly to Zhang Hao. In his view, since they were all newcomers, it was natural to stick together.
However, Jason Williams, the tough power forward, wasn’t as friendly to Zhang Hao. He greeted Zhang Hao with a cold expression and then excused himself for training.
Two newcomers showed friendliness, while Jason Williams seemed to dislike Zhang Hao... Zhang Hao could guess the reason for both situations.
But another one left him baffled...
"Zhang, Aix, right? It’s Aix, yes? I’m Kenny, from today on, I’m your big brother! I’ve got your back! Don’t bother with that muscle guy, he’s just jealous of you, worried you’ll take his playing time. But I’m also a bit envious, how did you practice your shooting? And you can bench press 20 reps! Tsk tsk, I’d never have guessed..."
Kenny Anderson moved closer to Zhang Hao, lowering his voice, while trying to reach up to pat Zhang’s shoulder.
From the beginning, Kenny Anderson was quite interested in this high school rookie picked by the team.
No malice or kindness, just curiosity.
Because there’s no competition between the two, he heard Zhang Hao was a rookie with an off-ball style and a great shooter, potentially a helpful ally, so he came to see Zhang Hao’s skills.
A high school rookie must have something special, or the team wouldn’t have picked him.
But even though he was curious, he didn’t expect Zhang Hao to be so accurate!
Zhang Hao’s catch-and-shoot during movement, including mid-range shots requiring quick turns, was spot on!
Kenny Anderson had never had a teammate this accurate with mid-range shots!
He felt like he was seeing a mid-range version of Reggie Miller!
Moreover, Zhang Hao’s impressive bench pressing indicated strong physical resistance! Which means he might perform at a high standard during games as well.
He felt incredibly excited about this! Having such a shooting asset meant his chances of being the assist leader seemed promising! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
For two consecutive years, he averaged over 9 assists per game. He had the ambition to compete for the assist leader, having been deemed a strong contender for it in the past two years.
However, after Kenny Anderson entered the NBA, his career hadn’t been as smooth as others imagined.
His teammates got worse year after year, despite having Coleman, an all-star caliber teammate. But Coleman was the classic unprofessional player once rich—drunk driving, fighting, gambling, and drug use...
To date, Coleman had over 40 game suspensions unrelated to injury.
This summer, Coleman was traded to the 76ers. In a multi-party trade, the Brooklyn Nets acquired numerous role players, but all of them were just role players; none were top-tier, otherwise they wouldn’t have been traded for Coleman, known troublemaker.
Yet, their high school pick this year had the potential to become a top player!
Zhang Hao obviously didn’t expect that in the NBA, he’d be valued for his mid-range shots. While his athleticism and mid-range shooting were clear strengths, he had plenty of weaknesses.
He saw himself as just a weak rookie among hundreds of the world’s best basketball players.
Moreover, he couldn’t predict Kenny Anderson’s thoughts.
But that wasn’t an issue. If the core player was this enthusiastic and the absolute ball-handler of the team, Zhang Hao showed an innocent smile: "Thank you, Big bro!"
After all, Mr. Zhang didn’t want to be the boss, at least not now. Now, he was thinking about how to survive until old age, so he addressed him that straightforwardly.
Big bro!
This title made Kenny Anderson feel refreshed from head to toe.
After entering the NBA, although he had seasons as the second on the assist leaderboard and an all-star starter, when he joined the NBA, the team had the 1990 first overall pick, Coleman.
