One Year Left to Play-Chapter 136 - 43: What If the Talent Exceeds Expectations?
And Zhang Hao, he’s really learning off-ball movement as if he’s preparing to become a coach!
This makes Zhang Hao want to spit blood. Thinking about how many nights he’s been devoid of sweet dreams, tirelessly memorizing movement diagrams, constantly learning... "So working too hard is also a mistake?"
Zhang Hao’s thoughts are clearly written on his face.
Butch Baird laughed, "Aix, your hard work is definitely not wrong. What you’ve learned is an asset in your basketball career. Learning more things is not a mistake. What you need to do is to differentiate theory from actual application, use theoretical knowledge as a reference, and find a movement style that suits you better..."
It sounds simple, but it’s hard to achieve!
But it’s the only path to take.
Moreover, understanding is better than not understanding.
Unconsciously, Vaughn Fleming, Butch Baird, including Zhang Hao himself, have set too high expectations for him.
In fact, even if Zhang Hao remembered none of the tactical movements and directly had to learn tactics without any transition and play in the NBA, the highest level basketball league in the world, learning movement would still be very difficult, not any easier than now.
It’s just that he has exceeded the expectations of himself, the coaching staff, and his teammates, which raised the bar, causing such troubles.
They haven’t realized the change in their mindset, but whether it’s Zhang Hao, Butch Baird, or Vaughn Fleming, they all know that what’s needed now is to calm down, not rush.
Zhang Hao patiently devoted himself to learning movements. This afternoon, he mainly learned how to move according to the trainer’s movement, which has a large difference between theoretical knowledge and actual application. Although there’s inevitable hesitation among multiple choices, starting training is always good.
By the next day, four more teammates returned. The team’s starting center, PJ Brown, a 211 cm tall and lanky inside swingman, is an excellent help defender and nearly made the second defensive team in his sophomore season last year.
Almon Gilliam, the second pick of 1987, aged 31, theoretically the team’s most capable scorer, can play from the 3 to 5 positions, with a body weight of 109 kg that’s heavier than most of the team’s big men.
Inka Dale, the 14th pick center of 1994, standing at 213 cm tall and weighing 120 kg, was a member of the All-American first team in college, with a perfect traditional center template. His skills were very mature when he entered the NBA, but he’s a glass man, constantly plagued by injuries since college, so his draft position fell out of the lottery, making him a lottery ticket that the Brooklyn Nets did not win.
Chris Childs, an undrafted player of 1988, wandered overseas for many years and returned to the NBA last year looking for a job. The Brooklyn Nets signed him, unexpectedly finding a gem. Last season, he averaged 4.1 assists in 19 minutes, an excellent half-court playmaker with pretty good long-range shooting.
When learning about the Brooklyn Nets back then, Pelinka analyzed their recent draft situations for Zhang Hao, finding that the Nets liked gambling on theoretically the most talented player.
For instance, PJ Brown, whom the Brooklyn Nets struck gold with in 1993, was even a second-round find. At the time, PJ Brown, who was incredibly skinny, was predicted to go undrafted.
Every time a veteran returned to the team, Zhang Hao would proactively introduce himself. He didn’t actively try to make friends as he initially did but would make sure to be courteous.
During this period, Zhang Hao discovered something; people’s attitudes towards him on the team clearly fell into three categories.
Some were particularly warm to him, like the core point guard Kenny Anderson, backup point guard Chris Childs, and Vaughn Fleming.
The first two are ball-handling guards, and ball-handlers love off-ball shooters, even 20 years later.
Vaughn Fleming is nearing retirement and aims to become an assistant coach. Helping Zhang Hao train is a great opportunity for Vaughn Fleming to learn how to be an assistant coach.
Others had normal behavior towards him, mostly young teammates and players in non-similar positions. Young players aren’t very cunning, and with different positions, there’s no competition. Moreover, since he’s an off-ball shooter, if he excels, the spacing ability will aid players in other positions.
But the teammates in the same position with more experience didn’t treat him very well.
Originally, everyone was an ordinary role player, and then came a genius, moreover, a high schooler! Having their playing time snatched by a high schooler...
In such situations, Zhang Hao felt helpless. However, he knew that only by playing well and exhibiting excellent performance could everything go smoothly.
At this moment, what he needed to do was act like... no, cling to the big guys! Forced by circumstances...
Every afternoon, after training, he walked back together with Kenny Anderson, carrying his bag with ease.
Zhang Hao wasn’t in the mood to deal with trifling matters, keeping troubles to a minimum.
Who knows which team members could remain on the team, who could become key players?
Given such conditions, those disputes are unnecessary...
Kenny Anderson has been muddling through in the deep waters of the Brooklyn Nets for years, even when they made the playoffs, it was turbulent waters. To be accurate, Derrick Coleman, the top power forward, brings chaos wherever he goes.
Kenny Anderson figured out Zhang Hao’s little schemes but didn’t expose them. Originally, he planned to protect Zhang Hao, who might develop into a great shooting talent. Additionally, his foresight is better than most players, noting the team’s emphasis on Zhang Hao. With Zhang Hao being a lottery ticket highly likely to win, the coaching staff regarded him more importantly than those already established role players.
With Kenny Anderson’s support, no one dared to step forth and make things difficult for Zhang Hao.
Days passed, and returning members each had their own agendas.
Kenny Anderson was busy losing weight, while Zhang Hao continued his formal movement training.
On Zhang Hao’s side, the team didn’t enforce any specific training; clearly, Zhang Hao’s knowledge of movement surpassed even the coaches. So, the coaching staff in Jersey City hired some basketball fans to help Zhang Hao train movements.
Using basketball fans for training meant no salary was necessary; giving them jerseys was sufficient. As an NBA team, the last thing they lack is jerseys.
How to train was up to Zhang Hao. Vaughn Fleming oversaw the details, while Zhang Hao drew tactical diagrams, training one tactical route after another continuously.
Initially, Zhang Hao only knew in his head how to position himself based on teammates and opponents, but through training, he realized it’s not that simple. Whether the passing player can deliver the ball accurately also impacts the threat of a moving shooter, influencing the effectiveness of the off-ball player’s movement.
Thus, after a day of training, he included Kenny Anderson and Childs. Zhang Hao was responsible for drawing the tactics, while the seemingly aloof assistant coach Randy Whitman selected individuals from the invited fans to pair as practice partners for Zhang Hao’s movement training.
Kenny Anderson or Childs would handle passes and controls, leading to a sharp increase in Zhang Hao’s training progress.
All Zhang Hao focused on was catch-and-shoot training; he didn’t practice other aspects, only how to shake off those practice partners’ trailing defense and find better scoring opportunities.
Actually, Zhang Hao was already quite excellent at receiving and shooting, with good movement talent, strong awareness, and ample theoretical knowledge. Simply searching for personal catch-and-shoot opportunities led to rapid improvements, notably progressing significantly in seeking shooting opportunities through weaving around cones, short-distance accelerations based on the positions of others on the court.
Of course, this also couldn’t have been achieved without the help of Randy Whitman, Vaughn Fleming, and the two point guard teammates.
By deducing tactics from the memorized "movement line," Zhang Hao’s approach was quite crude. More refined training content was prepared by Randy Whitman.
How better to translate the "finding opportunities based on player positions, predicting both opponent and teammate movements to find opportunities" memorized in his head into real in-game movements was guided by Vaughn Fleming.
Also crucial was the help from the two point guard teammates; they ensured passing accuracy!
Even in training, Zhang Hao could feel how an off-ball player heavily relies on the ball handlers for passing.
Zhang Hao was very pleased with such progress, even though this was just a practice with amateur basketball fans, translating what he memorized into on-court abilities wasn’t easy!
However, Kenny Anderson was even happier!
Zhang Hao’s level of effort, his dedication to basketball, his learning ability... were all outstanding!
What surprised Kenny Anderson most was Zhang Hao’s memory!
This guy, when drawing tactical diagrams, could seemingly draw a movement route for any position arrangement!
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