One Year Left to Play-Chapter 144 - 45: Born Leader

Zhang Hao heard Kenny Anderson’s words and thought, it seems everyone believes he’s vying for the position with Jason Williams, the power forward.

Considering his own strength of 90 and lightweight compared to Jason Williams’ 109 kilos and strength of 87, he’s lacking in bulk, making it difficult to dig into the basket.

But his style isn’t about digging into the basket. Finding opportunities to shoot during confrontations doesn’t seem that hard either!

Thinking about how he mainly played small forward in high school and now directly plays power forward in the NBA, Zhang Hao found it a bit surreal.

The Brooklyn Nets players, divided into two teams, took this training match very seriously because it was their first internal training match since the team assembled, and there wouldn’t be another. Next would be technical and tactical reinforcement training, followed by the preseason games.

If they fall behind their competitors even once, they might be constrained everywhere thereafter. They must seize the opportunity from the start!

...

At 1:30 in the afternoon, Zhang Hao arrived at the training ground early to warm up.

He was the only one who arrived this early; the match wouldn’t start until 3:30, and he was alone on the training ground.

When the trainer was called to the training ground to help Zhang Hao warm up, even the trainer was unused to it.

Working with the Brooklyn Nets for years, it was the first time encountering a player who came so early to warm up for a training match.

The cameraman team preparing to record for Guangdong Sports was also surprised. While chatting with the Nets staff, they learned there was still an hour left to get ready, and at least by 3, there would be something to film.

Unexpectedly, someone was already warming up, and it was the youngest, Zhang Hao!

As Zhang Hao went to change into his training uniform, the Guangdong Sports staff hurried to prepare for shooting. Their main focus was Zhang Hao, with others being secondary.

The test of strength within the Brooklyn Nets started from when the players returned, but externally, no one cared about such matters.

To the outside world, apart from whether Kenny Anderson could secure the assist leader title in the new season and the buzz surrounding high school rookie Zhang Hao, there wasn’t much else to focus on.

The domestic media were eager to seize Zhang Hao as a hot topic in the domestic sports scene. Observing Zhang Hao arriving early to warm up, the reporter responsible for coordination already thought of a narration: "Although he’s only 18, he demands extraordinary discipline from himself, which is one of the reasons he could enter the NBA directly after graduating high school..."

Meanwhile, Butch Baird had always been watching Zhang Hao, and seeing Zhang Hao’s enthusiasm for warming up, he was very pleased. Warming up diligently represents something distinctive.

It’s not to say that if someone is diligent in training, they’ll definitely warm up diligently too. There have been cases of players who trained hard, had great talent, became stars, yet often got injured due to insufficient warm-up.

From when Zhang Hao joined the team... or even before he officially joined, according to the scout’s information, Zhang Hao always made him satisfied. He was too diligent, as if basketball was his life, and Zhang Hao’s speed of progress spoke to his talent.

Having both talent and diligence, from the time he’s willing to devote to preparing for games, and seeing how responsible he is toward his body and even a training match... Butch Baird felt Zhang Hao was a genius born for basketball...

Thinking about Zhang Hao’s mid-range shot, Butch Baird believed that once Zhang Hao established himself in the NBA and then developed his three-pointer...

However, Butch Baird intended to quietly succeed; he wouldn’t go around boasting about Zhang Hao’s talent, as no one else would believe Zhang Hao could have made such progress in strength; even if they believed it, they wouldn’t believe he could maintain his shooting after such a strength gain.

For another high schooler, with McHale’s sort of praise, Butch Baird imagined that rookie being pitiful...

Once assembled and fully warmed up, with everyone prepared and Zhang Hao having done his utmost in preparation, he stepped onto the court.

Finally, it was about to start again!

For the first time playing against NBA players, even if it’s just a warm-up match, Zhang Hao felt his blood boiling!

After catching a ball that bounced off the rim from a teammate’s shot, Zhang Hao leaped and shot it, making a steady mid-range shot... Every time he played, Zhang Hao truly felt his love for basketball. Even if he had less than a year to live and no way to prolong his life, this moment, he wasn’t thinking about squandering or indulging, but to pour every last bit of strength into the basketball court.

A person’s passion for something easily infects those partners doing the same thing with him.

Although their cooperation was short, not having officially started yet, not even having played a preseason game, Zhang Hao’s teammates only had a partial understanding of how hardworking and focused he was in basketball, unaware that Zhang Hao even warmed up an hour earlier than they did, but they felt Zhang Hao’s passion for the games.

Even his competitor, Jason Williams, felt Zhang Hao’s passion. That kind of feeling was enough to excite him as both a competitor and teammate.

What Zhang Hao exuded left Kenny Anderson surprised—a high school rookie could actually guide the change in the whole team’s morale, which wasn’t visible until the game, yet it was indeed there!

This kind of charisma was something Kenny Anderson had always wanted—leadership qualities!

This is something where duration and career in basketball matter, but it’s not absolute. Many rookies entered the NBA as team leaders, like Grant Hill of the Pistons.

The Brooklyn Nets lacked such a player with leadership charisma. Even Kenny Anderson himself doesn’t have it, nor did Coleman in the past.

Otherwise, despite having him and Coleman, two All-Star players, the Brooklyn Nets wouldn’t have been always in disarray.

Kenny Anderson was perhaps the only veteran player truly aspiring to lead a resurgence after Coleman left. He genuinely yearned to win and desired for the team to get better and better. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Now, the feeling Xiao Hao gave to Kenny Anderson was like a fresh stream, impacting their stagnant pool.

Seeing the bright glow in Zhang Hao’s eyes, for a moment, he felt like he was back in his college days...