One Year Left to Play-Chapter 44 - 14: All About Girls, No Humanity
But a high school slam dunk contest was obviously not enough to impress those biased schools. Zhang Hao was no longer anxious. Being anxious for so long had proved useless. Now his goal was to hone his mid-range shots well and showcase his abilities at the Adidas Training Camp.
Since its inception six years ago, the Adidas Training Camp has been renowned for its high standards and quality. Compared to the McDonald’s High School All-American Game, where only the slam dunk contest of the past two years drew attention, the Adidas Training Camp garners more attention from colleges. Furthermore, with Kevin Garnett preparing to enter the draft this year, even some NBA teams have taken notice.
Since it’s already the late ’96 generation, when Zhang Hao first saw the invitation list, he recognized many future stars whose names he already knew.
The most famous among them were Mike Bibby and Kevin Garnett; the former was seen as having potential for the top draft pick, while the latter was even compared to Moses Malone.
This made Zhang Hao more invested in the Adidas Training Camp. As a senior player, at their age, a year older makes a big difference. Originally, Zhang Hao wasn’t as invested in this camp because he didn’t know many of the others except Garnett and Kobe, who were very famous. He mainly felt that even if he showcased stronger abilities than others, it would be attributed to the physical advantage of being one or two years older. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
There’s a well-known example: Jordan, during his sophomore year, was even relegated to the second team, which sounds better than the reality—it was just training partners. But in his junior year, his body developed rapidly, and he was directly selected for the All-American high school team.
But after Zhang Hao learned about the bright futures of these people, it was different. He had to showcase his strongest abilities!
Also, Zhang Hao wanted to compete with Garnett, Mike Bibby, Kobe, and others in the camp. Who knows if he’ll have a chance to enter the NBA in the future? If not, this camp might be one of the rare opportunities to face off against these players.
Among these people, the most notable at the moment are Garnett and Mike Bibby. These two talented high school players frequently make the news. Experts assess that Mike Bibby could play two or three years in college before becoming a core point guard in the NBA, and Garnett was evaluated to be capable of being a team’s mainstay immediately upon entering the NBA!
Moreover, when Zhang Hao was practicing shooting before, Mike Bibby had also trained for two mornings alongside him. Zhang Hao saw this peculiar talented high school student train firsthand—physical fitness was average, but his technical skills were unparalleled, perhaps even better than Pierce’s current skills.
Eager to compete with these people, Zhang Hao also hoped to use this training camp to showcase his characteristics and make those NCAA Division I schools take him seriously.
You must strive to compete. If you fail, so be it, but it’s unacceptable not to strive when there’s a chance.
Moreover, aren’t there secondary league schools as a backup? There are more solutions than difficulties. As for playing NCAA Division I fully at one’s own expense... that’s out of Zhang Hao’s consideration. He wanted a full basketball scholarship, not just for the money but also for the team’s respect.
He needs opportunities to perform and needs playing time!
...
On May 1st, Zhang Hao went to shoot a McDonald’s commercial. It was a simple ad, just two moves: catch and shoot, dunk, followed by a scene of everyone happily going to McDonald’s after the game... basically a background actor, still just a background actor in a commercial.
Taking advantage of the buzz, the ad quickly aired, and Zhang Hao made it on television once more—at least he was seen.
Day by day passed, with Zhang Hao training at the gym for four to five hours each day. It was monotonous, but that’s how his nearly three years in the United States had been—dull and tedious, so he persevered.
On May 8th, finally, the subtitles appeared!
"Growth Card: Mid-range Shooting Expert has successfully completed use.
Muscle memory bonus for mid-range shooting training has ended, and comprehension ability bonus for mid-range shooting training has ended."
"Special Contracted Player Zhang Hao Ability Evaluation: 65
Physical Attributes: Speed 90, Strength 76, Jumping 93, Agility 95, Stamina 90...
Shooting: Three-point 49, Mid-range 90, Layup 86...
Skills: Dribbling 54, Passing 43, Catch and Shoot 86..."
After over a week of training, his mid-range shooting significantly improved, and when this strong technical skill reached 90, his ability evaluation finally surpassed 65!
Essentially, he only had mid-range shots and putback abilities, but even so, his ability evaluation was close to catching up with Pierce!
This let Zhang Hao realize again the importance of having a specialization. In the information-explosive era of the future, he knew a lot about the NBA. Many players who seemed all-round during college turned out to be bust high-draft picks in the NBA. The reason was that they knew how to do everything but weren’t proficient in anything. You couldn’t tell there was a problem during college, except when competing with other top college players. But in the NBA, all opponents are no weaker than the strongest college opponents; even the backups were once dominant figures in the NCAA, so they couldn’t beat anyone and ended their NBA careers hastily.
With an NBA-level mid-range shot of 90, Zhang Hao really wanted to shout, "Who else?"
But considering his consistently cold and noble image in the school team, Zhang Hao held back. After all, he had only this one absolutely strong point.
