One Year Left to Play-Chapter 46 - 14: Bros Before Hoes
Aside from improving his mid-range shot, his strength has also increased over the past period. Because he specifically trained for strength, he moved from just over 70 to 76. However, limited by his weight and lack of real strength pulling exercises, his strength is far from those in the NBA like Pierce, who are at a first-rate level. With over 100 kilograms, Pierce is naturally strong, and if he sheds fat and strengthens his muscle training, his strength could rise another level or two.
Also, his three-point ability has increased to 49, his layup has improved to 86, and he’s been practicing catch-and-shoot lately, which has also improved to 86.
When training for mid-range shots, the school team head coach Scott Collins would come to help Zhang Hao with catch-and-shoot practice whenever he had time. Zhang Hao worked hard at it, although catch-and-shoot was already his strong suit. It was tough to improve much more. Practicing this technique is less important than actual combat, but there isn’t a game every day, so he can only train for now. However, due to the rapid improvement in his mid-range shot, his catch-and-shoot has also improved nicely, breaking through the small bottleneck of 85 ability points, reaching 86 in catch-and-shoot.
...
On the evening of the 8th, Zhang Hao invited Pierce and Aprile Clark, along with one of Aprile Clark’s school team friends, a white female high school tennis player, for dinner.
Aprile Clark brought a female companion for Pierce’s sake.
But Pierce is really a talkative steel man, completely missing Aprile Clark’s intention. When it comes to talking to people, he can adapt to any type of person, but in that area, he has no awareness at all.
Pierce took a big bite of a chicken leg, chewing while asking, "Aix, how many days will you be at the Adidas Training Camp?"
Zhang Hao responded, "About 8 days. I’m reporting tomorrow, the camp runs from the 10th to the 16th. If I can make the list for the final game, then I’ll stay another day."
"You’ll definitely make it. I made it last year; your progress lately is too fast. Your mid-range shot... wow, really, I’ve got to train hard too. If I’m not careful, you’ll surpass me and crush me by university time, what would I do then? No way! I must train hard, plus my Mom’s been getting a bit impatient with me recently. I’ve got to spend more time at the gym, rested for three weeks, time to train properly..."
Pierce slipped back into his chatty mode. The other two campus sports figures, Zhang Hao and Aprile Clark, were long used to it. As top athletes at the school, they already spent a lot of time together. Previously, it was them mentoring Zhang Hao. Now Zhang Hao has become more proactive;
"Aprile, exams are in a couple of days. How is your prep going?"
"Not feeling too confident..."
"You’ll definitely get into college. When you become a drama artist, I’ll definitely buy tickets every day to see your performances."
"You’ll also definitely earn a basketball scholarship from this camp, but no need to buy tickets. As an actor, I’ll have family tickets for sure. You just give me the money, and I’ll give you tickets..."
The conversation drifted to college topics. Pierce sighed, "I never thought it would be this difficult for international students to get sports scholarships."
Bringing this up made Zhang Hao feel a bit awkward, but he was already used to it and replied, "No worries, you get used to it. I’m quite stable with my mood now."
Seeing that Zhang Hao seemed less concerned about it than a month ago, both Pierce and Aprile Clark breathed a sigh of relief. They actually thought that the setback Zhang Hao faced this time didn’t seem like such a bad thing, because after facing it, instead of crumbling, Zhang Hao had become much more upbeat.
But they wouldn’t say it out loud, and they both were genuinely puzzled as to why universities without a top-ranked league wouldn’t offer Zhang Hao a full basketball scholarship.
On Zhang Hao’s part, given the future possibility of having a success story like Jeremy Lin’s, he was becoming more composed, beginning to plan multiple alternatives.
In youth, one doesn’t know the taste of sorrow. Although everyone was clearly getting busier with less time together, the three of them didn’t feel it much, always thinking this kind of life would never end.
They had a meal together, and the next day, Zhang Hao boarded a flight to San Francisco at 9 AM. Including more than an hour of flight and an hour of the airport bus, by a little past 11 AM, Zhang Hao finally arrived at the San Francisco City Hall Ballroom. After checking in, he went for a free lunch, which, of course, he wouldn’t miss.
This venue was rebuilt from the Warriors’ original home arena from 30 years ago. It’s hosted several major events, and Stanford University’s basketball team, the Cardinal Team, often plays games here.
The Adidas Training Camp was held here this time.
To talk about whether winning the McDonald’s Slam Dunk Contest brought any benefits to Zhang Hao, it showed this time. Unlike during the McDonald’s Slam Dunk Contest when nobody paid attention, this time when Zhang Hao appeared at the San Francisco City Hall Ballroom, as soon as he arrived, reporters came up for interviews!
However, the reporter’s questions were clearly not as friendly as those from the McDonald’s invitation.
"Hello, Aix, I’m Emil Jackson, a reporter from Bleacher Report. Can I do a quick interview with you?"
The reporter in front of him appeared decent, but the feeling he gave Zhang Hao was not particularly friendly.
Zhang Hao nodded and replied, "Okay."
"Aix, you’re the first Chinese person to participate in both the McDonald’s All-Star and Adidas Training Camp. Is it because you received excellent advanced basketball coaching once you came to the United States that you got such an opportunity?"
Indeed!
The condescending tone, the topic... Zhang Hao didn’t get angry. He quickly thought and replied, "The United States is the country with the highest level of basketball in the world. I am very thankful to our school’s coach, Scott Collins, for inviting me to join. His guidance has been very important to me. I was spotted by Mr. Collins through a game. He thought I had more talent than those American students he coached. I’m honored to have played pretty well at the American high school level, making California first team and All-American third team."
Zhang Hao’s response astonished the obviously unfriendly reporter. Young as he was, his answer was neither humble nor overbearing, and he remained unruffled, which was quite unexpected. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Quick to temper is a common trait among most young people.
Not becoming angry yet delivering an effective counter, this was indeed rare.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the United States needed to divert domestic tensions by identifying a perceived enemy. Regardless of whether the other party wanted it, China became the first choice as a threat to American hegemony.
