One Year Left to Play-Chapter 48 - 15: The Philadelphia High Schooler in the Corner Who Prefers to Stay Anonymous
What an all-around player, in Zhang Hao’s view, it’s all bullshit. What he needs to do now is to establish himself in the basketball world, get into university, enter the NCAA Division I league, and then make further plans.
He practiced two sets of 100 mid-range shots, making 91 in the first set and 94 in the second set.
With this accuracy, Zhang Hao was quite satisfied. He estimated that in this Adidas Training Camp, no one had a better mid-range shot than him! This was top-tier NBA-level mid-range shooting! Never mind high school students, Zhang Hao was confident that even in college there were not many who could surpass his mid-range shot, although it was his only strength, the mid-range shot had become the source of his confidence.
After completing two sets of shooting training, he originally wanted to practice a bit more, but with so many people coming and going, it was easy to get distracted, so Zhang Hao simply wandered around.
The more people there were, the clearer Zhang Hao felt the differences between people are significant. Not every player who seems highly talented in high school can make it in college, because the talent most likely to display dominance in high school is athletic ability. Those with relatively mediocre athletic ability might not seem as outstanding in high school.
But in reality, in college, most successful players aren’t the ones with the best athletic talent but those who can patiently improve their skills.
Most high school players with top-notch athletic ability end up relying excessively on it and getting stuck.
Just like during the McDonald’s All-American games, Zhang Hao didn’t see many willing to train after arriving at the court, you could see some things——this camp gathered most of the top high schoolers in the U.S., and the vast majority of the 100-plus participants had no chance of entering the NBA.
What Zhang Hao didn’t know was that there was originally someone who wanted to dominate a half-court and practice for the entire afternoon, completely indifferent to the people coming and going. But after curiously watching Zhang Hao’s two sets of mid-range shooting, this person felt a heavy blow and crouched in the corner with self-doubt —— how could a dunker shoot so accurately? Is this really a high school student?
After a long time, upon seeing his roommate, this anonymous 16-year-old high school student regained his composure and began wildly practicing mid-range shots.
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A large event can stimulate the surrounding economy. This training camp is not closed; although Adidas has made this training camp very professional, at the end of the day, it’s still a commercial event, primarily an advertisement.
Zhang Hao believes that if the McDonald’s high school All-American could be as popular with colleges and even the NBA as this training camp, they would also make it very professional.
Apart from the over 100 high school students participating in the camp, there were also many fans there to watch the excitement and reporters sent from major media outlets. As a result, the nearby hotels saw an increase in traffic, and local dining businesses enjoyed better business for a period, with several drive-thrus setting up operations nearby.
Some high school students even had family members or friends accompanying them, and high school basketball players could be seen all around the vicinity of the San Francisco Auditorium.
Like Zhang Hao, there were quite a few players wandering around to gather information, and Zhang Hao encountered a few true talents.
Lamar Odom, Sheriff Raheem!
The former greeted everyone with a polite smile, which made him look...a bit silly.
The latter was genuinely aloof, distinctly standing apart from the other Black players.
Whenever he encountered training camp members, Zhang Hao engaged with them a bit; some were easy to talk to, some were cold, some were arrogant, and some even looked down on him... Zhang Hao wasn’t annoyed when interactions didn’t go smoothly; out of 100-plus people, he was bound to meet all kinds.
Maintain good relationships with those who are easy to talk to, and as for those who aren’t...there’s no need to engage too much.
Sure enough, Zhang Hao was mocked by someone jealous of him winning the McDonald’s Dunk Contest, who sarcastically said, "Why don’t you dunk for me to have a look?"
Zhang Hao didn’t even bother to acknowledge the guy, just chuckled and walked away.
Around 4 PM, Zhang Hao returned to the hotel room and found that the roommate from the next bed still hadn’t returned, genuinely curious about who this teammate of his was.
At dinner, Zhang Hao once again sat with Kobe and Hamilton. That noon, it was actually Zhang Hao who intentionally sat near them, but this time it was Kobe who knocked on his door, inviting him to dinner.
In the afternoon, Kobe and Hamilton went to the gym for some training, and Kobe noticed Zhang Hao’s actions. After finishing a steak and wiping his mouth, Kobe said, "Aix, there’s no need to connect with those without ability, 9 out of 10 of them will lose their prodigy title after entering college."
It’s easy to talk when you don’t have to worry! Zhang Hao really wanted to retort. Kobe, this guy, not even 17 yet, but after Garnett declared for the NBA draft bypassing college, basketball media have already predicted which of today’s prodigious high schoolers can go straight to the NBA. And Kobe, just turning 17 in August, was predicted to potentially be selected in the first round!
Kobe doesn’t need to worry about his future at all, Zhang Hao can’t do that! If he had Kobe’s talent, if he also had a father who played in the NBA, if he also had the attention of so many retired stars who went into management, he could also be that cool and aloof.
But Zhang Hao still replied, "Yeah, compared to you, those can’t really be considered geniuses."
Upon hearing this, Kobe smirked, "Compared to you, what are those people?"
