One Year Left to Play-Chapter 63 - 20: Who Is the Best High School Player?
The Adidas Training Camp uses a daily elimination system instead of having everyone train until the end, allowing high school students to experience the harshness of society in advance.
By May 16th, the last day of the camp, after another day of teamwork training under the guidance of tactical coaches, the week-long camp came to an end.
At 5:30 PM, the final list of 18 players was announced!
The last 10 eliminations received their notifications after training, instructing them to return to the hotel and leave the next day.
And those who returned to the training ground after showering and resting at 5:30 PM were the remaining 18.
This was what Zhang Hao learned after showering and returning to the training ground, and he, unsurprisingly, was selected for the elite match!
Zhang Hao stood with Kobe, Hamilton, and Bibby, while Marbury initially wanted to join in, but the strong and cold aura of the three beside Zhang Hao made Marbury unable to handle it, taking away his chatterbox urge and making him leave directly.
Finally reaching the last step of the training camp, Zhang Hao was very excited; he learned a lot from this camp, especially in teamwork. Previously, his teamwork involved aimlessly running with stamina, finding gaps and shooting when opportunities arose, thanks to having Pierce as a teammate.
But here, he truly experienced what real cooperation felt like for the first time.
He was now very eager to know the final grouping; tomorrow was preparation and media day, and the day after tomorrow would be the match, followed by the announcement of the two team rosters.
Kobe and Bibby were also looking forward to it, while Hamilton was as usual just waiting for instructions.
The expectations of Kobe and Bibby were quite different. Bibby occasionally glanced at Zhang Hao, eager to team up with him—who wouldn’t want to partner with such an off-ball shooter?
Moreover, he wanted to see Zhang Hao’s strength on the court from a teammate’s perspective.
As for Kobe... he didn’t want to be on the same team as Zhang Hao or Garnett!
In this camp, after initially gaining some heat due to his father’s show-off, Kobe was no longer the focus of attention at the camp.
The strongest was Garnett, with NBA lottery teams reportedly coming to watch the elite match on May 18th.
The most impressive was Odom, as the Adidas promotion stated, able to rank top three among high schoolers in any position.
The representative of unexpected success was Zhang Hao. After team training started, Adidas compiled Zhang Hao’s challenge videos into a collection and released it online, gaining tens of thousands of views. Even some sports newspapers reported on Zhang Hao’s near-unbeatable mid-range shot competition against Garnett.
The undefeated Mid-range King, albeit with a high schooler label, indeed gained Zhang Hao quite a bit of fame.
With exceptional athletic ability and outstanding mid-range, although lacking in technique and ball control, a player with both athletic ability and shooting, plus a decent height, was already incredible.
Though Kobe did everything well, he couldn’t stand out during the training phase.
Thus, Kobe had no choice but to shine in the match.
Furthermore, he wanted to fight against all odds!
This camp indeed greatly surprised Kobe. In Pennsylvania, he was called the strongest high schooler, having broken some records held by Basketball Emperor Chamberlain before the age of 17. He arrived at this camp with a "you’re all trash" mindset, yet encountered Garnett, more versatile; Zhang Hao, better at mid-range; Bibby, more technically skilled...
But even with that, he still wanted to win!
Zhang Hao looked at the remaining 18. Aside from Mike Bibby, Hamilton, and Kobe beside him, other familiar future NBA stars like Garnett, Raheem, Jamison, Marbury, Billups, Odom, and Little O’Neal were also unsurprisingly on the elite match list, with Little O’Neal and Odom, like Kobe, only 16 years old.
But that guy—Corey Benjamin—unexpectedly made it to the end!
The other six, Zhang Hao wasn’t familiar with, though over the week, he gained some understanding of them.
Rodney Buford from Vincent High School in Wisconsin, forward Scott Paggett from Saint Xavier High School in Kentucky, center Calvin Booth and point guard Tim Berners from Madison High School in Ohio, the Booth cousins, tall guard Quincy Lewis from Hour Park High School in Arkansas, and Tyson Wheeler, standing just 175 cm from New London High School in Connecticut.
Among these remaining players, Zhang Hao was most interested not in those superstar talents sure to shine in the NBA, but the Booth brothers. Despite being cousins, Calvin Booth was 208 cm tall, Tim Berners 183 cm, and they didn’t even look alike...
But twins can have genetic differences up to half; how strange is it for cousins? Zhang Hao didn’t find it that odd.
After waiting not too long, staff came to post the final match roster! 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
Kobe first found his name, then found Garnett’s name on the other team, feeling ecstatic! Then he found Zhang Hao’s name, getting even more excited, locating Raheem and Bibby’s names as well. Though he didn’t find Odom’s name, knowing Odom was on his team, yet the most famous from this camp, only two were on his side, while the rest were on the other team!
