One Year Left to Play-Chapter 78 - 25: Everything Is Just Beginning!
"I told you, I want to be on your team, only with you can we win, Aix, you’re amazing..." Marbury started rambling again, inadvertently offending a certain narrow-minded 16-year-old high schooler next to him.
"Although I’m not your match right now, you better watch out, I’m a year younger than you, and I’ll catch up soon!" This was Hamilton.
"I also want to try playing with you..." This was Jamison.
"It’s terrible how you dunked over me when I wasn’t paying attention..."
Hearing what others said, Zhang Hao didn’t think much, but hearing Odom’s words, Zhang Hao was speechless.
During that dunk, he even made eye contact with Odom before jumping in, and who knew that the next second this guy was distracted. He was already prepared to fail the dunk.
In this game, Zhang Hao not only won over his teammates but also gained recognition from his opponents, especially for his in-game prowess!
In their eyes, Zhang Hao’s abilities were at a professional player level!
Zhang Hao indeed had many flaws, far from being versatile, but with such height and athletic ability, such shooting, the combination of these three already made him the strongest in the eyes of other players!
Of course, there were those who didn’t think so, some firmly believed they were the strongest.
The Adidas Training Camp brought together this group of young men representing the far-reaching ’96 generation.
After the frustration of losing, the 18 players from both teams gathered together, hugged, and took photos...
Perhaps, after today, many of them would never meet again.
The older they got, the more they understood how difficult it was to become a professional player. Besides a few people, most didn’t have a clear plan for their future or what they wanted to do.
A while later, after the post-game player interaction ended, the Adidas Pacific Region representative came to the court; it was time for the awards ceremony.
There was no prize money; the winning team received trophies, and everyone got an Adidas Training Camp certificate. Although it wasn’t much, before Adidas expanded the elite competition, only 18 people each year could get the certificate, which was worth keeping for these high schoolers. If they performed poorly in the NCAA and couldn’t get into the professional league, this certificate would be one of their most treasured memories of their basketball career.
Besides these two, there was one more important award tonight!
Kobe, who scored 30 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block, didn’t have a chance to win this award. Neither did Odom with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 assists, nor Hamilton with 18 points...
This individual trophy went only to the best player from the winning team — the Most Valuable Player of the game!
After a long introduction...which was mostly just soft advertising, the Adidas representative was ready to present the award: "...Thank you all for bringing us such an exciting match. We hope this training camp can help your basketball careers.
OK, OK, I know you can’t wait any longer. I announce, the Most Valuable Player of this Adidas Training Camp Elite Competition is... from Inglewood High School, Los Angeles, Aix-Zhang!"
With 31 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, Zhang Hao beat Garnett, who had 14 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks, to become the MVP of this Adidas Training Camp Elite Competition!
There wasn’t much suspense; Garnett performed well, but anyone could see who they relied on to win this match.
In this game, there was no so-called commercial reason; it was simply given to the best performer. And considering commercial reasons, the training camp in San Francisco, California, should undoubtedly go to Zhang Hao. At least half of the audience bought shoes and gear with complimentary tickets because of Zhang Hao!
Regarding this, Garnett couldn’t do anything. He wanted to, but in this situation, he was powerless...
This time, he was truly convinced!
The 1995 Adidas Training Camp Elite Competition ended after 1 hour and 12 minutes of total time and 40 minutes of game time, as Zhang Hao enjoyed the cheers from the crowd...
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"Congratulations, Aix, you’ve won the MVP, and you also won at the McDonald’s event. Which do you think is better, the Adidas or McDonald’s high school events?"
"I only participated in the McDonald’s dunk contest, so I’m not familiar with the other events, but they must all be excellent. The Adidas Training Camp I experienced fully; it’s very professional, and I learned a lot. I think it will help my training this summer."
"You’ve proven with your actions that you’re the strongest high school player, but I heard no colleges have offered you a basketball scholarship. Is that true?"
"I think perhaps Los Angeles is too remote, and they haven’t heard of me, but this time, it should get their attention."
"There’s talk about your skin color being the reason colleges aren’t offering you scholarships?"
"If it’s like you say, that’s terrible, but they did offer scholarships, just academic ones."
"Academic scholarships?"
"Yes, at the end of last season, with nothing to do, I took the SAT early. I remember scoring nearly 1400, and at that time, my teacher wanted to recommend me to graduate early and go to college."
"..."
"..." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
...
After the game, Zhang Hao was taken aside for an interview. This time, he was much more relaxed. It was unlike the dunk contest; his answers were quite organized this time.
