One Year Left to Play-Chapter 79 - 25: Everything Is Just Beginning!
But when it was time to show confidence, he still needed to demonstrate his own confidence.
Regarding sensitive topics, he skillfully avoided them and successfully changed the subject. After all, his goal remained to enter an NCAA Division I university, and it wouldn’t do to offend the schools.
It was just a high school competition, and he hadn’t encountered any particularly aggressive questions. Zhang Hao felt quite fortunate, though he was puzzled as to why these media seemed intent on targeting those universities. He was nearly dragged into it. Thankfully, he had learned from this experience and knew how to sidestep questions about the universities; otherwise, he really would have ended up offending all of them.
After the interview, returning to the hotel, Zhang Hao looked at the Adidas 1995 training camp MVP trophy lying on the bed... it felt quite surreal!
The final results of attending the training camp were completely different from what he initially expected!
For a moment, Zhang Hao felt a bit lost...
It wasn’t that things were turning out badly, but rather that the good fortune had come too quickly.
This feeling was akin to getting rich overnight and not knowing how to handle the current situation. But fortunately, it didn’t involve money; it wasn’t truly unexpected wealth. He wouldn’t lose his ability to think clearly.
Seeing he had 405 days left to live, Zhang Hao quickly snapped back to reality. He knew that everything was just beginning!
Meanwhile, sitting on the other bed reading a book, Bibi had been observing his remarkable roommate and noticed Zhang Hao’s momentary daze. He was curious about why Zhang Hao was so bewildered while looking at a trophy...
Bibi, who had been called a basketball prodigy since childhood and sailed smoothly through his student days, couldn’t truly empathize with Zhang Hao, his roommate from China who had faced so many hardships on his basketball journey.
After resting for a while, at around 6 o’clock, there was a knock on the door.
Zhang Hao went to open the door. It was Marbury.
"Aix, hey, Mike, let’s go hang out, Sheriff is treating!"
Marbury said as he walked straight into the room.
"I don’t want to..."
"No, you do!"
Marbury directly pulled Bibi up. For someone as awkward as Bibi, Marbury, who grew up in the slums and mingled on the streets, was quite adept at dealing with him.
Zhang Hao certainly wouldn’t refuse...
Following Marbury to the hotel entrance, the other 15 talented high school students were already there, even the other awkward one, Kobe, was not absent.
The training camp had ended! Tomorrow they would all return home, and Raheem, who came from the most affluent family background, treated everyone, renting several cars and bringing everyone to a high-end restaurant for a gathering.
Raheem’s family background was truly impressive. He was born into a church family, with several generations back all being preachers. In a town with over 50,000 people, everyone followed his father from a church perspective. A town with over 50,000 people is not small in the United States; Inglewood City is about this size. His family also had a charitable foundation... In his generation, his brother was expected to take over the role of preacher.
His non-competitive nature often drew criticism from the media, but his gentle personality allowed him to maintain seemingly good relations with everyone... The power of money is always useful.
Among the 18 people present, there were quite a few who came from the slums and had never been to a high-end restaurant. Fortunately, the African American culture of being "easy-going" helped as they went all out with their meal, and Raheem didn’t mind.
Although they couldn’t drink alcohol, the entire experience was very enjoyable.
But gatherings must come to an end at some point. Some people didn’t think much of it, but Marbury, being a thoughtful person, sighed after eating and drinking, leaning back in his chair, "This might be the only time in our lives that this group of us gets a chance to have a meal together, right?"
Some people brushed off Marbury’s words, but many others resonated with his sentiment.
Though it wasn’t a long time, the camaraderie formed through training together, advancing together, and playing in a high school game of the highest standard was rare and worth remembering.
"Not only that, but we may not even have the chance to meet again," Bibi chimed in, speaking softly.
Hearing his roommate’s words, Zhang Hao understood that Bibi was right. In those days, the only ways to communicate remotely were through fixed phones and letters. The internet wasn’t convenient. Yet, he also heard another underlying message in Bibi’s words — that’s why I don’t bother building deep connections with others.
Exactly, that’s it. Because many people might only encounter each other once in a lifetime, and there’s a chance they might not meet again for another ten or eight years or indeed, for the rest of their lives. Therefore, for someone like Bibi, there wasn’t any need to interact too deeply with others. Humans are emotional beings; if you make a good friend and then don’t see them for many years, if that friendship was genuinely good, it could even result in negative emotions.
Zhang Hao thought for a moment and said, "Not necessarily, we might have many opportunities to meet in the future."
There were, after all, ten people present who, from Zhang Hao’s memory, would become future NBA stars. It was a completely different concept than making friends at an ordinary game!
Bibi looked at Zhang Hao and, for once, smiled, saying, "If it’s you, we might play against each other in college... now those universities won’t be blind anymore, will they?"
Bibi was genuinely quite happy about Zhang Hao’s performance this time. It was only a pity that they were teammates this time during the elite match, but with Zhang Hao’s ability, Bibi believed Zhang Hao would soon become a star player for an NCAA team.
But at this moment, Zhang Hao shook his head, "NCAA? That’s just a stage... In college, we might not even have the opportunity to meet. I think our goals should be the same as Kevin’s."
