One Year Left to Play-Chapter 88 - 28: We’d Be Laughed at for Choosing a High Schooler!
Zhang Hao was taken by the Lakers’ assistant coach for body testing.
Watching Zhang Hao being led away, and seeing the Logo Man leave with the young master, Silver Fox Harris and Kupchek were quite puzzled.
Originally, this interview was supposed to be conducted with them and the scouting director, the young master, but the Logo Man unexpectedly showed up.
Generally speaking, they would have filtered and then let the general manager see the tryout performances of those prospects they favored.
Since he came, he completely took over the interview, not asking any of the supposed questions. The Logo Man alone decided the outcome of the interview and directly offered Zhang Hao a chance for subsequent trials.
However, neither of them had any objections. In this team, apart from the owner Jerry Buss, the only management figure with the capacity to counterbalance the Logo Man in terms of authority is Jeanie Buss, the most capable of Buss’ children.
However, Jeanie Buss only enjoys vying for power but won’t interfere with the Logo Man’s player operations. Jeanie Buss is only responsible for commercial affairs, leaving professional matters to the experts.
So, regarding the draft, if the Logo Man has a pick, even Jeanie Buss wouldn’t question it. Therefore, although they were puzzled, they didn’t interrupt, and even if there was doubt, they would wait to ask privately.
Moreover, Zhang Hao’s confidence is impressive, which greatly impressed Silver Fox Harris.
Zhang Hao then underwent height, weight, wingspan, and other measurements, followed by a warm-up with the trainer’s help... an exceptionally complex warm-up!
The warm-up alone took Zhang Hao a full hour!
He had never thought warming up could be so complex and detailed. The warm-up guidance at the Adidas Training Camp seemed professional to him, but the NBA team showed him what true professionalism is.
After adjusting his physical state, he underwent athletic ability testing.
Kupchek arrived at the training ground as Zhang Hao’s physical test was nearing completion and obtained Zhang Hao’s physical test data immediately.
Through the test data, Kupchek could see that Zhang Hao’s physical qualities were excellent, with top-tier speed for someone of his height, top-tier jumping ability, less strength but unbothered as he’s only 18, and mid-level explosive force—not bad, but not remarkable either. His start speed without confrontation was decent...
Aside from running and jumping abilities, in other aspects, Zhang Hao wasn’t much different from the Asian basketball players Kupchek had in mind. Overall, even compared to Black athletes, he ranked high.
Initially, Zhang Hao was noticed by Coach Scott Collins for his athletic ability, intending to showcase this talent to NCAA teams through a dunk contest, unexpectedly being noticed by Logo Man first.
However, if that were all, Zhang Hao wouldn’t stand out enough to attract the Logo Man’s interest. The most abundant resource among draft participants is physical talent, possibly allowing him to catch an NBA team’s eye due to his exceptional physique. But in this era when high school prospects are deemed unreliable, it’s not enough.
The subsequent technical testing for Zhang Hao, primarily mid-range shooting, drew many Lakers staff to watch.
How accurate could the rumored "High School Mid-range King’s" mid-range shots be?
Soon enough, they found out.
At five set positions, mid-range shots from the free-throw line, Zhang Hao hit all from three spots, scoring 9 and 7 from the left and right baseline mid-range, respectively!
out of 50!
In 5 groups of 10 running catch-and-shoot drills, Zhang Hao scored a total of 42!
...
The tryout ended faster than Zhang Hao expected. The points they focused on evaluating were fewer than he thought, primarily testing his strengths.
The athletic abilities and mid-range shots were the primary areas of focus.
Three-pointers, layups, ball handling, passing... etc., were relatively simple, ending with just one set.
Since Zhang Hao didn’t consider the Lakers as a first choice, he was very relaxed during the tryout, performing even more steadily than expected.
Then, Zhang Hao was informed that the tryout was over...
Zhang Hao found his two friends, who were watching a video of the Lakers defeating the Celtics in the 1987 Finals, in the arena’s resting area. They also didn’t expect Zhang Hao to finish the tryout so quickly.
Pierce immediately asked, "Aix, how did it go?"
Both Pierce and Aprile Clark hoped Zhang Hao would be selected by the Lakers. Most California basketball fans love the Lakers.
"I don’t know."
The tryout process was simpler than Zhang Hao imagined, and indeed he didn’t know whether they were interested in him or not.
Initially confused by the situation, Zhang Hao soon realized it’s not so easy to get a team’s draft commitment.
Arriving at the arena at 8 a.m. and finishing the tryout by 11, the young ones couldn’t analyze much, with Pierce and Aprile Clark mainly taking care of legwork tasks like gathering information—they had no problem with that, but analyzing things wasn’t their forte.
Zhang Hao had no prior experience, so he could only guess.
However, despite the tryout process being different from expectations, less comprehensive than the Adidas Training Camp’s tests, it didn’t impact Zhang Hao much. He figured the Lakers might not take him seriously, merely going through the motions.
The next day, at the Clippers’ tryout, Pierce and Aprile Clark didn’t go...
Yesterday, Zhang Hao felt the Lakers’ tryout was somewhat "perfunctory," but during the Clippers’ tryout, Zhang Hao truly understood what "perfunctory" meant.
