Chapter 14: There is the opposite sex but no humanity
Pierce started talking again and Zhang Hao didn't refuse. When the two of them went out to eat, it usually cost around ten or twenty dollars, and a very good meal would cost a maximum of $100. They wouldn't go to any high-end restaurants. They were all students and didn't care about being picky.
Originally, the manager of the sophomore team wanted to hold a celebration for Zhang Hao's winning the Slam Dunk Contest at noon today, but Zhang Hao declined. His teammates were not surprised, as Zhang Hao has always been a loner. It's just a pity that both Zhang Hao and Pierce have the possibility of entering the NBA. Most of their teammates this season are quite ordinary. Although they all play well, they are just average among ordinary people. Only one named Jason Hart is being trained as the core for next season. If these two really enter the NBA in the future, the one or two years of partnering with them, or the one to three years of partnering with Pierce, will really become their future bragging capital - I have played with NBA players!
But different people feel differently about the same thing. Zhang Hao found it too troublesome and integrated the future and the aftermath. He did not feel that the two years in high school were anything special. Although he still felt excited when he recalled the scene of defeating Southern California High School and winning the California championship, that was all.
After making an appointment with Pierce to have lunch at noon, Zhang Hao came to the school and found April Clark, who was preparing for her last SAT exam in high school in early May.
April Clark was memorizing her notes in a small pavilion by the lake at school. When she was taking a break, Zhang Hao asked, "April, are you free at noon? Let's have lunch together?"
"Tomorrow, I have to go to cram school at 12:40 noon, and I also have cram school tonight. I will be free tomorrow at noon." April Clark responded.
"Oh, I have to make up for the lessons tonight..." Zhang Hao took out two football tickets, but before he could finish his words, one was snatched away.
"What make-up class? I have time tonight. What time? Let me see. The game starts at 8 o'clock. Let's leave from the apartment at 6 pm! You should eat early tonight! Let's go early!"
Seeing the tickets, April Clarke knew what it meant? Make up lessons? Ahem, one day less is nothing...
"Aren't you going to have dinner with me tonight?"
"I'm losing weight. I haven't been exercising much in recent times, so I'm starting to gain weight... By the way, aren't you going to watch the game with Paul?"
"I have a ticket for him, next to us."
"That's good……"
…
At noon, Pierce treated Zhang Hao to a steak dinner and ordered two expensive cakes to celebrate for Zhang Hao. They spent much more money than Zhang Hao had imagined. The two of them spent 200 US dollars. Pierce's ability to ask his mother for money was always outstanding.
Pierce was really touched this time. When Zhang Hao got the ticket, the first person he thought of was him...at least that's what he thought.
Then, Pierce took a nap to recharge his energy. After waking up in the afternoon, he happily played games all afternoon. At 5 o'clock in the evening, he and Zhang Hao went to eat a pizza, two hamburgers, two chicken legs, and two chicken wings. This time, the two of them only spent 25 US dollars in total...
Pierce was even more anxious. He was eager to go out at 5:30, and he complained that Zhang Hao was too slow and kept dawdling. Then, when it was almost 6 o'clock, he saw April Clarke appear...
When he arrived at the stadium, he went in and found his seat. When he saw Zhang Hao and April Clark sitting next to him and asking Picli to help take a Polaroid photo, Pierce felt like his young heart had suffered a critical blow!
It’s fine that Zhang Hao took a photo with a girl, but he even asked Picli to take the photo! He was not even invited to take the photo!
Pierce deeply felt what it means to have the opposite sex but no humanity!
…
…
Time passed day by day, and Zhang Hao started his personal training the day after watching the game between the Lakers and the SuperSonics.
Life should not be wasted. This is Zhang Hao’s current thought. Looking at his remaining life span, he feels that wasting one day is a luxury.
If a rest is necessary, then I will definitely choose to rest. If there is something I want to do with friends, then I will definitely make time for it.
But now, Pierce is either practicing or playing games, April Clark is busy reviewing for exams every day, and some of the school team's games are played by lower grade students. Zhang Hao and Pierce, two of the graduating class, can retire after helping the team win the California championship...
When it comes to applying to universities, although Zhang Hao was given the nickname "Axelrod of the Crotch" by the commentator of an American cable TV station after the dunk contest, Carter also got the nickname "Carter of the Windmill".
But the popularity of the contest is just so-so. After all, it is a competition among high school students. Although the two of them performed amazingly in dunking, just like those dunk masters in street competitions, their influence is not that great. Only when professional players perform well in the dunk contest can they really increase their popularity. Competitions involving amateur players are, after all, amateur, because dunk contests cannot be held every day, and good dunks cannot appear every day when the competitions are intensive.
But through this dunk contest, the two young dunk geniuses Zhang Hao and Carter also became somewhat famous.
On Zhang Hao's side, some schools from the secondary league came to him, but Zhang Hao's first target was definitely the schools from the NCAA's first league. These schools have one thing in common - not only are they strong in sports, but they are also good schools. There is a peculiar order of priority. Good schools have sufficient funds and can cultivate students' hobbies and pursue spiritual things. Then their sports programs develop better and become more famous...
But a high school student's dunk contest is obviously not enough to impress those prejudiced schools. Zhang Hao is no longer in a hurry. It is useless to be anxious for so long. Now his goal is to practice his mid-range shot well and show his ability in the Adidas training camp.
Since the opening of the Adidas training camp six years ago, it has been known for its high standards and quality. Compared to the McDonald's High School All-Star Slam Dunk Contest which has only received attention in the past two years, the Adidas training camp has attracted more attention from major universities. In fact, since Kevin Garnett is preparing to participate in the draft this year, even some NBA teams have paid attention to it.
Also, since it was the post-96 generation, when Zhang Hao first looked at the invitation list, he saw many future stars whose names he knew.
The most famous among them are Mike Bibby and Kevin Garnett. The former is considered to have the potential to be the No. 1 pick, and the latter is even compared to Moses Malone.
This made Zhang Hao more interested in the Adidas training camp. He was a senior in high school, and at their age, being one year older really would make a huge difference. Originally, Zhang Hao was not so interested in this training camp. Except for Garnett and Kobe who were too famous, he didn't know anyone else. The main reason was that he felt that even if he showed better abilities than others, it would be considered as a physical advantage brought by being one or two years older.
There is a well-known example. When Jordan was in his sophomore year of high school, he was even demoted to the second team. The second team was just a nicer way of saying it. To be more direct, it was just sparring partners. However, when he was in his junior year of high school, his body developed rapidly and he was directly selected into the best team of high school students in the United States.
But it’s different after Zhang Hao knows that these people have a bright future. He has to show his strongest ability!
Another thing is that Zhang Hao wants to compete with Garnett, Mike Bibby, Kobe and others in the training camp. God knows if he will have the opportunity to enter the NBA in the future. If not, then this training camp may be a rare opportunity to compete with these people.
Among these people, the most popular ones are Garnett and Mike Bibby. These two talented high school students are often in the news. Mike Bibby, according to experts, can play as a core point guard in the NBA after playing for two or three years in college. Garnett is even said to be able to become a main player of a team immediately after entering the NBA!
Moreover, when Zhang Hao was practicing shooting before, Mike Bibby also trained with him in the morning for two days. Zhang Hao witnessed the training of this talented high school student with a rather eccentric personality. Although his physical fitness was average, his skills were amazing, perhaps even better than Pierce's current skills.
While Zhang Hao is eager to compete with these people, he also hopes to show his unique characteristics through this training camp and let those NCAA Division I schools take him seriously.
You have to try your best to strive for it. There is nothing you can do if you fail, but it is unacceptable not to fight for it when you have the chance.
Besides, isn't there a backup option of a school in a secondary league? There are always more solutions than problems. As for playing in the NCAA Division I league at his own expense... this is not within Zhang Hao's consideration. He wants a full basketball scholarship, not only for the money, but also for the team's attention.
He needs opportunities to perform and playing time!
…
On May 1st, Zhang Hao went to shoot an advertisement for McDonald's. It was a very simple advertisement, with just two actions: catching the ball and shooting, and dunking. Then there was a happy scene of a group of people meeting up to eat at McDonald's after the game... In other words, it was an extra, an extra in the advertisement.
Taking advantage of the popularity, the advertisement came out quickly, and Zhang Hao appeared on TV again, at least he showed his face.
As time went by, Zhang Hao went to the gym to train for four or five hours every day. It was very boring, but it had been so boring for more than two years, almost three years, since he came to the United States, so he persisted.
On May 8th, finally, the subtitle prompt came!
“Growth Card: Mid-range Shooting Expert has been successfully used.
The mid-range shooting training muscle memory bonus has ended, and the mid-range shooting training comprehension ability bonus has ended. "
"Special signing player Zhang Hao ability rating: 65
Physical fitness: speed 90, strength 76, jumping 93, flexibility 95, stamina 90...
Shooting: 3-pointer 49, mid-range 90, layup 86…
Skills: ball handling 54, passing 43, catch-and-shoot 86…”
After more than a week of training, his mid-range shooting has been improving rapidly. When his strong skill of mid-range shooting improved to 90, his ability rating finally broke through 65!
Basically, he only has the ability to make mid-range shots and catch dunks, and even so, his ability evaluation is almost catching up with Pierce!
This made Zhang Hao realize once again the importance of having a strong point. He knew a lot about the NBA in the future era of information explosion. There were many players who were quite versatile and seemed to know everything in college, but became high-ranking rookies in the NBA. The reason was that those players knew everything but were not good at anything. There was no obvious problem in college, and at most they would suffer when playing against those equally top college students. But in the NBA, all opponents were no weaker than the strongest opponent in college. Even a substitute was a powerful figure in the NCAA back then. Therefore, no one could beat him and his NBA career ended hastily.
A 90% NBA-level mid-range shot, Zhang Hao wanted to yell, "Who else!"
However, due to his noble and cool image in the school team, Zhang Hao held back. After all, this was his only absolute strong point.
In addition to the improvement in mid-range shooting, his strength has also been improving over the past period of time. Because he has been training his strength specifically, his initial strength has increased from over 70 to 76. However, due to his weight and the lack of real strength training, his strength is still far behind that of guys like Pierce who are top-notch in the NBA. Pierce weighs more than 100 kilograms and is a very strong type. If Pierce loses fat and strengthens his muscle training, his strength can be improved by one or two levels.
The three-point ability value has also increased to 49, the layup has increased to 86, and I have also practiced catch-and-shoot recently, which has increased to 86.
When training mid-range shooting, the school team head coach Scott Collins would come to help Zhang Hao practice catch and shoot when he was free. Zhang Hao also practiced very hard, but catching and shooting was his strong point, and it was difficult to improve too much. For this technique, actual combat is more important than training, but there are not games every day, so currently he can only train. However, due to the rapid improvement in mid-range shooting, catching and shooting also improved well, breaking through the small bottleneck of 85 ability value and reaching 86 for catch and shoot.
…
On the evening of the 8th, Zhang Hao invited Pierce, April Clark, and April Clark's school teammate, a white female high school tennis player, to dinner.
April Clark brought a female companion because of Pierce's consideration.
But Pierce was really a man of steel and chatterbox, and he didn't understand what April Clark meant at all. He was very good at telling Pierce to speak differently to different people and deal with all kinds of people, but he had no awareness at all in that aspect.
Pierce took a big bite of a chicken drumstick and asked while chewing, "Axel, how many days will it take you to go to the Adidas training camp?"
Zhang Hao responded, "About 8 days. I will report tomorrow and will have training camp from the 10th to the 16th. If I can make the final competition roster, I will have to stay one more day."
"You will definitely make it. I made it last year. You have improved so much recently. Your mid-range shot... wow, really. I have to train hard too. What if I am accidentally surpassed by you and was beaten by you in college? No! I must train hard. Besides, my mom seems a little impatient with me recently. I have to stay in the gym more. I have rested for three weeks, so it is time to train hard..."
Pierce started talking again. Zhang Hao and April Clark, the other two sports stars in the school, were already used to it. As the top athletes in the school, they spent a lot of time together. It was just that they used to take care of Zhang Hao, but now Zhang Hao became more proactive.
"April, the exam is in two days, how are you preparing?"
“I don’t have much confidence…”
"You will definitely be able to get into college. When you become a drama artist, I will buy tickets to watch your performances every day."
"You will definitely be able to get a college basketball scholarship through this training camp, but you don't have to buy tickets. As an actor, you must have family tickets. Give me the money and I'll give you the tickets..."
As the conversation turned to college, Pierce said, "I never thought it would be so difficult for international students to get sports scholarships."
Speaking of this, Zhang Hao felt annoyed, but fortunately, he had gotten used to it. He replied, "It's okay, I'll be fine once I get used to it. I'm in a very stable state of mind now."
Seeing that Zhang Hao didn't seem to care about this matter as much as he did a month ago, Pierce and April Clark both breathed a sigh of relief. However, they actually felt that Zhang Hao's setback this time was not a bad thing, because they saw that after this setback, Zhang Hao did not collapse because of the blow, but became much more cheerful.
However, the two of them would not say this, and they were really confused that no Division I university was willing to give Zhang Hao a full basketball scholarship.
On the contrary, Zhang Hao became more and more calm because of the examples like Jeremy Lin in the future, and began to plan various alternative plans.
Young people do not know the taste of sorrow. Although it is obvious that everyone has been getting busier and busier recently and have less and less time to spend together, the three of them do not feel too much. They always feel that their current life will never end.
They had a meal together, and the next day, Zhang Hao took a 9 a.m. flight to San Francisco. The flight took a little over an hour, and the airport bus took another hour. At about 11 a.m., Zhang Hao finally arrived at the San Francisco Auditorium. There was a free lunch after reporting, and Zhang Hao was sure to get it.
This stadium was rebuilt based on the Warriors' home stadium 30 years ago. It has hosted many large-scale events, and Stanford University's basketball team, the Cardinals, often hold games here.
The Adidas training camp was held here this time.
As for whether the previous McDonald's Slam Dunk Contest championship brought any benefits to Zhang Hao, the benefits were evident this time. Compared to the previous time when no one was interested in him, when Zhang Hao appeared at the San Francisco Auditorium, reporters came to interview him as soon as he arrived at the arena!
However, the questions from the reporters were obviously not as friendly as those from the reporters invited by McDonald's before.
"Hello, Axe, I'm Emil Jackson, a reporter for Bleacher Report. Can I do a brief interview with you?"
The reporter in front of him looked decent, but Zhang Hao didn't feel that he had much good intentions.
Zhang Hao nodded and replied, "Ou Ke."
"Aix, you are the first Chinese to participate in the McDonald's All-Star and Adidas training camps. Is it because you received excellent and advanced basketball guidance after arriving in the United States that you got such opportunities?"
really!
Such a condescending tone, such a topic... Zhang Hao was not angry. He thought for a moment and replied, "The United States is the country with the highest level of basketball in the world. I am very grateful to our school coach Mr. Scott Collins for inviting me to join. His guidance is very important to me. I was spotted by Mr. Collins through a game. He thought I was more talented than those American students he led. I was honored that I played well in high school in the United States and was selected to the California First Team and the All-American Third Team."
Zhang Hao's answer surprised the reporter who obviously had an unfriendly attitude. He was so young, but his answer was neither humble nor arrogant, and he didn't get angry at all, which was really unexpected.
It's very normal for most young people to get angry easily.
It is rare to not get angry and be able to make an effective counterattack.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States had to find an imaginary enemy in order to divert domestic conflicts. Whether the other party was willing or not, China became the first choice to threaten American hegemony.
