Chapter 19 Challenge my mid-range shot?
"Aix, the two of us are definitely the strongest duo..." The outgoing Marbury said excitedly beside Zhang Hao.
Off-ball shooters are Marbury's favorite teammates.
Even though Marbury lost miserably in a one-on-one match with Zhang Hao in mid-range shooting three days ago, he didn't care. He was really good! That mid-range shot was so good that it made him feel absurd. In this regard, Marbury was really convinced! He lost with a clear conscience. When he saw that he was assigned to the same group with Zhang Hao in the last two days of team training, he was very excited.
It was May 14th, the fifth day of the training camp. After the afternoon training ended and a group of players were eliminated, there were only 36 players left in the training camp, and two-thirds of the players had been eliminated.
The individual training has ended and the next step is the team training phase. The 36 players are divided into 6 groups, each with 5+1 people.
Zhang Hao was very upset because he was assigned to the same group with Marbury.
Although the future head coach of the Beijing team is strong, he is too talkative and never stops talking. It is enough to have only Pierce as a chatterbox, it would be unbearable if there were more!
However, with a chatterbox next to him, Zhang Hao felt inexplicably safe, perhaps he was used to it.
While chatting with Marbury, Zhang Hao observed the other four teammates who were eating at the same table.
Zhang Hao discovered one thing from the grouping aspect - each group consists of 5 players with relatively clear positions + 1 all-around sixth man.
Their group was relatively mediocre. Only Marbury was an NBA player in Zhang Hao's impression. The two guards were Marbury from Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, and Philip Hinkie from Lausanne High School in Memphis; the forward was Zhang Hao, and Isaiah Sanders from Green High School in Bartow County, Georgia; the center was a white man, Steve Jack from St. Paul High School in St. Cloud, Minnesota; and the sixth man was a forward who was about the same height as Zhang Hao, Bunch Turner from Vixen High School in Greenville County, Mississippi.
Among these people, Zhang Hao had never heard of any other people except Marbury.
It is not ruled out that some of these people will enter the NBA in the future, but they will definitely not become famous.
Zhang Hao attached great importance to the following cooperation training. The said famous shooting coach Chris Irving repeatedly emphasized to him that players of his type are very dependent on cooperation.
The final test is finally here. As for team training, Zhang Hao regards it as a test to determine the final 18-man roster. Although the final game will not be broadcast live, there will be many scouts, and even NBA scouts will definitely come to watch the game because of Garnett. This is the opportunity that Zhang Hao has been looking forward to for a long time to increase his popularity.
At the beginning of the training camp, he was promoted by Adidas as the "mid-range shooting king", but it was just Adidas's promotion. After a few days, the fans had finished discussing what they needed to discuss, and he was far from being the kind of player that fans would talk about privately.
Zhang Hao could fully anticipate the difficulty of becoming famous these days. There were only a few ways to spread information, and without public social media for people to discuss, it was difficult to maintain the popularity. Even in the United States, the origin of the Internet, the means of online dissemination was quite inconvenient , so he certainly could not miss this opportunity.
His current goal has changed from performing well in the training camp and making the final list to becoming the most dazzling one, or at least one of the most dazzling!
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During the past five days of training, there have been great changes in the attitude of the training camp members towards him and his own mentality.
"Aix, we need to cooperate better in the next training. I will bear with it a little and practice with you more. How about it? Are you happy? A future NBA super point guard passes the ball to you. Maybe we will become teammates in the elite competition... Hey, why are you here?"
Zhang Hao was listening to Marbury's chatter. He was not uncomfortable with Marbury's chattering. On the contrary, he was very used to it. He was a little uncomfortable because no one had been chatting with him in the past few days.
When Marbury suddenly stopped, Zhang Hao looked in the direction Marbury was looking and saw a ferocious-looking guy coming to their dining table. He was obviously not just passing by because he stopped.
"The king of mid-range shots? Do you dare to compete with me in mid-range shots?" Garnett was very direct and his tone was very arrogant.
Hearing what Garnett said, Marbury next to him couldn't help but curl his lips, but didn't say anything. He just thought Garnett was really brave!
In the first three days, a total of 20 high school students who thought they were good shooters came to challenge Zhang Hao. Marbury was the first one, and he lost, and the ones who followed also lost.
Although, he was the only one among the most famous players who came to challenge, players like Odom were self-aware, Rahim and Jamison were not troublemakers, Kobe, Hamilton, Bibby and others did not come because they knew they could not win, and he was the only truly famous one who was abused. But Garnett should at least have heard that Zhang Hao had an undefeated record in the mid-range shooting competition in the training camp, right?
Of the 20 players who challenged, 12 did so on the first day, 6 on the second day, only two challenged yesterday, and none today.
Others have already recognized Zhang Hao's title of mid-range shooting king. Although Garnett is very good, Marbury believes that Zhang Hao is definitely much better than Garnett in terms of mid-range shooting.
In this situation, you still dare to come?
Zhang Hao also looked at Garnett in surprise.
Marbury's playful look and Zhang Hao's surprised look made Garnett very unhappy!
He had indeed heard of Zhang Hao's name, but he didn't care at all. As someone aiming for the NBA, he would never want to have anything to do with the so-called strongest person in some aspect in a high school training camp. He was totally disdainful!
He was considered a favorite to be in the top 10 of the draft, and he looked down on everyone except a few like Kobe, Odom, Rahim, Bibby, etc.
But today, he was assigned to a group with Bibby and Hamilton, and then listened to the two of them talking about how great Zhang Hao was. Although he didn't care whether Zhang Hao was great or not, Garnett wanted to have a good relationship with Bibby, so he joined in the chat.
Then Bibby's big mouth caused trouble for Zhang Hao. He said, "Kevin, your and my mid-range shots are both pretty good, but compared to X, I feel like my mid-range shots are as bad as shit."
Originally Bibby was only talking about himself, and his mid-range shot was actually better than Garnett's, but Garnett wasn't convinced and immediately ran to challenge Zhang Hao.
He wants to end Zhang Hao's undefeated record!
He really thinks he is the best at everything, because he got full marks in all aspects when he was tested, he was treated extremely well during training, and almost every group of coaches would give him guidance.
Seeing that Zhang Hao didn't answer, Garnett thought that Zhang Hao was afraid, and there was a hint of pride in his arrogant tone: "Why? Don't you dare?"
Zhang Hao reacted at this time, tilted his neck, raised his eyebrows and asked: "Are you sure?"
Speak differently to different people. This saying is not entirely derogatory in modern society. Although Zhang Hao has figured out that he does not need to deliberately make friends with others and can deal with them in a normal way, he also knows what kind of communication method to use when facing different people.
If a person like Garnett sets his sights on you and you are timid in front of him, he will take advantage of you and will definitely bully you.
When facing Garnett, you have to fight back hard.
After asking a question, Zhang Hao did not wait for the other party to respond, but stood up and said: "It's true that our shots were both 10 points, but you were rated 10 points because your ability was barely enough to get 10 points, and I got 10 points because the highest score is only 10 points."
Garnett's expression was distorted by anger, but he would not take action.
It is impossible for him to fight. He is not stupid. He is about to participate in the NBA draft. Would he go out to fight and affect his draft prospects?
But in fact, he was not ready for the challenge. He didn't need to challenge anyone at all. He just needed to perform well in the elite competition and win the MVP.
He now realized how impulsive he was in running over to challenge Zhang Hao, and he really felt regretful.
He didn't expect Zhang Hao to be so tough!
For a moment, Garnett felt like he was in a dilemma. If Zhang Hao had been a little weaker just now, he would not necessarily bully Zhang Hao to death, right?
Especially when Kobe, Bibby, Rahim, Odom and others came up to watch, Garnett knew that something was definitely wrong. He didn't care how other high school students performed during the training phase, because he had a very obvious strength advantage. During the elite competition, the coach of his team would definitely focus on him. This was what Adidas promised when he decided to participate in the training camp. Of course, the game itself needed Garnett to play by himself, but the tactics were definitely centered around him, so he didn't need to care about other people. At most, he would have to get along well with those geniuses he thought could enter the NBA.
But those geniuses are either in their senior year of high school or are about to enter college. They will definitely care about the performance of other high school students. This atmosphere is not right!
Garnett knew very well how the onlookers would react if he was really in a position to bully someone and was about to bully them, but this was obviously not the case now.
The looks of those talented high school students that he cared about seemed to be saying - something interesting is about to happen!
What made Garnett feel strange was that he saw the staff coming in and out quickly, and the staff said something to the cameraman in the restaurant, and the cameraman immediately moved the camera position...
You have to go even if you don't want to! Garnett was not afraid, but he felt that his behavior this time was wrong. He was not a fool and obviously realized that he was impulsive.
The camera was filming, so Garnett couldn't be afraid and walked quickly towards Zhang Hao.
When Garnett arrived at the training ground closest to the stadium restaurant, he saw that Zhang Hao had already started warming up.
"Do you really want to seize the time to warm up and create an advantage? Do you want me to give way to you? Can I just compete with you directly without warming up?" Garnett immediately chose the spray tactic.
Here it comes! A Philadelphia spectator who did not want to be named was watching Garnett and Zhang Hao with great interest. He had met Garnett, understood Garnett's games, and had watched Garnett's games. He knew that scolding was also one of Garnett's strengths on the court. This guy was very good at angering his opponents, and he could often make his opponents perform abnormally.
Even if the opponent does not perform poorly because of this, Garnett will not lose out. The opponent has 5 people on the court. If one of them fails to stimulate the opponent, he can replace him with the next one, because Garnett's defense is comprehensive enough and he can defend any position.
Zhang Hao is invincible among high school students in mid-range shots during training and in one-on-one matches. Even in professional competitions, he is very strong. But when he meets a guy like Garnett who plays adult basketball, and extremely bad adult basketball at that, will Zhang Hao be affected by his emotions?
A 16-year-old high school student who wishes to remain anonymous is looking forward to it.
To Garnett's surprise, Zhang Hao had almost finished warming up. He picked up a ball and walked to the free throw line. He patted the ball twice and said, "If doing this can help you find some comfort after losing..."
Zhang Hao threw the ball and turned to Garnett and said, "I'm happy for you, too."
The ball went into the frame!
You know it will go in as soon as you throw the ball. With this level, Garnett knows that his mid-range shot is not as good as the opponent's!
Hit a wall!
At this time, Marbury and four other players in the same group began to move the basket happily, and they were responsible for serving the ball.
Five minutes later, Garnett left after saying, "You're quite good, I hope you can make it to the NBA."
He was slapped in the face... But Garnett didn't care at all after he left. He held a grudge against Zhang Hao, but as a troll, let alone being slapped in the face, even if he was hit, he would not change himself. This is his style. A vicious mouth is always accompanied by risks. Garnett has been aware of this for a long time. He is smart.
Just now, he shot first. He was very focused and made 81 of the 100 shots, which was an above-average performance. Under normal circumstances, he could only make over 70 shots. He couldn't be more satisfied with his performance.
Then I saw Zhang Hao scored 91 goals with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.
The voices of other high school students cheering for Zhang Hao felt irritating to Garnett, but can a face be used to make a living?
Garnett, who started working at the age of 13 to support his sister, knows that he has to be shameless to survive, and his vision is not limited to this training camp. If he is embarrassed, he is embarrassed.
In this regard, his idea is similar to Zhang Hao's. Although this training camp has attracted a lot of attention, it is only a training camp for high school students. The only thing he cares about is the elite competition where NBA scouts come.
But this time he was really stimulated. He thought he was the strongest high school student in history and no one could compare to him, but he met Kobe, who was only 16 years old and had comprehensive strength that was not inferior to his, and Odom, who was so versatile that he was even more terrifying than Magic Johnson of the same age... These were actually not bad. The key was that this time, Zhang Hao suddenly appeared, whose mid-range shooting was definitely at the NBA level. This made him realize that there are always people better than you. Maybe he is the strongest among the high school students, but what about the future?
Garnett found a random training ground and immediately started practicing.
On the other side, the training ground, which had been noisy for a while, gradually became quiet. After a day of training, everyone was tired, and watching a match was a way to relax their nerves after dinner.
As for the outcome of this duel...
Although most people think that Garnett is the strongest in this training camp, this is also a recognized fact. Only a few people are secretly trying to make trouble in the elite competition. But Garnett's strongest strength does not mean that he is the strongest in all aspects.
The one with the best skills is Bibby, the one with the most versatile is Odom, the one with the best physical fitness is Kobe, and the one with the best shooting is naturally not Garnett.
After a few days, Zhang Hao, who failed to get along with everyone through his social skills, has gained everyone's recognition with his shooting ability.
In this small circle of high school students, Zhang Hao’s mid-range shot is the best.
Therefore, as long as Zhang Hao does not perform poorly, everyone can guess the outcome of this match from the very beginning.
"I knew you would win, but I still want to know how you practiced. Your shooting accuracy is amazing. I need to practice harder..."
Zhang Hao walked towards the exit of the stadium while listening to Marbury's chatter. When he passed by a training ground, he saw someone training inside.
It's not the kind of venting that happens when you're angry and frustrated, but real training.
Garnett... No matter how Zhang Hao thought about it, he felt that it was unlikely that he could become friends with Garnett. This guy was also a talkative person, but he was not likable at all. Unless they became teammates, it would be difficult to communicate normally with him.
But in terms of his attitude towards basketball, it is indeed admirable.
Moreover, Zhang Hao felt something from Garnett that was not felt in anyone else in this training camp.
Currently, Zhang Hao feels that he is not at the stage of considering what kind of entanglement he will have with Garnett. His current goal is to continue the current good trend and strengthen his team capabilities in the next two days of training. He will also test in training how much his role in cooperation has improved after his mid-range shooting has improved. And then there is the final elite competition!
