Chapter 4 Growth Card: Mid-range Jump Shot Expert
Of course you have to participate! If you participate, you will live 15 days longer, and if you deduct a full score, you will live one month longer! It doesn’t matter whether you get a full score or not, but extending your life by half a month is very important.
Regarding this golden finger, Zhang Hao's initial idea was that since he could build his own team, he could save some money and find a group of people to participate in various street events together. For example, he could go to Pierce and find a junior to be the "coach" of this small team. These two people would definitely not ask him to pay them a salary. At most, they could share the prize money. Anyway, it would not be too high. The main thing was that he could practice basketball this way.
Theoretically, Zhang Hao thought it was feasible, and he thought it might be one of the best ways for him to keep himself alive under normal circumstances.
However, Zhang Hao didn’t know whether the sudden triggering of the task this time was due to the bug in his own signing that made him, a “specially signed player”, different from ordinary signed players… Since it was a special signing, it should be different.
"Specially signed player: Zhang Hao"... Looking at this line listed separately in the subtitles, it is indeed different.
He is his own signed player. If he encounters something related to his basketball career, it will trigger the golden finger task, and he, the "coach", needs to help him complete the task, and then there will be rewards... Zhang Hao felt a little bit of a headache, but this is a good thing! So he decisively chose to carry out this task!
There are two choices. One is to go the street ball route. If you can't get into the university basketball team, just find a university with suitable tuition fees and play in low-level leagues in your spare time. If you really get recognition from a team through the dunk contest, although the probability is not high, you can still look forward to it. At least you have to dunk well and become famous. Then, even if you don't go to college and play street ball, more people will know you.
Thinking about it this way, Zhang Hao felt that it would not be that difficult to survive.
Perhaps, according to his future memories, he has already achieved what he pursued, namely, to survive. He can live for at least one year, and live a lively life for that year. For him in the future, it is a dream come true. At that time, when he was lying on the hospital bed, he just wanted to stand up and live for one day like a normal person. Even for just one day, he would be willing to die. Looking back on the feeling of lying on the hospital bed and losing even the sense of pain, he felt like he had just had an extremely long nightmare.
But at this age, Zhang Hao’s dream doesn’t even have time to take off. If he wants to fulfill his dream, become a world-class basketball player, and lead the national team to glory... this is extremely difficult!
However, Zhang Hao really wanted to try! He didn't have a chance before, but now he wanted to be a good person... No, he wanted to continue his previous efforts, or even work harder, to become an outstanding basketball player!
If all else fails, just play street ball or low-level leagues, and survive until you are old enough to be a coach, and keep living - it is said that being able to live a normal life for even one day would be enough, but if you can live longer, why not work hard?
Besides, it is not shameful to play in a lower-level league. You can make a living by your ability and hard work.
With the memory of the future, Zhang Hao's perspective and angle on things have changed drastically compared to before, but he is still an 18-year-old boy after all.
The mentality of a young man is to go forward courageously. So although he had a very unhappy time in the United States for the past three years, at least he was not used to the living environment and had a hard time communicating with others, Zhang Hao kept working hard.
And the memories of the future will bring... more courage to think and act!
I finally got another chance to live, and finally got a second chance to live my life. I have nothing to fear! Of course I have to live my life to its fullest!
Yes! Definitely.
Let's put this matter on record for now. After Pierce went to instruct his younger classmates, Zhang Hao found an empty half court and prepared to practice mid-range shots. He wanted to try out the effect of the "Growth Card".
Zhang Hao has always thought that his mid-range shooting is very good, but when converted to the NBA, it is only a good level of 75! And it is only a good mid-level level. You know, when he was a senior in high school, he scored more by mid-range shooting than by cutting in to eat cakes. Because Pierce often played singles in close range, his ability to open up space was very important, and mid-range shooting was his strongest offensive weapon.
"This is the qualitative difference between high school games and the NBA! I really don't know how strong Garnett, James and Howard were in high school. Geniuses like Kobe and O'Neal were useless for at least a year after entering the NBA..."
Although he has a 60 rating for NBA bench players, Zhang Hao has no complacency at all. According to his judgment, even if he really has a chance to enter the NBA, he is unlikely to make it. Compared with other bench players, he has no strengths! His strength is not that good, and he doesn't even have any characteristics.
However, a timely help came! I found the bug of the cheating finger. If I can have a 90% mid-range shooting ability, it should be not bad, right?
Zhang Hao analyzed that players with 90-94 ability points are at the top level, so if a mid-range shot reaches 90, it should also be at the top level! It must be good!
Whether you successfully enter the NCAA or play in low-level professional leagues, having a top-level mid-range shot will not be a bad thing.
As Zhang Hao's mid-range shooting training began, a line of subtitles passed by his eyes...
"Growth Card: Mid-range jump shot expert, mid-range jump shot training muscle memory bonus has been enabled, mid-range jump shot training comprehension ability has been enabled..."
Don't stop training just because the prompt appears. Only by training can you know whether the muscle memory training bonus mentioned in this prompt is useful.
If you ask what the benefit of Zhang Hao's silence in the past two years or so, it is almost three years, it is that not many people disturb him, and he has Pierce to help him in fights. Pierce's father used to be a gangster. One of his two elder brothers is an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming, and the other plays for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. Both brothers are not as talented as Pierce in sports, and their lives are average, but they rely on their father's protection and have many connections. Pierce's mother opened an apartment, and no one dared to cause trouble in this part of the United States. Even in these days, they still have some power.
So, during the past three years in the United States, Zhang Hao has been studying and practicing basketball... The key is that he played well in the state high school league, so he has a unique personal charm in school... This is not important. What is important is his training, which is very good. Coaches like this type of player, so they are guiding Zhang Hao very carefully. Compared with college coaches, high school coaches are really doing it for love. Their position is physical education teachers, but they are not paid, of course they are given power. The solid sports foundation in the United States has a lot to do with this. In college, high school, and even junior high school sports clubs, coaches are everything.
Zhang Hao has a very good shooting foundation under the guidance of a professional high school . The basketball foundation in the United States is probably equivalent to the table tennis foundation in China. The American high school basketball team, especially a famous high school basketball team like Inglewood High School, can probably be compared with a Chinese city table tennis team or a weaker provincial table tennis team's youth team. Of course, the comparison is based on the level of basketball and table tennis foundations within their respective sports.
It can be said that Zhang Hao, who is only 18 years old, is actually very good at mid-range shooting. Scott Collins, the head coach of Inglewood High School, who was guiding the basic training of the first-year high school players on the court, was very satisfied with Zhang Hao's mid-range shooting training. He is talented and hardworking.
However, Zhang Hao had a clear understanding and knew that his mid-range shooting was only at a good mid-range level at the NBA level, and he felt weak.
But head coach Scott Collins has always been very satisfied with Zhang Hao's mid-range shooting. In the California High School League, Zhang Hao's mid-range shooting is the best. After playing in college for three or four years, Zhang Hao has solid basic skills and excellent athletic ability. Scott Collins feels that he has a chance to be selected in the middle and late first round of the NBA draft and become an excellent player who can fight immediately.
But the problem is that Zhang Hao's prospects of joining the college basketball team are bleak. Scott Collins also used some connections to get some first-tier league universities willing to give Zhang Hao a partial basketball scholarship. As for the full basketball scholarship...this, when many NBA fans look at the NBA draft information, they hear that some undrafted players got a full scholarship, and they think it seems easy to get it. In fact, those undrafted players may also be among the top 1,000 basketball players in the world.
There really is no university willing to give a Chinese high school student a full basketball scholarship, even though Zhang Hao performed extremely well in high school. There are many cases where the state basketball player played terribly in college...
Scott Collins is also very helpless now. He was the one who led the American junior high school basketball players to China for a friendly match and took a fancy to Zhang Hao. He didn't expect that skin color and nationality would limit Zhang Hao's growth.
Just when Scott Collins was feeling sorry for Zhang Hao, a phone call came in. He stopped coaching the freshman and went to answer the phone.
On the other side, Zhang Hao, who was training, felt incredible!
After each shot, it was as if someone was reminding him which part of the movement was not standard enough, which muscle group was not exerting enough strength or was unable to exert strength at will to make the best shot... He easily knew what he needed to do to improve his mid-range shooting!
Which force-generating action needs to be strengthened, which part of the body lacks strength and cannot improve the shooting...he seems to know everything!
After practicing 150 mid-range shots in three groups, Zhang Hao went directly to the gym in the stadium and began to train his latissimus dorsi and waist and abdomen. The previous shooting was just a warm-up.
During the whole process, Zhang Hao was trying hard to suppress his excitement so that he could train calmly, otherwise he would easily get injured. He had to be especially calm when training with equipment, as he couldn't afford to get injured at this time.
The coach’s guidance is very good, but the coach is not the person himself after all. Otherwise, anyone who is not good at shooting can just find a coach to teach him. Shooting is not something that can be learned simply by being taught.
Scott Collins is very attentive to Zhang Hao's shooting guidance, and he thinks that Zhang Hao's mid-range shooting is already very good, but he still thinks that Zhang Hao needs to go to college to hone his basic skills for three or four years. The fundamental reason is that Zhang Hao needs more training and play more games before he can know for himself which parts of his shooting need to be strengthened, whether it is muscle groups or force details.
Zhang Hao felt that it might take him at least two or three years to gradually train his shooting to the professional level, because he had improved his shooting before by changing the details of his force, strengthening strength training, etc. He also had a good level of mid-range shooting in the NBA, which was not there from the beginning, but improved gradually. It often takes a lot of time to find out which areas need to be improved, and the rest of the time he can only practice, and practice continuously.
But today, after just a short practice, Zhang Hao knew what he needed to improve! Obviously, this was the effect of the growth card!
Before, Zhang Hao just tried it out to see how the Growth Card worked. Now he knows that through the training of this technology, he can understand where he needs to improve, and then conduct targeted intensive training on his own.
Through this growth card, Zhang Hao clearly felt what "enhanced comprehension ability of mid-range shooting training" meant!
Another effect is "strengthening the muscle memory of mid-range shooting training", which Zhang Hao has not yet felt intuitively, after all, he has only shot 150 times, but there is no rush! It , and there is still about half a year before the start of the freshman year. It is completely possible to take it slowly. At worst, he can knock on the doors of each university one by one and ask for a tryout.
To put it another way, if the CIC is very good, it will be of great help in playing in the second-tier leagues and street games.
So, practice and you’re done!
On the other side, after the phone call, head coach Scott Collins saw that Zhang Hao was able to train calmly and coolly despite being in such a difficult situation. He did not do any venting training when training strength, and he was very clear about which muscles he was training. It was obviously targeted training... Scott Collins felt even more regretful.
Back then, Scott Collins and his brother Doug Collins were both famous basketball players in high school and entered the NCAA together. As a result, his brother entered the NBA and became an All-Star. He later became the head coach of the NBA and coached the famous Michael Jordan. However, he performed mediocrely in the NCAA, and stayed on in school after graduating from college to become an assistant coach for the basketball team... Mainly because he lacked talent, had poor athletic ability, and poor shooting, he had nothing.
Now, Scott Collins has become a high school physical education teacher and coach. He has trained a high school student who has the opportunity to enter the NBA, but is blocked by the college threshold...
Suddenly, Scott Collins thought of the chat with Pierce just now. The talkative little fat guy said that Zhang Hao was going to participate in the McDonald's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. After the McDonald's All-Stars, there was an Adidas training camp...
Thinking of the call his brother had just made, Scott Collins came up with a magical idea, which he himself found magical and... ridiculous!
…
After an afternoon of training, Zhang Hao returned to his apartment and took out the invitation letter he had received to the McDonald's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, as well as the invitation letter to the Adidas basketball training camp.
The two letters were sent after the California High School Basketball League finals in January. He was busy sending resumes to major universities at the time and put aside. When a phone call came to his apartment inviting him and Pierce, he also refused. When the call came, he had just been rejected by several schools and was in no mood at all.
Looking at the two invitations, I originally just wanted to participate in the McDonald's Slam Dunk Contest, but when I saw the Adidas training camp... I looked at the time, one starts on the 25th of this month, and the other starts on May 10th of next month.
The two events are staggered in time. The McDonald's All-Star Game starts on the 25th and ends on the 28th, so it is completely possible to participate in both competitions. Both will be held in Los Angeles . As a local high school basketball star, Zhang Hao received an invitation.
Anyway, it doesn't matter whether you attend one or two. Zhang Hao took out the information cards of both invitation letters, filled them out, put them in envelopes, put stamps on them, and dropped them into the mailbox in front of the apartment.
In the evening, Zhang Hao went out with Pierce to eat two burgers for dinner, then returned to his room, took a shower, and prepared to go to bed.
Lying in bed, Zhang Hao did not hope to wake up and realize that this was a dream. Although the current situation was difficult and he might die within a year if he returned to China, and staying in the United States might add burden to his family, it was not a dead end. As long as he had a chance to survive smoothly, that was enough. He would rather regard the memories of the future as a dream.
"I am myself. I am Zhang Hao... I have always been Zhang Hao."
Zhang Hao's belief became firmer, and he became excited again when he thought about the afternoon training.
Knowing how to become stronger and clearly having the added benefit of enhanced training effects, Zhang Hao has gained some confidence in his ability to break through the current dire situation. Thinking about participating in the Adidas training camp next, if he can train his mid-range shooting to the top NBA level before that... Such a training camp will definitely attract the attention of many universities.
Looking at the past memories of this era with the eyes of future memories, Zhang Hao felt regretful when he thought about his previous self. He felt that he had missed a lot of things. Fortunately, he is different now, and there is no point in regretting. It is more important to try his best to grasp the opportunities that will arise in the future!
