Chapter 140 139. I was trying to work hard secretly but got discovered!

May 5th, sunny, Jenny Lake in Charlotte, a fishing boat is parked on the lake, and several Bobcats players are fishing leisurely.

Felton sat for a while and then asked, "Jack, why do you suddenly want to go fishing?"

Zhang Yang: "I've been busy for a few days, so I went fishing to calm my mind... And isn't it an NBA tradition to go fishing after being eliminated from the playoffs?"

Felton turned around and asked, "Emeka, does the NBA have this tradition?"

Okafor: "I don't know. This is my first time playing in the playoffs. But I heard that Gerrard and Jumaine also went sea fishing. It should be a tradition. Fishing can really calm the mind. I have too many interviews and commercial shoots in the past few days. I even want to terminate the contract with the endorsement brand. Now I calm down and fish. After my mind is calm, I don't think too much."

Felton: "Emeka, I didn't expect you to care so little about money!"

Okafor: "No, most of my endorsements were signed before Jack came. The new endorsements I signed in the past three months are much more expensive, so I lost a lot of money."

Felton: “…”

Felton didn't understand the point of spending so much money renting a boat, buying fishing rods and spreading bait, but not catching a single fish. But seeing his little brother sitting there patiently, Okafor was also patient, even Alan Anderson and Matt Carroll were patient... he could only be patient.

After an afternoon, Zhang Yang threw his fishing rod onto the boat with a "pop". "The feng shui here is bad. There are no fish at all."

Okafor: “That’s right.”

Felton pointed to a boat not far away and said, "Their fish baskets are full and they are starting to release the fish."

Zhang Yang: "Then let's go fishing there next time. It has good feng shui."

Okafor: "Yeah, I wanted to go there, but they took the spot first."

Felton: "Can you guys stop being so stubborn? If you don't know how to fish, you don't know how to fish. There are no outsiders here. We were here first and we chose the spot first."

Zhang Yang picked up the fishing rod and said, "Who said I can't fish? I must catch one today and show it to you, Boss!"

Felton said quickly, "No, no, no, what did you say? Feng Shui, yes, the Feng Shui here is bad! There is no time now. I have booked a restaurant and it is time to eat."

Zhang Yang: "Boss, when did you order it?"

Felton: "Right away, I'll order it once we get ashore..."

Felton is so tired, it’s so hard to be the boss!

If I had known that I would have pretended not to hear my younger brother calling me this morning, I was careless!
Although he didn't catch any fish, Zhang Yang was in a very good mood because he got dinner from Little Fatty.

It has been a week since the end of the season. After returning to Charlotte on the 19th, he became busy, including team news activities, personal interviews, fan appreciation meetings, fan meetings held by sponsors in Charlotte, attending commercial events... Zhang Yang is the busiest person on the team.

Finally finished, Zhang Yang pulled a few teammates out to experience the legendary "out-of-game fishing".

He absolutely would not admit that he was out of money, it was just bad feng shui.

Rookie team... No, he and Felton are no longer rookies. The fat squad has grown from 4 people to 5 people. Matt Carroll cooperated well with Felton during the playoffs, and their relationship quickly warmed up. When Felton asked Alan Anderson to come out to play, he also called Matt Carroll.

After dinner, Felton drove Zhang Yang home.

Zhang Yang asked curiously, "Aren't you going to the nightclub with Alan and Matt tonight?"

Felton: "I'm so tired these days. I'm going to take a good rest. What about you?"

Zhang Yang: "I am also going to take a good rest. I am going to buy a car in a few days. When I turn 6 on the 18th, I will get a formal driver's license and drive to the gym for training."

After saying goodbye, Zhang Yang returned to the apartment and saw his younger brother running after a remote-controlled car on the floor. He fell to the ground with a "bang", but did not cry. He crawled after the remote-controlled car... His mother was standing next to him, controlling the remote-controlled car while smiling.

He thought of a saying - having children is meaningless if you don't use them for fun.

He thought back to his childhood... Fortunately, technology was not well developed at that time and there were no such things.

After the season ended, his parents did not return to California. To be precise, they came before Game 3 of the first round and never left.

The several stores over there can operate normally without his parents' concern, and there are professional managers in charge. They are now focusing their work on Charlotte, preparing to make good use of Zhang Yang's popularity in the local area.

Zhang Yang doesn't need to worry about this, nor does he need to worry about money, as there are many people who want to join.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Zhang Yang had breakfast and took his brother for a walk. The driver arrived at 8: and he set off for the gym for training.

When getting off the car at the stadium's parking lot, Zhang Yang saw Felton who had just gotten off the car.

The two looked at each other, feeling awkward.

Zhang Yang took the initiative and said, "Boss, didn't you say you wanted to take a good rest?"

A year later, Felton has become more and more shameless: "I said I didn't go to the nightclub last night and I had to have a good rest so that I can start training today... What about you! Didn't you say you would drive to training after you turned 18?"

Zhang Yang: "I'm not yet 18 years old. I can't drive here, so I took a taxi... Then, Boss, do you want to train with me?"

Felton: “Yeah, train together.”

Both of them wanted to work hard secretly for a while to surprise each other, but they bumped into each other unexpectedly! But both of them were very happy, because training is always lonely, and it is of course better to have someone to help you along the way.

There were no games or training for seven or eight days, but the two players did not feel unfamiliar with playing. On the contrary, they were more motivated to practice because they were away from basketball for a few days.

The crushing defeat to the Pistons in the second round made the two of them deeply feel the gap between them and the top teams. Although they did not win in the regular season, they would have new opponents immediately after the regular season, and they had no time to "feel the failure". The playoffs were different... They would really hate a team because of this.

After losing in the playoffs, I will be thinking about that defeat throughout the offseason.

Anyway, Zhang Yang thinks about the series with the Pistons every day these days.

However, although they were unwilling to accept the result, the gap in strength was too big. Even though the whole team broke out and fought hard in G3, they only won by 5 points. If they want the Bobcats to have the same strength as the Pistons, they have a long way to go... But as someone said, the best time to plant a tree is ten years ago and now. If you feel the gap, then practice!

Zhang Yang thought of the live broadcast he watched last night, the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Heat and the Pistons. Wade made 11 of 9 shots, plus 9 of 7 free throws to score 25 points. When O'Neal was beaten by the two Wallaces and only had 12 points and 8 rebounds, he led the team to beat the Pistons 91-86 and snatch the home court advantage... Wade is really fierce this year! The more he plays, the more fierce he becomes!

Maybe it was this Eastern Conference Finals that made the league want to support Wade.

Zhang Yang remembered an adjective that would become popular in the basketball circle for a long time in the future - "73 falls after touching the clothes", and a number that "accompanied" Wade for a long time - , which refers to the total number of free throws Wade made in the last four games of the finals.

But even though everyone was praising him, Wade was able to seize the opportunity and win the championship, while many others would have been useless even if they had given him the opportunity.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yang remembered that after this season, Wade would be plagued by injuries. After controlling his injuries, two years later, it was the Big Three era again...

Zhang Yang devoted himself to training, practicing three-pointers, mid-range shots, free throws and layups.

One reason is that I want to quickly accumulate shooting points and "brush up" my talent.

Secondly, during the season, his technical skills improved faster than his shooting basics. He was often able to break free from the defense, but could not make the shot after fierce confrontation, or he needed to shoot a few more times to find the feeling. This was caused by insufficient basic skills, so he had to practice.

...

A few days passed in a flash and June arrived.

On the 1st, the Bobcats began this year's tryouts.

The Bobcats had two draft picks this year. They finished 11th in the regular season and got the 20th and 50th picks.

Zhang Yang and Felton, who did not go out to play during the offseason and stayed in the gym to train, were drafted to participate in the team's tryouts.

Today is the test for outside rookies. A total of 11 outside players were invited, all of whom were predicted to be in the middle and late first round and the second round.

Zhang Yang saw several familiar faces, including Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, and Thabo Sefolosha.

His and Felton's tryout work was simple - to help the team test the abilities of the outside players in the afternoon, that is, to challenge them one-on-one.

Both of them were very interested in this and were eager to try it out.

Felton wanted to let the person who might be selected by them know which mountain he would have to rely on when he joined the team in the future.

Zhang Yang just wanted to play one-on-one with Rondo, Lowry, Sefolosha and Farmar. Rondo and Lowry are both future All-Stars, and Sefolosha is a future defensive talent at the defensive level.

Farmar... the California Basketball Player of the Year before Zhang Yang. They did not play against each other in high school. When Zhang Yang participated in the CIF Division I League in the 11th grade, Farmar had already entered college. It would be nice to have the opportunity to play against him one-on-one now.

When the outside players learned that they would have a one-on-one match with Zhang Yang and Felton, they were also very excited and wanted to beat them.

If he is selected by the Bobcats, he will have to compete with these two players for playing time. Now he can beat these two players in front of the coaching staff. Maybe he can become a starter directly in his rookie season!

Even if they are not selected by the Bobcats, beating these two in the tryout will be a big help for their draft! These two were both among the top three rookies in the 05 class!

However, after the one-on-one matchup began, the outside draft candidates understood why these two brothers were able to be so successful in the NBA in their rookie year.

So fierce!
Of the 11 outside players who came for the tryout, the strongest ones, Lowry and Shannon Brown, were unable to gain any advantage in the confrontation with Felton. Moreover, Felton was strong, flexible, and accurate in long-range shooting...all of them were defeated.

Felton beat everyone he met in the NCAA during his junior season. After playing in the NBA for a year, his strength has improved, his playing habits have improved, and his shot choices have become better... There is no pressure to play against these players who came out to participate in the draft after completing their freshman and sophomore years, after all, the top ones are not here.

However, they would rather fight one-on-one with Felton than with the legendary former baseball player and Jeet Kune Do athlete.

In such a one-on-one situation, Zhang Yang is actually not as strong as Felton. The pressure they felt when they were fighting was not that strong. Felton is much stronger than Zhang Yang, which is very important in a one-on-one situation for players of their age group.

However, Felton didn't say much during the one-on-one duels. At most, he would criticize them and show off his strength.

Arriving at Zhang Yang's place...

Facing Rondo: "Shoot, shoot quickly, do you think I'm too close? I'll let you take two more steps? I'm standing under the basket, if I retreat any further I'll be out of the baseline..."

Facing Shannon Brown: "I heard that you are the third-best high school student in the United States, higher than Chris Paul, and you can jump very well. Come on, show off... Hey, you are being pushed up, you can't jump!"

Facing Lowry: "Do you want to consider losing weight..."

Every player who challenged Zhang Yang one-on-one felt his head buzzing. They wanted to fight back, but they couldn't!
Although Zhang Yang's defensive confrontation is not as fierce as Felton's, he is faster, has better awareness, can keep up with the pace, and does a good job in interfering with the jump before shooting and the shooting.

They were restricted in their attack on Zhang Yang, but it was difficult for them to restrict Zhang Yang... When they gave Zhang Yang a little space inside the three-point line, he suddenly shot, and his shooting speed was very fast. They were too close to him, but Zhang Yang had a great sense of rhythm and easily passed them and entered the basket.

After every contestant had a one-on-one duel with Zhang Yang, regardless of winning or losing, they all wanted to hit him... but they didn't dare.

This is thanks to ESPN's 'help'.

In order to link the Bobcats with the "Bad Boys", ESPN frantically piled up negative information about the Bobcats.

As for Zhang Yang, no one knew how ESPN knew that he beat up all the main players of the Jeet Kune Do Club on the first day he joined the North Carolina Jeet Kune Do Club.

ESPN fabricated a story about this incident, saying that Zhang Yang was a fighting maniac after coming to the United States, who would tear apart Nice's fasting stomach, and that he was sent to Compton to play basketball in his second year of high school because he had no outlet for his energy, which accidentally led to the birth of a talented basketball player.

It is true that he beat up everyone after being provoked by members of the Jeet Kune Do Club. A member of the North Carolina Jeet Kune Do Club also stood up and said, "If Jack participates in the competition, we can win the US championship." Many fans actually believed it.

From a certain perspective, ESPN's move brought Zhang Yang a wave of fans, increased the legendary nature of his basketball career, and affirmed his talent.

This is not an unexpected "byproduct" of ESPN. The more talented the Bobcats players are, the more it proves that James deserved to lose...

In short, all the draft candidates who came to the Bobcats for tryouts remembered Zhang Yang.

...

Zhang Yang and Felton had a lot of fun during the afternoon's tryout.

Felton has long been accustomed to the fact that his younger brother seems like a different person when he is in a one-on-one duel, and he quite enjoys watching it.

After today's tryout, Zhang Yang and Felton were called to Bickerstaff's office, and the coaching staff held a meeting to discuss the rookies' tryout performance today. Last year, when trying out forwards and inside players, Gerald Wallace and Okafor also participated in similar work.

Zhang Yang and Felton were mainly responsible for listening. They did not participate in the physical fitness test and technical observation in the morning, so they had no say in this regard.

When it came time to discuss the afternoon's sparring session, the coaching staff asked for the two's opinions.

Felton: (ΩДΩ) Oops, I was so busy having fun that I forgot about this job!
When the boss is in trouble, look for the younger brother!

Felton looked at Zhang Yang...

Zhang Yang guessed that this would happen, and he had already prepared a plan: "If we want to select a rookie in the first round to serve as a substitute for Raymond, Lowry is the most suitable. His style is similar to Raymond's, and he may be able to learn our tactics more easily. It will be easier for teammates to cooperate with him. But if we want to make changes in the second lineup, Rondo is very good. He defends very hard and tenaciously, but his disadvantage is that he scores too poorly."

Bickerstaff nodded and wrote "tenacious defense" on Rondo's profile. It was difficult for the onlookers to feel it in just one one-on-one match, but the other party in the one-on-one match could feel it more clearly.

He asked, "What do you think of Farmar? He just played in the NCAA finals and performed very well."

Zhang Yang: "He is not the best player in UCLA. Aaron Afflalo is the best player. If Aaron participates in the draft, I suggest grabbing him. He is good at defense and shooting, which is very suitable for us."

Bickerstaff laughed and said, "Yeah, I forgot, there are several players at UCLA who are your high school classmates, you know them better."

Yang's expression was strange when mentioning this photo. They all said that Compton High School was the 'high school affiliated with the University of Southern California', but in the past two years, several people went to UCLA. Not only did Afflalo go there, but Shipp actually turned down the offer from the University of Southern California and went to UCLA to tease Afflalo.

A few days ago, when Zhang Yang was talking on the phone with DeRozan, he learned that the newly graduated Abuya had also accepted UCLA's invitation. When he was talking on the phone with Tatum, he learned that this guy was hesitating between UCLA and North Carolina... USC's football and baseball teams are still the first options in the minds of Compton High School athletes, but the basketball team is no longer the first choice.

The reason is not complicated. Bibby's father Henry Bibby was fired by USC. In the past few years, the Compton High School men's basketball team favored USC because of Henry Bibby. This coach is very good at training players. The ability of the new coach remains to be seen. They don't want to be guinea pigs. Although UCLA head coach Ben Holland only joined in 03, he has proved his ability in the past two or three years. At least it is better than trying his luck at USC.

After Zhang Yang took the initiative to talk about his favorite rookies, Bickerstaff did not end his work. Instead, he picked out each of the candidates and asked Zhang Yang to give his evaluation.

I may not necessarily choose according to what Zhang Yang says, but it is always good to have an extra reference opinion.

After asking, Bickerstaff thought of one thing and asked, "After playing for a season, what aspects of the team do you think need to be strengthened? Do you have any favorite players? Your opinions are very important to the team. Of course, if you want Bryant or O'Neal, then we are under a lot of pressure."

Felton: (ΩДΩ) Oops! I didn't notice that! Let me think about it... Never mind.

The little fat boss looked at the little brother again...

Zhang Yang hadn't expected to be asked this question. They were just two rookies whose rookie season had just ended. It was normal to ask for draft opinions. They were participants in today's tryout, but asking this...

He refused, saying, "We don't seem to have much bargaining chips, and I don't know how attractive we are to free agents, so it's difficult to provide any reference."

Bickerstaff: "Haha, you don't have to think too much. We are just asking. If you really want O'Neal, that's fine."

Zhang Yang thought about it after hearing this and said, "Matt Barnes of the 76ers. When playing against the 76ers, Gerrard said that Barnes' defense is actually very good, but he just can't get any chances."

Bickerstaff recalled and thought of the player covered in tattoos, and said, "That's a thorn in the side! Jack, I mean we have a lot of pressure to get a popular star, but we don't have to be so unpopular... No, this suggestion is not unpopular, it's weird."

Zhang Yang: "Then I want Yao Ming and Kevin Garnett."

Bickerstaff: "..."

Bickerstaff sent away two quasi-sophomores.

Based on his understanding of Zhang Yang, he knew that Zhang Yang was seriously considering the possibility of bringing in outstanding players, but given the situation of their team, it was really difficult to recruit new players.

Their big four are attractive, but not right now.

Young talents will not be considered, fearing that they will not be trained if they come. They will definitely give priority to training Zhang Yang, Felton, Okafor, and Gerald Wallace.

Moreover, these guys occupy four positions: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, and power forward. They are all main players. High-quality role players are usually not given priority, and centers are too popular and difficult to compete for.

The talented veterans have become free agents. Staying with the team and pursuing a championship are the top two options, unless they are paid enough...

Under such circumstances, it is indeed difficult for Zhang Yang, who is serious and calm at work, to provide advice to this teenager who will only turn 18 in a few days.

Let’s focus our work on the talent show!

……

……

I turned off the alarm clock during the holiday, slept until noon, started writing after lunch, and continued writing after dinner~ Please give me a monthly ticket! Please give me a recommendation ticket!

(End of this chapter)