Chapter 236 235. If you don’t give it to me, I will snatch it away!

In the study of a villa in the suburbs of Charlotte, a large blackboard was newly installed on the wall, and two tall young men were pasting clippings.

In front of the bookcase next to him, another tall man was fiddling with trophies and medals, including replicas of high school trophies, high school championship medals, California Basketball Mr. Trophy, NBA Rookie of the Month Trophy, NBA Player of the Week Trophy, NBA Player of the Month Trophy, second team trophy... and the FMVP trophy.

DeRozan pasted up the last clipping and said to Zhang Yang, who was fiddling with the trophy, "Jack, all the collected clippings are pasted up!"

Zhang Yang turned around and looked at the neatly arranged newspaper clippings. He praised, "Wow, DeMar, you put them in such a neat way. It's so comfortable to look at...James, your posture of handing over the newspaper clippings is also really cool."

Harden nodded with satisfaction.

DeRozan was speechless and thought: Zhang San, just spoil this little fat boy... No, Erha is not a little fat boy anymore, he is a deluxe version of Baron Davis.

In early March, the 3th grade season of both players had ended. DeRozan led the Compton High School second team to win two consecutive championships in the Moore League, and Harden led Ryanwood High School to win two consecutive CIF Division I league championships.

Thanks to their crazy individual performances in grades 11 and 12, DeRozan eventually ranked sixth in the United States in the 07 class, and Harden eventually ranked seventh in the United States in the 07 class.

As top ten high school students in the United States, their exposure in the 12th grade increased significantly and they became well-known across the country. All major media outlets were very optimistic about their prospects and even predicted future NBA draft templates for them.

The templates are all exaggerated. DeRozan's template is Vince Carter; Harden's template is an enhanced version of Baron Davis or an enhanced version of Raymond Felton.

It's not just these two who are exaggerating, the guys in the top 5 are even more exaggerated.

Mayo——Super Jordan.

Love - Kevin McHale with more shooting range.

Beasley - an athletically enhanced version of Carmelo Anthony.

Eric Gordon - A stronger Richmond.

Rose - Jason Kidd with Wade's athleticism.

After complaining for a while, DeRozan asked, "The blackboard is already full now. Where should Mary (Zhang Yang's mother) put the newly collected clippings? It will not look good if we install another blackboard in this study room, right?"

Zhang Yang replied, "You don't need to post new newspapers, just put them in the cabinet. I made this clipping just to commemorate the first championship season. From today on, the championship season should be over. If you want to do it again in the future, just change a room and modify it. Anyway, my father has bought this house for me, I can modify it however I like..."

The villa where the three of them lived was the house that Zhang Yang's parents first rented in Charlotte.

Two months ago, the landlord started selling off the property due to poor investment and loss of cash flow. Zhang Yang's father hired a professional company to investigate the ownership, mortgage status, etc. of the villa, and then acted decisively and bought it at a low price.

They also bought another larger house, which was farther away from the city but closer to their farm.

This house was registered under Zhang Yang's name when it was purchased. Zhang Yang's parents plan to renovate the newly purchased big house first and move in next year.

Zhang Yang didn't expect that after playing in the NBA for two years, he would actually start to rely on his parents for support! No, it seems that he has been relying on his parents for support for the past two years.

As for daily food and drink, most of the things in the refrigerator at home are bought by his mother. There are often new clothes in the closet, which are also bought by his mother when she saw him while shopping and thought he looked good in them. Now that he is moving into a new house, they were bought by his father.

The life of living off parents is really...cool!

But is he the first FMVP in NBA history who relies on his parents for support?

Seeing that Zhang Yang already has a car and a house, DeRozan and Harden were very envious.

But after they envy someone, they think: When I enter the NBA in the future, I will also buy a car and a big house.

Rather than jealousy.

DeRozan turned his head and looked at the bookcase... and couldn't help but put it in order, saying, "Jack, why did you mess up the trophies again? If you want to put them out, you have to put them in order, otherwise it will be too rude for your friends to see them when they come to your house as guests."

Zhang Yang: "Okay, okay, I'll take a picture after you've arranged it. After I'm done playing with the trophy, I'll arrange it neatly and nicely according to the picture..."

Zhang Yang feels that DeRozan's obsessive-compulsive disorder is getting worse. In the past, when he went to his house, he just complained about the poor placement of shoes. Now, it has escalated to the fact that the table is placed at the wrong angle and the chairs are not symmetrical when folded up...

But you know what, after DeRozan helped to arrange it, it looked a lot more comfortable.

Zhang Yang thought that when he hired a nanny or a maid after his parents moved out, he would look for someone with similar obsessive-compulsive disorder and leave professional matters to professionals.

Today is June 6th, and another NBA draft will be held at 28 o'clock tonight.

Several days had passed since the championship night, and Zhang Yang enjoyed the most extreme noise. The Bobcats won the championship in the third year of the team's establishment, setting a new record for the fastest championship speed since the 3s. The only teams that won the championship so quickly after their establishment were the veteran teams when the NBA was first established.

The Bobcats went from a newly established bottom-ranked team to an emerging powerhouse in the playoffs, to first in the Eastern Conference, to the NBA champions...completed N consecutive jumps in two years.

Zhang Yang broke the record of the youngest Finals MVP held by Magic Johnson, and it is also an iron record that cannot be surpassed.

Although he did not win the championship or FMVP in his rookie season like Magic Johnson, the evaluation Zhang Yang received was no less than that of Magic Johnson at that time, and he was nicknamed - the player who cannot drink the most in basketball history.

The original nickname given by the New York Times was: The Strongest Under 21.

The reason why it is so accurate to classify it as under 21 years old is because in the 99-00 season, when Kobe was 21 years old, he won the second team and first defense championship.

After all, Zhang Yang is not a reserve goat. It is not his turn to win one championship, surpass Kobe, two championships, surpass Sharapova, three championships, surpass Jordan, or wear the crown with four championships.

The reason why Zhang Yang went from being the "strongest player under 21" to being the "strongest player in history who can't drink" was because of his "tragic experience" after winning the championship.

After winning the championship, except for the fan appreciation event and interview activities on the afternoon of the 24th and the championship parade on the 26th, Zhang Yang was "isolated" by his teammates, and they didn't take him with them wherever they went.

He complained about his teammates' "bad behavior" in front of the TV camera, which attracted endless ridicule from the fans.

Because Felton, who was being interviewed at the same time, complained: "Why take you to a nightclub? Should we drink milk with you?"

As a result, Zhang Yang's nickname changed from the somewhat domineering-sounding "The Strongest Under 21" to the mocking "The Strongest Player Who Can't Drink".

Faced with the "isolation" and "verbal bullying" of his teammates, Zhang Yang could only endure it silently, taking DeRozan and Harden, who returned to his home in Charlotte with him, to eat and eat everywhere to relieve his inner sadness...

...

Zhang Yang, DeRozan and Harden fiddled in the study for an entire afternoon. He completely put aside the matter of winning the championship and started the new season from the bottom of his heart.

After winning the championship, he finally understood why Jordan, Kobe, and Duncan became more competitive the more championships they won.

Looking at the still empty bookshelf, he longed for the trophy to fill it up so that he would have a reason to buy a bigger bookshelf.

After dinner in the evening, Zhang Yang, his mother, his brother, Harden, and DeRozan sat in front of the TV together, waiting for the live broadcast of the draft.

There was no prediction or analysis of who the No. 1 pick would be like in previous years when watching the draft live. There was no suspense, and Oden's performance in his freshman season was too exaggerated.

They talked about DeRozan and Harden's college choices.

Zhang Yang: "James, I didn't expect you to choose North Carolina. Didn't you always want to go to the Arizona Wildcats?"

DeRozan was also very curious about this, but that was his personality, so he didn't ask. Harden was not the kind of person who would think of explaining why even without asking.

Harden responded: "North Carolina had Jordan, Carter, Felton, and you, and Carmelo was there too. I want to go there even more now!"

Zhang Yang: "Uh... I haven't played in North Carolina."

Harden: "That's not important. I heard they're planning to retire your jersey."

Zhang Yang also heard about this and complained: "Didn't they think that this move would be seen as a joke... Never mind, it's good to have one more retired jersey. But James, North Carolina has three guards in Lawson, Ellington and Green. If you come to our school, the competition will be very high. The Arizona Wildcats are short of guards, so going there would be a better choice."

Harden snorted, "Roy Williams (North Carolina men's basketball head coach) has already promised to give me a fair chance to compete for the core position. They'd better be sensible and give up their position. If they don't let me, then they'll grab it!"

Zhang Yang made a sound and turned to ask DeRozan, "DeMar, why did you go to Kentucky? Hasn't your dream always been to win the championship for USC? Yang said that if you go to USC, he will teach you techniques this summer."

DeRozan: "Patrick and I have discussed it and we will go to Kentucky together... There is nothing much to learn from Yang. I don't think he is as good as me."

Patrick Patterson, a friend Zhang Yang had heard DeRozan mention, was a friend he met last month at the U.S. Youth National Training Team, and a high school student ranked 07th in the U.S. in the 11 class.

Zhang Yang guessed that Nick Young's words had the opposite effect, and DeRozan seemed to look down on Nick Young.

After learning the reasons why Harden and DeRozan changed their college choices, Zhang Yang felt the changes in the two friends' personalities over the years.

It can be said that it is very different from his impression of DeRozan and Harden.

What on earth did the two friends experience that caused such a big change in their personalities? It seems like they were stimulated by something, becoming more confident, more proud, and even... crazy!

But this is not a bad thing. DeRozan used to have an overly repressed personality and had to hold back all his emotions, but now he dares to show his obsessive-compulsive personality to others!
The original Harden was too complacent in the beginning. With such great talent, he actually wanted to be the sixth man in the early stage of his NBA career. Now he can actually say - if you don’t give it to me, I will steal it!
(End of this chapter)