Chapter 30: Potential Crisis of the Team
At 3 p.m., at the Allen Gymnasium basketball court at Compton High School, the game between Compton High School and Liberty Park Academy was about to begin.

There were many spectators at the event, and the thousands of seats were almost full, mostly students and parents.

They are all coming for the same person - DeMar DeRozan.

They chanted DeRozan's name and held signs in support of DeRozan.

Zhang Yang hooked his arm around DeRozan's shoulder and said, "DeMar, I really envy you for being so popular."

The dark-haired guy next to him was also envious: "Yeah, this is the first time I see so many spectators at a reserve team match."

DeRozan slapped Zhang Yang's hand away and went to the court to practice shooting to warm up his hands.

A little excited, but he didn't say it.

The atmosphere among the Compton High School players was very relaxed. They were full of anticipation and enthusiasm for the upcoming game.

Liberty Park Academy is a high school that only accepts black students. Students can attend as long as they have completed the 8th grade. No test scores are required and tuition is free. It symbolizes "freedom."

However, although there is no admission restriction, there is a limit on the number of students that can be admitted. There is only so much funding each year, and they will not admit any more students once the quota is reached. The four grades together have less than 800 students. The school is not large, and the campus is very dilapidated. If there is no other choice, even black parents are unwilling to send their children to this school.

In the eyes of the Compton High School players, the opponent in front of them was weak.

Last season, Compton High School had an impressive record in the Division I league, with the baseball team reaching the quarterfinals, basketball finishing third, and football winning the championship.

The Liberty Park College basketball team failed to make it to the championship game of the Southern California League last season, which means it failed to reach the top eight of the league.

So the Compton High School players didn't take their opponents seriously at all.

But a few minutes later, when the game started, Liberty Park Academy beat Compton High School!
Liberty Park Academy played a very good offensive coordination around center Ron Rhodes and guard Charles Cooper, making the Compton High School players, who had no coordination and discipline on the defensive end, run around in circles.

On the defensive end, Liberty Park Academy is not actually that strong, but they have more game experience, can cooperate as a team, double-team quickly, and switch and help defense actively. When DeRozan and Tatum are attacking, they are at least one against two.

It's not that the two of them didn't pass the ball, but they had no tacit understanding with their teammates. The opponents could easily block the passing route, and the outside artillery James Keefe became a decoration.

On the home team bench, Burke shook his head and said, "John, you are so cruel to sign up for this league. When the opposing players see us, a group of 14- or -year-old kids... oh, and DeMar, the -year-old No. junior high school student, they must be so angry. Look, they almost want to tear our players into pieces."

Burke's words seemed to be an accusation against Johnson, but his tone was full of gloating.

He is not here to help coach the game. He does not coach the games of the freshman team and the reserve team. However, he needs to watch the reserve team games on site, observe the tactical performance of the players, and prepare for subsequent tactical adjustments.

However, he doesn't need to concentrate too much on his work today. Judging from the training situation in the past two days, it is difficult for the players to come up with any tactics, and they still need to practice hard for a while.

He started to tease his colleagues because he could slack off at work.

Johnson responded: "They don't even have the basic ability to judge the strength of the team. They seem to regard the results of the main team as their own. They deserve to be abused. They just need to learn a lesson."

Burke: "It's really ruthless. I think we should let the reserve team participate in the Greater Los Angeles League like last season. The strength of the first team of those schools is similar to that of our reserve team, which is more suitable for them to practice tactical coordination. The Southern California League is too difficult for the reserve team. Liberty Park Academy is only at the middle level in the Southern California League. There are several schools stronger than them." Johnson: "The Greater Los Angeles League is too easy for DeMar. Carmelo was able to lead the team to defeat the opponent last season. DeMar can't get any training playing there, let alone help him practice tactical ability."

Burke: "DeMar is only in the 9th grade. He should play those easy games and adapt to the high school game environment. There is no need to rush to learn tactics. John, you are too radical, right, Tony?"

Thomas didn't expect that he would be suddenly dragged into the topic. He thought for a moment and replied, "The reserve team's affairs are not my responsibility. I am good at discovering talents, but it is not my job to train players. I support whatever John wants to do. In fact, it all depends on personal ability. DeMar, Kevin, James, and Carmelo are no worse than the opponent's starting lineup. It's just that they don't have as much game experience as the 18- or 19-year-old players on the other side, and they don't know how to play together... And I understand why John is so radical."

Burke: “Why?”

Johnson: "Dell, you really have no sense of crisis. Haven't you noticed that there is a gap in talent between our 10th and 11th graders? We don't have any talented players in the 11th grade. Kevin, Carmelo, and James in the 10th grade are talented, but they are not at the level that can support the team. This season we have Aaron and Josh. After they graduate, what should we do next season?"

Burke: "So that's why you chose to sign up for the Southern California League. You want to help DeMar grow up quickly and want him to be the core of the main team in the 10th grade."

He understood, but he was speechless. He wanted to have some fun chatting while slacking off at work, but how come the topic became so serious, as if they were about to lose their jobs?
However, they are under great pressure to recruit talents. Most of the local talents still want to escape from the city after graduating from junior high school. Some top talents have stayed in the city over the years, but most of them chose to go to big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Thomas, who is responsible for recruiting talents, is so worried that his head is bald.

He thought that it was okay to stay silent for a year, and he wouldn't be fired just like that, but his two colleagues were very serious about basketball...

On the court, after only half a quarter, the score was already 14 to 6, and Compton High School only scored 6 points.

It was Compton High School's turn to attack, Tatum broke through and passed the ball... He took it for granted, and the pass between the players was intercepted by the opponent.

Liberty Park Academy fought back, Charles Cooper lobbed the ball, and Ron Roeder cut in for an alley-oop dunk to score two points!

16 to 6, Freedom Park Academy's lead reached 10 points, Compton High School called a timeout!

After landing, Rod yelled at DeRozan: "You are the No. 1 junior high school student in Southern California? You are not that great!"

DeRozan clenched his fists and turned to the bench.

He didn't even have the nerve to say 'I'm number one in California'.

Johnson looked at his players walking back to the bench and shook his head.

He has poor psychological endurance and is very proud. When encountering situations beyond his expectations, he becomes more and more impatient, and the situation gets worse and worse.

In his opinion, if the players could be calmer, the score difference would not be so huge.

His opinion is the same as Thomas'. His five starting players are only judged by their personal abilities. They are not inferior to the opponent's starting players. The only difference is their tactical coordination ability and game experience.

DeRozan is talented and capable, but he is also immature and has no awareness of being a leader. He has no sense of actively directing his teammates. When encountering problems, he just takes the ball and does it. However, the opponent in front of him is not someone that DeRozan can defeat alone.

Not only that, the players on the sidelines were also scared. Johnson had already expected this. Tatum, DeRozan, Keefe, Allen Kanter, and Miller, who started the game, were the five strongest players on their team. These five were abused like this, and the confidence of the others dropped to the bottom... No, not all of them. There was a player who seemed to have expected this situation.

Johnson turned his attention to the transfer student with a calm expression.

(End of this chapter)