Chapter 69 68. The three brothers who made Thomas feel uncomfortable

Thomas also recruited a talented point guard, 15-year-old 180-foot- Jimmy Anderson, from Anaheim, a seaside town southwest of Compton.

The fact that Thomas said in front of Zhang Yang and DeRozan that Gordon and Anderson are very talented means that he really regards these two as the core of the future... High school coaches have to strive to grab the future core every summer.

On July 7, Zhang Yang bid farewell to his parents and was forced by his mother to say goodbye to his younger brother who was still in her belly, and then went to Compton.

After a week's vacation, Thomas returned to Compton with his three high school students.

Looking at Harden, Thomas felt sorry.

When Harden was 13 years old and playing at Mineral Point High School, Thomas saw that he had talent that was no less than DeRozan.

These days he went to watch the training of these three brothers and saw a Harden who was completely different from last year.

In terms of ability, Zhang Yang has surrounded Tatum in all directions. What Tatum can do, Zhang Yang can do, and what Tatum can't do, Zhang Yang can also do.

It would be different if Harden was there. When Harden was in the 9th grade, his long-range wing shooting was at an excellent level at the CIF First Level. He was even more aggressive when cutting into the basket. He could force the ball into the basket against a seven-foot center.

Harden is also better than Tatum in terms of breakthrough scoring success rate.

Zhang Yang, DeRozan and Harden are a perfect match.

But Harden's dream is to "escape from Compton and rush to the big city." Thomas also felt this idea from Harden's family. Of course, he didn't think it was a bad idea. It was right to pursue a better environment and a better life. He just regretted that he couldn't form the most ideal combination.

Thinking of this, Thomas was somewhat glad that Zhang Yang had "grown crooked".

Zhang Yang had no intention of competing for the ball-handling position. He loved shooting, and would definitely choose to shoot when both shooting and passing opportunities came up. He was also good at and enjoyed using tactics to create shooting opportunities for himself.

Zhang Yang's playing style avoided disputes with Tatum over ball possession.

It’s just that Harden has become a thorn in Thomas’s side.

...

After arriving in Compton, Thomas sent Harden and DeRozan home, then took Zhang Yang to the shopping mall. He thought Zhang Yang was going to buy clothes and sneakers, but Zhang Yang ended up buying three replacements for the human-shaped standees that the shoe store was about to throw away!
Watching Zhang Yang put the human-shaped standees of Kobe, Garnett, and O'Neal on the court in the yard as obstacles, it turns out that the standees in Yinshan Park were put up by this guy!
Really... very ambitious!
Actually, Zhang Yang wanted to buy Yao Ming's, but Compton is a rare city in California where there are almost no Chinese people. The Reebok store was full of Iverson's posters, not even a Yao Ming's, let alone a stand. He could only settle for the second best and buy O'Neal's.

Continue training and self-study. On the 7th, Zhang Yang called several teammates who had a good relationship with DeRozan to go to DeRozan's house to celebrate DeRozan's 15th birthday.

On the 9th, Zhang Yang completed the previous task and received a reward of +1 physical talent. A new task started, and the reward was now shooting talent.

Zhang Yang remembered that after he added one point of physical talent, when he was close to 1 years old in the 10th timeline, his physical strength was 23. That age group was the best stage for men's physical strength. Now he has added two more points of physical talent, and his physical strength limit should have reached 88.

It took him 4 days to accumulate 42 shooting points. Recently, he has been focusing on three-point shooting, which affected his efficiency at the beginning, but with the basic shooting skills of mid-range and long two-point shots, his three-point shooting has improved rapidly. After more than a month, he has been able to maintain a good accuracy in fixed-point three-pointers.

The CIF First Division League competition will begin in mid-October, and there are still two months left to continue practicing. Zhang Yang watched the main team's games at home several times last season. He is sure that if he can practice the three-pointer after the pick-and-roll, he will have another way to score.

The memory of the training will be sealed at the end of the training, and it can be regarded as non-existent if one does not consciously recall it. The only things that will not be sealed are the training methods of basic skills and techniques, and the tactics learned. Therefore, the training will not affect Zhang Yang's life.

However, he often takes the initiative to recall those games, use them as references, adjust the next direction of improvement, and study what to pay attention to when playing games.

There is a huge difference between high school games and NBA games - in NBA games, the mid-range shot after a pick-and-roll is a very difficult move to defend, but in high school games, the mid-range shot after a pick-and-roll is a very bad choice.

When playing pick-and-roll in high school games, the two defenders on the opposing team will choose to run for the ball and ignore the screener. If they take a few steps forward after the pick-and-roll, they will definitely be double-teamed.

The three-pointer after the pick-and-roll belongs to the "rush shot" style of play, which can effectively avoid being double-teamed after the pick-and-roll.

A few days later, on August 8, the fall semester of Compton High School began.

Zhang Yang met two talented freshmen, Gordon and Anderson. They are indeed capable. They are certainly not as good as DeRozan last year, but their strength is also much stronger than their peers.

Zhang Yang learned from Thomas that both freshmen were directly selected to the reserve team. This year, the reserve team will no longer play in the Southern California League, but will play in the third-level Los Angeles County Tournament. Abouya and Smith did not enter the main team directly in the 10th grade like DeRozan, but continued to train in the reserve team like Tatum did last year.

Thomas directly told Zhang Yang that he, DeRozan and Tatum would definitely be the core of the main team.

The other reserve team members who have entered the 11th grade have been placed on the main team candidate list by Thomas, and their strength will have to be tested in the upcoming training camps and warm-up matches. If their progress is not enough and their potential has reached the limit in the reserve team, they may not be able to squeeze out the 12th grade players who are mediocre in talent but one or two years older and have more game experience.

Some players who were not selected for the main team last year still want to make the main team in grade 12, and occasionally someone will be noticed by the coaching staff.

Keefe joined the main team when he was in grade 10. He performed very well, had accurate long-range shots and was good at finding open space. The coaching staff has decided that he will continue to stay in the main team as the first long-range shooting receiver.

Abouya failed to join the main team because of Keefe. If he went to the main team, he could only play as a substitute. The substitutes of the main team do not have much playing time. The main team has to achieve results.

Two weeks before school started, the coaching staff arranged training for the main team candidates, focusing on individual technical training, to test the players' progress over the past six months. The players' performance during this period had allowed Thomas to make a preliminary decision.

At the end of August, the team officially entered the intensive training phase. The training at this stage focused on teamwork and tested the players' tactical qualities. Some players might be weaker, but they had better understanding with the three core players. Such players were naturally Thomas' priority.

During these two stages, Zhang Yang practiced on his own, and Thomas asked him not to direct his teammates' movements during training.

The purpose is to truly test the tactical capabilities of the players.

Zhang Yang felt that there was nothing wrong with this arrangement. It would definitely be easier for him to command teammates with better tactical awareness than to command teammates without tactical awareness.

He was also happy to relax during this stage and focus on training.

After the 11th grade started, Zhang Yang quickly understood why Ship was upset about not studying for the college preparatory courses on his own in the 11th grade and taking the exams in advance.

The main team's schedule is really tight and every day is packed.

When Ship was in 11th grade, with Stewart, a top high school student in the United States, leading the way, the burden was not so heavy and he still had time to play.

He now has to rush to the front and take the lead, which is about the same as when Ship was in 12th grade. If he had to accumulate 8-10 college advanced courses per week, it might really affect his training schedule.

Fortunately, he has a good talent for studying, which is considered good in China. The time between classes during the day and before going to bed after training in the evening is enough for him. The schedule is very tight because he has increased the training time during the summer vacation. His physical strength is better than this time last year, so he has to make use of it.

Soon, it was mid-September.

On the 11th, Zhang Yang spent more than 30 days to accumulate 4 shooting points and was rewarded with a +1 mid-range shooting talent. As his three-point shooting became more and more accurate, his speed increased again.

A new mission was started, and the reward was a random physical fitness. His previous analysis was correct. After the talent was increased by 8 points, the difficulty of the mission increased for the second time, requiring 6 shooting points. Fortunately, it did not double again, which was much better than he expected.

On Monday afternoon, September 9, Thomas announced the official roster of 13 players and 10 substitutes for the starting team.

This year's main team substitutes are also sparring partners, all of whom are in grade 11. If they practice more with the main team, they may have a chance to join the main team in grade 12, but there is no chance this season. If any main player is suspended or suffers an injury, Thomas will be more willing to transfer the reserve team players to train. If they don't join the main team in grade 11, they will no longer get team resources, and being able to become a sparring partner is already the best case scenario.

Zhang Yang felt complicated after hearing Thomas announce the official roster of the main team - 10 players, 6 in the 11th grade, him, Tatum, Keefe, Monroe, Kanter, Miller, 1 in the 10th grade, DeRozan, and only 12 in the 3th grade.

上赛季12年球员有7人，11年级的只有两人，10年级1人。

The new season is very challenging!
After being officially selected for the main team, Zhang Yang unexpectedly received a second task - to accumulate 5 shooting points and start the experience of a new timeline.

Zhang Yang plans to complete the task of physical talent first, and then accumulate shooting points to start training.

The prompt in the task bar requires that two tasks be completed before a new task will be released, so it doesn’t matter which task is completed first.

Judging from the rate of increase in his physical strength, he speculated that the increased physical fitness or the upper limit of his shooting talent had already had an impact on his current physical growth and shooting talent.

The training mode is based on your current talents and skills. Adding a little talent and then starting the training will always make you feel better psychologically.

(End of this chapter)