On the afternoon of the 11th, the Bobcats returned to Charlotte. After a 4-ga road trip, they got two days off, with no training scheduled for the afternoon.
Zhang Yang returned ho, rested for a while, and then impatiently went to the backyard to practice shooting. The next morning, shortly after 7 o’clock, he arrived at Tuhang Stadium, and before the team eting started, he managed to scrape together the remaining shooting value and quickly exchanged it for talent points.
"Consud 120,000 shooting value, randomly gained Shooting Talent 1, used... Gained Three-point Shooting Talent 1, your three-point talent cap has been raised to 95, you now have Historical Level three-point talent, please keep up the good work."
Zhang Yang, whose jersey was already soaked with sweat from his training clothes, saw the words on the ’Gate’ that popped up and was shocked. His talent for three-pointers had reached the Historical Level just like his mid-range shot! This was his 6th three-point talent point, increasing it to 95. This ant his basic three-point talent was 89... not bad, but certainly incomparable to 95, roughly two notches below.
Well, this also ant that with the previous three-point talent of 94, the speed of improvent for mid-range shots, which have higher speed talent, was faster... No wonder after the ’Shooting Cylinder’ rule was modified in the future, no one practiced mid-range shots; everyone started practicing three-pointers. At the sa talent level, practicing three-pointers was much easier than mid-range shots.
However, he still planned to advance collectively, improving all three areas simultaneously. It felt great to fire from the outside, but scoring from any position felt even better, right?
A new task also arrived, sowhat surprising him!
The first task—100,000 shooting value, to unlock the next trial.
He calculated that at the average daily shooting value since the start of the season, he could probably gather 100,000 shooting value in just over two months. It would certainly be possible by mid-season, even if to preserve stamina, they reduced training as the season progressed. It would definitely be achievable before the All-Star weekend.
He wondered what he might learn this ti; he was quite looking forward to it.
Ending the ’Magic Bird Bad Boys’ era awarded him with ’Art is Shooting,’ which was quite useful.
He also enriched his post-up technique with the help of Mark Jackson.
His earlier purely technical back-down thod had slowed in progress as his skills improved. Of course, it was still improving, and if he continued training that way, there’s a chance he might truly acquire Big Bird’s top-notch league-leading back-down skills in the future.
However, at the guard position, he had a more outstanding physique and physical fitness compared to Big Bird at the forward position. In terms of strength, he already had an advantage over Big Bird on the front line. He learned so power-utilization techniques in post-up plays from Mark Jackson, enriching his back-down thod.
If the next trial is on the 10th tiline, he recalled he tead up with Kobe.
Actually, there’s a God of Basketball on the team. In terms of pure post-up skills, one might not necessarily outshine Kobe, but no doubt on the sa level. However, the God of Basketball’s teaching ability... it’s another story...
Though Kobe’s teaching ability is also hard to say, his talent doesn’t match Jordan’s but may create more resonance. At least it couldn’t be worse, and since Kobe is an active player, he better understands how to more advantageously utilize the offensive rules in the current setting.
The second task was sowhat annoying—140,000 shooting value to randomly obtain Physical Fitness Talent 1.
This ti, with the three-point talent point in hand, he’d already accumulated 24 talent points, reaching another tier.
However, considering his stamina talent cap had already reached 96, both three-point and mid-range were at 95, speed had also reached 94 and capped at 94, this difficulty of improvent was normal.
Closing the Gate of Trials, Zhang Yang excitedly practiced another set of mixed catch-and-shoots from long-distance mid-range and three-pointers, then went to the bathroom to wipe off sweat with a hot towel. After changing into training clothes, he went to the eting room.
A 2-2 record on the 4-ga road trip exposed many issues within the team, but also ant that Carlisle’s system had more notable directions for adjustnts. Seeing areas for improvent is far better than having problems with no solutions.
During the training phase, the Bobcats players showed much more enthusiasm than during the end-of-preseason before the start of the 4-ga road trip.
Felton’s motivation played a very positive role.
And defeating the Cavaliers during their opening 6-ga winning streak, and playing the Cavaliers to 21 straight wins, was incredibly uplifting.
Carlisle, observing the players’ training, said to Randy Brown, who was leading the team’s training, "Previously, I didn’t pay much attention to gas against the Cavaliers. We had a great advantage, and every ti Raymond played against Jas, he ca up with defensive strategies I could never foresee. I didn’t have to worry at all.
But from now on, I should focus more on playing the Cavaliers, and we must win every ti. Each victory over them greatly boosts our players’ morale and enthusiasm, and next ti it might have a similar effect as it did this ti. Even if it doesn’t, we still don’t lose out."
Randy Brown: Uh... are we really going to focus on harassing King Jas?
He even started to sympathize with this ’Black Leader’ promoted by the NBA.
His earliest fandom was Jordan, due to his prowess; later he admired Iverson, whose strength made him the mutual leader among African Arican athletes.
After 6 gas, especially that wave of consecutive 4-away gas, the Bobcats players were fully into the in-season state.
In the upcoming ti, the Bobcats began a model of combining ga and practice, striving for victory while correcting shortcomings.
Their opponents in the first month of competition were not too many strong adversaries, just right for them to continue honing their system.
So experts have analyzed that for popular strong teams, the league will find ways to sustain their high popularity and strength. Generally, this ans manipulating the schedule. They have an easy start to give them ti to adapt and adjust. Around the month before and after Christmas, the schedule tightens up with gas against top teams being concentrated. Then, around the All-Star weekend, it eases again, and before the playoffs, they are set against a wave of strong opponents to prepare for the postseason.
Last season, the Bobcats enjoyed such a treatnt, and this season it continues.
As for the gas, the Bobcats have had both wins and losses, even with upsets, and have had situations where they were significantly behind due to poor performance but managed to turn things around dramatically.
On the 13th, the Bobcats thrashed the Wizards 115 to 94.
Arenas was sidelined right at the start again, and this ti the impact is much bigger than last season. In the 06-07 season, Arenas was an All-Star and All-NBA selection. Last season, when Arenas was injured and out, his teammates had been looking forward to his return. The Wizards even gave Arenas a 7-year Bird-rights maximum salary contract early, aiming to stabilize the team morale and make the players believe Arenas’s injury was looking optimistic, which allowed the Wizards to climb to fifth in the East at one point and eventually make it to the playoffs.
But being sidelined for two consecutive years is different. The precedent of Hill is right there, and the entire Wizards team lost their morale. Caron Butler was the most affected, with rumors suggesting he had already submitted a trade request. His performance dropped significantly compared to the past two seasons, averaging only 16 points per ga.
The Wizards opened with a 1-5 record, ranking dead last in the East, just ’above’ the Clippers, who had a league-worst 0-7 start. After losing to the Bobcats, they closely followed in the footsteps of the Clippers, ready to overtake at any ti.
On the 14th, the Bobcats were defeated by the Warriors 115 to 120. Zhang Yang made 25 out of 15 shots, achieving a season-high score of 46 points, but the opposing Warriors hit 15 out of 26 from beyond the arc!
Crawford, Belinelli, Azubuike, Watson, Anthony Morrow... a swarm of them were shooting threes, while Ellis and Artest were relentlessly driving in. The scene was nothing short of brutal.
On the 16th, the Bobcats narrowly won against the Hawks 90 to 86 on the road. Despite trailing by 14 points, 56 to 70, after three quarters, Zhang Yang went 4 for 4 from three and 7 for 10 overall, plus 3 for 3 from the free-throw line in the final quarter, exploding for 21 points, leading the Bobcats to a mind-blowing 34 to 16 coback in the fourth quarter.
Zhang Yang scored 19 points in the first three quarters and 21 points in the fourth, totaling 40 points for the ga, marking two consecutive gas with 40 points.
Pierce, Joe Johnson, Bibby, and Horford played well, with stable offense and outstanding defense, but when Zhang Yang went into beast mode, none could keep up.
On the 18th and 19th, the Bobcats returned ho and defeated the Thunder 110 to 97 and the Timberwolves 108 to 90, respectively.
The Thunder now have Rose and Durant, with their core talent secured, but their overall talent is still lacking and needs continuous accumulation.
Actually, last season as the SuperSonics, their roster was decent, with players like Earl Watson, Camby, Ridnour, Damien Wilkins... and others.
It was mainly the relocation issue causing trouble. Seattle is among the top ten most livable cities in the US, but Goose City... With the offseason, the SuperSonics officially changed their na to the Thunder and moved to Oklahoma City, leading to team players submitting trade requests or asking for contract terminations, bringing it to the Players’ Union and NBA officials.
When the Hornets changed cities, there was a lot of noise too, and relocating the entire team is no small matter with huge expenses, almost leading to a union strike then. This ti around, the league officials were more experienced in handling it and supported the players’ demands.
Earl Watson was traded away, Ridnour, Damien Wilkins... and others were also traded away, but the Thunder didn’t get much in return, not even a couple of second-round picks.
However, the most outspoken and surprising move was the Thunder’s handling of Camby—cancellation of his contract.
It’s not that no team wanted Camby, but the offers were absurdly low, mostly garbage contracts. The Thunder’s managent wasn’t foolish; they chose to let go of the player due to the pressures from the league and the Players’ Union, but they weren’t going to take back a negative asset, were they? While no substantial return was received from other role players, they were at least either minimum or expiring contracts, but for Camby...
Just when everyone was laughing at Camby’s situation, a team made a shocking move—The Clippers signed the recently released Camby for $50 million over four years.
This move, in Barkley’s words—Sterling wouldn’t have made it if his brain hadn’t soaked in the Pacific for 10 years.
In contrast, the old moves of Elgin Baylor were excellent in every way.
In the ga against the Thunder, Zhang Yang was subbed out after 26 minutes of play, making 10 out of 15 shots, including 4 of 6 from three-point range, with 6 of 6 free throws, scoring 30 points.
Durant and Rose watched Zhang Yang’s impressive performance, with different reactions, yet both revealed their competitiveness.
In an interview, Rose showed mostly frustration, anger toward his own inadequate strength.
Durant, on the other hand, looked ahead with hope and said, "I will be just as strong one day."
The Bobcats’ ga against the Timberwolves is nothing much to talk about—it was a thorough beating.
The Timberwolves’ actions in the past two years have been bewildering. Seemingly striving by hiring Adelman as head coach, yet it’s unclear what they’re striving for, ranking ’behind’ the Clippers in the West, second to last. The Thunder’s roster is so poor, yet the Timberwolves couldn’t even surpass them.
The only thing noteworthy about the Timberwolves is Bynum. Not having his knee injured by Odom’s weight, his performance remains dominant. Having just turned 21 before the season started, he’s averaging 17.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 2 blocks per ga since the season’s beginning.
When the Timberwolves played the Bobcats, Bynum found it easy to score whether against Okafor or Brad Miller. Only Perkins could limit him one-on-one.
As an old acquaintance from the sa agency, Zhang Yang also praised Bynum after the ga: "Andrew’s talent is as exaggerated as the Big Shark’s. He doesn’t even need to think to easily get 15 points and 10 rebounds..."
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