Chapter 842: 363. There’s no longer a chance to develop in an underhanded way
The day after the ga against the Magic, on the 7th in the afternoon, Zhang Yang returned with the team to Charlotte.
As soon as he got ho, he received a call that Harden and Carlo Tatum were coming over, asking him to prepare good food and drinks for them as a celebration for winning the championship for their school.
What could he say? He called the restaurant to prepare dinner for the school heroes.
After ordering, he went to the backyard to practice basketball. After more than an hour, Harden and Tatum arrived.
When Zhang Yang brought them in, he curiously asked, “Why did you arrive so quickly today?”
Harden replied with a grin, “We ran into my teacher when we left school. He happened to be coming to Charlotte and, hearing we were skipping class to co play, he offered to drive us here. But I didn’t tell him your address. We got off at a car rental spot in the suburbs and took a taxi ourselves.”
Skipping class in front of the teacher, and the teacher voluntarily drives them to the skipping location—Zhang Yang didn’t find it strange.
On the night of the 5th championship win, Harden announced his intention to enter the NBA draft. Maybe he would think about getting a diploma soday, but right now he had no interest in studying. University professors in the Carolina region were already used to such situations.
This is the area with the highest campus basketball fervor in the US, only Texas could compare. California and New York State fall short. Every year, collegiate basketball players from this region enter the NBA.
As for Tatum, he was two grades above Harden, and they weren’t even in the sa major, not even in the sa college.
After so small talk, Zhang Yang returned to the backyard to continue training.
Harden and Tatum didn’t disturb him, washed their hands upon entering, and ran off to the ga room to play gas. Having just finished the Final Four two days ago, and with a long season just ended, they had no intention to practice basketball now.
Zhang Yang’s extra training item was—chase-down threes.
With the dia hype and fans’ discussions, he saw the buzz, surprised. Playing like that for the first ti caused such attention, especially right after the Final Four, when college basketball excitent was at its peak.
He rembered Curry spent over a year rising before getting serious attention at the end of 2013.
But thinking it over, he didn’t find it strange; his situation was entirely different from Curry’s.
He was a second-year FMVP, led the scoring list in his third year. Popularity and comrcial value—among active players, only “Zhan-Ke” matched him. The three of them were the real ‘Three Giants’ of the NBA.
Creating a playstyle that shocked people, getting this kind of response seed normal.
Whereas Curry… his early career was fraught with struggles: unloved by the league, ignored by the dia, overlooked by coaches, unnoticed by fans.
Curry lit up the league in the 12-13 season, with a 45% shooting rate averaging 3.5 three-pointers per ga, surpassing Ray Allen’s 3.4 average in the 05-06 season, setting a record. Yet it didn’t cause much stir; that season he didn’t even make the All-Star reserves, getting just 160,000 votes in the All-Star starting poll—not even catching up to the handso golden boy Rubio beloved by female fans.
When he extended his contract for 4 years at 44 million mid-season, people doubted it would turn into a lousy contract… later, this contract beca known as the child labor contract.
Because of his early problems with a shooting posture not suited to NBA’s physical competition, Curry’s shots needed larger jumps, putting pressure on his ankles. He missed the entire 11-12 season and got labeled a fragile player.
Curry experienced prejudice partly due to the Warriors team. The previous 20-year stretch saw them pick nurous top talents. Those who excelled included Big Dog, Larry Hughes, Jamison, Arenas, Dunk King Richardson, Ellis, Dampier, Biedrins, Troy Murphy… because of too many young prospects, even the high school and college geniuses who didn’t make it were plenty.
In people’s eyes, maybe Curry was destined to be the next Arenas or Larry Hughes.
Until Kobe, after missing the 13-14 season, said, “Don’t vote for , vote for Curry. He’s far better than you think,” drawing real attention to Curry’s stellar performance. Curry’s popularity soared, jumping from 160,000 votes to being an All-Star starter.
Later experts analyzed that in the 13-14 season and even the 14-15 season winning his first MVP, Curry’s performance wasn’t as outstanding as the 12-13 season when he initially began to transform.
Both his three-point shootings and accuracy rates in 13-14 and 14-15 seasons were lower than the 12-13 season. His clutch shots and brief explosive scoring runs were not as good as in his transformative 12-13 season.
Because during the 12-13 season, no opponents expected Curry to play that way, every team facing the Warriors was shocked by his shooting and unsure how to defend.
Curry turned 27 in 2015, entering his peak, becoming a different level of player. During the 15-16 season, averaging over 5 threes per ga, he beca Scoring King, Steal King, back-to-back MVP… single-handedly leading the NBA into the small ball era.
Sadly, Curry’s personal peak lasted only that one season, post-2016, Curry transford into purely a team player. 3 championships in 4 years was the Warriors’ peak, but for Curry’s fans, it wasn’t particularly fair. Jordan, Kobe, Jas all had tis to flaunt personal skill, even during championship contention, but Curry only had that one year…
Zhang Yang’s ‘Three-point Ball Enhancent Plan’—was originally to slowly enrich the three-point shooting styles, develop both subtly and overtly, continually experint, adjust, strengthen in gas, and deliver a stunning one when Dunk King entered the NBA.
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