Chapter 844: 363. There’s no longer a chance to develop in an underhanded way_3
But this is his junior season, he has already turned 22, his potential is all laid out, the draft prospects aren’t great, and this year’s prediction list hasn’t put him in the top 100.
Tatum is still proud: “I won’t give up, as long as there’s a glimr of hope, I’ll strive for it!”
After his prideful mont, Tatum talks about reality: “I’ve decided to finish college first, study well for exams, get my degree first, so even if the professional player route doesn’t work out, I’ll have better career options.”
Zhang Yang felt his little partner was becoming more and more mature, but he couldn’t help but tease him, asking: “Did Sir Lue teach you these things?”
Tatum: “Yeah, why?”
Zhang Yang: “No wonder, I was wondering how you ca up with these ideas.”
Tatum: “I want a one-on-one with you!”
Harden: “Carlo, haven’t you had enough beatings in the Jeet Kune Do club?”
Tatum: “… Jack, I forgive you this ti, but next ti I won’t let you off.”
Zhang Yang: “…”
As they chatted, Tatum talked about his genius younger brother, his emotions instantly changed, and he said excitedly: “Little Jason has much more talent than . During Christmas, my dad took him to attend Larry Hughes’ training camp, Uncle Hughes even volunteered to be little Jason’s godfather. Uncle Hughes has already made plans with my dad to specially train little Jason this sumr, and they invited to join as well!”
Zhang Yang: “Your family’s connections are really getting wider…”
With Tyronn Lue as an uncle, little Jason already had ties with the God, the Shaq, and the Mamba when he was just a kid, and now with Hughes, they’ve apparently connected with Jas as well.
He, Zhang San, can be considered connected too.
For the elder Tatum with average talent, these connections aren’t much use, but for the exceptionally talented younger Tatum, it’s completely different…
The next day, the 8th, Zhang Yang returned to team training.
Harden and Tatum continued their non-stop gaming sessions; they couldn’t indulge for much longer, as Harden had to return to Compton at the end of the month to et with agents and prepare for draft workouts, and Tatum had to go back to school to study well and practice basketball to make one last push for the NBA.
Zhang Yang stuck the restaurant’s phone number on the ga room wall, and since there was a phone in the room, they could order food when hungry.
The two-day break quickly ended, and on the 9th, it was the sixth-to-last ga day of the Bobcats’ regular season.
Tonight, the Bobcats would begin a five-ga ho stretch, also their last five ho gas of the regular season.
So far, they’ve played 37 ho gas and 40 away gas; after this five-ga ho streak, they will travel to Chicago for the regular season finale.
After finishing the morning prep work, Zhang Yang went to the lounge to rest before lunch.
He turned on his computer to check the news, looking very speechless.
Seeing Zhang Yang’s expression, Hill, who also ca to the lounge to rest for a while, asked, “What’s wrong, Jack?”
Zhang Yang turned the laptop towards Hill and said: “Do these dia have nothing else to hype about? I just made a few trailing three-pointers, yet they’ve analyzed it for days. Is it really necessary?”
Hill took a glance and laughed, saying: “Since you’re the NBA’s popular star, even I as a teammate was shocked to see those two shots of yours, despite knowing the team’s strategy for you. I also think if you really develop trailing threes as a regular counterattack thod, it could be a destructive blow to all opponents’ retreat defensive setups.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yang thought about the future Curry… Indeed, before entering the small-ball era, Curry had already disrupted all opponents’ retreat defense setups, and the small-ball era was brought about by him.
Hill continued: “And the league might be using dia resources to promote you. March Madness just ended, and having a player who can steal the spotlight from the NCAA champion is a very rare occurrence for the NBA. That certain soone will definitely step in.”
Zhang San’s last bit of hope was utterly crushed: So, this ans I won’t have the chance to develop discreetly anymore?
At 7 PM, two days later, the Bobcats faced off against the Magic again, this ti at ho.
As soon as the ga started, Zhang Yang understood why, despite the Magic’s lineup being no weaker than the Pistons, their record was nearly 10 gas worse.
Coaching ability and player maturity had huge gaps.
After being caught off guard in the first ga of the Pistons’ back-to-back gas, they made very targeted adjustnts for the second ga, and so did the Magic…
In the previous ga, Howard went 15-for-9 for 23 points, and his post moves and assists were highly successful. Van Gundy tonight increased Howard’s offensive opportunities.
Howard didn’t disappoint either, playing 34 minutes, going 19-for-11, and 17-for-11 from the line, scoring an efficient 33 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 blocks.
But their defensive adjustnts were bad, overly focused on Zhang San’s threes…
When he received the ball beyond the three-point line, defenders rushed right at him, allowing him to easily drive into the lane before the double-teaming defenders could move.
If the help defenders moved early, the Bobcats’ wing players Hill, Mike Miller, Felton, and Alan Anderson could use picks to get open shots off Zhang San’s pass.
The result of the Magic’s defensive adjustnts was that Howard fouled out in the middle of the fourth quarter, playing only 34 minutes.
At 9:23 PM, the final whistle sounded.
Zhang Yang played 39 minutes, with a field goal percentage of 19-for-8, which wasn’t great, and was heavily guarded with 1-for-3 from three, but he drew 4 fouls on Howard, 2 on Lewis, and 1 each on Foyle and Brian Cook, making 16 of 18 free throws!
With 35 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block, Zhang Yang led the Bobcats to a 117-103 victory over the Magic, evening the regular-season series against the Magic and securing their 58th win of the season!
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