lakers championship

Chapter 5 Is it really him?

Hearing the sound, Johnny turned his head and saw a man in his early 1 meters tall, muscular build, with dark skin and a shining bald head. It was his assistant coach Blount.

A few days ago, Johnny arranged for Blunt to investigate the group of players who had signed up for the school team at the beginning of the season but were not selected in the end, to see if there was any suitable candidate who could solve the current urgent need.

But he never thought that Blount would bring back a piece of news that he hadn't expected at all.

"Don't worry, what is the Northern California Community Competition?" Johnny raised his hand to interrupt.

"It's like this..." Blunt paused to take a breath, and then continued: "The community streetball game organized by the Warriors is aimed at fighting against the hot Drew League in Southern California in recent years."

"That is, amateur field games?" Johnny frowned.

"Yes, the amateur league, but..."

"Needless to say, amateur leagues are not worth discussing. Also, why don't you let the professional players in the school not investigate, and care about a guy who plays wild ball and is still a senior graduate. If he is capable, we would have already We should have found him, if he has the ability but we didn't find him, it can only show that he is not very interested in basketball!"

Johnny talked a lot like a cannonball, but Blunt didn't show any expression of giving up on his face, and he was still looking at him with a smile.

"Are you sticking to what you just said?" Johnny raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Yes, not only I am optimistic about that guy, but Mitchell Thompson, the sideline commentator of the Los Angeles Lakers, also thinks that guy is very good. Based on the opinions of both sides, I think we should give it a try, at least give a trial notice." Blunt is not in a hurry explained angrily.

These words made Johnny ponder. He didn't really care much about what Brandt thought, but Mitchell Thompson also thought it was good, so it was completely different.

You know, Mitchell Thompson is not only a championship player, he has also been selected as an All-Star three times. He has seen too many powerful players, and he will not praise someone for no reason.

"Are you sure the adjective he used is 'very powerful'?" Johnny was a little unconvinced. The word very powerful was much stronger than no, okay, very good.

"Totally sure, when talking about that person, he was very excited, saying that it was the first time he saw someone with a shooting posture almost exactly like Kobe's after he became a Lakers commentator," Blunt said with gestures.

"Shooting like Kobe? That looks really good. Is there a video?"

"Yes, look." Blount took out the IPAD and opened the video screen that had been prepared.

There are two sections in the video, the first section is Tianyang's midfield shot at Staples, and the second section is a highlight of Tianyang's shots in the game against Castro.

After 1 minute, Johnny frowned again, and he said with some regret: "The shooting posture is indeed very standard, and it can be called an NBA superstar level. Mitchell's evaluation is reasonable, but this guy has the common problems of all Asian guards, and his physical fitness is too good." Poor, once you get into a confrontation, your shooting percentage will be greatly reduced."

"You're right to worry, but in NCAA games, how much confrontation is there from the outside? And, when I came in just now, I mentioned that his greatest strength is not the three-pointer!" Blount's mouth slightly curled up, as if he had a plan in mind.

"Oh? He has more powerful skills than three-pointers?" Johnny looked sideways.

"Didn't you notice that in the second video, his team trailed by 12 points at halftime, but less than 10 minutes after the start of the second half, they overtook and took the lead?" Blount asked.

"You mean he's also good at reading the game and making tactics?"

"Of course, I've watched the complete video of this game. In the first half, he was stuck in a confrontation and couldn't score. During the timeout, he and his teammates developed an 'unlimited pick-and-roll' tactic, and successfully opened up shooting space for him. It can be said that he dared to think Dare to do it. Faced with defensive changes, he can immediately make adjustments. It can be said that he is responsive. Don’t we lack such a player now? Isn’t he the dawn in the dark? What are you waiting for?”

"But……"

"Don't worry, he only has one shortcoming of confrontation, and the rest are all advantages. Would you give up because there is a piece of shit on a ton of gold? Besides, our results will not be worse than now, why not try to gamble? "

Brandt's words made Johnny fall into silence again. He met with the school's senior management before Christmas, and the other party almost made it clear that if he could not lead the Sequoia team further this season, his coaching position would definitely be lost.

After all, he has been coaching at Stanford for 7 years. If the best result stays in the top 16 forever, not only will the school be dissatisfied, but he will not be happy either.

"How is his academic performance?" Johnny asked loosely.

The NCAA has strict requirements on the academic performance of players, and Johnny is worried that Tianyang will not be able to meet them. After all, he knows that some students from Asia do not study hard because of their family's wealth.

"GPA3.9, you know, Chinese people in schools like ours are basically top students, and his graduation project has been completed ahead of schedule, he might go back to China in a few days, and he can only regret looking for it by then .”

"Hey, I'll watch the video again." Johnny sighed, but Blunt smiled, knowing that Johnny had entered the final stage of self-persuasion.

"This girl? Not the very famous one in our school..." Johnny asked, pointing to the video.

"What?" Blunt looked over, "What are you talking about? Morena, the beauty of the Art Academy, often appears in various news of the school. Recently, she seems to be getting closer to a rich second generation of the rugby team. , why do you care about her?"

"In the same school, why does her classmate hit a super long 3-pointer, and she doesn't even applaud, but still has a stern face as if she owes her money? It's really strange!" Johnny shook his head in confusion.

"Hey, you don't know, the guy who shoots the ball is called Tianyang, he likes Morena, but that day Morena was dating another guy, and Tianyang happened to meet him, so the scene was a bit awkward at that time." Blunt shrugged .

"You know all this? Have you put your mind into team training?"

"Don't be kidding, there has been a lot of rumors in the school, and I just heard about it."

"That's it. Let's take some time to meet Tianyang and see how good he is in actual combat. There may be many problems that cannot be seen in the video collection."

"Huh? Why did you suddenly agree so readily?"

"A man who can make textbook-like shooting moves unaffected by seeing a woman he likes dating another man must be a person who can tolerate extreme pressure. In comparison, physical confrontation The pressure on him is nothing."

……

San Francisco, in a basketball court in the Irvine community, the semi-finals of the Northern California Community Basketball Tournament is about to be staged.

Johnny didn't come to watch the game. After Christmas, the Sequoia team lost three games in a row. Although the pressure to advance to the playoffs was not great, there was no hope of advancing to the NCAA tournament.Fortunately, he finally found time to inspect the previous candidate for shooting guard - Tianyang.

"Why haven't you come out yet? Playing big cards?" Johnny asked displeased.

"Come on, his team has been winning all the way, and now there are many fans. The organizer has arranged for autographs before the game. Look at that... Huh? His arms and thighs are much thicker?" Brown said in a dazed tone.

"It's really him? You're not mistaken, are you?"

"It's really him. Did he hire an NBA-level trainer? It's only been two weeks. How did you train?"

(End of this chapter)