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Chapter 256 - 132. Won a prize! _2

Chapter 256: 132. Won a prize! _2

Zhang Yang played 10 games in April, scoring 6 and 8 points against the Hawks team, 15 against the Chicago Bulls, 18 against the Timberwolves, 21 against the Toronto Raptors, 26 against the Grizzlies, 22 against the Knight, 35 against the 76ers, 43 against the Knicks Team, and 2 in the first half against the Pacers and 16 in the second half for a total of 18 points; he averaged 21.2 points per game, with additional averages of 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.2 steals.

His scoring average reached a new high, mainly due to the high-scoring games against the 76ers and the Knicks Team. Of course, his performance in the other eight games wasn’t bad either, averaging about sixteen to seventeen points per game, which was quite good.

In the Rookie of the Month voting, Zhang Yang lost to "Little Fatty" by just two votes. He received 14 out of 30 votes, Felton received 16.

Felton also boosted his scoring average thanks to a game where he scored 40+ points, averaging 14+ points in the other nine games.

Felton and Zhang Yang tied for second in Rookie of the Month honors this season, with Paul leading as the six-time consecutive Rookie of the Month in the West, following in the footsteps of James and Anthony as another player to sweep the Rookie of the Month awards.

But this time, Zhang Yang didn’t need to begrudge "Little Fatty" as it was still Felton who had to be envious.

In the final week, the Bobcats won four straight games, defeating the Knight, 76ers, Knicks Team, and Pacers. Zhang Yang averaged 29.5 points per game and won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week!

This was the first time a player from the Bobcats had ever won the Player of the Week!

Although Gerald Wallace won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in February, he never won Player of the Week; throughout the month, Iverson, James, and Arenas each took home the award once. From January to March, there were 11 instances of the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, and aside from Wade, who won once, the rest were dominated by those three players.

It’s not rare for rookies to win Player of the Week. In recent years, Anthony won it in February 2004, and Paul in November 2005.

In the ’90s, current players like Kidd, Iverson, Duncan, and Carter had won the league’s Player of the Week.

Zhang Yang only won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, whereas Kobe won the award in the West with an average of 39.7 points over the last four games... Without the division into conferences, Zhang Yang wouldn’t have gotten this award.

But for Zhang Yang, it was still a pleasant surprise.

He hadn’t really expected to win Player of the Week.

Yesterday morning, while idly passing the time, he saw the last week’s award predictions.

Last week, James had 2 wins and 1 loss, averaging 36+8+7; Wade had 3 wins and 1 loss, averaging 30+6+6; Ben Gordon had 3 wins and no losses, averaging 29+6+3.

These three were seen as the hot candidates for the last week’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Zhang Yang saw his name on the list as well, but in the ’other potential award-winning candidates’ section, his name was just another ’among others.’

Surprisingly, he won the award!

...

Over the past two days after the regular season ended, the media has been summarizing the regular season and evaluating the players’ performances.

A main focus of their coverage has been the season summary of the rookies, performance analysis, and future forecasts.

Paul played 78 games, averaging 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.8 assists, and 2.2 steals per game, with a shooting accuracy of 43%, a three-point shooting rate of 28%, and a free-throw percentage of 84%. All major media outlets ranked him first among the rookies.

Second and third place varied among major media outlets, with Zhang Yang and Felton, some placing Zhang Yang first and others placing Felton first.

Felton had a mediocre performance in the first two months, averaging 10+2+3 in November and 7+2+4 in December, but in January, he became the true core point guard for the Bobcats, scoring 13.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1.2 steals and won the Rookie of the Month; in February, he averaged 14+7 and in March, 13+8. In April, he had an impressive performance, averaging 17+7.

Felton attended all 82 games this season, averaging 13.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game, with a shooting accuracy of 43% and a three-point shooting rate of 38%—outstanding for a point guard.

Media and experts praised Felton for his solid fundamentals, steady passing, excellent shooting choices, not being possessive of the ball, and strong leadership abilities...

Zhang Yang had an impressive debut, completing a game-winning shot, and he continued to perform well after that, averaging 12.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 1 steal in November, showing significant improvement in December with an average of 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and continued steady performance over the next two months, with 14.2 points in January and 15.5 points in February. He exploded in March with an average of 20.5 points per month, and continued strong in April, averaging 21.5 points.

Thanks to his performance in the last week, Zhang Yang, who attended all 82 games, raised his total season points to 1333, surpassing Paul in the final moments to become the leading scorer among the 2005 rookie class with an average of 16.2 points per game.

Aside from scoring, Zhang Yang’s stats were a bit mediocre, averaging 28 minutes per game, grabbing 4.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.5 blocks, with a shooting accuracy of 42%, including a three-point shooting rate of 28%, and a free-throw percentage of 82%. His shooting accuracy inside the three-point line was actually not bad. The main issue was that he attempted 3.2 three-pointers per game, but only made an average of 0.9 per game, which lowered his overall shooting percentage.

Media and expert evaluations of Zhang Yang— a rare scoring talent, possessing the potential to become a scorer like Iverson and McGrady, unexpectedly mature, big-hearted, high basketball IQ, good health condition.

Compared to his talent and mental toughness, what surprised the media the most was Zhang Yang’s resilience. His attendance rate was higher than Garnett, Kobe, McGrady, and James.

Mid-season analyses by the media had already noted that it partly stemmed from Zhang Yang’s inherent resilience as a former baseball and Jeet Kune Do athlete, which gave him superior physical stamina compared to his peers, along with his choice of playing style. Apart from fast-break dunks, his other playing styles were low-impact, including his approach to the basket.