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Chapter 278 - 140. 2006 NBA Draft

Chapter 278: 140. 2006 NBA Draft

The team entered the draft month, and Zhang Yang and Felton continued training in shooting under Chip Engelland’s guidance, occasionally being pulled to help with tryouts.

Zhang Yang could be patient and practice slowly. After a few days, Felton couldn’t sit still and, seeing Jordan observing the draft tryouts, he ran to learn some techniques, only to be yelled back with, "First, get your damn free throws right."

Zhang Yang’s free throw was pretty good, with a rookie year free throw shooting accuracy of 82%, and a steady 90%+ in practice.

Felton, however, was in a bad spot—70% free throw shooting accuracy in his rookie year and barely 80% in practices.

However, after Jordan toughened Felton up with a player’s mindset, he switched to an owner’s mindset and left a remark, "If you can’t make 85 out of 100 free throws after the draft, this summer I’m only taking Jack and Gerald for special training," spurring Felton to fiercely practice.

As for the tryouts, those 11 draftees were just the first batch for the Mavericks, primarily their top targets among guards.

Tryouts occurred again on the 3rd and 5th.

The 3rd focused on the inside line, with Okafor and Perkins handling the testing—the former on their defense and the latter on their offense, this being the second choice if the intended guards were snatched up by other teams, then prioritize inside line substitutes.

The 5th was for non-invite tryouts, that is, players stuffed by various agents.

Zhang Yang found out from Bickerstaff that the team’s relationships with agents were complex; during tryouts, to get a talented player under certain agents, one needs to accept less popular players they push into tryouts.

Nevertheless, it also became a chance for teams to encounter players they had never focused on before, and they might just discover the players they wanted.

This time around, Gerald Wallace helped the team with the tryouts.

The follow-up individual tryouts, the second rounds, were all assisted by team members who played in similar positions as the draftees... Zhang Yang was called upon the most, even for inside line tryouts, as Bickerstaff liked listening to his opinions, mainly when asking other trial assistance players, who couldn’t offer clear feedback, whereas the youngest Zhang Yang could.

Zhang Yang noticed something; the coaching staff didn’t bring in other team players for the tryout tasks. It was normal for their four core players to be there, but Perkins – was he being groomed as the main center?

In the playoffs, Perkins was generally less effective than Brezec, a 218 cm tall player with decent mobility and scoring ability, still proving quite useful.

However, considering Perkins’ age of 21, with plenty of room to grow, and Brezec nearing 27 with limited prospects, it wasn’t impossible.

Zhang Yang heard that this summer’s team reinforcement was managed by Bickerstaff, without high draft picks, and the owner disinterested in making moves... He still felt quite reassured.

Bickerstaff had daringly acquired Kemp and Payton during the early 90s while working with the Black Eight Supersonics, helping establish their dominance in the West for the next decade.

After being fired by the Black Eight Supersonics, he moved to the Nuggets Team and secured Mutombo, laying the foundation for the Nuggets Team’s Black Eight Supersonics basis.

With such a record, as long as the owner was willing, minor tweaks and improvements were easy tasks for Bickerstaff.

...

On June 6, Zhang Yang celebrated his 18th birthday; he received a ’re-gift’ from Felton, a car for commuting, not too expensive, almost similar in price to the watch he had given.

Zhang Yang felt good about it; if he had given a $30,000 gift and Felton reciprocated with a $60,000 gift, it would turn into a vicious cycle.

Zhang Yang also bought two cars, one for himself and one for his mom. Now, within the city, he planned to drive the car gifted by the reputed Fat Boss, and the other, he gave to his dad.

After receiving the car keys, Zhang Chen turned around and went back to his room expressionlessly, leaving Zhang Yang baffled.

After a while, Yang Jing quietly came to tell her eldest son, "Your dad is inside, crying his eyes out. He didn’t want me to leave because he was afraid I’d tell you and embarrass him."

Zhang Yang was embarrassed but decided not to reveal the truth to his dad... He remembered that he always gave his dad birthday gifts every year!

Dad at 39, razor; 40, razor; 41, razor... Soon to be 42, perhaps it’s time to buy a tie!

On June 9, the finals kicked off, and the most joyful thing for Zhang Yang after finishing daily training was to wait in front of the TV for the live broadcast.

Miami Heat went 4-2 past the Pistons, the Eastern dominators of the past two years, advancing to the finals.

The Mavericks beat the Suns 4-2 to meet the Miami Heat in the finals, avenging the previous season’s second-round defeat, with Nowitzki and Nash, former best buddies, each toppling the other once.

In the first two finals games, the Miami Heat were hammered down by the Mavericks, losing by 10 points in G1 and 14 in G2, putting the Miami Heat in a precarious situation.

Wade, weighing 110kg, was too comfortable playing against Rasheed Wallace at 109kg and Ben Wallace. Both had to focus on locking down O’Neal, leaving only helped defence for Wade; of course, Wade’s capability to utilize this was his own skill, not easily replicated by others.

But the Mavericks’ center...

Starting center Sagana Diop, with an average of 1 point and 1.8 rebounds in the 04-05 season, still managed to secure a two-year, $4 million fully guaranteed contract for his impressive size of 213 cm and 136 kg.

Backup center Eric Dampier, 211 cm and 120 kg, also a large center, after Diop wore down O’Neal a bit, Dampier could hold his ground against O’Neal when he came on.