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Chapter 279 - 140.2006 NBA Draft_2

Chapter 279: 140.2006 NBA Draft_2

Neither of them could actually defend O’Neal one-on-one, but they could limit his shot attempts and wear him down solo, and that was enough. For the Pistons, it required both Wallaces to handle him.

As O’Neal’s impact decreased, Wade had a difficult time against the Mavericks’ explosive perimeter players. In the first game, he made 11 out of 25 shots, and in the second game, his shooting plummeted to 6 out of 19 attempts.

On June 14th, during the third game of the Finals, just as Zhang Yang anticipated, the "body-hair whistle" came again... Wade went to the free-throw line 18 times, the Miami Heat outscored the Mavericks 31 to 19 in the final quarter, reversing the score to 98-96 and bringing the series to 2-1.

Zhang Yang didn’t watch the next three games; keeping an eye on the scores was enough.

Actually, the refereeing wasn’t ’problematic’; every time Wade stepped to the free-throw line, his opponents did indeed commit substantial fouls on him.

However, when O’Neal defended against Josh Howard’s drives, Josh Howard didn’t get the calls.

Of course, it’s tough to reverse such a huge disadvantage just by calling the whistle tight, and the league had promoted several promising stars using this method, but the only one who managed to win a championship that way was Wade.

By June 19th, Wade hit 10 out of 18 shots and made 16 of 21 free throws, scoring 36 points with 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. He led the Miami Heat to a 95-92 victory over the Mavericks. The Miami Heat won four straight games, defeating the Mavericks 4-2 to win their first championship in franchise history. Wade was crowned Finals MVP, becoming the first FMVP of the 21st century to enter the NBA.

This championship became another highly controversial one following the 01-02 season. Wade earned the nickname ’73 Wade’ in the U.S., with fans ’praising’ his free-throw performance in the last four games of the Finals; in China, he acquired the nickname ’Body-hair Wade,’ and his Euro step was nicknamed ’Colliding Eighteen Falls.’

Time flew to June 26th, and Zhang Yang’s training came to a temporary close.

Jordan told him to rest for a few days and, after the draft, planned to take him, Felton, and Gerald Wallace for special training.

During this time, under the guidance of the top shooting coach Ingles, Zhang Yang made substantial progress with his three-point shot, improving from 67 to 70. He officially moved from ’can shoot threes’ to ’capable three-point shooter’. With three months left in the off-season, he hoped to make threes a regular part of his arsenal by his sophomore year.

Ingles told Zhang Yang that the significant progress in just over 20 days was largely due to the half-season he spent recklessly shooting threes on the court, but it was reckless with purpose. His body and mind knew how to make adjustments in the details of the shot.

That’s something no outside trainer could teach.

On the other hand, his mid-range shot improvement wasn’t as noticeable. An 80+-level mid-range, to most players, is unattainable for a lifetime, requiring longer training and more patience.

Another area of noticeable improvement was ball-handling, which went from 86 to 88.

Unlike other shooting coaches who only teach shooting, Ingles placed great emphasis on shooting-related skills; to support shooting off the dribble, ball-handling had to be solid, so his guidance in that area was also exceptional.

What Ingles liked most about Zhang Yang wasn’t his talent, but that he didn’t insist on voicing his opinion about things he didn’t understand, wasn’t stubborn. Many NBA players either ignored him or pretended to listen but didn’t follow through on his advice.

For Felton, half of this month’s shooting training was focused on free throws. When Jordan came to watch his free throw test in the afternoon, Felton scored 87, 88, 85, 82, and 80 in five sets, barely satisfying Jordan, who agreed to take him along for the special training.

Zhang Yang felt that Big Fatty was really a good... no, a fine... well, give him some incentives, and he’d go about his efforts in a dutiful way.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yang was worried; what would happen if a couple of years from now, the even older senior was called upon when Bickerstaff, pushing 60, decided to retire from the high-demand job of general manager and head coach?

Zhang Yang had seen an interview with Felton in his previous life, where he revealed the reason he declined a decent salary offer from Jordan and went elsewhere for lower pay — he was scolded by Larry Brown with names like ’bastard’, ’fat pig’, ’stinky loach’, all of which were the ’nicer’ terms, not to mention many more that were far worse and more insulting, being unsatisfied that he couldn’t play like Iverson or Billups.

Perhaps it was time to butter up Boss Jordan some more and keep an eye out for any top coaches in the league looking for a job change, then heap praise on them in front of Boss Jordan...

On the 27th, Zhang Yang rested for the day and spent the evening watching the NBA Draft live on TV.

He was looking forward to this draft, not because he was eager to see who their team would pick.

After attending many draft workout meetings, he knew who the potential targets were. Of course, if the team made a trade, the draft position could change beyond his expectations.

What he was excited about was whether the ’modern-day Bird’ would end up playing for the Charlotte Bobcats, now that they had no high draft pick.

At 8 p.m., the draft began.

The Toronto Raptors unexpectedly picked ’the Italian Nowitzki’, Andrea Bargnani, with the first overall pick.

Bargnani averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds during the 05-06 season in Italy’s Lega Basket Serie A. Not yet 21, he declared for the NBA draft, gaining the attention of many teams, and was predicted to be selected in the top five. However, being chosen as the first overall draft pick was a surprise that made the commentators exclaim continuously.