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Chapter 291 - 144. Here comes the question, who has stronger teaching abilities, Larry Bird or the God of Basketball?_2

Chapter 291: 144. Here comes the question, who has stronger teaching abilities, Larry Bird or the God of Basketball?_2

Zhang Yang looked at his ability assessment and recalled the experience messages... a three-point rating of 83 with a 41% three-point shooting accuracy? Just a tad short of making it to the 180 club! Those must have been open three-pointers!

That must be right; back then, hardly anyone shot threes.

As he entered the experience mode, he didn’t need to actively recall his previous experiences; thinking of something would naturally bring up related memories. In the first round of last season against the Chicago Bulls, over three games, the Bulls averaged three three-point attempts, while the Celtics averaged five.

In the 85-86 season, the Celtics averaged 6.1 three-point attempts per game during the regular season, of which he and Bird accounted for 4.5, with almost no one else shooting.

In terms of talent, three-point increased by 4, mid-range by 3, strength by 3, speed by 2, jumping by 1, and stamina by 4, reducing them, the three-point is now 79, mid-range 89, strength 85, speed 90, jumping 88, stamina 88... Zhang Yang felt that his shooting talent could still be developed further, especially since he was only a few days away from turning 24.

But his physical condition should be about as good as it gets, with only potential fluctuations in weight, speed, strength, jumping, and stamina as he aged.

The base talent for speed, jumping, and strength were actually quite good, but the base stamina of 88, even with an addition of 4, was only 92... Time to grind more talents!

Zhang Yang looked at the task panel.

"Basic Task: Celtic’s Glory, lead the Celtics to defeat the Lakers and win the championship."

"Optional Task One: I Can Pass Too, average 5+ assists in the Finals.

Optional Task Two: Snake Hunter, achieve one triple-double in the Finals.

Optional Task Three: Resolute Scorer, become the leading scorer of this Finals."

The first task reminded Zhang Yang of the flaw in the team mentioned in the experience messages—a lack of players who could pass.

Zhang Yang remembered that in the 85-86 season, the Celtics had three bench players who averaged 3+ assists, and the team’s average assists per season were as high as 29... this was probably why they traded those guys away for a high draft pick.

So, was Bird going to teach him how to pass in the days leading up to the Finals?

Task One rejected.

Task Two... Was it benchmarking Worthy’s 1988 single-game triple-double that outperformed Magic to win the FMVP?

Ten assists in a single game versus averaging 5+ assists in the Finals... Zhang Yang unhesitatingly chose Task Three.

The task interface switched.

"Celtic’s Glory:... Reward: The Art of Back-to-the-Basket.

Resolute Scorer:... Reward: I Age Slower (Junior).

The Art of Back-to-the-Basket: When you’re facing away from the basket, you become more sensitive to the movements of your teammates and opponents, making it easier to determine the right moment to pass."

I Age Slower (Junior): When your physical condition reaches its peak, that’s the beginning of the decline, but your physical condition will deteriorate a bit slower than ordinary people."

Zhang Yang smacked his lips at the basic task reward, but the optional task reward made his eyes widen in astonishment.

Was this about a teammate Chieftain related reward or an opponent Skyhook related reward?

In the 85-86 season, the 33-year-old Parish averaged 16 points and 9 rebounds. Despite being a high-flyer, he didn’t seem over 30 at all; it seemed like even in his 40s, teams were still vying for him.

Skyhook’s ’anti-aging’ was just as exaggerated; he won the FMVP at 38, an achievement nearly impossible to break.

Seeing the name of the task, it seemed related to Skyhook’s rewards; for Chieftain, scoring was just two moves, catching lobs, and close-range post-up shooting.

Zhang Yang got out of bed and looked around the room; it was the same apartment he lived in last year.

The experience messages showed that he signed a 3-year $3 million extension last summer, expiring in ’89.

Not much higher than his rookie year, but that was a decent salary; Bird’s salary was also around $1.8 million, and Magic, the highest annual earner, was only at $2.5 million US dollars, and those were flat salaries without annual increases.

As for why Zhang Yang knew about Bird and Magic’s salaries... After the first round last year, he complained while drunk wrestling with Bird, saying his three-time MVP salary was still not as high as that piece of chocolate.

Magic’s nickname in his student days was Chocolate, which is how Jason Williams got his nickname.

...

After getting up and grabbing something to eat, Zhang Yang spent some time reading the newspaper to catch up on recent events.

He had a subscription to multiple newspapers; back in those days, TV and newspapers were the only ways to get information from the outside world.

Zhang Yang never expected that Laimbeer, the opponent he defeated, actually helped him earn the respect of some locals...

However, not everyone agreed with Laimbeer’s view; quite a few media still thought Len Bias had more talent and would have played better if he hadn’t died.

Zhang Yang thought that even if he achieved greater success than Bird in the future, these people would still think Len Bias could have achieved even more.

He didn’t take this to heart, since most of the time, it wasn’t him dealing with such comments... Wishing the other him strength!

Once the feeling of fullness subsided a bit, Zhang Yang headed out to the North Garden Arena.

He entered the training facility just after 8 o’clock, and Bird was already there training.

Seeing Zhang Yang arrive, Bird taunted, "You’re a bit late, NCP."

NCP, Non-core players, the term for non-essential team members.

Zhang Yang had read in the newspaper that Laimbeer had trash-talked him using this term in the Eastern Finals; he didn’t know if winning the scoring title in the Eastern Finals had anything to do with Laimbeer’s trash talk.