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Chapter 299 - 147. A new look for the new season.

Chapter 299: 147. A new look for the new season.

On the morning of September 16, 2006, after waking up, Zhang Yang proactively recalled his training... Standing on the bed, hands on his hips, fuming.

Wouldn’t it be nice to cradle the trophy and fall back asleep!

He even heard Jack’s ’J’!

Luckily, the gains from the two training sessions, coupled with the post-up organizing skills learned from Bird, gave him some consolation.

However, there’s no denying that this training was awesome.

The Lakers’ offense before they made mistakes was just too good, utterly unstoppable! The offense was unequaled in its splendor!

If Riley hadn’t made the wrong call, their chances of turning the game around would have been slim.

While they were scoring high points, unlike the group of people years later standing outside the three-point line just shooting and shooting, Magic, Cobra, Scott, they used clever passes to tear apart any defense. Even as an opponent, Zhang Yang thought the Lakers’ offense was truly beautiful.

The Celtics’ "isolation tactics," though, were a bit unsightly...

Stern wanting to ban this playstyle, when you compare the two, is somewhat understandable.

But ban it if you must, after all, it’s not him who would be the most affected by the changes in the ’80s timeline.

Zhang Yang ended his active recollections, re-sealing the memories of his training, the emotions from the training disappearing from his mind, leaving only the post-up organizing skills he learned from Bird.

Upon opening the Gate of Trials, Zhang Yang looked at the two new gains he had obtained and felt exceptionally good.

"I age slowly," when upgraded to max level, could he still play like Jabbar and Parish into their forties?

He went to the study in his underpants to look up the career records of those two evergreens...

Parish was 44 in ’97 and still won the championship with the Chicago Bulls!

Jabbar, at the age of 42 during the 88-89 season, was still averaging double figures in scoring... After the Western Conference Finals, due to too long a rest period, the mastermind started to work his magic again, putting the team through devilish training and directly forced Jabbar into retirement.

Another one who was seriously injured was Magic. Averaging 20.3 points and 14.3 assists during the Western Conference Finals, he only played 3 games in the Finals, averaging 11 points and 8 assists.

Zhang Yang doesn’t expect to play to the age of Parish; it’s also not necessary to reach Jabbar’s age, but playing until thirty-six or thirty-seven and rounding out 20 years is something worth pursuing. Of course, if one day he feels stepping onto the court would drag the team down, he would choose to retire in his prime, leaving the game with grace.

The other training gain, "The Art of Back-to-the-Basket Play," made him more sensitive to the movements of his teammates and opponents when his back was to the basket, making it easier to judge the timing for passes. Combined with the post-up organizing skills learned from Bird... Zhang Yang fell into deep thought.

He needed to carefully consider how to use the post-up organizing skills to create better shooting opportunities for himself...

...

After pondering for half the morning, Zhang Yang gave up thinking.

He didn’t yet know the specifics of the new season’s tactics; it wasn’t even clear how many post-up opportunities he’d have.

Besides, for organized post-up offense, he needed to establish a threat from post-up plays first; this fame would come in time and didn’t need to be rushed.

Although it might not be immediately applicable, having it and not needing it is different from not having it at all.

In the following 10 days, Zhang Yang hardly went to the gym for training. Even when he did go, he wore a protective helmet to watch the renovation works around the gym and casually practiced shooting, chatting with teammates he was close with, or joking with the future Coach Ron.

After grappling with various sponsors all summer, Jordan finally secured a stadium naming sponsor, a European Husky family’s airline company.

When Zhang Yang learned that the Charlotte arena would be named Tuhang Stadium, he wanted to protest to the boss on the spot.

The Bobcats’ name was already plain enough, and now this was adding plainness to plainness.

But when Jordan and Tellem came to him with a 3-year 15 million US dollar endorsement contract from Tuhang... Plain? What does plain mean? It’s filled with the aroma of the countryside!

Isn’t everyone a few generations removed from a farmer? I’m plain, and I’m proud of it!

He did more than just train that summer. After training sessions, there were plenty of commercials to shoot. However, they were just some photos and videos carried out within the stadium, so it wasn’t too bothersome.

As for his signature shoes, after more than half a year, they were officially set into motion in August.

It wasn’t that the AJ team was unwilling to release signature sneakers for him. Zhang Yang, along with Tellem, Jordan, and AJ executives, had a few short meetings where the AJ side placed high importance on his first generation signature shoes. They wanted to release a series that could compete with Jordan’s, hence the longer preparation period.

Jordan was strongly supportive; the better the sales, the more he earned...

Zhang Yang had no complaints. Launching signature shoes was a matter of saving face for him. He preferred the custom AJ11 that AJ made for him because of its comfort. If the signature shoes were not as comfy, he wouldn’t wear them except when necessary.

It’s just the naming of the signature shoes that Zhang Yang found a bit too much—Arrogance; the first slogan—The arrogance of.

Presumptuous, proud, haughty, looking down on everything.

Zhang Yang asked in a meeting why they picked that name.

Jordan, puzzled, said, "Isn’t that the meaning of your Chinese name?"

The AJ executives mentioned it was a Chinese-speaking designer in the company who suggested the name based on his Chinese name, Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang really wanted to explain that his name wasn’t that kind of ’Zhang Yang’... but it was too troublesome to explain the nuances of ideographic characters to a group who used phonetic writing. He didn’t want to explain if it couldn’t be done quickly, so he let it be.

Apart from being a bit too showy, the sneaker name wasn’t bad at all.

Zhang Yang also made two trips to school, one to pick up books, because studying should be taken seriously, and the other to dine with Tatum, who finally chose to attend North Carolina.