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Chapter 302 - 148. The preseason should involve more throwing_2

Chapter 302: 148. The preseason should involve more throwing_2

Zhang Yang, in between attacking the basket drills, started chatting with Randy Brown about real estate.

Seeing that Zhang Yang also had some knowledge in this area, Randy Brown enthusiastically joined in the conversation.

Guiding practice is a rather dull job. There’s no tactical discussion, unlike the fun in coaching a game.

Zhang Yang mentioned that his father was not willing to buy property for the time being and didn’t plan to invest in either the mid-end consumer sector or the budget consumer sector just yet.

Randy Brown asked why, and Zhang Yang explained that the subprime mortgage market was about to collapse, the real estate bubble was too large and carried the risk of following the old path of the ’basin-foot chicken’, and the economic outlook was bleak, making employment a severe issue for the middle class and low-income groups. He really only knew the basics, but while he couldn’t get into the details, he could certainly make a few points if they continued the conversation.

Zhang Yang didn’t know how much Randy Brown could take in or whether he could successfully get out before the bubble burst, and he wasn’t too concerned; he was just sharing what he could during their training break because they were acquaintances.

Soon it was October, and the Bobcats had their media day event. Making the playoffs, even knocking out James to reach the second round, made this media day different.

Last year, their media day was lively too, but it was mainly attended by domestic media. This year, major media outlets from across North America were present.

They were now seen as an up-and-coming team, just like other emerging teams, crowned the title of ’young force.’ Their four key players also received many nicknames.

Of those nicknames, the one Zhang Yang wanted to complain about the most was the ’North Carolina Young Four.’ It was a nickname Joe had come up with, strongly reminiscent of the glory days of his alma mater.

The funny thing was, Joe had nailed it; their team had two North Carolina players, and Charlotte was located in North Carolina, so the nickname fit perfectly and the local fans loved it.

However, seeing how the ’Old Boss’ really liked the nickname ’North Carolina Young Four,’ Zhang Yang didn’t complain when interviewed.

Then there were the more fantastical ones—God’s Guard, God’s Legion, and the like.

Zhang Yang guessed it must be the post-90s getting online... the legal regulation prohibiting internet access for those under 18 was necessary!

The fantastical nicknames were still fine, in a few years, the really lame nicknames would sweep through the basketball scene—Dunce, Backpack, Laborer, Chatterer...

Thinking about this, Zhang Yang felt a sense of crisis, praying that years later, fans wouldn’t call him "King of the Bench."

The team’s nickname ’New Bad Boys Legion’ caught fire thanks to ESPN. A few months had passed, and Zhang Yang wasn’t so critical anymore and took it as motivation.

The GOAT of the last century overcame the Bad Boys Legion; the 21st century’s Bad Boys Legion was back and became the insurmountable mountain the GOAT couldn’t cross... There was a long-term minor goal for them.

Dealing with domestic media interviews this year gave Zhang Yang some headaches.

Every media outlet would ask about the ’Rockets’ Big Three,’ which left Zhang Yang’s fingers sore from counting, unable to figure out where the Rockets got their Big Three from.

But he still had to give Yao Ming face; whenever journalists mentioned ’Rockets contending for the championship,’ he would praise Yao Ming for his average of 25 points in the World Championships, expressing that Yao Ming could perform the same in the NBA.

The journalists were bewildered by Zhang Yang— a center with an average of 25+ points?

Since entering the modern basketball era, less than ten legitimate centers have averaged 25+ points in a single season, and since the turn of the century, only O’Neal had accomplished this... If Duncan was considered a center, then the Stone Buddha had done it before he suffered from plantar fasciitis.

Since the turn of the century, there had been four championship teams, making centers with an average of 25+ points even rarer than the championship teams themselves!

The journalists were just shamelessly hyping up ’championship contenders,’ after all, any team that makes the playoffs can be considered in the ’championship contender bracket.’ They came to Zhang Yang for sound bites. If Zhang Yang said the Rockets were championship contenders, they could hype it up and make a little money. If Zhang Yang said the Rockets were not championship contenders, they could start criticizing, and still make money... But Zhang Yang’s hype was even more intense than theirs!

Too hard to handle...

...

After media day, they entered the tactical training phase.

Zhang Yang was somewhat tearful. Last year’s training camp featured few and simple tactical trainings arranged by the coaching staff, with most of the time dedicated to individual training.

He even had to come up with his own ideas on how to play set offenses, how to follow up on fast breaks...

But he could understand the arrangements of the coaching staff at that time; the initial goal of the last season was to develop the rookies’ abilities, and tank for a high draft pick.

This year was different; they were now regarded as a playoff-level strong team. The team had higher goals, and Jordan announced the ’aim for 50 wins’ slogan at the start of training camp.

Although they achieved 45 wins last season, aiming for 50 wins this season was actually quite challenging.

Last season, until March, the ’one super power, three strong’ teams in the Eastern Conference began to take them seriously. In April, a few teams in the lower half of the Eastern playoff bracket began to see them as competitors, but until the very end of the regular season, the strong teams in the Western Conference still hadn’t taken them seriously.

Now that they had made a name for themselves and their rise was evident, opponents would certainly pay them more attention, making the competitive environment tougher than last season.

But it’s never wrong to aim a little higher!

Most of the tactics the coaching staff were preparing this year were the ones that worked well at the end of last season and in the playoffs, with a few new tactics thought up by the coaches, all revolving around their ’Young Four.’

Just as Zhang Yang expected, his role in the tactics remained that of a pure scorer and fast-break initiator.