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Chapter 386 - 181. Rookies, welcome to the NBA!

Chapter 386: 181. Rookies, welcome to the NBA!

If Zhang Yang had really delivered a grandiose speech, his temporary teammates might not have contradicted him, but they definitely wouldn’t have taken it seriously.

They were all rough-and-ready types, thinking, "You’re so cultured and impressive, good for you."

But with what Zhang Yang had said, their interest was genuinely piqued.

This was far more entertaining than just going up to dunk.

A group of them gathered together discussing how to deal with the rookies, each offering his own ideas.

Bynum decisively sold out Farmar.

Zhang Yang and Felton sold their teammates as well.

Even if the class of 06 was below par, those selected for the Rookie Challenge were at least key reserves on their teams; fans might not understand, but their sophomore peers who were also key players definitely would.

The counter-measures they provided were already known by the teams, and weren’t hard to counter.

Now, hearing how others planned to target Rondo and Millsap could also help the two think of ways to improve their weaknesses.

When Randy Brown, the assistant coach of the sophomore team, the Bobcats, arrived at the practice court, he saw the players deep in discussion and did not join them, letting the sophomores have their fun.

Deron and Ellis were the least willing to gather, yet when it came to suggesting ideas, they were the most active.

Pulling together a wide range of ideas, the sophomore team’s strategy for the night gradually took shape...

...

The evening of February 11, 2007, at 7:20 PM, at the Thomas & Mack Center of the University of Las Vegas, the pre-game show had ended and the entry ceremony for the Rookie Challenge began.

The Rookie Challenge is where 9 top players from the rookies challenge 9 top sophomores; thus, the rookie team is the ’away team,’ while the sophomore team is the ’home team.’

Zhang Yang and the others stood at the entrance of the home team’s tunnel, watching one after another rookie player enter as they were introduced by the host.

The heir to Kidd—Bobcats point guard Rajon Rondo.

Little McDyess—Bobcats Power Forward Paul Millsap.

The star point guard of the City of Angels—Lakers’ point guard Jordan Farmar.

The Italian Nowitzki—Raptors’ center Andrea Bargnani.

The Spanish World Champion—Raptors’ power forward Jorge Garbajosa.

Little T-Mac—Grizzlies’ small forward Rudy Guy.

The contemporary Bird—Celtics’ forward Adam Morrison,

Jalen Rose plus—Trail Blazers’ shooting guard Brandon Roy.

Little Wade—Timberwolves’ combo guard Randy Foye.

As the host announced the nicknames given to the rookies, Zhang Yang heard his teammates laughing continuously... Did the class of 04 laugh at them like this last year? How exactly did the host introduce him back then?

He seemed to remember it was ’the youngest NBA player ever’... That’s great, just great.

Although ordinary, it was much better than Baron Davis’s ’Charlotte has Baron Davis once again.’

Paul’s ’successor to the assassin’ was quite good, though.

The others... It seemed that apart from the Boxing Saint Granger and White Duncan Bogut, no one else from the previous year was selected for the Rookie Challenge.

The sophomore players were laughing nonstop, but the fans in the arena and in front of their TVs cared a lot about which rookie had what characteristics and who their playing style resembled.

The Rookie Challenge serves as a stage to promote promising newcomers to America and the entire world; since its inception in 1994, it had always garnered significant attention and ratings.

No one can tell whether the rookies who seem unskilled now might become superstars in the future.

The NBA is full of geniuses who had unusually long growth periods, who were unimpressive early on but exploded on the scene later. Billups represented this type of player perfectly; in his first three years under his rookie contract, Billups was traded around and even spent half a month on the Magic without getting any playtime before being traded again. He didn’t make a name for himself until he played as a sixth man for the Timberwolves. In ’02, he caught the Pistons’ attention and signed a five-year maximum mid-level deal. From then on, it was no looking back.

He won the Finals MVP, was selected for the All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams, and made the All-Star... At the beginning of January, he renewed his contract with the Pistons early for a 5-year, 60 million US dollar deal that would start in the ’08-09 season when he would be 32 years old.

Entering the NBA as the third overall pick, almost struggling to find work after his rookie contract ended, and then securing a five-year deal averaging 12 million US dollars annually at 32 is nothing short of legendary.

The class of 06 is underperforming now, but who can say for sure about the future? The class of 00 looked so bad at the time, historically poor, but now it’s produced a player like Reed who averages over 25 points per game, and others like Turkoglu, Crawford, and Kenyon Martin are also very strong. Mike Miller, Morris Peterson, Big Q, Magloire, Pulzbila, and others are also key players for their teams.

The rookie players think so too. Rondo addressed this very notion during an interview in the morning, playing the role of the cocky upstart. When a journalist asked him, "Do you think the class of 06 is the weakest in history?" Rondo quoted the phrase Jack had encouraged him with— "Do not despise the poor youth."

When it was time for the sophomores to make their entrance, the host cut down on the fanfare and simply called out their names.

Although the rookie team usually can’t beat the sophomores, the Rookie Challenge’s focus is on promoting newcomers. During the pre-game introduction, the sophomore players definitely couldn’t overshadow the rookies.

After all, rookies have dedicated sections on the homepages of major media websites, and those sections are among the most prominent.

Additionally, the sophomore players have played an extra year, and many of the abundantly talented class of 05 players are already starters or even the core of their teams, so they don’t need any extra introduction.

The All-Star entrance ceremony is quite lengthy. After the entrance ceremony, there were individual interviews, the All-Star festival, and, in the end, it was all a big show.

Under the secret instigation of an unnamed Player No. 3 (Paul: Huh? Me? Right! That’s me), the sophomores during their interviews repeatedly used platitudes like ’everyone’s doing well’, ’friendship first, competition second’, and so on, leaving the rookies feeling like the sophomore players are quite approachable.

By the time all the pre-game activities were over, half an hour had passed, and it was 7:50 PM. The players from both teams hurried to warm up again.

A few minutes later, the referees notified the starters from both teams to take the court.

The rookie team’s starters: Farmar, Roy, Adam Morrison, Millsap, Bargnani.

The sophomore team’s starters: Paul, Zhang Yang, Granger, David Lee, Bynum.

As the rookies took to the court, they were all thinking about outperforming the opposition and delivering a brutal defeat. The sophomores wanted to put ’friendship first, competition second’? That was great, as the rookies saw their chance!

However, the game had barely started before the rookies got hit hard.

Bynum won the tip-off and headed to the low post after getting the ball in the front court, where he played a one-on-one against Bargnani with no finesse involved, simply using his massive 129-kilogram body to muscle his way through. He managed to bump Bargnani under the basket and slammed the ball over him into the hoop!

Bargnani fell to the ground as Bynum turned for the dunk, instinctively pulling on Bynum’s jersey as he went down, warranting a whistle from the referees!

Bynum’s basket counted, plus a foul!

The rookies had an ominous feeling but couldn’t quite pinpoint what was going wrong...

Bynum’s free throw... missed, and Morrison grabbed the rebound.

The rookies went on the offensive, but as soon as Farmar got to the front court, Paul stuck to him like glue.

In his student days, Farmar had both power and speed, heralded as the number one point guard in the nation during high school and granted a starting position in his freshman year at UCLA, leading them to the finals in his sophomore season... but in the NBA, he seemed so ordinary. So far in his rookie season, he was averaging 4 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. His speed was still there but not enough to shake off opponents, and his 188-centimeter height and 82-kilogram weight were not impressive by NBA standards...

Faced with Paul’s close defense, Farmar could only get the ball past the three-point line by turning sideways and shielding the ball with his backside.

Seeing this, Millsap quickly moved to set a screen blocking Paul. Farmar used the screen to shake off Paul’s defense, and just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, David Lee, who had been defending the pick-and-roll, stepped up beyond the three-point line—Farmar hadn’t even completed maneuvering around the screen yet!

And Paul was already catching up!

Millsap had good instincts and immediately rolled to the basket to provide an option.

Farmar, who knows where he learned it from, could have made a direct or bounce pass, both of which would’ve been decent options, yet he insisted on jumping to pass. Harassed by David Lee, Farmar was forced to send the ball on a higher trajectory, and the pass was off mark!

Millsap hastened his steps to chase the ball but just as he was about to catch it, a familiar figure circled from behind him to the front, snatching the ball a step ahead!

Zhang Yang made a steal by peeling off the screen!

Zhang Yang immediately passed to Paul and charged toward the front court.

Farmar and Roy chased hard but, although not slow, their speed was only on par with Zhang Yang’s when he had just entered the NBA—excellent but not top-notch.

Without the ball, the distance between them and Zhang Yang only grew... As Zhang Yang entered the key, the ball was already at his feet.

Zhang Yang received the ball, took one stride and jumped, gently dunking it with both hands!

In such sprinting counters, Zhang Yang treated Paul like Rondo, having no doubts about the catch.

It was the rookies’ turn to attack again. Before even reaching half-court, Farmar passed the ball to Roy. After one play, Farmar had chickened out.

Roy wasn’t intimidated. He advanced past the three-point line while Zhang Yang played less aggressive defense inside the arc, taking small, shuffling steps.

Roy, who had faced off against Zhang Yang twice, knew that despite not being known for his defense, Zhang Yang’s one-on-one defense on the perimeter and resistance against shots was outstanding. Their heights were similar, but Zhang Yang had a wingspan over a dozen centimeters longer.

Roy lowered his center of gravity, rapidly switching the ball between hands, and feinted a step to the right. He retracted his foot, then continued darting to the right!

Roy’s attention to detail was excellent, and even though Zhang Yang defended vigorously, he was still deceived. Roy broke through successfully!

Bynum moved in from the left side of the paint, stopping half a step outside the charge circle to block. Roy passed the ball... Bargnani cut from the left baseline, caught the ball and stepped into the key...

If Bargnani had simply caught the ball and taken a step to loft it up without any fuss, that would have been that.

But having just been dunked on, Bargnani leaped high into the air with the empty hoop in front of him, taking a step inside the key and attempted to slam the ball into the basket with one hand... "smack"... "bang"...

Bynum, who had turned and jumped off both feet, slapped the ball hard as it came down from Bargnani’s dunk attempt!

This block made Zhang Yang, who was chasing after Roy to the basket, recall the time he tried to dunk against the Lakers and got blocked by Kwame Brown... It was hard to tell whether to credit Bynum’s basketball talent or Brown’s coaching.

The ball hit the backboard and ricocheted toward the front of the rim, where Zhang Yang, using his long arms, snatched the defensive rebound over Roy’s head!

Roy immediately wrapped his arms around Zhang Yang. With no foul limit in the Rookie Challenge, he calmly chose to foul to stop Zhang Yang from starting a counterattack.

While Bynum had managed to contain his excitement during the earlier poster dunk, this time he couldn’t hold back. He clenched his fists and roared, turning his back to Bargnani who was down on the floor, and yelled to the others beyond the arc, "Rookies! Welcome to the NBA!"

The rookies: ???

What happened to ’friendship first, competition second’?

They looked towards the other sophomores, who all seemed to have changed expressions and glints in their eyes following Bynum’s roar... Eyes that seemed ready to devour them alive!

Where had the cordial sophomores from earlier gone?

Roy stayed calm, but Bargnani, the number one pick who was still lying on the ground after Bynum’s block, was on the verge of breaking down: Mom! I want to go back to Italy!

...

...

No more staying up late, sobbing o(╥﹏╥)o, I was in a pretty good writing streak yesterday and the day before, but last night for some reason I decided to pull an all-nighter to make up for the 3,000-plus words I owed. As a result, today I was dozing off all day in the office, all because of my own foolishness... I’ll sleep early tonight to avoid affecting tomorrow’s update, please accept my sincere apology!