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Chapter 545 - 235. If you don’t give it, I’ll snatch it!

Chapter 545: 235. If you don’t give it, I’ll snatch it!

In a study room of a villa in the suburbs of Charlotte City, a large blackboard had just been installed on the wall, where two tall young men were busy pasting newspaper clippings.

At a bookshelf nearby, another tall figure was arranging trophies and medals: replicas of high school trophies, high school championship medals, Mr. California Basketball trophy, NBA Rookie of the Month trophy, NBA Player of the Week trophy, NBA Player of the Month trophy, Second Team trophy... and the FMVP trophy.

DeRozan finished pasting the last clipping and said to Zhang Yang, who was arranging the trophies, "Jack, all the collected clippings are up!"

Zhang Yang turned to look and, seeing the neatly arranged clippings, praised, "Wow, DeMar, you’ve done such a neat job, it looks really soothing... James, the way you hand over the clippings is so cool too."

Harden nodded in satisfaction.

DeRozan was speechless, thinking: Zhang San, you really spoil this little fatty... No, wait, Harden isn’t a little fatty anymore, he’s now a luxury version of Baron Davis.

In early March, both their 12th-grade seasons had ended; DeRozan led Compton High School’s junior varsity team to back-to-back titles in the Moore League, while Harden led Lynwood High School to win two consecutive CIF top division championships.

Thanks to their insane individual performances in 11th and 12th grades, DeRozan ultimately ranked sixth nationwide in the class of ’07, and Harden was seventh.

As top ten high school players nationally, their exposure soared senior year, gaining some fame across the country; major media outlets were very optimistic about their futures, even predicting their potential NBA draft models.

The models were exaggerated: DeRozan’s was—Vince Carter; Harden’s—a stronger Baron Davis or a stronger Raymond Felton.

And it wasn’t just the two of them; the exaggeration extended to the top five.

Mayo—a super Jordan.

Love—Kevin McHale with a greater shooting range.

Beasley—an athletically enhanced Carmelo Anthony.

Eric Gordon—a stronger Richmond.

Rose—Jason Kidd with the athleticism of Wade.

After muttering to himself, DeRozan asked, "Now that the blackboard is full, where should we hang Mary’s (Zhang Yang’s mom) newly collected clippings? Installing another blackboard might not look good, right?"

Zhang Yang responded, "We don’t need to hang the new newspapers; just put them in the cabinet. This clipping collection was just to commemorate our first championship season. Starting from today, it’s time to turn the page. If we want to do it again in the future, we can just redecorate another room. After all, my dad has bought this house for me, so I can change it however I want..."

The villa they were in was the very first house Zhang Yang’s parents rented in Charlotte.

Two months ago, due to bad investments that led to a cash flow crisis, the landlord began to sell off properties. After hiring a professional company to investigate the ownership and mortgage details, Zhang Yang’s father decisively bought it at a low price.

They also bought another larger house, farther from the city but closer to the farm they owned.

This house was registered under Zhang Yang’s name when purchased; the new larger house was something Zhang Yang’s parents planned to renovate before moving in next year.

Zhang Yang hadn’t expected that two years after playing in the NBA, he had started to live off his parents! No, it seemed he had always been living off them.

From food and drinks, where most items in the refrigerator were bought by his mom, to the new clothes that frequently appeared in his wardrobe, purchased by his mom who thought they looked good on him during her shopping sprees. Now, even the house arrangement was done by his dad.

Living off his parents felt...awesome!

But could he be the first FMVP in NBA history to live off his parents?

Seeing that Zhang Yang now had a car and a house, DeRozan and Harden were very envious.

But after their envy, they thought—I’ll buy cars and big houses too when I make it to the NBA.

And it wasn’t out of jealousy.

DeRozan turned back to look at the bookcase... and couldn’t resist rearranging things, saying, "Jack, why did you mess up the trophies again? If you’re going to display them, you need to arrange them properly. Otherwise, it’s just too embarrassing when your friends come over."

Zhang Yang: "Alright, alright. Once you’ve arranged them, I’ll take a photo. From now on, after I play with the trophies, I’ll arrange them neatly and make them look good, just like the photo..."

Zhang Yang felt that DeRozan’s OCD was getting worse; previously, when visiting his house, it was just about the shoes not being aligned, but now it had escalated to the angles of table placements and asymmetrical chair arrangements...

But frankly, after DeRozan helped with the arrangement, it did look a lot more comfortable.

Zhang Yang figured that once his parents moved out, he’d hire a maid who also had similar OCD tendencies, as professional tasks should be handled by professionals.

Today was June 28, and another NBA Draft was set to start at 8 PM tonight.

Several days had passed since the championship night, and Zhang Yang had enjoyed the ultimate uproar.

The Bobcats won the championship in just their third year, setting the record as the fastest to clinch a title since teams formed in the 1950s. The only teams that had won championships this quickly before were the founding teams when the NBA was first established.

From being a bottom-tier team to a rising playoff contender, to number one in the East, to champions... the Bobcats completed a series of leaps in just two years.

Zhang Yang broke the record held by Magic Johnson for the youngest Finals MVP, creating an unbeatable record.

Although he didn’t win the championship and the FMVP in his rookie season like Magic did, the praise Zhang Yang received was not at all inferior to that of Magic at the time, earning him the nickname— "the strongest non-drinker in basketball history."

The original nickname given by The New York Times was—"the strongest under 21."

The precise "under 21" classification was because in the 99-00 season, a 21-year-old Kobe was second-team all-league and a defensive champion.

After all, Zhang Yang is not a reserve goat, he couldn’t expect a string of achievements like one championship surpassing Kobe, two surpassing Shaq, three surpassing Jordan, or four wearing a crown.

The transformation from "the strongest under 21" to "the strongest non-drinker" came after the "tragic incident" following Zhang Yang’s championship win.

After the championship, besides the fan appreciation event and interviews on the 24th and the championship parade on the 26th, Zhang Yang found himself ’isolated’ by his teammates, who didn’t include him in any of their outings.

Facing the camera, he bitterly complained about his teammates’ ’misconduct’, which only prompted endless teasing from the fans.

Because alongside him during the interview, Felton candidly remarked, "Take you to a nightclub for what? To drink milk with you?"

Therefore, Zhang Yang’s nickname evolved from the somewhat imposing ’strongest under 21’ to the more teasingly coined ’strongest non-drinker.’

Faced with his teammates’ ’isolation’ and ’linguistic bullying’, Zhang Yang could only silently endure it, and with DeRozan and Harden, who were staying at his place in Charlotte, went around simply eating and eating to ease their sorrows...

...

Zhang Yang, DeRozan, and Harden spent the afternoon fiddling around in the study. He completely put aside the matter of winning the championship and emotionally opened up the next season’s Chapter.

After winning the championship, he finally understood why Jordan, Kobe, and Duncan became more competitive the more championships they won.

Looking at the still empty bookshelf, he yearned to fill it with trophies, giving him a reason to buy a bigger bookshelf.

After finishing dinner, Zhang Yang, his mother, his brother, Harden, and DeRozan sat in front of the TV, waiting for the live broadcast of the draft.

They didn’t engage in predictions or analysis about who would be the top pick like in previous years; it was too obvious, as Oden’s performance in his freshman year was too exaggerated.

They started discussing the college choices of DeRozan and Harden.

Zhang Yang, "James, I didn’t expect you to choose North Carolina. Weren’t you always set on going to Arizona Wildcats?"

DeRozan was curious about this too, but given his personality he hadn’t asked, and Harden, not typically forthcoming, wouldn’t have mentioned his reasons unless prompted.

Harden responded, "North Carolina had Jordan, Carter, Felton, and you, Carmelo is also there. I now prefer going there!"

Zhang Yang, "Uh... I never played in North Carolina."

Harden, "That’s not important, I heard they are even planning to retire your jersey."

Zhang Yang, having heard about this as well, scoffed, "Did they ever think that this move might be seen as a joke... Well, another retired jersey is pretty nice. But James, North Carolina has Lawson, Ellington, and Green as guards; the competition there will be tough. Arizona Wildcats lack a guard, going there would be a better choice for you."

Harden hummed, "Roy Williams (the head coach for North Carolina men’s basketball) has already promised me a fair chance to compete for a core spot. They better know what’s good for them and step aside willingly, or I’ll just take it!"

Zhang Yang smacked his lips, then turned to DeRozan, "DeMar, why did you end up going to Kentucky? Wasn’t your dream always to fight for a championship with USC? Yang said if you went to USC, he’d teach you skills this summer."

DeRozan, "I talked it over with Patrick; we decided to go to Kentucky together... and there’s not much to learn from Yang; I think I’m stronger than him."

Patrick Patterson, Zhang Yang had heard DeRozan mention him before, a friend he met last month at the USA Basketball Junior National Team Camp, the 11th ranked high school player in the nation from the class of 07.

Judging from what DeRozan said, Nick Young’s words had the opposite effect, and DeRozan didn’t seem to have a high opinion of Nick Young.

After understanding the reasons behind Harden and DeRozan’s changes in college choice, Zhang Yang felt the shift in the personalities of the two buddies over the years.

It wasn’t quite what he remembered of Harden and DeRozan before.

What exactly had these friends gone through for such a big change in personality? It seemed as if they were stimulated by something, becoming more confident, more proud, even somewhat audacious.

But this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The original DeRozan, always too restrained, holding back whatever he felt, now dared to show his obsessive-compulsive traits to others!

The original Harden, too laid-back at first, with such great potential, wanted only to be a sixth man early in his NBA career. Now he could assertively say— "If not given, I’ll take it!"