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Chapter 599 - 259. If I had known earlier, I would have gone to Yao Ming’s house during the regular season!_2

Chapter 599: 259. If I had known earlier, I would have gone to Yao Ming’s house during the regular season!_2

Zhang Yang: Big Yao, you should really take good care of your body. Playing for a few more years would benefit Chinese basketball more than anything else.

...

That night, Zhang Yang stayed over at Yao Ming’s place.

The next morning, Ye Li drove Yao Ming and Zhang Yang to the United Center Arena, where Zhang Yang met up with his teammates for a pre-game preparation.

It was supposed to be a rest day on the 8th, but actually, the coaching staff got two days of rest to prepare. During the morning’s tactical training, Carlisle made detailed adjustments to several tactics, deleted two, and added a new one.

For the veteran players, this intensity was already considered significant. For the rookie Afflalo, who had just come from college, it was too intense. He performed poorly during training and was criticized by Carlisle several times.

When Bickerstaff was coaching, these tasks were delegated to the assistant coaches.

Little Bickerstaff was good at dealing with players and generally didn’t reprimand anyone; Ingles was stern and strict by nature, punishing anyone dissatisfied with their performance by making them do extra training; Randy Brown, with his background as a lower-tier player and a second-round pick, averaging 4.8 points and 2.2 assists in his career, could easily empathize with the difficulties of newcomers. If a player performed poorly, he would correct them, but if the poor performance continued, he’d report it to Bickerstaff and choose to turn a blind eye.

With Carlisle coaching, things were different. He was hands-on with everything. Although he didn’t yell, he was very strict. Whether it was Zhang Yang or Afflalo, if anyone performed poorly during training, he would directly criticize them without sparing anyone’s feelings.

His competence and principles meant that the players generally didn’t complain but clearly recognized their own problems, which was beneficial for the team.

But because of this, when he got fired, whether it was Pistons players or Pacers players, almost no one spoke up for him; there wasn’t much fondness... After all, they hadn’t achieved any real great honors together. It would have been completely different if they had won a championship.

After the preparation training ended, Zhang Yang took a quick shower, changed clothes, and got ready for lunch. He noticed Afflalo still hadn’t left the training court, sitting in the corner on a small stool looking at the tactical manual.

The senior, lacking Millsap’s robust physical quality and Rondo’s proud spirit, had the look of helplessness of a newcomer to the NBA written all over his face, especially when it came to official games. He needed some help.

It was also Zhang Yang’s oversight. In the past, when Gerald Wallace was there, he would be the first to offer encouragement whenever anyone felt down... Zhang San brought Big Fatty over.

When Gerald Wallace was around, this was his role. Now that Gerald had left, Felton naturally took it upon himself, finding Afflalo for a chat to provide comfort and encouragement.

With Felton’s consolation, Afflalo opened up about his situation: "The pace in the NBA is much faster than in college. I finished the summer league in mid-August, had a week off then got called to the gym for extra training. As soon as extra training ended, training camp began. Learning new tactics, and just two weeks later, we’re starting to play games. The tactics keep changing... In college, we had at least three months to prepare before the season started."

Felton: "You’ll have to get used to it slowly. Everyone has been through it. Jack said, ’That’s life. You can’t make life adjust to you, you have to adapt to it.’"

Afflalo turned his gaze to Zhang Yang upon hearing this...

Felton: Σ(⊙▽⊙"a!! Just ask me! Don’t ask him!

Big Fatty wanted to intervene, but it was too late.

Afflalo: "Jack, you didn’t even finish high school before entering the NBA, and high school basketball is even slower than college. Did you also struggle like this when you first joined the NBA?"

Zhang Yang: "Me? No."

Afflalo: "Ah?"

Zhang Yang: "I had it much easier than you when I first started. Back then, our team was just forming; there were no expectations of achievement, the team didn’t even expect me to play well. There was no pressure at all. It wasn’t until around February that we began to play with some strategy, slowly accumulated our common tactics, and formed a preliminary system. Later, we made it to the playoffs and I won Sixth Man of the Year... Your situation now is much more difficult, stepping into the NBA in a championship team, with the team also changing its system. Keep it up, senior!"

Afflalo: "..."

Felton: "..."

Afflalo was hit right in the feels, the reality wiped out his health bar, and the impact of it made him forget all the dejection from Carlisle’s criticism.

Seeing the rookie about to crack, Felton said: Look, who do you seek empathy from, Jack the greatest prodigy in history? Isn’t that asking for trouble!

...

At 8:30 PM, United Center Arena, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the court.

There were no ceremonies for the preseason, they entered the court half an hour early because two Chinese TV stations were broadcasting the game and had interview activities.

It was a preseason game being broadcast, and by a country whose population is purported to be bigger than the entire population of the Americas... Although most players didn’t know exactly how many people there were in the Americas, both the Bobcats and the Bulls were excited when they heard about it.

The Bulls players were excited about Yao Ming joining.

Although the Bulls had performed well over the past three seasons, they had always been lacking a real star player, only considered a top-tier team, not a top-level team.

With Yao Ming, they leaped into the category of a super team in the eyes of the people. Players like Hinrich, Luol Deng, and Ben Wallace were all competitors driven by a strong will to win. Even if their team status, tactical role, and stats were to decline, the excitement of the team’s improved strength made them thrilled.