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Chapter 720 - 306. It’s quite free.

Chapter 720: 306. It’s quite free.

The next morning in Charlotte Ballantyne Area’s Midtown Square, Zhang Yang held onto a leash with the other end tied to his little brother’s wrist. Ahead of them was their mother, whose eyes shone brightly as she looked at the shops.

The Bobcats had finished three games in four days and were granted two days of rest.

The next match was an away game, the first of a four-game road trip. If it were before Christmas, two days of rest would practically be non-existent, as Carlisle would schedule practice for the afternoon of the first rest day and the morning of the second. Then, in the afternoon of the second day, they’d head to the away game, organizing the training sessions back-to-back.

But not this time. The first day of rest was a true day of rest, with no practice scheduled for tomorrow either. They were flying to New Orleans early in the morning.

It was the last day off before the year ended, and Zhang Yang had completed his shooting value task for the last stretch. Today, he didn’t continue with extra practice; instead, he fulfilled his mother’s wish for a ’Christmas shopping’ day.

He complained with his words, but he was eager to enjoy life with his parents.

Since it was about ’accompanying the parents,’ the whole family naturally had to be together.

Behind the trio followed a middle-aged man with wistful eyes, Zhang Chen.

Initially, Yang Jing hadn’t planned to ask her husband to join in the shopping, but since her older son suggested it, she had to invite him.

What could Zhang Chen say? He just followed aimlessly...

Zhang Yang spent the last day off of 2007 eating, drinking, and shopping. In the evening, he went back to his parents’ place with his mom and dad, as his mother said she would help pack his luggage for the road trip.

After a day of shopping, as the primary force of the excursion, Yang Jing didn’t buy much for herself, only a tie for her husband, but she bought a bunch of clothes for her two sons.

Yang Jing selected a few outfits and placed them into a huge suitcase, saying, "Yangyang, when you need to wear something, make sure to ask for the hotel room service to iron the clothes for you."

Zhang Yang: "Okay."

Yang Jing: "Remember, you can’t wear the same jacket in public appearances; if I see you in the news wearing the same thing twice, I’ll beat you up!"

Zhang Yang: "I’m not one of those celebrities. Why should I care about this?"

Yang Jing: "You already are a big star. Of course, you need to pay attention to these things... Arne mentioned some clothing brands are contacting him now, and soon you will have sponsors providing your outfits. You need to get used to changing into new clothes every day."

Zhang Yang: "... Then I’ll wear more formal attire in the future."

Yang Jing: "Arne is also in touch with formal wear brands. I expect they will be announced before the All-Star weekend. You talked about... traffic; definitely leverage the All-Star weekend traffic."

Zhang Yang: "Am I about to lose the right to decide what I wear? What happened to the freedom of America?"

Yang Jing: "Didn’t James mention there was a shooting in Chapel Hill on Christmas? Luckily you had a game that day and couldn’t go back to school for the Christmas performance."

Zhang Chen, sitting nearby, silently watched his son toss the bait and his wife pick it up... He simply couldn’t keep up with the thought processes of this mother-son pair!

Watching his mother take out the clothes she had picked and scrutinizing them again, Zhang Yang decisively bolted; only heaven knew how long his mother would obsess over this matter.

He headed to the study. There were two studies in his parents’ house: one was his father’s home office, and the other belonged to him, Zhang San.

He turned on his computer to catch up on basketball news.

The last night’s game between the Bobcats and the Hawks team might not have been broadcast live, but it still sparked a lot of discussion afterwards, making the post-game buzz even higher.

Bibby, Joe Johnson, and Pierce, three basketball stars, combined for 78 points, leading the Hawks team to play on par with the Bobcats in the last three quarters—an astonishing performance.

Seeing their stats again, Zhang Yang felt they were impressive indeed.

Though it might be impossible for them to perform at this level every game, it wasn’t out of the question for them to explode spectacularly once in a while.

Zhang Yang reflected on last night’s game. The Hawks team fielded only eight players in rotation, five on the perimeter and three inside, with two of them being rookies.

If the Hawks had a slightly better reserve big man and a quality shooting reserve on the perimeter, given Bibby and Pierce’s performance the previous night, his own Bobcats team would have had a tough game.

And acquiring these two types of players wouldn’t be too difficult; the core trio of Bibby, Joe Johnson, and Pierce had enough appeal to attract solid role players. Given the management styles of the strong Western teams, it was possible they might give the Hawks team a boost under the right conditions, to create trouble for his Bobcats team and Yao’s Chicago Bulls.

Before, Zhang Yang had some doubts regarding the rise of the Hawks team, but after a single head-to-head, he knew their ascent was unstoppable.

After browsing the news for a while, Zhang Yang closed his eyes and silently invoked, ’Gate of Trials’ appeared in his ’vision.’

"... Three-point 87, mid-range 89 (cap 95), lay-up 90 (cap), ball handling 89, passing 83, speed 93, strength 84, jumping 88, stamina 90 (cap 94)..."

The season was nearly two months underway, and with ample shooting opportunities in games and relentless practice, his improvement was significant. His mid-range had reached 89, and with the enhancement in talent, the limit increased, along with the speed of improvement.

However, he felt his three-point might improve faster than his mid-range to 90+. His three-point improvement was much faster than his mid-range.

His mid-range shooting talent increased by 5 points, and now it’s upgraded to the historical level. The speed of improvement accelerated significantly, which is true, but his three-point shooting talent also increased by 5 points without a notification, meaning his three-point shooting likely hasn’t reached the 95 historical level yet, but I guess it’s not 94, it should be 93—still top-tier talent.

With top-tier talent and similar training volumes, the three-point shot would definitely improve faster than the mid-range shot. From a development difficulty perspective, mid-range is much tougher than three-point shooting.

A new year is coming, and Zhang Yang’s new goal—shooting percentage in all three zones over 90+!

...

After a day of rest, on December 30th, Zhang Yang set off on a four-game road trip with his team, starting at the southern coast in New Orleans.

At the airport gathering, Carlisle emphasized the importance of safety in New Orleans; he stressed it again on the plane; continued to stress it on the way to the hotel from the airport; and once at the hotel, he reiterated it...

Zhang Yang takes such advice seriously.

He doesn’t need Carlisle’s constant reminders. In recent months, he couldn’t remember how many times he had seen news about athletes being attacked in New Orleans.

Only two years post-hurricane, with the current infrastructural capabilities of Uncle Sam’s house and Commissioner Smith’s managerial skills, New Orleans was far from ready to host major events.

The safety issues were particularly acute; there were several physical altercations daily. The reason ’cases’ isn’t used to describe these incidents is that the New Orleans police often do not take reports due to a lack of officers.

As long as cases aren’t officially reported, they never happened, right? That way, crime rates would appear to drop.

But in Uncle Sam’s house, political correctness is important. The Hornets and the NFL’s Saints, in response to the league’s call, moved back to New Orleans as soon as their arenas were rebuilt or renovated.

Stern was very proactive about this, ensuring the Hornets hosted the 08 All-Star Weekend and even scheduled the Development League’s inaugural ’Dream Factory’ event in New Orleans... This positively impacted the NBA’s image but made things awkward for the team management and coaching staff.

However, as long as players heeded advice and stayed inside, not venturing out, there’s no need to worry about safety. All teams made security preparations for their trips to New Orleans.

But the private lives of most NBA players are quite chaotic. They always have to find some fun when on the road and finding fun in the current state of New Orleans... This season alone, there have been dozens of serious incidents targeting NBA players—robberies, beatings, and even being scammed by shamans...

And yet, teams can’t outright forbid players from leaving the hotel or they’d face fines from the NBA. That would be like slapping the face of the folks in the White House, who have been saying New Orleans has been rebuilt better than ever and is safer than before, encouraging tourists from all over the world to visit. It’s okay to forbid players from leaving the hotel in Seattle over safety concerns, but not in New Orleans.

Luckily, the players are generous with their money, and no major issues have arisen.

After arriving at the hotel, Zhang Yang holed up in his room and didn’t go out. He watched Hornets game footage and, when Paul and Felton came to hang out, he simply had some food with them at the hotel and didn’t go out. He went to bed early that night.

Tonight is Christmas Eve.

The next morning, Zhang Yang headed to the New Orleans arena with the team.

This would be his first time playing in this arena, and he was somewhat looking forward to it.

He heard that before the hurricane, the arena was supposed to be renamed to the Smoothie King Center for the 05-06 season, but after it was rebuilt, they reverted to the original name.

On the way, Zhang Yang felt like something was missing... Wait, where was the singing session led by Big Fatty?

He looked around and saw Felton and Millsap sitting silently together.

He moved to a new seat, leaned in behind them, and asked, "Raymond, Paul, what’s wrong with you two? Did you get scammed at a nightclub last night?"

Millsap put on a pained expression upon hearing this, while Felton turned to look out the window.

Zhang Yang: "..."

He was just making a casual comment, but it turned out these two had really been that unlucky!

Millsap: "The three of us were just leaving the nightclub with our dates, about to take a taxi to the hotel when a bunch of guys surrounded us, accusing us of hitting on their girlfriends... I lost two thousand bucks, Chris’ ring was stolen, and the Big Fatty had it worst—his watch was snatched."

Zhang Yang: "Ah? Big Fatty, you lost your watch again!"

Felton’s mouth opened and closed again, then opened once more. After hesitating for a while, he said, "Yes, it was the watch you gave me. Oh my, I regret it so much, I wish I’d worn another one. Then your watch wouldn’t have been stolen..."

Zhang Yang: "It’s okay, as long as you’re fine. If I see another nice watch, I’ll get it for you, don’t be sad."

Felton was deeply touched: "Jack, from today on, you’re my true brother!"

Zhang Yang: "No, no, a cousin will do..."

Millsap: ???

Is that the focus? Isn’t the point that we got robbed by scammers?