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Chapter 916 - 386. The Draft Stories (Part 1)_2

Chapter 916: 386. The Draft Stories (Part 1)_2

As Kobe unwillingly made a long-range half-court shot and it flew out of bounds, the final buzzer sounded.

The Chicago Bulls scored 26 to 16 in the final quarter!

Yao Ming scored 22 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block; Ben Wallace scored 8 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks; Hinrich scored 16 points and 8 assists; Luol Deng scored 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks... 90 to 85, the Chicago Bulls narrowly defeated the Lakers, winning the championship with a 4-2 victory!

After Zhang Chen hit a crucial three-pointer in the open space secured the victory, he began cheering.

Zhang Yang complained to his mom: "When I won the championship, my dad wasn’t even that excited sitting on the sidelines."

Seeing her elder son’s sour expression, Yang Jing laughed uncontrollably but tried to restrain herself from laughing too exaggeratedly, soothing him: "Your dad likes to keep face outside, pretending to be deep, but that night he secretly took out the wine he brought to San Antonio and drank more than half a bottle, he was really happy."

Zhang Yang’s resentment was reduced a bit.

Yang Jing continued: "He’s just like you, both like big centers, and he made a bet with Teacher Tang. Teacher Tang is a die-hard Lakers fan, while your dad supports Yao Ming. Yao Ming won, and your dad will definitely boast at work tomorrow."

Understanding this, Zhang Yang realized that men’s happiness is just about these simple things.

Andy Tang, Zhang Yang’s childhood sports teacher, a Chinese man, influenced by family education, was no different from his compatriots, had a good relationship with his family. After Zhang Yang’s dad pulled investment to open a shop, Andy Tang was the earliest to invest and support, but initially only invested for dividends, not responsible for operations.

Later, when Zhang Chen shifted his focus to Charlotte, the business at Hidden Mountain was handed over to Andy Tang. After being affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, following Zhang Yang’s advice, they adjusted the business model to a membership system, transforming from volume sales to catering exclusively to wealthy people, earning even more. Andy Tang’s work wasn’t as busy, and he often came to Charlotte to watch Zhang Yang play games.

Zhang Yang and his mom chatted casually, and the camera on the TV turned to Stern who was present.

Zhang Chen: "Honey, Yang Yang, do you think Yao can win the FMVP?"

Yang Jing: "It’s hard to say. Hinrich averages 18+7, comparable to Billups four years ago, he has a chance to win; Big Ben averages 6+12+3, slightly lower probability but still possible; Yao Ming averages 23+7+2+2 has an advantage, but not enough, he’s always disadvantaged in winning awards, it’s hard to say."

Zhang Yang: "I think Stern will definitely give the award to Yao."

Zhang Chen thought for a moment, agreeing: "I also think this award will be given to Yao by Stern."

Yang Jing: "Why?"

Zhang Chen: "If Stern can control it, as long as Yao performs well enough, he would give the award to Yao, only the best lineup is controlled by the media, now there’s finally a league-controlled award, Yao has the qualifications to win, he will definitely give it to Yao... And in less than two months, it’s Beijing Olympics!

With Yang Yang and Yao Ming, two NBA FMVPs leading the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team in the Olympics, if they can make breakthroughs in achievements, the domestic enthusiasm for basketball will rise to unprecedented heights, and more sports resources will be inclined towards basketball, promoting domestic basketball development, further expanding the basketball market."

As Zhang Chen and Zhang Yang speculated, Stern couldn’t wait to announce Yao Ming’s name.

Yao Ming averaging 23 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2.2 blocks, leading the Chicago Bulls to defeat the Lakers 4-2 and win the finals MVP!

...

After the broadcast ended, Zhang Yang immediately called Yao Ming, and no one answered. He thought Yao Ming would call back the next morning since it’s busy after winning the championship, but unexpectedly the call came back in about ten minutes.

When Zhang Yang offered his congratulations, he heard the cheerful laughter on the other side, and he imagined how Yao Ming’s smile was laughably smug.

In the days after, Zhang Yang felt how Yao Ming felt last year, watching another domestic player reach the pinnacle of the season, enjoying the glory and spotlight, the feeling was quite envious.

However, being happy for him was genuinely heartfelt, the two feelings didn’t conflict.

He could only turn the envy into motivation, patiently honing his skills and fundamentals.

On June 26th, after completing his post-season additional training, Zhang Yang packed his bags to head to New York. Tomorrow he will accompany Da Luo and Er Ha to attend the draft conference, celebrate a bit afterward, and return home on the 29th, gathering on the 5th. He went back earlier to adjust to the time difference and adapt to the environment.

After more than a month of hard training, his mid-range shot... was still stuck at 89, there was progress, the relatively weaker areas improved significantly, but the already good parts still needed polishing.

As for three-point shooting, it boosted twice, reaching 91.

The mid-range shooting in the training was far ahead of the three-point shot because before he trained mainly for mid-range shooting, reflected in the training where mid-range was the focus, before the last training he had started mainly training for three-point shots, in the last training, the three-point improvement was far greater than the mid-range.

His personal growth process and the training development were completely different, adjusting according to need, naturally resulting in a different situation.

Strength increased by 1 point to 86, stamina also increased by 1 point to 92, layup improved to 92. He estimated that as his strength reached its limit of 89, the layup limit would also rise to the maximum of 93 when he’s around twenty-four or twenty-five.

However, when he actively recalled the memory of training, he saw that when he was around twenty-four or twenty-five, his weight was about 96 kilograms, nearly 3 kilograms heavier than now. He estimated that even if his body fully develops, if his talent in strength doesn’t continue to improve, he may not reach the theoretical highest of 89.