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Chapter 928 - 390. Ainge Takes Revenge on Society

Chapter 928: 390. Ainge Takes Revenge on Society

After practicing at Laoshan Stadium for two days, Zhang Yang moved with the team to the Olympic Village. Of the people he had met in the last two days, a third had left, and including him, only 24 remained.

The training venue was changed to the training sites arranged by the Olympic Village, as well as the Wukesong Basketball Arena and other venues hosting basketball games, mainly the latter. This was when the advantage of being the host nation became apparent, allowing early familiarity with the competition courts.

Zhang Yang maintained his rhythm, with high-intensity individual training alongside position training with his teammates.

His progress in tactical training was swift. Most tactics were familiar after one or two run-throughs, even executed better than some players who had been in training camps for months.

This was not entirely his own merit.

His tactical talent, his excellent sense of court positioning, was one factor;

His personal ability surpassed all the other perimeter players on the team. He was the offensive focal point of the tactics, while his teammates’ tactical roles were more complex, which was a key factor.

Yao Ming was also helping him, aiding him to quickly become familiar with and understand his teammates. Yao specifically recruited a few teammates with strong tactical and commanding abilities to help lead the training alongside him.

In addition, the coaching staff made an important move—after the final training camp list was released and the move to the Olympic Village was complete, they hired Brad Miller as a consultant for the training staff to help him ’downwardly integrate’.

With all these conditions combined, he was able to grasp the main tactics the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team would use this year in a short time.

He did not find it particularly special to receive so much help, but the national team teammates and coaches were amazed.

Yonas, El, Guo Shiqiang, and Little Nelson (the son of the Crazy Scientist, the general manager of the Mavericks), and other four head coaches expected that Zhang Yang would really enter the tactical training state by the end of the two-week final training camp. They hoped Zhang Yang could integrate into formal preparations in the last two weeks, but it took him less than a week!

In interviews, the coaches praised Zhang Yang highly, most frequently using the term ’professionalism’.

Yonas commented, "Jack’s addition has brought a whole new basketball culture to this team, letting teammates understand how the best players in the world play.

Yao has that ability too, and he is just as professional and hardworking, but teammates were too familiar with him, accustomed to his excellence, and could not feel the direct impact like they did with new addition Jack.

Jack’s arrival not only made our team have a world-class perimeter star but also became a direct window for our players to see the wider world of basketball, which might be our team’s opportunity to reach new heights!"

Yonas was not just delivering platitudes this time; Zhang Yang’s training performance indeed inspired his national team teammates.

He was not aware of this mentality, nor did he think that way, but after five years of playing basketball, he had become a well-rounded offensive polygon warrior, and any one of his offensive techniques taken out individually was world-class.

At first, when he joined the team, he was not familiar with everyone, and everyone was polite or even intimidated due to his notorious reputation.

After a few days of getting to know him, everyone became more daring, often challenging him. Of course, it was not the kind of challenge like Mayo’s, but challenges of individual skills.

The national team players knew from the start that they were far below Zhang Yang’s level, but they still held onto a small hope—perhaps in the skill they were most proficient in, they might beat Zhang Yang.

Zhu Fangyu, Wang Shipeng, Li Nan, and other shooters challenged him in three-pointers; Liu Wei, Chen Jianghua, and others compared breakthroughs; Sun Yue challenged him in fast-break transitions... He barely lost, and when he did, it was because of bad luck or poor hand feel, missing the shots.

After being defeated by Zhang Yang, their effort visibly increased!

The current batch of Chinese Men’s Basketball Team players, although already showing signs of slack, grew up watching the talented and progressive national team predecessors of the ’80s and ’90s, and still had some pride.

Before, these players playing domestically only compared themselves to each other, or occasionally to players playing abroad, but even then it was against someone like Sun Yue, playing lower-level leagues with dispersing teams. They felt similar, not worth striving so hard over, just getting by was enough.

Now that Zhang Yang was here, they saw the chasm-like difference, and whether actively or passively, began to put in more effort, unable to remain complacent.

If domestic fans saw them in a game not keeping up with Zhang Yang’s pace and dragging their feet, they would surely get scolded to death—not to mention, with the Olympics at home, if they held back, even their parents would disown them.

As a result, the atmosphere of the training camp saw a great change!

After one day’s training, Zhang Yang noticed some shooters still practicing their three-pointers and said to Yi Jianlian as they were leaving, "Ah Lian, they’re not as lazy as you said, look, they’re working harder than me."

Yi Jianlian became more introverted upon hearing this...

...

While Zhang Yang was diligently focused on training in the national training camp, many things were happening over in the NBA.

The draft night multi-party trade among the Timberwolves, Knicks Team, Warriors, and Clippers ignited the fuse of this year’s free-agent market, with many large and small trades occurring once the market opened.

The focus of fan discussions—the Celtics.

Ainge’s overstocked forwards were about to fail to sell, and if hesitated any longer, they would end up stuck with them, so he started a fire sale to prepare for building the team around first-ready rookie Mayo.