He hoped that the two of them wouldn’t slack off on defense just because their teammates’ defense was poor; they needed to maintain good habits.
Coming from him, the two teammates found nothing wrong with the statement. Even Jordan had praised his defensive attitude and habits in front of the whole team.
His defensive ability wasn’t strong enough yet, due to physical limitations and fundamental skills, but with a good attitude and habits, he would naturally become stronger in the future.
Felton exclaimed, "Jack, you’re really amazing. You could probably spot the problems with our other teammates, right? I feel like their habits are all so bad, except for Gerald, Emeka, Karim... just those few teammates who play well. The others are too poor. Shouldn’t you remind them too?"
Zhang Yang shook his head in refusal, "It’s useless even if I can see it, they won’t listen to me. Not everyone is like you, boss, willing to humbly accept the advice of a 17-year-old rookie. Even if you were to say it, they wouldn’t listen."
Felton puff up, "When I become the team leader, I’ll make them all listen to you!"
Zhang Yang thought of a story title: Overbearing CEO Fights to Be Team Leader for Me?
After the discussion, the three called over the trainer and practiced on their own.
Anderson worked on corner three-pointers and cutting in for the drive attack.
Felton tried several drive attacks from different distances... and it was just like the little brother analyzed! He was most comfortable shooting from the edge of the three-second area, something he hadn’t noticed before.
Making choices in shooting seems simple once it’s pointed out, but it might take eight to ten years for someone to notice without being told.
Originally, Felton’s ’enlightenment’ in this area came after turning 30 when he joined the Mavericks and met Rick Carlisle, by which time the dishes were already cold.
Zhang Yang continued to practice catch-and-shoot mid-range shots and layups. In-house training games and preseason matches were really useful. In the past month, his mid-range scoring had improved to 76, a slight increase.
For layups, he needed to practice his steps, turns, and Euro steps after entering the inside lane... to make them better.
Last time he played against the Miami Heat, his Euro step was blocked by Haslem, embarrassing him in front of that Euro step master sitting courtside.
The mobility and anticipation skills of NBA players in the paint were not comparable to high school players; he had to improve his attacking skills to perform better.
On the 27th, the Mavericks began preparing for the regular season opener on the 30th.
Before the training, Bickerstaff announced the starting lineup for the opener—Brevin Knight, Felton, Gerald Wallace, Okafor, Brezec.
Hearing these five starters, Zhang Yang’s first reaction was: whoa, playing dual point guards? Old Bickerstaff is pretty trendy!
But he quickly understood, it wasn’t trendy at all, it was just intensifying the tanking effort.
Gerald Wallace had not only scored seventeen or eighteen points per game on the offensive end during the preseason but also had an average of 3 steals and 2 blocks per game on defense. Even with a discount, he was expected to score around thirteen or fourteen points per game along with approximately two steals and one block, already ranking as an outstanding scorer and a top-notch defensive expert.
Moreover, although Gerald Wallace had a mature personality, he had just turned 23 this summer and was still rapidly improving. He would definitely continue to grow during the season.
Okafor had bulked up to 127 kilograms and though he couldn’t supplement it, he was truly fierce when it came to protecting the rim.
Plus, with Brezec, a center who was qualified in defense... putting two small point guards in was adding difficulty to frontcourt defense!
Seeing the delighted expression on the face of ’big fatty boss’, Zhang Yang held back from making any comment.
He just took it as the coaching staff’s way of focusing on cultivating Gerald Wallace and Okafor as the frontcourt’s dual cores, both were players who could disregard the team’s poor environment and stay positive. More pressure might push them to grow faster?
Was Felton being made to defend scoring guards much taller than him in order to train his stress resistance?
Looking at it from the team’s long-term perspective, considering the Pythagorean theorem and trigonometric functions... Zhang Yang self-hypnotized and found a reason he could barely accept.
There were other adjustments, one of which, Zhang Yang felt, was for him.
The positional play increased the frontcourt players moving on the flanks, setting screens, and cutting in.
In the team, only three players could make use of the flank screens: sideline shooter Matt Carroll, Lakers-produced tactically proficient Karim Rush, and himself.
In the preseason, he led in terms of actively moving to mid-distance on the flank, or rather, he was the only one in this aspect on the team.
At 4 PM, the day’s training ended. After physiotherapy, Zhang Yang returned to the apartment, checked the work of the home service company, made sure the guest room was ready, and saw that protective foam had been attached to the furniture edges and legs. After making sure nothing was overlooked, Zhang Yang called the car rental company, then went to shower and change.
It took 5 minutes to shower, 1 minute to dry, 1 minute to pick a suit, two minutes to get dressed... The grooming and dressing routine of a man is just that simple and unadorned.
The driver called, and Zhang Yang went downstairs, took a car to the airport, to pick up his parents and brother.
The opening game was imminent, and it needed some ceremonial significance, so he invited his parents to watch the game.
Moreover, his own opener might not be very exciting, but there was a player on the opposing team his parents had mentioned before, saying that it would be great if one day he could compete with that player on the same court when he was in high school.
Upon seeing his parents for the first time, Zhang Yang rushed forward... to pick up his brother.
"Little Goku, long time no see!"
"Oh, Little Goku missed big brother, and big brother missed you too!"