Felton said, "So that’s the way it is, it’s not his fault, his workload is really heavy, running back and forth between us three... No, I need to train extra for a while! I’ll rest tomorrow! Jack, you head home first, you’ll continue training tomorrow, rest if you need to, don’t wear yourself out."
Zhang Yang acknowledged with a sound and looked towards Gerald Wallace who was putting in extra practice.
The prince surely understood and realized the benefits but didn’t tell the old fatso... It seems they are still in a competitive state; let them fight it out, it will just increase the old fatso’s training motivation.
The time came to July 27, the four-week ’Tim Basketball Training Camp’ had ended.
Zhang Yang, Felton, and Gerald Wallace all wanted to continue, but there was no way, the organizer was very busy.
According to Ingles, Grove had already arranged work for the summer, but he gave up his prior commitments for Joe’s sake and came here to train them. Next, he had to go and apologize and train the client he was originally committed to.
That client was Kobe Bryant.
Ingles heard from someone that Kobe’s focus for this summer was improving his high-post play and fadeaway jump shots.
Although Grove had left, he arranged for a trainer to take over their training. They wouldn’t be learning anything new for the time being, but they could continue to consolidate the skills they adjusted over those four weeks.
Zhang Yang gained a lot over that month.
For physical conditioning, he had learned all the exercises suitable for his age, and before leaving, Grove set a training plan for him. For the next six weeks, he would alternate weekly between physical conditioning and rest, training until early September.
In terms of defense, since there was no real game to reference, they practiced the most basic aspects.
For shooting, they worked on stabilizing the accuracy of shots when fatigued.
In offensive techniques, his most commonly used skills – rhythm-based drives, pull-up jump shots, step-back shots, shooting off screens, catching and turning to shoot, Euro steps, spin layups, stride layups... detailed adjustments were made to the fundamentals of many aspects.
And for post-play basics, although Grove didn’t have many samples to reference in this area, he was adept at coaching the technique, and he found Zhang Yang’s quirky post-play very interesting. He had helped many players with technical training, but this style of post-play was a first encounter for him.
In the last few defensive training sessions, Grove took the initiative to discuss the details of post-play techniques with Zhang Yang and provided many suggestions.
This summer, aside from learning more scientific physical conditioning, Zhang Yang hadn’t learned anything new, but he still felt like his gains were substantial.
Grove had gone to the West Coast, but the training of the Bobcats’ three talented wings didn’t stop, they continued with their gruelling routine.
Felton, competing with Gerald Wallace, and Zhang Yang, amusedly watching the two while also working hard.
The time came to August 6, the ’Gate of Trials’ finally opened automatically, signaling that his task was complete!
100,000 Shooting Value, Strength Talent +1! 100,000 Shooting Value, the rhythm of Big Bird’s post-play elevated from beginner to intermediate!
This time, he gained 200,000 Shooting Value, which took almost four months!
During the first round of the playoffs, the Shooting Value increased quite quickly, keeping pace with the training volume and successful shots in games, but it slowed down significantly in the second round. After the season ended, when he practiced shooting intensively in June, the increase was rapid, but as physical conditioning began at the end of June, the pace slowed down substantially, and it was very slow.
During those four weeks, most of the shooting training was done in a state of fatigue, neither the volume nor the accuracy was high.
At first, Zhang Yang was a bit anxious because the pace of ’brushing talent’ had slowed down.
But after some thought, he felt that at the age of eighteen or nineteen, establishing a solid foundation was more useful than raising his talent cap, because aside from speed, his strength, vertical jump, and both long and mid-range shooting had yet to reach their upper limits. Of course, if the talent cap in a certain area was raised, the efficiency of training in that area would improve, but it wasn’t a significant difference.
Actually, it was just those four weeks. Once the foundation of physical conditioning was laid, now alternating between body conditioning and fatigued shooting training with regular training every other week, his Shooting Value accumulation speed had risen again.
And with the clear impact of the physical conditioning, entering the ’regular training week,’ he could distinctly feel an improvement in his physical energy.
A new task had also arrived: 100,000 Shooting Value, a random shooting talent +1; 100,000 Shooting Value, to unlock the next trial.
This time, he planned to accumulate 100,000 Shooting Value to unlock the next trial first. If it took place in the timeline of the 2010s, he would find Parker to learn floaters, if he was still with the Spurs; if it’s the ’80s timeline, then the Big Bird was a treasure trove of techniques... Anyway, before the start of the new season, he intended to learn more things. If they were suitable during the new season, he would make more use of them and ask Joe to bring Grove to help refine and develop new techniques.
Zhang Yang continued to immerse himself in training: physical fitness, shooting, technique... all steadily improving.
After entering August, the NBA free agency market quieted down, with less buzz than in the past two years.
The biggest buzz of the year was the birth of ’Madman II.’
Bonzi Wells turned down a 5-year, 38.5 million US dollar contract extension from the Kings and claimed that a 7 million annual salary wasn’t fitting for someone who averaged 23 points and 12 rebounds, exploding against Duncan; this frightened other teams from making offers...
The highest profile free agent to switch teams was Peja, who opted out of his final year player option and was sought after by multiple teams.