The next morning, five people appeared at Court 3 of Tuhang Stadium, where the Bobcats’ three perimeter players had a friendly technical exchange with Nash.
Although they brought alcohol last night, they only symbolically poured a little, and even Zhang Yang took a sip from a cup he was handed, but he didn’t really drink.
Nash and Rondo are the self-disciplined oddities in their respective teams, and Zhang Yang’s training methods were described as ’obsessive’ by his teammates behind his back. Felton and Alan Anderson weren’t so particular, but when it came down to serious matters, they wouldn’t indulge in drinking either.
Zhang Yang practiced shooting and breaking on his own for a while, while Nash first went to instruct the other three players.
Felton worked on breaking and executing pull-up jump shots after stopping abruptly. He had played 14 games between the preseason and regular season, and although he didn’t use it often, developing new techniques always presents the most issues when first attempted in real games.
However, the problems at this time were generally simple, and Nash was able to give advice easily; Felton tried it, and it clicked right away.
Felton exclaimed, "Jack was right, laying down the basics, Chip is excellent, but for developing techniques, you still need to learn from players with real top-level practical skills and extensive game experience."
Nash said, "Chip? That assistant coach who earns more than some head coaches? I’d really like to meet him. If you want to learn from me, don’t bother asking Jack for help, just call me directly."
Felton scratched his head, "I thought about calling you, but I didn’t know how to articulate my problems."
Nash said, "Uh... that’s indeed a tricky issue."
Zhang Yang from the neighboring court interjected, "Raymond, you can buy a high-definition camera, record your training and in-game actions where you encounter problems, and email it to Steve. Then Steve can send you a solution and a demonstration video in return."
Felton said, "That’s possible? Right! I forgot we could use the internet to send videos and communicate with you, Steve."
Nash said, "This... I’m not very good with computers."
Felton said, "I’ll teach you at noon!"
Nash said, "I’m not very tech-savvy, can I learn it?"
Felton said, "It’s very simple, just do it a few more times and you’ll get the hang of it. Jack always says, don’t resist new things, we need to keep up with the times!"
Nash tilted his head and thought, then said, "You’re right, I’m just a bit old as a player, actually only about a decade older than you guys... quite a bit older than Jack, I could have a kid around his age if I had been a bit naughtier when I was younger."
Zhang Yang said, "..."
Is holding a grudge just for saying ’teach you to win championships’?
Felton didn’t notice this and said, "Jack, why don’t you use this method?"
Zhang Yang looked at Felton with a complex expression, leaving Felton clueless.
Nash laughed and said, "Raymond, Jack is talented in the fundamentals, he doesn’t need me for that. If he needs my help, just watching videos might not be enough."
Felton felt Nash was a bit on edge today, but it didn’t matter, he quickly got back to practicing the moves he had just smoothed out.
Nash then instructed Rondo and Alan Anderson, and it was even simpler; their questions were not about technical moves, but about some confusions in the game that Nash helped analyze.
After finishing with the two of them, Nash went to the court where Zhang Yang was training and waited for him to finish his set.
Watching Zhang Yang constantly move positions to catch and shoot three-pointers and mid-range shots... Nash was astounded.
He certainly wasn’t as strong as his mentor Nash; he was confident that his jump shots, from any position in the NBA, matched anyone. He could compete with Peja in three-point shooting, with Nowitzki in mid-range, with Parker in floaters, and with Wade in layups... but Zhang Yang was only 19!
His three-pointers, mid-range shots, either one was enough to secure a foothold in the NBA, and that too without needing ball-handling skills, just catch-and-shoot.
He had to teach! No matter how much this terrible kid liked to provoke him with championships, he would teach him anything he wished to learn!
minutes later... Nash regretted it.
Nash said, "Isn’t it, this kid just has so many bizarre ideas?"
Last time he wanted to integrate Iverson’s butterfly step into his flow rhythm, whether it worked he didn’t know, probably not, as mastering the butterfly step to use it skillfully in a game doesn’t happen in a few months.
Now he’s thinking about incorporating Tim Hardaway’s crossover into his flow rhythm?
Just now, Zhang Yang completed a set of 100 alternating mid-range and three-point catch-and-shoot drills, rested for two minutes, and then told Nash about the breakthrough technique he wanted to develop. After listening, Nash had a belly full of complaints with no idea how to vent them.
After complaining for a while, Nash asked, "Why would you think to integrate a crossover into a breakthrough? Our breakthroughs focus heavily on timing and rhythm management; adding crossover dribbling movements seems superfluous."
Zhang Yang replied, "In a normal play, when I really need to break through, I definitely wouldn’t use an unnecessary crossover. But sometimes my breakthroughs get blocked, then I can only look for a pick and roll, which might miss better breakthrough opportunities.
Recently, when I played against the Pacers, I saw Granger get blocked in his preferred direction for breaking through, and after being closely defended, he used a crossover to change direction to the less proficient side and successfully drove toward the basket, so I got the idea."
Nash thought for a moment and said, "Granger’s breakthroughs to the left are terrible; I can guard him."
Zhang Yang said, "His initial speed isn’t fast, and his explosiveness isn’t great. Breaking through toward a non-preferred direction makes it difficult to shake off defenders, and his passing is often not good enough, so he has to force a shot or drive to the basket for a high shot, which for him is a bad option. His fundamentals in ball-handling are too poor to improve significantly in this area, but I have the opportunity to develop more scoring methods, and I believe this is a direction worth trying to enhance my left-side breakthrough scoring."