After a set of close-range catch-and-one-step layup practice ended, Zhang Yang was about to eat something to replenish his sugar levels when the ’Gate of Trials’ suddenly popped up.
"Congratulations, your strength has increased from 84 to 85, the layup talent ceiling has increased from 90 to 91, and your layup has increased from 90 to 91. Please keep up the good work."
A little surprise came unexpectedly!
He had previously speculated that the layup ceiling was ’only’ 90 because it was affected by strength.
His ’strength six years later’ is 89, making him one of the strongest in the guard position. At that time, his attack the basket ceiling was 93, a top-tier middle level.
Now at the age of 19, even though he weighs 93.5 kilograms, his strength is certainly much different compared to the same weight after a few years of physical maturity. Since returning from that trial, he hadn’t drawn any strength talent points...
Strength also has a ’ceiling’, but this ceiling doesn’t mean pushing it to the absolute limit regardless of its impact on speed and flexibility. It means maximizing strength while ensuring other physical conditions are not adversely affected.
In the past half year, he hasn’t specifically gone for weight gain or strength training, so this strength increase is purely from natural growth, and his layup talent has also improved accordingly.
As for the layup talent improvement, the layup ability immediately filled up the ceiling... He did not stop practicing layups just because they reached the ceiling; he continued to enrich his layup techniques and hone his attacking the basket skills.
This little surprise boosted Zhang Yang’s enthusiasm. After eating two bananas and drinking a sports drink, he rested for a few minutes and then continued training!
Another day passed. On the afternoon of March 2nd, after a day and a half of intense training, the ’Gate of Trials’ popped up again, and he had accumulated 100,000 shooting value!
He quickly redeemed ’Quick Mastery of Chasing Shot’, spending 100,001 shooting value, which instantly dropped to 1 point, but his mind was flooded with a bunch of ’images’!
He sat down to eat while digesting the newly acquired quick learning method... Unlike previous ’quick introductions’, this time the ’images’ he received were more numerous and complex.
The difference between mastery and introduction is evident from this.
After finishing his food, he eagerly practiced two more sets of shooting, 20 shots per set, all chasing shots. With a training method, practice indeed felt different.
However, even with a training method, he had to figure out every detail by himself, from the catching motion, to the stopping shooting motion, to the rhythm... everything.
’Mastery’ compared to ’introduction’, the former is obviously much better in most aspects, but the latter also has its advantages. The ’images’ given by ’introduction’ are all the basics of the basics, while the ’mastery’ images are more general in the basic part.
But no worries, he can just call for someone!
On February 3rd, it was the 58th game day of the season for the Bobcats.
At 2 PM, in the third indoor training court of Tuhang Stadium, there was only a full-court rental miniature training venue. Mike Miller began helping Zhang Yang develop chasing shot techniques.
On the side, there were onlookers: coaches Carlisle, Vincent, Ingles, Randy Brown, among others.
After morning prepping training, Zhang Yang had asked the trainer to prepare a training court at noon. Ingles, responsible for the team’s training, knew about this and speculated that Mike Miller had some technique that Zhang Yang had taken a liking to learn. So he decisively chose to watch, and Carlisle and others followed suit.
As Ingles had predicted, the coaches saw that what Mike Miller was teaching Zhang Yang was his chasing shot technique, one of the best in the league!
During actual combat, Mike Miller had only followed up by catching and shooting, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t dribble break for a chasing shot. In college, his dribble chasing shots were also insane.
It’s just in the NBA, if he went for dribble breaks, many power forwards could catch up to him, leaving no opportunity for a chasing shot.
And he’s not one to waste chances; in the rare event of a fast break one-on-zero, he would only opt to drive in for a dunk, unlike the Dunk King from the Bay Area who would throw in a three-pointer in such situations.
Watching Mike Miller’s expressions change from excitement, to surprise, to shock, to disappointment, to confusion, and then to determination...
Vincent said to his colleagues, "I’m feeling sorry for Mike, he’s our best shooter on the team, hopefully, he doesn’t get discouraged by Jack."
Ingles: "He shouldn’t, right? Mike’s mental fortitude is good. I even subtly hinted at this possibility while having lunch with him."
Carlisle: "...Next time Jack wants to learn a technique from someone, we should just be upfront. Even Grant was made unconfident by Jack, and that’s Grant Hill."
Ingles nodded, showing his understanding.
At the start of the training, they could see Zhang Yang had done some preparation. He had a certain foundational understanding of the chasing shot’s theoretical points and movements, but it did not equate to ’knowing it’.
Yet, under Mike Miller’s guidance, within over half an hour, Zhang Yang’s movements became fluid, and he began learning detailed adjustments in strength distribution. After another half hour, Zhang Yang, by slowing down his stride and decelerating his jump shot rate, could begin practicing connected shots.
The speed at which he developed new techniques left the onlooking coaches astonished. They could only imagine the impact it had on the directly teaching Mike Miller!
Nonetheless, none of the coaches went up to tell Zhang Yang, "Keep in mind the feelings of those you’re learning from when developing new techniques."
They were eager for Zhang Yang to learn even faster, hoping he’d be able to incorporate new techniques into games within days, like the legendary McGrady or Josh Smith!
As for the other teammate struck by such impacts, they could only hope he would stay strong.