Tellem: "Of course I know, I just wanted to touch base with you first, listen to your thoughts. If you really have no intention of going to the NBA right away, I won’t bother you again. I’m not one of those annoying leeches from the NCAA."
"If you’re interested, you can contact me before April 27th."
Tellem left, leaving behind only his business card.
The exchange was not very pleasant; Zhang Yang remained resistant throughout, but Tellem maintained his composure until he left... Perhaps that was what had charmed Kobe into bypassing Duke and going directly into the NBA draft? It was said that Kobe valued the sense of ceremony.
Zhang Yang remembered Kobe did take the SAT, scoring just over 1000 points, which was DeRozan’s goal, the score needed to get most college basketball scholarships. The initial plan was to accept Duke’s invitation, not skip college, otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken the test. James had decided when he was 17, in the summer, to skip college, participating in the second high school all-star game and automatically giving up the eligibility to play in the NCAA.
He was quite repulsed by this, professional agents, after all, could get his home phone number easily; them coming to him directly was not a good sign.
But if an agent was a good person, they’d be played by the capitalists.
One thing the other party said struck him — why let the NCAA leeches make money for nothing?
Going to college, Zhang Yang was confident he could make it, even if he skipped a grade. Farmar had thrived in college, and he was already stronger than Farmar had been upon graduating high school.
This wasn’t twenty years later, an era disconnected from the present; now an NCAA Chinese talent would definitely attract a lot of domestic sponsors. Even if the NCAA wasn’t famous in China now, those capitalists would find a way to make it famous. As long as they invested money into the NCAA, the next day it would be regarded as a stronger and better league than the CBA or the European leagues.
Whichever school he was at, those capitalists would hype up that school’s basketball to the highest level, even if they barely had the strength of a "March Madness" level team, or couldn’t even make it into March Madness, they’d still be touted as "title contenders."
As for the troubles he’d face in that environment, the public opinion if he didn’t win the championship, none of it would matter to the capitalists, the schools, or the NCAA. They were all just after the money.
Feeling agitated and restless, Zhang Yang lost interest even in the long legs of his senior sisters; he returned to Thomas’s backyard to practice, attempting to distract himself, but he couldn’t calm down. Trying not to think about it only made him more irritable.
So might as well think about it, no need to be tough on himself.
He went out to buy a bus ticket for the next day, planning to go home and talk to his parents.
In the evening, after Thomas got off work, Zhang Yang told him he would be going back to Hidden Mountain tomorrow.
Thomas knew he was in the anxious phase of choosing a college and should go home to discuss it with his parents. He reminded him to be safe and remarked that time flew by so quickly; almost two years had passed, and he was already heading off to college.
Zhang Yang casually mentioned the visit from an agent.
Thomas joked about Zhang Yang being popular and advised him to ignore those people, saying none of the agents were good and to be careful when choosing one later on.
The coach’s attitude was clear.
The next morning, Zhang Yang caught the bus back to Hidden Mountain.
After not visiting for over three months, the house seemed different with more things for the baby.
As soon as he arrived, his mother dragged him to see his younger brother.
It was Zhang Yang’s first time having a brother, and he was curious, so he went to take a look... a tiny little one.
Yang Jing: "What do you think, isn’t your brother cute?"
Zhang Yang: "He looks average."
Yang Jing: "He’s better looking than you were at that age! He will surely be more handsome than you and your dad when he grows up!"
Zhang Yang: "I don’t believe it. Is there anyone more handsome than your son? I’m the one who inherited all the good looks from you and dad."
Yang Jing: "Tsk, then why haven’t you brought a girlfriend home? The neighbor, Aunt Serena, is already holding her grandson."
Zhang Yang: "Isn’t Aunt Serena’s son younger than me? That’s just wrong. I’m just not interested in high school girls. If I wanted a girlfriend, a beckon would bring a crowd."
Yang Jing: "True, when your dad first came to America, many women chased after him. I quickly fattened him up out of fear, but I love food too and ended up getting fat as well. My oversight... ahem, so that’s why you want to skip grades and get into college, to chase mature college students? Tsk tsk..."
Zhang Yang: "...Mom, I came back to talk about something serious with you and dad."
Yang Jing: "About choosing a college? You can go wherever you want, you don’t have to stay in California. Your dad and I looked into those colleges. I know University of Kentucky, University of North Carolina, and Duke University are very popular among you high school players."
Zhang Yang: "It’s related to that, but I’ve just encountered a new option that I need to discuss with you."
Yang Jing: "A formal discussion?"
Yang Jing got serious too, taking out her phone to call her husband.
An hour later, Zhang Chen came back from the agricultural area. The three of them sat on opposite sides of the coffee table, with coffee and juice prepared by Yang Jing.
Zhang Yang shared with his parents that an agent had come to him, wanting him to make the leap directly into the NBA draft.
Yang Jing: "Yangyang, since you came back especially for this, it means you’re tempted, right?"
Zhang Yang told his parents about his conversation with Tellem, his views on Tellem, and his own thoughts.