They continued to play until they were both completely exhausted.
Hansen did win some games, but most of those victories came after Durant’s physical energy had started to decline.
Overall speaking, Durant was the more talented of the two.
"Remember today’s encounter and next time you step on the court, learn what courtesy means," Durant said, picking up his backpack.
It seemed he hadn’t planned to train with Hansen over the long term; it was more like he was here to teach Hansen a lesson.
Just as Grover was about to explain, he had originally wanted Hansen to convince Durant himself, but he hadn’t anticipated the scale of their animosity.
"Don’t you know that Tim is now my trainer?" Hansen asked, turning to look directly at Durant.
Durant stopped what he was doing and looked incredulous.
He turned to Grover and after seeing him nod in confirmation, his whole demeanor collapsed.
No way, what made him inferior to Hansen?!
No, what besides being good-looking did Hansen have over him?!
"Do you know why?" Hansen continued.
Not just Durant—but also Grover—turned to him with curious gazes.
"Because I’m not like you, I didn’t think about bailing after just one day," Hansen answered his own question.
Grover couldn’t help but laugh.
Indeed, it was because of Hansen’s perseverance that he had chosen him, but that had nothing to do with the current situation.
Durant’s face turned red: "Who said I’m bailing? I’m going to rest, and tomorrow I’ll make you admit defeat!"
With that, Durant shouldered his backpack and walked out of the gym.
Watching Durant’s retreating figure, a smile crept over Hansen’s lips.
He had come up through internal strife with James on the Cavaliers; it was too easy to handle Durant.
After dealing with Durant, Hansen turned and called Rondo, telling him to come with him to the video room.
The purpose of video analysis was to reveal overlooked aspects of the game through scrutiny.
Sitting down, Rondo went to grab some food for Hansen, while Hansen stayed behind to watch the footage alone.
In the videos, he could clearly feel the impact of his improved physical condition, noticing that his offensive and defensive moves were both noticeably quicker.
This was crucial, as the essence of competitive sports is speed.
If you react faster than others, you could perform on a higher stage.
Grover’s earlier words had indeed been modest; he had brought more than a little help to Jordan, they truly had a mutually beneficial relationship.
Beyond that, Hansen focused on analyzing the games he had lost.
He quickly sensed the biggest gap between himself and Durant.
His shooting ability, or more precisely, his mid-range shooting ability, was far inferior to Durant’s.
It wasn’t just a height disparity; it was a complete technical gap.
Previously, enhancing his hook shots was to boost his breakthrough finishing capabilities.
In theory, after fully integrating the "Steel Bones" Talent, he should have continued to enrich his finishing techniques, such as hook shots, turnarounds, and so on.
But now, his next Talent target might indeed need to be focused on mid-range.
This wasn’t just because of his current matchup with Durant, but also due to potential targeted strategies he might face in the new season.
On the Cavaliers, with James drawing the defense, there wasn’t much focus on studying him.
The most striking example was the Celtics; Rivers had never given him enough attention, which allowed him to perform extraordinarily in the playoffs.
But Rivers was "stubborn," and you couldn’t expect everyone to be the same.
Setting future considerations aside, like the previous season’s games against the Spurs, he had played the worst game of his career due to Popovich’s targeted strategy against him.
On the Cavaliers, they only played the Spurs twice a season, but the Grizzlies and the Spurs were in the same Southwest Division, facing off four times a season.
Not to mention, they could potentially meet in the playoffs. This update ıs available on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⁂𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⁂𝓷𝓮𝓽
If he really played the worst series of his career targeted by Popovich, the James Team would undeniably crucify him.
Hansen entered the Anti-Fans System.
Nearly a month had passed since "The Decision," and although fans were still discussing James, the conversations were scattered.
In this world, there’s always something happening daily; even the hottest topics quiet down after a while.
Accordingly, Hansen, once a vocal supporter for James, wasn’t attracting much hate anymore.
At this point, the rate at which his anti-fan value was increasing had slowed, but the total had accumulated to 600,000.
In other words, the anti-fan value generated before and after his "smartest decision" statement had reached a combined total of 1.8 million.
This was not far off his initial estimations, especially considering just the viewership for "The Decision" reached 30 million.
However, it still wasn’t enough.
As he had analyzed earlier, for mid-range to be lethal, it had to be strong, which meant he needed to redeem a First Gear Talent.
And for a First Gear mid-range Talent, 1.9 million anti-fan value was required.
Although it was a little less than "Steel Bones," it would still take some time to accumulate.
Exchanging for a Second Gear mid-range Talent made little sense for him, as it would only give him an unreliable scoring method.
Also at play was the competition problem for the new season; the Grizzlies’ current key outside player was Guy.
Guy was already a well-known figure from Hansen’s previous life, having encountered him while on the Cavaliers.
The guy was explosively talented, standing at 6’8" with a 7’3" wingspan—the same level as Leonard—and his dynamic Talent was off the charts.