No way around it, having a crowd of female journalists called "Big Ray" pushing against each other was still better than dealing with a swarm of male journalists’ entanglement.
Erin felt her status threatened and once again wanted to form a "Contract" with Su Wan, but, alas, she was rejected yet again.
"I’ve never been rejected by a man three times."
"If you still think that way, then you’ll be rejected by the same man four times, five times, six times..."
"Go to hell!"
...
After the interview ended, Su Wan dived back into training.
During the training camp, his Breakthrough Ability improved to 80.
At the same time, the system added a "Skill Panel" with now three major items listed:
Variable-direction Breakthrough, Variable-speed Breakthrough, Cross-step Breakthrough.
These were three different methods of breakthroughs.
Among them, Su Wan’s Variable-speed Breakthrough proficiency was the highest at 78, and his Cross-step Breakthrough reached 71, higher than the Variable-direction Breakthrough at 65.
Su Wan carefully reflected and realized that indeed, the Variable-speed Breakthrough was the technique he had used most frequently last season.
It involved suddenly increasing speed with explosive power to accomplish a change in velocity for the breakthrough.
Then it was the frequency of dribbling to a breakthrough that came next.
The Variable-direction Breakthrough, which required speed and agility, was used somewhat less.
His speed and agility were, in fact, the weaker aspects of his physical attributes.
This could be seen from the Potential Value of the three methods of breakthroughs, with Su Wan’s Variable-speed Breakthrough having a high Potential Value of 90, his Cross-step Breakthrough having 85, and the Variable-direction Breakthrough having the lowest, just 75.
The newly added Skill Panel, like the attribute panel, could also increase potential through zone values.
However, this gave Su Wan a new idea.
Since Breakthrough Ability had a detailed technical distinction, then perhaps shooting also had a detailed distinction?
After all, the technical movements for "Jump shot," "catch-and-shoot," and "step back jump shot" are all different.
He wanted to see which set of technical movements had the most potential for mid-range shots.
This would allow him to hone his signature skills as quickly as possible in the new season, just like Michael Jordan’s "Backward Jump Shot" or Tim Duncan’s "45-degree angle" bank shot.
Even if others know you’re going to make such a move, they can’t stop you!
Only such players have truly entered the realm of a "Super Star."
The current Su Wan has only reached super star level in popularity; his ability still required constant tempering.
The emergence of the Skill Panel was like him gaining "Heavenly Eye," allowing him to more efficiently train his signature skills.
Mid-range Shot was just 1 point away from reaching 80, so these days, Su Wan was practicing overtime.
When Rick Carlisle passed by and heard noises from the training facility, he glanced inside and, upon seeing that the person training was Su Wan, he was filled with admiration. Years later, when he discussed this incident on an interview show, he was still deeply moved: "A person like that just cannot fail to succeed!"
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Pacers Media Day summary of questions to Su Wan.
"Let him sober up first, last season the Lakers didn’t even make it to the playoffs,"—Su Wan in response to Kobe;
"I’ve seen the toughest thing in the world, and that’s Shaquille’s mouth, he always has excuses for his defeats as if he should be invincible,"—Su Wan in response to Shaquille;
"Since he believes that the path he is on is the correct one, then I have nothing to say, he’s beyond help!"—Su Wan in response to LeBron;
"I hope he enjoys the League, takes root and thrives here, he is, after all, the CBA Finals MVP!"—Su Wan on Zhu Fangyu’s prospects in the League;
"I hope he won’t change that impression,"—Su Wan upon hearing Zhu Fangyu thinks LeBron is enthusiastic;
"What else could the goal of a defending champion be? Of course to defend the title! Apart from the championship, anything else is considered a failure for us,"—Su Wan discussing the goals for the new season.