61: Our Genius Has Gone Awry!

61: Our Genius Has Gone Awry!

The following day, January 8th at noon, Harden left his home for Los Angeles, while Zhang Yang and DeRozan joined their team for training.

Johnson’s initial goal was to develop the reserve team to a mid-level strength in the Southern California League by the end of the season, but they had already achieved this halfway through!

Not only in strength but also in terms of performance, with a solid mid-tier record of 6 wins and 5 losses, ranking tenth in the league.

Given that, he adjusted his goal—to break into the top eight!

After Johnson shared this goal with the team members, they were extremely excited.

Scared?

Worried about not meeting the goal?

Nonexistent, the youth feared nothing!

However, Johnson was again shocked by Zhang Yang.

After not seeing him for half a month, the baseball player had learned a new technique, reportedly by “watching videos”…

resentment towards the head coach +1+1+1…

And he had also started practicing basic defensive skills, such attitude, effort, and planning for the future…

continued resentment towards the head coach +1+1+1…

On January 11, Compton High School’s reserve team went to Lynwood to challenge Lynwood High School’s reserve team and won decisively with a score of 111 to 82, raising their record to 7 wins and 5 losses, and kicking off the second half of the season.

Because Keith had moved to the main team, Tatum, Zhang Yang, and DeRozan started for the first time, and with DeRozan growing to 193 cm, their combined height exceeded 190 cm, which meant they wouldn’t be particularly disadvantaged.

They played generally well together, better than their opponents could compare.

Unlike the continuously improving Compton High School reserve team, Lynwood High School’s was just following the trend in playing the Southern California League.

The coaching staff had ambitious plans and the lineup seemed somewhat significant, but they lacked clear planning and reasonable goals.

Their tactical coordination during warm-up matches was still the same.

Seeing the condition of Lynwood High School’s team, DeRozan no longer envied Harden for entering the main team in grade 9 but was rather relieved.

If his friends continued in the reserve team, it would just be a waste of time.

On January 12, the new semester began, and Zhang Yang continued his routine of studying, training, and sleeping.

On Wednesday, he saw the school newspaper congratulating Afflalo for making it into the top 40 national high school students.

Every time Afflalo or Hip’s rankings changed, it made the school newspaper.

Zhang Yang previously didn’t care about it—it wasn’t his ranking.

But what caught his eye was the name of the person Afflalo had surpassed—Al Horford.

He hadn’t realized Afflalo was so formidable in high school.

With this momentum, the top 40 might not be his limit, and he would likely surpass Stuart’s ranking.

Zhang Yang then slightly updated his personal goal for high school—he also wanted to surpass Stuart’s ranking.

Weeks went by.

The coordination between Tatum, Zhang Yang, and DeRozan was improving, with each of them specifically strengthening an aspect of their capabilities to better complement each other.

Well, someone’s becoming more apparent play style was making the coaching staff feel a bit odd.

Tatum still focused on aggressive drives and pushing for fast breaks.

He gradually gave up dribbling before shooting, focusing on set shots instead, which the coaching staff felt was fine.

DeRozan’s play was diversifying.

When his solo playing reached a plateau, he kept on grinding at it while starting to practice passing and shooting long twos and threes from the wings.

The coaching staff was sure that this first middle schooler could definitely surpass Afflalo and Stuart, recognizing him as a world-class talent.

But Zhang Yang was a bit different…

his shot attempts were increasing significantly!

Johnson and Thomas once worried DeRozan would become like that shooter fanatic from Los Angeles.

As DeRozan played more steady, the least of their worries, the “number-knowing genius Jack,” was developing in the direction of a shot-crazy maniac.

When given the chance to shoot or pass, Zhang Yang would definitely choose to shoot rather than pass.

However, after discussing it, the two coaches decided not to stop Zhang Yang from playing this way.

Zhang Yang’s stubbornness was still there, he didn’t rush to go one-on-one, as long as DeRozan was in the game, when a one-on-one was needed, it was mostly DeRozan who took it, and when DeRozan rested, if needing to break through for a score, it was Tatum stepping up, with most of Zhang Yang’s shots occurring within tactical plays.

But when it came to tactical roles, it was up to someone to decide…

A player with the ability to command on the court could use tactics to create more opportunities for themselves … they were difficult to stop.

And seeing Zhang Yang’s astonishing rate of improvement and continuously enhanced finishing ability, they didn’t want to stop him.

Their concern was that they initially thought Zhang Yang’s exceptional tactical talent would make him an excellent strategic core, becoming a player like Chris Paul, Andre Iguodala, Shawn Livingston.

Instead, Zhang Yang seemingly became crooked as he played, irreversibly moving towards being a pure scorer.

Putting aside this “flaw,” the coaching staff couldn’t be more satisfied with Zhang Yang.

Compton High School’s junior team’s strength also increased rapidly.

They still struggled against top-tier teams, but not like during the warm-up stage or the beginning of the league where they had no power to fight back; they could now counter-attack, greatly aided by Zhang Yang’s enriched “game experience” and his command on the court.

Having figured out DeRozan’s personality, Thomas even publicly said—moving DeMar to the varsity team would greatly weaken the junior team’s strength, but moving Jack to the varsity team would plunge the junior team’s strength to the worst in the Southern California League.

This statement didn’t affect the relationship between Zhang Yang and DeRozan, but it made the latter even more aggressive.

However, those “game experiences” sometimes also troubled Zhang Yang; he needed to “downgrade” and couldn’t set up too complex running plays.

Sometimes, when several “high-end tactics” popped up in his mind, he had to discard those tactics and think simpler, which was quite frustrating.

The time came to February 14, a Saturday, Compton High School’s junior team had their 17th league game at home, facing Millikan High School from Long Beach, which had made it to the semi-finals of the ‘Championship Game’ last season and was currently ranked third in the Southern California League.

The game was very tough for Compton High School.

After initially leading 14 to 9 driven by momentum, they were pressed and dominated by the opponent for over two quarters.

Millikan High School was a true top-tier team in the Southern California League, with good tactical cooperation and higher player levels than most teams in the league.

By the middle of the third quarter, Compton High School was trailing Millikan High School by 18 points, 52 to 70.

Just when Millikan High School thought the group of fifteen and sixteen-year-olds opposite them were about to collapse, Zhang Yang scored two consecutive drives with Euro steps, sounding the charge for a comeback.

DeRozan and Tatum exploded into action, followed by Miller, Monroe, Aboya, and others being pulled into the momentum.

Millikan High School got flustered, unable to defend, and their offense began to dip.

Tatum seized the moment to initiate a counterattack wave…

In the last one and a half quarters, Millikan High School only scored 31 points, while Compton High School blasted 54 points!

In a rampage that lasted a quarter and a half, Zhang Yang scored 20 points, achieving a personal best of 31 points for the game, along with 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block shot.

Together with DeRozan’s 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Tatum’s formidable triple-double of 15 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds along with 3 steals, the trio led the team to a miraculous turnaround victory over Millikan High School’s varsity team with a score of 106 to 101!

This win escalated Compton High School’s junior team from a 10-7 record to being ranked seventh in the league, bumping them up from ninth place and into the line-up of ‘Championship Game’ teams!

The turnaround victory thrilled the Compton High School players.

Beating the third-ranked team while ranked ninth was certainly a cause for excitement.

Human joys and sorrows are not interconnected, the seventeen and eighteen-year-old players from Millikan High School were mentally devastated, but for the others, it was tolerable.

Zhang Yang, DeRozan, and Tatum made the opposing players realize what it means to be so talented that you can do whatever you desire…

This game marked another significant milestone for Compton High School.

Although Johnson had set the goal at the top eight, he thought realistically competing for the eighth spot in the last one or two games would be an achievement; he had not expected to achieve it three games early!

It wasn’t just the players…

No!

Accurately speaking, it was Zhang Yang and DeRozan who actionably told Johnson that the limit he set was just what he thought was the upper bound, they had an unimaginable upper limit!

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