64: 63.

It’s not easy to brush up on talents 64: 63.

It’s not easy to brush up on talents The next day, Saturday, was the matchday for the semi-finals of the Southern California League ‘Championship’.

Compton High School’s junior varsity team would face the varsity team of Seaside High School.

By nine in the morning, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the court.

Looking at the hefty player on the opposing team, Zhang Yang quipped, “Having a player like him in this competition is simply unfair!”

Another player drawing scouts and agents’ attention in this year’s Southern California League Championship was on the opposing team—Devin Harden.

Ranked 95th among all American high schoolers in the 2004 class, 19 years old, with a physique of 216 cm and 113 kg, he had excellent mobility, a keen nose for rebounds and blocks, averaged 28.1 points, 16 rebounds, and 6 blocks per game in the league—all leading the league—along with a 72% shooting percentage which was also the best.

Unstoppable in the Southern California League, he’d not suffered a single loss the entire senior season, from warm-up games to league play, with an average margin of victory of over 20 points per game.

To be selected in the top 100 high schoolers in the nation coming from a single state like California and not from a first-tier school is indicative of his terrifying performance.

Zhang Yang and his teammates stayed at the Seagull Gymnasium the previous afternoon to watch Seaside High School crush the eighth-ranked Missionary High School, 114 to 73, with Harden ruthlessly scoring 31 points on 14 of 18 shooting with 20 rebounds and 8 blocks.

Back in the fifth round of the league, Harden had already given DeRozan, Tatum, and others a taste of ‘adult basketball,’ and months later, Harden had grown even stronger.

DeRozan, hearing Zhang Yang’s comment and remembering the game from the previous afternoon, nodded in agreement, “It really is unfair.”

Tatum, standing nearby, thought disdainfully—You two are quite unfair yourselves.

The always amiable Miller said, “We can’t quite say that about him.

I read a report that Harden was only six feet tall in the ninth grade, and no first-tier school wanted him at the time.

Unexpectedly, he grew a foot in two years, shifting from guard to center, and he still kept good mobility.

Over the past two summers, many high schools wanted to recruit him, but he refused to transfer due to being rejected for a physical exam before and chose to stay at Seaside High School.

The media think his ranking is held back by the school.

Had he transferred to a first-tier school, he might have been ranked in the top fifty.”

Zhang Yang caught a hint of the sentiment ‘never underestimate a young man in poverty’ from this and didn’t remember any NBA star center named Harden in the future, but whether Harden made it to the NBA was irrelevant to him.

What mattered was that this 19-year-old high school top center was like an insurmountable mountain to them at the moment.

However, this pressure also ignited his fighting spirit!

As the season was reaching its end, Zhang Yang had long since become the undisputed leader of the junior varsity team, and his spirited demeanor greatly diminished his teammates’ fear of Harden.

By ten o’clock, the game between Compton High School’s junior varsity team and Seaside High School’s varsity team tipped off.

On Zhang Yang’s side, everyone was fully motivated and battled fiercely against the opponents.

Facing a bunch of 15- or 16-year-olds, Harden was utterly serious and showed no mercy, ferociously attacking the paint.

Harden did not regret not going to a first-tier school, but staying at Seaside High meant he had to ensure victory in every game to attract top university attention.

Zhang Yang and DeRozan were seen as top high school talents, and Tatum was not far behind, all possessing strength beyond their age group.

However, the same was true for the top talent on the opposing side, who was also three years older…

Zhang Yang scored 21 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out 3 assists.

DeRozan put up 25 points, 2 rebounds, and 6 assists, while Tatum contributed 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 6 assists…

They fought valiantly, but against Harden’s defense, close-range and paint scorers like Tatum, Miller, Kanter, Monroe…

all faltered.

Aside from Zhang Yang and DeRozan, the best performance from Compton High came from ninth-grade power forward Aboya, who scored 18 points.

Devin Harden dominated with 32 points, 22 rebounds, and 7 blocks, leading Seaside High to a 105 to 96 win over Compton High, staving off an upset!

…

The first season of his basketball career had ended.

During the season, Zhang Yang thought he didn’t care about the ‘mere second-tier high school league”s results, but after truly being knocked out, he felt miserable for two nights.

His desire to win was even stronger than he had imagined!

On Monday morning, after returning to Compton with the team, Zhang Yang collected his emotions and dove back into training.

Next season he would join the varsity team, and the strength of CIF first-tier schools was a whole other league compared to the Southern California League teams.

Teams like Seaside High would be bottom-dwellers in the CIF first-tier; when the junior varsity played against the varsity in practice matches, they genuinely stood no chance.

Against Seaside High, at least, they could keep the score close.

Zhang Yang already knew that there was a talent gap in the eleventh grade of the school team.

With the seniors graduating after this season, next semester, he, DeRozan, and Tatum would have to lead the varsity team—a not insignificant pressure.

The season ended, and Zhang Yang adjusted his training regimen.

Without matches, team scrimmages, or group training, he began to actively seek out one-on-one games with Tatum and DeRozan and went alone to the court to play streetball…

He actively created conditions that combined competition and training.

By March 17, the varsity team lost to the Santa Barbara High School led by Farmar in the round of eight, ending their run in the quarter-finals.

Upon hearing this news, Zhang Yang felt upset again.

He already considered himself a member of the Magnet Boys’ Basketball Team and had hoped the varsity team would make it to the end, preferably winning the championship and sharing in the collective glory.

On April 4, he had accumulated twenty thousand Shooting Value, completing the task much faster than before, less than a month.

His reward was “Three-Point Talent Ceiling +1”.

A new mission arrived, the next trial had yet to come, the reward this time was a random Physical Talent Ceiling +1.

He continued to accumulate Shooting Value, another twenty thousand.

However, being able to enhance his talent was extremely good.

He hadn’t fully digested the gains from his first two trials, so he settled down and continued training.

By April 23, Zhang Yang had saved up another twenty thousand Shooting Value in roughly nineteen and a half days, earning the reward of Speed Talent +1.

Zhang Yang was excited about the increase in speed.

He remembered that when he entered the NBA, his speed was 91 at a weight of 92 kilograms.

When his weight increased to 95 kilograms, his speed dropped to 90.

So, in the future, would his speed remain at 91 after he increased his weight to 95 kilograms?

It was hard to say.

The balance between weight, speed, and strength was very important and delicate for a player.

He hadn’t troubled himself to study this; he would find out in the future.

The new mission was also launched, this time involving enhancing random Shooting Talent, but the target had changed—to accumulate forty thousand Shooting Value.

He had thought since a new trial hadn’t started, he would just “farm talent”.

He hadn’t expected that just as he had sped up his accumulation of twenty thousand Shooting Value to under twenty days, the mission’s objective had doubled!

He analyzed the situation and concluded that the increased difficulty could have two causes.

One was that he had grown stronger and his speed of obtaining Shooting Value had increased, hence completing missions faster, leading to the system boosting the mission difficulty…

This possibility wasn’t great, as his rate of Shooting Value acquisition would eventually slow down.

The other possibility was that after a certain number of Talent Points were added, the Shooting Value needed for further talent upgrades would increase.

He counted.

After enhancing talent by four points, the difficulty increased.

He decided to see if the difficulty would increase again after the next upgrade of four points.

Soon, May arrived, and the seniors completed their standardized graduation exams, officially ending their high school careers.

Before leaving school, Hip threw a party and invited the whole team.

Hip, the son of a wealthy mining family—and I mean literally wealthy from mining.

He was good with people and had excellent interpersonal relationships.

For a black person, he was basically from a wealthy family…

Certain players wearing the number 8 jersey and the number 23 jersey were outliers in their social strata; standard examples should look to Hill and Jabbar.

At the party, Hip took the initiative to talk to Zhang Yang, DeRozan, and Tatum about joining the varsity team, offering advice to the three of them.

Zhang Yang felt that the other party had a strong purpose, whether it was because they had a strong probability of entering the NCAA in the future and might even aspire to join the pro league, perhaps out of pure consideration for the school team, or just because of their basketball talent.

Hip had always taken the school team’s matters to heart.

He had been the captain since junior year.

With his family background, decent academic performance, and basketball talent, transferring to a high school in a big city would have been effortless.

It was said that he was “lured” by a Coach Thomas, who had inspired him to contribute to reviving his hometown’s basketball fame, which led him to join Compton High School.

Hip’s advice to DeRozan and Tatum was pretty standard, but when it came to Zhang Yang, it was quite exceptional…

Hip: “Jack, for the next school year, you can take the college preparatory courses for the 12th grade in advance through self-study exams.

The prep courses are just to give us an early insight into those majors at the university, to help us have a clearer direction when applying for colleges.

The curriculum is actually simple, but you need to accumulate class hours to take the prep courses in grade 12.

If you self-study and take the exams in advance, you don’t have to attend classes.”

“With your grades, you can easily get your completion certificate early, and then you’ll have a lot of time free in 12th grade.

I’ve regretted a lot this year; I just played around in grade 11 and made my schedule so tight this year, having to play matches, attend classes, and deal with college entrance exams, all at the expense of my training time.”

Zhang Yang’s eyes lit up: “Joe, your suggestion is well worth considering…

no, let’s be more direct.

I’ll study the main subjects for grade 12 in advance as well and try out the SAT next school year to see how many points I can get.

If the score is high enough, I won’t need to worry about academics at all in grade 12.

By the way, Joe, the SAT scores are valid for two years, right?”

“Yes…

they are valid for two years…” Hip embarrassedly admitted.

This junior was more aggressive than he had imagined!

The world of academic prodigies was indeed hard to understand.

…

…

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