First in scoring

Chapter 424 423. Natural Leader Granger

On the afternoon of the 25th, the Bobcats arrived in Indianapolis.

In the evening, Zhang Yang, Felton and Okafor were invited to visit Granger's home.

The Grangers and DeRozan enthusiastically invited the three people into the house. They had been preparing for this gathering for the entire afternoon.

Originally, DeRozan wanted to invite Zhang Yang to dinner alone. After hearing about this, Granger took the initiative to ask DeRozan to invite Zhang Yang to his home.

The main reason is that Granger knew that DeRozan was renting an ordinary apartment, and he also knew the reason. The media reported that the reason DeRozan participated in the draft early was that his parents were sick, and almost all the advance salary was given to his parents who were receiving treatment in Los Angeles.

He was worried that the place where DeRozan would take him to dinner was not good enough or safe, etc. He did this largely out of his sense of responsibility as the boss and not to embarrass his new brother.

He knew that Zhang Yang and DeRozan were teammates in high school and had a good relationship. Zhang Yang even went to support DeRozan when he participated in the draft, and this was one of the direct reasons why Bird chose DeRozan. But they are all working people now and they have to keep up their face.

Of course, he also had selfish motives - to make friends with Zhang Yang.

DeRozan is just a loner, not ignorant of the ways of the world. He guessed Granger's other intention and suggested calling Felton and Okafor together, saying, "We are two teammates, and it might be awkward for Jack to come alone."

Granger naturally agreed, he was more than happy to do so.

Zhang Yang had fought against Granger many times, and they had not had much private communication, but he had a good impression of Granger.

Also, he had a good impression of Granger when he was watching football in his previous life. He had a simple playing style, a generous personality, and a strong leadership charisma.

And Granger was willing to sacrifice. At the age of 25, he was already averaging 25+ points per game, ranking among the top scorers. But in his twenties, as Darren Collison's talent was realized, Bird brought in David West, and Paul George and Hibbert gradually rose to prominence, he was willing to reduce his shots and lead everyone to play team basketball... He became the unique and irreplaceable captain in the minds of the Pacers players.

But unfortunately, everything stopped in the 11-12 season playoffs. In that playoffs, the Pacers and the Heat met in the second round. After the first three games, the Pacers started from 3-0, led the Heat 1-2, and won the Heat by 1 points with 94-75. They were about to have a gentleman sweep... In Game 19, Granger injured his knee in the first quarter.

After Granger was helped back to the locker room, he returned to the court before the end of the second quarter and insisted on playing the next two games with injections, but his performance declined significantly. The Pacers lost their leading scorer, the best singles player, and the best defensive outside player, losing three games in a row and losing the second round 3-2.

In order to continue playing, Granger played with a closed injection, which worsened his injury and ruined his career. It can be considered that his career ended at the age of 29.

那个赛季打完后，他12-13赛季只打了5场就报销，13-14赛季打了一半被步行者队甩卖，步行者队也在13-14赛季全明星周末后因失去领袖崩盘……

Zhang Yang really wanted to be friends with this person.

Felton, Okafor and Granger are teammates on the national team. They are not particularly familiar with each other, but their relationship is not bad either.

Overall, this gathering was very enjoyable.

During the meal, DeRozan told Zhang Yang some things that happened after he came to play for the Pacers.

He is the type of person who only talks about happy things and not bad things. However, DeRozan is also the type of person who will show his troubles directly between his eyebrows. Zhang Yang can see that he is really happy to be with the Pacers.

After dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Granger went to prepare dessert and fruit.

Zhang Yang said to DeRozan: "It seems that you are doing well in Boris. Danny takes good care of you."

DeRozan: "Danny is a great boss. Just like you said Raymond takes care of you, Danny really takes care of me."

Xiao Fei: Hmm? You are indeed my good brother, always saying good things about me behind my back. Hey, Ronaldinho, please say a few more words!
Zhang Yang: "The first time I saw Danny, I knew he was a good guy. His looks and temperament showed that he was destined to be a leader."

Granger, who returned to the living room with the dessert, wanted to cry when she heard this.

Granger: Since I was a kid, people have said I was like the boss. Everyone recognized me as the boss. Have you ever considered how I felt? When I averaged 7 points per game in my rookie year, some people said I was the future boss. Have you ever considered how Artest, O'Neal, Wu Sheng and others would treat me when they heard this?

I also have to not let these people down and strive to be the boss. Do you know how exhausted I am...

Granger felt very tired, but there was nothing he could do; since he was born with a big face, he had to do things that were worthy of it.

Moreover, being the boss was difficult for him only before he became the boss. He looked too old, and when he was still weak, he was always targeted by the former boss. But after he became the boss, it was still very satisfying. His outstanding temperament was there, and no teammates would want to challenge his position as the boss...

...

That night, the three young stars of the Bobcats and DeRozan stayed at Granger's house. Granger learned about Zhang Yang's hobby and bought all the mainstream game consoles and matching popular game cartridges on the market.

Zhang Yang, DeRozan, and Felton had a lot of fun playing games together, and Okafor...got along well with Granger.

"Basketball nerd" was Granger's label during his student days. When he graduated from high school, he received an invitation from Yale University, but because of the serious racial discrimination there, he finally declined the invitation and chose another prestigious school, the University of New Mexico... According to neighbors, he was beaten by his father, who attached great importance to his academic performance, because of this.

At the end of his sophomore season in 03, he had already entered the lottery zone of the draft prediction list, but he risked falling in the draft and studied in college for two more years. After graduating from college in 05 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, he chose to enter the draft. Not surprisingly, the draft prediction fell to the end of the first round. Bird had a keen eye and selected him in the middle of the first round.

Zhang Yang originally thought that DeRozan's aloof personality might allow him to get along well with Okafor, but in the end the two had nothing to talk about.

On the contrary, Okafor had a very pleasant chat with the talkative Granger... There really hasn't been any change in this aspect over the years.

If Zhang San had not graduated early from the 11th grade and entered North Carolina without taking the entrance exam, he would probably have encountered discrimination due to his academic qualifications.

The next morning, the five of them came to Conseco Arena together and separated at the fork in the employee passage, turning from private friends into rivals.

At 6:40 in the evening, after warming up, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the stadium. They attached great importance to this game. Although the opponent's strength is currently average and the record is not good, it has excellent conditions for rising!
(End of this chapter)