Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 138: National Team

The news that Chen Fang, the top scorer and assist leader in the World Youth Championship, is representing the Jinan team in the first Youth Games is spreading in the circle.

There are mixed opinions within the circle about the level of this Youth Games.

Some provinces are mainly composed of college students, while others are mainly composed of club youth training teams. For example, Heng Yifeng and Yu Dehao were both selected for the national youth team and are currently serving in the national Olympic team. They have both played in the CBA for a season and have withstood the test of professionalism.

Judging from the current contestants, the strong teams all use a player from the 95 National Youth Team as their core player in this Youth Games.

The strongest team is naturally the Shenzhen team. They have three club members in the starting lineup, including Yu Dehao, Zhao Tianyi and Li Jinglong, three members of the 3 National Youth Team.

And this was just the judgment before the sports meet. When Chen Fang appeared, the spotlight immediately shifted.

As the core player of the 97 National Youth Team, which is known as the strongest class, Chen Fang, he represented JN City and immediately stole the limelight from everyone.

Yu Dehao called Zhao Rui, exchanged a few polite words first, and then asked about Chen Fang.

"Why are you asking him?" Zhao Rui was surprised.

"This is the Youth Olympic Games, and he represents Jinan. I guess we will meet sooner or later." Yu Dehao explained.

"Hahaha!" Zhao Rui laughed so hard that he couldn't speak.

"Hey, Lao Hei, what are you laughing at?" After all, they were teammates and from the same province, so they had some friendship. Yu Dehao didn't dare to get angry. You know, Zhao Rui is now the hottest star of Guangdong Hongyuan, so popular that he is sure to be the core guard of the team in the future.

Compared to myself, they are more or less inferior.

"Just wait for your punishment." Zhao Rui rubbed his stomach and smiled.

"Is he so strong?" Yu Dehao still felt that Zhao Rui was scaring him.

"You'll know when you call him. Remember, don't mess with him." After saying that, Zhao Rui hung up the phone and directly dialed Chen Fang's number.

After a few rings, Chen Fang answered the phone.

"Haha, brother, do you have any instructions?" Chen Fang was not at all shy. Even after not seeing him for four months, his enthusiasm remained the same.

"Why didn't you say hello when you came back?" Zhao Ruixian asked.

"Ha, please forgive me. I was called back. Do you think I like it?"

"You're really forced to come back. Why, are you going to the Youth Games?"

"Well, come here to complete the tasks assigned by the bosses, and then return to the United States to continue studying."

"study?"

"By the way, take down Meigao."

"Haha, you said it so casually. You are really good at pretending now."

"Didn't you learn this from your brother? Haha."

The two chatted and bickered for a while. After this experience in Greece, their respect for each other increased. You can only bicker smoothly when your status is equal, which is impossible in other situations.

"Hold back and fight. We still have to leave a line of troops in the country." Zhao Rui suddenly said at the end.

"Okay, it's in Shenzhen, right?" Chen Fang had guessed it long ago.

"Haha, as long as you understand."

"It won't be embarrassing to receive a reminder from my brother."

Seeing that he understood what he meant, Zhao Rui didn't say much.

Lu Yun, who was in the other bed, then asked, "Who is it?"

"Teammate of the National Youth Team." Chen Fang did not elaborate.

The four strongest teams in this Youth Games are Shenzhen, Wenzhou, Jinan and Nantong.

Tomorrow we will play against Wenzhou and Shenzhen against Nantong. I guess Zhao Rui has predicted this result, so I gave him a reminder.

Chen Fang has basically not put in any effort in the fight so far. He clocks out after playing for more than ten minutes per game. At the same time, he also feels that the gap between China and the United States is so huge.

Logically, the level of the Youth Games should be quite high, but Chen Fang felt it was really average throughout the whole process.

Some players don’t even know how to dribble the ball, and can’t even make an open basket.

I can only say that there are too many human relationships involved, and some people are just here to gain seniority.

Lu Yun was quite happy to bully the weak players, and now he has surpassed Yu Haisheng and Xiao Chuan to secure the starting small forward position.

It can be seen that Lu Yun's level is much better than before, and he is more reasonable and smart in handling the ball and offensive choices.

Chen Fang also knew his position. Zhang Ruihua treated him as a stabilizer and would only ask him to come out when there was a problem. Most of the time, Chen Fang sat on the bench, looking at his phone and chatting.

After being photographed by reporters several times, Zhang Ruihua also talked to him specifically and asked him to pretend for a few days.

It’s not Chen Fang’s fault. With this level of competition, it’s easy to get eye diseases if you keep watching with your eyes.

※※※

"Is this the strength of a scoring champion?" In the final, facing the Shenzhen team, with three CBA-certified professional players, Chen Fang dribbled past one player, changed direction and dribbled past another, and finally faced Yu Dehao and made a jump shot at the top of the arc.

Knife up and down.

Some middle and senior management of some clubs who were watching the game in the stands looked at each other in bewilderment. They felt that it was too easy for Jinan's No. 21 to beat someone, just like beating a primary school student.

The data will not lie.

This three-pointer also brought Chen Fang's score to 21 points.

Don’t think that it took a long time to score these 21 points, it’s only the second quarter.

Jinan leads Shenzhen by a large margin, 45:21.

In the final round, it was thought that Shenzhen could cause some trouble to the powerful Jinan, but in the first quarter, Chen Fang used 4 three-pointers to directly stun Shenzhen.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Chen Fang led the team to an 11-0 climax, completely suppressing Shenzhen's idea of ​​catching up.

Zhang Ruihua replaced Chen Fang and saw that he had only a few traces of sweat. As a coach, he could only sigh inwardly.

"What kind of training did you do when you went to the United States this time?" he asked.

"I'm not afraid of you making fun of me, coach. I'll just focus on training." Chen Fang smiled.

"You must have suffered a lot." Zhang Ruihua sighed as he looked at Chen Fang's bulging shoulder muscles.

"Still early."

Jinan itself is quite strong. Lu Yun, Mao Wenbin and Yuan Mao are all top-notch students of this age group.

With the addition of Chen Fang, everyone played with a very stable mentality, and a good mentality can naturally unleash stronger fighting power.

Looking at Lu Yun on the court, who dribbled past one player and broke into the basket, facing the center's rim protection, and was able to fight in the air and score 2+1, Zhang Ruihua was also clapping.

"It seems that America is a good place." It has to be said that after Lu Yun came back, he felt like the second Chen Fang. He had all kinds of skills, including assists, rebounds and scoring. He could do everything.

In the second half, Shenzhen accelerated and narrowed the score to single digits. The bench was filled with jubilation, and even the Shenzhen leaders who came from afar in the stands jumped for joy.

Yu Dehao scored five points with a series of breakthroughs and shots. He was very excited and waved to the Jinan bench.

Then everyone on the Jinan bench looked at Chen Fang.

Chen Fang was surprised at first, pointed at himself for confirmation, and then was patted on the back by Zhang Ruihua.

"Go on!"

The coach spoke and Chen Fang stood up. To be honest, Chen Fang was almost immune to this kind of provocation because it was meaningless.

Seeing Chen Fang come on stage, the atmosphere perked up again, and the few spectators in the stands also perked up.

Chen Fang did not hold the ball, but went to the elbow area. Due to his height, Shenzhen could only let the power forward defend him, but this was Chen Fang's strategy.

Those who are taller than him are not as fast as him.

He first set a pick-and-roll for Mao Wenbin, then went down to the penalty area to get the ball. Mao Wenbin passed the ball to him with a half-high pass from the wing.

After receiving the ball, Chen Fang turned around and wiped away the Shenzhen power forward who was frantically trying to push him out, then with a jump step he adjusted his posture so that he was facing the basket head on.

The center of Shenzhen 212 raised his hands to assist in defense, but saw Chen Fang land and bounce up again on the spot, and in front of him, he swung towards the basket with one hand.

A shadow covered him, and his vision turned pitch black in an instant.

His hair stood on end and he instinctively turned sideways and ran out from under the basket.

"Bang!"

Looking back, he saw that the basketball hoop was tilted and Chen Fang was pulling the basket down with one hand.

He let go halfway through pulling it and it fell, causing the entire basketball hoop to shake.

The scene was so huge that everyone on and off the court was almost speechless. Everyone had their lips turned O-shaped and stared at Chen Fang who walked out from under the basket.

This is not over yet. Chen received the ball on the wing and followed the three-point line and invaded from the free throw line.

He crossed the free throw line, leaped up, held the basketball high with one arm, and dunked it in an inverted C position towards the basket in a horizontal flying posture. From his cutting in, to his leaping up, to his final dunking down, the whole process was like a dragon emerging from the sea, and all the Shenzhen players near the restricted area were forced to surge to both sides like waves.

In the stands, Shenzhen leaders were so shocked that they fell back into their chairs and asked others incoherently: "Who is this person?"

Chen Fang landed without even looking at Yu Dehao, and retreated to the backcourt without looking back.

Two dunks immediately extinguished Shenzhen's counterattack momentum and the situation stabilized.

But Chen Fang's performance was not over yet. Chen Fang, who was in high spirits, first set a screen with Lu Yun at the top of the arc, and then suddenly went down and went straight to the basket in the penalty area.

Lu Yun is also a man who dares to check and choose the watch on a dead person's hand. He doesn't care about Shenzhen's psychological endurance and throws the ball high and directly near the basket.

As Chen Fang cut down, he was looking at Lu Yun. When he saw the ball being thrown, he took a step forward and jumped up as soon as he touched the ground. If it were someone else, they would not be able to catch the ball, but Chen Fang stretched out his arms and caught the ball in mid-air. At the same time, he swung the basketball with his left hand and smashed it into the basket.

The poor basketball hoop was abused for three consecutive rounds, and it might have felt really aggrieved, so the sound it made was extremely crisp.

With a "ding" sound, Yu Dehao felt pain in his eardrums.

Thinking of what Zhao Rui said, I immediately regretted it.

But Chen Fang was not done yet. In the next round, Chen Fang played center, with his back against a 212 center. After getting the ball, he squeezed half a body distance away, turned around, took a step, swung the basketball with both hands, and made an inverted C shot under the basket.

The Shenzhen center who was shaken out alive, covered his chest and slowly lay down. His body and mind were seriously hurt and he didn't want to play anymore.

Where the hell did this prehistoric beast get dug out? It’s not killing people, it’s eating people!

Zhang Ruihua could no longer sit still. God knew what would happen if Chen Fang continued like this, so he quickly applied for a replacement.

Chen Fang dunked four times in a row without even looking at Yu Dehao. He clapped his hands and walked out of the Shenzhen inside line under the protection of his teammates.

After returning to the bench, Zhang Ruihua stared at Chen Fang, who immediately gave in.

"I won't dare next time!"

"Hey!" What could Zhang Ruihua say? Just back off when given the chance. He patted Chen Fang's shoulder gently, feeling at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Shenzhen had given both face and benefits, so it had nothing to say. Instead, it should be grateful to Zhang Ruihua for being a big-name coach who understands the ways of the world and took Chen Fang, the evil tiger, into custody.

At this point, the Shenzhen team seemed like a castrated wolf, as docile as an Akita, and never caused any waves again.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the leaders of the Jinan team were all smiles. With the gold medal won, this year's work was successfully completed.

Everyone is happy!
The next step was the award ceremony. Chen Fang stood on the field and received the medal. The MVP award for this year's Most Valuable Player was unexpectedly given to Lu Yun, which made the boy grin from ear to ear, and he kept looking at Chen Fang provocatively.

But Chen Fang refused to look him in the eye. As the saying goes, one should be grateful to the person who has taken over his business, so how could he dare to show his displeasure?

At night, Chen Fang had to face the MVP on the bedside table, where Lu Yun was taking pictures, posting to Moments, and then replying.

Chen Fang lay there with blank eyes.

This Youth Games is so boring. I just wasted half a month.

The phone rang, it was Zhao Rui.

I roughly know what it is, but I still have to take it.

"Hey."

"Wow, you are so cruel today?" Zhao Rui laughed as he said the first sentence.

"Is it cruel? Only 29 points."

"That four-dunk combo I was talking about!"

"Oh, I suddenly feel like that. What's the matter? Who are you representing to bring charges?"

"I don't dare. I just came here to have a laugh. Haha. Yu hasn't eaten yet and is locked in his room alone."

"That's it?" Chen Fang was speechless.

"Okay, I know you gave me face. He was the one who provoked me first. I appreciate your kindness and called to explain."

"Hey, why are you talking about this?"

"Are you free to come to Guangdong? My coach really wants to see you." Zhao Rui finally got to the point.

"Thank you for your recognition, Coach Du, but I really don't have time. I have to go back to the United States." Chen Fang politely declined.

Zhao Rui on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then sighed, "I understand. After all, your pursuit is higher."

"Haha." What else could Chen Fang say but to smile apologetically.

After chatting for a few more sentences, he hung up.

After waiting for a long time, Lu Yun asked, "Are you here to recruit me?"

"Ah."

"Tsk! Domestic clubs are so incompetent. With your current level, no one can keep you." Lu Yun said something fair.

Chen Fang did not refute, and then Lu Yun began to talk about the Asian Championships in Changsha that had just ended.

Finally, I asked Chen Fang: "If the match against South Korea in Changsha had failed, do you think the result would be different now?"

Chen Fang replied calmly: "Nothing has changed."

"As the host country, and with the level of this tournament being high, there is no way they can lose. Even if they lose one game in the group stage, it's not the knockout round."

"Okay, then what do you predict about the future development of Chinese basketball?"

It was Chen Fang's turn to be surprised: "Why are you asking about this today?"

Lu Yun proudly patted the MVP medal, but his expression was heavy: "With great ability comes great responsibility. As the well-deserved MVP of this year, I should shoulder a greater burden."

"Ugh!" Chen Fang almost vomited and a pillow flew over.

"Stop being so disgusting and tell me the truth, did you give me a gift?" Chen Fang was furious.

"You can insult my football skills, but you can't insult my personality!" Lu Yun shouted.

The two of them hit each other with pillows, then both felt that the action was disgusting and stopped immediately.

Returning to the previous topic, Chen Fang made a rare prediction: "Our basketball performance will only get worse and worse."

"Oh, is it the same for you?" Lu Yun smiled.

Chen Fang was stunned. Yes, he had never been able to get into the situation and was completely immersed in the memories of his past life.

Seeing Chen Fang silent, Lu Yun asked the question that had always been in his mind.

"Chen Fang, you don't seem to be interested in the national team?"

"Why do you say that?" Chen Fang asked in panic.

"You didn't even watch the Asian Championships, was I right?" Lu Yun produced evidence.

"It's funny. I watched it at home."

"Impossible. There has been a lot of discussion about the Asian Championships. You didn't respond to any of the topics, which led to misunderstandings."

"Misunderstand?"

"Yes, if I hadn't been with you day and night, I would have thought you were jealous of the new guy who is now making a splash in the national team."

Chen Fang was speechless. What else could he say in the face of such a misunderstanding?

He indeed didn't watch it because he knew the result.

Especially with the darkness of the next ten years, how many people choose to block the topic of the national team? When playing baseball in the previous life, no one talked about the national team, and would rather talk about things in the baseball circle.

Chen Fang really developed this habit.

"Next year is the Olympic year. If you are called, will you go?" Lu Yun asked the last question.

Chen Fang nodded: "Go."

"Would you be depressed if I didn't call you?"

Chen Fang was startled, then shook his head: "No."

"why?"

"I don't know. Let it be." Chen Fang could only give a vague answer. After all, he had never put himself in the situation. He only wanted to play professionally, and later he wanted to enter the NBA. He had never thought about the national team once.

"Then you need to prepare more. Maybe in half a year, your identity will be different again."

"Go to sleep. We have to go back tomorrow and then go to the United States." Chen Fang avoided the topic and turned off the lights.

In the darkness, Chen Fang closed his eyes and tried to shake off these distracting thoughts.

Cherish the opportunity now, do well in this year's American high school, and the future will be very different!

　I have to go to Guangzhou to take my old father to see a doctor. The updates will not be interrupted, but there will only be one update a day during this period, using the evening time, so the current update time will be after midnight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)