Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 143 Bloodbath on the Away Field

Wao Koch and Liam Wallace were squatting in the open space outside the stadium, smoking.

Koch was a scout at Duke University. Although he had only been on the job for two years, he was still a little dissatisfied with being sent to St. Louis to track Tatum.

Wallace is a public scout. What is a public scout? To put it simply, he sells players with the potential to enter D1. Once they are admitted, he can get a considerable commission.

However, his reputation is not good because of his moral character being questionable for selling the same analysis to multiple universities. He would often sell an exclusive scouting analysis to several D1 universities at the same time.

They met just three days ago on Amtrak, the national railway passenger train, and they discovered that their destination was the same: St. Louis.

Of course, Wallace's goal is to discover more outstanding players in St. Louis, because Bill and Tatum are already here.

For Americans with gold rush genes, St. Louis is no less than a gold mine in their eyes.

The game was about to start, and they came early because they had to set up the video equipment. After making sure that there were no problems, they came out to get some fresh air.

Faintly hearing a whistle, Wallace stamped out his cigarette and shouted, "Dude, it's time to work!"

Today is Reston High School's home game and the Red Devils are playing away.

Reston's team is called the River Monsters, because their school is located on the banks of the Missouri River.

The core of the River Monsters is senior Cook Courtney, a small forward with excellent physical fitness who often performs wonderful dunks. His shooting ability is slightly worse, but in other aspects, he is almost on par with Tatum.

He is attracting more and more attention, and Wallace is just one of them.

As for Tatum, well, he is already a member of Duke. For most scouts, this is no longer within their scope of work. This is the content of NBA scouts.

NBA scouts are people in a high position. They need resumes, connections, and successful cases, which has already screened out more than 98% of scouts.

Yes, Wallace hated his peers in this class very much, and I believe tens of thousands of scouts across the United States think the same way.

After entering the stadium, they came to the specially reserved stands, which were far away from the court but had a good view and low decibels, allowing them to focus enough on the game.

On the court, both teams were warming up, and soon Wallace discovered the situation.

"Wait, why are there two Asians on the Red Devils team?"

Koch said indifferently: "It's not surprising. The proportion of Asians studying in the United States has been rising." (According to statistics, as of 24 years ago, the number of Chinese players in American universities and high schools has reached 68)
Using Wallace's ruler eyes, he found that No. 21 was at least 200CM tall, which surprised him. Shouldn't an Asian of this height be clumsy in his movements?
But why does this person look so light?

So he had to turn his attention to the Red Devils.

Not long after, something even more surprising happened. No. 21 actually stood on the court as a starter.

"This is a little surprise." Based on his years of experience as a scout, Wallace smelled something different.

On the court, Chen Fang instructed Team B's starting lineup, "Follow the plan, guys."

Courtney glanced at Chen with disdain. His long-cherished opponent, Tatum, was sitting on the bench, chatting and laughing with his teammates.

Laugh, and wait and see how I beat you into the game!
Courtney encouraged herself secretly.

Theo lost the jump ball to a black man who was half a head shorter than him. The River Monsters team started their first round of offense amid the cheers of more than 400 people at home.

The Red Devils used a 32-man defense formation, with Chen Fang hanging on the wing, Logan and Hyde slightly left of the top of the arc, leaving most of the right side to Chen Fang.

Theo and Murphy stood on each side of the inside, hanging in the short corner area, leaving the free throw line empty.

But this is just a trap. Once someone enters, they will be surrounded from four directions.

The River Monsters' center was fooled. He pretended to go to the elbow area, but suddenly cut inside to ask for the ball. When the ball came into his hands, he turned around and faced Theo's face.

This sudden change made him subconsciously turn his body to protect the ball, but he felt a pain in the base of his thumb. Logan silently touched his side and cut his wrist with both the ball and his hand.

The operation was successful. Logan took the ball as soon as it landed on the ground. He pressed forward with the ball. This was Chen Fang's instruction to him before the game.

Once the ball is cut successfully, do not pass it, quickly switch offense and defense, and advance with the ball.

Chen was running sideways at the baseline, observing Logan's dribbling speed. The hippopotamus retreated very quickly, which was a routine operation in the American high school. They ran very fast one by one.

Logan was looking for Chen Fang while dribbling, and when he saw Chen Fang pointing to the penalty area, he immediately understood what he meant.

Attack the basket.

Logan is just bad at shooting, not at layups. In fact, at the level of American high schools, especially black people, they have a huge interest in attacking the basket, and the idea of dunking tempts them all the time.

There was only one defensive player in front of him. Lock accelerated and chose to change direction sideways, but his opponent's pace was not slow and he actually went towards the basket at the same time.

Kick the ball and make a layup. Logan had to do this because there were no other players around except Chen Fang.

After the shot, Logan felt bad. His layup felt bad and he used too much force. Before he landed, he saw the ball went to the high board.

Just as he expected, the basketball didn't spin enough and hit the backboard, bending and bouncing back.

Another player from the River Monsters who was retreating on defense was ready to jump up and grab the ball.

But there were people who were faster than him. A red shadow flew out from behind him, rising infinitely, and caught the basketball with one hand in the air at almost half the height of his body. At the moment of catching it, Chen Fang chopped sideways and dunked the rebound in the air.

After landing, Chen Fang grabbed Logan, who was still falling forward, and pulled him hard.

"Retreat!"

"OMG! Is this true?" The DJ of this game never expected that the Red Devils' follow-up player would actually dunk the rebound before the home team.

It was like a flash of red lightning, so fast that it made it impossible for people to think. Only when Chen Fang landed on the ground to defend did the home fans in the stands scream.

Those present today were all students and parents of Reston. They had rarely seen such a tip-in, and were all stunned. Many of them couldn't help but cover their heads and look around in bewilderment.

Tatum was the first to stand up from the bench. He knew that Chen Fang's jumping speed was abnormal. When he saw Chen Fang rushing into the basket, he was already ready. At the moment Chen Fang dunked, he had already reached the edge of the court with his hands raised high.

All the players on the bench were cheering as Chen Fang showed them his superior physical fitness.

As the game continued, the 32 formation had a strong zone containment effect at high levels, and even though Hyde's defense was the worst among the starting five, he still performed well under this system.

It was hard to accept that the River Monsters had not scored three minutes into the first quarter.

Moreover, the Red Devils repeatedly took advantage of the opponent's mistakes and rebounds to enjoy sweet layups in fast breaks.

Logan scored two points, Hyde made a mid-range shot, and Chen made a tip-in.

The 6-0 start made Bennett nod frequently. He witnessed the defensive strength of this lineup. If Hyde was replaced by Tatum, it would undoubtedly be a more powerful presence.

Chen Fang tried to block Courtney, and Logan came up from the side like a ghost. The loud shouts of his teammates reminded him, but he was in a dead ball state and immediately became a poor man under double-teaming.

It is really hard to imagine who can survive being surrounded by Chen Fang and Logan, two natural thieves.

Chen Fang's knife-cut ball seemed to be snatched away alive, and then he rushed from the sideline to the opponent's front court without stopping.

After several rounds of testing, Logan was indeed not a good fast breaker, so he decided to do it himself.

The players of the River Monsters team were retreating quickly, some were chasing Chen Fang, and some were trapping him from the side, but Chen Fang was too fast and he crossed the three-point line in just three dribbles.

Facing the last defender and the opponent who was about to approach from the side, Chen Fang made a snake move to freeze the defender in front of him. With a European step, he avoided the wooden frame protection, raised his arms high, and dunked the ball into the basket with one hand.

The Euro step led to a dunk at the end. Based on Chen Fang's two scores, Wallace immediately judged that the No. 21's jumping ability must be very good.

Combined with the dribbling rhythm and escape just now, an idea emerged in his mind.

Gold mine! Gold nugget!
I'm going to get rich!
Right now, Courtney, go to hell, I'm going to keep my eyes on No. 21.

Trailing 8-0, the Hippo head coach could only call for a timeout. He threw the tactical board in anger. Damn it, when did the Red Devils start playing defense?
On the bench, everyone was drinking water, and Chen Fang accepted the towel handed to him by Tatum himself.

"Well done!" Tatum was very happy. He saw the strength of this lineup, which also meant that in the regular season, with his joining, the Red Devils would be indestructible.

Bennett reminded Hyde, told him how to help his teammates, the positioning issues, and then praised Logan's performance.

No coach doesn't like a player who can defend. It is an indispensable gift from God.

The game continued. After a series of pick-and-rolls, Courtney made a mid-range shot for the Hippo team and scored the first point for the home team. The cheers from the whole court boosted the team's low morale.

But unfortunately, Chen Fang immediately extinguished their joy with a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

In positional warfare, Chen Fang is the real killer.

Seeing Chen Fang's three-pointer, Wallace raised his arms and cheered again. He didn't care about the sidelong glances from people around him. Having three points was undoubtedly an extra bargaining chip.

His eyes really understand basketball.

Just by looking at Chen Fang's shooting posture, you can tell that it's not a lucky shot, he has a basket.

The Hippo team was in a very difficult situation to score. The Red Devils' rotation was very fast. The pick-and-roll could not weaken their strength. The rotation speed was like teleportation. With Chen Fang as the fulcrum, the Red Devils' high-pressure defense made the Hippo team look miserable.

Fast breaks continue to appear.

Bobby's feet were shaking in the stands. This should be his rhythm. Even though he knew very well that it was not Team A that played today, he still looked at the head coach frequently, hoping to use his passionate eyes to make the coach change his mind.

Unfortunately, Bennett has been paying attention to the court. His brain is working at high speed, analyzing and judging the role of each person.

Undoubtedly, Chen Fang was the core. He was too relaxed, as if telling himself that an opponent of this level would not cause him any trouble at all.

Theo and Logan are his inside and outside clamps. The three people on this line threaten all opponents who have the ball after entering the half court.

Based on his understanding of the River Monsters, this team will be very difficult to crack. Unless they also have a Tatum, otherwise, they will face a massacre.

When the first quarter was over, the Red Devils left the game with a 26-8 advantage.

The atmosphere in the stands was very depressing. That's how Americans are. If they are not happy, they will show their bad face to everyone.

Chen Fang and Hyde were replaced by Cooper and Lu Yun.

Bennett wants to see whether the intensity reduction of this lineup is acceptable to him.

The second quarter started quickly. The River Monsters' morale was still at a low point, but with Courtney's sudden outburst, he suddenly came alive because he lacked the restraint of a tall player like Chen Fang.

He made continuous breakthroughs and shots and scored four points in a row.

At the same time, on defense, the absence of Chen Fang and the lack of understanding of Lu Yun made the Red Devils slow in transition.

The situation changed suddenly. Five minutes into the second quarter, the River Monsters team actually caught up with the score.

30:23.

Bennett immediately realized that he could not accept this decline, and without hesitation, he allowed Chen Fang, who had rested for five minutes, to continue playing.

Chen Fang high-fived Lu Yun at the sidelines of the center circle, and at the same time comforted him briefly: "It's a small matter, just listen carefully to the coach's analysis."

After saying that, Chen Fang stepped into the court.

Seeing No. 21 return to the court, there were a few faint sighs from the stands.

Just as the fans in the stands worried, the appearance of Chen Fang, coupled with the active bulldog Cooper, the situation returned to the famine year.

Courtney, who was just feeling proud of herself, was once again pinned to the ground and beaten by Chen Fang.

A steal and a block stunned him.

The Red Devils took advantage of the opportunity to play a series of quick attacks and defenses, scoring 4 points in a row and narrowing the gap to 11 points again.

But the bad luck had not yet gone away, and instead it lay on the heads of the river monster team, laughing like a ghost.

In the hope that Lu Yun could get more playing time, Chen Fang decided to score points early and defeat his opponent as soon as possible.

Facing Courtney, who is 198cm tall, Chen Fang changed his style and waved to his teammates to pull away. He first shot a three-pointer and hit Courtney's forehead.

On the way back to defense, he suddenly led the team in a half-court press, successfully stole the ball again, and passed it to Cooper who was running fast, allowing him to score his first point for the Red Devils.

Cooper was so happy after making the layup. His dream of many years suddenly came true and tears welled up in his eyes.

But this was not possible during the game. He quickly wiped away his tears, showed greater enthusiasm, and threw himself into the game.

In the next round, Chen Fang called for a pick-and-roll, and under Murphy's huge body, he comfortably shot an open three-pointer.

After seeing the ball go in, perhaps all that was left was the cheers from the Red Devils bench and Wallace celebrating.

But the nightmare still exists. Chen Fang began to connect with his teammates because he had proved his harmfulness. The Hippo team put all their efforts into defending him.

Chen Fang made consecutive assists to help Murphy and Theo score in the paint.

A synchronized half-high pass and a back-to-the-basket pass without looking at the opponent again caused exclamations from the stands.

Seeing that Chen Fang was omnipotent, Wallace danced with joy.

Koch next to him was stunned. He was a college scout and his vision and level were really good.

He was born into an orthodox family and followed the academic path.

What he saw was different from what Wallace saw.

Wallace was attracted by No. 21's scoring ability and natural assists, but Koch was strongly aware of this.

This No. 21 is very likely to be a player with his own system.

The team's performance is completely different when he is on the court and when he is not. He activates the offensive and defensive rhythm of the entire team, which is the axis of the offensive and defensive system.

The other four players on the court all revolve around him, asking him to assign defensive responsibilities, sort out offensive routes, and distribute the ball.

If No. 21 was not now covered in yellow skin, Koch would be extremely excited whether he was white or black.

But Asians have never heard of such a possibility in the sport of basketball.

This was a strange thing that broke everyone's cognition, and Koch dared not make any judgment.

Perez, who had been silent, suddenly whispered to Bennett: "He has the potential to take the Red Devils to the top of the mountain."

"Yes, we'll see." Bennett was very firm.

This was the first game he watched Chen Fang play, but he was certain after just the first half.

This Asian guy is terribly strong.

Not only the body, but also the mind.

(End of this chapter)