Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 174 Climbing the Highest Mountain of NBA

"Hey, guys, we seem to be famous!" Little Porter came out of the bathroom, shouting on his cell phone.

"Hey, didn't you go take a shower?"

"My brother called me and said that we are very popular in California and our Late Spring Team is very bright now! Hey, brother, it turns out that we are so scary when we are a team!" Porter Jr. was very excited.

"Wait, what broke? California?" Trae Young was surprised. Most players subscribe to updates from their own state, and they have no idea about what's happening in California. After playing basketball, they had dinner, and then went to work to digest the food. Then they returned to the living room and started drinking tea and chatting like they did yesterday.

Chen Fang had no choice but to ask Lu Yun, but after asking twice and getting no response, he remembered that they had already gone out, leaving only the four of them in the room drinking tea.

Suddenly, Tatum's phone rang. He looked at it and said to Chen Fang, "It's Drew!"

Chen Fang was a little worried and felt that it was related to today's game.

Tatum went out to answer it, but soon he came back and handed the phone to Chen Fang.

Chen Fang picked up the phone: "Hey, Drew!"

"Wow, Chen, you did a big thing."

"Really? It's just a ball game."

"Of course not. Fine, I have no objection. Just let Jason stay with you. It's time to change your program during training. But I must warn you that this matter is starting to become a bit troublesome."

"What trouble?"

"The California high school community is in urgent discussion, and a familiar friend called me and asked why Tatum showed up."

"What to discuss?" Chen Fang was very calm.

"You slaughtered Montgomery High School. Oh my God, 162 points. Oh my God, you are so cruel! You have no idea how powerful Coach Doug is. Now he is calling on all high schools in California to unite and deal with your provocative behavior."

"What do you mean? I don't quite understand." Chen Fang had already switched his phone to speakerphone mode and placed it on the dining table.

"They want to form a California team and fight you again." Drew said word by word.

"Haha, isn't this a good thing?" Chen Fang laughed.

"Really? Now the entire California high school circle is going crazy. Many people are dissatisfied with the Late Spring Team because you crossed the line."

"Come on, for us, we just want exposure."

Drew also laughed on the other end of the phone: "That's why you let Jason stay with you. Come on, I won't be able to come out. It's best to let the outside world think that this is a tour initiated by you guys."

"That's the truth."

"OK, I'll let you know if there are any changes."

“Thank you very much, keep in touch.”

After hanging up the phone, Chen Fang looked at the three people's breath-holding expressions, and his expression changed from serious to joyful.

"Guys, time to get started!" Chen Fang said, opening his hands.

"Oh man! Whoa!" Everyone laughed wildly.

"California, this is California." Little Porter was overjoyed.

"We stirred up a hornet's nest, but we have S-level protection and complete equipment. Well, this is something I didn't expect. It turns out that Californians are so psychologically fragile." Chen Fang laughed.

"Yes, it's a bit troublesome, but who cares?" Chen Fang asked one by one: "Who cares?"
"No one cares!" Chen Fang stirred up the emotions of the three people. He shouted in the living room: "Who is the king of California?"
"mymymy!" the four people shouted together.

"Let's get started! Just do it!" Chen Fang clapped his hands hard, and then the whole living room was filled with applause.

Chen Fang's phone suddenly rang. Chen Fang took a look and stretched out his hand to make a hushing gesture.

Answer the call, hands-free.

"Hey my brother, I guess you got something for me."

"Ha, I want to kick your head off now, brother. Why did you go to California to do such a big deal without taking me with you?"

"I was just on vacation, settling a personal grudge, and it turned out like this. Why, are you interested?"

"Of course, I know you are short of a center, I have no problem with the time and physical fitness, I am totally OK!"

"Come on, I'll text you the address."

"Haha, I knew you wouldn't abandon me!"

“See you in California!”

“See you in California!”

After hanging up the phone, Chen Fang looked at the expressions of the three people waiting for answers, and slowly said: "Jaren Jackson, I guess his father smelled the wind, and then he came."

"We have a center?" Porter Jr. asked.

"Yeah, let him guard the inside alone, we can shoot as much as we want!"

Tatum was also a little shocked. He looked at the three of them and said, "Guys, it seems we are invincible!"

"Of course we are invincible. No matter who they call, come on, we will take them all!" Trae Young shouted arrogantly.

"It's crazy, but why am I so happy!" Tatum couldn't help himself.

"Wait, this is nothing. Guess what, after defeating the California League, is there no follow-up?" Chen Fang suddenly had an idea.

It's crazy, but he thinks it's feasible!
"What follow-up?"

"The California United Team doesn't matter. I think, since it's so rare, why not go for the big one?" Chen Fang said to the three of them.

After a pause and whetting the appetite, Chen Fang expressed the bold idea that had just occurred to him.

"We're going to take on the Pac-12?"

"Oh my goodness!" the three exclaimed, then showed excited expressions.

"There are four in California: UCLA, USC, UCB, and SU." (University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford, and Southern California.)
"Why don't we play against the NCAA and prove that we are capable enough to compete with them?"

“This is more cost-effective than any other tour. Maybe we only need to play one game to prove ourselves.”

Chen Fang's voice is like that of a devil, extremely seductive.

"But the NCAA is over. Will they fight us?" Tatum was one of the calmest ones. He pointed out the bug in the plan.

"But school still has to go on, and the players won't leave. Even if they are going to be drafted, it won't be that fast. Many players are still in school at this time, aren't they?" Chen Fang replied calmly.

"Yes, Jaylen is still in school." Tatum said.

"Speaking of Jay Chou, did you congratulate Big Brother?" Chen Fang asked.

"Of course, he was very lucky and won the championship in his first year!" Tatum was extremely envious.

"Why didn't you go to the scene?" Chen Fang thought of a question.

The three of them laughed almost at the same time. Little Porter said, "Don't you know? There is a curse. Whoever goes to the finals will never be able to enter the finals in his life."

Chen Fang was stunned. There is such a superstition. Well, after thinking about it, it does make sense and he even believed it.

"But how do we make them willing?" Tatum asked, continuing with the previous topic.

"Of course we are the ones who are here to provoke."

"After we win against California, we will be interviewed and say that we are a late spring team and can make it to March Madness even in the NCAA."

"What do you think of this sentence?" Chen Fang asked the three people.

They looked at each other and gave Chen Fang a thumbs up.

"I think the strength is just right!" Tatum also agreed.

"Then the question is, who is more suitable to speak?" Chen Fang looked at the three of them.

So the focus was on the Rex Rabbit.

"Me?" Rex Rabbit felt guilty.

"Of course it's you. Hey, you're a Duke now, wouldn't it be more appropriate for you to say it?"

"Okay, I'll accept this mission." Rex Rabbit was helpless. "Don't worry, if it doesn't work, there's still Plan B!" The more Chen Fang thought about it, the more interesting it became.

"We can go to their school, beat the younger ones, and then come to the older ones."

"Haha, I like this plan!" Trae Young was happy and slapped the table and said, "So what are we going to do now?"

"Keep calm and wait for the story to come!"

※※※

Things are developing as expected, and soon, the storm about a group of five-star high school students crossing the line has become a hot topic, second only to Kobe's retirement game tomorrow.

De'Anthony Melton, the star player of Carmelite High School, which won the California 4A state championship for two consecutive years, publicly applied to join the team on Twitter and Facebook, thus starting a crazy registration process for California high school stars.

In just one day, the California team was formed, with all the best high school basketball stars in California attending.

Cody Montoya, the star player from Met Dei High School, Marvin Bagley, the superstar from Sierra Canyon High School, Lonzo and the second oldest of the three Ball brothers from Chino Hills, and a group of three and four-star high school students.

Because of the popularity of Kobe's retirement game, the game was initially scheduled for the 16th, Sunday.

Overtime, a sports media with 651 million followers on Instagram, also paid attention to this incident. They are a media specializing in high school basketball and have a super future star, Zion Williams, who is only 16 years old but has already begun to show his potential.

As a star-making project, they immediately became a hot topic. Editor-in-Chief Tang Jiande shamelessly said: "California basketball has not produced a star for a long time. It is normal to be slaughtered. Even 16-year-old Zion Williams, our Zion, can do the same, and he only needs one person."

Although his big talk caused a lot of media to attack him, it also spread this hot topic from California to the entire United States.

Both Tatum and Trae Young have a broad and numerous fan base. Through searching, fans discovered that many California fans were cursing, so conflicts immediately arose, with more and more fans joining in. In just one day, the topic of this late spring game against the California United team rose to 32nd in the United States.

You know, this is the popularity of the national topic list.

The stadium was also changed from a place that accommodated less than a thousand people to a stadium that accommodated ten thousand people.

Everything happened so fast that even Drew was stunned.

He called to advise Chen Fang and others to show up as little as possible, keep a low profile before the game, and not to accept interviews to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

However, Chen Fang and the other three were ready to go at home. Looking at the team's roster, they were not worried at all. Instead, they were smiling happily.

"I never meet these people at other times, but now they're all running out like toads after the rain!" Trae Young was so excited that he couldn't even sit still and kept walking around the dining table.

"No rush, let's watch the game first, then pick up Jalen, and then No. 16 will have some fun with them!"

After getting excited, Little Porter suddenly said, "Brothers, it feels like we are the villains, but it feels very exciting."

"What villain? This is called military training, and we are instructors." Chen Fang said.

"Military training?" Several people were confused by this new word.

"Have you never seen Forrest Gump? When the instructor tells you to stand at attention, you stand at attention; when he tells you to salute, you salute; when he tells you to do push-ups, you do it until he tells you to stop!" Chen Fang looked at the three of them and laughed.

“Is there a picture now?”

"Got it!" Trae Young chuckled sinisterly.

Normally, if he were facing this group of people alone, he would definitely be nervous, but when he thought about having this group of people around him, he felt more anxious.

In fact, everyone here has the same feeling as Trae Young. As the saying goes, one hero needs three helpers. When several people join forces, their courage is indeed infinitely magnified. This gives people a greater sense of participation than the All-Star Game.

"Let's go, let's continue training and practice tactics." Chen Fang saw that the time was almost up, so Lu Yun found a private gym for them. The situation was very tense right now, and the more so at this time, the more mysterious it would be.

There was a big Civic at the door, and Lu Jie left the car to them.

Now Chen Fang is the driver. The four of them got in the car and quickly drove out of the community and headed for the stadium.

"Did you cook today?" Tatum suddenly asked in the back seat.

"Yes!" Chen Fang shouted.

"Yeah!" the three cheered.

Now the relationship between the four of them is skyrocketing, and this is inseparable from Chen Fang.

Although Chen Fang knew in his heart that all this was deliberate, he did feel more emotional when he was involved in it.

They are all harmless people, gathered together purely for the beauty of basketball.

As long as there is food to eat and ball to play, I feel satisfied.

Chen Fang had to admit that he had deliberately divided his friends and relationships into different levels. This was the case in China and it was the same in the United States.

But he has indeed changed now, because you can see through this group of people and their thoughts.

It's just very simple.

(In fact, I have never met Americans, but I have seen a lot of stars, like Harden. Don't look at him as the little prince of nightclubs. In fact, you can tell from his interviews that this person has a simple mind and clear eyes. When he visited China for activities, he was quite real. I quite approve of Harden. When the Thunder had three less players, he would rather have less than leave, and finally he was forced to go to the Rockets. But there are many hypocritical people in the NBA. I won't say who they are. This is also normal. There are no pure people in the world of fame and fortune.)
Chen Fang thought about it and felt emotional. In a few years, everyone will change, and by then there won’t be so much true emotion expressed.

Therefore, we should cherish the present time together, as it is very precious.

At the end of the stadium, the four of them began to warm up. This really made Chen Fang see the difference. In China, warm-up is just a formality, but in the United States, the warm-up time of professional players is usually one to two of the training time.

Adequate warm-up is not only a protection, but also makes training more effective.

During the warm-up phase, there is almost no conversation and everyone is doing it in their own way. Don't feel strange, this is normal.

At their level, they have all gone through the process of being trained by famous teachers, and they are aware of their own physical deficiencies, and have developed a series of training to compensate for them, and naturally they will also have corresponding warm-up methods.

For example, Trae Young needs to double the mobility of his joints. Because he has less muscles, he is under more pressure than others. He needs to keep all the joints in his body at the same temperature, which can allow the fluid in the joints to be better lubricated and offset wear.

Porter Jr.'s problem is his lumbar spine. He has a natural curvature of the vertebrae, which makes it easy for the muscles in his lumbar spine to be damaged when he exerts force. He needs to activate his core more.

Tatum's problem lies in his ankles and calves, which are too thin, which makes his feet easily fatigued when he exerts force. He needs to stimulate his hip muscles more to let the hip muscles balance the strength of the lower limbs, thereby reducing the pressure on his ankles and feet.

So don’t just copy another star’s warm-up after seeing it, and don’t have the ridiculous idea that because this star is a bigger star, his warm-up must be better.

Warming up is always customized according to one's own shortcomings. The widely spread ones can only be applicable to some people. You also need targeted warm-up methods.

An hour later, the four began to reunite, starting with dribbling, cooperating in pairs, one interfering with the dribbling of the other, and when they came back, it was the other's turn to continue.

Next is shooting, again with two people in a team, similar to a one-on-one match, but with lower intensity and mainly focused on interference.

After practicing all these, we will start the actual round-robin practice. There is a staking claim in this session, and the loser will have to pay the price.

This is basically the pattern these days.

Some people may find it boring, but for Chen Fang and his four friends, this is their daily life.

According to statistics, only 0.86% of high school basketball players will enter the NCAA Division I league in the future, and only 4% of Division I league players will eventually enter the NBA draft.

0.86%x4%=0.0344%, and then enter the draft. The NBA draft only allows 195 people to register each year. They will first screen based on your resume, and then notify you that you are eligible to participate.

Then through joint tryouts, people will be continuously screened, and finally only 60 will be selected, which are called 30 first-round picks and 30 second-round picks.

That is to say, out of these 4%, only 30% are likely to be selected.

As for these 60 people, they basically have no chance of joining the team in the second round and should go to the Development League to upgrade.

So, in the end, only 30% of this 15% are real NBA players. (I can’t figure it out, I’m terrible at math, if you’re good at it, please try to figure out what the final percentage is compared to the previous 0.0344.)
Anyone who wants to go to the NBA is well aware of this, so this kind of pressure is always hovering over their heads. Training, playing games, improving their strength, and increasing exposure are their daily routines.

Even after going to the NBA, this daily routine will only intensify, especially for role players, who have to focus more professionally on training.

Chen Fang was not sure, but he was the most relaxed among the four because he could predict the future.

The source of his strong confidence in going to the NBA is that in the past six months, the group of American players with high ceilings who played against him and gave him the upper hand are all future NBA stars. This is a very logical way of thinking.

So Chen Fang gained confidence and believed that he could go too, especially after 16, this confidence has become very strong.

He is not only technically but also mentally.

So when he began to lead the late spring plan, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he was very sure that this was a good plan.

Moreover, he feels that after entering the NCAA, this confidence will be supported by sufficient achievements.

Now that we have entered the gate, the next step is to climb the mountain.

Climb the highest mountain in NBA!
　Just one chapter today. The weather has changed. Both of my elderly parents are not feeling well, so I have to do all the housework...

　　Please be patient, things will not be that easy.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)