Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 451 Helping O'Neal Lose Weight
With the draft over, the most important thing for NBA teams in the offseason is not the Summer League, but Townsend's million-dollar training camp.

All the teams are carefully calculating how to use their only two spots.

Who to give it to is a big problem.

It could even affect the team's strategy for the next season.

Townsend also sent an email, announcing that the camp will officially open on July 1st, and all players must report to New York before the 30th.

As for Durant...

Tang Sen originally wanted him to bring his parents and play until July before returning.

As a result, he returned to New York the day after the draft.

"Not used to it."

When Tang Sen asked him why he didn't stay longer, Durant gave this shy answer.

These days, he took his parents on a trip to Europe, sponsored by Adidas.

Stay in the best hotels and enjoy the best entertainment.

They travel in luxury cars and are always accompanied by personal accompaniment wherever they go.

But Durant, who was used to living a frugal life, only felt awkward.

I can't let go.

I have money in my hands but I can't spend it, and I don't know how to spend it.

In Monaco, they arranged for him to go to the casino to broaden his horizons, but he just wandered around without placing a single bet.

In the Netherlands, he was also given the opportunity to "broaden his horizons" by being paired with the most beautiful girl. Durant himself was as shy as a girl and didn't even dare to look the girl in the eye.

Tang Sen was actually aware of these circumstances.

Taking him to broaden his horizons was also a deliberate arrangement by Tang Sen.

Who would have thought Durant would perform like this?

Tang Sen then realized that this kid had never even been in a relationship.

He was a sports star in elementary school, and he's never even played cheerleading captain, which is unbelievable.

This is different from the situation caused by Howard's faith.

I feel that he is somewhat insecure because of his family's financial situation.

This is a problem that Tangsen has been sensing ever since he started working with Durant.

Letting him spend money freely is the way to help him overcome his low self-esteem.

It failed.

Tang Sen could only say that the environment in which one grows up has a huge impact on one's personality.

Personality issues can only be addressed gradually.

The good thing is that he shares Jordan's love for basketball.

Or rather, basketball has become everything to him; it is his bridge to the world, his safe zone, and his psychological haven.

Just like now, he doesn't feel comfortable indulging in Europe.

Faced with this maladjustment, he chose to alleviate it by returning to New York and training with Tang Sen.

That's good; it shows that his attitude towards basketball is pure.

Now that we're back, let's just start training.

Tang Sen had already planned out the specific training plan.

From now until next year's draft, and then the start of the 06/07 season, there are still one year and three months.

That means you need to spend at least six months building a foundation.

First, physical health.

Train your body in all aspects and push every part of it to its limits.

There are some drawbacks, such as physical fitness.

Tang Sen had already discovered this during the previous 7-day training camp.

Durant's physical condition is okay, but not great.

If you want to become a scoring machine like Jordan, you need stamina and physical strength.

This takes practice and building a solid foundation.

Secondly, there's the technological foundation.

Dribbling, shooting, passing, defense.

This is the foundation of technology.

Then there are some basic movements in basketball.

That is, turning around, passing and receiving the ball.

If you want to learn advanced techniques, you must master these fundamentals and put in a lot of effort.

Finally, there's awareness—the awareness to attack and the awareness to defend.

It also involves understanding the sport of basketball, the game itself, and tactics.

If I run for office next year, I definitely won't go to university.

I need to catch up on these things.

Spend six months laying the foundation, and then another nine months helping him grow and become omnipotent.

"Kevin, are you mentally prepared?" Tang Sen finally reminded him.

If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight.

Becoming a basketball god comes at a high price. Especially mentally, you must be prepared to train incredibly hard.

And it wasn't just ordinary hard training.

Even with system bonuses, it's still not enough.

Durant instinctively wanted to nod, but then realized the weight of Tang Sen's words.

After a moment's thought, Durant said, "Sir, I will try my best."

Tang Sen nodded without comment.

Anyone can shout slogans, but whether they can stick to them depends on their performance.

Training began on the second day.

First, train your endurance.

We need to help him gain weight; he's too skinny and needs to get heavier.

Therefore, Tang Sen plans to train for long-distance running for a while during this period.

The point is that basketball is a sport that combines endurance training, and simply doing aerobic exercises like running may not be effective.

But God's standards are different.

To become a god, one must have no weaknesses in any aspect.

You need to train anaerobic exercise, and you need to train aerobic exercise just the same way.

Only by training both to their peak, and combining them with endurance, can one then reach the highest level.

So the next morning, Tang Sen took Durant for a run, using the methods of track and field athletes to train him.

To this end, Tang Sen specifically hired a long-distance runner to train with Durant.

A coach is not needed.

Tang Sen has a system that allows for simulations anytime, anywhere.

This allows us to find the most suitable training plan.

And this is what top coaches call experience.

So even if Tang Sen becomes a track and field coach, he can still achieve top-level results.

With professional-level track and field training, running to the point of feeling like you're going to die is not just an adjective.

Thanks to the system's enhancements, Durant could clearly feel the training's effects, and he had a feeling that the more he trained, the more he wanted to train.

It felt really weird that I was so tired I wanted to die, but I still wanted to train.

At the same time, training has permeated every aspect of life.

They eat and rest in fixed amounts, and during training breaks, they also have some classes, such as watching videos.

It's still Kruger. He has time during the offseason, and Townsend asked him to come and help, so there's no way he wouldn't come.

As an NBA-level head coach, he devoted himself to showing Durant videos and helping him understand NBA tactics, which led to a rapid increase in Durant's basketball awareness.

Just before Durant's training officially began, before the million-dollar training camp, something else happened.

According to Boston media reports, the Celtics and Lakers almost made a stunning trade on draft day.

That is, to trade O'Neal.

They also revealed that the Lakers were the ones who pushed for the trade.

The Los Angeles Times immediately followed up, analyzing the Lakers' desire to give up O'Neal and reviewing the various grievances the Lakers had against O'Neal over the past few seasons.

They say he's too old, his contract is too big, and it's locking up the Lakers' salary cap space.

It would be better to trade for a new number one draft pick, who has the same top talent and is young, which would be beneficial for supporting Kobe as the team's leader.

This is Shaquille O'Neal! Overnight, this revelation caused a huge uproar.

This forced Kupchak to come forward and say that the Lakers did have this plan, but it was just a plan and the trade was not completed in the end, which meant that they still believed that O'Neal was better than Bynum.

But in the eyes of the media and fans, this explanation simply means that the terms of the deal were not agreed upon.

Or rather, the Lakers were met with indifference, and the Celtics were reluctant to let go of their number one draft pick.

If that's the case, wouldn't O'Neal be worse than a number one draft pick?

In particular, Bynum was so big that he was jokingly called a "little shark" by the media.

Even Tang Sen found this kind of reporting strange.

Because transactions of this level are bound to be highly confidential, and since the deal was never completed, it's even less likely that it would be leaked or dug up by the media afterward.

It can only be said that someone took the initiative to leak the information.

It wouldn't be the Celtics either. They're not even making any trades anymore. Why would the Celtics leak information and upset Bynum?

Logically, it shouldn't have been the Lakers. Similarly, the trade didn't go through, and they kept O'Neal. If more information comes out, how would O'Neal feel comfortable?
The mighty Shaq, the most dominant center in NBA history, was traded for a high school student?

It's a bit embarrassing.

Therefore, Tang Sen suspected that this was fake news fabricated by the media, who just happened to guess correctly.

But whatever the reason, it led to a result that Tang Sen had not expected.

The Lakers announced an early contract extension with Shaquille O'Neal, reportedly a long-term deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

This might be the Lakers' management's way of appeasing O'Neal.

Meanwhile, at the last minute, the Lakers changed the roster they sent to the million-dollar training camp.

One of them is still Kobe, while the other has been replaced by Shaquille O'Neal instead of David Lee, their rookie this year.

For some unknown reason, O'Neal agreed to come to Townsend's million-dollar training camp.

The Lakers' wish list was very clear: help O'Neal lose weight.

(End of this chapter)