The longest river

Chapter 108 "3D Football Star"

"Negative energy from Kobe Bryant +966".

In fact, whether it's Kobe or LeBron, one imitated Jordan's skills and the other wore Jordan's number, they were both Jordan fans without exception.

However, due to the needs of capital, they will not admit it; they will only say, "I am not going to be the next Michael," or "I am going to be the first LeBron."

This is completely different from Yang Shuai's statement, "I want to be the first version of myself," made by someone who didn't experience the Jordan era or see Jordan play much.

But that's precisely why when something related to Jordan happens to other people, it can instantly trigger the strongest emotional fluctuations in their hearts.

Kobe, who is known for his competitive nature, was further provoked by Yang Shuai's actions. He immediately signaled to Fisher to pass him the ball and then took possession of it for a one-on-one attack.

This time he increased his dribbling frequency, and his whole body seemed to be dancing on the court.

Another cheer erupted from the crowd.

Kobe's talent wasn't just in his physical attributes, but also in his ability to combine ball handling with his opponent.

Seizing an opportunity, he quickly accelerated his breakthrough.

"Snapped!"

Just as Kobe was about to get past Yang Shuai, Yang Shuai poked the ball out of his hand.

Before anyone else could react, Yang Shuai leaped out and grabbed the ball, then sprinted forward.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Yang Shuai executed a powerful windmill dunk during a fast break.

There was an uproar at the scene.

At that moment, they realized one thing: Kobe was indeed exceptionally talented, but Yang Shuai was an insurmountable mountain for him.

Even if Kobe improves, Yang Shuai will also improve, and his improvement will not be less than Kobe's.

Ultimately, the Pacers defeated the Lakers 104-87.

杨帅只打了25分钟，贡献30分7板2助攻5抢断2盖帽。

科比打了30分钟，贡献14分6板1助攻5失误。

After the game, Kobe's eyes were bloodshot, like a wild beast that was about to go berserk.

Yang Shuai didn't go up to him to say anything, because he had already said everything he wanted to say during the game.

Talent was never Kobe's problem; Kobe's problem was that he had lost the pass button, and the symptoms were more severe than those of Sonny Hill in the league.

However, they are evenly matched. Yang Shuai's passing ability is not much better right now, but he is able to seize opportunities.

So, if he has to choose one, Kobe has to learn one of them; otherwise, the tuition he has to pay won't be less than what I paid.

Of course, none of that is the point. The point is that Kobe contributed 8,000 points to him in this game!

Although he can't compare to O'Neal in terms of individual points, he has a lot more points.

On the third day of the Summer League, the Lakers faced the Suns.

The number of spectators at this game was significantly lower than yesterday. Kobe's performance against the Pacers yesterday had eroded his market value considerably, and fans' expectations were also declining.

However, Kobe had his best performance in the Summer League, scoring a whopping 36 points and frequently throwing down dunks, including some over defenders.

He proved himself with his actions, and also proved that he was no match for Yang Shuai.

The Pacers faced the Chinese men's basketball team on this day.

Before the match, the national team members all looked surprised when they saw Yang Shuai.

Information was relatively limited in that era, and since Yang Shuai had never been to China, they were unaware that there were still Asian players playing in the NBA.

Moreover, Yang Shuai seemed very enthusiastic, and even ran over to greet them during the pre-match warm-up.

Yang Shuai was indeed excited, just like he felt the day before yesterday. It was hard for him not to be moved when he saw so many legendary figures in the history of men's basketball.

The men's basketball team members were not at all resistant to him, after all, Yang Shuai spoke fluent and authentic Chinese, which was fundamentally different from those ABCs (American-born Chinese).

Finally, Yang Shuai successfully took photos with many of the national team's seniors, which can be considered as leaving a very special memory.

Of course, his enthusiasm off the court didn't stop Yang Shuai from racking up points on the court.

Once Yang Shuai started unleashing his offensive firepower on the field, accompanied by waves of trash talk, the bigwigs of the national team almost all had one feeling: Good lad, we almost got fooled!
Yang Shuai amassed a considerable number of points in this match. After all, he is Chinese, and his limited English vocabulary completely restricted his performance. Only Chinese allowed him to unleash his full potential.

Moreover, there were communication barriers between China and the United States in this era. Although Yang Shuai spoke Chinese, he could still easily provoke their negative energy.

In the final match, Yang Shuai actually scored nearly 10,000 points.

Yang Shuai was so happy that during the post-game handshake, he smiled and shook hands with each of the senior members of the men's basketball team, which literally made their CPUs burn out.

Could it be that Yang Shuai has a split personality, and is a different person on and off the court?

A week later, Yang Shuai ended his Summer League campaign, leading the Pacers to a perfect 7-0 record and winning the Summer League MVP award with an average of 31 points per game.

Although the Summer League of that era didn't have a championship, the Pacers had the most wins in this tournament. Of course, none of that mattered to Yang Shuai; what mattered was that he amassed over 5 points in the games.

This exceeded his expectations, considering that there was only one week of competition and he had only played one game against Kobe.

He has to thank the Chinese men's basketball team for this; he never expected that he could get more points playing against the Chinese men's basketball team than he could playing against the Lakers.

After this wave, his points in the system once again reached 10.

He promptly redeemed a batch of A-grade lateral movement speed boost packs.

After the exchange, his single defense ability increased to 93, becoming the first attribute in the system panel to reach the super giant level.

Of course, this is just the upper limit of the attributes. The higher the attributes, the slower the training speed. He needs to put a lot of effort into this aspect this summer.

Regardless, with his current open three-point rating of 88, one-on-one defense of 93, and drives and dunks of 80, according to fans, he will at least be a "3D star" next season.

Players with this kind of attribute are a rare commodity in any era of the NBA.

In hindsight, Brown inadvertently paved the way for him to establish himself in the NBA in the fastest way possible.

Of course, Yang Shuai would never thank Brown, because even without Brown, after the series against the Bulls, he would have been determined to improve his one-on-one defense; it was only a matter of time.

After the Summer League ended, Yang Shuai returned to Indianapolis for a short rest, and then went back to Cleveland with DiFrancisco and Johnson.

He's so popular in Indianapolis that he gets mobbed wherever he goes, so he's decided to go back to Cleveland for training this summer.

Upon returning to Cleveland, the first thing he did was buy a house.

Although the former league signed a huge endorsement contract with Reebok, the endorsement fee was paid year by year, so the money was not enough to buy a house.

But this time it was clearly enough.

He bought a $50 luxury villa in an affluent neighborhood, complete with a swimming pool and both indoor and outdoor courts.

Then he arranged for a moving company to move Rondo and his family to the villa.

For Yang Shuai, the time he spends in this villa is very limited. He also needs to pay property taxes in the United States. If no one lives there, it's just an investment for him, and he'll have to hire security guards and nannies to maintain it.

Of course, more importantly, he felt more at ease having Rondo's family living there than leaving it empty.

It's worth mentioning that Rondo played a significant role in the house purchase negotiations.

It seems that Rondo not only learned business administration in Pennsylvania, but also developed impressive oratory skills.

After settling the housing issue, Yang Shuai began intensive closed training with DiFrancisco at the basketball gym of Cleveland High School.

Aside from the occasional need for him to go out for some business promotions, he basically lives a very simple life, going back and forth between two points.

However, after a while, Yang Shuai found that the speed increase was a bit slow.

Just as he realized back then, if you want to improve your speed quickly, you can't just train blindly; you still have to rely on actual combat.

So, naturally, he thought of Kobe again.

"Hey Dou, wanna come train with me in Cleveland? We'll play one-on-one every day until we're completely exhausted."

A phone call from thousands of miles away brought Kobe Bryant over from the other side of the ocean in no time.

NBA contracts stipulate that players cannot participate in pickup games on their own, but there is no rule against hiring sparring partners during practice.

With Kobe joining the team, Yang Shuai's training progress improved dramatically.

Moreover, their one-on-one duel was even more intense than Yang Shuai's previous fight against Miller.

Miller wasn't known for his one-on-one skills, but Yang Shuai and Kobe were.

However, this also greatly helped Kobe.

To put it bluntly, of the two paths Yang Shuai offered Kobe, Kobe would never choose the team basketball path; he would only choose the path of seizing every opportunity.

So, training with an All-Star level defender like Yang Shuai, who will eventually become a superstar, coupled with his resilience and determination not to be beaten to tears like Kittles, has resulted in his remarkable improvement.

When September arrived, after a month and a half of intensive training, Yang Shuai's one-on-one defensive ability finally reached the talent ceiling of 93.

With the objective achieved, the special training has come to an end.

When parting ways with Kobe, Yang Shuai treated him to a big meal and gave him a big gold chain.

It's worth noting that Kobe's visit not only helped him reach his full potential but also contributed nearly 2 points to his account.

You have to maintain a good relationship with your number one fan.

After all, no matter how much potential O'Neal has, it's impossible for him to summon him to his side with just a phone call.

As we approach the end of September, the long and busy offseason will come to an end, and the new season will begin.

On September 17th, the Pacers' training camp for the new season officially began.

(End of this chapter)