The longest river

Chapter 50 Bird's Reminder

After a brief exchange, Hoiberg was told to go back first, while Yang Shuai and Best were taken to the training facility by Bird.

There were two courts in the training facility, and Bird took them to one of them.

He's gotten excited and wants to have a three-point shooting contest with Yang Shuai.

Best... well, he was called in to help retrieve the ball.

Their competition involves five points, with five balls at each point, and the winner is the one who scores the most goals.

Yang Shuai will shoot first.

Before he began, Bird specifically instructed him, "Give it your all."

Yang Shuai was initially hesitant, after all, Bird was a legend, and he was afraid that winning would displease his opponent.

However, since Bird had specifically given instructions, he had nothing to worry about.

Yang Shuai made 24 of his 25 shots, which would be considered a 25+ three-point shooting contest.

Although there is no time limit, the location is constantly changing, which is enough to show that his training over the past period has been effective.

However, Best, who passed the ball, frowned deeply. High school students are indeed high school students; they have no sense of social etiquette at all.

Bird seemed relaxed.

Once he started shooting, Best suddenly realized that Bird's relaxed demeanor wasn't feigned.

Although his shooting rhythm was much slower than Yang Shuai's, his shots were still very accurate.

Yang Shuai was also somewhat surprised.

Although he was born in the 00s, he knew about Bird's famous line during the Three-Point Contest, "You guys are here to compete for second place."

After traveling through time, he learned that Bird had even won three consecutive Three-Point Contest titles.

However, in his opinion, Bird benefited more from the league's overall low level of three-point shooting, after all, he had witnessed firsthand the lack of emphasis that players in this era placed on three-pointers in the past two years.

Bird made 21 of his last 25 shots.

Although he has fewer than Yang Shuai, you should know that he has been retired for three years and has gained weight.

This is truly unbelievable.

After the three-point contest, Bird invited Yang Shuai to a restaurant for dinner.

Best... went to find something to eat by himself.

Although Yang Shuai didn't know why Bird paid so much attention to him or even favored him, he couldn't refuse Bird's invitation.

Bird took Yang Shuai to an Asian restaurant, and to Yang Shuai's surprise, the restaurant was run by Chinese people and the food was exceptionally authentic.

This made Yang Shuai feel exceptionally comfortable.

Although Bird spent his entire career playing for the Celtics, he was a native of Indiana, where he spent high school and college.

Bird mainly talked about basketball during the meal, that is, his understanding of basketball.

By the end of the conversation, Bird couldn't stop nodding; he could sense that Yang Shuai had a high basketball IQ.

"It's more fun with young people. If it were someone else, we wouldn't have had the time to enjoy ourselves today." Bird also brought up their previous match.

At Bird's age, having experienced too much of the ways of the world, he prefers things that are simpler. Yang Shuai's move was somewhat accidental.

"Aren't you curious why I'm paying so much attention to you?" After eating and drinking his fill, Bird leaned back in his chair leisurely.

Yang Shuai nodded. If it weren't for the huge difference in their skin tones, he would have thought Bird was some distant relative of his.

“Do you remember Kevin McHale?” Bird asked him first.

Yang Shuai thought for a while, and then remembered that when Fraser arranged for him to have a private tryout with NBA executives, McHale was one of them.

"He told me that he saw a good Asian player."

Upon hearing this, Yang Shuai's memories of Bird from the original owner of the body were also awakened.

Bird and McHale were the top two players on the Celtics, and they must have had a good relationship off the court.

"Interestingly, I heard that Michael visited him when he was about to make his comeback, and I didn't expect him to mention you as well." Bird said, looking at Yang Shuai meaningfully.

“He mentioned that practice match to me and said you ‘played alright.’ You know, there aren’t many young players who can get that kind of praise from Michael.”

Yang Shuai was somewhat taken aback. He hadn't expected that Jordan would remember him, and he had thought that "You played alright" was just trash talk.

However, Bird's explanation makes sense.

Driven by curiosity, Bird showed up at the Pacers' workout session, and his workout was perfect.

As for why Bird strongly recommended the Pacers?

In the NBA, it's common practice for players to recommend their hometown teams.

It's important to know that in the earliest days, the NBA had a system of regional preference for player selection.

So should Yang Shuai thank McHale, Jordan, or Bird?
He didn't think so. He believed he should be most grateful to himself because every opportunity he received was earned through his own hard work.

Even without Bird and his group, there would have been others.

"Thank you, Mr. Bird." Yang Shuai thanked Bird, after all, without the other's strong recommendation, he wouldn't have become a lottery pick. Bird nodded in satisfaction.

Although Yang Shuai is not very socially adept, he is very polite.

Perhaps because polite rookies are lucky, or perhaps because he felt it necessary to share some experience on interpersonal relationships with Yang Shuai, Bird also talked to Yang Shuai with great interest about the interpersonal relationships in the NBA.

One particular understanding left a deep impression on Yang Shuai.

"The biggest difference between here and college basketball is the team relationships. Here, you are just colleagues, and competition is everywhere, especially among the veteran players, who see rookies as a threat to their job security."

Bird's words revealed the cruel side of the NBA, and Yang Shuai was also shocked by his perception, since he thought the relationships between NBA teammates were pretty good.

However, he quickly recalled what Barkley had said at the Nike training camp: "Don't idolize NBA stars."

This is probably the same reason why what he sees in the news, such as the "Splash Brothers" and the "LeBron-Davis duo," are actually what the NBA and the media want them to see.

Bird's words served as a heads-up, preparing him mentally for potentially fierce competition in the future.

The next day, Yang Shuai bought a computer, hoping to learn more about his teammates online.

However, after he actually bought the computer, he found that the internet in this era was really outdated. All he could find were some current affairs news, and even the NBA official website only had some news briefings.

With the online route closed, he could only wait for the team's training camp to begin.

Of course, he didn't wait at home; instead, he took DiFrancisco to "live" in the City Square stadium.

The training equipment in NBA-level arenas is far more complete than what he bought at home, and the indoor shooting practice environment is also much better than the outdoor one.

However, his solo training did not last long; just a week later, other people came to the gym.

The lockout put the NBA on pause in the summer, and once it ended, the NBA was put back on the fast track.

The opening game of the new season will not change, and the number of preseason games will not be reduced. This means that the free agent market and team training camps, which should have been completed throughout the summer, will all be crammed into less than a month from late September to early October.

The first person Yang Shuai met was Reggie Miller.

Miller Young was naturally recognized; he often saw him in the commentary booth when watching the NBA in his past life, looking like a typical Californian.

Apart from looking a bit younger, Miller during his playing days looked pretty much the same as he remembered.

Like Curry, he is the type whose face shape doesn't change with age.

Since arriving in Indianapolis, Miller's image has been ubiquitous, appearing on billboards along the roadside and on posters in front of the arena.

When Yang Shuai saw this, he took the initiative to go up and greet Miller, the team leader.

However, Miller didn't seem to like him very much.

Is this what Bird meant when he said that veteran players see rookies as a job threat?
But it doesn't seem to make sense either.

There shouldn't be any competition between the team's leader and the rookie for the time being.

Fortunately, Yang Shuai was only greeting him out of politeness. Since Miller was giving him the cold shoulder, there was no need for him to try to win him over.

As a result, a very "harmonious" scene unfolded for a period of time: Yang Shuai and Miller were both sweating profusely in the training hall, but each was training their own thing.

Time flies, and it's already early October. By then, the signings and trades of NBA free agents have basically been finalized.

Unlike the NBA era that Yang Shuai was familiar with, which saw a trend of forming teams and superteams, there was relatively little movement in the league at that time.

However, some of the signings were particularly noteworthy, even Yang Shuai, who was in the training hall, had heard about them.

The biggest trade involved the Heat and the Hornets.

Because Mourning refused to sign an early contract extension with the Hornets, the Hornets eventually traded him to the Heat in exchange for Glen Rice and a 1996 first-round pick.

Alonzo Mourning consistently contributed 20+10 stats for three seasons with the Hornets, along with more than 3 blocks per game. He was also selected as an All-Star last season. This is a trade that could change the fate of both teams.

Having previously tried out for the Heat, Yang Shuai naturally considered the possibility of playing for the Heat.

Now that the Heat have acquired Alonzo Mourning, it's uncertain whether their partnership would become another "OK ​​combination" if he were still with the Heat.

Of course, nowadays, that can only happen in the world of "what if".

Another noteworthy trade was the Bulls acquiring Rodman from the Spurs.

Of course, the sensation Rodman caused was quite different from Mourning's.

Although he was still the league's rebounding leader last season, Rodman, who is 35 years old, is a negative asset on the market.

This is mainly due to his troublesome personality. Last season, he not only had a major falling out with head coach Popovich on the court, but also faced constant trouble off the court.

The fact that a player is best known for a short but highly publicized relationship with Madonna during a season gives you an idea of ​​how bad things are for him now.

The Spurs wanted to trade Rodman, but there was almost no market for him.

The deal caused a sensation because Rodman was once a member of the "Bad Boys".

The feud between the "Bad Boys" and Jordan is long and complicated, and the rivalry between Rodman and Jordan back then was naturally no less intense.

But now Rodman is going to the Bulls, which is quite dramatic.

The Pacers also made some acquisitions in the free agent market, and it was around this time that the team's official training camp officially began.

(End of this chapter)