NBA: Be the GOAT starting today!

With a thought, Zhou Yi opened the system email.

[Basketball GOAT System: Helping you realize your dreams, honest and reliable]

The beginner talent pack has been sent; please check it.

Mission: Join an NCAA team and receive an NBA player skills pack as a reward.

Completed. Joined the Davidson Wildcats. NBA player skill pack sent.

Note: New player protection: the gift pack you receive this time grants you talents and skills directly, without the need for training.

Seeing the two gleaming golden gift packs appear on the screen, Zhou Yi couldn't wait to open them.

Gift pack claimed:

Gerald Green's jumping ability

Livingston's mid-range shooting skills

Gerald Green, the microwave scorer, a dunking legend who has traveled to several teams, has a running jump of 113cm that allows him to kiss the rim, making him one of the most athletic players in history.

Livingston, a genius with a broken leg, a living fossil of the retro mid-range shot, has maintained a mid-range shooting percentage of 50% for many years thanks to his talent and hard work.

The way God distributes talent is extremely unfair; some people have unlocked all their skills, while others can only move forward in a dull and ordinary way.

Fortunately, both of these well-known NBA role players have received the talent bestowed upon them by God, a talent that is enough to support them in the league for many years and earn tens of millions of US dollars.

Two talents worthy of being recorded in history have been combined in one person, and Zhou Yi is eager to head to the court to show his skills.

Pick up the basketball and go downstairs. Walk around two blocks, and you'll find a basketball court surrounded by a wire fence.

The United States boasts the most comprehensive basketball court infrastructure to date. If these burly Black men weren't allowed to unleash their full energy on the courts, the number of police officers in the US would at least triple.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and no one was playing basketball on the court. Zhou Yi stepped onto the court, warmed up, and then began to attempt dunks.

As a player who is 198cm tall, Zhou Yi can dunk on an empty basket during a game, but if there is a big, strong guy standing under the basket waving his arms, his mediocre jumping ability will not work.

Dribbling, Zhou Yi faced the basket, grabbed the ball with both hands, and jumped directly, but the basket seemed unusually close today.

Damn it, Green's jumping talent allowed Zhou Yi's legs to unleash unprecedented energy, and the basket was getting closer and closer in his field of vision.

He ducked to avoid the basket, thus avoiding a fatal head injury. Then, Zhou Yi slammed the ball into the basket with both hands, landing on his feet after hanging from the rim.

The old ball rack groaned and rattled from the impact, and his taut calves felt an unprecedented power.

Jumping ability is the most direct manifestation of dynamic talent in basketball. A player with a historically high level of jumping ability will have explosive power in both offense and defense.

With Zhou Yi possessing the jumping talent of the Nine-Finger Green, he could feel a qualitative improvement in his vertical jump, speed, and agility.

Throughout NBA history, most of the greatest players possessed impressive jumping ability for their era and position; they didn't have to be top-tier, but they couldn't be mediocre.

With the historically great jumping ability of Green, Zhou Yi's ability to attack the basket and block shots will take a qualitative leap.

After a series of exhilarating dunks, Zhou Yi began testing his mid-range shooting.

The mid-range shot is a weapon of the gods. Jordan in the 90s, Kobe in the 00s, Durant and Kawhi in the 10s, and SGA in the 20s all mastered this skill.

This is the most lethal weapon in the basketball arsenal, and Livingston, a genius who once had a broken leg, was fortunate enough to gain short-term access to this weapon.

The Warriors' low-volume, high-efficiency 50% mid-range shooting percentage helped them win three championships.

Zhou Yi tested various positions on the court, from just inside the three-point line to the free-throw line and the elbow area, and the basketball flew into the basket with a whoosh.

Especially in the left elbow area, Zhou Yi felt as if the basket was as vast as the ocean.

Shooting talent is an invisible and intangible ability; it is a hidden ceiling set by God for players.

Didn't O'Neal practice his free throws?

It is said that he built a special court at home to practice free throws, but whenever he stepped onto the free throw line, the basket seemed to have a lid on him.

Thirty throws, fifty throws...

Zhou Yi kept taking mid-range shots. With no one guarding him, Livingston's mid-range shooting talent gave him a near 100% accuracy rate. However, as the number of shots increased, his accuracy began to decline.

The sky was already dark, and the streetlights by the stadium had come on. Zhou Yi, holding his knees, was panting, his clothes soaked with sweat.

If his chances of entering the NBA were extremely slim before, now that he possesses two top-tier talents, he feels that the door to becoming a professional player has opened a crack for him.

This time, he's determined to forcefully open this door, starting with tomorrow's team training camp.

......

The Davidson Wildcats' home stadium is called John Becker Arena, which has a capacity of only 5,000 people and is also a shared training facility for school football, tennis, volleyball, and other teams.

Zhou Yi was standing by the basketball court, watching the elderly members of the team chatting together on the other side.

Meanwhile, the players on the other side were also constantly glancing curiously at Zhou Yi on the sidelines.

This year, the Davidson Wildcats achieved two firsts: recruiting four-star high school player Ben Eze for the first time in team history, and having an Asian player join the team for the first time.

"Hey buddy, do you know who this is? This is a sports field, not a math competition."

"He seems to be a player recruited by the local Davidson High School."

"Davidson High School? I heard their strongest sport is women's volleyball. When did women's volleyball allow Asians to participate? He might need a chair to stand on to jump up and touch the rim."

Unrestrained laughter erupted from the stadium, the sound seemingly piercing the rooftops.

Suddenly, a sharp whistle blew, and the players quickly stopped making noise, all eyes turning to the stadium entrance.

Two white men, a young black man, and a thin, baby-faced man walked in.

"Hey guys."

One of the elderly white men, dressed in sportswear and resembling Eastwood, clapped his hands.

"Welcome back to the Wildcats. Judging from how happy you all are, you must be ready for training."

Zhou Yi looked at the white old man who was speaking. This was head coach Bob McGillop, a veteran coach who had been coaching the Wildcats for 19 years.

The white man in a suit next to McGillop who looked like a middle-aged Harrison Ford was Mr. Murphy, the athletic director of Davidson College, as reported in the newspaper.

And that black guy was none other than Ben Eze, a foul-mouthed player from American High School, the highest-star freshman in Wildcats history.

As for the baby-faced guy next to him, that's none other than Stephen Curry, who will write countless legends in NBA history and be a strong contender for second place on the all-time point guard list.

However, at this time he was just a promising sophomore, and his outstanding three-point shooting ability last season was not enough to dispel the doubts of the league teams about his thin body.

After the team assembled, McGillop, with a serious expression, didn't give a long speech and went straight to the pre-season physical testing, starting with the running jump.

With summer over, the Wildcats' veteran players, who had just achieved their best record in history last season, were wondering how many of them would be able to maintain their training and physical fitness during the summer break.

As the team's highly anticipated promising newcomer, the foul-mouthed Eze naturally stood at the top of the test team.

Sports director Murphy, who was watching from the sidelines, looked at the eager Eze with admiration and couldn't help but say to McGillop beside him.

"We lost too many veteran players this season, and Eze is the best addition to us. This kid's talent will be Curry's best partner, so I went to great lengths to recruit him. You know, he is our first four-star high school player in history."

As Murphy spoke, Eze swung his legs and sprinted toward the high pole.

His contorted face as he exerted force reminded one of the gorilla, a star animal at the New York Zoo, as he slammed his raised arm against the plastic sheet of the high reach pole.

The staff member who recorded "103cm" called out the number.

"He's a great lad, McGillop, and I can't wait to see him on the court right now, charging into battle for us with his amazing leaps."

Upon hearing the 103cm figure, Murphy waved his arms vigorously as if he could already see Eze running across the court.

McGillop couldn't help but roll his eyes at the excited sporting director beside him, but Eze's amazing physical talent did reduce the old coach's worries about the new season.

The Wildcats are a team with average overall talent, and this disadvantage meant that when they entered the monster room of March Madness last season, Curry was the only one carrying the team.

They have Curry playing exceptionally well, but only Curry. When opponents relentlessly double-team Curry, the Wildcats' weak overall strength and mediocre talent mean that no other player can step up to relieve the pressure on him.

This is a tricky problem, so before the Wildcats' season begins, McGillop must find a second anchor for the team besides Curry.

Eze is currently the Wildcats' best option, so they went to great lengths to bring this four-star high school student, who should have gone to a prestigious basketball school, into the Wildcats.

After Eze finished jumping, the team members seemed to have conspired to push Zhou Yi to second place, as if everyone wanted to see this yellow-skinned kid make a fool of himself.

"Place your bets, place your bets! I bet this guy's vertical jump isn't even 60cm." The onlookers started placing their bets.

"I bet $100 that he's only 50cm tall."

The one who said this was the foul-mouthed Eze, who had just jumped 103cm. He continued with a mocking expression, "I bet he can't even jump half of mine. He's just an Asian."

Zhou Yi ignored Aize's foul mouth. In his past obsessive pursuit of victory, Zhou Yi had become indifferent to such taunts and trash talk.

He won't get fouled for being angry and overreacting; he'll just use a tough attitude on the court to find a way to win that damn victory.

Standing on the test track, Zhou Yi began preparations.

As Zhou Yi prepared for the height test, Murphy scratched his forehead and said to McGillop with a complicated expression.

"You know, McGillop, I have no intention of bringing this useless kid into the team, but we haven't drafted any new local players for the team in many years..."

Ultimately, we still need to give a spot to a local high school. Perhaps having that handsome face sitting on the sidelines might attract some spectators for us.

After saying that, Murphy shook his head helplessly; he had no interest in this Chinese boy whatsoever.

If it weren't for the complicated relationship between them, who were both from the same local school, he would never have put this Chinese kid on the team.

McGillop nodded. He had seen the scouting report for the week: mediocre talent, and still playing for a bottom-tier team like Davidson High School.

He may have trained hard and helped the team achieve long-awaited victories on some nights.

But so what? With a poor background and mediocre talent, his future seemed more suited to the lowest division of the NCAA, Division III, rather than the Wildcats' arena by sheer luck.

McGillop thought to himself, hoping the kid could adapt to the Wildcats' bench.

Zhou Yi, who was preparing for the high bar, was unaware of the conversation between the head coach and the sports director. His eyes were fixed on the area above where Eze would hit the high bar.

If we're talking about jumping ability alone, Green's nine fingers would rank him among the top ten in NBA history.

All I saw was...