After returning to Tempe, Xu Yong once again adjusted the focus of training on the second day of training.
He put ball control training at the top of his list, followed by three-pointers and physical fitness.
The reason for this adjustment is the same as before.
After confirming that three-point training is effective, he needs to improve his ability to control movement.
It was his long-established goal to improve his strength, three-point shooting, and movement control to the NBA level before the draft.
At this time, the existence of Cooksix becomes very meaningful.
Because of the movement control skills, if it is just training without the ball, it can easily become flashy or even flashy.
However, when used in confrontation, many dribblings will become unnecessary, and those necessary dribblings will gradually become proficient.
This understanding can be attributed to his experience before his rebirth. He has observed many people playing, both in the NBA and CBA.
He found that many CBA players, including some players with a vicious style of play in the NBA, like to dribble randomly, while great players such as Jordan and Kobe rarely dribble more than three times when attacking.
Dribbling too much will not only consume too much physical energy, but will also make you trapped in double teams. After passing the ball, it can easily turn into a dump ball.
To create an offensive space within three dribbles or less, this requires very high movement control and offensive skills.
In other words, there is still a lot that needs to be improved to reach Kobe's level, such as ball handling, mid-range, back, footwork, back, etc. These skills must all be perfected.
Xu Yong obviously can't do it now, but he can establish a rule of up to three dribbles in bullfighting, which will allow him to achieve the purpose of refining movement control.
For Cooksix, preventing such a rapid attack will also greatly improve his defensive ability.
This is the practice of spear and shield. The spear will be sharper and the shield will be stronger.
…
The Devils' second game opponent was the Oregon State Beavers.
The Beavers ranked second to last in the Pac10 last season and were inseparable from the Devils.
And they are not as lucky as the Devils in being able to recruit high-quality high school students like Harden and Xu Yong, and their strength has not changed much compared to last season.
So overall, their next game will be easier.
Moreover, the next game is at home.
The morning before the game, when the players came to the locker room one after another, they found something extra in the locker room.
All the team members couldn't help but gather around to watch.
Xu Yong was stunned for a moment when he went in and saw it.
It turned out to be a ping pong table!
After a while, Sandek came to the locker room.
In his hand was a pair of table tennis rackets and a box of brand new, unopened table tennis balls.
"Don't be late for training." After putting his things away and saying this, Sandek turned and left the locker room.
As soon as he left, the players immediately grabbed their rackets, and Shipp and Cooksix started playing right away, and they were pretty good at it.
The popularity of table tennis in the United States has been seriously underestimated. If you haven't seen the Hollywood movie "The Rehabilitation of American Soldiers," there must be table tennis scenes.
It's just that table tennis here is more about entertainment than competition, so few people know this.
After a while, Shipp defeated Cooksix and Albert one after another. This guy is really proficient in everything except basketball.
"Xu, I want to challenge you." He then challenged Xu Yong.
As a Chinese in the eyes of foreigners, you may not know many things, but there are two things that you are almost certain to know.
One is kung fu, and the other is table tennis.
The former is because of the existence of Bruce Lee, and the latter is because of the influence of the Chinese Table Tennis Dream Team.
Xu Yong nodded and stood up. He happened to be able to do those two things that foreigners thought he knew.
Then, with all his teammates watching, Xu Yong performed a "Narrow Victory".
As an opponent, Shipp could clearly feel that Xu Yong could completely defeat him.
But obviously, who is going to hit their teammates hard?
After Xu Yong won, he put down his table tennis racket and did not continue to beat others like Shipp.
But soon, other teammates came up to play.
Table tennis is slow to pick up and difficult to reach a competitive level, but it excels in its simplicity and playability. It is one of those sports where you get better the more you play, which is why it is so popular.
Then during the afternoon training, Harden found Xu Yong and said he wanted to learn to play table tennis from him.
It was also at this time that Xu Yong noticed that Harden had not been on the table tennis table in the locker room in the morning. It turned out that he did not know how to do it.
Of course he wouldn't refuse, and after the training was over, he took Harden back to the locker room to teach him how to play.
But compared to basketball, Harden's talent in table tennis is indeed average.
This talent does not refer to physical talent. Harden's coordination and explosiveness are not lacking, but his ball sense is too poor.
People who are deficient in this area need to practice for at least two and a half years before they can find the feeling.
Of course, this is entertainment in itself, and Harden still enjoys it.
This ping pong table built by Sandek can be said to be a great value for money.
…
The next day, the Devils hosted the Beavers.
There was not much suspense in the result. The game was won easily. Xu Yong and Harden's pick-and-rolls were used more by Sandek, becoming a powerful weapon for the team to attack the city.
And it’s worth mentioning that Wells Fargo Arena was fully occupied.
After the Devils won the derby, their popularity exploded. Not only the local Tempe fans, but also fans from several major cities in the Phoenix metropolitan area came to support them.
Although it is a state school, it is still a team from the Phoenix metropolitan area. If this reaches the championship, it will be their home team.
With two consecutive wins at the start of the game, the Devils carried on this momentum and then visited the Haas Arena of the University of California, Berkeley, to face the Golden Bears.
Although they are both branch schools, Berkeley is not as good as Los Angeles (that is, UCLA), but it is still better than Oregon State.
Moreover, the Devils, especially Harden and Xu Yong, were clearly targeted.
Harden and Xu Yong performed very well in the first two games, but they are not without weaknesses.
Harden was forced to make more breakthroughs from the right. His lack of skill with his right hand led to a significant decrease in finishing efficiency and an increase in mistakes.
Xu Yong's ability without the ball is excellent, but his ability to hold the ball is weak. Although he has conducted targeted training in advance, like the previous three-point training, the results are not immediate.
After Harden's performance was limited, his performance was also greatly affected.
And for the Golden Bears, sophomore Ryan Anderson performed extremely well. He scored 24 points in the game.
On the bright side, the Golden Bears don't have anyone to provide more support to Anderson.
The two teams were in a stalemate until the last moment. With Xu Yong's successful defense against Anderson at the last moment, the Devils won the game in a thrilling 60-58 way.
At this point, they extended their winning streak to three games and had a perfect start.
But next, they will face a real challenge. Their next opponent is the king of the Pac10 League, who is also famous in the NCAA Division I League. He has won the final championship ten times in school history (the most in NCAA history). The favorite to win this season—UCLA Bruins.
