Li Ao spent more than ten days of peaceful time.
From Monday to Thursday, I have classes and training, and when I finish lunch or afternoon, I have a meal with my teammates who are working hard to prepare for the semester exam.
Mainly with Trepagnier, he went to explore the small shops with good quality and low prices. Most of the time, he went there in joy and returned disappointed, but the two of them never tired of it.
I have classes on Friday morning, eat at a high-end restaurant with my assistant aunt and Liam at noon, have no classes in the afternoon, play games with Liam, and practice some ball at four or five o'clock.
Fridays and Saturdays were all training. Originally, he wanted to free up time to play games or something, but after April 20th, Liam, who turned 20, was deprived of his weekend rest by his father. The relaxing campus time was not suitable for him. For Liam, it's gone forever.
For every afternoon training, Henry Bibby originally just hired a trainer for him.
Trainers are all on contract. Under normal circumstances, funds are limited and trainers are only hired from the beginning of the fall semester to the end of the season.
But the Trojans won the 90th Division I national championship for USC in school history. The funds have been rising steadily, and now they can make a lot of money.
But what Li Ao didn't expect was that he would be guided by an assistant coach every day in training.
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Xavier Johnson came to help him with mid-range shooting training and guide him to develop three-point shooting.
Sam Hayes came to coach him on defense on Tuesday, and Kevin Henderson came to coach him on passing and passing on Thursday.
In his spare time, Li Ao paid attention to NBA affairs. On April 23, the NBA regular season came to an end.
The biggest news at this time was not that the Lakers won 67 games, but that the defending champion star Tim Duncan was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee and a severe strain on the ball of his foot, and was reimbursed for the season.
The specific situation is that on April 11, when the Spurs narrowly defeated the Kings 98-92 in overtime, Duncan stepped on the foot of teammate Samakhi Walker when he landed in the overtime dunk and fell. When he fell, his knees were pulled down.
But at that time, Duncan expressionlessly covered the soles of his feet with his hands and took off his shoes. Everyone was worried about his soles.
The Spurs also said after the game that Duncan suffered a foot injury, but he was absent until the end of the regular season. There were rumors before every game that Duncan would come back, but on the day of the game, Duncan was on the injured list... Now it seems Just to sell tickets, 4 of the Spurs' remaining 6 games were home games.
Duncan's meniscus tear and severe ankle tendon injury were revealed by the hospital.
If it hadn't been exposed, Li Ao estimated that the Spurs could borrow Duncan to sell tickets for a few more playoff games.
After being exposed, Spurs ticket prices dropped a lot.
Without Duncan, the Spurs were predicted to not make it past the second round, and the Jazz suddenly became the number one favorite for the championship.
The Lakers, who have been beaten by the Jazz and Spurs in the past three years, although they have won 67 games, are said to be a regular season team and cannot get past the Jazz in the playoffs.
There is also interesting news about the Spurs - Popovich offered Duncan a three-year, $32.6 million contract extension, but Duncan rejected it.
Kobe, who was only selected to the third team last year, has a 5+1 contract extension worth US$70.9 million over six years.
And Duncan, even if he misses a few games this year, is still locked in the double team.
It is rumored that Popovich told Duncan: The team is taking a big risk by renewing your contract. No one knows how you will be after you recover from injury...
Popovich took advantage of Duncan's reimbursement and tried to trick Duncan into accepting a short-term contract and a low salary. The major media outlets either criticized him or ridiculed him.
According to Duncan's agent Banks, he will enter the free market this summer.
Although Duncan has just finished his rookie contract, his rookie contract was signed before 1998. At that time, the rookie contract did not have the right of priority for the home team to renew.
The time has come to April 30th, and another Sunday has arrived.
It has been two weeks since Li Ao started training.
At 5 o'clock in the evening, the day's training ended.
Before Li Ao ended the training, he tried the level 1 training task of basic three-point shooting skills... and failed.
Not surprising.
The level 1 training method for the basic three-point shooting skills was only developed on Thursday. It is indeed impossible to complete the task now, but he always wanted to give it a try at the end of the two days of training.
The training ended and the additional training results of today's training were settled.
A 40% bonus for level 2 training methods in basic defensive skills training, a 100% bonus for experience bracelets, a 20% bonus for completing level 1 tasks, and an additional 160% training results.
There is a 20% bonus for level 1 of the basic passing skills training method, a 100% bonus for the experience bracelet, a 20% bonus for completing level 1 tasks, and an additional 140% training results.
With a 60% bonus on CIC basic skill level 3 training methods, a 100% bonus on experience bracelets, a 40% bonus on completing level 2 tasks, and a 20% bonus on action packs, you can gain an additional 220% training results.
The extra bonus was higher than the training itself. Li Ao felt so happy when he saw the settlement prompt!
With the same talent, the same technique or basic skills at the same level, the same level of effort and training time, compared with others, he can improve at least twice as fast as the other person!
Two weeks have passed, and his mid-range shooting has successfully improved from 84 to 85, reaching the first-class level, and his passing has also improved from 79 to 80, reaching the excellent level.
Coupled with small improvements in other aspects, the overall evaluation has increased to 80!
However, he can also clearly feel that even if the bonus of the experience bracelet skyrockets, after the mid-range investment reaches an evaluation of 80+, the progress rate will be slower than before.
And this is based on the experience of the previous crazy three journey. As the training time lengthens and the wave of bonuses are used up, you have to just practice hard like before the start of last season.
But he enjoyed it.
After taking a shower, he was about to go back to his apartment. When he left the training ground, he was stopped by Kevin Henderson.
Li Ao saw several coaches in the corridor.
Kevin Henderson said: "Leo, Henry is inviting us to dinner, do you want to come with us?"
Li Ao said, "I'll go! By the way, can I order a few dishes to take away?"
Henry Beebe: ()
So shameless?
"Haha," Kevin Henderson laughed: "Of course, even if he doesn't agree, he won't know if you secretly order it and take it away after he drinks."
Henry Beebe: [○｀Д○]
Can you plot against me while you guys are behind my back?
Li Ao said in surprise: "Kevin, you actually want to trick me into drinking! I'm not yet 21 years old. If I report you, you will have to be fined and do community work."
Several coaches have a black line.
Kevin Henderson complained: "It's not your fault, go drink your soda..."
…
Li Ao followed several coaches to a rather high-end restaurant for dinner.
A few coaches actually only ordered juice for him, and he complained a few words, "You guys have no guts, why don't you try to see if I will really sue you?" and so on, which made several coaches laugh.
By the time Li Ao was full, several coaches had already been drinking for three rounds, and everyone was drunk.
The coaches chatted over drinks about recruiting talented high school students.
Li Ao heard that they already had two commitments from two of the top 30 high school students in the United States. Their parents and I were very eager to attend the University of Southern California.
They are Desmond Farmar, ranked 29th among high school students in the United States, and Darius Rice, ranked 15th.
When I contacted No. 6 DeShawn Stevenson, the other party had a strong intention to join. But not long after the conversation, the scout came back with a piece of news... This guy had poor grades in high school, fought constantly, and ate a lot. Punishment.
The latter is not important, the most important thing is the grades. If you can't graduate from high school, you have no chance to go to college.
In the end, the matter of recruiting the sixth high school student in the United States came to nothing.
They also made contact with Zach Randolph, the top high school student in the country, and Henry Bibby flew over to talk in person, not on the phone.
As a result, Randolph's mother, Mae Randolph, beat him away with a broom.
Because Randolph is from Marion, Indiana, and both mother and son are basketball fans. Fortunately for Randolph, the basketball team his mother hates most now is the Trojans.
The recruitment of two of the top ten high school students in the United States failed, but fortunately, they had a good conversation with the parents of the fourth-placed Gerald Wallace on the phone and have already made an appointment for an interview next weekend.
Li Ao had never heard of the two talented high school students who were confirmed to join, and they probably failed to enter the NBA in the end.
But not being able to enter the NBA does not mean that he was not good in college, and he is looking forward to it.
The one I'm looking forward to most is Gerald Wallace.
Li Ao heard that he didn't like basketball very much in his previous life. It was not his favorite sport, but he happened to be talented in this area. He felt that he could make a lot of money in this industry, so he switched to basketball when he was a freshman in high school.
He is indeed talented. He came into contact with basketball in his freshman year of high school. After his sophomore year in high school, he already entered the top 100 in the United States and eventually ranked 4th in the United States.
And it doesn't matter whether he likes it or not. This future NBA All-Star is a dedicated person. He works very hard when he plays basketball. After retiring, he became a policeman. I heard that he also became a member of the FBI through selection.
When he was almost done eating, Li Ao ordered some food that the hospital assistant's aunt liked to eat and prepared to pack it up and take it home.
He had already called and said that he would bring dinner back, and the aunt who was the hospital assistant at home was probably lying on the sofa with hunger right now.
Thinking of the pitiful look of the hospital assistant's aunt...so cute, beautiful and cute.
But he couldn't leave right away. He had to wait until the four coaches finished drinking and put them in a taxi. Otherwise, it would be better if these people were caught drunk driving. If something happened to a bad person, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
"Leo, do you have any plans for your basketball career?"
When his name was called, Li Ao looked at the middle-aged handsome man, not knowing why.
Why did you ask him this suddenly?
He thought for a moment and said, "Not yet. I think I will definitely be able to enter the NBA. It depends on which pick I am and which city I go to."
Henry Bibby looked at several colleagues who were pretending to be faint, and cursed MMP in his heart, but they had already called each other out, and had been struggling for several weeks. It was time to talk.
He didn't want to do this either, but after winning the United States Championship together, he was more willing to consider the future for that kid...
He pinched his thigh and said: "You must enter the NBA if you are participating in the draft now. I learned from my friends who work in the NBA that several teams with first-round picks are very interested in you."
"Uh..." Li Ao was stunned for a few seconds and said, "Coach, just say what you want to say."
Henry Bibby sighed, and his expression showed how conflicted he was at the moment.
Li Ao noticed that the three assistant coaches next to him seemed to be sober at the moment, and their eyes were focused on Henry Bibby.
Henry Bibby took a long breath and said: "You are progressing too fast, very fast. If you stay in college, I believe you will become the best forward next season, but as you become stronger and stronger , the college game will help you less and less.
You are different from Olajuwon, Duncan, and Jordan. Your support talent is the most important part of your playing style. I can't think of how to further improve your support ability in amateur-level games. , if you continue to stay, your talent in this area will be wasted.
The NCAA is too small, go to the NBA, that is your stage! "
Li Ao subconsciously said, "Oh no! Middle-aged handsome man, are you driving me away?"
…
Li Ao didn't even know how he put several coaches into a taxi and didn't know how to get back to the apartment. He only remembered that the middle-aged handsome man was yelling with his teeth and claws: "I finally got sentimental, you ****..."
After giving dinner to the hospital assistant's aunt who was so hungry that she fell down, he sat in the living room of the hospital assistant's house, not even thinking about admiring her meal.
After eating and drinking, Vivian was in a good mood and was about to chat with Li Ao. Seeing Li Ao's blank look, she asked curiously: "Leo, what's wrong with you? Which girl did you want to date but was rejected?" "
Li Ao came back to his senses, was stunned for a moment, and retorted: "Am I being rejected? I'm the only one who rejects others!"
"Then why do you seem to have been dumped?"
Li Ao scratched his head and talked about this with the hospital assistant's aunt, who seemed to be the best person to talk to.
"Do you think I should participate in the NBA draft early?"
Vivian blinked and froze, shocked by Li Ao's question.
Li Ao regretted saying this a little bit. His aunt, the college assistant, was a die-hard fan of the school team. How could he want to see him leave the university early? Hey, even for the aunt, the college assistant, he couldn't leave the university so early. No, what? You can make it to the NBA whenever you want...
"Oh oh oh! Leo, are you serious? Come on, our family is going to have an NBA star! Leo, which team do you want to go to? Let me analyze it for you. You definitely can't go to Dallas and Boston. The Oakland team is too weak, and Orlando is good, but I heard their management is out of ideas... Los Angeles is better, how about going to the Lakers?"
Li Ao: ()
He wanted to give himself a slap. What was he lamenting just now?
Why does it feel like you are really feeding the dog?
Shaking his head and getting rid of this strange thought, he said: "What will happen to our team if I go to the NBA? I'm not bragging. Without me, our team will never win the championship."
"How many people can lead a team to a championship in four years of college? You have already won it! You are already the number one player in the history of our Trojans, and no matter how many great talents our team produces in the future, you will be Number one, you're the one that made the Trojans rise... NBA! NBA! NBA!"
Vivian became excited as she spoke, shouting and waving her fist upwards.
Li Ao: "..."
…
The opinions of the hospital assistant aunt gave Li Ao some inclinations.
But he still wavered.
After returning to the small suite, he called his parents.
When he heard that it was about his future career direction, his father gave him a few rare words.
To sum up his father's words in one sentence - if you think that is your future, don't look forward and backward, rush!
Just like his father gave up his iron job and went into business, without that bold move, their family would not have the well-off life they have now.
After talking to the hospital assistant's aunt and parents, he gradually understood what was going on in his heart.
But there were other factors that influenced his decision.
The next day, May 1st, a new month arrived and it was also the first day of a new week.
During class in the morning, Li Ao was still absent-minded.
Liam could tell that something was wrong with Hu Peng today. Although he seemed to be listening to the class attentively, his expression was numb, and the pen in his hand was also drawing blindly on the book.
He asked in a low voice: "Leo, what happened to you? Are you not paying attention in class? This is not like you!"
Li Ao came back to his senses, didn't move his neck, and moved his mouth a few times: "I plan to leave the NCAA early to play in the NBA. What do you think?"
"What……"
Liam yelled, and he quickly covered his mouth. If he asked the second half of the sentence, he would probably miss today's class, and it would definitely cause a sensation in the school.
However, he avoided trouble for Li Ao, but his own trouble came.
The professor on the podium is the business tycoon again.
The professor was in the middle of speaking when he was interrupted and his teeth chattered: "Pete boy, what do you think I said wrong?"
Liam kept bowing and apologizing, and those who didn't know thought he was from Yingjiang's wild son's family.
Finally letting the professor calm down, Liam sat down, wiped his sweat and rubbed his waist.
It's not easy to pretend to be a wild son. Not everyone can learn the spirit of craftsmanship.
After holding it in for a while, Liam still couldn't help it and asked Li Ao in a low voice why he made such a decision.
Li Ao summarized the analysis of the middle-aged handsome man. Of course, he said that it was what he thought.
It was said that the school team’s coaching staff suggested that he play in the NBA? Of course it's impossible. Even if he made that decision, he could only tell him that he had such an idea. The school team's coaching staff had to persuade him to stay, but they couldn't persuade him, and finally gave him their blessing.
Otherwise, those people on the school board wouldn't be able to hang the middle-aged handsome man upside down at the school gate for a month to make the people angry.
Thinking about it, Li Ao was quite looking forward to seeing that scene.
After hearing this, Liam felt excited, his brother was going to play in the NBA!
It's a pity that his sisters are too old. Otherwise, it would be great to be a family. His sisters are all very good-looking.
After thinking about it, he patted Li Ao on the back and said: "I support your decision. I can help if necessary. Although our family is not a big investment bank and cannot squeeze into Wall Street, the legal team's business capabilities are still good, so we should help." Gotta be busy.”
Liam made a promise, was full of passion, and then...
The professor, who had been staring at Liam for a long time, yelled: "Pete boy, get out of here!"
(End of chapter)
