One Year Left to Play-Chapter 215 - 72: The Original Organization’s Vanguard

From their banter, Zhang Hao had roughly understood the whole story.

It turned out that when Scott Collins handed him the draft registration form in May, he had already prepared a fallback for him, actively helping him secure a first-round spot.

He just didn't tell him, wanting him to venture into the adult basketball world and understand that nothing comes without effort.

He remembered that during the trial with the Pistons, he didn't even meet their head coach...

The emotions in his heart were beyond words. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

However, Zhang Hao thought it might just be Scott Collins' quirky sense of humor?

They didn't chat much about other things, and after lunch, the mentor and mentee hurriedly parted ways.

After all, they were from other teams—the head coach and player development coach—even though the rules are still imperfect these days, and there are no such regulations, if a reporter captured them, it might be brought up for issues that involve them in the future.

They had already entered the NBA, so there would be plenty of opportunities to meet in the future.

…

After lunch, Zhang Hao returned to The Palace of Auburn Hills, without wandering outside.

They said it was safer than other parts of Detroit, but as soon as Zhang Hao stepped out of the restaurant, he was stopped by a white girl in a sports car who asked, "50 bucks to get in?"

Unbelievably, those in this line of work have decent figures and looks. Zhang Hao was shocked and ran back to The Palace of Auburn Hills without going out.

Such a pretty girl actually came out to rob!

This time it's money; next time, who knows if it'll be for other things!

Zhang Hao went to the away locker room and looked at himself in the mirror, it seemed quite possible!

Luckily, from 11:30 to over 1 o'clock, Imperial Channel wasn't filming.

He changed into his training clothes early, and Imperial Channel had already set up the equipment to continue shooting.

More interviews, about the opponent tonight.

For the documentary, all the answers were prepared, and after the interview, the shooting continued.

Zhang Hao acted like there was no one around and said, "Take a good rest to prepare for tonight's game. Zhang Hao, this is your first career game, go for it!"

Then he went to the lounge and took a nap. At three o'clock, Kenny Anderson woke him up. The others returned to the arena and needed some time.

After being awakened, Zhang Hao stretched his body and once again performed a rehearsed dialogue with Kenny Anderson, then began the pre-game preparations.

Warm-up, shooting practice, cutting drills, lateral movement training... The preseason brought many benefits to Zhang Hao.

Besides adapting to adult games, learning to better control his significantly improved static resistance... there's also that his warm-up sessions have become increasingly enriching.

He can rest, relax, watch TV, or play games when disinclined to work, but when he undertakes something, he needs to give his all and strive to do his best.

This is Zhang Hao's current attitude towards his precious time: doing a time-consuming task without doing it well is truly wasting time.

Initially, Vaughn Fleming, this veteran, felt embarrassed seeing Zhang Hao devote himself entirely to his warm-up. At his age, he had never immersed himself in warm-ups so thoroughly. After playing two preseason games, he followed Zhang Hao's lead.

Actually, what Zhang Hao did in every aspect was simple; anyone could do it, but few are as patient to prepare so thoroughly for a game. Vaughn Fleming emulated Zhang Hao in making sure to perform every step well, and once his body adapted, it naturally reached its peak state achievable at the time.

After persisting, Vaughn Fleming realized that sometimes things weren't that difficult or complex—sticking to it was crucial. His two-hour warm-up time, five years ago at his peak, he would never have done it, but now he regretted it.

"Ah, if only I had met a teammate like Aix earlier, perhaps Reggie did this too, but he warmed up alone in a separate room…"

Of course, not everyone is like Vaughn Fleming, willing to learn from a rookie. Most still warm up however they did before, except him and Kenny Anderson, and another person who followed Zhang Hao's lead turned out to be Jason Williams…

When warming up was done, waiting for the entrance, Kenny Anderson leaned over to Zhang Hao with a sigh: "Aix, tell me why I'm so handsome yet only made the All-Star starting lineup once, while Hardaway is so ugly but managed to squeeze me out of the All-Star starting lineup..."

Today, many, many media outlets came to The Palace of Auburn Hills, the Brooklyn Nets players all saw it.

However, those who came to interview them were few.

Seeing that the neighboring team, notorious, with a talented rookie, was drawing overwhelming popularity, Zhang Hao felt a bit envious.

Even if he didn't care about the media or public opinions, he still felt envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Who wouldn't want to be the All-Star vote-leader as a rookie?

At this moment, Zhang Hao completely understood why Grant Hill and Anfernee Hardaway were so hated.

Zhang Hao merely had such thoughts, while the person next to him, who was pushed out of the All-Star starting lineup by Anfernee Hardaway, was genuinely extremely displeased.

Last season, Anfernee Hardaway, in his sophomore year, snatched Kenny Anderson's All-Star starting spot.