Chapter 4 I am the one who wants to take you home
In late June, Yu Fei’s spring semester ended.
In the past four months, only two things were important in his life, one was school and the other was training.
During the physical training and inside training day after day, Yu Fei gradually acquired the physical fitness to play 4 minutes per quarter in the entire game, as well as the basic inside awareness.
(PS: The US High School’s quarter is 8 minutes, the pace is extremely fast, the team is running and gunning, and the average running man is running men)
Yu Fei's progress was beyond Hank Selvan's expectation.
Selwan originally didn't want Yu Fei to participate in AAU games during the vacation, but now, he has changed his mind.
Even if Selvan hates the existence of AAU, he must admit that the American youth basketball system is inseparable from AAU.
For many unheralded talents, AAU competition is their only way to make a name for themselves before competing at a high level.
Yu Fei is already in the eleventh grade. There are many talented players in his age group, and they all became famous earlier.
Yu Fei has no time to remain unknown. If he wants to become known as one of the top high school players in the country by the end of his high school career, this summer will be key.
Selvan decided to form an AAU team and travel to Seattle in early July to compete in the Nike Regional Invitational.
Yu Fei is his hand-picked trump card.
"Seattle?" Yu Fei didn't expect that Selvan wanted to take him to Seattle to play AAU. According to his understanding, shouldn't he start in a small place like Kent City?
This is Yu Fei's concept of low-key development, killing monsters and upgrading.
Selwan knew what Yu Fei was thinking, and he said directly: "Kent City is not a basketball city. NBA players have never been born in this city. We have no mature AAU competitions, nor training camps and invitational tournaments founded by celebrities. Here Playing AAU won’t help you.”
Yu Fei believed that Selwan would arrange it well, so he had no other objections and fully accepted the arrangement.
Anyway, Seattle is only 20 miles (32 kilometers) away from Kent City, which is very close and convenient to travel to and from. However, the basketball atmosphere in Emerald City is not comparable to that of Kent City.
That day, Yu Fei went home and told his mother about going to Seattle to play AAU.
Yu Fenglin only has one question: "Will Coach Selvan go with you?"
"Of course, I play on his team." Yu Fei said.
"Then go." Yu Fenglin asked about the fees required to participate in the AAU competition, but said nothing else.
Yu Fei has become accustomed to his mother's anti-traditional women's ways. Although he was a little confused at the beginning, after getting along for a long time, he felt that this was good.
The verbose adults are like the BUFF-like watermarks in a short movie. They are the most annoying.
In the following days, in addition to training, Yu Fei also found time to care about the 2000 NBA Finals.
Even if he knows nothing about current professional basketball, he still knows that this is the first year of the OK Dynasty. But he didn't expect that O'Neal and Kobe were already at odds with each other at this time.
In the past few months, he often saw O'Neal on TV complaining that he couldn't catch the ball. Although he didn't name him by name, everyone knew who he was talking about.
And Kobe went his own way, showing that he would remain consistent and not be affected by anything.
Even if the Lakers are at odds within themselves, few people are optimistic about the Pacers.
This aging team is about to take its final dance.
Five players including Reggie Miller, Sam Perkins, and Jaylen Rose will become free agents this summer. Larry Bird, who has his own understanding of coaching, also announced this season early during the season. This is his last season coaching.
Not all teams' last dance is as perfect as the 1998 Bulls.
The Pacers' only chance was Jalen Rose's step on Kobe Bryant that put the player's dignity and pride on the line. If he could have done it more thoroughly, he might have been able to make Kobe reimbursed, but unfortunately, that step only made Kobe absent. played two games. Moreover, the Pacers only won one of the two games that Kobe missed. No team can lose as emotionlessly as the Pacers.
Even if Kobe was benched in the first game and only had 70% of his strength after that, and scored 8 points in a single game in the crucial battle of Tianwangshan to set an example for James, even if Bird frantically sent O'Neal to make 39 free throws in a single game and walk. Still can't win.
The results were so dazzling. Kobe's 8-point game, O'Neal's 39 free throws, and the two extremely targeted games, the Pacers lost both. Then you have to admit that your skills are inferior to others.
4-2, the Lakers bid farewell to the Pacers and sounded the clarion call of a new era. O'Neal was elected FMVP. He hugged Kobe in the locker room and showed his boss style: "Without my little brother, I can't win this championship."
"Los Angeles Times" writer Mike Bresnahan wrote irrationally: "Look at Shaq's love for Kobe, look at their respect for each other, all rumors of discord disappeared at this moment! To us For me, the most important thing is not only that OK proved that they can win the championship, but more importantly, the 22-year-old Kobe can watch the 28-year-old Shaq slowly grow old, and they will become the magicians and skyhooks of the new century. ”
Yu Fei knew that the two men had fallen out later, so Bresnahan's sweet words seemed to him just a reverse god prophecy that would not be dug up.
And, even now, Kobe doesn't look very excited.
What's going on? Why does Kobe look a bit like Durant who hit a three-pointer to beat the Cavaliers in Game 3 of 2018?
There was a sense of relief on his face that was similar to Durant's.
Yu Fei didn't think much about it because the NBA world was still far away from him.
For the next week, Yu Fei lived as usual.
The millennium enters its seventh month as one of the worst drafts ever comes to an end.
Yu Fei and six of his peers got on the bus to Seattle under the leadership of Selvan.
Interestingly, there was also a girl among the six people traveling with Yu Fei.
Her name is Quinn Thomas (SG), known as Kent City's number one girls high school basketball player, leading the Royals to the knockout stages of the Washington State 4A Championship for four consecutive years.
Before Yu Fei, Quinn was K-M's number one basketball player, even Anthony Lawson had to be ranked behind her.
This time, Quinn will also join Selvan's team to participate in the Nike Regional Invitational Tournament in Seattle.
This is the interesting thing about AAU. They allow co-ed teams, and Selvan believes that even though Quinn is far inferior to boys of the same age in confrontation, her famous three-pointers in Kent City can still help.
Except for Quinn, the others are all members of the school team, namely Anthony Lawson, Mohammed Healy (PF), Kevin Hughes (SG), Bobby Jonas ( PG), Andre Mohr (SF).
Moreover, the likes of Bobby Jonas and Andre Moore are old students who have graduated.
In order to increase the team's immediate combat capability, Selvan asked them to come over temporarily to help.
Jonas is the last captain of the Royals. He is less than 1.7 meters tall and is a full-time point guard. He averaged 22 points per game in four years of high school and is the scoring leader in the history of the Royals. His biggest problem is that he cannot lead his teammates, and Mo I am a 1.88 meter small forward and a good 3D player in Kent City.
Looking at it, it goes without saying that the tallest player on this team is Yu Fei, the second tallest is Lawson at 1.98 meters, and the third tallest is Healy, who plays power forward at 1.94 meters. It can be said that they are quite poor in terms of talent. team.
In Selvan's words, this is a below-average team in Kent City, and it has no chance of reaching the Nike Regional Invitational Tournament in Seattle.
Unless, Yu Fei can show the strength of the top players in the region (state level).
Since the entire team comes from the same school, Yu Fei and his AAU team directly use the name of the school team - Royals.
Since they have not participated in any AAU games before, they were rated as a C-level team by the organizer. They must win two games on the first day before they can enter the official game tomorrow.
The Royals' first opponent was also a new team with no participation record - they called themselves the Starfish.
But Yu Fei noticed that many scouts from colleges nearby were paying close attention to the Starfish's big man.
The two sides had five minutes to warm up before the game. The big man from the Starfish team walked over in a swaggering manner, pointed at Yu Fei very impolitely and said: "Hey, that Asian boy!"
Yu Fei asked kindly: "Is something wrong?"
"My name is Jeffrey DayC!" He introduced himself, but both his look and tone were unpleasant, "Jeffrey Day from Seattle Prep High School! You'd better remember my name, because In a few years you will see me on TV and you will remember how I sent you home today!”
(End of chapter)