Brandon Roy, known as the "Yellow Mamba" among chinese fans. Although he entered the NBA in '06, he was in the same class as Bosh, both being from the high school class of '02. However, he only entered the NBA after completing four years of college.
Roy is currently wearing the number "8" jersey and is ranked 13th among the national high school class of '02.
The two of them chatted familiarly on their way back to the dormitory.
"Link, do you have a dream college?" Roy asked curiously.
Link shook his head.
Truth be told, Link wanted to take his talents to the NBA and skip the college stage entirely.
Although Lincoln High School's head coach, Leonard, and Link's parents all suggested that he play one or two years in the NCAA before going professional. Of course, in their eyes, Link's talent was far from reaching the NBA level, but with some hard work and maneuvering, playing in the CBA or going overseas in the future would be a good choice.
For ordinary people, being able to play in the CBA would be equivalent to "passing the imperial examination" in ancient times. Moreover, Link was a bona fide Chinese citizen, so he wouldn't face the playing time restrictions imposed on foreign players.
But realistically, let alone entering the NBA, Link wasn't even 100% guaranteed to get into a top-tier NCAA school right now.
"I will finish college before entering the NBA," Roy said with a firm and confident tone.
"Mm," Link nodded with a smile.
...
...
The next day.
Link was still the last one in the dormitory to wake up. After all, his training intensity last night was the highest in the dorm, and even the entire training camp—arguably without equal.
"Whoa..."
"Using cheats feels amazing!"
Link checked his attribute panel and found that the base attribute for [Jumping Height] had increased by +2 to 32 (64); [Explosiveness] base attribute increased by +1 to 41 (59); and [Stamina] base attribute increased by +2 to 53 (84).
In the past, training for four or five months wouldn't have yielded such results. But now, with his potential value increasing and the 5x multiplier from the [physical sports special training card], he had grown significantly stronger in just one night.
The opponents for the [Dream Chasing Warriors Team]'s two games today were the [Invincible Tanks] and [Violent UFO].
The [Invincible Tanks] in the morning had two five-star high school recruits. Their overall strength was decent, but their luck was terrible; they faced Carmelo Anthony yesterday morning and LeBron James in the afternoon.
Losing two games in a row caused their training camp ranking to drop out of the top five.
Currently, one of them was the 51st-ranked Point Guard, standing 181cm tall and weighing 84kg, with a small, quick, and agile style.
The other was the 58th-ranked center, standing 203cm tall and weighing 86kg. He was a pogo-stick type of interior player—athletic and jumpy—but his technique was raw, his shooting was inconsistent, and he lacked independent scoring ability.
"Nut-Kicking Kid, you won't be so lucky today." Before the game started, the opposing number 51 Point Guard began trash-talking Link.
"Who are you?" Link asked with a deadpan expression.
Seeing Link act as if he didn't know him at all, the opponent couldn't help but feel irritated. In his mind, Link was just a hype job selected by Sonny Vaccaro because of his skin color and nationality. He couldn't tolerate being looked down upon by such a person.
Additionally, the opposing number 58 center was also full of hostility when looking at Link.
Both of them wanted to use "Link" as a stepping stone to reclaim their dignity.
But obviously, Link wasn't going to let them have their way.
Facing the small number 51 guard, Link ran "hand-off plays" on offense with Chris Bosh. Bosh could both drive and shoot, and was a decent passer. Having played together at Lincoln High School for three years, they knew what the other was thinking with just a glance.
After the hand-off, Link slipped to the basket off-ball. Facing the trailing number 51 guard, he caught the ball in the post and used his back to power through, bumping him once. Then, while the opponent's balance was shaken, he backed him down, executed a half-turn, and made a 45-degree bank shot.
"Fuck!"
"Damn it!"
Having been beaten by the same move three times by Link, the number 51 guard was so angry he started cursing.
"Man, are you sure it wasn't just thin air defending me just now?" Link trash-talked with a serious face.
This pushed the number 51 guard one step closer to a total mental breakdown.
On the defensive end, he really couldn't guard this small, quick guard who also had a jumpshot. Even though he had obtained [Death Coil], his Speed couldn't keep up; the opponent never gave him a chance to get close before shaking him off.
After being driven past twice in a row, Link switched defensive assignments with the team's Power Forward—Josh Smith.
Although Josh Smith couldn't completely shut him down, he could at least contain him somewhat. Playing as a 1 on offense and a 4 on defense was completely impossible for an ordinary small guard.
But Link was tall—at 198cm, he was the same height as the opponent's Power Forward, and even weighed 2kg more. Even if his strength was a notch lower, the opponent, who didn't have a great finishing touch, found it difficult to overpower him.
"What a smart guy."
"He's hiding his weaknesses very well."
A hint of admiration appeared in the UCLA scout's eyes, but it was replaced by a touch of regret in the next second.
In the High School League, you can indeed hide flaws like slow footwork and poor Explosive Acceleration, but that won't work on a higher-level stage.
In the first half, Link's offense was centered around hand-off plays with Bosh. He shot 5-of-8, recording 11 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 rebound.
At 49 to 33, the Dream Chasing Warriors Team also held a 16-point lead.
Entering the second half, Link increased his individual offense, not only driving to the basket through pick-and-rolls and hand-offs in half-court sets but also joining fast breaks more often. Compared to the first half, Link keenly noticed that the opponent's transition defense was chaotic.
Additionally, these guys assumed by default that he would always pass on the fast break.
Link seized the opportunities to score himself, and his individual points began to climb steadily.
However, during this process, he was also met with a chasedown block against the backboard by the opposing number 58 center.
Looking at the smug, dancing number 58, Link coldly remarked, "Man, does your score even reach the fraction of mine?"
This athletic, pogo-stick interior player was too raw technically—essentially a poor man's Bosh. In the first half, he only managed 2 points off a tip-in but had 4 turnovers, 3 of which were caused by Link's double-teaming. In fact, both of Link's steals were courtesy of him.
A few plays later, Link found himself randomly matched up with the number 58 interior player during transition. Receiving a pass at the high post, number 58 wanted to exploit the height mismatch. However, with his post game being a mess, he chose to attack facing the basket.
But as soon as he put the ball down, before he could even take two steps, he was stripped by Link using Death Coil.
"Thanks for the steal, buddy," Link grinned after completing his third steal of the game.
Unable to let it go, number 58 chose to attack facing the basket in three separate mismatches against Link over the next four minutes. The result? He only made one shot, while the other two attempts were poked out of bounds by Link. Incidentally, the one shot he did make was only finished because he threw a subtle elbow during the drive.