The fourth day of the ABCD Training Camp.
The two teams Link and his group encountered today both had three Five-star high school students. After all, starting from yesterday, the training camp's matching mechanism had changed to "win-count matching."
However, neither of today's two teams had players who could later enter the NBA; they belonged to the lower-tier Five-star high school students.
In the morning game, Link systematically organized the team's offense through pick-and-roll plays with Bosh and Josh, feeding them eight easy buckets in the first half alone.
On the defensive end, Link didn't guard the opponent's fast small guards. Instead, he guarded the small forward who had average Speed but explosive jumping ability and liked to attack with the ball despite unstable Ball Handling.
The opposing small forward was 198cm tall, 1.2cm shorter than Link, though he weighed 1kg more.
But without a clear Speed advantage, when he encountered Link's Death Coil, he was directly stripped of the ball like a dog.
In the morning game, Link nonchalantly recorded 28 points, 13 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 Steals.
The system rewarded him with 70 points.
[Goat Value: 151/1,151]
Link once again consumed 100 Goat Value points to choose a lottery draw.
Obtained: [Star Player (Josh Hart) sparring partner card] x1.
...
...
At noon, he entered the "Virtual Space" again through meditation, still using the Josh Hart sparring partner card.
There was no other way!
As for Green, Link was truly tired of looking at him.
The training effect from Josh Hart was barely satisfactory.
[Offensive Rebound] basic attribute +1, increased to 26 (70);
[Defensive Rebound] basic attribute +2, increased to 36 (88);
To be honest...
These rebounding attributes were still a bit low compared to interior players, even high school ones, but they were quite good among guards.
In the afternoon game, Link showed the style of... a rebounding king among guards.
For some rebounds that bounced far away, past the Free Throw line or even near the Three-Point Shot line—uh, or let's call them loose balls—Link's reaction was always a beat faster than the opposing small guards.
Plus, with Link's height, wingspan, and strength advantages, even if both touched the ball at the same time, Link was always the one to snatch it.
"Wow..."
"He truly lives up to being the guy I have high hopes for."
"His rebounding awareness is actually this good."
A smile appeared on the UCLA scout's face.
Although Link hadn't agreed to join UCLA, seeing Link go from being undervalued by the outside world at first to becoming famous now as the biggest dark horse of the ABCD Training Camp made him feel inexplicably happy.
"Is this the joy of nurturing?"
Said the UCLA scout, John.
"Coach Rodney, to be honest, I think Link is a better fit for our Texas than TJ Ford," the assistant coach in the stands said to the head coach, Rodney Terry.
"In terms of growth potential, Link... he's still in his growth phase. He's actually grown to nearly 200cm. This means his athletic talent is slowly awakening. Although it's impossible for him to become a high-flying player in the future, he will definitely be much stronger than he is now."
"While TJ Ford's real height might not even be 180cm—yes, that's right, his Speed is very fast, and few NBA players are faster than him, but the risk of injury cannot be ignored. He has a serious cervical spinal cord injury..."
The assistant coach analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the two one by one.
In his past life, TJ Ford entered the University of Texas after graduating from high school and became the team's star guard. However, because TJ Ford didn't play up to his expected value in the game against Link, he also made Link a target for Texas.
...
...
With a "bang," Link's fast-break layup was chased down and blocked by the opposing Center.
"Nut-Kicking Kid, you're overrated," the opposing five-star Center said excitedly.
Link's current ranking was 24, while the opponent's was only 46.
Although he said Link was overrated, blocking someone ranked higher gave him a sense of underdog pleasure.
"Buddy, look at the scoreboard!"
"You're still trailing by 19 points. What face do you have to celebrate in front of me?"
Link said disdainfully.
In the 1v2 fast break just now, Link used his physical advantage to shoulder past the opposing small guard, but he also lost some strength because of it, and was ultimately met with a pin-down block by the Center who caught up.
However, this single successful defensive play couldn't change the overall situation of the game.
Moreover, in the next possession, Link completed a mismatch attack through a defensive switch after a pick-and-roll. The opponent's switch was not timely, giving Link space to start. With his Speed up, Link lowered his Center of gravity and broke through from the left side of the opposing Center. After being obstructed, he immediately connected with a crossover to the right, blew past the defense, and finished with an underhand layup.
Honestly, if Link were to attack one-on-one against a Center with some Speed, it wouldn't be easy to break through. But if Link has an initial Speed—in other words, catching the opponent off balance—the breakthrough effect is twice the result with half the effort.
The game ended.
96 to 80!
The Dream Chasing Warriors Team won by 16 points.
Link shot 11 of 17 for the game, 1 of 3 from the Three-Point Shot line, and 3 of 3 from the Free Throw line, recording 26 points, 8 assists, 9 rebounds, and 1 Steal.
Although Link's scoring data wasn't the highest on the team, second only to Bosh's 29 points.
But his rebounding data was the highest on the team.
Bosh had 8.
Josh had 7.
Oh, right, plus 1 Technical Foul.
Uh... while Link was defending the opposing Center on a mismatch, he accidentally poked him in the eye.
After the game, Link received a reward from the system.
[Goat Value: 117/1,217]
To get stronger quickly, just keep drawing from the lottery!
Luck was good this time.
Link obtained a [All-Star (Draymond Green 15-16 Season) sparring partner card].
All-Star sparring partner cards have special challenge projects.
Last time, Link only passed the 3-star challenge and obtained [Needle Threader (Bronze)].
Now that he had mastered the pattern, Link had to pass at least the 4-star challenge today no matter what.