Champion, please stay!

Chapter 10. When you get better, everyone around you is a good person.

If we only look at the results, it was Yi Shui's performance that truly amazed Calhoun!

Winning or losing, the point difference, or even how many points Yi Shui scored, none of that matters; it's just a training match.

Team B actually won through teamwork. Although their coordination wasn't great, and their strictness used to be described as terrible, at least they had some skills!

Moreover, from the beginning when there was no leader and everyone was disorganized, to the later when everyone worked together... Dyson, what brought about this change was the distribution of possession in some rounds of the first half.

It doesn't seem complicated, and it doesn't seem difficult to operate, but it's hard for Calhoun to come up with a way to get such a team to play so proactively and coordinate. It depends on the executor's keen sense of timing.

On the contrary, Team A, which seemed to have a strong sense of unity at the beginning, gradually became a situation where one person was shooting while the other four were just watching. In the end, it was as if the game was almost over and the other four players didn't want to move anymore and wanted to go home for dinner.

With such a stark contrast, Yi Shui's already outstanding performance looked absolutely stunning!
But after the initial excitement, Calhoun shifted his gaze from Yi Shui back to Dyson, feeling a bit of a headache.

His original intention in arranging the two players to face off was to let them experience each other's strength through intra-team practice matches and deepen their mutual recognition. This is a very common practice for basketball team coaches... But such a practice match can only have the opposite effect, right?
...

Yi Shui was very happy when he won the game, and he even exchanged phone numbers with four teammates, making plans to play ball together in the future.

Of these four teammates, apart from Johnson Bird, the 166th-ranked high school player with exceptional playmaking talent, the other three certainly wouldn't make the final roster. However, the fact that they made the opening roster means they certainly have basketball skills, just not quite at the varsity team level.

The three players behind them have a high probability of making it into the second team to play in state games and in games against community colleges in neighboring New York and New Jersey. At the very least, they will be key players for their respective departments in intra-college games, and the main team may call them up when they need practice partners.

The main reason is that these are his teammates in the first game he played after transmigrating, so adding a few numbers to his phone contacts isn't a big deal.

But after the excitement of winning the training match faded, Yi Shui's mood was not as good as he had imagined after crushing Dyson before the match. He even gave up on saying "Your grandpa will always be your grandpa".

After everyone dispersed, Clark found Yi Shui, wanting to congratulate him on his first small victory after his "prodigal son's return," but found that Yi Shui was not in much interest.

He asked, puzzled, "Brook, aren't you happy about winning?"

"Of course I'm happy to win, but I have a question now."

"what is the problem?"

Yi Shui looked around and asked, "Is Jerome really the strongest player on our team? My best teammate?"

At first, although he had a grudge against Dyson from his past and his first meeting with Dyson was unpleasant, he still had high expectations for his teammate's abilities. To win the competition, the teammate's abilities were naturally extremely important. However, he was greatly surprised from the start of the test.

Clark raised an eyebrow and retorted, "Who are you comparing Jerome to? Rashad? Danham? Or Marcus? Don't tell me it's Rudy, but whoever it is, he can't compare to any of them. Forget about it."

Upon hearing these four names, Yi Shui recalled the images of his former outside teammates from his freshman year of college.

Rashad Anderson, considered one of the best shooters in the Big East Conference alongside Steve Novak, shot 45% from three-point range in his four years of college, reaching 48.3% in his senior year; Danham Brown, a super sixth man; and Marcus Williams, the primary point guard. All three were selected in the second round of the 2006 NBA draft. The latter two are currently playing in the NBA, while the former, although waived by the team that drafted him and unable to enter the NBA, still earned a good salary in the Spanish league and became a starting shooter in his rookie year.

Gay was even more impressive: 6th overall pick, All-Rookie First Team, 3rd in Rookie of the Year votes, nicknamed "You're Young McGrady"...

Clark continued, "You played so badly last season, and Jim still gave you a chance. Besides the fact that he brought you to the United States, it's also because our rookies really didn't perform well last year. But don't complain about your teammates' abilities. If you're dissatisfied with them, you have to blame yourself."

"What does it matter to me if they're weak?"

"If you had turned back in time last year, our record wouldn't have been so bad last season, and you might be playing guards like Jeff Teague, Jonny Flynn, and James Harden now."

"Digging up the talent? Who are you talking about? Is it Flynn and Harden, those top 20 high school players in the nation? Is it Teague, the guy called the Tall Assassin?"

Clark shrugged: "When they were in 10th grade, Kevin (Olive, the Husky's scouting director) contacted them. They've always been interested in joining us, especially Harden. Last summer, he and Bird, yes, the point forward you just paired with, promised to join us together. But after last season, Harden went back on his word, while Bird kept his promise and came... Brook, what are you doing?"

Yi Shui clung to the wall, looking utterly hopeless: "I want to hang my past self on the wall."

"Haha, Shakespeare is so funny. But actually, you don't need to focus on Jerome. You can go and look at the others. They will surprise you."

Yi Shui suddenly jumped off the wall and said, "Oh right! We also have a plus version of the African mountains!"

"Yeh, yes, you should know that Hasheem trained with Emeka (Okafor) in the summer, right? Emeka thinks Hasheem is better than he was at the same age. Your two good brothers are also talents with the potential to enter the NBA. So, what you just said is wrong. Jerome is not your best teammate, just your best teammate last season."

"Thank you, Lyon, I have seen hope again."

'You are our hope for a resurgence...'

Clark didn't say that. He was over 40 and felt it was a bit disgusting to say such a thing. Instead, he asked another question: "Brook, I've always been curious, how did you suddenly come to your senses and start working hard again?"

"Uh... why are you all so concerned about this trivial detail? Of course, it's for my dream, I want to win the national championship!"

Clark: "Do you think I believe you? It's just the two of us here. Tell me, I won't tell anyone else."

Yi Shui was speechless. He said he wanted to play in the NBA, but Yad didn't believe him. He also wanted to win the NCAA championship, but even the coach didn't believe him.

But what he said was the absolute truth!

He could only make up another lie: "Okay, to be honest, I met a beautiful girl last semester. She said she would only agree to go on a date with me if I became the best player on the team."

Clark, with an "I knew it" expression, said, "The power of love is truly great!"

"Huh?" Yi Shui asked in surprise, "You call this love?" "Love made is also love."

"Hiss..." Yi Shui gasped, giving a thumbs up: "As expected of you, Leon, no wonder you're almost 50 and still believe in dating but not marriage..."

...

Yi Shui chatted with Clark for a while and successfully dispelled his frustration caused by having too high expectations of Dyson.

In my memory, it was the same when he first came to the United States to study preparatory courses. Back then, he would encounter unpleasant things every now and then. Before that, he could only lock himself in the training field. If it weren't for Clark's constant encouragement, he probably would have become withdrawn long ago.

He felt a renewed drive pushing him forward; he genuinely didn't want to disappoint his two best friends, Calhoun who brought him to the NCAA, and Clark who had always taken care of him.

After his mood brightened again, Yi Shui went to the restroom and closed the stall door. He remembered receiving several notifications after the training match. He opened the system and, sure enough, it wasn't just the mission completion notification!

"You have completed one intra-team training match. Match level: Not reached the minimum evaluation level. No basic match reward."

"You won the intra-team training match, but because the level of the match was too low, there was no win bonus."

"You utterly crushed the ignorant junior, mission: Senior is always senior, completed. Congratulations on receiving the reward: 1 Beginner Blind Box."

"You showed your classmates in the training match that you're back on the college stage and not just playing around. Congratulations on receiving an extra reward: 1 Template Matching Skill Blind Box."

The competition level is too low, there are no rewards? That makes sense, otherwise you could go play scrimmage and farm rewards.

However, the system hadn't mentioned the rewards for playing matches beforehand, so there's nothing to regret. On the contrary, the extra reward at the end was a pleasant surprise.

only……

'Template matching? I have a bad feeling about this. Should I use this first?'

Yi Shui had an idea, and the content on the screen changed.

"You have used the template matching skill blind box... Congratulations on obtaining the skill: Iron Wall."

"Iron Wall: When you set a screen for teammates with or without the ball as the screener, your strength increases by 5; if your screen works, you can always start at the fastest speed when you cut after setting the screen, and you have a certain probability of having a hot hand when you set the screen to catch the ball and shoot."

After reading the skill description, Yi Shui was completely stunned. He felt that he was one step closer to becoming a stoic.

However, he was already mentally prepared and had guessed that it might be an inside skill.

On the bright side, this was an unexpected bonus, and it's not that it's unusable. This skill can be used to learn from LeBron James's pick-and-roll style on the perimeter.

'Next one, the next reward!'

"You have used the beginner blind box... Congratulations on receiving the reward: 10-hour three-minute training double efficiency card (can be split and stacked with talent and skill training bonuses)."

Yi Shui instantly perked up. This efficiency card, combined with the 'Angle Genius' skill, doubles and doubles the efficiency of three-point training at the 45-degree angle? But how do you calculate this?

"The Double Efficiency Card is considered a 100% bonus. The angled genius's shooting efficiency bonus is 100%, plus the base efficiency, for a total of 300%."

'It would be nice if it were the kind of multiplication calculation method used in Dark Fantasy, but it's not bad either...'

...

After lunch break, Yi Shui continued to participate in the autumn selection activities.

In the morning, tests and training matches were held. In the afternoon, based on the test results and performance in the training matches, the coaching team developed personalized intensive training programs and teaching guidance for each club member.

In university teams, apart from holidays, coaches and players have limited time to interact, and the improvement of players' skills basically depends entirely on self-discipline.

However, this also makes the trainer's ability more important. He needs to identify the team members' real problems in a short period of time and provide guidance so that the training that the team members conduct on their own is correct and effective.

The fall selection process ends in mid-September, which is the Sunday of the week after next. The players' rate of improvement is also an important indicator for the coaching staff to evaluate.

That afternoon, Yi Shui experienced the reality of this world. The actor, whose computer was fully equipped except for the monitor, said it well: "After you get better, you will find that everyone around you is kind."

When he arrived in the morning, not many people paid him any attention. Even his former teammates seemed to think he was bad luck.

But after the result of his practice match with Dyson spread, almost everyone took the initiative to talk to him, and his senior teammates started putting their arms around each other again.

He took it in stride, neither appearing arrogant nor overly enthusiastic.

However, not all former teammates are sycophantic. The white shooting guard from Ukraine, Nik Vrosostsky, still doesn't like him.

In my memory, his relationship with Frostowski was similar to that of Dyson and him.

In the 05-06 season, Frostowski, a sophomore, was supposed to be Rashad Anderson's first backup and the team's second shooting guard. However, he joined the school team that season and took the first backup guard position during the preseason. It's understandable that people didn't like him, just as he didn't like Dyson.

The change in the attitude of those around him did not affect Yi Shui. Today was a day off, and he was in intensive training mode!
I'm asking for monthly votes! I'm asking for recommendation votes! How about starting tomorrow, updating at 12 PM and 12 AM? Let's stabilize the update schedule. Okay, no one objects, so it's decided.

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(End of this chapter)