The longest river

Chapter 65 Far away, yet so close.

After their game against the Cavaliers, the Pacers finally returned to Indianapolis.

It was at this time that Vaccaro arrived.

"I never expected you to have such a talent for marketing." Vaccaro praised Yang Shuai the moment he met him.

Yang Shuai's "slipper marketing" campaign generated a huge response after a period of time, far surpassing Reebok's own marketing and promotion efforts.

Yang Shuai just smiled. The only reason he did that was because he saw Klay Thompson do it in his past life.

However, this time, because of his high school student status, the effect was even better than Thompson's.

After the two sat down at the coffee shop, Vaccaro took out something he had brought with him.

It was a shoebox.

When Yang Shuai opened it, he saw a pair of Reebok "Above the Basket" shoes. However, they were not black and white, but yellow and blue. The proportions were well-matched, and they also gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

"These will be your signature shoes from now on, in the Pacers colors."

Vaccaro's subsequent explanation made him instantly understand the source of that sense of familiarity.

He couldn't resist picking up the sneakers and taking a look.

How should I put it? The team-colored sneakers look kind of cool.

"Your performance is already quite good. As the 13th overall pick, your performance is in the top ten, even better than KG."

Vaccaro also explained the key reason for launching these sneakers at this particular time.

Yang Shuai felt that he had less playing time with the Pacers because he needed consistent playing time to earn points.

But in Vaccaro's eyes, Yang Shuai's performance had already exceeded his expectations.

He originally thought that Yang Shuai, as a high school student playing for a championship contender like the Pacers, would be considered qualified if he could produce some sporadic highlights in his rookie season.

"Keep up the good work. Once you perform even better, we can start thinking about getting signature sneakers."

Owning a pair of signature sneakers is something most players dream of.

In a sense, that is also the most direct manifestation of a player's commercial value.

Since Reebok has given Yang Shuai such a lucrative endorsement contract, they will naturally have plans for a signature shoe.

However, getting a signature sneaker requires a combination of timing, location, and people.

If the sneakers are well-designed, the players perform well, and there's a good release timing, just like with the Air Jordans back in the day, they'll sell out instantly.

However, without these, poor sales would not only affect a single sneaker, but could even lead to a discount or termination of endorsement contracts.

Yang Shuai nodded vigorously.

Vaccaro's arrangements for him were meticulously planned and executed, and it was almost perfect. Now it's up to him to decide what to do next.

The Pacers will be playing at home for the next week.

After a busy season that started early, they finally had a chance to catch their breath.

Brown finally had time to organize some decent training sessions.

Previously, due to the long journey, the Pacers' training sessions were only symbolic in order to avoid over-fatiguing the players.

On this day, Yang Shuai arrived at the training hall early again and, with the help of Di Francesco, practiced defensive footwork.

He needs to adapt to the new lateral speed through these training sessions.

After training ended, he went back to the locker room, but before he even went in, he heard people talking inside.

"From now on, playing in the league won't be about who's stronger, it'll be about who can sign a better shoe contract?"

"Didn't you know that Sonny Vaccaro went to Reebok? That's a real big shot in the basketball world. I heard he left Adidas because they wouldn't sign that high school student."

"Could that high school student be Vaccaro's illegitimate child?"

"Huh? You know what, didn't the newspapers say he was adopted?"

"I think he's more like a savior that management found for us than that."

"Savior? Haha, yes, we do need a high school student to be our savior so we can win the championship."

Hearing the discussions inside and the laughter that followed, Yang Shuai frowned deeply.

Because he had beaten up Johnson before, these people didn't dare say anything to his face, but there seemed to be a lot of gossip behind his back.

"boom!"

Yang Shuai kicked the door open and went inside.

He also saw the two people inside.

One is Ferrer, and the other is Workman.

The two men's expressions changed drastically when they saw that the person who came in was Yang Shuai.

They never expected Yang Shuai to be outside the locker room.

They wanted to get up and leave but didn't dare, so they could only watch Yang Shuai.

Yang Shuai walked straight up to them under their gaze, and then, to their astonishment...

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

One slap per person.

"you!"

Ferrer was furious, but his legs were too weak to stand up.

It's worth noting that compared to before, Yang Shuai's resume now includes another achievement: elbowing Oakley.

After beating the two men, Yang Shuai walked back to his seat as if nothing had happened, took off his clothes, grabbed a towel, and then turned and left the locker room.

Just when the two thought he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped at the door, turned around, and looked at them with icy eyes:

“If there’s a next time, one of us will definitely end up in the hospital.”

Yang Shuai's tone was calm, but the threat in his calm words made the two of them unconsciously tense up.

They would think that if it were anyone else, they would at most just make some threats, but Yang Shuai is absolutely capable of doing it.

This guy is a fucking madman who doesn't care about the consequences!
It wasn't until Yang Shuai had been gone for a while that they realized their backs and bodies were covered in cold sweat. "Damn it!" Workman cursed, rubbing his face.

They weren't novices, but it was really embarrassing to be scared like this by a high school student.

Even after leaving the locker room, Yang Shuai's brows remained furrowed.

The conversation in the locker room earlier was infuriating, but it also made him more acutely aware of his current predicament.

Scott told him that his teammates' isolation was due to the Mark Jackson trade, which was true, but probably not the whole story.

He signed a huge contract with Reebok before even entering the league (why does a rookie earn more than me?), and he only got to the Pacers because of Bird's strong recommendation (you're just a nepotism hire!).

His teammates, perhaps like eagles hunting their prey, were always watching him, trying to make sure he wasn't getting preferential treatment on the team.

However, after entering the shower room and taking a shower, Yang Shuai's brows had already relaxed.

After experiencing this, he actually learned how to acquire points.

It's important to know that points can come not only from opponents but also from teammates.

He was originally isolated in the team, and he neither took the initiative to ease the situation nor wanted to escalate the relationship with his teammates.

But after today's incident, and knowing that his teammates were talking about him in private, he actually felt less burdened.

Because it was the first official training session in a long time, Brown's training session today was very packed, including not only off-ball drills but also full-court scrimmages.

Moreover, unlike the arrangements during the initial training camp, Brown did not follow the team division model of starters, bench players, and substitutes, but instead divided them into two teams.

Both teams rotate their squads frequently, which shows that Brown wants to increase the cohesion between the starters and substitutes.

Yang Shuai displayed his aggressiveness as soon as the full-court competition began.

His first matchup was against McGee, and he was intense on both ends of the court, both physically and verbally.

This caused McGee on the opposing team to explode with negative energy, because he felt that Yang Shuai was trying to challenge his starting position.

However, Brown showed no intention of stopping it.

The Pacers have had a poor record so far, and he needs this level of intensity to get his players on edge.

However, to avoid any actual conflict between the players, Brown made adjustments to the personnel on both sides after one quarter.

He moved Yang Shuai to the same team as McGee and they continued playing.

It was at this point that McGee felt somewhat more at ease.

Because he found that after facing Miller, Yang Shuai's intensity was even higher than before.

Miller didn't respond much at first, after all, their relationship had already thawed after the game against the Knicks.

However, as the game progressed, realizing that Yang Shuai was very hot-tempered, he also prepared to teach Yang Shuai a lesson.

After hitting a three-pointer, he stared directly at Yang Shuai, just like he had stared at Spark Lee repeatedly two years ago when Yang Shuai scored 25 points in the final quarter for New York.

However, Yang Shuai then found an opportunity to return the favor with a three-pointer.

Moreover, after hitting that three-pointer, he made a celebration gesture towards Miller that was sure to get the latter excited.

He pouted, shrugged, and then spread his hands.

"Negative energy from Reggie Miller +816".

What could Miller hate more than Jordan?
Upon hearing the notification in his mind, Yang Shuai was overjoyed.

It's important to understand that points are related to the status of the person being counted, and no one on the Pacers is more famous than Miller.

However, after truly angering Miller, Yang Shuai had a much harder time in this match than before.

Miller's greatest strength lies in off-ball movement, followed by receiving the ball and shooting through high pick-and-rolls.

This directly hit Yang Shuai's defensive weakness.

However, this may not necessarily be a bad thing.

If we were to rate defense out of ten, five parts would be skill, and the remaining five parts would be awareness.

Awareness is something that needs to be cultivated through continuous competition.

Miller's playing style can be considered a result of precise refinement.

In a single scrimmage, Miller gave him fewer points than McGee did.

This is mainly a matter of the star's personality; it's no less difficult to make Miller generate negative energy than it is for Jordan.

However, once Yang Shuai opened up his mind, he didn't limit himself to one moment. After all, it's rare to meet Jordan even once, but Miller is around every day.

Brown's training session lasted until 4 p.m.

After showering, bathing, and resting for a while, Yang Shuai returned to the training hall in the evening to continue defensive footwork training with the help of Di Francesco.

He had only been practicing for a short while when people arrived at the training center.

Yang Shuai was not surprised to see the other party appear, or perhaps he had been waiting for him.

If we're talking about who on the Pacers trains at a higher intensity than Yang Shuai, it has to be Miller.

Miller's physical talent was below average, not to mention among NBA stars, even among ordinary players.

But he eventually became an All-Star player, and the effort he put in behind the scenes is unimaginable.

After Miller finished warming up, Yang Shuai walked straight towards him.

"I'm not satisfied with the match during the day. Shall we settle this?"

Miller glanced at Yang Shuai, said nothing, and simply picked up the ball to prepare for training.

He found Yang Shuai's behavior boring.

"That's true. You're a competitive player, and one-on-one isn't your forte. You don't need to play a game you're sure to lose."

However, before Yang Shuai could finish speaking, Miller suddenly turned to look at Yang Shuai, his eyes sharp as knives.

Just as Yang Shuai was about to say something, Miller spoke up: "Then what are you waiting for?"

Upon hearing Miller's words, Yang Shuai knew that his provocation had worked.

Miller wasn't impulsive, but he was proud.

(End of this chapter)