Chapter 807 253: Mastering the Crossover Dribble! (2)

The headline news after the game from Time Warner Cable Sports was direct—'Gentlemen Officially Welcome Rookies to the NBA.'

...

...

"I was forced into it!"

Seeing the news portraying him like that, Zhang Hao felt very indignant.

However, last night he received a mission reward of 11 days + 50 days of life extension, and 5 days of regular lifespan...

Watching Raheem across from him venting by devouring a Kobe-sourced tomahawk steak, and ordering a second one as if he wanted to eat Mr. Zhang broke, Zhang Hao felt like he was looking at a mountain of gold.

Initially, he didn't want to see Zhang Hao in the short term, but they had agreed to have lunch together after the game before coming to Los Angeles.

Out of his own upbringing, Raheem couldn't stand him up, so he came anyway.

Having come, Raheem didn't really interact much with Zhang Hao, just concentrating on eating.

Seeing Raheem's good appetite, Zhang Hao felt that there should be no problem and slowly ate his own meal.

Raheem also occasionally sneaked a look at Zhang Hao, feeling gloomy about last night's game, but he knew he was still weak, and the key was that his teammates were even weaker, unable to even connect properly.

Originally, playing for a team with only a 60% home attendance rate, in a city where it almost snows from pre-season to the end of the regular season, didn't bother Raheem too much. Although there were many downsides, since he went there to play, he chose to accept it.

But now, he started to envy players who play in big cities.

With greater exposure and better teammates...

...

After having lunch with Raheem at noon, Zhang Hao continued his crossover dribbling training in the afternoon.

After resting for a day, on January 11th, the Lakers' second of their six consecutive home games was coming up.

In the morning, the Lakers had preparation training; the training time was still short as Del Harris believed rest was more important. In the last game against the Grizzlies, everyone's shooting accuracy was terrible except for Zhang Hao, and even then, against a poorly defensive Grizzlies, they didn't score over 100.

At this point, Del Harris adjusted the training schedule. The usual training volume decreased, and on days with only one day's rest, they simply didn't train, deciding to get through the midseason first, with injury prevention as the priority.

At this point, Del Harris kind of missed last season's young players...

What reassured yet annoyed Del Harris was—why was this kid having no issues midseason?

Kenny Anderson, at the peak age and known for his stamina, had fluctuations midseason.

Unhappy, something had to be done, Del Harris waved his evil big hand...

After finishing the morning training, Zhang Hao planned to go to USC to pick up Aprile Clark. He already arranged to have lunch with Van Exel at noon; tonight's opponent was the Dallas Mavericks, and it was their second of a back-to-back.

Though on different teams, Zhang Hao maintained a good relationship with Van Exel. Before, when he won his second career and the new season's first Player of the Month, Van Exel was the first to text congratulations, and during his concussion, Van Exel sent an early message, to which Zhang Hao later responded.

Whether as teammates or friends, Van Exel left a very good impression on Zhang Hao.

Just after showering and changing into casual clothes, as Zhang Hao came out of the locker room, suddenly Ben Wallace, Jason Williams, George Lynch, and others appeared in front of him, without a word, lifted him up!

"What are you guys doing! Wait a minute! Put me down..."

Zhang Hao was carried by a group into a small... white room full of various instruments; after a series of checks, the team doctor preliminarily confirmed that Zhang Hao's physical condition was surprisingly good!

Even the symptoms of muscle fatigue from long-term high-load exercise were minimal.

This made Del Harris a bit depressed. He had prepared to throw the medical report at Zhang Hao's face, ordering this kid to reduce his training volume so he wouldn't injure himself.

After returning from the Christmas battles, on non-team training days, Del Harris didn't allow Zhang Hao to train at Time Warner Cable Arena anymore, but Zhang Hao's home also had a basketball court, a gym, and various training facilities were complete.

Yet, this guy, doing the team's most training, had the highest playing time at 37 minutes, and ended up being the healthiest in the team!

Zhang Hao was startled, but it turned out that this group of teammates brought him for a health check...

The health check results, Zhang Hao was quite happy to see, but why did he feel the old fox looked at him weirdly?

...

At 7 PM, the Lakers welcomed the Mavericks to their home court. The Mavericks currently have an 11-24 record, also part of the Duncan contention army, tanking teams.

However, their current record is the fourth-worst in the West, not because they aren't trying to tank, but they can't out-tank other teams!

The Nuggets, Spurs, and Grizzlies, these three teams tank too hard. Up to now, the Nuggets have 8 wins, the Spurs 7 wins, the Grizzlies 5 wins, and in the East, there is also the Celtics with 6 wins and the 76ers with 9 wins...

In terms of tanking, the Mavericks have no highlights at all.

But, they still have players with highlights.

This season, the Mavericks let Van Exel take the main role, all the ball rights belong to Van Exel. At 25 years old, Van Exel has entered the golden stage of his career. So far, in 35 games this season, he has played in all games, averaging 20.8 points, 8.2 assists, along with 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals, delivering an All-Star level performance.