Chapter 820 - 257: Different Types of Gentlemen

"Magical Finisher (Bronze): The player wearing this medal gains enhanced coordination when making a layup with the same hand and foot from close range..."

On January 17th, tomorrow is the last opponent in the continuous home games against the Pistons. After resting all morning, we conducted a two-hour training session from 2 to 3:30 in the afternoon.

After training, Zhang Hao stayed behind to try practicing Nash’s same hand and foot layup technique, which he showcased in a game.

In fact, while resting at home in the morning, Zhang Hao already practiced it a bit.

This medal is particularly effective when used; it doesn’t require any prerequisites. As long as you perform a layup with the same hand and foot, it provides a bonus by enhancing coordination.

However! Enhanced coordination aside, the movement is really awkward and completely goes against his layup habits.

From a certain angle, he felt that this even violates the body’s movement mechanism.

It would be very difficult to actually use it in a game!

And you can’t just practice it carelessly, as it can easily disrupt your original layup rhythm.

It’s not that just because the body can adapt, the brain can immediately respond.

"I thought I obtained a medal like the Strongest First Step that could be used right away..."

Zhang Hao wondered if he would occasionally receive seemingly impressive yet practically useless items; it seems this one is just like that, somewhat of a chicken rib.

...

After a day of rest, January 18th arrived—the Lakers’ last game day of consecutive home matches. Once this game ends, the Lakers will start a four-game road trip.

The Pistons arrived in Los Angeles yesterday and also trained in the Great Western Forum in the afternoon.

Zhang Hao and Grant Hill don’t have a bad relationship and have things to chat about when sitting together. However, Zhang Hao didn’t reach out to Grant Hill, nor did Grant Hill come to find Zhang Hao. Zhang only hosted his high school coach, Scott Collins, for lunch at his home today.

It’s not that Zhang Hao is particularly cold towards this young superstar he very much admires. When players like Van Exel and Curry came to play in Los Angeles, he was the one to reach out to them proactively.

The main reason is that when interacting with Grant Hill, Zhang Hao feels Hill makes friends just like his personality: a gentleman’s friendship.

When they meet, they greet each other; when they don’t, they don’t go out of their way to please others. This is Grant Hill’s way of making friends.

In the morning, before the pre-game meeting, Zhang Hao participated in brief interviews with three TV stations: Imperial Channel, American Cable TV Station, and BBC. These are sports channels of significant influence in Asia, Europe, and America, and they will all broadcast tonight’s game live.

From the 94-96 rookies, the most suitable for comparison with Zhang Hao is Grant Hill.

Grant Hill is too outstanding. Last season, he was the only player in the league with an average of 20+5+5 per game, and he has continued this performance this year. If it weren’t for the Bulls’ steadier play this year, allowing Pippen to consistently score 20+ per game and achieve an average of 20+5+5 for the fourth time in his career, Grant Hill would once again be the league’s sole achiever.

The key is that Grant Hill’s performance in leading the team is better than Pippen. Pippen’s first three seasons averaging 20+5+5 included winning a championship with Jordan once, while the other two were during Jordan’s retirement. In the 94-95 season, with a roster of role players far superior to this season’s Pistons, Pippen’s team only won 47 games, proving his inability to lead a team alone.

On the other hand, Grant Hill, despite losing Alan Houston from the Pistons, led the team to an upward trend. The Pistons’ current record is 27 wins and 13 losses. Based on the present situation, the Pistons are likely to achieve 50+ wins this season for the first time since the Bad Boys era.

...

After a day’s preparation, at 6:40 PM, both teams entered the court at the Great Western Forum for the game.

Upon entering, Zhang Hao noticed the wistful eyes of Brian Shaw and Byron Scott, who are future NBA coaches.

The two have consulted a lot of designers and ordered many hairstyles but were dissatisfied. They came to Mr. Zhang, who agreed reluctantly, yet hasn’t provided any ideas up till now.

Putting that aside, after both teams’ players entered, the starting lineup was displayed on the big screen.

The live audience was disappointed to see that even in the final game of the home stretch, O’Neal still hadn’t returned to play.

This afternoon, the second phase of voting results for the All-Star weekend was announced.

Zhang Hao unsurprisingly topped the votes for Western forwards with 1.53 million votes. Given the time left after the second voting phase, it’s highly likely that Zhang Hao will surpass the historical highest number of votes he set last season.

However, his vote count isn’t the highest this year, as Jordan leads with 1.79 million votes.

The Magician is currently vying for the second spot among Western guards with 990,000 votes, compared to Stockton’s 970,000 votes. Despite only averaging 7.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game this season, the Magician remains popular among fans.

Surprisingly, Barkley’s vote count is also high, with 1.44 million votes, securing the second place among Western forwards. This firmly places him ahead of Shawn Kemp, whose popularity surged this year after reaching the Finals last year.

It’s mainly due to timing. The day before All-Star voting began, Barkley delivered an outstanding performance against the Bulls, resulting in him receiving 110,000 more votes than Shawn Kemp in the first round, leading with 650,000 votes compared to 540,000.