Chapter 889: End-of-Season Reinforcements!

“Baseline Dominator (Silver): When a contracted player attempts to intercept a player driving to the basket along the baseline, Strength +3, movement speed towards the cutting or driving player +3, and block speed for shot attempts, alley-oops, etc. +3. Note: Gold level additional effect: Double team bonus.”

In the past, I mostly received offensive medals, only one defensive medal, and that was for positioning to grab rebounds.

Finally, there’s a proper defensive medal!

It’s just… probably can’t play as a small forward for long, already 206 cm, Zhang Hao admits it.

But partnering with O’Neal, how come the center position feels more assured and stable?

Forget it, forget it, better to have than not.

The Big Four centers each have their own characteristics: Olajuwon has offensive skills as elegant as a small forward, David Robinson has strong athletic abilities and excellent shooting, O’Neal has unbeatable strength and excellent under-the-basket skills, Ewing is considered a center’s offensive template… but they all share one common trait, they’re excellent both offensively and defensively!

Each one’s defensive characteristics are different: Olajuwon is excellent in one-on-one defense and linking team defense, very skilled in steals, David Robinson is exceptional at switching defense especially in mismatches, O’Neal, when diligent, is like a sweeper in close-range defense, Ewing’s defensive area is relatively smaller but excels in blocking and stealing in the baseline area.

So far in his career, averaging 2.7 blocks and 1.1 steals per game, most are completed with baseline movements, and his switch defense is not bad, just not exceptional. Ewing excels as the final defensive barrier.

This is also why he occasionally becomes the background.

The offensive side’s interior players can also help perimeter driving teammates with positioning, they can occupy the opponent’s interior with a rebound positioning move, giving the driving player a better inside shot space.

But Ewing often uses his signature spin move to swipe past positioning for blocks… or, after spinning inside, becomes a background himself.

Thinking of this, Zhang Hao recalled an NCAA game he watched last December, where an unnamed player, number 21 from Wake Forest Demon Deacons, frequently defended like this, supposedly having learned from the famous coach John Thompson during the sophomore season offseason.

John Thompson was not only a famous coach but also a former NBA player, standing at 208 cm, and a center from the 60s.

Restricted by his physical condition, many of his ideas of that era couldn’t be realized, which later became the mainstream techniques of today’s league centers, seen in Ewing, Mutombo, Moning, and others.

Looking at the upgrade hint in the “Note,” Zhang Hao felt it might as well not prompt!

Isn’t this just teasing?

But he couldn’t help but think—if he had taken over the last 19 points, singlehandedly turning the game around, would it have awarded a designated Gold level draw chance?

Forget it, forget it, winning and completing the mission would already be great. Looking at his latest average score, 55 games in, averaging 31.1 points, last night’s 41 points increased the average by 0.2 points.

Opening the system notification, checking this season’s scoring list, Jordan’s average score of 31.5 points…

“Higher than I remember in Jordan’s second championship of the three-peat! Tch… so old, still competing with us young ones…”

The further it goes, the harder it is to catch up, but there are still 27 games left, everything is yet uncertain!

Setting this aside, Zhang Hao checked his current medals.

Counting on his fingers, if not for just receiving a Silver medal, his collection of Silver medals is minimal!

Now having Slaying, King of Turnaround Jumpers, Single Rider as three Gold medals.

Pick-and-Roll Executor, Baseline Dominator, Heart Return as three Silver medals.

The rest, Zone Dominance, Deep Stepping, Strongest First Step, King of Cross Step, Magical Finisher, Rebound Protector, Dunk Master, Malone’s Elbow, Little Flying Hero’s Physical Pool are all Bronze medals.

Several are quite special, Taunt, Gentleman in Villainy, Jabbar’s Longevity Techniques, Performer’s Craft; these have no direct bonuses, some are non-tiered, some cannot be upgraded with a tier upgrade card.

Owning a Silver Tier Upgrade Card, Zhang Hao noticed in the Bronze medals, Malone’s Elbow, Little Flying Hero’s Physical Pool, King of Cross Step, and Strongest First Step don’t currently have upgrade options…

Previous overlooked, now Zhang Hao suddenly realized, medals upgradeable with a card are only 5! Just Zone Dominance, Deep Stepping, Dunk Master, Rebound Protector, Magical Finisher can be upgraded, the rest require task-completion for upgrades.

“What was I worrying about last night?”

Under such circumstances, Zhang Hao stopped worrying, a thought moved, and the system prompt appeared.

“Host uses Medal Tier Upgrade Card (Silver), can designate an upgradeable Bronze medal to upgrade to Silver level, designated medal: Dunk Master…”

“Congratulations to the host, Dunk Master upgraded from Bronze level to Silver level.”

“Dunk Master (Silver): After equipping the contracted player, when attempting a dunk, core strength significantly increases, jump speed +3. For each successful dunk in a game, the team’s morale is significantly boosted for the next three turns. Note: Synergizes with the Silver Medal Heart Return to boost confidence when team morale is low.”

This medal has always been effective, boosting morale with spectacular dunks; now almost every opponent is on guard against Mr. Zhang’s fast break dunks at the start.