Chapter 769 - 692: The Lakers Taking Off (Part 3)

Chapter 769: Chapter 692: The Lakers Taking Off (Part 3)

Nelson silently rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to argue, so he just waved his hand for them to continue.

He knew it was pointless to argue with Luo Mu.

The kid was incredibly stubborn. You could never win an argument against him.

"Chen, are you sure Luo can really be the brains of the team?" Nelson couldn’t help but ask.

After a year of working together, Chen Yu and the team had selected five starters from the twelve kids.

Or rather, four of them.

Because Yao Ming would take one of the spots.

Song Jun was the shooting guard, and Xu Yong the small forward.

Aierditi was the power forward.

For now, the center was Zheng Zhun. He would become Yao Ming’s backup in the future.

And the point guard... was Luo Mu.

Nelson and the others had almost no objections regarding the other four positions.

But for the point guard position, Chen Yu had been the one to insist on Luo Mu.

"Of course."

Chen Yu said without the slightest hesitation.

Luo Mu’s situation was actually quite similar to Han Zhilu’s. As a child, he was unusually tall and was often dragged into playing basketball.

He himself only had a so-so interest in basketball.

The reason was simple: he was tall, so everyone else always made him play in the paint.

He didn’t like playing down low because he hated physical contact, especially with sweaty opponents.

He was a rather particular kid, with a refined way of carrying himself.

It probably had something to do with his father, a professional Go player, who had taught him the game from a young age and always made him sit quietly to practice.

But precisely because his playful, childish nature had been suppressed, he ended up liking basketball.

This gave him a rather conflicted personality. He liked basketball as an outlet for his suppressed energy, but he was also used to the quiet elegance of Go and resisted the overly intense, high-contact nature of the sport.

For a while, he even got into high jump because he had an excellent vertical leap.

He was once recommended for a sports academy.

The academy tested his bone age when he was nine and predicted he could grow to be two meters tall.

The coach was thrilled and started training him as a center right away.

As it turned out, the kid was an unorthodox center. He didn’t like going to the hoop and loved to pass.

The ball was like a hot potato in his hands; he couldn’t wait to pass it back out.

The academy coach put a ton of effort into breaking him of this "bad habit," but he just wouldn’t change.

With no other choice, they ultimately sent him back.

And so, he briefly gave up basketball to focus on his studies.

The reason his situation was similar to Han Zhilu’s was that he, too, was a top student.

But his old coach from the academy never forgot about him. When Chen Yu sent letters to sports academies across the country via the Sports Bureau, the coach recommended Luo Mu, even attaching game footage.

The recommendation said he had the potential to become an inside player who excelled at passing.

The letter didn’t mention his aversion to physical contact. It only said he was a great athlete who could run and jump, with an excellent wingspan and a well-proportioned frame.

Most importantly, he had a great instinct for passing the ball out to the perimeter. His court vision was expansive, and he could always find the open man.

His coach had recommended him as a center, but after watching the tape, Chen Yu had a sudden realization that Luo Mu’s skillset actually made him a better fit for point guard.

His gifts were his passing, his ability to read the game, and his court vision.

The coach had sworn in the recommendation letter that Luo Mu would grow to 2.1 meters, which Chen Yu considered complete nonsense.

Bone age tests weren’t accurate to begin with.

He was tested at nine, and by now he had only reached 1.9 meters. His growth had likely plateaued, which made him much better suited for a guard position.

So, Chen Yu went to scout him in person.

After getting to know him better, Chen Yu brought him to the United States.

What impressed Chen Yu the most was the kid’s mental fortitude, which was far beyond that of his peers.

This was undoubtedly related to his childhood experience with Go. He might have even inherited his professional Go player father’s innate composure.

Point guards, like centers, are difficult to develop, and the process is a long one.

But to become an excellent point guard, a cool head is an incredibly important factor.

That was why Chen Yu believed Luo Mu was incredibly talented and insisted on developing him as the starting point guard.

Chen Yu continued, "He said it himself—it wasn’t that his pass was too fast, but that Zheng Zhun was too slow. That just means the others aren’t keeping up with his tempo. The problem isn’t with him."

His mind moves too quickly, and the others just can’t keep up.

Nelson was speechless. In any case, he still wasn’t sold on Luo Mu.

The kid was physically gifted, but he always shied away from contact.

That really wasn’t a good habit to have.

"Keep an eye on things here. I’m going to go check outside," Chen Yu said, patting Nelson’s shoulder before heading to the other field.

Practice had also started for the soccer team.

On the soccer field, several Trainers were leading the players through various drills on the fundamentals.

Just like with the basketball team, fundamentals made up eighty percent of the practice, with the remaining twenty percent focused on developing tactical awareness.

Gong Luming and his group of coaches had already completed their training and returned to China.

So, the training here was still being handled by Chen Yu’s own people.

The Trainers were led by Lune Castelli, the head Trainer Chen Yu had poached from Manchester United’s youth academy.

He and his team trained each and every player.

Meanwhile, the tactical side of things was handled by Bob Bradley.

He was, for all intents and purposes, the team’s head coach.

He was responsible for molding these kids into the kind of team Chen Yu envisioned.

Chen Yu had chosen him on the recommendation of Bruce Arena.

Since Chen Yu planned to emulate the rise of soccer in the United States, it was only natural that the team’s tactics would be modeled after the American style of play.

That was why Chen Yu had approached Arena and asked for a recommendation.

And Arena had recommended Bob Bradley.

He and Arena went way back.

Back in ’81, Arena had recruited him from Ohio University to be his assistant coach at the University of Virginia.

After three years under Arena’s tutelage, he struck out on his own, heading to Princeton University. He stayed there for 12 years, becoming the school’s legendary head coach.

In ’96, when Major League Soccer was founded, Arena, then the head coach of D.C. United, thought of him again and recruited him to the pros to serve as his assistant coach.

Two years later, he once again struck out on his own, becoming a head coach in the league and leading first the Chicago Fire, then the New York Red Bulls.

During that time, he even won MLS Coach of the Year.

Last year, he was let go by the New York Red Bulls. It was only after Chen Yu’s persistent invitations that he agreed to take two years off to work for the company and train this group of kids.

With his resume, he wouldn’t have any trouble finding another job in the league, even after a brief departure.

So when Chen Yu offered him a two-year, 3 million US dollar contract, he caved instantly.

His job was to turn this group of kids into a cohesive soccer team within two years, one that played with the signature style of the United States Team.

After working with Arena for so many years, he knew exactly what had allowed the United States Team to become the eighth-ranked national team in the world.