One Year Left to Play-Chapter 208 - 70: Rising Rookie!

Based on the previous training camp and preseason experiences, after days of hard learning and tough training, right after the afternoon training session on the last day before the regular season, Zhang Hao received a notification!

"Special contract player Zhang Hao, due to improvements in catch-and-shoot, passing, and other aspects, ability rating increased from 69 to 70."

"Special contract player: Zhang Hao.

Age/Date of Birth: 18 years old/January 7, 1977.

Height: 206 cm, Wingspan: 216 cm

Weight: 96 kg.

Position: Forward

Team: New Jersey Nets.

Ability Rating: 70

Physical Attributes: Speed 90, Strength 90 (Explosiveness 82), Jump 94, Agility 95, Stamina 92...

Shooting: Mid-range shot 90, Layup 89...

Skills: Catch-and-shoot 89…"

In recent days, thanks to professional guidance in passing, it has been improved to the bottleneck of 54, and further improvement is not difficult according to Zhang Hao.

Catch-and-shoot improved by 1 point over the past few days, reaching 89, close to being top-notch.

For this, Zhang Hao feels that further improvement will be challenging. Previously stuck at 87 for a long time, only by developing a new catch-and-shoot technique did it increase significantly, and it's expected to be even harder from here on.

Three skills are top-notch or near top-notch, but the others...not worth looking at!

After dribbling improved to 59, progress slowed down significantly.

Thinking of how Durant only surpassed average turnovers per game in his sixth year, Zhang Hao is not in a hurry about it.

Looking at the ability rating of 70, Zhang Hao was excited—"Finally leveled up!"

Zhang Hao knows that his ability rating of 70 might play out as 75 or even higher under the right circumstances.

He knows that it depends on the conditions being right, like needing a good passing guard for his current playstyle, and luckily, the Nets have one, hence his abilities can be showcased on the court.

If he were to take the ball himself, he'd probably be weaker than Graham, the backup shooting guard, and incomparable to a rebound fanatic like Jason Williams.

Knowing his strengths and weaknesses, Zhang Hao neither overestimates nor underestimates himself, doing what needs to be done and making reasonable attempts, avoiding what he can't handle...

After half a year of hard work, he's about to officially start his professional basketball career, and whether he'll start or be a substitute in the first game is crucial!

...

Tomorrow, November 1st, the regular season will begin. Since the preseason ended, TV stations and newspapers have been predicting which team is the strongest, discussing who among Olajuwon, Jordan, David Robinson, Anfernee Hardaway, and Grant Hill is the best player.

Originally, some media ranked O'Neal third, just behind Olajuwon and Jordan, but some Orlando media have come out saying Anfernee Hardaway is stronger...

The rookies are not lacking in attention either.

With stunning performances in the first two preseason games and consistent double-digit scoring in later games, Zhang Hao has become one of the Rookie of the Year candidates.

Other candidates include Antonio McDyess, Damon Stoudamire, Joe Smith, Garnett, Rashid Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, these six being the initial T1, T2 rookies.

Later, Michael Finley emerged, but the biggest surprise wasn't that Zhang Hao and Michael Finley became Rookie of the Year candidates, but that the Kings' second-round 18th pick, Teus Edney, only 178 cm tall and 70 kg, became a candidate.

During this time, a retired star has been taking up most of the headlines—the soap opera of Magic Johnson has begun.

Today, Zhang Hao woke up early, tossed his basketball shoes and a change of clothes into a suitcase, and was all packed.

As he finished freshening up and was eating the breakfast provided by the team, the phone rang.

Upon answering, before Zhang Hao could ask who it was, the other party said, "It's me, Aix, are you still sleeping?"

The voice was too familiar. Having spent time together every day that summer, Zhang Hao instantly recognized it was Aprile Clark.

Feeling a bit nostalgic, time quickly flew by, and the three most dazzling sports talents from Inglewood High School had gone their separate ways.

Snapping back from his high school memories, Zhang Hao responded, "Not yet, I'm heading to Detroit soon. Just finished packing and having breakfast. Why did you think of calling me?"

"Well, you said you'd call me once you settled in with the Nets, but here I am calling you instead."

"I haven't settled in yet; I haven't even played a regular season game. You don't know how worried I am about not playing well. I was getting anxious, but your call relieved that instantly. I was worried about distracting you from your studies. You have classes and acting lessons every day. You can call me more often, and I'll take care of the phone bills, alright?"

On the other end, Aprile Clark couldn't help but laugh, "That's better, remember to pay the phone bills! By the way, I saw on the news you became a Rookie of the Year candidate, even Jordan praised your mid-range shot."

Jordan's words count as praise? That was him anticipating to crush our Nets, alright!

Thankfully, Zhang reacted quickly; otherwise, the little bit of morale we'd accumulated would've been extinguished by the Bulls.

Later, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as every player's skin thickness on the team increased significantly in that game.

"That was just the preseason. Only tomorrow's regular season can truly test my level."