One Year Left to Play-Chapter 202 - 67: People Can Never Truly Empathize With Each Other

The atmosphere was awkward, but it was okay. It's just training; awkwardness doesn't matter, just finish the practice.

Zhang Hao hadn't seen Garnett for a long time and thought they might have a lot to talk about when they met again. But when they were alone, they didn't really start chatting... mainly because he ruined the atmosphere. During the training, apart from the sounds of the ball, the hoop, the floor, and hands, there was nothing else.

If they were to talk, there were quite a few topics they could cover, like post-draft events, joining the team, etc., but there was almost no communication.

However, Zhang Hao found this situation quite normal. If Garnett had suddenly become enthusiastic, only then would it feel unusual to him.

After the extra training, Zhang Hao went back to his apartment, took a shower, and went to sleep. Another nonstop night was beginning.

Once again entering study mode.

He didn't continue the simulated training for turnaround fadeaway shots. The words Alvan Adams said to him made him decide to rethink his positioning.

Indeed, he had previously considered himself merely as a shooter and the final passing option.

"Let me take another look..."

Zhang Hao took out "Positioning Master," preparing to study the positioning routes again and look at it from a different angle, putting himself into the scenarios another way.

The same positioning route diagrams, the same analysis of positioning, the same details of positioning from TV footage... seeing it with a new mindset, Zhang Hao felt like he discovered a new world.

Originally, he had looked at "Positioning Master" and the recordings so much that he didn't want to see them anymore, but now he found the joy of learning again.

As the night passed, at 6:30 in the morning, when Zhang Hao woke up, recalling last night's study, he couldn't help but sigh, "To reach the pinnacle of an industry, there's still so much I need to learn!"

Just the aspect of positioning alone, he thought he was already at the peak, but now he realized he was just getting started.

It's just that he knew, his notion of 'beginner' now and others' notion of 'beginner' are two different concepts.

...

On October 24th at 11 a.m., team training finished. This morning only had one training session, so it ended early, and there's a final preseason game at 5 p.m.

"Aix, do you think we can win more than 30 games this new season?" Kenny Anderson, at the last preseason game, suddenly felt a lack of confidence surging up.

30 wins was the record the Brooklyn Nets achieved last season with both Kenny Anderson and Coleman as stars, though the record didn't quite match their averages of 17 points, 9 assists and 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists per game. Their current roster wasn't as good as last season's either.

Kenny Anderson's main desire was to shake off the title of "sidekick to Coleman."

With Coleman gone, their team, the Brooklyn Nets, was viewed as the top draft pick favorite, which was hard for Kenny Anderson to accept.

But he knew, even if their mindset gradually became ambitious during the preseason, winning too many games wasn't likely. So, Kenny Anderson had a small goal of winning more games than last season.

A very realistic goal; for higher goals, even Kenny Anderson himself felt it was unrealistic.

However, when other teammates were around, Kenny Anderson wouldn't speak so bluntly. It was only when alone with Zhang Hao that he couldn't help but ask.

Having watched the Warriors and Cavaliers play in the finals for several consecutive years in a past life, Zhang Hao felt that their team, the Brooklyn Nets, was so humble...

The Lakers' record was dismal, yet Lakers fans kept chanting for a championship, and eventually, they truly won one.

Why wouldn't we have a dream?

Under Kenny Anderson's hopeful gaze, Zhang Hao replied, "I think we can achieve more than 30 wins. Set a goal — the playoffs?"

Last season's eighth place in the East was the Celtics with 35 wins. So, if the goal was to exceed 30 wins, Zhang Hao saying this seemed quite normal to Kenny Anderson.

Compared to other rookies he's partnered with, Kenny Anderson felt Zhang Hao was much more pragmatic. Hearing Zhang Hao say this, he also started to feel hopeful.

Maybe they really could return to the playoffs?

Chatting idly as they finished lunch, after taking an afternoon nap, at 1:30 p.m., Zhang Hao received a call from Imperial Channel to go to the stadium for an interview.

The interview content was simple, analyzing the team's situation and so on. Zhang Hao and Garnett's match-up as high school rookies was a point of interest. After the Imperial Channel interview, several American media engaged in a group interview.

The interview process was uneventful. When domestic reporters cover foreign events, they often avoid confrontation and may even embellish them, so they naturally wouldn't pick on Zhang Hao.

In the U.S., these days, there are plenty of hot news teams. The games between the Brooklyn Nets and the Minnesota Timberwolves only garnered some attention because of the rookies' match-up. Having coverage at all was fortunate as Zhang Hao's recent performances were steady with no major highlights.

"When you guys go to Detroit to play the Pistons on November 1st, we'll be broadcasting live, good luck!"

Xu Jicheng was now working with more enthusiasm, brimming with energy.

Live broadcast!

Zhang Hao originally thought of himself as not suited for live broadcasts, but now he discovered he was...

Hearing about the live broadcast, he felt really excited!

In the North American region, their team, the Brooklyn Nets, had only three nationally broadcasted games planned for the new season, one of which was the regular-season opener against the Pistons away.