The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 371 - 197 [God’s Afterglow]

When big trades were consecutively exploding throughout the League, the Grizzlies weren’t idle either, signing veteran players for minimum salaries, just like other defending champions.

For instance, Grant Hill.

Yes, the same Grant Hill who was once considered the heir apparent to Jordan during his time with the Pistons but had his career derailed by injuries. Nearly 40 years old, he had still been a starter for the Phoenix Suns last season, contributing an average of 10.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

With Nash moving east and the Suns rebuilding, it was natural that he wouldn’t stay there.

He would be competing for playing time with Dentye Jones this coming season.

At the same time, the Grizzlies also signed Shaun Livingston as the team’s third point guard.

Jordan Crawford tended toward scoring, and for the past couple of years, the Grizzlies had been stockpiling point guards with an organizational bent, like the former Williams and Bibby.

Though not as experienced as those two, Livingston was hailed as the "next Magic" when he debuted, with a strong foundation in orchestration.

Due to injury concerns, he didn’t have much of a market after the season ended, but serving as the Grizzlies’ third point guard was still worth a try.

Once the free agency market closed, the Grizzlies’ lineup for the new season was mostly strengthened.

Apart from Hansen not signing an extension, the management’s work was spot-on, and on paper, the team was stronger than last season.

Of course, as the defending champions, what they could achieve in the new season would depend on the core players’ form. freēwēbnovel.com

Soon after the free agency market ended, Hansen finally accumulated the 1.8 million in black favor value he had been waiting for.

It was then that he traded for the talent related to the Turnaround Jump Shot technique.

[God’s Afterglow]: This talent significantly improves balance, coordination, core strength, and hang time during a turnaround.

Viewing the talent description within the system, Hansen was very satisfied, especially with the core strength and hang time, as these were his relatively weaker aspects at the moment.

However, since his foot injury hadn’t fully healed, he wasn’t able to start training and could only ask Rondo to start gathering related materials for him.

Rondo was quite effective and even managed to find vintage video footage of Jordan.

Back when Jordan had burst onto the scene, the League, to promote him, had shot numerous technical documentaries, including one about this technique.

The video wasn’t long, but after watching it, Hansen was greatly inspired.

Jordan emphasized not just the mechanics but also a philosophy, particularly stressing ball protection and creating distance from the defender.

These points were closely related to footwork.

So his previous approach was correct.

By the end of July, when Hansen’s foot had mostly healed, he booked a session and flew to Houston to train under Olajuwon.

Olajuwon’s lessons had a set price, $80,000 US per session, non-discriminatory.

However, despite both being services, the emotions involved were completely different depending on the client.

Seeing Hansen, the basketball legend couldn’t hide his smile.

This was a brand new fmvp, a filled notch of gold on his reputation.

Before starting, he used specific movements to test Hansen’s various abilities.

After the assessment, he burst into hearty laughter.

Such speed, agility, coordination, and hang time.

After Kobe, he finally welcomed another marquee name.

Once the lessons started, Hansen was introduced to the core part of the Illusion Step, resetting the pivot foot.

Most of Olajuwon’s footwork techniques were based on this principle.

Resetting the pivot foot meant to reset to zero. At that point, the defender couldn’t predict which foot you would use as the pivot to launch an attack, making the defense very passive.

Hansen had felt this both from playing against Kobe last season and from watching Jordan’s videos.

Once a training session was over, Hansen paid double the price for Olajuwon to extend the lesson by an hour.

Thanks to the talent techniques he’d accumulated earlier, during the extended time, he immediately began practicing advanced steps alongside Olajuwon.

For him, spending a few hundred thousand US dollars was nothing, the key was the practice opportunity.

After the extra hour, Hansen and Olajuwon sat resting by the court.

Hansen felt extremely comfortable, not just because he could finally play passionately after recovering from his injury, but also because the lesson had been terrifically worth the expense.

Olajuwon’s heavy charges were very reasonable as this kind of skill training was useless for players with ordinary talent. Without the necessary speed or skill, learning would be in vain, but it was very beneficial for enhancing the skills of high-level athletes.

Just as Hansen was about to say something, he turned and noticed that Olajuwon looked somewhat excited.

"What’s the matter?" Hansen asked, puzzled.

"Do you know, last summer, another MVP player came to me looking for training," Olajuwon said, unable to hide his emotions.

"LeBron?" Hansen responded quickly.

Olajuwon nodded, his brow furrowing unconsciously.

He had been the least successful student he had taught, other than Howard.

"He also extended the session, but that was because he hadn’t mastered it in one lesson."

Hansen laughed heartily upon hearing this; it was all too real.

"I came because of his reputation; his improvement was significant," Hansen said seriously after he stopped laughing.

That statement took Olajuwon aback, but he too started to smile wryly.

Turning a poor student from scoring in the teens to just passing, James had indeed added to his reputation.