Chapter 3 [Blockbuster]

The city of Seattle in July is sunny and has a pleasant climate.

On the afternoon of the 3rd, a tall white man wearing a shirt, trousers and sparse hair walked into the SuperSonics training arena at a pace that he did not recognize.

This person frowned with a "Chuan" character, his eyes were fierce, his mouth was eight-shaped, his ears were fanning, and he was murderous.  It's a "you owe me a million" face that looks like it's going to find someone unlucky at any time.

This person is the current coach of the SuperSonics - George Karl!

George Karl was a true savage, rude and vicious, nicknamed "Crazy Karl".

North Carolina's academic experience and its own brutal character made Carr's record in the 1980s a mess.  At that time, he was only in his early 30s, but he dared to spray the stars of the team.  The media generally believed that he was too vicious when coaching the Warriors. Chris Mullin was yelled at for his alcoholism, and the pressure was too great.

In the 1990s, Carl, who was over 40 years old, restrained his temper, and his brutality was transformed into tactics.

The SuperSonics played a very aggressive flanking attack and fast switching tactics, relying on the flanking attack to force the opponent to make mistakes, and then quickly counterattack.  In the positional battle, the SuperSonics are star free singles and multi-point three-pointers.

They are the team with the most fast breaks and the most 3-pointers in the league, ranking first last season with 110.4 points per game.

However, the current state of the team is a headache for Karl.  The SuperSonics played well in the regular season. They overturned in the playoffs for two consecutive years and were eliminated in the first round.  In the 1994 playoffs, they even became the first team in NBA history to be eliminated by the "Black Eight", leading 2-0 and being overturned by the Nuggets for three consecutive wins.

The owner began to question Karl's ability, suspecting that he was only good at leading the team to play in the regular season.  If the SuperSonics don't produce results this year, they will definitely have to change coaches.

After arriving at the arena, Karl greeted two assistant coaches first, and then made a bad face to the scouting director.  "Frank, are you kidding me? The team desperately needs a shooting guard. I said to find a potential rookie for a tryout. You contacted a Chinese?"

Scouting director Frank Knox knew Karl's hot temper and smiled bitterly: "Of course this is not a joke. We have studied the physical test data of many young players and believe that this Chinese has great potential. This is his previous physical test report, you have a look."

Facts speak louder than words, and Carl takes the printed data sheet and looks at it.

"He is 193cm tall in shoes and weighs 88kg... His wingspan is not bad, but the college data is too bad. Can such a person enter the draft?" He watched for a while, and turned from anger to curiosity: "How is it possible? Isn't human physical fitness generally poor?"

"It's true, there are always exceptions." Frank laughed: "A player can't fake his physical fitness. If his body is so strong, we can sign him for a period of training even if he touches basketball very late. Time, he at least has the potential to be a good defender and also be useful on the fast break."

"I hope he is so strong." George Karl's anger disappeared, and the scouts were indeed poaching people according to his ideas.

Karl loves the fast break, but the Sonics currently have only three quick guys.  One of them was also on the shelf because of his inconsistent shooting, and the team wanted to trade someone else.

The first assistant coach Bob Weiss laughed: "If this unsuccessful Chinese performed amazingly in the test, the other three people who came to try out don't know what the expressions will be."

Several people laughed. The other three players were selected in the draft, but the physical test data was not comparable to the losers.  They must be under a lot of pressure, and the team can assess the psychological quality of the players by the way.

The agreed time was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the players who participated in the internal trial training came one after another.  A center, two swingmen, and a point guard.

The players were all wearing sportswear, but the SuperSonics staff felt that Yang Jian was not an athlete.

He has sharp eyebrows, star-shaped eyes, full of heroic spirit, flat hair, and neat blue sportswear.  This is an oriental person with extraordinary temperament, handsome and unique.

However, the first impression of the coaching staff was that he should be a model or actor, not an athlete.

In terms of high-value aesthetics, there is no border at all.  Westerners only like Asians with small eyes and high cheekbones?  Whoever believes this kind of aesthetic tendency is a fool.

Compared with Yang Jian, the other three were simply too ugly to look at.  In particular, Sherrell Ford, the first-round pick selected by the Sonics this year, has small eyes, a wide nose and thick lips.  The black man had a hunchback, and he looked dirty in red and white sportswear.

Of course, trial training is not better than someone's image and temperament, strength is the key.

After a few chats, everyone got to the point.

Sherrell took the lead, took off with both feet on the spot, and completed a touch.

"It's so high." The bald black guard on the sidelines sighed in a low voice, showing an envious expression.

Scouting director Frank just heard it and encouraged him: "Although your jumping power and speed are average, you also have your own advantages. You can play boldly for a while, don't be nervous."

"Thank you, I will try my best."

Standing beside them, Yang Jian smiled confidently, full of disdain in her heart.

That's it?  Is that too high?  Obviously just an ordinary player!  After 2010, 80% of the strikers who were thin enough to participate in the draft were directly rejected.

Yang Jian looks at modern people from the perspective of the future and finds that the threshold for entering the NBA is much lower.  In the future, many people like to keep the past over the present, boasting that the NBA players in the 1980s and 1990s were stronger. In fact, the overall physical quality of the current players is far worse than that of the future.

Now there are a lot of thin guards who are 180cm tall and are flourishing in the league.  Boggs, who is 160cm tall and weighs 62kg, is even called a "defensive hero"!  There are also a group of stance-type centers who can't change the pick-and-roll while walking and playing. The transition between offense and defense is slow in the game, and the center doesn't have to worry about not keeping up with the rhythm.

At this time, a thin black staff member who couldn't tell his age beckoned, "Yang Jian, it's your turn."

"OK." Yang Jian had already done his warm-up exercise.

He walked to the basket, bent his legs and jumped with all his strength, his right hand touching high.

He just made an extremely simple action, which left the audience stunned and silent.  Because his grades are much higher than Sherrell.

"What's his vertical jump?" Coach Karl asked excitedly.

"96CM, 2CM higher than the physical test data for the draft..." The staff replied in surprise.

Karl smiled, Michael Jordan's rookie physical test vertical bounce is 98CM.  Considering that Yang Jian is younger than Jordan when he was drafted, their bounce is one level, and Yang Jian still has room for improvement in the future.

Then Yang Jian tested the maximum bounce, which was also amazing at around 110CM.

The coaching staff showed great interest in Yang Jian and applauded him together.  Agent Steve Oldman was overjoyed. If it wasn't for the occasion, he would have been dancing.

"Mr. Knox, I'm not lying, right? Although Yang is not valued at Harvard University, he is super talented and can definitely play basketball well." Oldman laughed.

Knox nodded, he was also very excited, this time he found a treasure.  Watching stats and watching a player's on-site trial training is a completely different experience. No team would be stupid enough to push such a player out.

"Eric Snow, it's your turn," the staff member said.

The 14th place in the second round, the 43rd rookie Snow walked over, took a deep breath and took off with all his strength.  As soon as he bounced, he started to fall, and he bounced 58CM vertically.  His run-up bounce is also very bad, only 74CM.

In the NBA, this kind of data is not up to the mark, and many ordinary people can jump so high.  Snow was testing after Yang Jian, so embarrassed, he wanted to find a crack in the ground to get in.

After the test, Snow walked to the sidelines, hesitated for a moment, and took the initiative to talk to Yang Jian.  "Hello, can I ask what position you are playing?"

"The main shooting guard, my name is Yang Jian, I'm from China, it's a pleasure to meet you." Yang Jian smiled and stretched out his right hand.

Snow and Yang Jian shook hands and breathed a sigh of relief.  "Eric Snow, a point guard."

Snow felt that if Yang Jian mainly played point guard, he would definitely not be able to get a contract with the Supersonics.  The difference in physical quality between the two is too great, and the coaching staff is crazy to choose the poor one.