Free Web NovelChapter 414: Chapter 351: James’s Free Throw Problem
The hotel where the rookies were staying was fully equipped, complete with an outdoor basketball court.
It was past nine at night, but under the bright lights of the court, a tall figure was still practicing free throws. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
It was LeBron James.
He wasn’t shooting frequently. Instead, he was mostly just practicing his shooting form over and over.
After filling out the questionnaire this morning, he thought they would continue playing until the strongest team was decided. He didn’t expect Nelson to regroup them in the afternoon.
He thought they would keep playing after being regrouped, but instead, Nelson began to run various motion-capture tests on each of them under professional cameras. Before they left, Nelson even gave each player a personalized training plan for improvement.
His training regimen focused on free throws.
Nelson had prepared a six-page improvement report for him, pointing out his weaknesses and offering suggestions for adjustments.
The report pointed out quite a few issues.
His upper body muscles were overly strong, causing stiffness, poor power control, and a lack of a soft touch on his release.
During his shot, his left shoulder tilted back while his right shoulder pushed forward, causing his release point to drift to the right.
He didn’t bend his knees enough, his upper and lower body weren’t in sync, and his coordination was particularly poor at the moment of release.
His feet weren’t planted. He would shift them subconsciously, failing to establish a consistent stance and shooting form.
The report then offered several suggestions for adjustments.
James knew his free-throw shooting was poor, but he never expected to receive such professional, detailed advice from Chen Yu during a routine rookie evaluation.
’This is a massive bonus.’
So, after returning to the hotel, while many other rookies went out to party, James headed to the court to work on his targeted training plan.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one on the court.
Several other players were there as well, all following their own personalized training plans.
James dribbled the ball, squatted, gave his shoulders a little shake, then rose and released the shot—all in one fluid motion.
James was primarily a guard, but he had the height of a typical small forward and the weight of a power forward. Because of this, the adjustments Chen Yu and Nelson had discussed for his free throw were similar to O’Neal’s: add extraneous movements to relax his tense muscles as much as possible before the release.
They also suggested that James take a step back from the free-throw line.
His scouting report stated it clearly: he lacked confidence in his mid-range jumper, and his field goal percentage from there was even lower than from three-point range.
So, he might as well just shoot from farther away.
CLANG! The basketball hit the rim and bounced out.
James still felt awkward. He wasn’t a player known for finesse or fancy moves; he didn’t have that kind of talent. He much preferred a more direct, powerful style, using his physique to create opportunities.
For him, Chen Yu’s adjustments felt like asking a lumberjack to do needlepoint. It was a difficult task.
Another tall figure picked up the ball as it rolled to the side.
It was Anthony.
He was also drenched in sweat, having apparently just finished his own workout.
"LeBron, did the coaches tell you to work on your free throws?" Anthony asked.
LeBron nodded and asked Anthony what his training regimen was.
’It seems like every rookie is only focused on improving one specific skill.’
"My ass."
Anthony patted his own rear and said, frustrated, "They think my lateral quickness is slow and my perimeter defense is weak, so they want me to work on my glutes to improve my lateral speed. Oh, and they also gave me this one exercise that’s really hard."
As he spoke, Anthony spread his legs wide like a crab, then squatted down into a horse stance.
"I have to hold this pose without moving. They said that by the end of the camp, they want me to be able to hold it for fifteen minutes. They claim it will help me get used to moving quickly with a low center of gravity."
"Is it hard?"
James frowned. ’It doesn’t seem that hard.’
He said, dropping into a horse stance himself.
Anthony stood up. "It’s really hard. Right now, I can only hold it for a little over seven minutes."
They were muscular, but they were also heavy, which didn’t make it any easier.
"Time me," James said. He’d never seen this kind of training before, but since it came from the Chen Yu Sports Laboratory, it had to be effective.
Anthony checked the time, then asked, "LeBron, why didn’t you pick me when we were forming new teams this afternoon? And hey, on that questionnaire, who did you put down as the player you’d most want to team up with? I put you."
Holding his stance, James gave an imperceptible tremor. "Carmelo, we’re friends," he said. "Of course I put you down, too."
He watched Anthony’s expression out of the corner of his eye.
In reality, he hadn’t written Anthony’s name for that question. He’d written Bosh.
’An inside-outside combo is the best option.’
"As for forming teams, Carmelo, this is what I was thinking: I think Dr. Chen and his staff had us split up to test how we’d perform in different lineups. You and me together would obviously be the strongest duo, but everyone already knows that. A test like that wouldn’t reveal anything new."
"So I figured we needed to be on separate teams. That’s the only way to really highlight our individual strengths and get better evaluation reports."
Anthony thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "You’re right. I also got the feeling they were intentionally letting us form our own teams, hoping we’d end up with weaker teammates so they could see how we’d perform. Sorry, LeBron. I misjudged you. I was worried there was a problem between us."
Everyone wants to be surrounded by O’Neals, but in reality, you’re more likely to get a bunch of Kwame Browns.
A smile spread across Anthony’s face. He was a loyal friend and had been worried that a rift had formed between him and James.
"No way! We’ll always be brothers!" James said quickly.
He immediately changed the subject, bringing up Michael Jackson.
The news of Michael Jackson’s arrival in Phoenix had already made the evening broadcast.
"You think we’ll have a chance to meet him?" James asked, his face full of anticipation.
’That’s Michael Jackson,’ he thought. The idea that Chen Yu had spent who-knows-how-much-time with Michael Jackson filled him with envy.
"Who knows? Probably not," Anthony shrugged. "Dr. Chen is a big deal. He can meet MJ whenever he wants, but we can’t."
As he was talking, he suddenly pointed at James. "LeBron, are your legs starting to shake?"
"They are? No, they’re not."
Beads of sweat formed on James’s forehead. It felt like only a few minutes had passed.
"I’m done. I feel like this is messing with my free-throw practice." James stood up, avoiding Anthony’s gaze.
’Damn, this is harder than it looks.’
「The next day, at the Chen Yu Sports Laboratory.」
"Did you stay up all night?" Nelson asked quietly, standing beside Chen Yu on the sidelines.
Chen Yu nodded. He had stayed up late the previous night going through all the questionnaires and hadn’t gotten to bed until very late.
Nelson thought for a moment. "Chen, you’re this busy already. Will you even have time to get married this summer?"
Getting married, a honeymoon... It wasn’t even summer yet, and Chen Yu was already swamped. Once the offseason hit, he would only get busier.
"Don’t even mention it. It gives me a headache." Chen Yu waved a hand, suddenly reminded of the painful 24/7 on-call shifts from his residency.
Nelson laughed. "In that case, you should skip the game tonight too. Get some rest."
It wouldn’t be a problem even if Chen Yu really didn’t show up.
"Funny you should say that; I wasn’t planning on going today anyway." Skipping today’s game, plus the next two away games, meant three games he wouldn’t have to travel for. That would lighten his load with the team considerably.
Nelson nodded. "Are we regrouping them again today?"
"We are."
Chen Yu nodded without hesitation. "We are. The whole point of this is to test their adaptability and teamwork. How could we not split them up?"
Nelson glanced at the rookies playing their scrimmages. "But it seems like a lot of them don’t get it. Did you read yesterday’s questionnaires? I feel like many of them have no idea what we’re actually doing."
They called it a training camp and an evaluation, but none of the activities resembled a typical tryout.
So it wasn’t just the rookies; even Nelson himself wasn’t always sure what exactly Chen Yu was trying to test.
Chen Yu smiled. "It’s better that they don’t understand. If they figured it out, we wouldn’t be able to test for anything."
Besides, if this were just a simple tryout, he could have just let them go to the official combine. Why would he go to all this trouble?
"All right, it’s only for another two days. Just hang in there," Chen Yu said, patting Nelson on the shoulder.
The playoffs were starting, which meant more work with the team. As Chen Yu’s right-hand man, Nelson already had the heaviest workload, and now he had to juggle the sports lab on top of it all. He was busy and working hard.
"I’m heading out."
Chen Yu glanced at the time; he had to go film the weight-loss show.
He got in his car and drove to the set.
On the way, Chen Yu kept running through the details of Michael Jackson’s surgery in his mind.
None of the procedures were major, but they were complicated. They required extreme precision and careful planning.
Using a Small Needle Knife to release the adhesions wasn’t as simple as just cutting every adhesion he found.
In some areas, the conditions weren’t right for the procedure, while in others, releasing the adhesion was unnecessary and could even cause further damage.
Take his back, for example. Chen Yu really needed to consider it from the perspectives of human anatomy and spinal function.
Lost in thought, he arrived at the villa where the show was being filmed.
To his surprise, the street outside the villa was packed with cars, and a large crowd had gathered around the entrance.
Chen Yu saw several news vans at a glance.
The rest of the crowd seemed to be mostly Michael Jackson’s fans.
By the time Chen Yu arrived, the fans had split into two distinct, opposing factions and were screaming at each other.
Many were holding homemade signs. Chen Yu could see words like "Freak," "Monster," and other slurs.
The other faction, clearly his supporters, held up signs with messages like "We Believe You."
Michael Jackson had a massive, global fanbase, but he also had just as many detractors.
As Chen Yu watched, someone—perhaps pushed over the edge by the shouting—grabbed a sign and hurled it at the opposing group.
In just an instant, it devolved into a brawl.
The reporters on the scene grew excited, aiming their cameras directly at the fracas.
Security guards from the set rushed forward, trying to break it up.
But the situation was already too chaotic to be easily contained.
At this moment, his phone rang.
It was Burnett calling.
"Chen, there’s trouble at the set. You should probably stay away for now," Burnett said, his voice laced with resignation.
"I’m already here," Chen Yu said. "By the way, is Michael there?"
With so many extremist fans, Chen Yu worried about how all this would affect Michael Jackson.
From their meeting yesterday, Chen Yu could clearly tell that Michael Jackson was a very sensitive person whose mood was easily swayed by negativity.
"He’s already here. He seems... okay," Burnett said, though he sounded hesitant.
"Don’t come outside."
Chen Yu warned him, then hung up and immediately dialed the local police chief’s number. frёewebηovel.cѳm
The chief had a good relationship with Chen Yu, who had cured his severe herniated disc.
