Chapter 35: Basketball Summer Camp

Liu Han's boxing training was interrupted after less than a month, because Mr. John Wooden arranged for Liu Han a well-known coach, "Sky Hook" Abdul-Jabbar.

LaBeouf was very angry at Liu Han's interruption of boxing training, Liu Han relied on his talent to conquer all the "audiences" in LaBeouf's gym in nearly a month of boxing training, but this time John Wooden found a coach who was too famous, LaBeauf felt that if he really didn't let Liu Han participate in this person's training, it would be really a little sorry for Mr. John Wooden, who paid so much for this.

In mid-June 1995, the NBA Finals of the 94-95 season came to an end in Orlando, and the Houston Rockets led by "Big Dream" Olajuwon swept the Orlando Magic team with "Big Shark" O'Neal and "Penny" Hardaway with a score of 4-0, successfully defending this year's NBA championship. The Houston Rockets, who have won two consecutive championships since Michael Jordan's retirement, are on their way to building a dynasty.

Liu Han watched this year's NBA playoffs at LaBeouf's home, and he was impressed by the wonderful performances of these players, but also felt the gap between himself and these players, Liu Han thought that he needed to sweat more to improve his level. The day after the finals, Liu Han received a call from Mr. John Wooden at LaBeouf's house, saying that he should go to Mr. John Wooden's house the next day.

The next day, Liu Han, who came to Mr. John Wooden's house, met the thin and tall black legend - Kareem Jabbar.

"Liu, don't stand at the door in a daze, come in and sit first, Karim will spend at least two months with you, and then you have time to observe his appearance." Mr. John Wooden said to Liu Han, who was still a little confused.

"Hello Liu, I'm Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I watched you perform in the NCAA finals, and I have to say, you surprised me." The strange-looking Abdul-Jabbar spoke softly, the former NBA legend had worked on a movie with a Chinese who was also called a legend - Bruce Lee at the peak of his career, so he had been in contact with many Chinese, knowing that Chinese can be a little shy when they meet strangers for the first time, Abdul-Jabbar hopes that his praise will make Liu Han, who looks a little dull, more relaxed.

Liu Han found curiosity and concern in Abdul-Jabbar's gaze, his tense muscles instantly relaxed a little, and the recent boxing training made Liu Han always in a state of high mental concentration.

"Hello, Mr. Kareem Jabbar, my name is Liu Han and I am nineteen years old. I've watched your matches, but I can't watch you live, so it's a shame. Liu Han's words made both Abdul-Jabbar and John Wooden laugh.

"Haha, lad, if you want to watch him play, then you have to be born twenty years early, and if you were twenty years early, maybe I will postpone my retirement for a while." John Wooden has always been optimistic about Liu Han.

"Liu, if you were born 20 years earlier, I would love to be teammates with you, and I don't know if I can break Russell's record [Bill Russell, who won 11 NBA championship rings in his career]."

"Liu, Karim asked me to borrow a UCLA training hall to hold a basketball summer camp for young players, I want to know your arrangements for this summer, if you have no other plans, I suggest you better participate, this will expose you to a lot of young talents." John Wooden told Liu Han the purpose of calling him.

"Thank you, Mr. Wooddon, I'm very happy to be in this kind of training, I recently went to learn boxing with Mr. LaBeouf, and it was quite useful. I have no other arrangements for the holidays. "What Liu Han, who has little basketball experience, needs most now is a lot of games, and participating in such a summer camp will be very helpful for Liu Han.

When Liu Han returned to LaBeouf's house, he told LaBeauf about Mr. John Wooden's advice to him.

"Hey, boy, are you going to go to me again? It's not right for you to do that, do you know how good you've been lately? If you train with me for a few years, you might become the first Asian boxing champion. Which stupid X ran this stupid X summer camp, it seems that I have to talk to him in person. LaBeouf was very unhappy that Liu Han was going to release his pigeons.

"Uh, LaBeouf, I'm sorry, I know that's not right, but I don't think you'd better go to this summer camp gentleman, I don't think you can beat him, he's a lot taller than me, and he's fought with Bruce." Liu Han watched Abdul-Jabbar and Bruce Lee's "Game of Death" at LaBeouf's home, and as a combat sports enthusiast, LaBeouf admired Bruce Lee very much.

"Bruce? Which blues? Do you mean Bruce Lee? SHIT, is this summer camp running Jabbar? Kareem Jabbar? Okay, looks like I'd better let him go. LaBeouf felt helpless when he learned the truth.

At the end of June 1995, Liu Han still ran to UCLA's training hall with the morning breeze of the Los Angeles summer as usual, and Kareem Jabbar's basketball summer camp officially began.

Liu Han, who came to the training hall, found that there were many young people, including many familiar faces, and the summer camp jointly organized by Abdul-Jabbar and John Wooden was famous enough, which attracted many young people to participate, and also attracted some local media in Los Angeles to interview.

Among these people, Liu Han found Ray Allen, who had played against him in the NCAA tournament that had ended, and his projection ability left a deep impression on Liu Han, as well as Van Horn, who was pulled out of his pants by Liu Han, and his teammate Andre Miller also participated in this summer camp. Liu's teammate, Adio Bonno, has graduated from college and will be competing in this year's NBA Draft, so he can't come to this summer camp.

"Hello, I'm Ray Allen, nice to meet you." The elegant-looking Lei Allen greeted Liu Han first, Lei Allen had a profound impact on Liu Han, and he had never seen such an accurate player in the game.

"Hello, my name is Liu Han, I am nineteen years old this year, I am also very happy to meet you, we have played games, your shooting is very accurate, and your dunk is also great." Liu Han's words made Lei Allen blush a little, because Lei Allen felt that Liu Han was much more accurate than himself.

"Hello everyone, young people, this summer camp is about to start, I hope you can improve in the next two months, and I hope you can all persevere to the end, I believe that you will have a bright future in the future." Abdul-Jabbar made a brief speech before the start of the summer camp, which was provided by Mr. John Wooden and fully sponsored by the Los Angeles Lakers, who sponsor such basketball camps every year in the hope of discovering potential players among many young people. Abdul-Jabbar invited a number of coaches he knew to train the youngsters.

On the first day of the training camp, the young players who participated in the training conducted a simple physical test with the help of many coaches, Liu Han's physical fitness was not outstanding among many young talents, and even ranked to the bottom, that is, Lei Allen's physical condition was better than Liu Han, but the most outstanding physical condition in the training camp was a high school player, Kobe Bryant, who was not inferior to Kobe Bryant with a strange hairstyle, the high school player's physical condition was very good, which made all the coaches sigh.

"John, these young people are getting better and better now, and each one of them can be the heart of a team compared to what it was back then." Mr. John Wooden was also on the pitch on the first day of the camp.

"yes, Karim, basketball is developing a lot faster than it used to be, but I think if you want to be a great player, it's not enough to have talent, it's the will and the spirit that determine how high they can reach in the future." John Wooden said to Abdul-Jabbar.

"Coach John Thompson of Georgetown University recommended me a nice little man Allen Iverson, but I didn't expect him to accept my invitation, I don't know why." Abdul-Jabbar remembered one of the few players who turned down his offer.

"I know that little man, he was in prison in '93, and UCLA rejected his application for admission because of this, I think he must have turned down your invitation because of some off-the-field things." John Wooden doesn't like young players like Iverson who have a bad experience, and as a legendary coach with a brilliant history, he wants his players to be single-minded in basketball.

Liu Han did not feel depressed because his physical condition was not as good as others, his childhood experience made him never feel envy and jealousy of what he didn't have, Liu Han felt that only what he worked hard for belonged to him.

Liu Han and Lei Allen soon became friends, and he did not find discrimination and disdain in the eyes of this young man with outstanding appearance and a dashing autumn breeze, but felt that this young man admired and surprised him.

Lei Allen was a little surprised that Liu Han's physical fitness was so "weak", he played against Liu Han, and felt that Liu Han's defensive ability and toughness on the court were excellent, and Lei Allen felt that Liu Han's physical condition should be more outstanding than him.

On the first day of the training camp, there was no direct training with the ball, except for the physical test of the participating players, the rest of the time the players' training was carried out under the command of the physical coach. Young Americans with well-to-do living conditions are all in excellent physical fitness, but boring physical training and strength tests still make these immature young people complain. The camp is attended by young players who have excelled in high school or college competitions, and they undoubtedly have a passion for basketball, and the desire of young people to perform makes them want to practice with the ball as soon as possible to show their outstanding skills, but now the camp did not go as they wanted it to be.