Chapter 4 A Historic Moment, Heading to Training Camp
Throughout the afternoon, Woody had a feeling that "a penny is hard to beat a hero".
In the evening, Wu Erzhuang told him that he had signed up for this summer's "AND1 High School Training Camp".
Woody was going to say not moved, it was fake.
Wu Erzhuang also revealed his thoughts: "Xiaodi, you know that the second uncle has always wanted to make a handful of gold in the United States, and then return to China in style......
But in fact, Wu Erzhuang knows very well that with his own ability, if he wants to complete this dream, it can even be said to be a luxury, unless it is really lucky, otherwise it is almost impossible.
Compared with him, Woody has a good basketball talent, if he can enter the NBA, it is not a problem to be worth millions, then he, as Woody's second uncle, can naturally be stained.
"So, Xiaodi...... Just come on, the second uncle will rely on you to raise him in the future! ”
It was a cosy evening.
But the registration fee for the AND1 high school training camp should not be cheap, because the next morning, as soon as the sky was bright, Wu Erzhuang knocked on Woody's door: "Wake up, don't sleep, it's time for us to get up and exercise!" ”
“???”
Woody opened the door with a confused face, the training camp is in late June, which one is this training?
Wu Erzhuang urged him to brush his teeth and wash his face, and then showed him his "results" in the second half of last night: a self-made training plan.
"Although your second uncle can't teach you basketball, he still knows a little bit about physical exercise, and during this time, we can conduct intensive training for your endurance!"
Then, without waiting for Woody to respond, he brushed his teeth, washed up and had breakfast, and then dragged him downstairs to the park for laps.
It's just that......
"Ho, ho, ho...... Xiaodi, this stamina is really good! ”
At first, Wu Erzhuang wanted to run with Woody, and when he couldn't hold it anymore, he cheered him on beside him. As a result, after running around the park for two and a half laps, Woody's breathing just changed a little, and Wu Erzhuang was already out of breath.
In the end, it became Woody cheering Wu Erzhuang on: "Second uncle, hold on for a while, and you will be at the door immediately." ”
After the third lap, Woody asked Wu Erzhuang to go back to rest first, and he continued to complete Wu Erzhuang's next endurance training plan.
Looking at Woody's back, Wu Erzhuang, who was still gasping for breath, smiled: "Ho~ho~, Cheng, he is indeed talented!" ”
In the following period, Woody has been conducting endurance training according to Wu Erzhuang's training plan, at first to make his second uncle happy, and by the way, let him see his determination. After half a month, Woody found that this plan was really useful.
His current fitness has gone from 65 to 67.
In just two weeks, it has risen so much, and the second uncle still has a little water in his stomach.
On June 25, the annual NBA Draft was held at Madison Square Square as scheduled.
The result was a historic scene:
The Houston Rockets used their "No. 1 pick" to select Yao Ming, a player from China.
The first foreign "champion" in the history of the NBA, and the first "Chinese champion" in the history of the NBA, was born.
This is also an important moment for the Chinese basketball world.
Woody checked the information about Yao Ming and found that he can become the NBA's "champion", it is indeed not simple, just this height of 2.26 meters is already a rare physical talent in the NBA.
In the history of the NBA, only four players can be taller than Yao Ming, and now only one player named "Shaun Bradley" is taller than Yao Ming.
In addition to height, Yao Ming averaged 41.2 points, 21 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.5 steals and 3.2 blocks per game in the just-concluded domestic CBA finals. Therefore, Yao Ming also has the nickname of "CBA Chamberlain".
Such talent, as well as such a professional league performance, are the basis for him to be won by the Rockets without hesitation this year with the "champion sign".
Also on the same day, Woody took the living expenses given by Wu's parents and the money left after he sold his notebook to follow the body, as well as the extra money given by Wu Erzhuang, a full 2,000 US dollars, and set off for the "Big Apple" to participate in the one-month training camp of AND1.
In the past half month, Woody has watched a lot of news about the NBA, and gradually changed from an NBA novice to an NBA "cloud fan".
For New York, his most impressive comment was:
If you love a player, send him to New York; If you hate a player, send him to New York.
There, there were the loudest cheers, and there were the most vicious curses.
Wu Erzhuang also has his own evaluation of New York, he went to the "Big Apple" first to "pan for gold", and then went to the small place of Akron.
"There, people with the ability can live better and better, and there are opportunities everywhere, if you don't have the ability......"
And when Woody stood in the center of New York, looking at the towering buildings and the traffic on the road, he also really felt the prosperity of New York.
Turning his head to look at the most conspicuous billboard, on which was a handsome black man.
Woody knows this black man, Alan Houston, who is currently the star of the New York Knicks and the darling of the entire city.
Looking at his billboard, Woody's heart gave birth to a sense of pride, sooner or later, one day, the same bustling street, the same billboard, will be pasted with his poster, so that people come and go to see!
Then Woody went back to the hotel arranged by the training camp to stay.
This time, the plane ticket from Akron to New York, plus the fare from the airport to the training gym, had already cost Woody $100.
Fortunately, the training camp includes food and accommodation, and the hotel arranged by the training camp is not far from the basketball hall rented by the training camp, which can be reached in 10 minutes by foot. Otherwise, in a month's time, the 2,000 dollars on him would have to be spent on the fare.
However, now that the food and shelter are settled, Woody thought about bringing back the remaining 1,900 dollars.
He didn't end this training camp to become rich, he still had to have no money for a long time, and 1,900 dollars was a huge amount of money for him.
Idle and bored, Woody remembered that when he had just reported on the training camp, he had given him a list of the members of the training camp. Anyway, he was idle, he took out the list of members of this training camp and looked at them one by one, and he was familiar with them.
There were a total of 50 students in this AND1 training camp.
Among them, there are 5 members, who are special high school students in the AND1 training camp.
Not only do they not have to spend a penny, but they also get a sneaker contract offered by AND1. Sneakers are usually provided for free for one year.
Woody glanced at the profiles of the five guest high school students, and two of the most powerful of them were Travis Outlaw and Kendrick Perkins.
The former can be ranked 45th in ESPN's "National High School Student Ranking" and belongs to the "4-star high school students"; The one named Kendrick Perkins is "78th among high school students in the United States" and belongs to the "3-star high school students".
The other three are also a bit famous, but none of them are in the top 100.
It can also be seen from this that although AND1 has a fierce development momentum, there is still a gap with Nike and Adi. A group of more talented high school students in the United States still mainly participate in the training camps of those two brands.
But it had nothing to do with Woody.
With a training camp of that size, it is estimated that it is difficult to get into it with money, so he still doesn't think about it.
Besides, in his case, Ben Wallace should be the most suitable mentor for him, not even one.