Despised by the coach
At this moment, outside the Quicken Loans Arena was an easy night, but inside it, the scene was totally different.
“Defend him!” A roaring suddenly fulfilled the court. The players wearing in the white jerseys were from Cavaliers— the professional basketball team of NBA. They were unceasingly chasing that power forward who was going on the rampage…
West started his defense at the first time, but he was knocked away. Meanwhile, though Mo Williams roared and intended to stop that power forward, he was still bypassed. At the same time, the NO.23 player who wore the headband chased that PF with full speed, but that PF passed in a flash and then threw him off.
“Just fight!” At this time, this player abruptly made a move that made everyone stunned— he tightly held the right hand of the PF. What left in his mind was to stop that PF though he would be declared a foul!
But he found him involuntarily fly to the basketry of his team when he was ready to be happy. He ignored the No.33 whose weight was over two hundred catties, and his Tomahawk made the noise in the court stopped.
What left were the flying No.88 jersey and an infuriating face. He stood in the basket with a roar, opening his big mouth and narrowing his eyes. He was hearing the booing and watching the expressions of Cavaliers when they fell down, silently waiting for the bell of game over！
However, the picture was still. Blake opened his eyes suddenly, only to find that was a dream. And the scene in his dream was the professional game of NBA.
“Did I fall asleep?” Blake rubbed his head and remembered that he was found by a head scout. He was now on the way to the Minneapolis to have a trail. He actually fell asleep on the plane.
Blake was 20—year—old this year and he was a college student. Unexpectedly, he was discovered by a head scout. Blake dreamed of that because he was extremely fond of basketball.
“It’s good to stand on the land.” His legs were weak after Blake got off the plane. He felt a little airsick but it was reasonable because he seldom went on a long journey and he was excited.
“Get used to it. If you successfully pass the trail and become one of the players of NBA, you need to frequently take the flight. Just seventy or eighty times a year.” Malik Miles helped him take the luggage. He tapped Blake’s back with a smile. Blake’s mouth twitched. Seventy or eighty times! How big the pressure is!
October 25th, 2009, Blake arrived in the biggest city of Minnesota— Minneapolis. The name was a little tongue—twisting but it was indeed a large city.
Minnesota is one of the seven largest inland states of the United States. It was next to the border line between the Canada and the US. It is in the northern region and famous for its coldness. It would be very cold in winter and hot in summer because it is on the plains.
Maybe it was cold for those who lived in the south, but not for Blake because he grew in Harbin. It would not be very cold in October. After all, it was just after summer.
After taking off the plane, Blake tried to recover from the airsick and meanwhile he looked at the surrounding tall buildings. When he was watching the scenery of the city, Malik had already phoned the basketball team.
“Blake, I will take you to settle down. As to the team, no hurry.” After the calling, it seemed that something came up. Malik made an excuse. Obviously, he didn’t want to embarrass the both party. But it’s not to matter to Blake. Since he had come, the worst thing for him was just he failed and flew back.
Blake was in a usual mind. If he couldn’t stay here, he would come back and go to the college.
NBDL, the abbreviation of National Basketball Development League, was the second—tier league, as well as the talent pool for the NBA.
The players in this league were almost those who had participated in the NBA Draft or had good performance in the NBA. The reason why Blake would be brought here was that this team didn’t really want him. They just intended to reduce the player space of the regular team while Blake was in training.
The teams of the NBA could choose the players in the NBDL, and then let those players play in the NBA. Of course, the teams could also let their players have physical training in the NBDL. Generally speaking, teams in the NBDL were the shadow of the teams in the NBA, and their defensive strategies and tactic playing—methods were almost the same, except the NBDL had no big stars, because its existence was to reserve talents for the NBA teams. The place where Blake stayed was outside the Arena of the Sioux Falls Skyforce—the NBDL team in Minnesota
“Blake, the home team hasn’t come back. In general, it is hard for coaches and players to join in the teams, so I suggested you training here first. You don’t need to play the match for the time being. Don’t worry, I know the coach here.” Malik Miles said with a smile. Though Blake knew a little about NBDL, he was also a stranger in this place.
Blake had no objection. Actually, he wanted to be familiar with this place to look for the confidence. So he nodded and followed Malik come to the Arena of the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He also was curious about the training methods of the NBA.
NBDL owned 16 teams, and they were divided into three divisions. Two divisions had five teams and one division had four teams. The place where Blake stayed was the central division, and it had five teams: The Dakota Wizards, which was the affiliated teams of Grizzlies and Washington Wizards. Fort Wayne Mad Ants, which was the talent pool for the Pistons, Pacers and Bucks. Iowa Skyforce was the affiliated team of Bulls and Suns. Erie RedHawks belonged to Cavaliers and 76ers. The last one was the Sioux Falls Skyforce, and it was attached to Bobcats and Timberwolves.
The Sioux Falls Skyforce was in South Dakota, but it was near the Minnesota. Blake and others went to South Dakota by train. It just took few hours to get here. At this time, Blake didn’t spit. When he entering the home court of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Blake really wanted to say: It was amazing…
One stadium Blake had entered before was the indoor stadium in front of his home, the other one was the stadium he once played the match in the sports university. But compared with the stadium of Sioux Falls Skyforce, they were nothing.
“This stadium is very deluxe, and also these facilities. It is really eye opening!” Blake couldn’t stop calculating the value of these things, what in his eyes was excitement and fanaticism. Blake even hadn’t seen some training mechanisms before. Moreover, he also had no idea of how to use them.
Malik walked in front of Blake, and Blake looked around with stealthy behavior, which made those doorkeepers vigilantly looked at him. They thought he was a thief.
“Ha—ha—ha, Malik, Long time no see! I miss you so much.” When Blake looked around, a middle—aged fat man walked from the short distance. Looking at his body type, Blake thought he was at least 200 catties. “Ha—ha, I have found an emerging player, so I especially take him here. But the home team is playing games. My old friend, I want him to be here to get some training. Is that ok? My old friend.” Malik made a hearty laughter, and then pushed Blake to the front. Blake looked at that fat man with a smile, and said hello to him. He needed to be polite.
“Uh—huh, this lad looks strong. Let’s examine his physical condition!” The fat Caucasian seemed very satisfied with him. He held Blake’s shoulder and took him away. Malik followed them. He knew his old friend’s habits. For example, he would look the statistics. Fortunately, Blake was all right of the latter measure.
“Good, he has met my requirements, only his height is intermediate, 1.93m, but that’s enough. His body is strong but a little bit fat. Ho—ho, his bounce is not bad. Ok, he is good enough, I will take him.” Looking at this fat Caucasian talking, Blake had no feeling, but he understood his meaning. This coach had promised Malik to teach him something.
“He is just a student, hasn’t trained in the professional team. But I think he is a diamond. He will not let us down if he has time to get some training. Fine, I need to deal with the things of the home team.” Malik tapped the shoulder on that coach and smiled.
“OK, just do it.”
If Blake was not taken by Malik, the coach would not see Blake. Because Malik was his friend, he had to take care of Blake. No matter what, He just needed to provide meals and training for Blake. There was no effect on the team.
Then the fat Caucasian took Blake to the dormitory behind the team.
The dormitory was prepared for those players who had no place to live in. Most of them were the national players, and they came to America just for one dream¬——NBA. But when they came here, they found that it was not easy to stay in the NBA, which was the hall of the basketball. So they were arranged in NBDL, and these rooms were prepared for them.
“Hey, Blake. This was your room. Look. You need to go to the dining hall to have breakfast at 6:30 am to 8.00 am. If you don’t know where it is, just find it on your map. The training time starts at 9:00 am, and you can train with other players. In the afternoon, maybe there will be dual meets. And you have to sleep before 11:00 pm. Do you understand?” The coach made a hearty laughter. Blake thought he was an easy—going man.
Blake nodded and then glanced at this twin room. The game was still in preparation, so this room was empty. Maybe he would have a roommate later when the game began.
“Thank you. I get it.” Blake looked at this fat man and nodded his head, but he suddenly found that there was a look of distain in his eyes. Maybe this fat Caucasian thought he was not good enough; perhaps his height of 1.93m had not met his standard; maybe he thought Malik had made a mistake.
…