play for it

Chapter 5 Eating
With today's team training completely over, everyone in the Spurs changed their clothes and left the arena, ready to go out and find a place to relax. This is their last relaxing time before the start of the season.

Yang Ke stood on the sidelines and put down his backpack. He asked before that today is the first day of the team's training camp, and the center arena will not be closed.Opening the backpack, Yang Ke put on a new set of training clothes. From today's training match, he clearly felt that his dribbling and ball-handling skills were poor, so he prepared himself to practice well.

Yang Ke picked up the ball and walked to the center of the court, then began to dribble with a low center of gravity and high frequency. He rarely touched the ball in Asian games.Therefore, his dribbling and ball-handling skills have only reached a qualified level, and he is still in Asia. Not long ago, he really felt the huge gap with the level in the NBA.

If he hadn't been fast enough to forcibly increase his speed at the cost of not saving any energy, he would not have been able to pass Parker's level.And if it wasn't for Hill's help to take on the role of propulsion just now, I, who was physically exhausted, would not be able to persevere.

"Hoo! Hoo!"

Yang Ke was thinking while dribbling, and he was already sweating profusely after a while, but he didn't see the possibility of making progress, which made him shake his head.

Slowing down his breathing, Yang Ke stopped slowly, stood on the spot, kept hitting the ball, his brows were furrowed, he couldn't figure out where the problem was.

Just as Yang Ke was thinking, a man walked to the sidelines in very casual clothes, with his hands in his pockets: "You practice like this, and the effect is almost useless."

Yang Ke frowned and turned his head to look, and found that it was George Hill. Thinking of how he helped him today, he put away the basketball and hugged it by his waist, and walked over with a smile: "Hill, thank you for your help today." .By the way, why are you still here?"

"I'm coming back to get the key."

Hearing this, Hill smiled, took his right hand out of his pocket, put the bunch of keys on his fingers, and waved at Yang Ke.Then he put it down again, looked at Yang Ke who was still beading with sweat on his forehead, and tilted his head.

"What works best for you is to have an assistant next to you as you dribble, simulating a confrontational situation."

Yang Ke's golf quotient is very high, and he immediately reacted to Hill's words.No matter how much I train myself, it is difficult to find out the fundamental problem. This is my long-term vision, habits, and level limitations.

So much so that no matter how hard you try, you will still kneel when you encounter a confrontation in the game. If you want to solve all this, you have to find professionals, and there are the most and most professional people in the NBA.

This is why Asian defenders made so many turnovers under the pressure of NBA-level defenders in Olympic games.

After he figured it out, Yang Ke relaxed his frown all the time, and his whole body was indescribably relaxed. He immediately expressed his thanks to Hill again: "Thank you so much."

"If it's okay, I'll go first."

Hill shook his head, saying that it was nothing, he was not very interested, and now that he had got the car keys, it was time to prepare to leave.

Seeing this, Yang Ke nodded, and after thanking Hill again, he went straight to his backpack and put the basketball on the ground.After knowing that training alone is useless, I prepared to change into my clothes and leave.

When Hill turned around and was about to leave, he was stunned when he saw the empty seats in front of him and the silent player tunnel.

It's time to go. When I come back next time, the place I set foot on will be over there, right? !
With a gloomy complexion, Hill stopped his feet and turned his head to look at the player tunnel on the other side, which always belonged to the visiting team.Biting his lips, he put his hands casually on both sides of his body, finally smiled bitterly, and glanced at Yang Ke who was changing clothes from the corner of his eyes.

"Your dribble isn't in the right rhythm."

Yang Ke had just put on his casual clothes, and when he heard these words, he paused as he folded his training clothes in his hands, and turned around to look at Hill who he thought had left in surprise.

"what?"

Yang Ke frowned silently, clutching the folded training clothes tightly with his right hand, staring at Hill's back, a little puzzled.

Hill stood where he was, out of tune with the silent arena, like an abandoned child.Finally, after being depressed, Hill took another step, and his voice came again: "Your dribbling rhythm can't keep up with your body's dribbling rhythm. In the eyes of all point guards in the league, this is a flaw. "

Out of rhythm?Yang Ke frowned, staring at Hill, who was fading away, and couldn't help asking, "Sill, why are you helping me so much?"

Hill was taken aback when he heard that, but he didn't stop the movement of his feet. After Yang Ke asked this question, he couldn't help thinking about why he did what he did today, why he became so abnormal, but he said slowly: "Why? Even if it is the pity of the strong for the weak!"

Yang Ke shook his head. He had a different view on this, and said slowly: "Really? I doubt it deeply, because the compassion of the strong to the weak is not like this. In contrast, it is more like you hope I fit in with the Spurs, although I don't know why."

The body stopped abruptly, Hill slowly raised his head, countless memories flashed in his mind, he turned around in an easy-going and silent manner, and stared at Yang Ke who was bending over to organize his backpack.

Looking at Yang Ke, Hill seemed to see himself when he came to the Spurs to participate in the trial training with his agent, the same young, the same shy and passive, but there is no doubt that he performed much better than himself.

So Popovich immediately decided to choose him, and Hill didn't know what kind of achievements Yang Ke would achieve.But he knew that it would be Yang Ke's blessing and luck to be tempered by Popovich in the rookie season of his career, just like himself, so that he was deeply reluctant to leave here.

"Yang, how about going to lunch together?"

Yang Ke had just packed his backpack and put it on his back when he heard Hill's invitation to him. Looking up, he saw Hill standing there, turning the key in his hand and looking at him with a smile.

"Ok."

Yang Ke nodded with a smile, and then walked over in a few strides. He would be happy to have a meal with Hill.After all, if there is no accident, the two will be teammates in the near future, and the dinner table is currently the best place for them to increase communication.

In an office on the second floor of the arena, one window faced the court. Popovich stood in front of the window, looking down at Yang Ke and Hill who were talking and laughing as they left.

"How many teams in the league have invited Yang for trial training?"

"Just the Rockets and us."

On the desk behind Popovich, Lancelot held a thick document in one hand, and just put down the phone with the other hand, with a smile on his face, "But I just got the news that the Rockets rejected Yang's early trial. I'm sure they'll regret it later!"

"very good!"

Popovich grinned, turned around and walked back to the desk, sat down on his seat, and picked up a document on the desk.

"Old guy, we need to solve these documents quickly, and I have an appointment later."

"I think so too, who told you, an old bastard, to pile up so many files and not deal with them..."

"..."

San Antonio is known the world over for its thriving and green Riverwalk.The 4.5km-long riverside along the San Antonio River is full of restaurants, hotels, roadside cafes, tourist souvenir shops, theaters, and museums
"Yang, you enjoyed it very much."

After greeting a fan in a friendly manner, Hill turned to look at Yang Ke with a relaxed face and smiled.

"Of course, it's been a long time since I've been so relaxed."

Yang Ke nodded with a smile, looking calmly and relaxed at the tourists coming and going on the pedestrian street. For the first time, he felt that he was integrated into it. Since his parents passed away, he has been living a tight life.

"We have arrived."

Hill stopped at a steak shop with a smile, said something to Yang Ke, and walked into the steak shop.

Yang Ke followed Hill, and first took a look at the overall view of this steakhouse. The shop is not big, and the decoration is very ordinary.After that, he pushed the door open and walked in. Suddenly, a wave of heat rushed over, followed by a little bustle.

The steak shop's business was good, but fortunately, there was an empty table by the window, so Hill and Yang Ke walked over there.

"Hill, the new season is finally about to start! Come on this year!"

"Will do."

"Hill, you're handsome again!"

"..."

When the guests at the table saw Hill walking by, most of them smiled and raised their hands to say hello.And he seemed to have already adapted to this, and most of them responded with a smile, all of which made Yang Ke feel very strange.

In a blink of an eye, the two had already walked to the empty table. Hill opened the chair and sat down, then smiled and said to Yang Ke: "They are all Spurs fans, they are very friendly, and they also pay attention to the players. Personal influence, except in exceptional cases of course."

Yang Ke first put the backpack on the empty chair beside him, and then he sat across from Hill and sighed: "There is no doubt that this is great!"

Hill nodded, this situation was exactly what he wanted and liked.The waiter in the store came to the table. He was already familiar with the menu, and smiled and extended three fingers to the waiter: "Will, the old rule is medium-rare filet mignon."

"You're still the same, chasing al dente steak."

Will said with a smile, quickly wrote down the pen in the notebook, and asked Yang Ke at the same time, "My friend, what do you need?"

"Be the same as him!"

Yang Ke ordered very casually.

A hint of surprise flashed in Will's eyes. In his memory, due to differences in eating habits, Asians here all want steaks that are well-done or even well-done. From this, he reconfirmed to Yang Ke: "Sir, Are you sure you want medium-rare steak?"

"Of course." Yang Ke smiled.

After receiving a reaffirmative answer, Will nodded and quickly recorded it in his notebook. After bidding farewell to the two, he turned and left.

When Will was out of sight, Hill looked at Yang Ke curiously, and asked, "Yang, how long have you changed your eating habits?"

"One week?" Yang Ke roughly estimated the time.

"Oh! God, Yang, your stomach can take it?"

When Hill heard this, he exclaimed in surprise. It is difficult for Asians to withstand the bloody steak in a short period of time, because their stomachs are not used to it and they are prone to problems.

"Of course, there is no problem."

Yang Ke raised his right hand and put his fingers on his face, thought for a while, and then said with a smile, "My body is like me, it is easy to adapt to the environment, but it is very difficult to integrate into the environment, although I don't know why .”

Hill first had a look of novelty on his face. If it was as Yang Ke said, he would be really interested.But then he thought of something again, and his face immediately showed disappointment, and sighed: "Oh, really? It's a pity that I can't see it anymore."

"Why?" Yang Ke was full of surprise.

Hill picked up the cup, took a sip of water, with sad eyes, but said calmly: "No accident, I will be traded before the start of the new season."

(End of this chapter)