595

Chapter 595: Strong

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

During the offseason of the NBA, the market was full of rumors. Possible new signings, contract renewals, and transfers were discussed. Unless the team announced something themselves, it would be difficult to distinguish what was true.

Most of the team’s staff was on vacation. The new players recruited by Dai Li )Hall, Raymond, Noel, Gray, Wood, and Osef) did not go to Clippers training, but instead went to Dai Li’s fitness training center. They currently did not meet the physical requirements set by the NBA. It would take some time to restore them to their previous states.

Many athletes trained at Dai Li’s center. With so many stars training there, no one was surprised that these NBA players started going there too. Even though rumors were abundant in the offseason, no one suspected they were joining the Clippers.

At the same time, the Asian Games had also started. In this Asian Games, the Chinese men’s basketball team was determined to become the champions.

The overall standards of basketball in Asia were relatively low. There were not many teams that could play well. The group stage of the competition was divided into four groups. Advancing through the group stage was not hard for strong teams. For example, the three opponents of the Chinese team were from Central Asia and Southeast Asia. These teams were so bad they had basically gotten a free pass through the group stage.

The Chinese team easily advanced to the top eight and then entered the quarter-finals. The Chinese team faced a team that got second place in another, so their opponent was not that strong. The team easily advanced to the semi-finals.

Their opponent in the semi-finals was the team from the Philipines. They were finally playing a decent opponent.

In actuality, the Philippine men’s basketball team was not strong. In fact, none of the countries in Southeast Asia were athletic countries. However, in recent years, the Philippines had naturalized many American basketball players. Some mixed-race players played on the Philippine team.

The U.S. military had been stationed in the Philippines for many years. Everyone knew about the U.S. military. Their soldiers weren’t able to control their sexual desires. For example, the U.S. military stationed in Japan often had sexual scandals. After the Vietnam War, there were a large number of mixed-race babies in Southeast Asian countries where the U.S. military had been stationed.

There were large numbers of American troops stationed in the Philippines, so it was expected that they would have many children of American descent.

Some U.S. soldiers stationed in the Philippines were responsible and fulfilled their duties as fathers. They brought back the children that had Filipino mothers to the United States, made them Americans, and gave them an American education. Most American troops were not this responsible. They would leave their own children who were born in the Philippines with the Filipino women. These children lost their father from a young age. Their mixed-blood appearance also subjected them to judgment from other Filipinos.

However, the genes of these soldiers were better than those of most Southeast Asians when it came to physical activities. Therefore, when these mixed-race players grew up, some became outstanding athletes.

However, these basketball players did not receive formal basketball training at an early age. They, of course, did not have the chance to receive basketball training when they were young. Therefore, their skills were rusty and they were far from having the skills of a professional player. These players mainly relied on pure physical strength. They jumped higher than others, ran faster than others, and had a stronger outburst of energy when needed. This was more than enough to dominate the native Filipinos in the Philippine national league.

Most of the naturalized players were unable to make it in the United States or Europe. They wouldn’t even be able to last in the Chinese or Japanese leagues. They were only able to play in the Philippines.

…

In the Philippine team’s locker room, the players seemed very relaxed. Meanwhile, their head coach looked dignified.

As the head coach of a national team, he knew that the Chinese team was strong. In the absence of Australia and New Zealand, the Chinese team and the Iranian team were the strongest teams in the competition.

He looked at his players, especially the mixed-race players, and saw that they were still joking around. They were not serious about the upcoming game. This made him a little angry. However, he did not use his authority to get the players to get serious. In fact, his title as coach was almost worthless.

The key players on the team were naturalized, with dual American and Philippine citizenship, but the Filipino nationality was just for show. They might not even know the name of the President of the Philippines. Why would they care about what a Filipino head coach said?

More importantly, the strategy that this team had was very bad.

In the past, the players on the Filipino team and other Southeast Asian teams were not tall enough. It was considered good for the center to be at least two meters tall. Many of the players were around 160 cm. Such heights were disadvantages for the players. Their shots were easy to block. If their shots missed, they wouldn’t be able to get the rebound. When they got into a physical confrontation, they were at a disadvantage. So the Southeast Asian teams always had to deploy the fast break strategy. The players played smart and executed their tactics well.

Of course, it wasn’t possible to make this happen through pure willpower. In a confrontational sport, if one was not as strong their opponent, then the only way to win was a strategy. To put it bluntly, if their bodies were inferior, they could only rely on their smarts to play ball.

The current Philippine team’s physical fitness had improved a lot, but their tactical literacy and tactical execution had gotten worse. The Filipino team’s physical fitness was much better than before. In the Philippine league, they could easily get 34 points by relying on their physical strength.

Since they could easily dominate the other players without having to think, they didn’t need to use any tactics. It was similar to a high-level professional video game team encountering a team of newbies. They easily defeated their opponents so they didn’t put in any effort towards cooperation. Everyone on the team just tried to get as many kills as possible.

This was the case for the Philippine team. In the group stage, no strategy was used at all. Almost everyone relied on their physical strength. They were all eager to try to improve their statistics as well. The opponents were really weak, so they were basically abused by the Filipino team.

This gave the Filipino team players the illusion that Asian teams were weak. To defeat their opponents, they didn’t need a strategy, only physical strength.

The players on the Filipino team were accustomed to playing solo. Their tactical literacy and tactical execution had degraded. Even if they were holding the ball, they had no awareness.

Basketball was a five-person sport. It required cooperation between players. For the five people to work as a single entity, they needed to employ some sort of strategy.

There were many “systematic players” in the NBA. They weren’t skilled, and their physiques weren’t great, but they were able to do well through a systematic approach. Their statistics reflected that.

There were also players whose statistics weren’t great. They might have played for more than ten years, but their numbers weren’t even in the double-digits. They were still able to last in the NBA. There would always be teams that were willing to sign them. They were also able to get pretty good contracts. Most of these players had strong tactical execution. They were able to do precisely what the coaches wanted them to.

On the other side of the spectrum, there were players who had good physiques and were skilled but were less intelligent. They would be eliminated. Many fans always wondered why teams didn’t want some of the players who had good physiques, techniques, and performance stats. The reason was probably that their tactical execution was poor.

If they were not superstars and they were not able to carry out the coaches’ tactics, they might hold back the entire team. Of course, if they were superstars, they would be able to affect the entire team’s performance positively. In that case, it was not necessary to talk too much about tactics.

These players on the Filipino team were the kind of people who had no knowledge of tactical execution. If they had a strong understanding of it, they wouldn’t need to stay in the Philippine domestic leagues.

…

Both teams entered the venue. The players in the Filipino team were still talking and laughing, while the Chinese team was more serious.

“The players on the Chinese team are really tall. They have more than one seven-footer in their team!”

“What’s the use of being tall? They are all thin bamboo poles. I could easily shove them down!”

“Why do I feel that the Chinese team is much stronger than our previous opponents?”

“Even if they are stronger, they aren’t stronger than us. We can definitely defeat them.”

The players of the Filipino team discussed this quietly.

…

In the stands, the Iranian players were watching this game.

An hour ago, in the same venue, the Iranian team had defeated the South Korean team and advanced to the final. The winner of this game would be their opponents in the finals. They must, of course, observe them carefully.

The Chinese team and the Iranian team were old rivals. Both sides often encountered each other in Asian competitions. Iran had players playing in the CBA. Both sides were familiar with each other.

“Why do I feel that the Chinese team’s players are stronger than they were a few months ago?”

“I agree. Look at the big ones, they have muscles. They didn’t have them before in the CBA league.”

“It seems they must have gotten better training than the teams in the CBA! I think the Filipino team should prepare to lose.”

“This is expected. the Filipino team is no opponent for the Chinese team. Weren’t we always planning on facing the Chinese team in the finals?”

…

While everyone was talking, the game had begun.

The Filipinos’ first attack was, of course, a solo attack.

A mixed-race player held the ball and rushed forward. In his opinion, this was similar to the games in the Filipino league. The Chinese defensive players were like paper. be able to handle a physical confrontation with him.

However, he did not expect the Chinese team’s defensive player would rush forward to meet him. It was as if they were not worried about getting into a physical confrontation with him.

Be careful not to get hit by me! The Filipino player thought. He then rushed forward. He wanted to give the defender a bit of trouble.

The next moment, their two bodies slammed together. The toughness of the Chinese team’s defender surprised him. What surprised him, even more, was that the defender’s body seemed to be stronger than his.

With his experience in the Philippines, Asians could not compete with him physically. However, he met an exception today. Although the opponent was Asian, he was much stronger than the Filipino players.

His rush ended in failure. When he stopped, the Chinese defensive player was already in front of him. He had no openings to shoot, so he had to pass the ball.

After several passes, the basketball came to the hands of a Filipino player inside the three-point line.

The player inside the three-point line, Eppes, was a naturalized mixed-race player. He was six feet and nine inches tall. He grew up in the United States. He had once played in the NCAA at Western Kentucky University. He also tried to enter the Austin Spurs’ NBDL team. He later participated in the Philippine League PBA draft. When he became a professional player in the Philippine League, he gained a very high status.

Being able to play in the NCAA, and being able to participate in the NBDL tryouts, indicated that he had a good physique He had been exposed to American basketball culture since his childhood. This was something that could not be matched by an Asian player. In the Filipino national league, Eppes used his outstanding physical talent to become a player that was hard to defend against inside the three-point line.

It was a pity that, although Eppes had played for many years, his technique was still a bit rough. He made no progress throughout the years. Of course, with his physical strength, playing in the Filipino League did not require any technical abilities.

Eppes caught the ball in the low post area, but he didn’t possess the skills to attack the low post area. He could only rely on his body to rush at the basket. This was a trick he used in the Philippines’ domestic league. The Filipino players would be stunned. They would not be able to stop his offense and he would always easily rush towards the basket to do a layup or dunk.

Today, Eppes felt that he was facing a wall, despite using his body to push against the other party, the other party was still with him. He did not retreat and he did not move from his position.

At this moment, Eppes felt that he had returned to the United States. The opponents he met there had physiques comparable to his and each of his opponents dared to get into physical confrontations with him. This meant that a player who had bad technique became useless and it was difficult for him to score.

“hen did the Chinese team become so strong? Eppes thought anxiously.

The time for the offensive was almost over and Eppes had no choice but to force a layup against the defensive players.

He may be a giant in the Philippines with his height of six feet and nine inches. Faced with a team of seven-footers, he had no advantages. His layup was blocked.

…

After the first half, the Filipino team was 12 points behind. The audience was not surprised by this result. After all, the Chinese team was the top team in Asia.

However, the course of the game had been unexpected. In everyone’s opinion, the physical strength of the Filipino team players was better, and they would undoubtedly focus on this fact and use it as their advantage. The reality was that the Filipino team had no advantages when it came to physical confrontations. On the contrary, this Chinese team preferred to engage in physical confrontations. They were aggressive in their defense. They used their bodies to push against the Filipino players.

In the stands, the Iranian coach was furrowing his brows. He was able to sense that the Iranian team was not going to do well from what he had seen from the current match.

This Chinese team is much stronger than before. The naturalized players on the Filipino team are restricted in their movements when faced against the Chinese team. The players inside the three-point line are not afraid to get into physical confrontations. This is not good news for us. The Chinese team has never lacked players with big physiques. Their players inside the three-point line are more talented than ours. Our players inside the three-point line are still quite green. If we have to play against the Chinese in the finals, our players inside the three-point line will not be able to last.

The head coach of the Iranian team sighed. Worry flashed in his eyes.

“Coach, what’s wrong? Why did you sigh?” A player next to him asked.

As the head coach of the team, he certainly shouldn’t infect the players with his negative emotions. He should not damage his own prestige with his ambition either. The Iranian head coach quickly explained, “I think the Filipino team’s tactics are really bad.”

“You said it. Everyone is playing by themselves. The fast and flexible tactics that were used by the Filipino team in the past has been completely abandoned. Teams that relied purely on their physique can only do well in Asia. When you get to the international stage and you meet a team whose players have the better physique, you will definitely lose,” the player said.

…

In Los Angeles, Dai Li came to the office early and watched the Asian Games basketball match between the Chinese team and the Iranian team on the Internet.

The Chinese team really defeated Iran! The young men on this national team are much better than I thought. The players inside the three-point line are quite daring and the players outside the three-point line are very accurate.

The Chinese team won the game, so Dai Li was in a good mood. He closed the live stream of the game and went to the training ground.

The training for the new season is about to begin. It is time to use the athlete patch on my new players!