70: 69.

Top 100 in the USA?

Nailing the top 100 in the USA!

70: 69.

Top 100 in the USA?

Nailing the top 100 in the USA!

Playing more games provided more opportunities to test his strength and helped him understand which skills he was lacking.

Through actual game practice, he could undertake targeted learning.

Zhang Yang felt immense pressure for the new season.

However, the coaching staff was exhilarated.

Once the roster was announced, the main team immediately got moving with an internal training match to prepare for the upcoming friendly games that weekend.

Zhang Yang and DeRozan were assigned to different teams.

They played with utmost seriousness, each unwilling to lose to the other during the training matches.

Johnson, who rarely participated in the main team’s activities in previous years, now came to help whenever he was available.

Watching Zhang Yang and DeRozan, Johnson exclaimed, “DeMar and Jack’s talent is incredible, even better than I imagined.

They don’t seem like fifteen and sixteen-year-old players.

They are better than Aaron (Afflalo) and Farmar were at the same age.”

Burke agreed, saying, “Absolutely, especially Jack.

His ability to learn on his own is so strong.

In just one year, Jack has developed a richer scoring arsenal than DeMar, which is unbelievable.

However, DeMar is a year younger.

Next year, DeMar will definitely be stronger than Jack is now.

But with Jack’s rapid progress, it’s hard to say who will be stronger when they are in twelfth grade.

It’s a pity they aren’t in the same class.”

“John, Tony, I really think our team is going to produce NBA players—two of them!

It looks like after this, nobody on our team will be wearing numbers 3 and 23 anymore.”

Johnson, “Not only that, the main team’s tactical coordination is already much better than last season’s team before the season started.

In the past, our players would spend a year in the reserve team just to remember the tactics and rely on extensive training and match experience to play cohesively.

This batch of main team, however, is different; they clearly know how to coordinate with Jack, DeMar, Carmelo’s positioning…

Those in twelfth grade are still lacking a bit.”

Burke rolled his eyes, “Yeah, right, all the tactically strong players came from your team, and it’s all thanks to Jack.

You haven’t even shared your salary with him.”

Johnson, “You cut down on half your workload last season because of Jack, why don’t you share your money?”

Burke, “I’d also like to share some money with him, but then he wouldn’t be able to play in college games.”

Johnson, “You really are shameless…”

Thomas was at a loss for words, listening to his two colleagues squabble again.

However, their praise for the two talents he felt was absolutely warranted, even not enough!

At the beginning of last season, fourteen-year-old DeRozan was only slightly better than sixteen-year-old Tatum, without much qualitative difference.

A year had passed, and fifteen-year-old DeRozan had far surpassed seventeen-year-old Tatum and Zhang Yang was even a bit stronger than DeRozan.

Eleventh grader Afflalo was already among the strongest high school students in California, but he was clearly outmatched compared to DeRozan and Zhang Yang.

Given their terrifying progress over the past six months, Thomas believed by the end of this season, their ability might surpass even a high school graduate Afflalo…

Five-star high school players!

The NBA is within reach!

…

When Zhang Yang was in the reserve team, he took the initiative to direct his teammates’ positioning.

At first, most teammates ignored him, but after tasting the benefits of following his commands, they made him their leader.

In the main team, during the second team training, Burke, the tactical coach, directly assigned him the role of the on-court commander.

It was mainly for the twelfth graders to see, as the old teammates from the reserve team would listen to him anyway.

Initially, the twelfth graders were reluctant to accept it.

Zhang Yang set the stage by letting team captain Miller and assistant captain DeRozan take action.

DeRozan hammered the twelfth grade perimeter seniors once, and Miller did the same with the twelfth grade big men.

After that, no one challenged their authority anymore.

Burke secretly gave a thumbs-up for Zhang Yang’s straightforward approach.

A few days later, on September 19, a Sunday, the first day of the warm-up stage for Compton High School’s main team arrived.

On the day the main team roster was announced, Zhang Yang had already received the schedule.

Over the past few days, he had spent several nights studying the CIF Level 1 high school distribution map, this season’s schedule, and last season’s schedule.

He struggled to understand how the CIF League officials arranged the schedule as there were more Level 1 schools than he had expected.

Compton High School, being in the third district of four, would not play all the schools in the third district this season.

Instead, they would face some schools two or even three times, and it wasn’t arranged by geographical proximity…

In the end, he gave up trying to understand it, only to rant that California’s high school league system was the most chaotic in the whole country.

Today, Compton High School was bustling with activity.

Students gathered outside Allen Gymnasium, waiting to rush in as soon as the doors opened, and many outsiders attended as well.

Some were students’ parents, friends, and residents from nearby neighborhoods, while others were agents and university scouts.

A warm-up match had garnered such a huge interest solely because of one person—DeMar DeRozan.

It wasn’t only Thomas who thought DeRozan would definitely become a five-star high school player.

After seeing DeRozan’s performance in the Southern California league in ninth grade, the media and experts thought so too and discussed him alongside OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Kyle Singler, Eric Gordon, and Michael Beasley.

Professionals wanted to see how the 15-year-old DeRozan would perform in the varsity team and how much he had improved in half a year.

For this season’s strength of Compton High School, professionals were not optimistic.

In this generation’s varsity team, only 3 out of 10 players were seniors, averaging a year younger than other schools.

Professionals thought this season would be a transitional period for Compton High School, believing that their record of reaching the championship for 7 consecutive years would be broken.

But when the game started at 4 in the afternoon, the professionals were shocked.

The captain of Long Beach High School, Darren Collison, although he had just turned 17 last month and was a senior, was ranked as the 99th best high school student in the nation last summer.

The professionals all thought this game would be a lesson from Collison to DeRozan, but it turned out DeRozan performed better!

It was only then that the professionals noticed DeRozan’s build, standing 196 cm tall and weighing 84 kg, he certainly looked like an ‘adult’, while Collison, at 185 cm and 74 kg, seemed so much smaller in comparison.

It wasn’t just DeRozan who performed well, Zhang Yang’s drives to the basket, catch and shoot, fast break scoring, and occasional one-on-one plays… were equally explosive!

Tatum’s ability to break through and push the counterattack, although not as unstoppable as in the junior varsity, was still quite impressive for a junior facing seniors.

If it had just been the three of them playing well, that would have been one thing, but Compton High School’s tactics were also better than those of Long Beach High School!

Miller’s abilities were indeed not as good as the opposing center, and Monroe and Kanter were even less so, but they knew clearly what they needed to do, how to cooperate with those three, and their execution was strong, their support play was excellent.

Under the leadership of Zhang Yang, DeRozan, and Tatum, their performance was better than those older and stronger players!

After DeRozan received a pass back from Zhang Yang and scored a three-pointer from the arc, the first half ended with Compton High School leading Long Beach High School by 9 points, 58 to 49!

The professionals thought this season’s Compton High School was in a transition period and couldn’t beat Long Beach High School, and Long Beach High School’s players believed this themselves.

At the start of the game, they indeed took it lightly.

After falling behind by 9 points at halftime, the players from Long Beach High School believed it was due to their lax attitude, and they rallied, prepared to turn the tables in the second half.

However, while the players from Long Beach High School were taking it easy, the juniors from Compton High School were also tense.

The players from Compton High School weren’t very confident before the start of the game either, indeed they were a year younger on average, and it was impossible not to be nervous.

After coming back from halftime, the players from Long Beach High School were no longer careless, and the players from Compton High School were no longer nervous, their confidence skyrocketed, and the added benefits from both sides canceled each other out!

By the end of the game, Collison had scored 21 points, 3 rebounds, 11 assists, and 2 steals, performing very well.

But DeRozan scored 30 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, Zhang Yang 28 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, Tatum 7 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, Keith 14 points, Miller 11 points, 9 rebounds…

Compton High School scored 57 to 54 in the second half, resisted the counterattack from Long Beach High School, and secured a victory solidly at 115 to 103!

As the final buzzer sounded, the audience erupted in a wild cheer, chanting “DeMar” and “Jack”.

The classmates had been enthusiastic with their cheers from the start of the game, but they actually didn’t hold much hope for their own team; they knew their team had no strong seniors, so they were prepared for a descent from their peak this season, viewing it as a process.

They hadn’t expected Zhang Yang and DeRozan to perform so well!

The atmosphere at the venue was charged, most players from Compton High School were also very excited; Long Beach High School was a team expected to vie for a playoff spot in their division, and they beat them, and did so convincingly!

DeRozan’s expression was calm as he said to his teammates, “Didn’t expect the top hundred in the nation to be so weak, I was really looking forward to facing off against Collison, what a disappointment, he’s so much weaker than Harden, is he really in the nation’s top hundred?”

Zhang Yang, “…”

Tatum, “…”

This show-off!

Miller responded, “You can’t compare them like that, Harden’s physical condition provides too great an advantage in high school games, the impact of a player of the same level who plays inside is always stronger than one who plays outside, and Harden’s abilities are not just top hundred.

When we faced off against Harden, it was already the end of the season, this season has just begun… Of course, even if Harden came to play against us now, I believe, DeMar, you could still win!”

DeRozan withdrew his affable gaze, satisfied, and turned away.

Zhang Yang silently watched DeRozan challenging his teammates, while the gazes of professionals who had come to assess the performances of DeRozan and Collison were now locked on Zhang Yang.