On Carter's side, he had heard about Mike Bibby's skills. This player, who won New Jersey's Mr. Basketball for two consecutive years with his skills, had a very high shooting level, but he didn't expect Zhang Hao's shooting to be excellent as well.
As for Zhang Hao, he wasn't at all surprised by the solid shooting foundation of these two. Both of them would become NBA stars who primarily use medium and long-range shots as their main scoring methods, but he did have the notion of competing with them.
Zhang Hao keenly felt that even though his skills weren't as comprehensive as the other two, when it came to pure shooting fundamentals, he wasn't lagging behind them. And if you were to talk about strengths, he certainly had areas stronger than the others, that is, his mid-range shot!
...
After the morning training ended, the competition between the three didn't amount to much. It was just a back-and-forth of you doing a set, so I'll do a set, you make your set, so I'll make mine.
And the things the three practiced were quite different. Mike Bibby practiced shooting after dribbling; Carter practiced spot-up threes; Zhang Hao practiced shooting from any position within mid-range, having moved past the stage of spot training.
So there was really no way to directly compare who was better.
Unlike Carter, Mike Bibby wasn't a very amiable person. He was always proud of his good skills. Though his basic skills were definitely more comprehensive than Zhang Hao's or Carter's, in terms of technique, he was absolutely the best of the three. But seeing that Zhang Hao and Carter, these two tall and athletic players, were better than him in some shooting areas made Mike Bibby quite uncomfortable. After finishing their training, Mike Bibby, being competitive with Zhang Hao and Carter, simply left.
"He's really hard to get along with, Aix, I was going to invite him to lunch, but never mind, what should we have for lunch?" Carter said with a permanent pout.
During training, there are definitely breaks, especially for Zhang Hao. After a hundred or two hundred shots, he could feel slight deficiencies in his shooting, needing to think about how to improve. The key was to identify what wasn't quite right, and then improve by using what he had learned from years of training and nearly three years under professional basketball coaches. This was precisely the reason for his rapid progress recently, largely thanks to that powerful Growth Card.
The other two would also take breaks, but during breaks, it was usually Carter and Zhang Hao chatting. The two high schoolers didn't talk about much else, just exchanged training insights. Carter was a player who could play both with the ball and off the ball, while Zhang Hao was an off-the-ball player. They got along well, mainly because both of them had a mutual appreciation after dunking yesterday.
But Mike Bibby, as rumored, had a very bad temper. It's said he liked to trash talk anyone, including sideline spectators, when he was in high school—opponents, teammates, even the ball boys who volunteered to help train him at school... he didn't spare anyone.
He was really disliked by people, but he played so well that he had a bunch of fans in school. Not only was his personality not great, but he was also quite arrogant...
During breaks, Mike Bibby ignored the two "unexpected shooting jumpers" in his eyes, not even saying goodbye before leaving the scene.
"I think he's really good. Talented people are always a bit eccentric. His mid-range is really accurate. His physical fitness and off-the-ball skills aren't as good as ours, but his dribbling attacks are probably even better than yours. But your threes are really impressive," Zhang Hao never held back his praise for someone he didn't have a real grudge against.
Just as Mike Bibby walked to the exit of the training ground, he paid no attention to Carter's words. Many people criticized him—who did Carter think he was?
But hearing Zhang Hao's praise, Mike Bibby's mood improved a lot. The reason he was unhappy was because he encountered two peers whose athletic abilities were far superior to his, with better physiques and some skills also better than his own, making him resentful. He worked so hard, yet he still lost out to talent in many aspects.
But with Zhang Hao's words, Mike Bibby felt a lot better.
Without stopping his footsteps, Mike Bibby continued walking, but after leaving the two's sight, he surprisingly started skipping, showcasing his inner delight.
"He does play really well," Carter didn't find Zhang Hao saying that Mike Bibby's dribbling was stronger than his to be anything incorrect. In this regard, he was pretty straightforward—the guy was good. He laughed and said, "Forget about him. How did you train your mid-range shot? I think there aren't many in the NBA whose mid-range is better than yours. This afternoon, we should compare to see if your mid-range or my three-pointers are more accurate!"
"Ah, sure, I'd like to try too."
Zhang Hao didn't refuse and agreed. However, he wondered if it was just his imagination that Carter didn't seem to care much about who was stronger, but rather was just interested in the "challenge"?
Just like Zhang Hao described Mike Bibby, "Geniuses have their quirks." Carter gave Zhang Hao a completely different feeling from other geniuses. This guy seemed to lack a competitive drive!
As if for Carter, whether it was the dunk contest or any other competition involving winning and losing, he seemed just "interested," putting effort into it, but not really caring about winning or losing... He surely cared, but it was much lower than his interest, much lower than other similar geniuses' obsession with winning and losing.
...
In the afternoon, Zhang Hao and Carter continued training while Mike Bibby went to play in a game. He had a game that afternoon, and tomorrow was the McDonald's High School All-American Game. After the game today, 2000 or so fans on the spot would vote for 18 All-American high school players.