12. Harden's Alternative Talent

When DeRozan was pushed, Zhang Yang immediately rushed over, swung his arm powerfully, and slapped Jones across the face, knocking him flat on the ground.

Isaiah rushed up to attack Zhang Yang from behind but was knocked down by Harden, who sprinted over.

Zhang Yang had already turned around, ready to retaliate, not expecting Harden to be so reliable at that moment!

But the weight of Harden... seeing Isaiah get knocked into the air and fall twitching on the ground, he felt sympathy for half a second.

Zhang Yang didn't stop his movements, got up, and with Harden, they both lunged at Andrew who was charging at them. The two quickly took Andrew down, their coordination perfect, they exchanged a look, feeling a mutual respect.

The sudden fight did not surprise the audience much, as games involving gang members are usually like this, but nobody expected those two middle school students to be so fierce! The audience's exclamations were nonstop.

Just when everyone thought the matter was about to end, seven or eight ghost fire youths started shouting and charged in, causing the audience to scream again, purely out of excitement.

"Crap!"

"Damn it!"

Zhang Yang and Harden cursed in unison, but didn't back down, and the stumbling DeRozan also stood by their side.

Just as they were ready to fight even if they couldn't win, someone suddenly dashed from the side and kicked the leading ghost fire youth to the ground, scaring the others so much that they immediately stopped in their tracks.

A tall, slim black guy stood in front of them and shouted to the gang of ghost fire youths, "Hey, hey, hey, those three losers can't play basketball and now they want to fight, and you guys want to help them? Have some shame."

A huge guy over two meters tall and weighing at least a hundred kilograms quickly ran over to stand beside them.

Zhang Yang, seeing these two, relaxed and laughed, "Jarett, Tyson, you guys are back?"

Jarett Young turned and responded, "I've reached my work limit for the month, and just as the soccer team came to Hidden Mountain for a warm-up match, I hitched a ride back. I'll go back to school with them in a few days. We heard you were in a game when we came to your house, got curious to see it, and didn't expect you to have started playing basketball, even scoring a few points, not bad."

Tyson Roy also ignored the gang of ghost fire youths and just responded.

Following the original body's habits, Zhang Yang said, "Jarett, you're still the same as before, never letting any opportunity slip by."

After a bit of teasing, he introduced his old and new friends to each other.

Jarett Young, a member of the Southern California High School baseball team, whose mother is friends with Zhang Yang's mother. It was he who introduced baseball to Zhang Yang after he arrived in America.

Jarett Young realized not long after starting high school that he couldn't progress further in baseball due to lack of innate talent. Unlike most Black men, he didn't resign himself to fate or fall into bad ways but instead focused on studying and working part-time.

As a student, Jarett Young was limited to working no more than 3 hours per day and 72 hours per month. However, he had a certificate from the city hall which allowed him to earn a minimum wage of 15 US dollars per hour if he worked more than 60 hours a month. Thus, even during school vacations, he stayed in Los Angeles to work part-time and fulfill his hours. He seldom came back over these two years.

Tyson Roy, a member of the Southern California High School football team, and Jarett Young's childhood best friend, thus he knew Zhang Yang well.

Unlike Jarett Young, who gave up his sports dreams early to focus on getting into a good university, he was a main player in the team and was hopeful for a full college scholarship.

SInce there was an age gap of three years, during the first two years after Zhang Yang arrived in America, it was mainly these two who hung out with him and looked after him. After the two entered high school three years ago, they seldom returned to Hidden Mountain, sometimes only seen once a year during Christmas. Their interactions became less frequent, but childhood friendships are always hard to forget, not seeing each other for a year or two didn't make them strangers.

When DeRozan learned that it was Jarett Young who introduced baseball to Zhang Yang, he blurted out, "What were you thinking making Jack play baseball, wasting his basketball talent."

After saying that, DeRozan regretted it, fearing he had offended someone again.

But Jarett Young was more amiable than he appeared, he said helplessly, "I didn't know he had a talent for basketball. He was fast, strong, with good vision, I thought he'd be a great pitcher or outfielder."

DeRozan, feeling embarrassed, scratched his head and said, "Jack really does have the ideal physique for it."

He had played baseball in elementary school and knew that as a baseball player, Jarett Young's perspective wasn't wrong.

After chatting for a bit, they didn't linger at the park but left together and headed to Zhang Yang's house.

Jones and his gang had already scampered away shamefacedly.

Advantage of ten against five? Are you kidding me?

They dared not raise their hands again after seeing those two former community toughs; everyone was the same age, and they knew those two very well. Not only were they fiercely combative, but they also didn't pull punches… And those two kids were just the same, Isaiah felt his waist was nearly broken by the impact, and Jones was dazed from the slap by Zhang Yang, both had to be helped away, not to mention one first-year middle schooler who picked fights with three people at once.

Can't trouble those who are out of their league, might as well find someone easier to pick on next time.

...

Jarett Young and Tyson Roy rarely came back, but they did, and Zhang Yang's parents were very happy as their son won his first match, bustling around to prepare a table full of dishes for the kids.

Jarett Young and Tyson Roy, just as they used to, went into the kitchen to help out.

Zhang Yang also wanted to help, but his mother, thinking he was too dirty from playing basketball, sent him upstairs to shower.

DeRozan and Harden went upstairs to take a shower. DeRozan was about the same height as Zhang Yang and just a bit thinner, so wearing Zhang Yang's clothes wasn't a problem.

Harden... with a height of two meters and a weight over 100 kilograms, Tyson Roy lent him a set of shorts and a T-shirt, which fittingly wasn't a problem.

The game had been won, and they had also won the fight, so the five of them really enjoyed their big meal.

After dinner, once everyone had cleaned up the dinner table, they all went to their respective homes. Zhang Yang had wanted to have Harden stay over as they had a spare room, but Harden, worried about his mom scolding him, chose to stay at DeRozan's place and took his dirty clothes back to wash and dry that night, planning to return them to Tyson Roy the next day.

Jarett Young and Tyson Roy rarely came back, so they decided to visit other friends tonight. They had come to watch Zhang Yang play basketball and help maintain order today, spending half their day with him, so they didn't stay to hang out for longer.

After sending everyone off, Zhang Yang thought about the afternoon's game and still felt a buzz, loving the feeling of playing basketball.

After the excitement, he analyzed the day's game and gained a more direct understanding of his physical fitness.

In terms of physical fitness, he surpassed the Mels brothers. If he was a 90, Isaiah Mels, the more athletic of the two, was probably over 80.

Jones was hard to compare, his speed was just too fast.

However, Jones's explosive power and jumping ability were quite ordinary. Iverson, who was fast, fierce, and could jump, was a rarity, not unique but definitely a rare sight.

Zhang Yang felt that his little friend DeRozan was basically on par with him. DeRozan wasn't as fast or as strong, but his jumping ability, acceleration, and initial speed were better than his.

Harden was also hard to compare at the moment, as his weight was excessively over the limit.

At dinner, Zhang Yang asked Harden about his weight, 215 pounds, almost 97 kilograms, a bit heavier than he had guessed.

From DeRozan, Zhang Yang learned something—Harden had asthma as a child, which prevented him from engaging in prolonged physical activity. He also had a penchant for eating, and his two brothers often indulged him by buying him snacks, which resulted in his growing fatter. By the end of elementary school, his weight had already exceeded 200 pounds, while Harden was less than 1.7 meters tall.

Later, when the symptoms of asthma no longer appeared, Harden started playing basketball to lose weight, but he couldn't slim down.

However, three years passed, and Harden had grown to over 1.8 meters tall, but his weight still hovered around 210 pounds (95 kilograms).

Perhaps this was also a kind of talent—unable to reduce weight, then just grow taller.

Technically, Zhang Yang didn't analyze who was stronger, anyway he was the weakest; even Isaiah Mels, who relied on his physique to play, had a strong drive to the basket.

During the three rounds of the game, he scored a total of 6 points—4 points in the second round, 2 points in the third round, with 5 layups and 1 dunk, totaling 30 shooting value.

After scoring the first basket, he considered whether to "practice instead of compete," but now decided it was better to just keep practicing since practicing the technique also steadily increased his shooting value.

...

The next morning, Zhang Yang continued to wake up early. He carried a large lunchbox prepared by his dad in one hand and dribbled with the other, walking while dribbling.

Those few hoodlums would not be coming back for another three to five days, having just lost face.

Even if they were thick-skinned, Zhang Yang wasn't worried, as he didn't think those guys would get up so early to come to the park now. In the evening, those people still had to queue at the free food distribution point.

Having to watch over the lunchbox, Zhang Yang occasionally, not paying attention, sent the ball flying and had to go pick it up... Fortunately, it was just past six in the morning, and there were not many cars on the road.

When he arrived at the park's basketball court, it was already past six-thirty.

Seeing Zhang Yang arrive, a yawning Harden immediately began to complain, "You two are exaggerating, starting to train so early! At six o'clock, DeMar had already woken me up. But why so late? Had I known, I would have slept in for another ten minutes…"

DeRozan, seeing Zhang Yang dribble while walking toward the court, guessed why his friend was late and sighed at his buddy's dedication, then harbored ever more resentment toward Jarett Young…

But Jarett Young was what could be called an unexpected misfortune. When Zhang Yang's original self had just entered junior high and started growing taller quickly, the P.E. teacher suggested he play basketball, which he refused, insisting stubbornly on baseball while Jarett was already attending high school in Los Angeles.

Harden, while complaining, suddenly saw the lunchbox in Zhang Yang's hand and fixed his gaze on it, saying, "Getting up so early, I haven't even had breakfast…"

Zhang Yang gave Harden a look and said, "Then how about we eat breakfast first before training?"

Harden immediately went over to take the lunchbox, chuckling non-stop.

DeRozan also gave Harden a look, and seeing Harden about to directly open the lunchbox, slapped his hand, saying, "Wash your hands first!"

Harden went to wash his hands, looking quite pitiful, but he took the lunchbox with him to the sink, as if worried someone would steal it.

Zhang Yang thought these two really complemented each other's personalities…

…

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