Chapter 88 There are flowers all around me, can't I pick a few?
Two hours later, in the early morning, the Knicks' private plane flew to New York.

At the same time, the same thing happened to the Bulls' private jet.

The two teams will play a back-to-back game tomorrow, but the Knicks will be at home.

Two hours later, He Zhongqiu was awakened from his sleep by the staff. The plane had arrived over New York and was about to land.

It was already four o'clock in the morning on the 14th when I returned to the training base from the bus and then walked back home with Philip.

He feels very tired after consecutive away games and repeated long air travel. Although he is a martial artist and his physical fitness is not bad, there is no special physical training in martial arts. If he continues like this, he may encounter the rookie wall that Coach Thibodeau mentioned.

He ate a beef burger after the game, ate something else when he got home, went to bed at 11:, and slept until a.m., when he woke up just in time to eat the sumptuous lunch Mary had prepared for him.

At his request, Mary purchased some Chinese condiments from Chinatown, such as hot sauce, sauce wine, etc. Now Mary has also learned how to cook a few Chinese dishes, and they taste pretty good.

After lunch, he put on his down jacket before going out with Xia Song and Philip.

The highest daytime temperature in New York at this time of year is only two or three degrees Celsius, and at night it is minus four or five degrees Celsius. There is also a strong north wind, and it is very cold.

He drove, Xia Song sat in the passenger seat, and Philip sat in the back.

"The weather forecast says it's going to snow."

"Yang Xue said it has been snowing in Yanjing for several days."

"Zhongqiu, you have such a good relationship. Is Yang Xue your girlfriend?"

"Huh? No, no."

"She's pretty, don't you like her?"

"Oh, no, I'm not very stable when it comes to girls. Sister Xue warned me not to mess with her."

"I see, it's just being fickle."

"What do you mean by philandering and evil-hearted? I'm in the film and television industry, and there are beautiful flowers all around me, all ready to be plucked. Why can't I pluck a few?"

Xia Song admitted that he was jealous, and quickly changed the subject, saying, "You drive well now, you should be able to take the driver's license test."

"Really? Then apply."

He drove and chatted casually with Xia Song, and the three of them arrived at a coffee shop in Tully Town.

He met Greenfeldon, a white man, about 1.9 meters tall, very strong, with short blond hair, and looked very energetic.

"Let me introduce you. This is Greenfeldton," Xia Song introduced.

"Hello, Mr. Felton," he said, extending his hand.

"You can call me Green."

Greenfeldon greeted Philip again and said excitedly, "Wolverine, it's a pleasure to work with you. I've finally found a star player with explosive talent."

"Am I a star player?" he asked in surprise.

"In terms of popularity, you are already a star, as evidenced by the first week of All-Star voting," Felton said with a smile.

"I will be a real star one day," he said seriously.

"Of course, I believe that day will come, especially after you and I work together." Felton said seriously.

He took out a training plan and introduced it, “Wolverine, this is a training plan I made based on your requirements and the Knicks’ schedule.

It includes physical fitness, dribbling, low-post steps, bank shots, floaters, hook shots, and these are the skills and qualities you need to improve most urgently. "

At this point, he glanced at He Zhongqiu's thick wrists and said in surprise: "Your wrists are very thick. I have been in close contact with O'Neal, and his wrists don't seem to be as thick as yours."

He Zhongqiu raised his wrist and smiled, saying, "Because I am used to a kind of Chinese Kung Fu, my wrist is very tough, and my fingers are also very tough and have great finger strength, so the feel of shooting is very poor."

Greenfeldon nodded and said, "Bank shots don't require much feel, and the same goes for floaters. Both types of shots are suitable for you.

Wolverine, I've watched your games, and you've almost never used floaters, and you've had a few bank shots, but your technical moves are clearly unconventional."

He said: "I modified it myself. I think it is the most suitable move for me."

Felton said: "Indeed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's skyhook action is actually different from others. Others' hooks have a push-up technique with their shoulders, but he doesn't. He just uses his wrist strength to crush the ball out."

He Zhongqiu said without any modesty: "My wrist strength should be the best in the league, only stronger than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. From the three-point line, I can easily hook the ball onto the backboard with just my wrist strength."

"Snapped!"

Felton snapped his fingers excitedly and said, "Then the hook shot is actually very suitable for you, especially the mid-range shot. With your shooting height, it is almost impossible to be blocked.

Of course, your touch is not good, so if you want to practice your hook shot well, you need to practice repeatedly until your shooting action and rhythm are formed. "

He opened the training schedule and said, "You only need basketball skills and physical training, so my plan does not contain much track and field content, and you can spend more time on basketball skills training.

For ordinary NBA players, I mean people like Kobe, they will train for no less than six hours a day on days when they don't have games.

There are at least two hours of track and field training, two hours of basketball skills, one hour of cardio, and one hour of strength training.”

"Does Kobe train a lot?" He Zhongqiu asked curiously.

"He should be one of the people who train the most in the league, maybe the only one."

Nodding, Felton continued, "The first item is to run at full speed for twelve minutes every morning, about three kilometers.

In an NBA game, the average running distance is about 3.3 kilometers, and as a center it is about 2.6 kilometers, which can quickly improve your physical fitness."

"That's good. I seldom do long-distance running training. No wonder my physical fitness is not very good." He Zhongqiu nodded.

Felton added: "Then there are 400 bank shots, 150 floaters and hook shots each, mainly bank shots, for a total of shots.

Let me take Kobe as an example. If he made 700 shots, it would only take him about four hours, or four and a half hours.

Wolverine, at your current rate of success, it will take about six hours, or more."

"Probably more. I have hardly ever practiced lob shots and hook shots, never before." He Zhongqiu laughed.

"Let me make this clear first. If you exceed the time limit during shooting training, it has nothing to do with me. It's your own fault," Felton said with a smile.

"OK, as long as there are no competitions, I will complete all the training tasks." He Zhongqiu said affirmatively.

Felton added: "Then there is low-post training, which is tentatively scheduled for two hours, and dribbling is also a two-hour training time. These two skills are the basis of playing basketball, and you need to improve them as soon as possible.

Your current basic skills are quite poor, which severely limits your performance. Otherwise, with your physical fitness and the Knicks' current lineup, you have no shortage of playing time and shots, and your data can definitely be improved to a higher level."

He Zhongqiu nodded. This was absolutely right. When he was playing basketball, he felt like he had strength but nowhere to use it.

Felton then added: "I have to go to the Knicks training base later to discuss this training plan with Holmes.

In daily training, the Knicks still need to cooperate, and the team should be able to increase one or two sparring partners and trainers. "

Xia Song had been translating, and Philip was only responsible for drinking coffee. At this time, he couldn't help but complain: "Green, you can still save a lot of money. Two hundred thousand a year is not low, it's several times mine."

"Haha...that's right, who doesn't want to make more money?" Felton laughed and nodded.

"Then let's sign the contract?" Xia Song asked He Zhongqiu, and He Zhongqiu nodded.

Because Xia Song had already established a branch of the Zhongqiu Culture and Sports Company in the United States, the contract was signed in the name of the company. Xia Song signed as the general manager of the company, and He Zhongqiu had nothing to do with it.

After signing the contract, He Zhongqiu, Felton and Philip went to the training base. Xia Song had his own things to do.

Generally speaking, NBA teams have very little time for team practice. On days when there are no games, it is usually two hours, and on days when there are games, it is at most one hour. The same is true for the Knicks.

The rest of the time, the self-disciplined players will train and practice on their own, and no one will force you to train if you are not self-disciplined. Today there is a back-to-back game, and there is an hour of recovery training at 2 pm. When the three of us arrived at the training base at almost 2 pm, most of the players had already arrived.

Felton and Holmes were in the same industry, knew each other, and were quite familiar with each other. When they met, they began to discuss He Zhongqiu's training plan and quickly reached an agreement.

At this time, He Zhongqiu was thinking about his locust stone free throw.

He stood on the free throw line, raised the ball with his right hand, and without even aiming, threw the ball towards the white basket with the technique of a locust stone at an extremely fast speed.

"Oh!"

The basketball hit the middle of the top edge of the white basket, then bounced and hit the basket.

"what!"

The first goal went in, it was good luck, and he grinned.

"Host, you have mastered a new free throw technique. Your free throw proficiency has increased by +50000 and your level has been raised to level 80." At this moment, a system prompt appeared in front of his eyes.

"Cool!"

Although his free throw level had just reached the second-rate level of level 80, he was still very happy. He probably wouldn't be cut in the future, and even if he was, he wouldn't suffer much.

He then made 21 free throws in a row, including the first one, a total of 15 of 71.4 shots, with a hit rate of %.

This hit rate is considered average among centers, but if it is during a game, the hit rate should drop due to the pressure of the game and physical consumption.

"Wolverine, did you use your bank shot technique on your free throws?" Holmesler walked over and said.

"Yeah, I think that kind of shooting motion can be used for free throws, and the results are pretty good." He said with a grin.

Green Felton praised: "It's not good, it's great. If you take 100 free throws every day, you will definitely be able to hit 80% next season."

He Zhongqiu said: "In the future, my hook shot may also adopt a similar technique, which is related to a kind of kung fu I practice.

By shooting in this way, I can shoot more accurately and minimize the impact of poor shooting touch. "

"Good, very good, Wolverine, I hope you can master these techniques as soon as possible." Holmeslist encouraged.

"OK, I'll try my best."

That night, the Knicks defeated the Bulls again at home and won two consecutive games.

19 wins and 17 losses, with a winning rate of 52.7%, returning to the seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

……

The next game is on the 17th, an away game against the Pistons, and on the 18th a back-to-back game against the Hawks.

The Pistons currently have the best record in the Eastern Conference, but of course their winning rate cannot be compared with that of the Western Conference. It is only equivalent to the winning rate of the sixth-placed Trail Blazers in the Western Conference, which is just over 60%.

活塞是25胜12负，尼克斯是19胜17负，5.5个胜场差。

Some New York media started hyping the game between the Knicks and the Pistons on the 15th because there was a gimmick between the two teams, that is, Wolverine and Big Ben.

There are two news points that can be hyped about these two people. One is who has greater absolute power, and the other is that He Zhongqiu ranked first in the All-Star voting in the first week, overshadowing Ben Wallace. But in terms of strength and qualifications, Ben Wallace is more qualified to be selected as an All-Star starter.

A reporter interviewed Ben Wallace and asked, "Ben, the media now believes that Wolverine's absolute power is no less than yours. What do you think?"

Ben Wallace said cautiously: "I haven't fought Wolverine yet. I know he is very powerful, but I am confused because I can't see any trace of such powerful strength in his body. Where does his power come from?"

"The results of the second week of All-Star voting will be announced soon. Do you think your votes can surpass Wolverine?" the reporter asked again.

Ben Wallace showed a trace of helplessness on his iron-like face, and said, "I don't know about that. He is in New York. That is New York. He has China behind him. I heard that half of his votes came from there, and I only have Detroit."

"Do you hope to be selected as an All-Star starter?" the reporter asked again.

"Of course, I've never been an All-Star, and I hope to be selected," said Ben Wallace.

He Zhongqiu didn't care much about anything in the outside world because he had no time. He got up at seven in the morning on the 15th and practiced the three-body stance meditation for half an hour as usual, and then had breakfast.

As scheduled, at 8:30, Felton arrived on his bicycle and first ran at full speed for twelve minutes.

He thought long-distance running would be easy, just keep running, but he soon realized it was not easy.

Because he had never done professional long-distance running before, which requires a steady speed, otherwise the rhythm would be disrupted and physical energy would be doubled. Felton didn't know what his pace was, so he could only try again and again.

"At a 4-minute pace, I run three kilometers in twelve minutes," Felton said.

“What’s the pace?”

He Zhongqiu could understand the other words, but not this word.

Philip translated it immediately. He understood it, but he still didn't know how fast the pace was.

Well, Felton now finally understood that Wolverine had really never received professional sports training.

"Just run. I'll check your speed and tell you whether you should run faster or slower." He had no choice but to say.

Next, He Zhongqiu ran along the town’s quiet streets towards the suburbs, with the other two following in a pickup truck.

"Faster, yes, that's the speed, keep it up."

"It's too slow again. Go faster."

"OK, that's it."

"Hurry up and keep your breathing rhythm good."

"You need to breathe at a fixed frequency, just like your walking pace, exhale every three or four steps, and inhale the same amount every three or four steps."

While Felton was giving this reminder, he was also observing He Zhongqiu's running posture.

He soon realized that there were many problems with Wolverine's running movements, which were not professional at all, so another round of reminders began.

"Don't move the center of gravity of your upper body."

“Don’t lift your knees too high.”

"You should land on your toes first, not your heels. That will increase the pressure on your feet and knees. Landing on your toes first will provide some cushioning."

……

At noon that day, when He Zhongqiu was having lunch, the league announced the second week of All-Star voting through ABC TV.

He received another 31 votes, still ahead of Ben Wallace, who received votes this week.

Moreover, 65% of his votes this week came from the New York area, and the number of votes from within the country decreased significantly, to only 11%.

Votes from Japan increased to 7%, up from 2% last week.

Yao Ming also received 330,000 votes, which is not bad, but there is a gap between him and He Zhongqiu.

However, Yao Ming still surpassed O'Neal and is still ranked first among centers in the Western Conference.

In the afternoon, he, Philip and Felton walked to the training base and were surrounded by some reporters at the door. Among them were Chinese reporters such as Zhou Biao and Lin Cheng, and two of them spoke Hong Kong Mandarin.

He was a little surprised and asked, "Does Hong Kong watch NBA too?"

Zhou Biao explained from the side: "During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hong Kong's ATV started broadcasting NBA games very early. By the way, there is also a Japanese reporter here."

Lin Cheng said happily: "Zhongqiu, your influence is now expanding from China to Asia. Nearly 30,000 people in Japan voted for you. It would be even better if you can become the All-Star starter this time."

(End of this chapter)