Almighty Coach

In the shabby training ground, Alan Hampton was practicing by simulating the content of the video with training equipment that was even shabbier. Beside him, Dai Li kept shaking his head. From the point of view of a coach, Alan’s behavior was nothing but aimless training.

"You won’t benefit from training like this," Dai Li said suddenly.

"Why?" Alan stopped, wiped the sweat from his forehead, then continued to say, "Although our training equipment is very shabby, Joe and David are also not professional sparring partners. My training is exactly the same as the content of the video you recorded. I didn’t slack off."

"I know, but you don’t understand the meaning of these training programs that were set up in the Adidas Basketball Training Camp. Do you think this training camp is established to help the player in enhancing their levels?" Dai Li said.

"Isn’t it?" Alan asked back.

"Of course not." Dai Li shook his head, "The training programs set up in the training camp are to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of the players to the audiences as much as possible, including the scouts, the coaches, and the correspondents."

Alan was not clumsy, so he figured it out immediately.

"I understand now. It’s more of a talent show, designed to check the skills of the players to facilitate the selection of the coaches and scouts. However, no one could see my training here. So, it’s meaningless, right?" Alan asked gloomily.

"Right. It’s useless for you to practice according to the content of the video, for no coach or scout could see it, and they don’t know how outstanding you are. Therefore, you need a training plan that is more suitable for you," Dai Li said.

"I know, but I don’t have money, and I can’t afford one-on-one guidance by a coach." Alan’s eyes were dimmed.

"Don’t forget I am a coach!" Dai Li shook his index finger, "And I’m free of charge!"

"Li, are you willing to help me?" Alan was getting a little bit excited.

Dai Li nodded, "At least I could help you in your training in the next 10 days."

"Thank you!" Alan was moved.

Dai Li continued to say, "However, I am not a professional basketball coach, so I can’t give you any advice in basketball tactics. Also, my help will be very limited in your basketball techniques, but I am pretty good at physical training. With my help, you could run faster, jump higher, and get stronger. "

With the help of the detector, Dai Li had long known the advantages and disadvantages of Alan, including the defects in his techniques. However, Dai Li was not a professional basketball coach.

Maybe he was even not as good as Alan in the basketball techniques. What Dai Li could do, was just to point out the technique defects of the basketball players, but he couldn’t find a way to help them in rectifying those defects.

Before when Dai Li was coaching the sprinters, he could prepare a detailed training plan, according to the defects of the athletes in order to help them improve. All these skills and knowledge were acquired by Dai Li from Li Xue, but he could not use these skills and knowledge in the basketball training.

For example, the detector indicated that one player’s defect was instability in his center of gravity during shooting. Dai Li could point out this defect, but he didn’t know the training method to rectify this defect for the player, as he was not a professional basketball coach, and his knowledge in basketball training was insufficient.

Of course, it was natural that, compared to the first-rate basketball coach, Dai Li’s basketball knowledge was insufficient. In the face of an NBA coach, Dai Li was just an elementary school pupil.

In the face of a first-rate basketball player, only a professional basketball coach could be qualified for the coaching. However, it was quite satisfactory for Alan to now have a presentable coach who was willing to help him.

...

Dai Li walked to Alan and said, "According to my observation, you are not just a point guard, but are more of a combo guard. In fact, according to my opinion, it is more cost-effective for you to score directly, than pass the ball to others."

"Your greatest advantages are agility and athletic ability. Therefore, although you are not very tall, your defense is pretty good, which is quite oppressive to opponents. Also, noticed you are really good at stealing."

"But your shooting is very unstable. I haven’t seen you shooting three-pointers. Your field goal percentage is also not high. I noticed your shooting is always hasty, as if you are worrying that your shots could be blocked, right?"

Alan nodded, "Actually I am not good at shooting three-pointers, and I am planning to improve that."

"That’s not necessary, at least for your current stage. You could practice your three-pointer technique when you are at university." Dai Li paused a bit and continued to say, "Now, your priority target is to find a university which could offer you a scholarship. You need to impress the basketball coaches of the universities, so you should give a full display of your advantage."

"Advantage? You mean my speed?" Alan asked.

"Yes, your speed! Just use your speed to get to the basket and score through layup, or draw fouls, or pass your opponent with your speed and shoot a fadeaway. This is the scoring method most suitable for you. The point is, that you should enhance your field goal percentage. In other words, improve your field goal percentage with your speed."

"As for other aspects, such as passing, I think that, for now, you could neglect it temporarily. I know you have acquired the technique of passing the ball. However, there are a lot of guards who know the passing ball technique among your peers, so the scouts and coaches really have many options. Therefore, you should tell those university coaches that you are a scoring machine!"

"But I am a point guard. If I only focus on scoring, I will be a shooting guard, right? And I am too short to be a shooting guard," Alan said.

Dai Li smiled, "Have you ever analyzed about which scoring probability is higher, whether it be passing the ball to your teammates, or the directly doing a layup by yourself?"

"For this..." after pondering it for a while, Alan felt what Dai Li said was reasonable. In his high school days, when he passed the ball to his teammates, his teammates might miss the hoop. On the other hand, the opposing defensive players couldn’t stop Alan from shooting a layup by himself.

"Alan, your body is your most powerful weapon. No one is as strong as you, and no one could be faster than you. What you need to do is just use your strong body and fast speed to the utmost advantage, which means to give a full display of your weapon," Dai Li continued to say.

"I got you." Alan nodded, "Thank you, Li. Thank you for your help!"

...

Dai Li prepared a training plan according to Alan’s characteristics, which focused on enhancing Alan’s body stability when he was in physical contact with other players.

Dai Li planned to forge Alan into another top-notch driver. However, Alan was less than 1.8m tall, and he would definitely face fierce physical contact when he got to the basket. Therefore, his body stability was crucial. Even though he couldn’t win in the physical contact arena, he could still score through layups, as long as he could keep his balance, or draw fouls directly from the opposing inside players.

Dai Li didn’t formulate any training plan to rectify Alan’s defects, like his unstable shooting. Dai Li almost knew nothing about the basketball techniques. Also, his time was very limited. In the daytime, Dai Li would perform observation and continue learning in the AP Training Center. He could only instruct Alan’s training in the evenings.

During the training, Dai Li also sensed the advantage of coaching an athlete with the grade S gift, which was the rapid accumulation of a wealth of experience. Before, when Dai Li was in the Beikou Training Center, although Feixiang Lin was also an athlete with the grade S gift, Dai Li was just assisting the training of Feixiang Lin, so he was a high-level handyman at most. But now, Dai Li was the head coach of Alan, who could dominate Alan’s training, so his experience accumulation was more rapid than in his days spent in the Beikou Training Center.

Soon, over one week had passed. Alan had achieved remarkable progress. His journey to becoming a "scoring machine" had become smoother and smoother.