YM778.TV Chapter 27: 24 Focus After Focus
After his journey through time, he had developed the habit of getting up early to jog in the school playground.
But in New Jersey, he couldn\'t find a safe place for morning runs, so the only option was the gym at the Marriott Hotel, which provided breakfast, drinks, and all reasonable services.
Although he couldn\'t run on the playground and breathe the fresh morning air, he could still enjoy VIP service at a five-star hotel while exercising on the treadmill... It was barely acceptable.
At eight-thirty, after coming back from his workout, Yu Fei provided Roy with a professional wake-up call service.
When Roy wanted to stay in bed, Yu Fei kindly placed a piece of ice in his crotch.
"What the hell???"
Roy woke up, and Yu Fei was sure he would remember this moment every time he felt like oversleeping in the future.
"We need to go early to get a good spot on the court, so you\'d better hurry up," Yu Fei urged.
By nine-thirty in the morning, Yu Fei and Roy arrived at the Rosman Center to meet up with the rest of the Jade Team.
Iguodala had arrived the earliest, and those who arrived early had the obligation to secure the best spot for their teammates.
So, Iguodala grabbed the court with the prime location in the center of Rosman Center: it was situated right in the middle, with a supermarket in front, where they could buy snacks and drinks, and behind it was the popular area crowded with professionals.
Practicing here, the experts couldn\'t help but notice them.
Just as Yu Fei and his teammates were preparing to warm up, DeAngelo Collins\'s lackey, the owner of the ugliest horse face in Yu Fei\'s mind, appeared.
He strutted onto the court and pointed at Iguodala, saying, "Hey, this court isn\'t yours."
Iguodala looked at him awkwardly, unsure of how to respond.
"Does it belong to you then?" Roy asked smartly.
Yu Fei swore that if the ugliest horse face acknowledged that, Roy would take his word for it.
"This is DC\'s exclusive court!" the owner of the ugliest horse face said arrogantly, "If you don\'t want to anger DC, then kindly clear the court now, and I can keep him from finding out about this!"
Yu Fei lay on the ground, while Will Wilkins was helping him stretch.
Hearing the other party\'s words, Yu Fei couldn\'t help laughing, "There\'s actually something called an exclusive court here? I wasn\'t aware. Is that some sort of privilege for the top five players in the nation?"
"DC was training here yesterday, and he\'s going to train here today too!" the owner of the ugliest horse face said loudly.
"He\'s not going to train here today." Yu Fei stood up, his height and presence made the other feel intimidated, "As his dog, if you want to secure a good spot for your master, you should\'ve gotten up early like us, not make impolite demands like a mad dog. Even the most foolish dog will bully others with its master\'s power, yet here you are alone, barking at us?"
"What... what do you want to do?!"
Yu Fei looked at the owner of the ugliest horse face, who was only about 1.7 meters tall – the same height he had in his previous life.
At 1.7 meters, he couldn\'t possibly accomplish anything on the basketball court.
And now... he definitely wouldn\'t easily give up anything within his grasp, not even a better positioned basketball court.
"Don\'t worry, unless you bite me first, I won\'t hit a dog. I\'m a dog lover," said Yu Fei, smiling while grabbing the other guy\'s collar, lifting him up almost off his feet, "Go tell your master, the 16th-ranked Yu Fei in the nation sends his regards."
"Scram!"
The owner of the ugliest horse face left the scene in an embarrassing fashion, and Yu Fei turned around as if nothing had happened and said, "Let\'s start our training."
Collins did not come to seek justice.
After all, Yu Fei was also the 16th best player in the nation. Strictly speaking, the top 20 players could be considered in the same bracket, and Collins might not have the advantage if they clashed.
Collins didn\'t come to claim the court, but the news of Yu Fei occupying Collins\'s spot spread quickly.
This was the first time someone in the camp dared to challenge Collins.
Probably realizing his reputation was damaged because of this incident, Collins came over before the first game of the day to challenge Yu Fei.
"Are you Yu Fei?"
"If you\'ve come to ask for this court, I must regretfully decline."
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"Humph!" Collins arrogantly declared, "I know what you\'re thinking. You believe professional scouts will notice you here, but sadly, you\'re not me, and you never will be. The reason this place garners attention is because I practice here. Once I\'m gone, no one will care anymore!"
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Yu Fei didn\'t deny what he said, but there are always exceptions.
"If I beat you tomorrow, they will start paying attention to me," Yu Fei said indifferently. "Tell me, if I defeat the number five in the nation, do you think I could take your place and rise to fifth in the next national high school rankings?"
Collins became furious at the thought, as if it were his worst nightmare.
What he feared the most was someone emerging to knock him down and take all the attention he had.
Hearing Yu Fei\'s words, he became almost livid with anger but didn\'t dare to act out of line here, so he could only glare at Yu Fei with a ferocious expression, "Tomorrow I\'ll show you that the gap between you and me is more than just 11 spots!"
What if, by chance, the national experts all realize you don\'t deserve that fifth ranking?
Would your plan to jump straight from high school to the NBA fall apart?
After Collins had left, DiMio finally entered the court with his camera.
"Thanks to that kid, this place became as rowdy as the Phoenix Suns Team for a while," DiMio laughed.
Will Wilkins, who was quite knowledgeable about the NBA, said, "That may not be an appropriate comparison."
"Isn\'t it a good analogy? How cool is that. We\'re like the Suns Team!" Roy said proudly, "We have Anfernee Hardaway, Jason Kidd, Clifford Robinson..."
Then Wilkins patiently explained to the boneheaded Roy, who seldom read books or followed the news, why the analogy wasn\'t flattering.
The Suns were undoubtedly the NBA team with the most scandals this year.
In the past three months, they had issues ranging from Anfernee wielding a gun to threaten his wife in front of their eight-year-old daughter, Jason Kidd, who just completed his journey with the Dream Team, being accused of beating his wife with a supposedly 100% hit rate, and their top scorer Clifford Robinson being arrested for illegal possession of a firearm.
"So that makes Fulai the wife-beater, and I\'m the attempted murderer..." Roy said, his thought process seemingly different from everyone else\'s. "The question arises, who in our team is Clifford Robinson?"
Iguodala and Wilkins exchanged glances, both feeling like they were the Robinson of the group.
Yu Fei sighed and ignored them.
The Jade Team\'s first game of the day was at two in the afternoon, against a team led by the 45th-ranked twelfth-grader nationwide.
Interestingly, apart from that 45th-ranked twelfth-grader, all other players on the opposing team were eleventh-graders.
The reason for forming the team was simple; the twelfth-grader wanted to create a one-man team to monopolize the ball.
Unfortunately, they met Yu Fei.
Under Yu Fei\'s defense, the opposing team played an incredibly ugly game, shooting 7 for 32, and the Jade Team won by a landslide 35 points.
But this exciting game failed to attract much of an audience, as most professionals were drawn to the \'battle of the century\' between the younger LeBron James and Sebastian Telfair.
As the only two tenth-graders invited to ABCD Camp from the class of 2003, James and Telfair stood out as the aces of their respective teams, already seen as the future NBA draft\'s number one and two picks. Their confrontation was a must-watch epic battle.
Even after finishing their game, Yu Fei and his team went to join the crowd.
From the looks of it, James and Telfair were neck and neck in terms of performance and stats.
However, even Yu Fei, with his less experienced past life, could tell that James\'s prospects far outshone Telfair\'s.
Telfair was a typical New York street point guard, full of fancy moves, good at pleasing the crowd, but James, despite his young age, already had the ability to control the game, an outstanding vision, and a willingness to share the ball. It was obvious that his teammates enjoyed playing with him. At this moment, he had not yet developed that future habit of "not being able to eat or sleep if no one creates space for me," nor would he just stand with his hands on his hips because the ball was in someone else\'s hands.
Then, Yu Fei noticed Anthony in the front row, cheering relentlessly for James, clearly indicating they knew each other and had a close relationship, like brothers-in-arms.
Such tight brothers did not bring their talents together when it came to teaming up? It just showed they weren\'t tight enough.
True brotherhood is like Durant and Irving, especially Durant\'s affection for Irving; that\'s real brotherhood.
The game concluded with James\'s team victorious and the professionals summarizing it as "a match that fully met expectations between two geniuses."
Now it was time for the upperclassmen to prepare for their second match.
Yu Fei\'s Jade Team and Anthony\'s Ace Team entered the court. On the sidelines, James came to root for the Ace Team, just as Anthony had unabashedly supported him before.
If James\'s and Telfair\'s showdown was today\'s first highlight match, then Yu Fei\'s confrontation with Anthony was today\'s second highlight.
More and more players, scouts, and college coaches clustered around the court.
The referee quickly went over the game regulations and court etiquette before tossing the ball up to start the game.