I'm not really a role player

Chapter 11 Forehand and backhand sparring

Although Rick Barnes asked everyone to train separately, they must not be lazy.

In the corner of the training ground, Li Ke was training Tucker with Li Ke, which still attracted many teammates to stop.

"PJ goes first, this guy really treats Sheldon as a training partner."

Still at the hidden passageway, Russell Spliman, who was blocked by Rick Barnes, stretched his neck hard.

As far as he could see, Tucker was already slapping the basketball and taking heavy steps.

"Take a small step forward with your left foot, and turn around suddenly. Judging by the magnitude, it shouldn't be a breakthrough, so it can only be a turnaround jump shot, or a step back..."

After a little judgment, Li Ke took a small step forward without hesitation.

Then, under Li Ke's interference, Tucker made a jumper.

boom!
The basketball hit the frame and popped out, and Tucker was stunned: "Come again!"

Another offense and defense, the roles did not switch.

This time, Takla opened a little distance, and then suddenly accelerated.

Competing for speed, Li Ke is naturally worthwhile.

But he also knew that it was absolutely impossible for Tucker to eat himself raw by speed alone.

Sure enough, Tucker, who broke through quickly, stopped suddenly after encountering Li Ke's fight, and shot a jumper on the spot.

Unexpectedly, Li Ke also stopped abruptly on the spot, stretched his right arm, and successfully interfered with Tucker.

boom!
Tucker missed another shot.

Now, he was sure that Li Ke's defense today was not accidental.

"Your reaction seems to be much faster?"

Tucker bluntly raised his question, but it was more like a temptation.

Respond?
Li Ke replied vaguely: "Maybe..."

After defending two goals in a row, Li Ke felt that his D-level single defense seemed a little loose, as if it was about to be upgraded.

"It seems that skills can be upgraded..."

I don't know if Tucker found out something, another wave of offense came, he accelerated as usual, and even took out the strength advantage at the bottom of the box, and it seemed that he was going to go straight into the penalty area.

Li Ke also judged in the same way. He was sure that Tucker was going to hit the basket forcefully, so he kept retreating and fighting.

Tucker suddenly stopped at a critical moment.

"It's an emergency stop again, this time Sheldon made a wrong judgment..."

The goal was scored, and Spliman, who was on the dark side, beat his chest and felt it was a pity.

But in front of him, Rick Barnes felt: "I said that Sheldon can't make great progress overnight."

"Then why did he block PJ two balls?"

"Because he changed his defensive attitude, his defense became more impulsive."

"More impulsive?"

"That's right, it seems that he is predicting PJ's offensive trend. In fact, he is betting. If the bet is right, the defense will naturally succeed, but once the bet is wrong..."

Rick Barnes shook his head. Sure enough, the most critical problem with Li Ke was his lack of defensive experience.

On the court, offense and defense have switched.

Tucker's defense completely enveloped Li Ke, and almost every step Li Ke made was correctly judged by Tucker.

Finally, force the shot.

boom!
hit the edge of the basket.

The next ball, still with a bang, strikes the iron.

After finally scoring a goal, and turning around to defend, Li Ke was swayed by Tucker's fake move again.

At this time, he began to doubt life.

"The key point is not to predict?"

Tucker seemed to have seen Li Ke's thoughts, and before the next ball was played, he suddenly said, "You've been predicting my defense?"

Li Ke nodded stiffly, as if he had seen his unspeakable little thoughts.

"You are right, but predicting is not a mindless judgment, but an accurate and unmistakable judgment based on defensive experience."

"Relying on defensive experience and accurate judgment..."

It was so!
Li Ke immediately understood that for the first two goals, he just relied on the momentum of the young man to beat Tucker by chance, but once Tucker found out that Li Ke's defense was extremely mindless, his defense became riddled with holes.

And Tucker's advice was also seriously listened to by Li Ke.

"It turns out that what I lack is defensive experience. If I make up for defensive experience, D-level single defense will definitely be able to break through to C-level, and even B-level is not a problem, but how to make up for defensive experience?"

Li Ke thought of Kobe Bryant's "Detail" show after his retirement: "I can only find more videos of defensive masters."

Now, his training is no longer a boring and single court training, and watching videos will also be a key part.

"Okay, there's nothing to see, Russell, go and remind others not to be lazy."

Rick Barnes turned and left as if he had gained a lot, but left the task of reprimanding the players to Russell Spleman.

On the training ground, there are not many teammates who are still observing Li Ke's training with Tucker. Those like Augustine who have no direct competition with Li Ke have long since stopped caring.

Those in the same position as Li Ke, like Justin Mason and Harrison Smith, also lost interest in Li Ke after Li Ke was abused by Tucker.

"It looks like this Asian guy is worse than me, if I were to..."

I don't know if I underestimated Li Ke or Tucker.

Of course, there are also people like Damien James who took the initiative to find Li Ke after Tucker was challenged by Durant and forced to end the one-on-one with Li Ke.

"Your name is... Sheldon Lee?"

Li Ke subconsciously nodded.

"It looks like you are in the same position as me, come on, practice a few rounds with me."

sparring?Li Ke frowned, and shook his head decisively, he is not a training partner.

Damien James frowned: "You couldn't have been tortured by PJ, did you?"

This is a bit of a malicious guess. Compared with yesterday's one-on-one, Li Ke's performance against Tucker today has been much better.

Li Ke, who originally didn't want to ignore Damien James, could only turn around and tell the other party solemnly: "I'm sorry, Damien, I'm not a training partner, and I'm also a member of the Longhorns with a full scholarship."

"So what, with your national ranking and high school star rating, it should be difficult to play in the NCAA championship, right? Coach Barnes gave you a scholarship, isn't it for you to accompany the team's main force?"

Damien James feels a little too good about himself, and Li Ke can't take it anymore. If he is said to be completely abused against Tucker with his current strength, it will be a completely different result if he faces Damien James.

"James Harden, I'm all guarded to death, it's just Damien James."

Li Ke seems to have forgotten that Harden, a senior in high school, ranks 18th in the United States, behind Damien James.

At this time, Li Ke was full of thoughts, that is, to have another one-on-one game and teach Damien James a lesson.

"Come on then!"

Damien James took Li Ke as a sparring partner as a matter of course. He took the ball first and started to attack.

With a very simple and direct breakthrough, Li Ke clearly felt the power of Damien James, who was much weaker than Tucker.

And his speed is far inferior to his own.

From the very beginning, Li Ke understood that he didn't need to gamble to predict Damien James' movements like he did with Tucker.

Relying on physical fitness alone, he easily blocked Damien James.

boom!
The basketball hit the inner edge of the rim hard, and Damien James missed a strong shot.

"Give you another chance."

Li Ke didn't want to waste time, two goals were enough to make Damien James realize the reality.

Damien James started a back-up single. After two steps, he turned around and wanted to break through. Li Ke stepped aside and made a sudden attack.

Snapped!
The ball flew!
Li Ke also flew out and took control of the basketball.

"It seems that your offense is not worthy of me as a sparring partner!"

Damien James clenched his fists tightly, and seemed to be a little dissatisfied, but Li Ke had no time to accompany him, a weakling, so he found Daniel Gibson.

"Daniel, hurry up, let me feel the offense of a small scorer..."

On the dark side, Rick Barnes returned at some point, stroking his stubble-covered chin.

"Sheldon can't handle a quasi-NBA player like PJ yet, but if it's a star rookie like Damien, he's good enough..."

(End of this chapter)