Chapter 3 Player

  The coaches' meeting room at Vicksburg Forest University Devil Deacons training facility, where Zhuang Fei met another employee of the team for the first time, team scout Bill Lanbo.

  "Bill, these are the players you recommended?" Zhuang Fei flipped through the dozen or so scouting reports that Bill Lamb had laid out, his brow furrowing as he read.

  "Yes, these are the players I've been scouting for over half a year, all of them are very talented and I believe they can make contributions to the team. Are you not satisfied with my reports?" Bill Lamb, in his fifties, has worked at Wickerslin University for nearly thirty years, with very senior qualifications, but he doesn't think much of the new head coach, Zhuang Fei.

  "No, Bill, the scouting report is very detailed, you did a great job, but to be honest, I'm not too optimistic about these players," Zhuang Fei explained, seeing that Bill Rambo had some misunderstanding.

  "Why? Chang, do you know these players? Why say they're no good?" Bill Lambore asked with some anger.

  Why not look good for them? Zhuang Fei Leng stopped, could only bitterly smile, is it because these people have never appeared in the future NBA? In the United States, many high schools have talented players who quickly fell after entering college, and many excellent college players also fell after entering the NBA. However, all players who can enter the NBA are elite players who have been filtered through a rigorous process. If they haven't seen these people in the NBA, it's likely that they are ordinary with limited potential.

  "Bill, I think they have talent, but I still don't think highly of them. Do you have scouting reports on other players?" Zhang Fei changed the subject.

  "Anything else? Alright, Zhuang, here you are. These are the players I've selected." Bill Lanbo handed over a file of about ten pages from his briefcase to Zhuang Fei.

  Zhuang Fei roughly glanced at it, and this report was much simpler. Except for recording some basic physical data and the pros and cons of the players, there were no other redundant data. It seemed that Bill Lanbo really didn't think highly of these people.

  "There are fifty or sixty people here, don't you think it's a good idea?" Zhuang Fei asked in surprise.

  "Yes, these players are the mainstays of their respective high school teams, but they each have their own shortcomings. I'm not too optimistic about them compared to the ones recommended in the first report."

  "Huh? You also think it's no good, James Posey?" After flipping through three or four more pages, Zhuang Fei finally found a name that was slightly familiar.

  "James Posey? His shooting isn't very stable, his defense is good, but he lacks offense skills."

  "Really? Then can this player be invited to our team?" Zhuang Fei said with a smile.

  "Zhuang, are you sure to use the scholarship on James Posey? The first scouting report of John Hollinger and James Posey have similar styles, but shooting and offense are far superior to James Posey."

  "No, I'm going with James Posey, and also bring in Rafer Alston from Miami Killian High School and Wally Szczerbiak from Cold Spring Harbor High School"

  "What the...?! Raja Bell? Wally Szczerbiak?! Oh my god, Zhuang, what are you thinking?! James Posey if he still has some strength left, these two guys, Raja Bell and Wally Szczerbiak, aside from shooting, they're absolutely useless! Why do you want them?! They don't even deserve to be on the Devil's team!" Bill Lamb was really angry this time. He thought Zhuang Fei didn't have what it takes to be a head coach at all. If he really recruits these two guys, then there's no need to expect good results for the new season.

  "Bill, I think these two are okay, although they have many shortcomings, but their strength is still good, I think they can adapt to our team."

  "Boss, please reconsider, the talent of these two players is really average, especially that Lagabiel, who has not received any invitation now, and that Wolli-Szebiak only received some invitations from fish belly teams. Their abilities have been verified by all scouts, even if you don't believe my vision, you should believe others' vision." Bill Lamb shouted to Zhuang Fei.

  "No, Bill, I want these two. You go and send out the invitation letters to them." Seeing that Bill Rambault still wanted to say something, Zhuang Fei immediately interrupted: "Bill, I am the head coach of the team, I know what kind of players I need, you go invite these two players."

  "Alright, Zhuang, I hope you won't regret it," Bill Lamb sighed and left the conference room.

  Zhuang Fei leaned back in his chair, somewhat disappointed. Bill Laimbeer's scouting report had left him underwhelmed. It wasn't that he was dissatisfied with Laimbeer, but rather that he hadn't found enough future NBA players. Out of nearly sixty scouting reports, only three potential NBA players were identified, which indeed was a bit too few.

  "It seems like we really need to use the dynasty system to find players." Zhuang Fei sighed.

  "Is the host sure about searching for players?"

  "Is" Zhuang Fei lightly clicked on the electronic interface in front of him.

  "Each player search consumes 10 dynasty points, player search can only be done by name, please enter the name of the player to search for."

  .......

  .......

  "Jason, aren't you reconsidering? Vicksburg University isn't worse than Arizona. Our team's goal is also the championship."

  In a Seattle coffee shop, Zhuang Fei is extending an invitation to a high school student.

  "Mr. Zhuang, I never said that Wixson Forest is worse than Arizona, it's just that I have my concerns," Jason Tree hesitated to say.

  "What's the concern? If you're worried about your position on the team, don't worry, next season you'll be the starting point guard and core shooter."

  "No, you misunderstood me, I'm not worried about the premiere"

  "What's the reason?"

  "Mr. Zhuang, I don't believe you have the ability to help me win an NCAA championship, I want to enter the NBA in the first round, I yearn for an NCAA championship, if I choose to join your team, I'd rather join the University of Washington, sorry Mr. Zhuang, I've already decided to join the University of Arizona." Jason Trey then left the coffee shop.

  Zhuang Fei discovered for the first time that it wasn't easy to recruit excellent high school players for the university team. This was already the fourth player Zhuang Fei had approached, and all four had rejected him without exception. This time, based on the national high school rankings and scouting reports, Zhuang Fei found six high school players who weren't on the top-ranked list. Four of them have already been rejected. If it were the first three players like Ma Buri, Jiamison, and Laxim, all of whom are top five ranked high school players, being rejected would be understandable. But this time, being directly rejected by Jason Tre also made Zhuang Fei a bit disheartened.

  No wonder Bill Lambo's scouting report didn't include Ma Buri, Jamison or Rahim, because these players won't join Vicksen Lin, Vicksen Lin is a strong team but not that kind of traditional giant.

  "It seems that selecting team members still needs to be reconsidered thoroughly." Zhuang Fei shook his head helplessly. It was really too difficult for a rookie head coach like him to gain the trust of star players.

  After leaving Seattle, Zhuang Fei flew to Florida without stopping, where there was another player who needed Zhuang Fei's persuasion.