One Year Left to Play-Chapter 217 - 72: The Vanguard of the Original Organization
Hearing the DJ shout Hill's name with an excited voice, Joe Dumars smiled and said, "Get ready to go on stage! Our big star."
Watching Grant Hill's back as he walked out of the player tunnel, Joe Dumars shook his head helplessly—the team, the fans... everyone had too high expectations for this second-year player.
In Joe Dumars' view, asking Grant Hill to bear the dream of revitalizing the Pistons alone was too much for him. A few years ago, with those two consecutive championships, the players they had were not even comparable to the current ones.
But the fans just had high hopes.
When Grant Hill took the court, the cheers from the fans exploded.
The super popular star who became the top vote-getter in the All-Star voting in his rookie year was indeed extraordinary.
At this time, the subtitles came up.
"Grant Hill, 23 years old, 203 cm tall, weighing 102 kg, ability rating 93, offense 92, defense 89, rebounds 88, passing 86, three-pointers 47, mid-range shot 88, layups 97, speed 91, strength 88, jumping 87, agility 90, dribbling 91, crossover 92..."
"Damn, this is basically a two-meter-tall AI!"
Looking at Grant Hill's ability rating, Zhang Hao straightened his neck.
Recalling the game footage of Grant Hill's rookie year that he watched a few days ago, he just felt Grant Hill's rookie year was full of aura, had a beautiful play style, and was darn strong.
Seeing the ability rating now, combined with the footage he watched, it indeed gives a bit of a two-meter-tall AI vibe.
Back in the day, it wasn't so easy for NBA teams to find footage of other teams' games. Luckily, Grant Hill's popularity was high; last season the Pistons broadcasted 13 national live games, ranking first in the league with a total of 19 national live broadcasts.
During the team's tactical meeting, analyzing the Pistons' lineup and watching footage, Zhang Hao already understood the opponent players' playing styles, but looking at the ability ratings, it was obviously more specific.
With a terrific physique, only when Mr. Zhang's static strength improved could he compare his physical attributes to Grant Hill, and their athletic abilities were almost the same. Grant Hill was slightly faster, while Mr. Zhang had better jumping ability.
There was no need to compare techniques. Grant Hill's skills were incredibly complete—dribbling, shooting, passing, and maintaining control—all quite well. His crossover could even shake off Jordan and Pippen.
From the visible ability evaluation panel, Mr. Zhang was only better in flexibility, catch-and-shoot, and mid-range shots compared to Grant Hill.
This was the second strongest player Zhang Hao encountered since joining the NBA. The strongest one was, of course, the superstar beyond the era, Michael Jordan. He hadn't met the duo from the Magic, but estimated Anfernee Hardaway wouldn't be inferior to Grant Hill, at least at a comparable level.
The top talents of this era enter the NBA and become All-Stars; by their second year, they start to show traces of their peak, and often the top three picks played three to four years of college.
In other words, the top talents of this era were already quite mature when entering the NBA. As long as they could adapt to the NBA, they might become among the NBA's top power as soon as they entered.
Moreover, Grant Hill just turned 23 in October. Players entering the NBA at 19 or 20, many are still selling their potential at 23 or 24.
Apart from Grant Hill, Pistons also had another star, Alan Houston.
"Alan Houston, 24 years old, 198 cm tall, weighing 93 kg, ability rating 83, offense 90, defense 73, three-pointers 90, mid-range shot 94, layups 81, speed 88, strength 87, jumping 92..."
Alan Houston's ability rating looked bizarre to Zhang Hao. Over the past two years, Alan Houston's 41% layup success rate left Zhang Hao unsure of how that was achieved. Without scoring under the basket, all of Alan Houston's shooting talent was unlocked; his three-pointer was top-notch, and his mid-range was nearly exceptional.
Besides these two, the Pistons had two other strong players, one being the former All-Star power forward Audie Soper, traded from the Blazers with the 19th pick on draft night, still boasting a 79 ability rating at the age of 33.
The other was former FMVP Joe Dumars, with a rating of 77.
Outside of these four, the highest ability rating among other Pistons players was only 71—Terry Mills, the former Brooklyn Nets power forward.
After seeing the ability ratings for all the Pistons players, Zhang Hao felt much more assured. Apart from Grant Hill, the others weren't as strong.
Compared to last season, the Pistons' upgrades were mainly due to the improvements of Grant Hill and Alan Houston and the introduction of Audie Soper—nothing else. Joe Dumars should have a significant decline year by year.
However, how much had Grant Hill improved compared to last season?
Last year, Zhang Hao didn't know Grant Hill's ability evaluation, only that it was enough for fans to vote him as the top All-Star.
He couldn't compare with the strongest one, but in other positions, their Brooklyn Nets wouldn't lose to the Pistons.
In the final preparations before the game, Randy Whitman emphasized the starting lineup's spatial strategy, and finally, Butch Baird shouted to the players, "Go on and crush those bastards, we're taking the victory back with us!"
