One Year Left to Play-Chapter 365 - 112: I Never Said I’d Enter the Draft Next Year!
Even the top favorite for All-Star vote king, Hill, no one is comparing his strength with Anfernee Hardaway, only comparing talent and popularity.
In terms of strength and team achievement, this season, with O’Neal yet to return, Anfernee Hardaway has led the Magic to a 19-5 start, which is truly excellent. Today the Bulls lost, and the Magic’s record tied with the Bulls while lying down!
Thus, Sports Illustrated didn’t include the 1993 class of Anfernee Hardaway in the comparison options.
But even so, Zhang Hao being compared to Hill is a very intimidating situation—Grant Hill is almost the most successful rookie in the last decade, Rookie All-Star vote king! After his rookie season, he directly got a six-year, $34 million fat contract as a superstar rookie.
Is it the all-around cornerstone like Grant Hill, who seems to be able to do anything, or is it the versatile athletic shooter like Zhang Hao with clear specialties?
These two types of players were rarely discussed together before. Even with strong shooting skills like Reggie Miller, there were few discussions with Jordan, Anfernee Hardaway, the Big Bird’s shooting ability is widely praised, but the Big Bird’s label is not a shooter but rather a white player with mediocre physical qualities, comprehensive and skilled in various techniques...
But Zhang Hao is too outstanding. He certainly can’t lead a team to the playoffs like Grant Hill with a bunch of role players. If Zhang Hao and Grant Hill swapped, it would be very difficult for the Pistons to win.
But Grant Hill going to the Lakers might not necessarily do as well as Zhang Hao, and there would be a very obvious contention for ball possession.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean Grant Hill’s role in the team is inferior to Zhang Hao. Building a team around Grant Hill might be easier, but Zhang Hao can fit anywhere as long as his defense grows to a non-dragging level and his offensive growth is smoother, his role in a strong team would definitely not be weaker than an all-around core!
This viewpoint from Sports Illustrated was widely recognized by many fans.
The Lakers legends also showered praises on Zhang Hao after the game.
The Logo Man’s comment was most accurate: "Aix seems to be able to exploit any condition beneficial to him, and he is good at listening, loves learning, the improvement in his details during the game tonight was stunning."
Undoubtedly, tonight’s game saw Zhang Hao becoming famous like Grant Hill from last season!
Due to the huge attention brought by the Magician’s return game against Jordan, the viewership was already high, and more people were discussing it.
Even though online forums were not so convenient then, they turned lively, with Lakers fans mostly occupying them, discussing the topic "Zhang Hao or Hill" thrown by Sports Illustrated.
However, the hottest topic was still that controversial game-winning shot.
While the topic "Zhang Hao or Hill" was being hotly debated, the discussion about the game-winning shot simultaneously unfolded.
Initially, the discussion about this topic wasn’t as heated as Zhang Hao scoring 40+ against the Bulls.
Someone used a capturing tool to record the game footage, painstakingly took snapshots of Zhang Hao pushing at several moments, made it into a GIF, and posted it online. Where there are praises, there are criticisms, especially against Zhang Hao as a Chinese player.
This was considered one of the earliest online public opinion guidings, starting the heat from them, and the television news regarding Zhang Hao pushing incident also gained more attention. The media and fans criticizing had ample reasons—Zhang Hao did push, there were video and GIF evidence.
There’s always some who don’t realize that sports should be separated from politics, just wanting to take a dig at Zhang Hao anyway.
Nonetheless, whether praised or criticized, Zhang Hao became the most discussed player tonight!
Because he scored 40+, and ultimately threw in the game-winning shot, it’s a solid fact, so the more it’s hyped, the more people get to know about his performance!
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"Remaining lifespan 583 days, available lifespan 582 days..."
On December 17th, Zhang Hao woke up seeing the lifespan prompt, feeling refreshed!
After a night, Zhang Hao reviewed the game against the Bulls in training mode.
Combining with guidance from the legends to review the game felt entirely different.
Zhang Hao remembered what the legends said, pinpointed using legend guidance on those details in specific rounds, then reflected on his usual gameplay in those rounds... indeed very different!
In some aspects he excelled at, it might just be very detailed, even though most of the time there’s no difference in outcome, but there’s a big difference between probably doing well and hardly ever failing.
Sometimes, games are lost on one or two details.
"Experience is truly a valuable asset, no wonder so many players envy those playing in prestigious teams, especially in growth phases, those people benefit so much... eh? I’m part of a prestigious team too!"
Beyond this, Zhang Hao felt more deeply how strong the Bulls are.
Back-to-back second game, a team of mostly veterans, still so fierce.
Jordan played less than 33 minutes, scored 50 points...
The Lakers had the advantage of young stamina, a legendary team united in guidance, fierce opening offense from Magician’s return and solid defensive lineup in the third quarter to help main players ease consumption...
