Chapter 2: Unbelievably Accurate!

Li Rui carefully analyzed his future prospects. With the 2K system, his future was undoubtedly promising. The key was to step onto the court—only by playing could he showcase his true abilities.

There were several reasons why his predecessor had seen so little playing time. First, head coach Phil Jackson was not fond of using rookies, placing more trust in veterans. Second, it was related to the previous player's performance during training. His skills during practice were poor, and over time, it was clear where his level truly stood.

From the Zen Master’s perspective, Li Rui’s predecessor had decent static talent but average footwork, an active defensive attitude, some organizational skills, and moderate shooting ability—a mediocre point guard. Knowing his own history well, Li Rui realized his predecessor was much like Sun Yue, who had struggled with the Lakers. The Zen Master held no bias against Chinese players; in fact, it was his idea to sign Sun Yue. However, if things continued as before, the predecessor was likely to be cut mid-season and return to the CBA.

Always worried about being cut, the previous player had been cautious and timid within the team. But Li Rui now understood that fate had granted him a tremendous advantage. He refused to settle for that. He wanted to play in the NBA. He wanted to stay on this grand stage.

So, he decided to start by training hard, hoping to catch the Zen Master’s attention and earn some trust.

Suddenly, small characters appeared before Li Rui’s eyes.

[Main Task: Score 5 points in a single game.]
[Reward: 2 free attribute points (below 70)]
[Accept?]

Li Rui muttered to himself, “Looks like besides training, completing tasks can also improve attributes.”

There was no time limit to complete the task. For someone with a current ability rating of 79, scoring 5 points was not difficult. The only challenge was getting playing time. But with such a long season ahead, Li Rui believed he would eventually get his chance.

There was no penalty for failure, so he said, “Accept!”

After accepting the task, Li Rui pondered the information he remembered about this Lakers season.

The 2006-07 season came after the breakup of the Lakers’ “OK Combination,” during Kobe Bryant’s era as the sole leader. Kobe had just emerged from his legal troubles and was fully focused on the game. However, his reputation was poor; major sponsors had dropped him, and the media scrutinized his every move with a magnifying glass, harshly criticizing him for the slightest misstep.

Kobe was desperate to prove himself on the court to silence his doubters. On January 22nd that year, he scored an astonishing 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, which somewhat improved his reputation.

Li Rui recalled that the Lakers finished the season with a 42-40 record, barely making the playoffs as the seventh seed in the Western Conference. But they were eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, 1-4. That summer, Kobe wore a Chicago Bulls jersey to pressure the team for reinforcements.

Jerry Buss stepped in to calm Kobe down, and the following season, they traded for Pau Gasol, instantly elevating the team to championship caliber and securing back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2010.

The current Lakers team had clear strengths and weaknesses.

Their strength lay in Kobe’s dominance. As one of the league’s top scorers, Kobe was the team’s sole bright spot, often saving games with his individual brilliance.

But their weaknesses were glaring:
- Lack of a reliable second scoring option; aside from Kobe, only Lamar Odom averaged double digits.
- Weak point guard position; Smush Parker struggled to shoulder the playmaking responsibilities.
- Insufficient interior depth, relying on the underperforming number one draft pick Kwame Brown, leading to poor defensive efficiency.
- A one-dimensional offense overly dependent on Kobe’s isolation plays, with loose team coordination and one of the lowest assist averages in the league.

Li Rui’s role was essentially the team’s fifteenth man, making it difficult to get any playing time.

However, tomorrow night presented a good opportunity for Li Rui to step onto the court. The Lakers would face the Houston Rockets. Many media outlets hyped the “China Derby” as a marketing gimmick. Given the Zen Master’s personality, he was likely to give Li Rui some minutes on the floor as a courtesy.

His presence on the court was a business move.

Li Rui knew the Lakers’ point guard position was weak, so he needed to seize this brief chance—otherwise, who knew when he would get another opportunity.

Thinking about his own player template—Thompson—and the fact that his position was point guard, he realized Thompson’s ball-handling skills weren’t all that reliable either, not much better than his predecessor’s. It was somewhat worrying.

...

“Bang!”
“Bang!”
“Bang!”

On the court, after completing three sets of ball-handling drills, Li Rui sat down to drink some water and rest.

“Finished warming up?” Assistant Coach Daniel put down the newspaper he had been reading.

Daniel Panagio, a white man aged 50, joined the Lakers’ coaching staff last year as an assistant to the Zen Master. He was also head coach of the Los Angeles Defenders in the NBA Development League and led the Lakers during the Summer League this year.

Li Rui was practically Daniel’s protégé.

“Yeah, what’s next?” Li Rui asked.

“Next, resistance band training,” Daniel replied.

“Okay!”

“Resistance band training” involved fixing one end of the band and tying the other to the arm. During dribbling, the player resisted the band’s pull to build strength and explosiveness, especially to maintain control under pressure when driving to the basket.

Soon, Li Rui recovered and began the training.

Ball-handling drills came in many forms:

- Alternating between high dribbles (around waist level) and low dribbles (close to the ground) at varying rhythms, while keeping his head up to observe the “defender” or imagined opponent—this was known as “high-low dribbling training.”
- Dribbling around cones using one or both hands, incorporating stops, direction changes, and behind-the-back moves—“single and double hand cone drills.”
- Other drills included “weighted ball or small ball training” and “two-hand coordination drills.”

Dribbling was the fundamental skill for any player. Although Li Rui’s ball-handling was mediocre compared to NBA point guards, he was still an NBA player with a solid foundation. The drills he was undertaking were advanced and challenging.

His goal today was to complete at least two full sets of ball-handling drills.

The training volume was moderate, but the intensity was high.

“Accelerate! Stop, shoot.”
“Swish!”
“Good job, keep this rhythm and speed.”
“Spin, resist, stop, shoot.”
“Swish!”

At three in the afternoon, the area around the Lakers’ training court was filled with the shouts of the Zen Master and assistant coaches directing players.

Daniel observed Li Rui with a sense of unfamiliarity.

Li Rui’s dribbling remained roughly the same, reaching only the standard of NBA interior players without much improvement. But his shooting after dribbling was extraordinarily accurate—not just good, but ridiculously precise.

He made shots after all kinds of intense moves: stops, changes of direction, heavy defensive pressure. For the first ten minutes, Daniel didn’t think much of it, but after four or five hours of such consistency, he was genuinely surprised.

It seemed Li Rui had also adjusted his shooting form somewhat.

As Li Rui trained, his confidence grew. The basket seemed much larger to him, and no matter how complex the preceding moves, he easily sank the shots.

Is this what it feels like to be a top-tier shooter?

Amazing!