Finally getting another chance to live, finally getting to start over—what’s there to be afraid of? Of course I have to live this life to the fullest!

Join? Of course I’ll join.

For now, he just made a mental note of it. After Henry Bolton saw Pierce go off to coach the younger students, he found an empty half-court to practice his mid-range shots. He wanted to test out the effect of the “Growth Card.”

Henry Bolton had always thought his mid-range shot was outstanding, but when converted to NBA standards, it was only a decent 75! And that was just a solid, average level. You have to know, back in his senior year, he didn’t score mostly by cutting in for easy baskets, but by mid-range shooting. Since Pierce often played face-up in the post at close range, his ability to space the floor was crucial, and the mid-range shot was his strongest offensive weapon.

“So this is the qualitative gap between high school games and the NBA! I really wonder just how strong Garnett, LeBron, and Howard were in high school. Even geniuses like Kobe and Jermaine O’Neal were basically benchwarmers for at least a year when they first entered the NBA…”

Even though he had a 60 rating—the level of an NBA bench player—Henry Bolton didn’t feel smug at all. In his judgment, even if he really had a chance to get into the NBA right now, it was unlikely he’d make it. Compared to other bench players, he had no strengths! His skills weren’t that great to begin with, and he didn’t even have a single standout trait.

But, as luck would have it, a timely opportunity arrived! He’d found a bug in the golden finger. If he could get his mid-range ability up to 90, that should be pretty good, right?

Henry Bolton analyzed it: players with a 90-94 rating are top-tier, so if his mid-range shot reached 90, that would put him at an elite level! That can’t be bad!

Whether he made it smoothly into the NCAA or just played in a lower-level pro league, having a top-level mid-range shot would never be a bad thing.

As Henry Bolton began his mid-range training, a line of subtitles floated before his eyes…

“Growth Card: Mid-Range Jump Shot Specialist. Mid-range training muscle memory bonus activated. Mid-range training comprehension ability activated…”

He didn’t stop training just because the prompt appeared. Only by actually training could he find out whether this so-called muscle memory bonus was useful or not.

If there was any benefit to Henry Bolton being quiet and reserved during his nearly three years in America… it was that not many people bothered him. If there was a fight, Pierce would help out. Pierce’s father used to be in the business, and his two older brothers—one an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming, the other playing for the San Francisco Giants in Major League Baseball—weren’t as talented as Pierce in sports and were just doing okay, but with their father’s connections, they had a wide network. Pierce’s mom ran an apartment building. In America, no one dared cause trouble there. Even in these times, their family still had some clout.

So, during his nearly three years in America, Henry Bolton spent his time either studying or practicing basketball… The key was that he played pretty well in the state high school league, so he had a unique personal charm at school… but that wasn’t important. What mattered was his training, which was excellent. Coaches liked this type of player, so they put real effort into coaching Henry Bolton. Compared to college coaches, high school coaches really did it for the love of the game. Their job was as PE teachers, and since they didn’t get paid extra, they had to be given authority. America’s solid sports foundation is closely related to this. In college, high school, and even middle school sports clubs, the coach is king.

With the guidance of professional high school coaches, Henry Bolton’s shooting fundamentals were solid. The basketball foundation in America is probably equivalent to the table tennis foundation in China. A high school basketball team in America—especially a famous one like Inglewood High—could probably be compared to a city-level table tennis team or a slightly weaker provincial youth team in China. Of course, this is comparing the level of basketball and table tennis foundations within their respective sports.

You could say that at just 18 years old, Henry Bolton’s mid-range shot was already very good. Sure enough, the head coach of Inglewood High, Scott Collins, who was coaching the freshmen on basic skills on the next court, was very pleased with Henry Bolton’s mid-range training—talented and hardworking.

It’s just that Henry Bolton now had a clear understanding: his mid-range shot was only average by NBA standards, and he felt it was weak.

But head coach Scott Collins had always been satisfied with Henry Bolton’s mid-range game. In the California high school league, Henry Bolton’s mid-range shot was top-tier. If he played three or four years in college, honed his fundamentals, and with his athleticism, Scott Collins thought he had a shot at being picked in the late first round of the NBA draft and becoming a solid, ready-to-play player.

The problem was, Henry Bolton’s prospects for making a college basketball team were bleak. Scott Collins had pulled some strings, and only a few Division I schools were willing to offer Henry Bolton a partial basketball scholarship. As for a full basketball scholarship… well, a lot of NBA fans, when reading draft profiles, hear about some undrafted player getting a full scholarship and think it’s easy to get. In reality, those undrafted players might still be among the top 1,000 basketball players in the world.

No college was really willing to try giving a full basketball scholarship to a Chinese high schooler. Even though Henry Bolton had performed exceptionally well in high school, it wasn’t unheard of for a state Mr. Basketball to flop in college…