Scott Collins was feeling quite helpless now. Back then, he had led a team of top American middle school basketball players to China for a friendly match, where he noticed Henry Bolton. He never expected that it would be Henry Bolton's skin color and nationality that would limit his growth.

Just as Scott Collins was feeling regretful for Henry Bolton, he received a phone call. He paused his guidance for the freshman rookies and went to answer it.

On the other side, Henry Bolton, who was training, felt it was unbelievable!

After every shot he took, it was as if someone was prompting him about which part of his movement wasn't standard enough, which muscle group wasn't exerting enough force, or which area couldn't freely generate power for the best shot... He could easily figure out exactly what he needed to do to improve his mid-range shooting!

Which movement needed to be strengthened, which part's lack of strength was preventing his shot from improving... it was as if he knew it all!

After practicing three sets of 150 mid-range shots, Henry Bolton went straight to the gym inside the arena to work on his latissimus dorsi and core. The previous shooting practice was just a warm-up.

Throughout the process, Henry Bolton tried hard to suppress his excitement and keep himself calm during training. Otherwise, it would be easy to get injured—especially when working with equipment, he needed to stay cool-headed. This was not the time to get hurt.

The coach's guidance was great, but after all, the coach isn't the player himself. Otherwise, anyone with a bad shot could just get a coach and be fine. Shooting isn't something that can be improved by teaching alone.

Scott Collins was very attentive in coaching Henry Bolton's shooting and believed that Henry Bolton's mid-range was already excellent. However, he still thought Henry Bolton needed to spend three or four years in college honing his fundamentals. The main reason was that Henry Bolton needed more training and more games to figure out for himself which aspects of his shot needed improvement—whether it was muscle groups or the details of force application.

Henry Bolton felt that, originally, it would probably take him at least two or three years to gradually train his shot to a professional level. He had previously improved his shooting by adjusting the details of his force application and strengthening his physical training. His mid-range in the NBA was also at a good level, but it wasn't always that way—it was built up step by step. Realizing which areas needed improvement often took a lot of time, and the rest of the time was just spent practicing, over and over.

But today, after just a short practice, Henry Bolton already knew which areas he needed to strengthen! Clearly, this was the effect of that growth card!

Previously, Henry Bolton had just tried it out to see how the growth card would work. Now he knew: through training in a specific skill, it let him realize which areas needed improvement, so he could then focus on targeted strengthening.

With this growth card, Henry Bolton could clearly feel what it meant to have "enhanced mid-range training comprehension"!

There was also another effect: "mid-range training muscle memory enhancement." Henry Bolton hadn't felt this one directly yet, since he'd only taken 150 shots, but there was no rush! There was still plenty of time—almost half a year until college started. He could take it slow, and if needed, he could go knocking on college doors one by one to ask for tryouts.

Even if you take a step back, being great at mid-range shooting would still be a huge help in playing in lower-level leagues or streetball games.

So, just keep training!

Meanwhile, after finishing his call, head coach Scott Collins saw that, even in such a difficult situation, Henry Bolton could still train calmly and steadily. He wasn't venting his emotions during strength training and was clearly aware of which muscle groups he was working on—obviously doing targeted training... Scott Collins felt even more regretful.

Back in the day, Scott Collins and his brother Doug Collins were both renowned basketball stars in high school and entered the NCAA together. In the end, his brother made it to the NBA, became an All-Star, and later even coached the legendary Michael Jordan as an NBA head coach. Scott Collins, on the other hand, had only average performance in the NCAA, and after graduating from college, stayed on as an assistant coach for the basketball team... Mainly, he just didn't have enough talent—he wasn't athletic, couldn't shoot, didn't have anything special.

Now, he, Scott Collins, had become a high school PE teacher and coach, and had developed a high schooler with a shot at the NBA, only to have him blocked by the college entry barrier...

Suddenly, Scott Collins remembered that during his chat with Pierce earlier, that talkative chubby kid mentioned that Henry Bolton was going to participate in the McDonald's All-American Dunk Contest, and after the McDonald's All-American, there was the Adidas Training Camp...

Thinking of the call from his brother just now, Scott Collins had a wild idea. Even he thought it was amazing and... absurd!

...

After an afternoon of training, Henry Bolton returned to his apartment and pulled out the invitation he had previously received for the McDonald's All-American Dunk Contest. Along with it, he also found the invitation for the Adidas Basketball Training Camp.

These two letters had arrived right after the California high school basketball league finals in January. At the time, he was busy sending resumes to major colleges and put this matter aside. When calls came to the apartment inviting him and Pierce, he turned them down. He happened to have just been rejected by several schools and was in no mood for it.

Looking at the two invitations, he had originally only planned to participate in the McDonald's Dunk Contest, but seeing the Adidas Training Camp... he checked the dates: one started on the 25th at the end of the month, and the other on May 10th next month.