Originally, he and the assistant coach had planned for Edward Thompson, a complete novice, to do a big set of adaptation training this afternoon, but unexpectedly, the training volume turned out to be too light.

While Edward Thompson was resting, Xavier Johnson quietly asked Henry Bibby whether they should continue. Henry Bibby replied in a low voice, “Keep going, train him until he can’t go on.”

Well, looks like there’s overtime again. Xavier Johnson didn’t complain and threw himself into the work with enthusiasm.

Having a player with good talent and a positive learning attitude is something any trainer would be delighted about—even overtime feels good.

By a little after 5 p.m., teammates had long since finished training and left the Memorial Coliseum one after another. Even the hardest-working White Mamba had left at 4:30.

Finally, another set of five fixed-point shooting drills—ten shots at each spot—was finished. Henry Bibby signaled to Xavier Johnson that he could stop.

In this set, Edward Thompson’s shooting power and stability finally couldn’t hold up anymore.

Xavier Johnson said, “Okay, Leo, today’s training is over. Go home tonight, take a bath, and get a good rest.”

Hearing this, Edward Thompson let out a breath he’d been holding and plopped down on the floor. “Finally done! That was a huge amount of special training!”

He thought this was a super-sized special training session that Henry Bibby had arranged just for him, so he gritted his teeth and kept going, not wanting to let Henry Bibby, who didn’t like him, look down on him.

Luckily, he’d kept up with fitness training and had NCAA-level basketball stamina; otherwise, he really wouldn’t have made it.

But even with his good stamina, this time he was truly exhausted.

Shooting practice is very different from his usual workouts, using a lot of muscle groups he rarely trains, making it especially tiring.

Xavier Johnson could tell that Edward Thompson misunderstood, but seeing the head coach’s gloating expression, he didn’t say anything. He quietly helped Edward Thompson massage his arms and neck and shoulder muscles.

Henry Bibby came over and asked, “This is the training load for our Trojans. So, what do you think? Want to run away?”

With that sarcastic tone, if he weren’t so tired—and if this guy weren’t the head coach—Edward Thompson would have jumped up and hit him!

It was clearly this middle-aged flirt who forced him to join in the first place, and now he’s acting like Edward Thompson begged to be here.

Edward Thompson replied disdainfully, “That’s it? If Xavier Johnson wasn’t tired, I could do it all over again.”

“Good. I’ve got a lot more training lined up for you. If this little bit scares you off, it’s no fun. Meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Latecomers are out.”

With that, Henry Bibby turned and left.

Xavier Johnson helped Edward Thompson massage his sore muscles a bit, then stood up, stretched, and said, “Leo, take a look at your training record. I’m heading out.”

He was exhausted too.

Edward Thompson thanked him, stood up to recover a bit, and walked over to the small blackboard at the edge of the court.

He remembered the middle-aged flirt had been standing here watching earlier, so it must have been him who kept the record.

A total of 23 sets, 50 shots per set, for a total of 1,150 shots. He hadn’t expected to shoot that many times!

But out of 1,150 shots, he made 529, a shooting percentage of only 46%.

If this were mid-range shots in a game, that would be phenomenal—there aren’t many NBA players with that kind of shooting percentage.

But this was just practice...

Playing for fun and playing near-professional basketball—there’s a huge gap!

He remembered a saying: Don’t use your hobby to challenge someone else’s livelihood.

Just as he was sighing, the system prompt appeared!

“Training mode: Team-arranged training.

Training content: Basic mid-range shooting skills.

Completion: Exceeded the training arranged by the coaching staff.

Training rating: Poor.

Congratulations, host, you have received a training reward: 50 achievement points.

Because the host’s training performance did not reach the passing standard, the physical therapy function cannot be used.”

Seeing his achievement points rise to 1,050, Edward Thompson was pleasantly surprised!

At the start of training, there was no triggered training task, which had made him a bit anxious.

But this training rating—way too real.

He figured if he hadn’t exceeded the training, he wouldn’t have even gotten 50 achievement points.

Also, what is the physical therapy function?

Just as he wondered, the system answered.

“Complete the training arranged by the coaching staff or the training tasks issued by the system, and if the rating reaches passing, you can spend achievement points for physical therapy to relieve fatigue and repair injuries caused by training. If the rating is perfect, physical therapy will be free.”

That’s a great feature!

But Edward Thompson was happy for a moment, then frustrated.

A perfect rating—when will he ever see that!

A 46% shooting percentage in training...

Keep working hard!

Today’s training felt very rewarding. At the very least, he realized just how much of a rookie he was.

But that also means he has a lot of room to improve!

……

August 28, 1999, the first gathering day of the new season for the USC Trojans men’s basketball team.

At 8:30 in the morning, Edward Thompson took the bus and arrived at the Memorial Coliseum half an hour early.