“Vince, are you still able to handle the current team training?” Eric Turner asked with concern. Ever since Eric Turner asked Mark Allen and Bill Lambeau to increase the training load for these players, none of them have stopped complaining, especially the freshmen. They had never experienced such tough training in high school. At first, they thought all college teams trained like this, but after asking Duncan and the others, they realized that wasn’t the case at all. About a week into the increased training, Eric Turner started receiving complaints from many teachers at the school, saying that these players were sleeping in class and looked completely exhausted. This put a lot of pressure on Eric Turner.

“It’s alright. I’ve never trained with such intensity before,” Carter replied wearily. The past two weeks had been the most exhausting of his life. He had started playing basketball at a very young age, and whether in elementary or high school, he was always the standout player on the team. He always did better than others and made it look easy. In the past, it felt more like playing than working, and even then, he was the best. But now, he could clearly feel that he was tired—he realized for the first time that playing basketball could be this exhausting. His strong desire to win kept him from sleeping in class like Wally Szczerbiak and the others, and he didn’t complain about the tough training either. He even felt that his training was specially arranged by Eric Turner, making it even more intense and grueling than the others’. Still, he gritted his teeth and persevered. He hadn’t planned to come to this meeting today—he just wanted to shower and collapse into bed. He was really tired.

“Vince, do you have any complaints about me? You must have noticed that I’m tougher on you than on the others,” Eric Turner said with a smile.

Carter hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself. In the end, he said, “I did, at first. I didn’t understand why you made me work so hard on learning how to pass, or why you had Coach Bill constantly polish my ball-handling skills, or even had Coach Mark make me read those tactical guides that are even more boring than textbooks. I always thought I was a small forward, not a point guard. But now, I don’t have any complaints.”

“Why?” Eric Turner was immediately interested when he heard Carter say this. Could it be that Carter had figured out his intentions? He hadn’t said a word to the players about the team running the triangle offense.

“Because Tim and I have exactly the same training program. If he can do it so well, then so can I,” Carter said with unusual determination.

This time, it was Eric Turner’s turn to be stunned. He hadn’t expected that Carter’s motivation to train so hard without complaint came from being inspired by Duncan. The fact that Carter and Duncan had the same training program was also Eric Turner’s arrangement, but not to provoke Carter. Actually, it was intentional. According to the Dynasty System report, Carter needed to work on his shooting and offense. Through daily training, Eric Turner noticed that Duncan’s post moves were very skilled and varied, but his offensive rating was still only in the 70s. This was likely related to Duncan’s passing, ball-handling, and even playmaking abilities. In the triangle offense system, Duncan, as the core inside player, still needed strong playmaking and passing skills. Although Duncan wasn’t weak in this area, he wasn’t particularly outstanding either. So Eric Turner had both Duncan and Carter train with the same program. By accident, this became the key to motivating Carter. No wonder—Carter had always been the best on the team, but now, because of Duncan, he was being overshadowed, especially in passing and playmaking by a big man, which Carter found hard to accept.

“So, Vince, how do you see yourself?”

“What do you mean?” Carter asked, a bit puzzled.

“I mean, what kind of player do you think you’ll become in the future? I know a lot of people are already calling you a great dunker, but that’s not what I’m asking. Do you want to be a pure scorer, or the soul of a team? Let me put it simply: would you rather be a player like Stackhouse or like Grant Hill? I’m sure you’re familiar with both.”

“I don’t know,” Carter shook his head after thinking for a while. He wasn’t sure, since both of those players were out of his league for now. But some people were already saying he was like Stackhouse.

Eric Turner wasn’t surprised by Carter’s answer. Even the most talented high schooler with no college basketball experience couldn’t predict his own future.

“Vince, right now you’re like Stackhouse, but I hope you can become Grant Hill in the future.”

“Can I really become a player like Grant Hill?” Carter was still confused. He didn’t doubt his own talent—if it was just about scoring, he didn’t think he’d lose to Grant Hill. But Grant Hill’s all-around game was something he couldn’t match. Deep down, he leaned more toward being a player like Stackhouse—their builds were similar, and their playing styles had some similarities too.