228: 106: The Feeling of Being a Farmer (Thanks to the generous 8200 reward from the prominent Badou Caichangqing!)_2 228: 106: The Feeling of Being a Farmer (Thanks to the generous 8200 reward from the prominent Badou Caichangqing!)_2 Cooper didn’t need to pretend anymore, he nodded toward Kobe warming up on the court: “That’s right, I’m here to see if that kid’s performance is as unstoppable as yours was in high school.”
“Who do you think will win?” Roger asked.
“I’m not sure, Kobe is great, but Jerry is the No.
Honestly though, Jerry was foolish to make such a fuss about this one-on-one.
Roger laughed: “He even wants to challenge me, how can he not be foolish?”
While they were chatting, Jerry Stackhouse, the media’s son of Philadelphia, showed up.
The place immediately erupted with flashes of cameras, and like a superstar, Stackhouse waved to everyone and signed autographs for fans.
Then, he ignored Kobe, who was warming up on the court, and walked directly to Roger.
The journalists’ cameras followed Stackhouse, focusing on Roger.
Seeing this, Michael Cooper quickly got up and left.
It didn’t matter if Roger recognized him, but he couldn’t be seen in the newspapers the next day.
Luckily, everyone’s attention was on Roger and Stackhouse; no one cared about a man whose face couldn’t be seen clearly.
Stackhouse walked up to Roger, who was sitting back with his legs crossed, giving no respect to the freshly drafted No.
“Since you’re here, after I beat Kobe, do you dare to take me on one-on-one in front of the reporters?” Stackhouse issued another challenge to Roger.
“I’d advise you to focus on my student, you won’t even win against him.” Roger tilted his chin up and pointed at Kobe.
“Please answer my question directly, stop avoiding it, Roger.”
“Sure, if you win against Kobe, I’ll take you on right here.”
The entire media went wild with excitement, they had stumbled upon some big news today!
Content with himself, Stackhouse left to prepare to take down Kobe.
By Roger’s side, Andrae couldn’t understand: “Is that guy’s brain not working?
Why is he insisting on embarrassing himself in public?”
Roger shrugged, in fact, this Jerry Stackhouse in history was already quite reserved; he was only making trouble for Roger alone.
In the original history, Stackhouse’s words were: “There’s no one in the league who can rival me, not even Michael Jordan can defend against me.”
Do those sound like the words of someone with a normal IQ?
Only Talent knows why he insists on humiliating himself.
In front of all the American media, Stackhouse approached Kobe: “Come on kid, you’re lucky, you get to face the strongest player of the era.”
Kobe wasn’t excited; he asked him calmly: “Aren’t you going to warm up?”
“Playing against you is my warm-up before facing Roger.
No matter what he taught you, today is the day your reputation will be ruined, kid.”
Great, Kobe was just suspicious at first, but now he was sure, this guy was a complete idiot.
If the best player in college was , then college basketball wasn’t worth playing.
The two agreed to play only five balls; Stackhouse didn’t want to waste more time on a high schooler.
Playing more was only going to turn into a 5-0, 10-0, or 21-0 difference anyway.
But for the upcoming game with Roger, he wanted to play 21 balls, to give the media something to see.
The game started, the journalists were intently watching the court.
Stackhouse casually let Kobe start with the ball, then immediately went to confront him, wanting to end the battle quickly.
However, during this time training with Roger, Kobe had gotten used to this level of confrontation.
He backed into Stackhouse, then suddenly started to the left, breaking through with force.
Stackhouse immediately caught up, only for Kobe to spin in the opposite direction the next second, creating space, and shooting right after the turn!
The crowd gasped, a turnaround jump shot, Roger’s signature move.
But now, it was replicated nearly 1-to-1 by this No.
33 high school player!
Jerry Stackhouse was a bit slow to react; this…
It’s over just like that?
His pressing defense was useless against Kobe?
But he’s just a high school senior!
After the shot, Kobe, with no expression on his face, stepped back behind the three-point line to get the ball: “Don’t rush, that was just warm-up.”
Clearly, the surrounding journalists were also surprised.
They didn’t expect that Kobe, a high school player, would score on the No.
3 pick so effortlessly.
Moreover, he had used Roger’s signature move.
Andrae wasn’t surprised by this.
During his time with Kobe, he found the kid was like a sponge, eager to soak up everything.
He would watch videos of all the star players, from Jordan to Olajuwon, from Roger to Barkley, anything he found useful, he would learn and then apply in his own games.
He was terrifyingly obsessed with basketball.
Of course, obsession alone wasn’t enough.
The most horrifying part was, the kid actually learned!
He was capable of incorporating the moves of those stars into his own arsenal, and that was the most terrifying demonstration of his Talent!
So, Andrae was feeling quite desperate now.
What the hell is it with high school players these days!
Are they even leaving any room for us ordinary players?
If Kobe Bryant skipped college to join the ’96 draft, Andrae didn’t even want to imagine how intense it would get.
The answer from Georgetown, Connecticut’s Ray Allen, the best big man in college basketball outside of Duncan, Marcus Camby, Kentucky’s versatile superstar Antoine Walker, Georgia Tech’s king of New York streetball, Stephon Marbury…