Y13 [EN]: Chapter 167

00167 2011 Off-Season

Youngjae had mixed feelings about Korea. He wasn’t ashamed of being Korean, and his memories as a national athlete weren’t bad. However, he had been hurt by his parents, and he didn’t have many connections in Korea. At best, it was just the athletes he knew from his time as a national player. Even then, they weren’t really connected to him anymore. His childhood friends had also lost contact while struggling in the United States.

Click.

Youngjae got out of the SUV and took out his smartphone. Had it been about five minutes? Youngjae knew it would be rude to make Duffy wait any longer, so he quickly went inside and sat down in front of Duffy, who was drinking coffee.

“I haven’t really thought about nationality yet. I’ll think about it later, later. For now, I’ll just go with the flow.”

Duffy smiled gently and nodded at Youngjae’s words. He could fully understand Youngjae’s feelings. Even without any particular ties, nationality isn’t something that can be easily changed. It’s not easy to abandon one’s motherland unless one has suffered a great deal of pain. Countless sports stars around the world do their best as representatives of their home country, even if their home country is a weak one.

“Okay. Then we will accept the Korean Basketball Association’s request for the national team. When would they like you to join?”

“I need to rest first. When does the association want me to join?”

Youngjae had played more than 100 games this season. In addition, he played more than 27 minutes in each game, and he still hadn’t had enough rest due to numerous schedules after the championship. Yao Ming had also emphasized the importance of off-season rest and advised him to be careful of injuries caused by frequent national team appearances. In his past life, he had difficulty adjusting his condition in the NBA due to frequent national team appearances, and he had suffered from stamina and injury problems.

“They seem to want you to join as soon as possible. They’re probably trying to make up for the slump in basketball’s popularity and the recent poor performance in international competitions through you. They won’t consider Yoon’s position or situation. This is something that Yoon and I need to take care of. If Yoon hadn’t advanced to the finals, they would have asked him to join the East Asia Championships in June.”

As soon as Youngjae heard Duffy’s answer, he felt bitter. And they were still the same. The only difference was that he wasn’t in a position of weakness. There was no reason to be desperate for the national team like before. It was better to join according to his condition and schedule. If they tried to bully him or act high and mighty, they could just go their separate ways.

After all, they’re the ones who would be missing out.

“They’re not willing to accommodate me. Do you happen to have the Korean national team’s schedule?”

“Here it is. You should read it and decide. If it’s difficult to decide right away, you can contact me later. It’s not urgent anyway.”

Duffy handed over a document. The top had a simple schedule, and the bottom had a detailed explanation for each competition.

May 16th ~ June 5th: 1st Training

June 10th ~ June 15th: East Asia Championships (China) – Exhibition Tournament

July 1st ~ August 4th: 2nd Training

August 6th ~ August 14th: William Jones Cup (Taiwan) – Pre-Asian Basketball Championship Training

August 16th ~ September 12th: 3rd Training

September 15th ~: Asian Basketball Championship (China) – Olympic Qualification (1st place direct entry, 2nd-3rd place advance to final qualifying round)

“I’ll have to participate in the William Jones Cup. Then it seems like I can join the 2nd training appropriately. July 1st is impossible. I have to take care of the team schedule, as well as things I’ve been putting off first.”

Bill Duffy nodded as if Youngjae’s words were reasonable. As his player, he didn’t want him to suffer from the most important condition disorder by unreasonably following the national team schedule that he wasn’t interested in.

“That’s fine. According to my research, many players are missing from that training schedule. They say that it takes a few days before the full force is available due to various competitions and injuries. As you said, there are quite a few schedules that have been put off. First, I have to film about three commercials in Korea. When are you planning to return home?”

In reality, the Korean national team was always late to join, citing injury recovery as the reason, and college students or Sangmu [Korean Armed Forces sports team] players were late to join due to other competitions. Therefore, even if you joined quickly, you wouldn’t be able to train properly. In addition, he had selected three out of many advertising requests from Korean companies, and he needed time to do that.

“I’m thinking around July 17th. I have things to do until the end of this month, and I’m going to go to Casey Smith Training Coach to learn about the off-season training schedule and methods. If I learn this part properly, I can do it alone, so I can’t postpone it. After that, I plan to participate in the ESPY Awards event held in LA on the 17th and return home immediately.”

Duffy smiled and placed a thick document from his briefcase on the table.

“Okay. I’ll leave the schedule for future events in the United States here. It’s a detailed description of what we’ve been talking about for a while. And if you don’t have a place to train after the lockout, come to the company. The company has a gym affiliated with it. It’s for rookies, overseas players, and free agents in the off-season.”

The two then spent several tens of minutes discussing the detailed schedule for the future.

All the 2010-2011 NBA games were over, and most of the team events prepared by the Dallas Mavericks were over. Players who didn’t have anything special to do were still in Dallas, and they were all gathered at the American Airlines Center for the last time before taking a personal break, waiting for someone.

“…”

For some reason, the players were quietly talking and waiting in a calm atmosphere, not the lively atmosphere where they used to joke and share stories.

Clatter – clatter.

A black man with a serious expression, pulling a carrier. He was a middle-aged man who was already over 50 years old, but his solid body, which was well-suited to a black suit, was also a testament to his thorough self-management.

“Why is everyone so quiet? Is there something bad going on?”

Surprisingly, Dwane Casey greeted the players one by one with a bright smile, and the players greeted Dwane Casey with regret. After all, these jobs were business, and Casey was not being dismissed but promoted, so it was something to celebrate. However, it was a pity that such a good coach was leaving.

“Nowitzki, your age has become something you have to accept. You need to change your play to suit your age without overdoing it. Then you’re a superstar who can last long enough.”

“Kidd, I’ve always respected you while watching you. You’re still running around the court at a time when others are looking forward to retirement. I’ve learned a lot from watching you every moment, how great that challenging spirit is.”

Dwane Casey, who had been telling various heartfelt stories, stood tall in front of Youngjae at the end and laughed heartily.

“Yeah… this season. Thank you for making the most fun thing. Yoon, this season wouldn’t have had such a happy ending without you.”

Youngjae nodded with a slightly awkward expression at Dwane Casey’s words, and Casey Coach, who was now Casey coach, smiled contentedly and patted Youngjae on the shoulder.

“Finding his own way in the vague training of Derrick Armstrong. Even though he was a rookie, he appealed by showing off his skills as if protesting during the game to raise himself… Even though it’s a time when he can be a little arrogant, he calmly evaluates himself and wants to overcome his shortcomings with that quiet and tremendous passion. I really learned a lot. And I made up my mind. Let’s raise you properly.”

“Coach.”

Casey stopped patting for the first time with a regretful expression and grabbed Youngjae’s shoulder tightly.

“Now I’m the coach of another team, but for the past year. I tried to raise you properly. No, rather than trying, I wanted to grow and move forward together. How about it, do you think you’ve grown in the past year?”

Youngjae smiled and nodded at those words without hesitation.

“It was a great first year in the pros. Growth is a matter of course. Now, it will be even bigger. Next year, I’ll be up against the coach’s team, so that the coach will give me a futile smile.”

Casey Coach was satisfied with that, patted Youngjae’s shoulder for the last time, and walked away leisurely, pulling his carrier.

“Well, please take care of me in the future. Take some strength out when you’re with the Toronto Raptors! Haha!”

Dwane Casey, who was appointed as the coach of the Toronto Raptors, joked like that, and Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle stared at him blankly before saying firmly.

“I’m not going to let you off. First of all, congratulations. Is this your second coaching job? I hope you don’t fail this time like you did in Minnesota. Thank you for helping me in many ways for the past three years.”

Now the two were standing shoulder to shoulder as coaches, not coaches and coaches. The two felt like they were back five years ago. At that time, Casey was the coach of Minnesota and Carlisle was the coach of Indiana. Now they would meet each other again on the court and greet each other.

“Yeah, I had a good time too. I was satisfied with my life here, but what coach would refuse an offer to be an NBA coach? I’m going to go and start over based on my past experience. Then I’ll see you next season.”

June 25, 2011 Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey.

“The New Jersey Nets’ choice with the 27th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft is… JaJuan Johnson!”

David Stern called out the player who was selected as the 27th pick on TV. The Dallas Mavericks executives, who were watching the scene in the conference room, could only smack their lips as if they were disappointed.

“One option is gone.”

“After all, Harris and Farid, who were the best options, were nominated a long time ago, right? JaJuan Johnson isn’t even the best of our remaining options.”

As general manager Nelson made a slightly regretful sound, James White countered with a smile. In their plan, which was decided this morning through continued meetings after the last meeting, JaJuan Johnson was at the bottom of the options. Tobias Harris and Kenneth Faried, who were the top choices, had already been selected by Charlotte and Denver with the 19th and 22nd picks, respectively. Even if it wasn’t as fierce or urgent a fight as the lottery picks from 1 to 14, there was a sense of tension among the top teams with the lower picks in the first round, even if fans saw it as just an event to enjoy as it flowed.

“The next 28th pick is the Chicago Bulls. If it’s the Bulls, they’ll want to reinforce the guard position, so it has nothing to do with us. Usually, in the lower picks, it’s common to reinforce the lacking position rather than the best talent.”

Scout Dick Baker added and looked at the TV.

“The Chicago Bulls’ choice with the 28th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft is… Norris Cole!”

The staff in the conference room nodded at Norris Cole’s choice and showed no particular reaction.

“As expected. Then are we going to Plan C?”

James White looked at Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle as if it was the last time, and Rick Carlisle nodded as if there was no objection. Then Donnie Nelson picked up the phone and started contacting Mark Cuban, who was participating in the draft.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

★Thank you to those who pre-ordered, recommended, commented, and gave coupons!!

＠The national team-related information is the same as what we wrote in the epilogue (episode 74) based on the previous vote. We will participate as a Korean national team, but it will be conducted briefly. I have almost no intention of describing the game. This has already been confirmed based on the results of the vote in the past. When I see the news about the KBL [Korean Basketball League] game-fixing these days, I can only sigh. However, it’s a bit difficult to change what we said based on the vote in the past.

＠We know the incompetence of our association very well. I have no intention of greatly expanding that part. This novel is an NBA novel. It will probably be described mainly through interviews, articles, and conversations.

＠And I will never go to Munchkin. Of course, the moment Youngjae plays in the Asian Games, he will become a Munchkin in that competition. Asian and American basketball are almost at the level of high school and professional. I have no intention of promoting other Korean players in particular.

I will only re-comment on the comments that are insufficient in the epilogue. I think many of your comments will be sufficient as an epilogue. If there are any parts that are insufficient in the epilogue, please leave a comment again and we will re-comment.

SamPyeon-nim///National team competition… It’s not as popular as soccer. But compared to baseball or volleyball, it’s quite popular in the world. Of course, it’s not popular in Korea. I never said it was popular… I just said it went up because of Youngjae. I don’t know why the Munchkin story is coming out here. If I misunderstood, please explain the comment again.

死ぬ-nim///Lockout is a bit difficult. So I skipped it without explaining the terms separately. If you want to know more, search for ‘NBA lockout’ on Naver and the second blog (Overall background and key words of the 2011 NBA lockout) is well explained. This is such a vast amount that it seems too long to write as a comment. Even we have difficulty writing more than ten lines if we are asked to speak without data. The details are difficult.

@무념무상@nim/// As you said. American sports are greatly influenced by the media and the press. The number of games and the schedule are the same. It is based on capitalism and is intended to generate profits, so it cannot be helped.

Kingdom Brothers-nim/// There is a person who took the motif. It’s almost the same as the real person. It’s a person named ‘Jonathan Lim’. If you search on Naver, you’ll see that he’s a pretty famous person. He is actually a talented basketball player who is working as the head of the video coordinator team at NBA Portland. Five of the current NBA coaches are from video coordinators, so there is a good chance that Jonathan Lim will become an NBA coach in the future.

Eunseolya-nim, -DarkANGEL-nim, Brilliant Legacy-nim, Vanishing Soul-nim, Omarion-nim, CountOfDark-nim/// Thank you for your comments!! Have a great week~~