Y13 [EN]: Chapter 62

Y13- Episode 62 (62/296)

00062 2010-11 Regular Season =========================================================================

Unaware of the complex discussions about him within the Dallas Mavericks, Youngjae sat awkwardly at the uncomfortable gathering. November 27th was none other than the 31st birthday of his teammate, Brendan Haywood (C).

“Haha! A day like today is fine, right? It’s okay to have a few drinks!”

Perhaps because of their overwhelming 110-92 victory against the Miami Heat, the players attended Haywood’s birthday party with cheerful expressions. The Miami Heat boasted the ‘Big Three’: Dwyane Wade (SG), Chris Bosh (PF), and Lebron James (SF). While Wade and Bosh played their parts, Lebron’s abysmal shooting percentage of 5/19 made him the main culprit for Miami’s defeat.

The Miami Heat, with the previous year’s PER [Player Efficiency Rating, a measure of a player’s per-minute productivity] rankings of 1st (Lebron), 2nd (Wade), and 4th (Bosh), couldn’t properly execute team tactics and distribute possession, resulting in a simple ‘one for you, one for me’ approach. In contrast, Dallas showcased perfect team offense, with all five starters and Terry and Marion scoring in double digits, totaling seven players, leading to a flawless game. Youngjae’s performance, holding his own against his matchup, Dwyane Wade, and contributing on offense, helped Dallas continue their winning streak of five games after the loss to Chicago.

Thanks to this, Dallas was in a great position with a record of 13 wins and 3 losses, tied for 2nd place in the Western Conference. Despite their monstrous win rate of over 80%, the San Antonio Spurs led the conference with 14 wins and 2 losses, including a 12-game winning streak, and the LA Lakers were tied with Dallas at 13 wins and 3 losses.

Among the players invited to Haywood’s birthday party after the game, most of the married players or those with girlfriends gave their birthday presents with wry smiles, excusing themselves from staying long.

So, only Alexis Ajinca, Ian Mahinmi, DeShawn Stevenson, Shawn Marion, and Youngjae attended the birthday party. Haywood sat at the head of the table, drinking, and the club echoed with the repetitive thump of electronic music. Amidst the flashing lights, Youngjae didn’t touch his drink, just sipping on soda and spending an awkward time.

“I’m not much of a drinker, Haywood.”

But it seemed like whether Youngjae drank or not wasn’t a big deal. Haywood said he was going to shake his body on the stage, and Ajinca, a young player like Youngjae, also eagerly went out, saying such opportunities were rare. DeShawn Stevenson and Mahinmi, seemingly accustomed to this culture, clicked their tongues at Youngjae, put down their beer bottles, and went to the stage.

“Hey, you don’t look comfortable?”

Eventually left alone with Marion, Youngjae sipped his soda again at Marion’s worried tone and gave an awkward smile.

“I’m still a rookie, so coming to places like this makes me a bit uneasy.”

Marion gave a satisfied smile at Youngjae’s admirable answer and patted Youngjae’s back.

“You’re like a beast on the court, but you’re uncomfortable in a place like this! Haha! Is the frozen side of Y13 only visible in clubs?”

Youngjae didn’t bother answering and simply shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Still, you might meet someone special in a place like this, right? You’re not more interested in guys than girls, are you…”

“Ah— please. Chandler and Nowitzki said the same thing, and it was embarrassing.”

Marion said, “Really?” and walked leisurely to the stage, saying, ‘Don’t just stay here, go around a bit.’ Seeing everyone disappear, Youngjae sighed and released his frozen posture, tapping the table.

“Ha, I didn’t want to come if I could help it.”

Youngjae, who wasn’t frozen at all, was intentionally acting frozen to avoid being dragged back into this kind of situation. It didn’t make sense that Youngjae, who had been quite the player in his past life, would be awkward in this atmosphere. However, he was still a rookie in his debut year and was wary of getting involved in anything strange in such places.

In fact, on the way to the bathroom, a sexy white woman and a healthy, tanned black woman gestured to Youngjae, but Youngjae had to make a tremendous effort to suppress the Youngjae from his past life, who was bubbling inside.

In the end, Youngjae left the club without gaining anything. As he walked back to the dorm, Youngjae shook his head from side to side, shaking off the Youngjae from his past life who had almost resurfaced in the club. The Youngjae of the past, who had met and slept with many women, whose skillful techniques and ability to create a great atmosphere were the envy of many women. However, Youngjae had never found true love, neither in his past life nor in this one. Perhaps that’s why he was more cautious with women and felt a sense of emptiness that didn’t suit his age.

*Ding-*

[Youngjae! Are you free this Christmas? David and my cousin are asking me to check if you can meet them then.]

Receiving Meli’s message, Youngjae was able to shake off his restless feelings. It wasn’t an urgent problem right now, and he thought that his partner would appear someday. Youngjae sent a message saying, [Christmas sounds good? Since you’ve made it, you’re treating, right?]

“Good night, enjoy~”

Youngjae hummed “The Parting Glass” [a traditional Scottish song often sung as a farewell] as he returned to his dorm.

“Haa, haaa…”

Youngjae flopped backward from his seat, watching the dawn break. He had woken up at dawn to shoot hundreds of shots and tirelessly run to pick up the balls, leaving him completely exhausted. Although he knew that NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] and NBA were completely different, he had become complacent, focusing only on games after feeling like he was somewhat succeeding in the NBA. After experiencing a painful defeat in the game against Chicago, Youngjae began to whip himself again.

In the NBA, where tactics based on high activity levels were becoming mainstream, a lack of stamina and endurance could be a fatal flaw. Youngjae increased the proportion of his stamina training to overcome this weakness. Since he couldn’t handle as much training during the season as he did in the offseason, he focused on stamina training instead of technical training. Excessive training and physical changes (bulking up, cutting weight) during the season could be toxic.

After the game against Derrick Rose, Youngjae once again faced a great mountain in Dwyane Wade, and he could feel Wade’s nickname, Flash, to the bone.

Flash Dwyane Wade, with his unique black elasticity and well-developed muscles, rushed in at tremendous speed. Youngjae thought that he was as fast as anyone, but he had a hard time dealing with Wade’s strength and athleticism. However, Youngjae didn’t just sit still. He mobilized everything he could to block Dwyane Wade. His speed and excellent defensive sense, combined with the Dallas team defense, succeeded in stopping Wade to some extent. Youngjae was extremely grateful that Derrick Armstrong’s special training during the Summer League had become a habit.

“Today is a game against the Utah Jazz, huh.”

It was already the chilly weather of December. Dallas was located in the south, so the temperature rarely dropped below freezing in December. It was a region where it was difficult to see snow even in winter.

Youngjae barely raised his upper body and began to walk slowly on the treadmill. Even though he only did shooting and stamina training that wouldn’t be a burden on game day to avoid interfering with the game, the intensity was so high that he had to carefully do the final exercise and stretching to prevent muscle stiffness. And after finishing the stretching, he had the team masseuse relieve his muscles and fatigue. It was a schedule that was fully possible because it was an evening game today.

“Ugh… no matter how much I train…”

Youngjae, who had already played 18 games in Dallas, was much younger than he was in his past life, and he had prepared diligently in his own way, but he felt that his body was struggling from moment to moment. In his past life, Youngjae was a backup point guard for the San Antonio Spurs, playing about 10 minutes per game, 15 minutes at most, and sometimes not even playing at all. But now, Youngjae was a confident starter. He didn’t play more than 30 minutes like the other starters, but his average playing time was over 20 minutes, so his stamina was still lacking and his recovery was slower.

Moreover, due to the grueling schedule characteristic of American professional sports, having to take long flights or various means of transportation was quite a chore. Especially when playing back-to-back games [games played on consecutive days], he was out of breath. For example, he would play a game at home the day before and then have to go all the way to Atlanta in the East to play the next day. Therefore, most players tend to perform poorly in away back-to-back games due to fatigue.

“Deron Williams, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, Andrei Kirilenko…”

Youngjae walked on the treadmill and carefully reviewed the plays of the Utah Jazz’s key players on his smartphone. Deron Williams, one of the league’s best point guards, called CP3, Chris Paul’s greatest rival, Paul Millsap, a power forward who overcomes the disadvantages of undersize with various skills. And Al Jefferson, who is evaluated to have everything a big man needs in attack, even if his defense is weak. Andrei Kirilenko, famous by the nickname AK47, is an all-around player in offense and defense.

“Gordon Hayward.”

And the name of Gordon Hayward, his 2010 draft peer, caught his eye. Gordon Hayward, who was picked 9th overall in the first round, was recognized for his ability as the team’s future, and in fact, Youngjae in his past life had seen Gordon Hayward sign a maximum contract and grow into Utah’s main scorer. As a swingman whose main focus is jumpers rather than breakthroughs, his accurate shooting, regardless of 2-pointers or 3-pointers, is a masterpiece. But now, Gordon Hayward is just a rookie in his first year. It meant that he wasn’t the Gordon Hayward that Youngjae knew. In his first season, Hayward went back and forth between shooting guard and small forward depending on the team’s circumstances.

“Hoo-”

Youngjae, who invested more than 30 minutes in the final stretching and carefully loosened all the muscles in his body, took off his sweat-soaked jersey and headed to the shower room. As he looked at his body while taking a hot shower, Youngjae could clearly feel how different his past self was from his current self.

Instead of Youngjae, a 6-1 (186cm) short point guard with a skinny frame of 80kg, called a skeleton, a 6-5 (196cm) shooting guard with broad shoulders and slim but moderately attached lean muscles was proving his efforts. As his muscle mass increased, his weight also increased to 98kg, but he didn’t feel heavy or strained on his knees or ankles. Now, at least, he wouldn’t suffer from undersize (small and weak physical condition) in the same position.

Although it was a bit different from the sculpted body like models, the shyly rising lean muscles all over his body were exuding the scent of a man. Youngjae, who was so engrossed in his body and simply relieved his fatigue with a hot shower, spent the afternoon with meetings and team training to prepare for the game.

*Swoosh-*

Just before the start of the game, Energy Solutions Arena, the home stadium of the Utah Jazz, was filled with people. Youngjae, who was doing his final shooting check amidst the hot cheering, could feel that his shooting touch was good today. Just in case, he also checked the pull-up jumper, which involves dribbling and stepping up a few steps instead of spot-up, and it felt like almost all of them were going in.

“Your shooting touch is pretty good today?”

Dirk Nowitzki quietly approached and tapped Youngjae’s shoulder while he was practicing. Youngjae looked up at Nowitzki and simply nodded his head in response. Nowitzki nodded his head instead of answering, and as he watched Youngjae pick up the ball right away, Nowitzki also picked up the ball without saying a word. Nowitzki immediately handed the ball to Youngjae, who cleanly made a clean shot, and smiled contentedly as he watched the rookie, who didn’t seem like a first-year rookie, maintain his shooting touch and make another clean shot.

Another game against a rival team was about to begin.

============================ Afterword ============================

★Thank you to those who gave advance subscriptions, recommendations, comments, and coupons!!

＠In the United States, birthday parties are more common in clubs than I thought. So I briefly borrowed that episode.

＠The team project ended later than expected. I’m sorry for being late. Fortunately, the main story wasn’t late, but I’m sorry for the late afterword and recommendations.

＠At that time, San Antonio and LA Lakers were truly the two biggest mountains. San Antonio’s Big 3 was much younger, and LA Lakers had a strong Kobe-Gasol-Odom-Bynum. So much so that 29 teams shouted Beat LA… Miami was in its first year of the Big 3 combination, so it experienced many trials and errors and was in a disorganized state.

※PER: PER is a statistic that represents the productivity of a player after adding the positive achievements and subtracting the negative achievements, and then time-correcting them.

Unique MVP Candidate: 30.0

Strong MVP Candidate: 27.5

Weak MVP Candidate: 25.0

True All-Star: 22.5

All-Star on the Edge: 20.0

Stable Second Option: 18.0

Third Option: 16.5

Pretty Good Player: 15.0

Rotation Player: 13.0

Garbage Time Player: 11.0

Bench Warmer: 9.0

Next Stop is the D-League: 5.0

※Back-to-Back: This means playing games on two consecutive days. It’s the most difficult thing for players, and you can see that they’re struggling physically. In particular, away back-to-back games have terrible winning percentages.

60th Episode Comments

Feel~, 찬란한유산, 유민팜, -DarkANGEL-/// Thank you for your comments!!

론즈하트/// From the Clippers’ point of view, they are similar, but I think Golden State is relatively better. Griffin is more easily blocked by Draymond Green than I thought, and Paul and Redick should be able to control the Splash Brothers enough. Paul is injured, so if he matches up with Tony Allen… it looks difficult.

혼돈의주시자/// Even if you don’t recruit Chinese players, the popularity of the NBA in China is already enormous. This year, they sold the Chinese online broadcasting rights for 5 years and 500 million dollars. Korea only makes money when there are Korean players, but China is already a huge market even without Chinese players.

파이넨시아, 천상별리, 킹덤브라더스/// Thank you for your comments as always!!

zigichacha/// Hehe, it can’t be helped. Rose in this season is the MVP!!

misscherry/// Hehe, he has to keep growing.

야베스/// First of all, Pierce’s presence seems big. On the other hand, Horford is injured, and Millsap also has flu symptoms… Teague and Korver are not pushed by Wall and Beal, but Pierce is really great.

Ithilien/// Unlike the MVP, the Rookie of the Year award seems to have less of a strong team premium ㅠ.ㅠ

여신유리찬양, 오마리온/// Thank you for your comments!!

퓨로타/// As you said, defense and the power of superstars are the most important in short-term games. They already know each other’s strategies, and the players are running with the determination to die.

huhcafe/// Eekㅋㅋ Please save me. But I brought a consecutive chapter.

라피르and진트/// I wanted to write that article too, but next time!!

61st Episode Comments

abcd가나다라/// I should have specified the date ㅠ.ㅠ I wrote down the date after hearing what you said.

찬란한유산/// Thank you for your comments~~~

라피르and진트/// Hehe, Youngjae, who doesn’t have family in the US and feels lonely…

조창현/// Haha, thank you for the coupon!!

AdYang, misscherry, 파이넨시아/// Hehe, it was a surprise!!

여신유리찬양/// As you said, stars with such human touch are always loved.

huhcafe/// (Goosebumps)…

card1/// Thank you for the compliment ㅎㅎ

광환마룡, -DarkANGEL-, 오마리온, 콘실리에리, 현대인, 쿤다라, 호노루아/// Thank you for your comments!!