Chapter 47 - The New Tokiwadai (1/2)

Tokiwadai basketball club, first-string, had taken a new route to train under the orders of their coach.

Shun had now become an instrument to train against for the rest of the first-string. One by one, the members of the team would try to stop Shun in a one-on-one, or even a two-on-one.

The coach was using Shun as a defense training equipment for the team, and Shun was simultaneously improving his dribbling skills, the repeated matchups helped Shun to gain more experience.

The coach would try to make it more difficult for Shun by adding restrictions on his movements.

The matchup against Shun also started to help the team as Shun's goal of freeform dribble didn't allow him to stick to the same patterns, and he would consciously try not to repeat any movements.

The members were forced to improve in the constant state of competition. The members became less afraid of making contact. They would stick close to each of their matchup and make their movement difficult.

The members of the team also improved greatly.

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Aone trained with Otsubo for most of his time in the club. Otsubo was making Aone defend him. As Otsubo was taller and stronger than Aone, Aone learned to utilize his body better and gained more finesse.

Aone spent most of his time on defense training, he knew that the team didn't need offense, but needed defense as the team's average height had fallen.

The coach was also aware of this, and that was the reason why he had used Shun to train the team's defense.

Shun, Mibuchi, and Kaitani were all the offense Tokiwadai needed.

Aone was trying to re-invent himself by becoming a defensive player. He was not able to stop Nijimura in the finals, despite them being the same year.

Aone was single-mindedly training to be the corner-stone of the team's defense.

The coach had him train for rebounds as Mibuchi, Kaitani, and even Shun liked to shoot from away, and the rebounds would help the team immensely, and create a sense of confidence in the players to take shots without hesitation.

Aone was jumping as much as a volleyball player would jump in one of their practice sessions. Little by little, Aone's vertical reach was increasing with all the rebound training he was doing, and this also bought Aone closer and closer to being able to dunk.

-*-*-*-*-

Mibuchi Reo was a smart individual, he had a good basketball IQ, and that was what allowed him to have great progress in his shooting style.

Mibuchi chose shooting as his weapon of choice and built his entire craft around it.

Mibuchi felt that he needed another weapon to his arsenal to stand out from others. He headed to the one person that was able to give him correct advice every time he needed it.

Mibuchi: ”Coach, may I have a moment of your time?”

Coach turned towards Mibuchi and smiled.

Coach: ”Ah, captain. Tell me what I can do for you?”

If Mibuchi was not here for some serious advice, then he would have taken part in the banter with the coach.

Mibuchi: ”Coach, I need to further my shooting craft. Please tell me what should I do to improve my skills.”

The coach looked at Mibuchi and thought about the time Mibuchi had spent in the club.

Coach: 'Mibuchi is extremely smart. His twin shooting styles are a marvel to see at this level of basketball. All I have done is to coach him on standard shooting, but he was able to develop his style on his own. He is good at defending because of his height. No matter how I look at him, he is developing to be an excellent shooting guard.'

Coach opened his mouth to ask Mibuchi a question.

Coach: ”Mibuchi-kun, tell me what do you think that you should do to develop your playstyle. I want to know what you think before I tell you my opinion.”

Mibuchi: ”Coach, I want to add another shooting style to my playstyle, a trump card that can become a game-changer.”

Coach nodded and gave his opinion to Mibuchi.

Coach: ”Mibuchi-kun, I can't help you with developing a new style before you know what you want to do, it was the same with the two previous styles, you told me what you wanted to do, and then I guided you to accomplish your goals.”

Mibuchi nodded the Heaven and Earth shot were Mibuchi's brainchildren, but the coach had guided him with the training to give them practicality and refine the shots.

The coach continued.

Coach: ”Tell me, Mibuchi-kun, do you know about the types of shooters?”

Mibuchi shook his head as he didn't know that there were different types of shooters.

Coach: ”There are two types of shooters. One, the shooter who move to a free space and wait for the ball to come to them, and then make the shoot from a stationary position. You fall under this category.”

Mibuchi nodded at that. Generally, he would get away from his mark and then call for a pass.

Coach: ”The next type is the ones who don't wait for their teammates to feed them the ball. They shoot off the dribble, which means they take the ball, make space between their defenders, and then shoot.

Look at Kageyama-kun, he is that type of shooter, he uses his dribbling skills to make space and then shoots.”

Mibuchi had seen Kageyama shoot. When Kageyama went on offense, he didn't wait for the ball to be fed to him, he dribbled and made space between him and his mark.

Coach looked at Kageyama, who was dribbling one ball in each hand.

Coach: ”Both types of shooters have their advantages and disadvantages. The first type has a greater range and accuracy as they have more time to shoot, but they are dependent upon passes from their teammates to score. The second type has more control over positioning and can score on their own, but their range and accuracy are lower as they don't have much time to take the shot.

Don't take Kageyama as an example. He has greater accuracy and range than most shooters.”

Coach looked at Mibuchi and said.

Coach: ”I want you to become independent in scoring. There is nothing wrong with the first type of shooting, but shooting off the dribble is a versatile skill.”

[A/N - 1: Midorima is the first type of shooter.]

The coach left Mibuchi with a lot to think about.

The coach was overseeing Kaitani's progress, as he tried to pass-through Yuki's defense.

Coach: ”Kaitani-kun, you have the speed and agility, so use it properly, don't just try to drive past your defender.”

Kaitani did a jump stop, side-stepped, and cut past beside Yuki.

The coach looked at Yuki and yelled a piece of advice.