Chapter 137 - Coachess Plan (1/2)

In the evening of Day-Two, Coach Albert Hamilton and Coach Sarah Snow sat down with Hattori Akira to see how Shun usually played back in Japan. [1]

Hattori loaded a CD into the player, and before playing it, he turned to Sarah and Albert and said.

Hattori: ”The game we are about to see is actually a recent game. It is at most a month old.”

Sarah and Albert nodded, and Sarah spoke.

Sarah: ”That is good news, which means we could get an accurate sense of Shun's level.”

Albert opened his mouth and asked.

Albert: ”Before we watch the video, tell me about Shun, what do you know about him?”

Hattori took a moment to collect his thoughts and started.

Hattori: ”Kageyama Shun studies and plays for Tokiwadai Middle School based in Tokyo. He is a second-year student and plays as the Point Guard for the team.”

He paused for a moment and added.

Hattori: ”Actually, in his first year, he played as the small forward.”

Hattori looked at both to see if they were with him, both of them nodded, so he continued. He chuckled while saying.

Hattori: ”Around the start of this year, he was dubbed as the King Of The Court by a leading youth sports magazine. He scored seventy-seven points in his first-year National finals, and has scored one hundred points in a game.”

Albert and Sarah's brows raised hearing that.

Albert: ”That is high praise for a player, but with such numbers would certainly back up that title.”

Sarah looked at Hattori and asked.

Sarah: ”Tell me about Shun's playstyle.”

Hattori: ”He is an all-round player that excels in every part of the court. I can't specify a single field for him.

Though in the video we are about to see, I would say that he didn't play as support and went all-out on the active attack.”

Albert nodded and asked.

Albert: ”So, what game is this?”

Hattori replied to the question.

Hattori: ”It is the Tokyo Preliminary Finals, you could say, that this game would be equivalent to the state championship here in America.”

Sarah furrowed her brows and asked.

Sarah: ”What about a game from the National championship?”

Hattori shook his head and said.

Hattori: ”We still haven't gotten to this year's National, but you don't have to worry, this game could as well be the National Finals, and no one would complain.”

Albert questioned that statement.

Albert: ”What do you mean?”

Hattori looked at Shun and said.

Hattori: ”Even though Shun has been called King Of The Court, he didn't win the last year's Nationals, and this year his team isn't even going to the Nationals.

And, both times, the same team has stopped Shun from proceeding forward.”

Albert and Sarah felt shocked by hearing that. Shun had made it to this camp at the age of thirteen, and they too were satisfied with Shun and thought that he deserved to be there.

Sarah asked the question that Hattori was expecting.

Sarah: ”What kind of team are they?”

Hattori immediately answered the question.

Hattori: ”Teiko Middle School, one of the two behemoths of Tokyo and last year's National champions, and the team that is called the Generation Of Miracles.”

Sarah wanted to ask about Teiko, but Hattori raised his hand and said.

Hattori: ”Watch the game, and you would understand all you need to know.”

Hattori picked up the remote and played the game video, Albert and Sarah immediately became focused on the screen.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

After watching the game, Albert and Sarah remained silent for a while and remained lost in their thoughts.

Hattori didn't say anything and waited for the coaches to speak first. He had watched the game, so he understood what they were thinking.

Even today, he enjoyed the game as much as he did when he saw it the first time.

Albert took a deep breath, and the first thing that came out his mouth was.

Albert: ”Generation Of Miracles, was it? To think that players of that caliber would gather on the same team, and all of them are the same as Shun.”

Sarah: ”Everyone single one of them was unique in their own way, and all of them knew what field they wanted to play. Even the weakest of them, the blonde-haired player, he was a great player.”

Hattori added a piece of information about Kise Ryouta.

Hattori: ”His name is Kise Ryouta, and from what I have heard, he has only started playing basketball from this year.”

Albert and Sarah were once again shocked hearing that and had to raise Kise's impression in their mind.

Albert stroked his chin and said.

Albert: ”Let's get to the main point. What we just saw was simply ridiculous. I can't believe Shun could play like that.”

Sarah nodded and said.

Sarah: ”So, our suspicions about him were correct, weren't they?”

Albert hummed in response in response and said.

Albert: ”Shun is trying to copy the players in the camp. We just saw the proof in the video.”

Albert stared at the TV screen and begun.