novelThe NBA Season Continues 9
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Kobe Bryant was not happy to hear that, but he had to admit that Jake was right in what he was saying, the best teams in recent years had a very good Center or PF to make them a good team.
Even Michael Jordan's team that was different from all the teams because they had Michael Jordan and coach Phil Jackson knew how to make a team that worked very well with Scottie Pippen, but even that team had Dennis Rodman to catch the rebounds that were a PF and before there was Horace Grant who was a great player.
The Boston Celtics team in the past had Larry Bird, but it also had Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, the Los Angeles Lakers team in the past had Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Detroit Pistons team had Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer.
The Houston Rockets team that won recently also had Hakeem Olajuwon to help the team win, thinking about it Kobe Bryant had to admit that for the past 20 years Centers and PF have been instrumental in all the teams that have won major titles.
So it wasn't strange that Jake just thought the Los Angeles Lakers team had a chance to win this season because of Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe accepted that, but he still had some more difficult questions to ask Jake.
"And who do you think is currently the second most important player on our team?"
Hearing this, Jake understood that this was the question that Kobe Bryant wanted to ask from the beginning, once again he knew that being honest would not be the best for him, but Jake didn't want to lie just to remain Kobe's friend.
"I think that I am currently the second most important player on our team, because I can play 48 minutes in every game, because of the steals I make, because of assists too, points and rebounds are the least important."
"But to be quite honest, I think our team doesn't need me, if I didn't have it on the team we would still win most games this season and lose just 2 more games, our team just needs Shaquille O'Neal and more a skilled player to be a strong team."
"But our team needs three skilled players to have a chance to win the NBA title this season without having to sign any players."
Kobe Bryant was not surprised by this because he realized that even though Jake was modest and humble, Jake was very self-confident and knew his skills and the importance he had for the team.
"I already expected you to think you were better than me, so I'm not surprised by that, so if you think that, what do you think I can improve to be an even better player?"
Jake didn't expect Kobe Bryant to accept it so well that and Jake was better than him, but it seemed like he was more interested in how he could improve than to care what Jake really thought.
"I'll be honest again then, I think what you need to improve the most on is your defense, you need in the future to become the best defensive player on your team if you want to be the most important player."
"I don't know if you noticed, but Shaquille O'Neal is improving a lot in his defense, I think next season if he works hard he could be one of the best defensive players in the NBA."
"You are younger and you can certainly improve a lot more in this area, moreover, I think you need to learn to play more thinking about the team than about individual plays, I understood this as soon as I joined this team and that's why I have more than 10 assists in most games."
"Our team has good players, especially you, Shaquille O'Neal and me, so you don't have to force individual moves when you can pass the ball, of course when you have confidence you can make the individual move because I know you have the quality to do that."
"Another thing that you could improve on was to start trying more three-point shots and also improve your mid-range shot, you can't miss many attacks for our team to win."
"So above all, you have to understand that you need a team with good players to win, you alone can't even score more than 50 points in all games, so you have to be more friendly with your teammates and also know to play better as a team."
Kobe Bryant was really shocked to hear everything Jake said, he had already realized that Jake was sincere, but he didn't expect Jake to think he had so many flaws even when he was one of the most praised young players.
The problem was that all the criticisms that Jake had spoken were things that Jake was very skillful, Jake made few attacks in the game and knew very well how to play as a team, besides, Jake was currently the best defensive players of the Los Angeles Lakers team.
"I was sincere with you, Kobe, I really admire you very much and I like you, I wanted to be your friend and I respect you too, I only did that because you asked me and also I think you can be a much better player than Shaquille O'Neal or other great players in the future."
"I understand, Jake, I really felt that you were sincere with me in this conversation and you just said your opinion, of course, I would also like to remain your friend, what I like most is having sincere people at my side."
"What do you think we go to some court to play a little and relax after eating?"
"I think it's a great idea."
Jake suggested that Kobe go to his house which was nearby and had a professional court there, so they would not be disturbed by reporters and fans while they were playing, Kobe thought it was a good idea and it was better to play on a professional court.
Jake was very happy to have Kobe Bryant who was an idol for him at his home, even though they could talk naturally Jake would never forget what it was like to see Kobe Bryant playing at his peak in the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Kobe went to Jake's house and can't help but be surprised to see Jake's McLaren F1 and the huge house he owned, Kobe couldn't help criticizing Jake in his mind for spending so much money on a car and a mansion in his first year in the NBA.
Of course, Kobe couldn't have known that Jake actually had investments worth more than $ 1 billion, so Jake was spending his money because he had reserves and investments to spend his entire life with if necessary.
Even so, Kobe cannot deny that Jake's car and his house was really beautiful, the two went to the basketball court and Kobe was impressed again by seeing the pool, the athletics track and the professional court that Jake had at home.
Arriving on the court, Jake took Kobe to the locker room so that he and Kobe could change into more comfortable clothes for playing basketball, Kobe had already brought his sneakers and clothes from home and Jake had several Adidas uniforms and sneakers from his locker room.
Jake only wore Adidas shoes and clothes, which was the company that sponsored him, Jake had this ideal to respect more the companies that sponsored him, before he used most of the time sneakers and uniforms from Clara's company.
After that the two went to the court to start a one-on-one dispute in half-court, the game would be up to 11 points and each 2 point shot would be worth 1 point after a player scored 1 point he would have to give a ball for the other player to start attacking.
"We will not have shots from outside worth 3 points, otherwise I will have a lot of advantage, we will only go with plays worth 1 point."
Jake said that because it was true, he could hit a three-point shot from a distance of 35 feet, and Jake hit more than 70 percent of his shots from outside, so he would have an overwhelming advantage if shots from outside were worth 2 points, but Kobe Bryant didn't like it because he thought Jake was belittling him.
Jake realized that, but he didn't change his mind because he wanted to have a one-on-one played against his idol Kobe Bryant, Jake got the ball from Kobe and he was the one who would start attacking, Jake took the ball and started thinking about how he would make the first point.
Jake decided he would use his speed and after making a small feint he advanced with speed on the right, Kobe was not deceived by the feint, but he was slow to react and went to defend against Jake.
Jake moved quickly to the right and Kobe was unable to follow and so Jake tried to layup to make the first point of this dispute, Kobe knew that Jake was very fast and so he was not surprised that Jake did that.
Jake threw the ball for Kobe to make the next attack, Kobe received the ball and tried a feint too, Jake was not deceived and was concentrated waiting for Kobe to make the move, Kobe decided to make a speed move from the left.
But Jake can easily follow Kobe's attempted to move, so Kobe made a quick move that tricked Jake, so Kobe took the opportunity to crossover and move forward to make another point with a layup.
Jake was happy to see Kobe Bryant's skill move, he had a lot of agility stats and for that reason his speed of thought and reaction had increased a lot, which is why Jake defended so well and managed so many steals without ever making a mistake.
Even so Kobe could still deceive him and it made Jake more excited about this training, Jake didn't want to have shots from outside to not have many advantages and now he had to try harder.
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