A one-armed player had appeared in the United States before.
He was a high schooler named Emanuel.
Though he had only one arm, he quickly became a sensation in high school through hard work and extraordinary basketball talent. He had even won the Slam Dunk Contest.
Later, he went to college and played in the NCAA.
But the NCAA was ultimately different from high school basketball.
He didn't play there for very long.
His average scoring was low, too.
Across all his NCAA games, his limitations were laid bare.
A typical example was when he stole the ball and pushed the fast break. Even if there was only one defender in front of him, with two arms he could have changed direction to either side, blown past the defender, and slammed it home.
But because of his physical limitation, he was stopped by a single defender again and again.
People had once hoped he could make it to the NBA, but in the end, reality got the better of him.
He never made it into the NBA. After graduating at the end of four years in the NCAA, all he could do was play in some amateur leagues, and before long, he faded from sight.
Now, seeing a one-armed player on an NBA court, the fans in attendance were naturally skeptical.
What could this guy, whom Wang Yi had praised so highly, actually do?
Zhang Chengcheng took the ball and began dribbling slowly.
As Wang Yi had instructed, he started with simple front-of-the-body and side-to-side crossover dribbles.
That way, once his body warmed up, he wouldn't feel as nervous.
Next, he began dribbling between his legs.
At first, he simply crossed the ball between his legs. Gradually, as his nerves settled and that familiar feeling returned, he dribbled between his