Daily Banter with Kobe!

Trainer Carver was responsible for boxing out, while Zhou Ze had to hold his rebounding position.

Carver's box-outs were incredibly aggressive. His thick arms and hips constantly shoved Zhou Ze around. Under such intense harassment, even if Zhou Ze could hold his position, it was difficult to plant his feet and generate power, leaving him barely able to jump.

In a 1v1 situation, Zhou Ze could grab the rebound, but in an actual game, he would easily be beaten to the boards by the opposing frontcourt.

After all, Zhou Ze's current physical tools were truly average: 206 cm barefoot, 114 kg, a 215 cm wingspan, and a 269 cm standing reach.

Zhou Ze needed to learn how to neutralize the interference from opponents boxing out so he could conserve enough strength to compete for rebounds.

He also needed to learn how to maintain his balance in the air and avoid tilting off balance after contact.

The rebounding training lasted a full two hours.

Besides the trainer's instruction and demonstrations, there were also rebounding battles between Zhou Ze, Kwame Brown, and Andrew Bynum.

At the moment, Zhou Ze had the weakest rebounding ability. He could not beat either of the other two in 1v1 rebounding contests.

He could not out-rebound even Kwame Brown, a bust of a first overall pick.

Yet Zhou Ze's rate of improvement surprised even Trainer Carver.

It seemed that with every rebounding matchup, Zhou Ze improved to some extent.

Meanwhile, Kobe, having finished his ball-handling drills, eagerly came over to ask Carver, "Coach Carver, how's Zhou doing? He isn't just going through the motions, is he?"

Kobe was still somewhat worried that this rookie, who only knew how to practice threes and dunks, would slack off when it came to rebounding.

Carver shook his head and smiled at Kobe. "Zhou has been training very seriously, and he's extremely talented."

"He's talented at rebounding?" Kobe asked in surprise.

Honestly, Kobe did not think Zhou Ze could become an elite rebounder. He only hoped Zhou Ze could reach the level of an average starting big man.

After all, Zhou Ze's rebounding would not even count as elite in the NCAA. How could he have talent for it?

"That's right."

"Maybe he had never seriously considered how to fight for rebounds before."

"But now, he's improving rapidly on the court."

Carver's eyes were fixed on Zhou Ze, who was engaged in the final round of a rebounding contest with Kwame Brown.

Zhou Ze was the one boxing out, which meant he was fighting for the offensive rebound.

Zhou Ze first feinted as if he were going to cut past Kwame Brown's right side. Once he baited Kwame Brown's defensive center of gravity over, he immediately spun quickly off the ball, squeezed through the loosely guarded left side, and shoved the off-balance Kwame Brown aside.

"Great box-out!" Approval flashed in Kobe's eyes.

But the next second, unfortunately, the rebound bounced to the other side.

Zhou Ze failed to react immediately, while Kwame Brown got there first.

"His rebounding instincts and nose for the ball still need a lot of work," Kobe said regretfully.

Basketball coach Carver merely smiled faintly and said nothing.

A nose for rebounds was a kind of talent. While training could improve it to some extent, the gains were limited. It was primarily an innate ability.

After the specialized rebounding training ended, Zhou Ze looked as though he had been pulled from the water, his training gear drenched in sweat.

Kwame Brown was in much the same state.

Andrew Bynum, on the other hand, looked quite relaxed. For one, his talent really was outstanding; for another, Bynum had not given the training his full effort.

Coach Carver had pointed it out several times during practice, but Bynum's responses had been rather perfunctory.

"Holy shit!"

"Seriously?"

"My rebounding attributes actually increased."

Defensive Rebound +2, raised to 72 (112).

Offensive Rebound +1, raised to 71 (101).

After noticing the changes on his character attribute panel, Zhou Ze stood stunned for several seconds before finally coming back to his senses.

"What a massive oversight—training can make me stronger too!"

It was only natural that training could make one stronger. Anyone could improve through training; the difference was merely in the extent of that improvement.

Furthermore, training effects for awareness-based attributes—such as rebounding and defense—and skill-based attributes—such as shooting and free throws—were far, far greater than those for athletic talent attributes, such as explosiveness, vertical leap, and jump speed.

Also, the greater the gap between one's current attributes and talent ceiling, the more pronounced the improvement after training.

It was like a test worth 100 points. Raising your score from 90 to 95 was naturally easier than going from 55 to 60.

Of course, the greatest result of this specialized rebounding training was not the improvement in his nose for rebounds, but his use of rebounding techniques.

In the training facility locker room, Zhou Ze and Kobe sat together shirtless after showering.

"Zhou, Coach Carver said you seemed very interested in rebounding. If I remember correctly, you used to refuse to train rebounds no matter what," Kobe teased with a half-joking tone.

"Kobe, if I remember correctly, you also said my cooking was terrible before. But after you finished eating, didn't you say it was delicious?" Zhou Ze shot back without backing down.

Kobe rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth, then turned to Zhou Ze. "Come to my house tomorrow to cook... dinner."

Zhou Ze tilted his head and glanced at Kobe, as if saying, "Are you trying to freeload off me again?"

Kobe kept a blank expression, but inwardly he was saying, You bastard rookie. If Vanessa didn't like your cooking, I wouldn't want to invite you at all.

"My cooking is very expensive..." Zhou Ze said in a faint, lingering tone.

"Oh, is that so? Then the next fine..." Kobe was in no rush; on the contrary, he looked utterly calm.

Zhou Ze was instantly speechless.

Zhou Ze had an extremely high basketball IQ, and his understanding of tactics and technique was absolutely elite, but he also had moments when he got carried away.

Once he got fired up, he simply could not hold back his elbows.

His current salary was not high, and his endorsement income was not much either, so he could only fleece Kobe.

"Kobe, being able to cook at your house is my honor!" Having thought it all through, Zhou Ze immediately changed his tune.

When everyone comes across ads such as "Are you a real person?", there is no need to pay attention to them. Just close them. Do not scan any codes or send text messages!