The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 34 The Arranged Beginning

"Aren’t you afraid I’ll learn it and then surpass you?" Hanson was quite surprised when he learned that Wade was going to teach him the Mysterious Step Breakthrough, after all, that was Wade’s signature move.

"Don’t be too confident." Unexpectedly, Wade threw a bucket of cold water on him with his response.

Then, when he actually started learning, he found Wade’s words to be very realistic.

With techniques, even though there are some core elements, the actual effectiveness depends on who’s using them.

Take the turnaround fadeaway shot, for example, Kobe was perhaps the closest to Jordan, but his threat level still fell short of Jordan’s.

Or take Olajuwon’s Illusion Step, which was openly taught, but no second person has been seen using it to dominate the League.

Wade’s Mysterious Steps, to put it plainly, are a variation of the European Step.

The biggest difference is that before the European Step, a deceptive little feint is added, leaving the defender unsure whether it’s going to be a regular step or a European Step.

The difficulty lies in making that deceptive little feint threatening enough that, after initiating, you can still transition into and execute the European Step.

This demands quite a bit from a player’s penetration threat and explosiveness.

Hanson learned it, but as of now, the effect is far from Wade’s.

"You’re better than I imagined." However, to everyone’s surprise, Wade actually praised him.

"Isn’t that sarcasm?"

"Of course not, your explosiveness might still be lacking a bit, but your ball control skills have improved."

This was probably related to Hanson’s previous hard work on dribbling and passing.

After finishing the private lessons with Wade, Hanson packed his bags and returned to Cleveland.

On the plane, he also logged into the Anti-Fans System to take a look.

He had been so busy training that he hadn’t checked it in a while.

And there was a surprise.

No, a shock.

In two months, his anti-fan points had actually increased by more than fifty thousand!

Unlike before, this time most of the anti-fan points came from domestic fans.

The reason? It was still the national team.

In the championship game of the Asian Championship, East University Men’s Basketball Team lost by a large margin to Persia, marking the first loss in the Asian Championship since 1975!

There are many reasons for the national team’s loss, the main one being Yao Ming’s absence; without Yao, nobody could contain Haddadi.

But domestic fans at the time didn’t think that way; in their minds, the East University Men’s Basketball Team was a world powerhouse, and should easily dominate Asia even without Yao.

Hanson’s absence became the perfect outlet for their frustration.

Would East University Men’s Basketball Team have lost if Hanson hadn’t refused to play for the country?

Hanson probably didn’t expect himself to be that important.

To be realistic, he also didn’t think that just by joining the national team they would definitely win, since he couldn’t match up against Haddadi either.

But the fans didn’t care about such details; they had already taken a dislike to him and didn’t mind blackening his name even more.

Especially since "Hanson" had long been on their blacklist.

But even if this black mark fell out of the sky, Hanson was still happy.

After all, that was a solid fifty thousand plus anti-fan points!

Hanson and Conningham were both asked to report to the team a day earlier, as they needed to go sort out their lockers in the dressing room.

When they met at the Quicken Loans Arena, Conningham was startled by Hanson.

Hanson had bulked up far too much since the last time they parted.

As a trainer, Hansen’s weight gain wasn’t just about gaining weight—it was more specifically about gaining muscle mass.

This time, the person leading their tour wasn’t Ferry but a staff member from the general manager’s office named David Griffin.

Guided by Griffin, Hansen entered the Cavaliers’ locker room for the first time.

Having lived in Miami and been to the Heat Team’s locker room before, Hansen always subconsciously compared the two.

This locker room—it was somewhat dated.

Yellow retro lockers, white background tiles, and stainless steel rods made Hansen feel like he was in a public bathhouse.

Upon entering, the first thing they saw was James’s nameplate.

James’s locker was located right by the entrance.

This made Hansen quite curious, as logically, the spot by the door was the least convenient because of the traffic, posing a greater problem for privacy.

"Usually, the four corners of the locker room are specially arranged—those two spots are quieter, while these two are more accessible for media interviews," Griffin explained attentively to Hansen and the others.

Looking where Griffin indicated, Hansen saw that the two spots inside were taken by Mo Williams and Ilgauskas, whereas the two by the entrance were for O’Neal and James.

It seemed that the NBA locker room layout was different from what he had imagined—the more cornered, the more prime the location.

Then, Hansen noticed that the lockers next to James and O’Neal were empty.

"This is your locker, this one used to belong to JJ Hickson, and that one belonged to Danell Jackson."

Jackson was the Cavaliers’ second-round pick last year, a power forward who had also played in the Summer League with Hansen this year.

Griffin’s intention was clear: the team generally placed the rookies next to the team veterans for mentorship.

As he spoke, Griffin took out nameplates for Hansen and Conningham, slotting them into the cubbies above the two lockers.

Conningham’s was next to O’Neal’s, and Hansen’s was next to James’s.

"Dante, let’s switch spots," said Hansen, reaching to take his nameplate down.

"Wait," Griffin stopped him, signaling with his eyes, "In the past, rookies couldn’t even hope for these spots."

"Am I required to stay here?" Hansen furrowed his brow.

"Not exactly," Griffin glanced at the paperwork that only requested for the pair to be placed at these positions.

But Hansen was specifically requested by James, a well-known fact within the Cavaliers.

"Then there’s no problem," Hansen said, already having taken down his nameplate.

Griffin seemed to want to say something more but ultimately held back.

After explaining a few more locker room protocols, he also left.

"Thanks, Dante," Hansen said after they had swapped nameplates.

"Thank me for what? Didn’t that guy just say this spot is coveted and others can’t even get it?" Conningham remarked, gesturing toward James’s nameplate.

Based on the words spoken by the black folks at the bar, and Hansen’s subsequent defenses invoking James, Conningham knew Hansen didn’t like James.

"Let’s go train."

Hansen settled himself down.

"Now?" Conningham asked in surprise.

Hansen nodded, already changing into his gear.

He hadn’t anticipated that upon arriving at the Cavaliers, he would be automatically labeled as James’s subordinate, even his locker "thoughtfully" arranged.

It seemed there weren’t many on the Cavaliers who weren’t "friends" with James.

Given this situation, he was bound to face even more of such arrangements.

He needed to become stronger quickly—strength was the only way to have a say.