Chapitre 142: Support & Defence
The two players that Shun was impressed the most were Lin Ming and Rafael Garcia.
One was efficient to the limit, he could take the information, and brilliantly make use of it.
Passing the ball and moving around the court in a way that would make his teammates' work easier.
The second player was a player that moved around the court with the sole intention of defense, a player so focused on defense that he would make players lose their cool and make them panic when he approached them.
He did everything, screens, ground defense, rebounds, blocks, and would chase the players from one side of the court to another if required.
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Shun looked at Ming moving around the court and moving the ball around.
Shun had seen his roommate play on the court in a way that he, as a point guard, didn't play.
From watching Ming play, Shun had learned a few important lessons about the role of the point guard.
The lessons that Shun learned had made him feel like his mindset about the playmaker position were to shallow.
Shun: 'Point Guard is the playmaker of the team. He is the one in control of the way the team would attack.
I thought that the point guard's job ended with him passing the ball to the next player, but oh boy, wasn't I was wrong.'
Seeing Ming play, had shown Shun that a point guard's role extended far beyond the first pass.
When Ming passed the ball, he didn't stop and moved to either screen a player, or moved to a place on the court where he would cause trouble for the defense.
He would also be ready to relay the ball once again if the player with the ball got stuck.
The position point guard also had the word guard in it and making sure that the attacking player on his team has an easier time at scoring.
After looking at Ming, Shun concluded this.
Shun: "A point guards work doesn't finish until the ball is in the basket or the possession of the other team."
But, that wasn't that made Ming a good player, it was his aptitude as a playmaker with his natural ability of Hawk-Eyes that provided him with a full-court vision.
With those things, he made his teammates as comfortable as possible. Ming had excellent communication skills and made sure that there was no communication gap between them.
And, Shun made sure to learn from his fellow Point Guard and copied him to obtain all his quirks and skills.
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Shun dribbled the ball to the just before the three-point arc and passed the ball to a free Rafael.
Ming, who was in the opposite team, was keeping track of the players with his Hawk-Eyes stopped in his tracks when he saw Shun moving around the court.
He chuckled and spoke.
Ming: "It's already my turn, huh. Well, he is a point guard, so he should know how to play as one."
Shun moved to the side of the court, where the traffic was heavy and made the defenders more occupied.
Rafael, who had the ball closed in on the basket and tried to score with a layup, but Ivan blocked the shot.
Shun was stunned for a second but then smiled.
Shun: "No one said this was going to be easy."
He kept an eye on the ball and ran towards the ball and caught it, and immediately threw the ball at the basket.
Shun: "A point guard's work doesn't finish after one pass."
And, the high jumper rose to the occasion and grabbed the ball mid-air and dunked it in an alley-oop.
Gilbert swung from the rim and then landed on his feet with a thump.
He turned to Shun and showed him a thumbs-up.
Gilbert: "That was a nice pass, Shrimpy!"
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Shun breathed in and out, Ming's copy wasn't physically taxing, and Shun could keep it up longer if he wanted.
The problem with Ming's copy was that it required to process a lot of information in a short period.
The common thing in players like Shun, Ming, Hanamiya, and Akashi was that all of them took in a lot of information and detail of what was happening on the court.
Shun had his perfect profiling, and he used it to power his steal play in the second half.
Akashi had the Emperor-Eyes that gave him the information about the body of the player, which he had to interpret to see the future.
Hanamiya could remember the game after seeing it once, and then he had his spider's web to work on.
And, same as them, Ming took in the positions of the players on the court to choose where he moved, who he passed, when he passed, who he screened, and other decisions.
The problem that Shun faced with Ming's copy was that he wasn't used to working with things that Ming took note of.
It was like maths, when you learn a new branch of maths, at the start, you're slow to solve the numerical and problems, and even if you have learned something with the same difficulty before, you still require practice to become fast and quick with the new formulas and calculation.
This was what Shun was going through with Ming, even though he had all the information with the help of the perfect profile, he was still not comfortable enough to apply them.
That was the reason why Shun felt overwhelmed information when he tried to copy Ming, and even though he could keep it up for around half a regular game, he would be mentally tired after that.
But, Shun was optimistic.
Shun: "I just need to get used to using the same details that Ming sees, after that, I don't even need to change anything in his copy before integrating it.
But for now, I have to deal with my head heating up."
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The next copy extremely difficult for Shun to practice.
When it came to stamina and persistence, Rafael Garcia, could without a doubt, outlast any other players in this whole summer camp.
The amount that Rafael ran on the court outstripped everyone. He was defending multiple players at the same time, then running for rebounds, free balls, setting up screens.
He was everywhere. Rafael Garcia was the ideal defensive player, and Shun was very interested in his style as if he wanted to compete against Teiko Middle School, he would have to very skilled defensively.
Rafael's playstyle was simply to make sure that if a player from the opposite team had the ball, he would make his time as hard as possible.
If a teammate near Rafael had the ball, then he would make sure that his teammate would move away from his defender.
He screened like an iron wall and made the other team hate him.
If he was near the basket for a rebound, then Rafael would try to get the rebound, and even he couldn't, then he would make sure that the other team would have the hardest time getting a hand on the ball.
He would chase you all around the court, and if you tried to run around to tire him, then the one who would burn out first wouldn't be Rafael.
The problem that Shun had with Rafael's style was the amount he ran around. Shun didn't have the stamina for his style/ Out of all playstyles, this was the most taxing on Shun's body.
And, this was more true when he was playing with top-level high-schoolers, who had much better physiques than Shun.
Rafael's style didn't let him stay idle, and Shun didn't have the stamina to be playing this style at the summer camp level.
So, it wasn't much practice because the taxation on Shun's body was too much, which was the reason he tried to just practice defense in a smaller area than Rafael.
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Shun was playing defense around the mid-range area.
He left the Dee to the taller and stronger players, the outside area was too much for Shun to traverse, so he restricted himself from the mid-range to the three-point arc.
Shun's primary mark was Bruno, but because he was protecting the whole mid-range, he was a little distant from him.
Shun was scanning the court with his court-vision and was ready to defend anywhere in his area.
He saw the ball go to Antony, but he didn't run to Antony.
Antony had his own defender, so he shifted to a place to restrict Antony's possible paths.
Antony, who was about to run for the basket halted, he saw Shun standing in the path that he was about to take the basket.
He smiled in frustration as he looked at Shun.
Antony: "He is getting better every day. Who is it going to be today?"
His path was cut, and Ming, who was his guard, had his shooting in a lock, so he had no option to pass the ball.
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Shun's job wasn't just to block the attackers, he was also supporting his team's offense with screens.
Shun dribbled the ball just inside the painted area, and when Roger came to him, he posted up.
Roger was ready for a post-play.
Roger: 'What is it going to be? Douglas's style or mine.'
The answer? None of the above.
Ivan cam running to near Shun and Roger, and Shun handed the ball to Ivan.
Roger saw the exchange and tried to follow Ivan, but got screened by Shun.
Roger: "Eh?"
The play was known as the handoff, the ball handler who had the ball would pass the ball to another player, and at the same time set a screen, to let the receiver of the pass go unhindered.
When Ivan cleared the area and Roger had already gotten around the screen, Shun also moved to an area where his team was weak in rebounding.
But, it was not necessary as Ivan successfully scored, Shun relaxed and fell back for defense.
On his way back, Rafael stopped in front of Shun and showed him a thumbs-up.
Shun smiled and said.
Shun: "Your style is really tough. I can only do this much, but one day I will do all of it."
Rafael nodded his head, and in a rare event, he spoke.
Rafael: "I am looking forward to that day. Work Hard."
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Shun, who had know went through all players but two.
Shun looked at the two remaining and spoke to himself.
Shun: "All there left is the Unbreakable Sheild and Unstoppable Spear."
The two Generation Of Miracles level players at the peak of their high school career, Shun wondered what would he be able to take from them.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
FictionOnlyReader
FictionOnlyReader I am seriously thinking of skipping Gilbert and Ivan.
I have no idea how to make Shun make a perfect copy of them.
I think I will just show them play and then directly move to the last day of the camp.
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Just like always,
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