At 3 PM, at Compton High School's Allen Gymnasium basketball court, the match between Compton High School and Freedom Park College was about to begin.
The venue was packed with many spectators, nearly filling the thousands of seats, mostly students and parents from the school.
They all came for the same person—DeMar DeRozan.
They chanted DeRozan's name, holding banners in support of him.
Zhang Yang draped his arm over DeRozan's shoulder and said, "DeMar, I really envy you, you're so popular."
Standing next to them, Coalhead also felt envious, "Yeah, it's my first time seeing so many spectators at a reserve team game."
DeRozan shrugged off Zhang Yang's hand and went to the court to warm up with some shooting.
He was a bit excited, but he didn't say so.
The players from Compton High School were relaxed and full of anticipation for the upcoming game, eager to play.
Freedom Park College was a high school that only enrolled Black students, and one could attend after completing the 8th grade without needing test scores, tuition-free, symbolizing 'freedom.'
Though there were no admission restrictions, there was a limit on the number of students due to budget constraints. With funds sufficient only for so many, enrollment caps meant the school catered to fewer than 800 students across four grades. The school wasn't large, and the campus was quite run-down. If there had been other options, even Black parents would hesitate to send their children there.
In the eyes of Compton High School players, the opponents seemed weak.
Last season, Compton High School had impressive results in the first division league; the baseball team made the top eight, basketball third, and football won the championship.
Last season, Freedom Park College's basketball team hadn't even made it to the championship game in the Southern California league, meaning they didn't reach the top eight.
So, the players from Compton High School didn't consider their current opponents a threat at all.
But a few minutes after the game started, Freedom Park College began to thrash Compton High School!
Centering around Center Ron Rod and Guard Charles Cooper, Freedom Park College executed some excellent offensive plays, completely outmaneuvering the disorganized and undisciplined defenders from Compton High School.
Although Freedom Park College wasn't particularly strong defensively, their experience, team coordination, quick double-teaming, and proactive switch and help defense gave DeRozan and Tatum a hard time, facing at least two defenders each time they attacked.
It wasn't that they weren't passing the ball, but they had no chemistry with their teammates, allowing the opponents to easily cut off their passing lanes. Their outside shooter, James Keith, was rendered useless.
On the home team's bench, Burke shook his head and said, "John, you really are ruthless, signing us up for this league. The opposing players seeing a bunch of fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds on our side…and DeMar, the 14-year-old freshman, they must be furious. Look at them; they're like they want to tear our players into pieces."
Burke's words sounded like he was blaming Johnson, but his tone was gleefully malicious.
He wasn't here to help coach the game; he didn't get involved with coaching the freshmen or reserves, but he needed to attend the reserve games to observe the players' tactical performance and prepare for future tactical adjustments.
However, today he didn't need to be too attentive to his work, considering the training situation these past few days, the players were hard-pressed to execute any solid tactics; they still needed a lot of practice.
His work allowed for some slack, and he began teasing his colleague.
Johnson replied, "They don't even have the basic judgment of strength and weakness. It seems they attribute the varsity team's achievements to themselves; getting thrashed is justified—it's meant to teach them a lesson."
Burke: "It's really merciless. I still think we should let the junior team participate in the Greater Los Angeles League like last season. The strength of the first teams in those schools is about the same as our junior team, and it's more suitable for them to practice tactical coordination. The Southern California League is too difficult for the junior team, and Freedom Park College is only mid-level in the Southern California League. There are several schools stronger than them."
Johnson: "The Greater Los Angeles League is too easy for DeMar. Last season, Carmelo could single-handedly overwhelm the opponents. DeMar won't get any training playing there, let alone help him practice his tactical skills."
Burke: "DeMar is only in the 9th grade, he should be playing those easy games to adapt to the high school competition environment. There's no need to rush learning tactics, right, John? You're too aggressive, right, Tony?"
Thomas, unexpectedly dragged into the conversation, thought for a moment and answered, "The junior team's affairs are not my responsibility. I'm good at discovering talent, but training players isn't my job. I support whatever John wants to do. In fact, looking at the individual abilities, DeMar, Kevin, James, and Carmelo are no worse than the opposing starters, it's just that they lack game experience and don't play well together... and I understand why John is being so aggressive."
Burke: "Why?"
Johnson: "Del, you really have no sense of crisis. Haven't you noticed that our talent pipeline has gaps at the 10th and 11th grades? We have no outstanding talent in the 11th grade, and although the talents of Kevin, Carmelo, and James in the 10th grade are decent, they're not strong enough to carry the team. This season we have Aaron and Josh, but what are we going to do next season after they graduate?"
Burke: "So that's why you chose to enroll in the Southern California League, to help DeMar grow quickly, wanting him to take on a leading role as early as the 10th grade."
He understood, but he felt speechless. When he wanted to slack off at work and have a little fun chatting, how did the topic become so serious, making it seem like they were about to be unemployed?
But indeed, the pressure to recruit talents was huge, and most of the local talents still thought of leaving the city after middle school graduation. In recent years, they managed to keep some top talent, but most still chose to go to big cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco. Thomas, responsible for recruiting talent, was really stressed.
He wanted to say that being quiet for a year didn't mean they would be fired, but his two colleagues took basketball very seriously...
On the court, only half a quarter in, the score was already 14 to 6, with Compton High School only scoring 6 points.
It was Compton High School's turn to attack, Tatum drove in and passed the ball... too presumptive, the pass through traffic was intercepted by the opponent.
Freedom Park College countered, Charles Cooper lobbed the ball, and Ron Rod slammed in a two-point alley-oop!
16 to 6, Freedom Park College's lead reached 10 points, Compton High School called a timeout!
Rod landed and taunted DeRozan, "So you're the number one middle school player in Southern California? You're not that impressive!"
DeRozan clenched his fists and turned to walk to the bench.
He couldn't even bring himself to say "I am number one in California."
Johnson watched his players return to the bench and shook his head.
The psychological endurance was lacking, and they were too proud. The more unexpected the situation, the more desperate and worse they played.
In his view, if the players could stay calm, the points difference wouldn't be so drastic.
His view was the same as Thomas's: his 5 starters, based on individual abilities, were no inferior to the opposing starters; the only differences were in their tactical coordination and game experience.
DeRozan had talent and ability but was also immature and lacked the initiative to lead, having no awareness to direct his teammates. When encountering problems, his only strategy was to take the ball and go for it, but the current opponents were not ones DeRozan could overturn alone.
Not only that, the team's players on the sidelines were also intimidated. This was something Johnson had foreseen. The starting lineup of Tatum, DeRozan, Keith, Allen Kanter, and Miller, being the strongest 5 in the team, got crushed like this, dropping the confidence of the others to rock bottom… No, not everyone was, there was one player who seemed to have expected this situation from the start.
Johnson turned his attention to the expressionless exchange student.