The sideline chatter continued, while on the court, the one-on-one persisted.
It was still Curry who attacked first.
The assistant coach passed the ball to Curry, with Hansen stepping up to defend him immediately.
Seeing this, Curry changed direction and broke inside.
His first step was quick, and the stride was large.
After leading Hansen to one side with the breakthrough, he sharply pulled back in front of his body to the three-point line.
Of the six players trying out, Hansen was the only one with a record of facing Curry before.
Hansen knew very well where his defense weighed in.
However, just as he was about to shoot, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
Because Hansen hadn't been thrown off as he had anticipated!
This was unexpected for Curry, but luckily he remained cool-headed and went with a shooting fake move.
But Hansen still didn't fall for the feint!
And this particular fake directly caused Curry to come to a dead stop.
Since it was a set shot, Curry lacked the power to force the issue, so he had to resort to a turn-around step-through force shot.
But just as he took the shot, Hansen had already figured out the angle and reached out...
"Slap!"
He smacked the shot clear out of bounds!
The sound was crisp, and the conversation between Jordan and Bickerstaff came to an abrupt halt, as everyone on the sidelines turned their gaze uniformly to the court.
What just happened?
"He blocked Stephen," Larry Brown slowly stated.
From the moment Hansen kept up with Curry's first step, Brown's attention had been drawn over.
As a master of defense, he was less interested in offense, but defense was something he was very sensitive to.
Hansen's reaction speed was quick, and his lateral movement was fast, which was the potential of a good defender.
What surprised Brown even more was Hansen's subsequent reaction.
Curry's feints were very convincing, and he indeed posed a shooting threat, the kind you have to pressure, or he'd just take the shot.
While Hansen didn't bite on the feints, he also extended his arms, using his size advantage to block Curry's shooting angle.
From this, he could already tell that Hansen didn't just have the potential of an excellent defender; he was already a quality defensive player.
As for the block after the dead ball on Curry, that was just icing on the cake.
Brown spoke calmly, but it left others shocked, especially those like Bickerstaff who had witnessed Curry's performance.
Their gazes unconsciously shifted towards Hansen, this somewhat unfamiliar player from the secondary league.
"Perhaps, it was just luck?" Bickerstaff tentatively said.
Curry was the focus of today's tryout, and Dell Curry was standing right beside him, so face had to be given.
Brown simply smiled, offering no reply.
On the court, the possession changed hands.
After catching the ball, Hansen threatened from the three-point stance and also chose to break through on the right.
Curry's defense was also up close; he knew three-pointers were Hansen's main offensive move.
But his judgment was off once again.
Hansen didn't pull back but instead physically clashed and bulldozed through him with big strides into the paint, finishing with a two-handed dunk.
Rookie Curry's defense was clearly weak, especially in physical confrontations; at 84 kilograms, even against players in the same position, he was at an absolute disadvantage.
This was also why he let Henderson score 6 points during their one-on-one, even though Hansen only failed to score on one possession.
5 to 0.
Only after the sixth ball did Hansen miss, and the ball possession changed hands.
It was then that the people on the sidelines once again all looked towards the court.
According to Bickerstaff's report, Curry had an offensive rating of A+, but a defensive rating of B-; so Curry's weak defense was nothing new.
But how Hansen, with a defense rating of B, managed to hold off Curry with an A+ offense was what everyone was curious about.
Curry received the ball, and this time, he didn't rush the offense. Instead, he pulled off a triple-threat stance, swinging left and right before glancing at the basket, then changed direction to the left and accelerated for a breakthrough.
The left and right swings were to tempt Hansen into reaching for a steal, and looking at the basket was a shooting deception. Curry's offensive details were maxed out.
But Hansen just didn't bite.
Larry Brown touched his chin; he noted that Hansen was quite a looker himself.
Hansen was in his junior year, not even 21 yet, hardly an old rookie, but his defensive experience was very unusual.
Moreover, the rookie reports they had received did not highlight Hansen for his defense.
On the court, Curry had used up his three dribbles during the breakthrough and finally opted for a jump stop floater.
The jump stop was pretty, but still didn't completely shake off Hansen.
Under the defensive pressure from Hansen, he was forced to shoot early, and the ball hit the side of the rim and veered off.
Bickerstaff and the others could finally see clearly.
Curry couldn't have suddenly lost his scoring ability; the only explanation was that there had been a major error in assessing Hansen's defensive skills.
This wasn't impossible, after all, Hansen came from the minor league and the scouts hadn't truly scrutinized him carefully.
Moreover, with Henderson and Danny Green as benchmarks, Hansen's defensive abilities were even more apparent.
Bickerstaff took a pen and crossed out the B grade in Hansen's defensive evaluation, then wrote an A in its place.
However, just after he finished, he pondered for a moment and then added a "+" sign after the A.
11 to 3.
Hansen ultimately bested Curry and also ended Curry's four-game winning streak.
After that, he started his own string of consecutive wins.
11 to 9 against Henderson, 11 to 3 against Green, 11 to 5 against Brown, 11 to 0 against Seth Curry.
Then, 11 to 9 against Curry, 8 to 11 against Henderson.
Hansen's method of consecutive wins differed from Curry's; he relied more on defensive suppression of his opponents and then used enough offensive possessions to engage in a war of attrition.
Especially in the two one-on-one matches against Henderson, each had more than 30 rounds.
So, by the end, his stamina had clearly hit rock bottom.
But it was already enough to dazzle because Hansen had achieved six consecutive wins!
He was just a player from the minor league.
Jordan turned his head and said a few words to Bickerstaff.
Bickerstaff turned to look at Jordan with a look of astonishment, but seeing Jordan nod, he didn't have much else to say.
Hansen went off the court to rest, and afterward was not called back onto the court.
It seems that this part of his assessment had concluded.
Following the one-on-one, there were two-on-two and three-on-three exercises.
In these two parts, Curry's performance was most outstanding, shining brightly in team cooperation.
Hansen didn't perform as well as Curry and Henderson, but he was noticeably better than the other three.
The Bobcats didn't arrange for a full-court scrimmage, so after three-on-three, Hansen's first trial had officially ended.
Shortly after the trial concluded, Bickerstaff found him for a chat.
From discussing daily training to career planning, and then the city of Charlotte, what Hansen could sense between the lines was that the Bobcats had intentions for him.
This also meant that there was a chance for him to get the Bobcats' 40th draft pick.
60 and 40, these were two entirely different positions.
The former had a very slim chance of being signed, but the latter had a very high probability.
"There's one more thing," right then, Bickerstaff suddenly spoke up again, his gaze shifting toward the other side of the court.
Following his gaze, Hansen noticed Jordan had not left.
Not only had he not left, but at some point, he had changed into a training outfit and was shooting on the half-court.
Hansen watched for a while and felt it was a bit outrageous.
Because Jordan hadn't missed a single shot, and his movements were smooth and slick.
Apart from jumping a bit lower, he looked just like he did in the highlight reels.
"Right, what were you saying?" Hansen, after watching for a moment and coming back to reality, recalled that he was still in conversation with Bickerstaff.
"Michael said he'd like to play one-on-one with you."
"Who?" Hansen thought he had misheard.
Just then, over there, Jordan noticed they had finished talking and stopped what he was doing, waving them over.
Hansen then realized that Jordan was serious about challenging him to a one-on-one.
"You don't have to be so surprised, Michael occasionally plays with the team members," Bickerstaff explained while gesturing for him to come over.
Hearing this, an inkling emerged in Hansen's mind, recalling a rumor that the Bobcats were doing poorly and a 50-year-old Jordan was so upset that he whipped the entire Bobcats' backcourt.
Hansen walked over, and Jordan didn't say anything, simply signaling for Hansen to come on the court for a one-on-one.
The others in the gym were ready to leave, but seeing this scene, they all walked over as if by agreement.
Hansen was surprised by this; Jordan actually didn't clear the court. Wasn't he afraid of losing face if he lost?
"I have a question," Hansen didn't rush onto the court.
"Ask," Jordan gestured for Hansen to speak.
"Am I about to face Mr. Jordan, the owner of the Bobcats, or Michael Jordan, the retired basketball player?"
Bickerstaff was taken aback for a moment, realizing he should have warned Hansen of something earlier.
After hearing this, Jordan looked closely at Hansen and then started to laugh, "The basketball player."
"I have no further questions." Hansen said, quickly limbering up his joints before stepping onto the court.