Kayce, looking at the two in the living room, asked curiously, "Hey, Bro, when did this start?"
Holiday looked a bit embarrassed, but the white girl spoke up confidently:
"Lauren, it's nice to meet you, Kayce. But we're not officially dating yet."
Kayce suddenly realized who this girl was.
"I know you, Lauren. I've seen you with the soccer team. You're great at the game!"
Lauren shrugged, "Britney and I are actually quite close. She talks about you almost constantly."
Kayce was embarrassed by this. Fortunately, Holiday knew his brother's 'forest' was in trouble and quickly changed the subject.
"Kayce, Lauren and her friends want to throw a party this weekend. I think you can help."
Kayce quickly said, "No problem! I've been staying here lately, so feel free to use the house."
Lauren was immediately drawn to this topic.
"That would be wonderful, Kayce. Britney always said your house was huge, haha. I'm already looking forward to the weekend!"
Of course, a house in Beverly Hills would be big! Britney, that little girl, is really unreliable!
Twenty minutes later, Kayce said weakly to Holiday:
"Why do you need to find someone Britney knows to be your girlfriend?"
Holiday was a bit speechless: "I think you should treat Britney well. She's a good girl. Compared to Annie, she's more suitable for you!"
Britney was indeed a good girl. In Kayce's eyes, she was almost exactly like Britney Spears from his previous life.
Their looks were 80% similar, and she was even 178cm(5.8ft) tall.
If there was a flaw, it was that she was a bit bigger than an A-cup, which was indeed a bit of a 'wound'.
Kayce said helplessly, "Let's not talk about this. Are you really planning to enter the draft this year? I don't think the timing is very good."
Holiday: "I understand what you mean, but, I'm ready. Collison is back, and I have to play shooting guard, which is a bit uncomfortable, but I'll do my best!"
Darren Collison, UCLA's star point guard. Last year, when Kayce was a freshman, Westbrook was the junior carrying his bag.
Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. After an injury, Westbrook directly took over and put up impressive numbers, which is why he was drafted fourth overall by the Thunder.
In last year's NCAA games, Kayce also performed quite well.
It's just a pity that in the semifinals, they met a surging Derrick Rose. The opponent exploded in the second half, Westbrook got hot-headed, and after several missed shots, the game was lost.
Russell Westbrook in this world has better physical gifts, but his shooting touch is relatively poor.
Kayce once tried to help Westbrook solve his shooting problems, but unfortunately, talent is hard to change.
Seeing that it was almost time for training, Holiday busied himself, taking care of his personal hygiene.
On the way to the training gym, Holiday asked curiously:
"Kayce, why didn't you enter the NBA draft last year? Why wait until this year? The team lacks an inside presence this year, and our performance is hard to guarantee."
"Prejudice can sometimes be hard to change, but I think as long as I perform excellently for two consecutive years, my strength can make many people take me seriously."
Kayce said this out loud, but what he was thinking was:
"The B-grade functional drink needs time to strengthen the body. Unfortunately, the effect is too slow, otherwise I would have taken off last year!"
Upon arriving at the training gym, Kayce found Darren Collison already warming up. Head Coach Ben White hadn't arrived yet, so it seemed there was still some time to slack off.
Ben is a coach with very strict training requirements, especially regarding tactical execution, where he is even more rigorous!
Because Kayce entered a dream every night for targeted training, he would reduce basic exercises during the day, focusing more on strength training to fully tap into his physical potential.
Kayce was very satisfied with his physical condition. Although he couldn't compare to those talented 'unicorns'.
But as long as he kept drinking the enhanced beverage, he believed he would get stronger and stronger.
With balanced left and right hands, he could handle tight full-court pressure with both hands. His excellent core strength made his shooting increasingly stable!
Kayce's role model was Jordan. Through digitized specialized training after entering a dream.
He could better learn Jordan's technical movements, but there were some talents he was currently powerless to acquire.
The explosive first step, core body strength, better stamina, large hands, and the ability to read the game.
Kayce was lacking in all of these. His current self-assessment was: a severely bankrupt version of Jordan.
Kayce lacked game experience, after all, he had only played one season of NCAA. Last season, because of Luc Mbah a Moute, Kevin Love, and Westbrook, he played relatively easily.
This season, with the absence of the hefty Love for rebounds, he sometimes had to play power forward.
Last season, Kayce;s field goal percentage was 47.8%, and his three-point percentage was 39.3%.
This season probably wouldn't be as easy, as playing inside is truly exhausting.
Benson - role player, Petty - role player, are the team's big men. White players, neither are tall at 203cm, and their rebounding ability is far inferior to Love.
To go further this season, UCLA would have to rely on its perimeter players. If the perimeter players collectively go cold, they'll likely be out quickly. It's a single-elimination game, anything can happen!
The NCAA in this world is different from his previous life. Although it's also divided into four regions, the competition grouping is more like the UEFA Champions League in soccer. They even had a group drawing ceremony. Kayce strongly suspected there was some manipulation involved, as the schedules for popular players were never too difficult in the early stages.
The media also played the 'hometown hero' card, hyping up local players incredibly!
Kayce changed into his training vest and trained his free throw shooting for 10 minutes. Just then, Head Coach Ben arrived.
"Everyone come over. I'm glad to see you haven't relaxed. The knockout rounds start in about a week, so I hope everyone gets motivated and works hard."
Listening to Ben's pep talk, Kayce felt a bit helpless. This old man was really not good at saying these things; he might as well talk more about tactics.
After Ben finished speaking, the team's tactical training began.
Currently, the team actually has two point guards, Kayce is the only reliable forward, and the big men are purely role players. So, a lot of off-ball screens require everyone to cooperate properly.
After missing a few shots, Kayce moved off-ball, used a role player's screen, caught the ball at the three-point line, and shot a jump shot.
"Swish!" The ball went through the net cleanly.
On the defensive end, Kayce protected the defensive rebound, then drove the ball up-court directly, as if entering an unmanned zone, and slammed it down with one hand.
Another offensive-defensive transition. After a role player's screen, he received a pass from Holiday and shot a fadeaway jumper.
"Swish!" The mid-range shot went in.
Coach Ben saw Kayce's performance and started shouting at the players to pay attention to defense. Head Coach Ben looked at Kayce thoughtfully,
"Maybe our performance this year won't be too bad... It's all because of that damn grouping!"