Currently, the achievement badges provide Kayce with excellent boosts; as long as he isn't facing a superstar player, bronze badges are generally sufficient.
Of course, when matched against a seasoned and physically strong superstar like Kobe, they are essentially useless.
Even with the boost, Kobe can still defend you to the point where you can't score, and then completely dominate you on offense; Kayce estimates that he might be able to compete once he grinds out a full set of purple badges.
"I wonder who the real cheater is; superstars are truly terrifying," Kayce thought to himself as he reached out and lightly touched the upgraded silver badge.
Achievement Badge [Defensive Expert]: 5/500
This player is skilled at harassing their opponent on defense, with a certain chance to increase the accuracy of their steals.
Kayce looked at the upgraded badge before him and couldn't help but ponder; he had previously thought it would be a ball-handling badge that upgraded, but unexpectedly, a defensive one improved first.
"Is this telling me to develop into a two-way player? But thinking about it, it's not bad; after all, the boss should indeed lead by example on the defensive end."
Kayce then lightly touched the newly generated bronze achievement badge next to it, checking its attributes again:
Achievement Badge [Transition Master]: 7/50
Increases overall speed when dribbling the ball during a transition from defense to offense.
Seeing the new badge's attributes, Kayce immediately grew excited; speed is always better faster, and even a slight increase is a huge gain.
"I still need to play against strong teams. If I can make the Playoffs this year, I'll definitely gain a lot of badge experience."
After Kayce completed his routine training in the Dream Training Space, he went to the cafeteria as usual, but when ordering a functional drink, he immediately discovered that the B+ level new drink had been unlocked.
"Finally, I've finished the B-level functional drinks. Let's try the new drink's taste first!"
When he saw the dark green drink before him, Kayce's mouth twitched, but in order to improve his physical attributes, he went up and chugged it down in one gulp.
"Ugh."
Kayce successfully gagged himself awake. Seeing the familiar morning time, he quickly grabbed the water glass by his bed and drank large gulps.
"I'm going to die! What kind of mixed flavor is this? Is this something a human can drink?" Kayce complained while feeling his body.
When the familiar sensation of warmth slowly reappeared in his body, Kayce's face immediately lit up with a smile.
"It seems my physical attributes can still be strengthened. The B+ functional drink is truly amazing!"
The next day, when the team trained as usual, Russell found Kayce in the gym early.
"Hey, Bro, you're too early. How long have you been training?" Russell asked curiously, seeing Kayce drenched in sweat.
"Just half an hour earlier than you. I need to adjust some training plans recently; Tony has added a lot of strength training for me!"
Kayce put down the dumbbell and wiped his sweat as he spoke to Russell.
"Be careful that too much strength training doesn't decrease your shooting touch. I trained for a long time to find this balance."
Russell's strength training has never stopped; Bang Bang's brick-laying in his rookie season is the best proof.
"Don't worry, Tony and their training plans are professional and definitely won't affect my game performance."
Kayce's biggest goal in increasing strength training was to unlock the full potential of the B+ functional drink. This substance could only be fully absorbed by the body through continuous training.
"That's good. Kevin is waiting for you at Training Gym No. 1. That guy is always glued to his phone; he really should lift more weights!"
Russell always believed that real men should lift heavy iron, and Durant focused too much on shooting and skill training.
"Don't worry, he also has his own trainer. What suits him best is what's best. I'll go over now!"
Kayce patted Russell's chest. Durant has been on fire lately, with his burner accounts going wild!
Since they were playing an away game in Houston on the 6th, the team would have a brief training camp these two days, mainly focusing on tactical coordination, with most of the time left for players to manage themselves.
"Kayce, let's go out and have some fun tonight. It's on me, to celebrate my Twitter followers surpassing 500,000!"
Durant greeted Kayce as soon as he saw him, clearly in a very good mood.
"No problem, it's a good chance to get familiar with Oklahoma City's nightlife. Let's party until dawn tonight!"
Kayce raised both hands in agreement, stating that proper relaxation can improve one's skills. The life of an NBA player is just that simple and unpretentious!
On the 5th, the entire Thunder team boarded a plane to Houston. They were scheduled to challenge the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
On the plane, everyone started playing cards out of boredom, chatting and joking around.
"Kayce, do you know Yao? He's a big star in Houston!" Jeff Green chatted while drawing cards.
"Of course I know Yao Ming, but he probably doesn't know me, after all, we're not very familiar!" Kayce said weakly, looking at the bad hand of cards he held.
"That's true. You've been in Los Angeles since high school, and I feel like you're a bit different from your compatriots."
Durant also started to frown as he looked at the cards in his hand.
"I'm just more outgoing, that's all. Should we just call it quits this round? I'll admit defeat, okay?" Kayce was speechless about his card luck.
"No way!! We have to finish this round!"
The teammates watching the fun chimed in in unison. They might not be good at basketball, but when it came to cards, Kayce was trash.
"F***! You guys are just devils!"
The Houston Rockets regrettably lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals last year, and Yao Ming also got injured during the game, essentially ending his season.
Coupled with Artest's departure, this Rockets team is basically left with a bunch of role players, without any superstars.
Of course, if one absolutely insists on considering Trevor Ariza a star player, Kayce has nothing to say, as that's precisely what the Rockets think.
They are clearly role players, yet they are being forced into a position to be developed as potential stars, an operation not often seen in the league.
Before the game, Yao Ming treated Kayce to an authentic Chinese meal. The two chatted pleasantly, mostly about life in America. Yao Ming was also quite surprised because Kayce was very familiar with China.
As for the national team or anything like that, the two didn't discuss it at all. Kayce currently has no thoughts on it; now is a period of low-key development, and grinding badge experience is the most important thing.
On the 6th, the atmosphere at the Toyota Center was good. Although there were some empty seats in the stands, it was very likely that tickets were bought but people hadn't arrived yet, as traffic here is quite bad.
The live DJ started yelling excitedly. When Ariza was introduced, the audience gave him enthusiastic cheers.
Seeing this, Kayce's expression became a bit strange, and he thought to himself:
"Is Ariza really this popular now? The Rockets here are all collectively blind."
During the final warm-up before the game, Durant shot baskets while coming over to Kayce, whispering:
"Wanna make a bet? I bet Ariza won't score more than 20 points today. Russell and the others are betting 25 points!"
"I bet he won't score more than 15 points today. If I win, I don't want money, just don't bring me to play cards next time!"
Kayce casually shot a basket, immediately stating his terms.
"Haha, on behalf of everyone, I accept your bet. Do you want to guard him today?"
Durant almost burst out laughing when he heard the terms, because Kayce's card luck was so bad that everyone loved to have him play cards with them.
"Of course, I'll give it my all, you guys just watch!"
Kayce's internal thought was that since the [Defensive Expert] badge had just upgraded, he absolutely had to find a tool player to test its effectiveness, and Ariza was the most suitable candidate.
"Brick Ariza, don't blame me for being too ruthless; being a role player is your destiny…"