"Zhao, what's going on in their locker room?" Ewing asked.
"Man, there's tension brewing."
Zhao Dong leaned in. "Pippen and Rodman are fighting for that number two spot. Neither of them wants to back down, and that's gonna mess with the chemistry of their so-called 'Big Three.' You already know Pippen and Phil Jackson have had their beef.
"On top of that, the rest of the Bulls squad ain't too happy with Jordan. He's way too hard on them. Then there's Phil Jackson butting heads with the GM—his interests don't fully align with Jordan's either. Long story short, there's a lot of drama behind the scenes. If we wanna take these guys down, there's a lot of angles we can work with."
Ernie Grunfeld nodded, already scheming. The New York media had the most influence in the country, way bigger than Chicago's. If they stirred up enough controversy and aired out the Bulls' dirty laundry, it could shake things up over there.
He decided to reach out to HQ and see if they could leverage their media connections to make some noise before the upcoming game against Chicago.
After chopping it up for a while, the conversation finally wrapped up. Zhao Dong threw on his headphones and fired up the system again.
First order of business—he used Hakeem's coordination talent to override his own.
Once the update was complete, he checked his new coordination rating. The number popped up, and his eyes went wide.
"Shit, that's fire!"
His coordination had shot up to 96, a crazy +19 boost, making it elite-level. Now, coordination was his top attribute, even higher than his vertical.
Next, he was about to use his quality and skill points to boost his strength, but then his eyes landed on a certain reward. Barkley's signature big-ass power game.
He scratched his head. "Yo, system… if I apply this, does that mean my ass is gonna get huge?"
"The gluteal muscles are part of the core. Enhancing them will strengthen your hip joints, improve balance, and reduce knee stress. You will also gain a slight increase in vertical."
Zhao Dong raised a brow. "That right?"
He started seriously considering it. The benefits were clear—stronger hips meant better post play, plus an extra boost to his bounce.
Tonight, Barkley had torched him in the post. If it weren't for getting him into foul trouble early, the game could've gone sideways.
"Man, screw it. Big butt or not, this is Barkley's bread and butter. System, apply it!"
The moment it activated, Zhao Dong felt a weird heat building up in his lower body. His muscles tightened, swelled, and—yeah, his shorts suddenly felt real snug. He was gonna need new gear after this.
[System Update Complete]
Glutes increased by 10%
Core strength boosted to 85
Vertical jump boosted to 97
Injury resistance increased to 87
Rebounding upgraded to 88
Shot-blocking upgraded to 91
"Hell yeah!"
Zhao Dong grinned. Just from this one upgrade, his core strength had jumped three levels, and his bounce had climbed by two, which would normally cost him four quality points.
Not only that, but his injury resistance got a nice bump, and his rebounding and blocks improved too. That was like cashing in 12 free points. Way better than what he got from Shawn Kemp's skill upgrade.
And with his new and improved glutes, his low-post game was automatically gonna level up too. Stronger core, better balance, smoother aerial movement—it was all coming together.
No doubt, this was a huge W. He was gonna start showing Barkley some love from now on.
He still had 5 quality points left, so he spread them out wisely:
Balance: 75 → 77
Flexibility: 77 → 79
Durability: 86 → 87
These boosts would make him quicker on turns, smoother on transitions, and tougher in the paint. Both offense and defense were about to see a major improvement.
As his body improved, he could feel his overall skill limitations loosening up. The last time he copied Reggie Miller's pull-up jumper, it didn't hit elite status because his overall quality was still lacking.
That wasn't gonna be a problem anymore.
With 5 skill points in hand, he decided to test an upgrade on his pull-up jumper.
"Done!"
His pull-up shooting went from 88 → 89, and that got him hyped.
Tonight's game had proved how deadly this shot was. It was his main weapon against Barkley, and the constant mid-range daggers had pissed him off enough to break his focus. That's how Zhao Dong managed to pull off three mission completions in one game.
He used one more skill point to max out his pull-up shot to 90, making it elite.
With three skill points left, he looked ahead to the Bulls game.
Rodman was a rebounding beast, so Zhao Dong needed to step up his board game. He dropped two points into rebounding, raising it to 90.
The last skill point went into driving, bumping it to 71.
---
Updated Ratings:
Physical Attributes
Stamina: 87
Coordination: 96
Balance: 77
Flexibility: 79
Injury Resistance: 87
Strength: 84 (Upper Body 85, Lower Body 82, Core 85)
Speed: 86
Vertical: 97
Technical Skills
Passing: 85
Ball Handling: 85
Shooting: 93
Offense
Low Post: 90
Dribbling: 71
Spot-Up Jumper: 75
Pull-Up Jumper: 90
Rebound Jumper: 60
Turnaround Jumper: 62
Step-Back Jumper: 65
Cutting: 83
Off-Ball Movement: 75
Defense
Perimeter D: 71
Interior D: 84
Rebounding: 90
Blocks: 91
Steals: 70
Playmaking: 70
Passing Vision: 70
Gold Medal Skill
Low-Post Isolation
---
Zhao Dong scanned through his numbers, feeling a little unsatisfied. He needed at least 10 or 20 more games like tonight before he could make a real leap in overall strength.
His rating had climbed from 83 to 84, which was solid progress. But he knew he could push it even further—not just with the system, but through sheer training.
The system's upgrades were dope, but his real growth came from working in the gym. Strength, flexibility, balance, coordination—those were the keys. As long as he kept grinding, everything else would follow.
"System, with my coordination and other boosts, my explosiveness should be better, right?"
"Correct. Explosiveness is a combination of multiple attributes. Your recent improvements have enhanced it significantly."
Zhao Dong smirked. More explosiveness meant stronger drives, better finishes, and an even crazier first step.
Yeah, he was on his way to dominating.
And in three days, he was gonna put Rodman to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you want to read Advanced Chapters?
Visit this link:
Påtreon.com/Fanficlord03