Chapter 1 Tang, You're Late!

"Hey, Tang, you're late!"

At the University of Connecticut's basketball training facility, Kemba Walker shouted at Tang Tian, who had just arrived.

"Yeah, my damn phone is acting up again," Tang Tian said with a wry smile.

"You should have replaced that damn phone a long time ago. It's always causing problems."

Tang Tian patted his pockets, indicating that he was broke.

"When I get to the NBA, I'll definitely buy you a new one," Walker said, patting his chest.

"You said it, I'll remember that."

After a brief exchange, Tang Tian began his work: retrieving balls.

He was an international student at the University of Connecticut, but his family wasn't well-off, and he hadn't received a scholarship, so he was working as a ball boy at the basketball gym to support himself.

Although he was a ball boy, the players here treated him very well.

"This is a team with a long history, and each of you is a part of that history..."

Head coach Jim Calhoun was giving the team another pep talk.

This coach, who took over the team in 1970, had been at UConn for a full 40 years, from 30 to 70 years old. No one was more dedicated than him.

Tang Tian looked up at the two championship banners overhead and the retired jerseys hanging on the wall.

Ray Allen, Rudy Gay, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor...

These were all resounding names in the NBA.

This was indeed a team with a glorious past, second only to a few super-schools like Kentucky and North Carolina in NCAA fame.

But that was all in the past. UConn hadn't won a championship in seven years, and even reaching the Elite Eight was something that happened two years ago.

This year's team, apart from Kemba Walker, was made up entirely of rookies.

There were rumors that Calhoun would retire this season, but it would be harder than ascending to heaven for UConn to win the championship and have a perfect ending.

While Calhoun was giving his speech, Tang Tian took a moment to rest on the sidelines.

No one realized that Tang Tian was no longer the same Tang Tian.

Just last night, Tang Tian, who was a basketball godfather in his previous life, had a sudden heart attack after retirement and transmigrated into this international student.

Fortunately, this international student was quite handsome and strong, and his height of over two meters was very rare among Asians.

After sitting for a while, he reached out and pulled up the system interface.

Transmigration naturally comes with a golden finger; that was an unchanging law.

And the name of the system he transmigrated with was very interesting: Basketball Krptonite System.

Kryptonite, originally referring to the act of recharging money in games, this system named Kryptonite gave off a strong sense of money.

And this system really had something to do with money.

With the Basketball Kryptonite System, the owner earns Kryptonite value corresponding to how much money they earn through basketball-related methods.

(Note: Money obtained through illegal means such as theft, robbery, or fraud is automatically invalid. The system needs to maintain full positive energy.)

Kryptonite value can be spent in the system store.

This was equivalent to spending two sums of money for every sum earned, which was quite wonderful.

For example, if his salary as a ball boy was 20 US dollars a day, the system would generate a corresponding 20 US dollar Kryptonite value.

It's just that a base of 20 US dollars was too small to buy anything in the system.

At this time, he looked at the items in the system store.

There was only one type of item in the store: basketball skills.

Skills were divided into seven levels: white, green, blue, purple, orange, red, and gold. The higher the level, the higher the Kryptonite value required, but the more awesome the skills that could be exchanged.

Taking the gold skill as an example, Shaq Body (Shaquille O'Neal): Possessing the physique as strong as O'Neal's.

This was definitely a top-notch ability, but this one skill required a Kryptonite value of 100 million US dollars.

To put it bluntly, this Kryptonite system was a system that allows the owner to become a league superstar, but the prerequisite was that you had to be able to make money.

Tang Tian's gaze turned to the white skills at this time.

Open Three-pointer (Novak) which only works in open positions, Free Throw King (Calderon) which can only improve free throw ability, King of Bounce (James White) who can only take off without confrontation, Diving Actor (Varejao) who can only be used to passively draw fouls...

Compared to other skills, these were also the weakest.

But weak as they were, each of these skills only required 50,000 US dollars in Kryptonite value!

He looked at his Kryptonite value again.

20 US dollars, a bit shabby.

Fortunately, the system gave a newbie gift pack yesterday, a random skill pack, and he had good luck, drawing a purple-level Man-to-Man Defense (Tony Allen).

Man-to-Man Defense (Tony Allen): The survival skill of defensive expert Tony Allen, which can reduce the opponent's shooting stability by 20% and has a certain chance of stealing the opponent's ball.

Defense was the basis for ensuring a player's playing time, and this seemed at least like a stepping stone.

Just then, a scream suddenly came from the court.

He put away the system and looked up, then found that the team's substitute center, Alexander Forsythe, had sprained his ankle.

A sprained ankle was the most common injury in basketball, and he stood up to help the man off the court.

"Where's Lavoy Allen?" Forsythe was helped off the court, and Calhoun looked around, asking with some displeasure.

Allen was the team's substitute power forward, but he didn't come today for some reason.

"Lavoy is said to be applying to transfer," freshman Jeremy Lamb said.

"What?!" Old Man Calhoun's beard stood up in anger after hearing this.

Lamb didn't dare to speak anymore. Allen had talent, and seeing that UConn's prospects this season were bleak, it was only natural for him to leave.

"Damn it!" Calhoun cursed.

UConn was really in turmoil this season.

But after cursing, the problem was still not solved.

UConn already had few inside players this season, and now the substitute center was injured, and the substitute power forward was about to run away.

Not to mention where the team would find new players later, even the full-court scrimmage training in front of them couldn't be done.

"Why don't we just stop here for today?" Assistant coach Kevin Ollie said from the side. He was Calhoun's designated successor.

"No, how long have we been training?" Calhoun was a bit stubborn.

No one spoke after this.

The old man wanted to continue training, but there weren't enough people in the gym. Or should a guard be put up to fill in?

That wouldn't have any training effect either!

After a moment of silence, Walker suddenly looked at Tang Tian, who was applying medicine to Forsythe there.

"How about trying Tang?"

Walker's words were immediately met with a glare from Ollie.

Tang Tian was two meters tall, so his height was enough, but letting a ball boy fill in was something Walker came up with.

Although they had a good relationship in private, ball boys and NCAA players were not on the same level at all.

"Tang has been training with us all the time, so there's no problem with his physical fitness, and he's very smart. Anyway, the substitute team mainly runs around, so it wouldn't hurt to try, right?" Walker continued.

"Tang, come here." Ollie wanted to say something, but Calhoun waved to Tang Tian directly.

"You fill in for Forsythe, any problem?" The old man asked directly enough, but he didn't seem to have much expectation.

"No problem," Tang Tian replied without hesitation.

To get Kryptonite value, it meant he had to make money. At this stage, there was no faster way to make money than getting a scholarship.