Chapter 64: Rakuzan’s Scouting Report

We've reached 150 power stones, here's the bonus chapter =) --- How does one judge whether a player is strong? There's no absolute standard. But Shirogane Eiji firmly believed that if a player could put up excellent stats, then that player must be good. Especially on a powerhouse team like Teikō—if someone was putting up flashy numbers there, they were definitely extraordinary. That was the trust he placed in his fellow coach, Shirogane Kōzō. Teikō wasn't some kind of elite military academy—every year, a flood of prodigies emerged from graduating classes all over the country. But the players who came out of Teikō? Every single one of them was top-tier. This had everything to do with Teikō's strict selection process. Out of a basketball club of dozens, only around 15 were chosen for the first-string team. It was truly a system of the best of the best. In previous years, Eiji had always kept a close eye on Teikō. For a basketball team to remain dominant long-term, it must bring in strong fresh blood every year. Take Nijimura Shūzō, Teikō's current captain—he wasn't only being watched by Katsunori Harasawa, even Shirogane Eiji himself had his eye on that versatile power forward. In fact, rather than saying he was scouting Teikō, it would be more accurate to say he was scouting Nijimura. But now, his assistant had brought him a stack of freaks instead? "You got any tape?" Eiji asked. At this, the assistant scratched his head and blushed a little. When men exchanged "footage," there was always a tinge of embarrassment... "Coach... you still watching that kind of stuff?" "What the hell kind of videos do you think I mean? I want game footage of Teikō!" Ah. That kind of video. The assistant looked regretful. "No, but I can go find some for you." "Do it ASAP. This might be the one thing this week that'll actually cheer me up." After sending the assistant off, Shirogane Eiji picked up the report again for a closer look. The more he read, the more unnatural it felt. How could there be such a monstrous kid? And five and a half of them popped up all at once! Why five and a half? Because he counted Haizaki too—but due to limited playing time and less stability, he could only count as "half." Finally, he picked up Tendou Kageyoshi's file and studied it carefully. His assistant's evaluation of this player was unusually high. In addition to stats, the report included a full scouting profile: Offense and defense, high basketball IQ. "As of now, he's the most versatile small forward I've ever seen in this generation." "He excels on both ends. In all three round-robin matches, he was tasked with guarding the opposing team's top perimeter scorer—and under his lockdown defense, none of them scored in double digits." "He's excellent at using steals to disrupt shooting, drives, and passes. Any ball-handler facing him must be at full alert—one slip, and the possession is gone." "He has a very soft touch, the kind you want in a scoring threat. His range covers the entire half-court." "He can shoot threes, nail mid-range jumpers, finish at the rim against centers, or throw down highlight dunks." "His scoring arsenal is so complete that I don't believe we can teach him anything in that department." "More importantly, he has once-in-a-million basketball IQ. Against the ironclad defense of Seihō, he made a divine, split-second assist that shredded their entire defense single-handedly." Weaknesses: As a player, Tendou Kageyoshi has almost no flaws. If there's one, it's that his personality is extremely arrogant and self-centered—he might not care at all about our school's reputation. "From what I know, he's already ignored offers from two of Tokyo's traditional powerhouses..." Now that was a serious weakness. Shirogane Eiji took a sip of tea. He had full confidence in Rakuzan. No genius could resist an offer from them. At least, of the three middle schoolers he'd approached this year, all had been thrilled to receive his invitation. Rakuzan had the most glorious history and the most championships in high school basketball. Any young phenom would come running at the crook of a finger. But this Tendou Kageyoshi kid... For some reason, Shirogane Eiji had a feeling this one wouldn't give a damn about Rakuzan. "No... I have to make contact first before jumping to conclusions." A player at this level deserved a personal invitation from Shirogane Eiji himself. And Rakuzan wasn't alone—this was happening at basketball programs all over the country. With regional qualifiers wrapped up, scouting reports on this year's new talent were landing on coaches' desks nationwide. More and more coaches had their eyes on the batch of freaks from Teikō. Each school was dispatching scouts to gather more intel. After all, this was just the preliminaries. Until they proved themselves on the national stage, no one could be declared a true genius. Like Nijimura Shūzō. Teikō's captain had made his name with his performance at Nationals—that's when he truly caught the eyes of all these basketball departments. ... Meanwhile. With the qualifiers done, Teikō entered a much-needed rest period. Even though they had deep bench depth and strict minute management (only about 27 minutes per player per game), Shirogane Kōzō insisted they rest and recover properly. They were still middle schoolers—constant intense training could break them. As for Momoi, she'd been busy running around to different schools collecting intelligence. After a week of rest, Teikō officially shifted into preparation mode. Of course, shooting drills remained essential—but they ramped up tactical training too. Until now, Teikō's entire offense had revolved around Nijimura Shūzō, running a lot of pick-and-roll and drive-and-dish plays. But now, Shirogane Kōzō had officially designated Tendou as Teikō's new centerpiece. Their tactics would shift to build around him. Nijimura had no objections. Kōzō had discussed it with him beforehand, and he was more than happy to hand over the "ace" role to Tendou. The best should lead—that was only natural. After days of trial and adjustment, Kōzō finally chose the triangle offense as Teikō's new core system. His reason was simple. By now, information on Tendou had probably spread far and wide—every team going to Nationals likely had a scouting report on him. To keep their ace from getting boxed in with double-teams from the start, Kōzō felt the triangle was the most suitable offense. Because at its heart, the triangle was designed to let the core player get the ball and go to work in comfort. --- If we reach 300 Power Stones, then +1 Bonus Chapter!