After the Draft, Kayce's Dream Training Space system unlocked the multi-player training mode. These days, he would engage in high-intensity team scrimmages every night.
These system-simulated games consistently allowed Thunder players to perform at their full capacity. Kayce, for one, found it incredibly painful to face Durant in nightly scrimmages; Durant in the system was terrifyingly stable, capable of both driving and shooting.
However, after playing for a few days, Kayce had adapted. Now, playing in the Summer League with its weak defense and chaotic offense, Kayce found it boring. If it weren't for grinding Achievement Badges, Kayce would have just slacked off.
"Kayce, you rest more in the second quarter. If the point difference continues to widen, I won't put you on in the second half." The Assistant Coach gave Kayce a heads-up, worried he might be unhappy with his playing time.
"No problem, Coach." Kayce immediately expressed his obedience to the arrangement.
Before coming to Las Vegas, Brooks had reminded the Assistant Coach that player health was paramount; just play the games, no need to care about winning or losing.
So, when the second quarter began, the commentator noticed that Kayce was not on the court for the Thunder.
"It seems Kayce will rest first in the second quarter. James Harden of the Sacramento Kings is back on the court; let's look forward to the second quarter!"
As soon as Harden saw Kayce wasn't playing, he felt a pang of bitterness. These players on the court now were really defending! His legs were still a bit weak; he regretted playing overtime with the big-booty girl this morning, his stamina was severely compromised.
But Harden was also sly; he just played pick-and-rolls and passed to his teammates. This excited the Kings' role players, and Kaspi also took frequent shots. In the second quarter the pace was incredibly fast.
Kayce was bored watching from the sidelines, so he could only act as a hype man for his teammates on the bench. The female spectators behind him, however, were ecstatic, frequently batting their eyelashes at him.
And so, after Harden's last possession ended with a missed shot, the Thunder led the Sacramento Kings 52-46 at halftime.
Harden was completely cold in the first half, going 2-for-10 for 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The commentator was a bit helpless at this point; without Kayce, both sides were just XJBD, and Harden was clanking shots, nearly drawing boos from the live audience.
Fortunately, Kayce came on at the start of the third quarter, which significantly reduced the audience's clamor.
"Kayce is back on the court; let's look forward to his performance in the second half!" The commentator quickly said something to save face.
Kayce looked at his defender and called for a pick-and-roll. Byron, the big man, set a good screen, immediately creating an open lane. But Kayce faked a shot with a pump fake, tricked his defender, and drove into the paint. Facing the help defense, he threw another lob.
"Boom!" Byron scored with an alley-oop.
"Wow!" The live audience started cheering again; dunks were definitely more exciting than bricking shots!
This rhythm of driving after a pump fake was something Kayce learned from Durant, and then, with the system's optimization suggestions, he adapted it into a technique suitable for himself. This was the result of playing against good players; you could learn useful techniques.
The Kings' offense was still whoever got the ball just went for it. As a result, another pass was fumbled, and Kayce directly stole it. On the fast break, Kayce saw his teammate following up, so he directly threw a pass off the backboard, and his teammate soared into the air behind him.
"Clank!" A backboard alley-oop! The live audience cheered even louder.
Now the Assistant Coach completely realized that Kayce playing these games was like slicing vegetables; it was basically meaningless. But then he thought that Kayce was needed to attract the audience and sell tickets, which gave him a headache.
Too little playing time wasn't appropriate, but if he played too much, would he just slack off after a few plays?
Thunder offense. Kayce came off an off-ball screen to receive the ball. After continuous dribbling between his legs, he suddenly changed direction in front of his body. The defender couldn't keep up and was about to lunge forward, but Kayce pulled the ball back between his legs again, almost making the defender stumble.
He calmly gathered the ball and shot a mid-range jumper with confidence.
"Swish!" The ball went cleanly through the net. The live fans roared; they loved to see such flashy plays!
The Sacramento Kings called a timeout. The Thunder's Assistant Coach saw the score widen again and took Kayce out, but the live audience immediately became unhappy, letting out waves of boos.
"The Thunder should increase Kayce's playing time; we all love to watch him play!" The live commentator complained at the opportune moment.
However, the Assistant Coach was not afraid of this. Showing off in these games was enough; health was the most important thing.
After the timeout, both sides completely entered the XJBD rhythm. The fast breaks were incredibly quick. By the fourth quarter, the players completely let loose, just driving to the basket with the ball, not running any plays at all, just chucking shots.
Finally, the game ended, with the Thunder defeating the Sacramento Kings 106-94.
James Harden's performance was a bit disappointing, going 6-for-18 for 16 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 6 turnovers. Last night's big-booty girl could probably make the All-Defensive Team.
Kayce played a little over one quarter, scoring 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three-point range. He also grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 8 assists. The Assistant Coach was very satisfied with his performance.
When the players greeted each other, Kayce walked up to Harden and couldn't help but tease, "Tonight again? The hot girls are waiting for you!"
Harden hesitated for a moment, then probably feeling a bit of kidney depletion, he said, "Let's rest for two days. When DeRozan arrives, we'll go out and party again!"
Kayce was a bit speechless. This stubborn guy would eventually be ruined by big butts.
After returning to the hotel that night, Kayce first ate some fruit to replenish his energy. His metabolism was strong, and if he didn't eat something, he would easily wake up hungry in the middle of the night. After a quick shower, he immediately prepared to rest.
Before sleeping, he exchanged messages with Anne and Britney. As soon as midnight passed, Kayce immediately entered the Dream Training Space.
He brought up the holographic control panel and indeed found new notifications in the Achievement Room. After entering, he saw two new bronze Achievement Badges. Kayce smiled with satisfaction; the games weren't played in vain! He lightly touched the badges to view their attribute descriptions.
Achievement Badge [Dribbling Master]: 9 / 50
Enhances the ability to quickly perform consecutive dribbling moves.
Achievement Badge [Organization Core]: 8 / 50
When the player is on the court, teammates receive an offensive attribute bonus.
Kayce was delighted looking at the Achievement Badges in front of him. Indeed, being a primary ball-handler was the best way to grind out Achievement Badges! In this game, he only played a little over one quarter, yet he produced two badges!
But when Kayce checked his other badges again, his expression immediately darkened. The data had not changed at all. Currently, the progress of his other badges was mostly around 25/50, but after this game, the progress remained unchanged.
"Is this due to the low intensity of the game? If so, the Summer League isn't worth it. Am I going to slack off for the rest of it?"
Kayce was very conflicted, as he had originally planned to grind extensively.