Perfect start to 2016!

bball has always been my first love.
ok technically thats not true, but lets not nitpick. its my favourite love. ball dont lie. my body might let me down but the ball don't lie.

****, that guy really like the real curry sia
(i was wearing my curry jersey as usual. equipment boost, accuracy +30%!)

the innocent words of a young teen made my day. maybe even set the direction for my entire year.

i've been working on my shot mechanics for so long, ever since i realized that my knee was shot. and i think its possible now. i really think i can change my playstyle.

i have accepted that ill never able to dominate in my old style again. but i will always remember how it felt like to be aomine. to be completely unstoppable. to literally be able to score any time i wanted to. i only had my true prime for a year before it was snatched away from me by injury. but i was unstoppable for that entire year, and i won every single match. i was averaging 9-10 points per game in a first to 11, on teams of 2-4. all my practice was paying off. i had spin moves, step throughs, euros, up and unders, pivots, dreamshakes, i had so many moves i couldn't count them, and they were all perfect, honed by months of practice.

i can't do any of them anymore. oh, i could do them flawlessly if i wanted to, but my ligament would snap and i would be on the ground, writhing in pain for about 10 minutes, and limp for about a month.

when i realized my athleticism was shot, i could have so easily given up on the game. athleticism was such a big part of my game, it was honestly difficult to see how i could play anymore without it. without the ability to decelerate and accelerate so quickly my defender couldn't react. (used to call it my time stop before i started watching nba and realized the actual term was hesitation). the ability to hang, double clutch, triple clutch and still score the ball. or as my friend so nicely put it: how to stop him? i dunno how, but he can ****ing move in the air one!!!

changing my style so drastically was one of the most difficult, yet one of the most enjoyable things in my life. and i am starting to see hope now. this style has so much more potential than my old style. i could score whenever i wanted, but it wasn't going to last. when you are scoring the majority of your team's points, its only a matter of time before a dirty play puts you out of commission. the injury forced me to actually learn the game. plays, screens, cuts. team play. real basketball. if i had known all i knew now, i would never have spent all that time teaching my friends how to pivot, how to crossover, how to spin. i would have taught them actual plays.

i can still do it. i have a team now. and they're spectacular.

i am starting to see hope now for my new style. granted, today there was no serious defense played on me in the game. but it was still a real game nonetheless. and i still scored 7 consecutive baskets on 7 mid range jump shots in an actual game setting. something i've never actually done before.

i will keep working. i can see the hope.

i will never be aomine anymore. even if i have surgery (everything depends on the scan next wednesday), i have been informed it will never be the same again. the graft is artificial.
i will never be able to go into the zone, stare down my opponent whenever i want, and destroy him with pure speed, footwork, skill, power and athleticism.

i will never be aomine/kise anymore, but i can be more deadly than ever before.

i can go into a different kind of zone. a shooting zone. an intellect based zone. and destroy my opponents with an understanding of the game, positioning, misdirection, timing, and bball iq.

i will be a blend of akashi and midorima.

and with the right team play, i can be unstoppable yet again. but not in a solo style. in the real style, the way basketball is meant to be played. i will always have the memories of being aomine, and my kids will probably spend their childhood listening to tales of my dominance. but i will teach them even more tales of my team play. and how much more satisfying it is to win as a team. i don't know how good it will be yet, but i have experienced the former, and it was hella good, and all the movies say the latter will be even better.

and my stamina has improved drastically also. i can wear down my mark with constant motion. maybe its because i can't jump anymore, and my insane jumps used to sap so much energy. maybe its the training that gave me my new stamina. i was impossible to guard in the past. now, i will be insanely irritating and frustrating to guard. i will never stay still for longer than 3-5 seconds. i will be making cuts and curls every 7-10 seconds.

i cant wait for the mri scan, find out whats wrong and take the necessary actions so i can play normally on the court again with the new generation ahbengs. btw who asked today how old i was. i asked them to guess, they were 17 yo and they all guessed i was 18-19. these guys make me feel youthful and i will do whatever training is necessary to keep playing.