Rebound: A 2nd Chance

The lines were a little long. It looked like there were at least two hundred students attending the camp.

After spending around fifteen minutes talking with Justice it was finally Jason's turn as he was taken inside the school building.

Jason was taken to one of the rooms in the infirmary. Inside was an older lady with a kind smile.

She had some slight graying in her hair but her face was devoid of any wrinkles or any other blemishes.

She was slightly tanned and her long hair was tied in a ponytail. Her hairstyle, demeanor, and white lab coat made her look the part of a stereotypical doctor.

She pointed to the back of the room as she smiled at Jason "Hello young man. Please strip down to your underwear and then get on the scale for me."

The lady gave off the gentle and kind feeling that Jason imagined would belong to grandmas.

Although Jason didn't really have a baseline to judge that off of considering that he had never met his own.

Jason walked to the back and stripped down to his underwear before stepping on to the scale.

The lady turned on the scale and started adjusting the bar on top of Jason's head before writing some notes down.

"Current height without shoes is 5'5 (1.65m) flat. Current weight is 120 pounds (54.43kg). Hmm your're a little on the light side young man.

I would highly suggest that you increase your caloric intake. A diet high in protein and high in carbohydrates could increase the effectiveness of your training and provide you with more energy."

Jason sighed after hearing the lady say that. His size had always been a problem for him even back in his past life.

By the time Jason graduated high school he was 6'1 (1.85m) but only weighed 150 pounds (68kg).

Not only was he slightly undersized in the height department but he was so slim and thin. He tried his hardest every year to gain weight but even after his four years at UCLA Jason had only gained 20 pounds.

And by gaining weight it obviously meant muscle. It wouldn't do a perimeter player like Jason any good to just put on weight for the sake of putting on weight.

Jason looked at the lady "It might not seem like it but I'm actually trying really hard to gain weight already mam.

I eat double what kids usually eat for all three of my meals. And I also eat snacks in between all of my meals."

The lady seemed surprised to hear Jason say that. She smiled at Jason "No need to call me mam young man.

You can just call me Patricia. I'm going to be your sports doctor as well as your nutritionist for the next two days.

So just let me know if you get a little banged up or if you get a couple nicks and bruises. I'll fix you right up.

That's interesting that you say that. Can you tell me what you normally eat in a day?" Jason told her everything that he ate yesterday.

"In the morning I had two bowls of rice with three fried eggs on top. I also had a bowl of clear broth vegetable soup.

Before lunch I snacked on two sandwiches which were packed with ham, bacon, lettuce, red onions, tomatoes ooh and my dad put some Sriracha mayo on it. Those sandwiches were so good."

Jason continued to tell her about his food intake for yesterday. As he continued the expression on her face became weirder and weirder.

Finally, as Jason finished recounting all the things he ate, with a slight bit of drool in the corner of his mouth, it was her turn to sigh.

"I guess I can't really tell you to increase the amount of food that you're eating considering that you already have large diet.

The only suggestion that I could make at this point to help you put on weight would be to add high concentration protein shakes to your snacks in between meals.

It looks like you just have a body type that makes it hard to put on weight. It reminds me a lot of Kevin Durant or Brandom Ingram.

Except that they were incredibly tall and lanky men while you on the other hand... Well I'm sure you'll grow.

You're still young and have plenty of time to fill out. Just continue to do what you've been doing up till now and try your best."

Jason was surprised to hear her talk about such amazing basketball players like it was nothing.

"Excuse me Patricia. I don't mean to be nosey or anything but you talked about Kevin Durant and Brandom Ingram as if you've worked with them before. Have you?"

She cracked a small smile "Yes I did. I worked with Kevin Durant the first year he was able to play back in Brooklyn.

I ended up working with him for a couple years. After that, because of my experience with him I ended up working with Brandom Ingram.

The Pelicans wanted someone that had the experience of working with an athlete with a similar body type to Brandom Ingram."

Jason was instantly impressed and enamored with her as he began asking a multitude of questions.

He had the excitement that would have you forget that he was an adult inside of a child's body instead of just a regular child.

Patricia just laughed as she answered the questions she could answer while saying "Patient confidentiality." to some of the others.

She then continued to take Jason's measurements as he continued to ask his questions. She got his shoe size, she measured his wingspan, the size of his hands, and she even measured the length of his legs individually.

After writing down all of her notes she instructed Jason to put his clothes back on "Go ahead and dress up.

If you step out this door and walk for a bit you should reach the canteen. They will serve all the kids breakfast before starting the training.

Give them this note. This is my recommended meal plan. They will use this to design all of your meals.

Good luck young man" She gave Jason a note that had her signature on it before waving Jason goodbye with a smile on her face.

Jason took the note from her before waving back as he started walking out of the infirmary.

Just like she said, Jason walked out of the door and went straight before seeing a building that had a large sign at the side that said "Canteen."

Jason went in and lined up for some food. After a few minutes of waiting Jason made his way to the front.

Jason handed the food worker the note. He took it and after a quick glance he walked past some doors into the back.

After a few minutes he walked back out with a tray that had three plates and a bowl. Jason couldn't tell what was inside because they all had tinfoil covering the tops.

Jason thanked the man wearing a hair net as he took the tray and began looking for a spot to eat.

Just as he was walking past a table for the fifth time Jason heard someone calling out his name "Yo Jaya! Hey bro! Come sit over here!"

The canteen was loud and filled with the chatter of about two hundred kids but Jason managed to hear that familiar voice because of how loud he was shouting.

Jason turned his head to the direction where he heard the voice and started walking toward the table.

Jason smiled as he put down his tray and sat down next to Justice "Thanks for saving me a spot man. I was thinking that I might have to eat outside for a second."

Justice gave Jason a thumbs up "Hey man, as long as I'm here don't worry about not having a spot to eat at.

There ain't no way I'm about to let Riverside's youngest superstar get done dirty like that. So what did they give you?

I'm totally bummed out that they left any sweets off of my tray. The guy that took my measurements said that I needed to lay off the sugar."

Jason replied "I don't know yet. I haven't checked out what's under the foil." Jason then proceeded to unwrap the plates and the bowl.

On one plate was a baked white potato that was split open with some butter in the middle and sour cream on the side.

Along with a sweet potato that looked to have been roasted with the skin still on. On the other plate were all the proteins.

There was a whole piece of grilled chicken breast that looked well seasoned. Right next to that was a piece of grilled fatty fish.

Jason drooled as he could practically taste the omega 3 as he watched the oil dripping from the fish.

Inside the bowl was just some plain cottage cheese. Jason frowned after seeing that 'I hate cottage cheese. It's the only food that actually looks nasty.'

But despite all of Jason's complaints he was prepared to eat everything on his tray. He had been taught since a young age to not waste any food.

Jason could still hear his mom lecturing him 'You shouldn't waste food Jaya. There are kids starving all over the world that would be happy to eat that.'

Justice saw the contents of Jason's tray and his jaw dropped to the floor "Holy cow! That's your breakfast?

Are you going to be okay if you eat all that? That's gonna feel like having cement in your stomach."

Jason chuckled after hearing what Justice had to say "Too be honest this is just about right in terms of how much I usually eat.

I'm just kind of disappointed that there's no rice on my tray. The potatoes look good and all but it's just not the same. For Asians it's like the meal isn't as satisfying if there isn't rice."

Jason began to chow down on all of his food as Justice watched on in amazement.

- - -

Inside one of the buildings of the school. Kawhi was seated behind a wooden desk as the medical professionals handed him their notes.

Patricia had a smile on her face as she dropped off her stack of papers in front of Kawhi "Looks like you're really going all out with this training camp.

I see a ton of familiar faces. It couldn't have been cheap hiring so many doctors and nutritionist that have NBA experience." 

Kawhi smiled but his voice remained the same "When you have as much money as me Patricia you just want to see it be put to good use.

And nothing would make me happier than to see talent sprouting in the same small town that gave me my start.

And you would be surprised how many people came here just for the sake of doing some good. You were actually the hardest one to convince."

Patricia chuckled "Well I might have to thank you for convincing me. Because of you I got to meet a very interesting young man."

Kawhi raised his brow "Oh? He must be something special for you to say that. Can I see his notes?"

Patricia sorted through the stack of papers until she found Jason's notes "Here you go. At first I was just curious because of his personality and eating habits.

But after looking the kid up I was genuinely impressed. I might not be a former athlete or a professional sports analyst but I've been around enough talent that I'm confident enough in my ability to tell when it's there."

Kawhi began reading through the notes. After a few minutes of reading he then searched somethings up on his phone.

After a staring at his phone for a few minutes Kawhi began to scratch his chin "So he's an elite defender huh? Looks like he came to the right place then. Huh heh HAEHH heh."