The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 102 The Introverted Hongdo

After receiving Gan Guoyang's approval, Tim Haney drafted the contract overnight. After Fleischer reviewed it, he signed it in his hotel room.

The contract is for five years, with an endorsement fee of $200,000 per year, for a total of $1 million. The contract stipulates the rights and obligations of both parties and various details.

After feeling Avia's sincerity, Gan Guoyang stopped worrying too much about some details. However, he did have some opinions about the design of the sneakers.

He hopes the Skyscraper series will continue to be released, always keeping the designs fresh and sharp, and making them accessible to most basketball enthusiasts.

"Basketball is a sport for the masses, and it should be possible for ordinary people to wear it and play. I hope that one day I can see children and young people wearing my shoes and playing basketball on the street."

Gan Guoyang expressed his vision: he doesn't want Avia to be just a niche high-end brand, but rather to have a greater influence.

Tim Haney agreed with Gan Guoyang's statement, saying, "Our development and future expectations are actually pinned on you."

Hani's voice trembled slightly as he spoke, and after Gan Guoyang signed the document, he felt like he was dreaming.

As the company's sales manager, he spent a million dollars on signing bonuses all at once.

This means that Avia won't be able to sign any new star endorsers this year, and they can only pin all their hopes on Gan Guoyang.

If Gan Guoyang gets injured, or turns out to be a bust and performs poorly in the NBA, this million will be wasted.

Tim Haney shudders at the thought that Gan Guoyang is a Chinese basketball star, and that no Asian has ever succeeded in American professional sports.

Afterwards, he felt a little regretful, wondering why he had impulsively agreed. It was as if he had been possessed by a demon.

Clearly, Tim Haney was intimidated by Gan Guoyang's unparalleled confidence and Fleischer's persuasive rhetoric.

As if brainwashed by a pyramid scheme, they firmly stood on Gan Guoyang's side, only feeling fear after signing the contract.

But it was too late; the contract had already been signed, and the first payment check had been sent out.

He can only pray that Gan Guoyang will have a great performance on the court tomorrow wearing Avia shoes, and that he will grow into a superstar in the future.

On June 30th, at the Providence Civic Center, Fleischer invited Tim Haney to watch the game with him in the VIP area of ​​the arena, while enjoying coffee.

The Civic Center was undoubtedly packed, and the showdown between rising young stars and NBA stars was truly a spectacle.

Tim Haney was extremely nervous, even more so than the players on the field. He asked Fleischer when Gan Guoyang would come on.

Fleischer said, "It depends on Havlicek, but I don't think he'll start."

At this moment, Havlicek, the head coach of the All-Star team, was worried about how to arrange Gan Guoyang's playing time.

This Celtics superstar didn't know much about Gan Guoyang, as Havlicek hadn't focused on basketball since retiring.

He invested in Wendy's fast food chain and was one of its early shareholders. Wendy's has since grown into a super restaurant chain second only to McDonald's and Burger King.

This relieved Havlicek of financial worries; he no longer needed to play basketball or work in a basketball-related field, but could instead enjoy a comfortable retirement as a business representative.

His favorite sport now is fishing.

My participation in this scrimmage as a coach was purely out of respect for Knight and Fleischer; I was simply using my seniority to keep these players in check and allow them to rotate normally.

Before the game, Havlicek and Bob Knight talked about how he would use a 2-3 zone defense to deal with the US team's offense.

But once the game started, Havlicek discovered that these NBA players were completely unable to organize an effective zone defense – this group of people had never practiced together, so how could they form a zone defense?

The US team's offense remained as swift and decisive as a hot knife through butter, easily slicing through the defenses of NBA star teams.

NBA star players are individually very skilled and experienced, but the US national team is more united, with more distributed scoring and better teamwork.

Ten minutes into the first half, the NBA star team quickly fell into one-on-one play, with players like Terry Cummins, Bagley, and John Garris taking matters into their own hands as soon as they got the ball.

The All-Star team's zone defense crumbled on the defensive end, so they switched to their familiar one-on-one defense, with everyone playing their own game and using their individual skills to deal with their assigned opponents.

This disorganized style of play allowed the NBA All-Stars to quickly fall behind, trailing by ten points within ten minutes.

The US national team played very evenly, with everyone scoring. Chris Mullin had the best performance, scoring 6 points.

After being scolded by Knight, Jordan decided to play more unselfishly. He started the game and only scored 2 points, but he made several assists to his teammates.

The All-Star team's perimeter defense simply couldn't stop Jordan; his drives could easily tear apart the defense and create offensive opportunities for his teammates.

On the defensive end, the US national team used a tight zone defense to firmly control the situation, which made the stars who were used to one-on-one defense in the NBA very uncomfortable.

Moreover, the NBA stars tonight weren't particularly high-profile, and the All-Star team gradually fell behind by a larger margin.

In the VIP room, Tim Haney watched Gan Guoyang sitting on the bench without playing and asked anxiously, "When will Gan be able to play? How come this NBA All-Star team can't beat those young guys?"

“They’re not your average young people. I’ve spoken to Hongdo about it, and he’ll know what to expect.”

At halftime, Gan Guoyang had not received any playing time. The NBA All-Stars trailed the US national team 51-66, a full 15 points behind. Although it was a warm-up game, and the NBA All-Stars were a makeshift team, losing by such a large margin at halftime was still embarrassing.

No one spoke in the locker room. Havlicek was a rather introverted person, and he didn't know how to boost morale.

After all, it's not like when he was playing for the Celtics, where he could lead by example and drive the team with endless running on the court.

He then remembered Gan Guoyang and recalled that Fleischer had told him to give Gan Guoyang some playing time before the game. So he went up to him and said, "Hey, Gan, you've been training with the American team for a long time. You should know how to deal with them. Go up and play for a while in the second half."

Gan Guoyang thought to himself, "So you've finally remembered me?"

"If you had let me on earlier in the first half, we wouldn't have played like this."

Gan Guoyang spoke frankly, and the other players immediately turned their attention to him.

"I'm just telling the truth. When we were down by 15 points, we really played like crap. We didn't cooperate with each other, our defense was terrible, and we were all playing our own game."

"How we play is none of your business to criticize. Who do you think you are?"

The speaker was Rick Mahone, the power forward for the Washington Bullets, whose position as the capital's number one big man will be taken over after Charles Barkley went to Washington.

"Try to defend against Ewing's offense first. If you can't even handle Ewing, I don't know how you got into this team."

Gan Guoyang was utterly impolite, which infuriated Ma Hong to the point that he almost rushed up to challenge Gan Guoyang to a duel.

Havlicek quickly tried to appease everyone, but he was tongue-tied and didn't know what to say.

At this moment, he regretted it deeply. Why did he agree to be a coach with Knight? He must have had nothing better to do.

He and Knight were college classmates, playing together for four years at Ohio State University and winning the NCAA championship in 1960.

The two were good friends, but their personalities were completely opposite; Haveliczek was quiet, introverted, and rarely spoke.

Bob Knight is a carefree and unconventional (and uncivilized) person. He would eat peanuts while watching a movie and then throw the peanut shells all over the floor. Then, at a crucial moment in the movie, he would suddenly shout Havlicek's name, making Havlicek feel very embarrassed. Knight found this amusing.

It's no wonder Havlicek couldn't refuse Knight's invitation; it's a matter of personality.

Halftime passed quickly, and Gan Guoyang, without waiting for Havlicek to give any orders, said directly: "I will start in the second half. You can decide who to put in the rest of the time. We will catch up in points soon."

Havlicek sighed, nodded in agreement, and thought to himself that young people these days are getting bolder and bolder, daring to give orders to their seniors like this.

However, according to Knight, this Chinese kid wasn't afraid of anyone in the training camp, not even Knight himself, and was the leader of a large group of people.

If someone isn't even afraid of Bob Knight, what can you possibly do about him?
At the start of the second half, Gan Guoyang stood in the center of the court, replacing Daryl Dawkins and partnering with Rick Mahon in the paint.

He was wearing a white jersey and the latest Avia 830 shoes. To match, Gan Guoyang wore mid-calf socks to complement his new shoes.

Although he plays center, Gan Guoyang has a great physique—tall, strong, and sculpted like a sculpture. He is also very handsome, breaking many Americans' stereotypes about Asians.

Before the second half even started, his shoes had already attracted the attention of fans and sideline photographers, who snapped photos of Gan Guoyang.

When the US national team saw Gan Guoyang enter the game, everyone's hearts sank, especially Jon Concaco, who started the game in the second half.

A big white center like Concord has already proven in NCAA games that he would have a very difficult time against Gan Guoyang.

He wasn't afraid of Dawkins or Mahon, but he knew how Gan Guoyang played, and Concaco was already starting to panic.

However, after Gan Guoyang came on in the second half, his first action was not to take the ball and attack himself, but to reshape the defense of the NBA All-Star team.

When joint defense failed to materialize, Gan Guoyang took charge of the three-second zone and began to actively assist others in supplementary defense and joint defense.

He didn't hold back because his teammates were NBA veterans; instead, he boldly took charge, actively surrounding Mullin, Alford, and Concaco.

Gan Guoyang is quick on his feet, has a wide defensive coverage area, is active in help defense, and is excellent at protecting the backcourt rebounds. Moreover, he is familiar with the US team's offensive routines and has forced their teamwork into a corner several times, leaving them no choice but to take a shot.

This caused the US team's offensive efficiency to drop sharply in the second half, missing three consecutive shots and giving the NBA All-Stars a chance to counterattack.

Once the counter-attack begins, the individual abilities of the All-Star players come into play. They excel at fast-paced, simple, and quick plays.

The NBA All-Stars went on an 11-4 run, forcing the US national team to call a timeout, and Knight started yelling from the sidelines.

In just a few minutes, Gan Guoyang contributed 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, and 1 assist, along with defensive contributions that cannot be fully reflected in the statistics.

After Knight finished yelling, he pointed to the bench, preparing to substitute Jordan into the game. Jordan did not start in the second half.

Havlicek was surprised by Gan Guoyang's impact on the defensive end and said during the timeout, "Gan, I really should have put you on the court sooner."

Gan Guoyang broke out in a slight sweat. He said to Havlicek, "You're much better than Bob. You admit your mistakes and correct them. He never thinks he's wrong."

Havlicek was secretly pleased with himself, thinking that if he handed the game over to Gan in the second half, they wouldn't lose too badly and Knight wouldn't laugh at them at dinner that night.

(End of this chapter)