The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 137 I Have Two Hands

Drexler practiced shooting with Gan Guoyang in the morning, and the two rested for a while at noon to conserve their energy for the evening's game.

Feeling a bit tired from not getting enough sleep, Clyde asked Gan Guoyang, "How long have you been getting up early and training like this?"

Gan Guoyang said, "I have never stopped playing basketball since I started learning in 1981."

"You only started playing basketball in 1981?"

"Yes." Gan Guoyang thought, if I had traveled two years earlier, I could have started fighting much earlier.

"Like Akem, he also started playing basketball at 16. You guys are all monsters."

"Don't compare me to him; he's my defeated foe."

Drexler knew Gan Guoyang's competitive spirit and didn't say much, but in his mind, Olajuwon was no worse than Gan Guoyang.

赛季开始后状元奥拉朱旺的表现同样惊艳，生涯首战就拿下了24分，11月1号对阵堪萨斯国王25分13个篮板6个盖帽。

As of yesterday, November 10th, the Houston Rockets had achieved a 7-game winning streak and are currently ranked first in the Western Conference. The Rockets' future looks bright.

In the afternoon, the NBA officially announced the Player of the Week for the previous week. Gan Guoyang won his first Player of the Week award as a rookie for leading the Trail Blazers to consecutive victories and scoring 40 points in two games.

At that time, the Player of the Week award was not divided into East and West conferences, but was selected by all players in the entire league, so the honor was highly prestigious.

Before the game against the Golden State Warriors that evening, Gan Guoyang received congratulations from the league, with David Stern personally calling to offer encouragement.

This was Gan Guoyang's first direct interaction with David Stern. He did not participate in the draft, so he did not shake hands with Stern on stage.

Gan Guoyang was still unsure of his impression of the future, controversial, and highly regarded league president—after all, Fleischer was constantly criticizing his old rival.

But given Fleischer's status and influence, anyone he keeps criticizing is definitely not a kind person; they must be a ruthless character.

Before the game against the Warriors that evening, Gan Guoyang and Larry Smith were chatting on the sidelines.

During his high school years, Gan Guoyang often went to the Warriors' training sessions to audit their games, where he learned a lot from Larry Smith and Bernard King.

In particular, the guidance of Bernard King laid the foundation for Gan Guoyang's offensive techniques. His technical characteristics of small range, small space, quick turn, and high release point influenced Gan Guoyang's entire career.

Gan Guoyang's later improvements and refinements in offensive techniques were all based on Jin's techniques, forming a unique style.

More than two years have passed, and the Warriors have undergone significant changes in their personnel composition. A team that was once full of hope quickly disintegrated due to the owner's haphazard management.

In the summer of 82, the Warriors did not keep Kim and let him go to his hometown New York Knicks, and the roster that the Warriors had built began to collapse.

Ward B. Flynn was traded to the Cavaliers mid-season, and this summer Joe Barrycarroll quit playing and went to play in the Italian league.

The previous core trio was cleared out, championship coach Arters was dismissed, and the team, with Puvis Short as its core, began a long rebuilding process.

Larry Smith is one of the few remaining veterans of the Warriors. He has gone from being a rookie in 1981 to a five-year veteran in the league.

He has maintained a high level of energy and desire in the fight for offensive rebounds, and after experiencing some injuries, he is in excellent form this year.

Before the game, he joked with Gan Guoyang, saying that he would grab at least 5 offensive rebounds at the Memorial Stadium. Gan Guoyang told him, "If you can get one offensive rebound, I will give you $100 in cash."

During the game, Gan Guoyang grabbed 22 rebounds, including 20 defensive rebounds, preventing Larry Smith from getting a single offensive rebound.

This game also became the only game in the 1984-1985 season in which Larry Smith failed to grab an offensive rebound.

In every game he played, he grabbed at least one offensive rebound—including a game where he was injured and had to leave the game after only 4 minutes of playing time, and his only statistical contribution in those 4 minutes was an offensive rebound.

After the game, Larry Smith said that Gan Guoyang should still give him some money as tuition for learning skills with the Warriors. Gan Guoyang offset the cost by treating Larry Smith to a meal.

The Trail Blazers easily defeated the rebuilding Warriors 110-95 at home, immediately recovering from their loss to the Lakers and improving their record to 8 wins and 1 loss, second only to the Rockets in the Western Conference.

However, this game further exposed the Trail Blazers' weaknesses in perimeter defense. Puvis Short scored 48 points against Vandeweghe's defense. Although he couldn't carry the Warriors against the Trail Blazers on his own, it's still not a glorious thing for a player to score so many points on his home court.

This isn't the first time this year that an opposing small forward has scored a high number of points against Vandeweghe. Recently, when the Trail Blazers played Vandeweghe's former team, the Nuggets, English scored 45 points. Vandeweghe isn't putting enough pressure on his defenders.

The victories and offensive prowess temporarily masked Vandeweghe's defensive issues, and Ramsey has realized this, so he increased Jerome Kersey's playing time in the game against the Warriors.

Kossi played for 23 minutes, his longest playing time in a single game since joining the team. He didn't play well offensively, but he made one block, one steal, and countless active defensive plays, which contrasted sharply with Vandeweghe's sluggishness.

Ramsey tried to motivate Vandeweghe's defensive efforts through this kind of intra-team competition, but Vandeweghe was a gentle and easy-going person. Even when Ramsey scolded him in training and games, he would just smile and say he would do it next time.

Vanderweghe comes from a family of athletes. His father was Ernie Vanderweghe, a Knicks player in the 50s, his mother was Miss America, and his uncle was All-Star player Mel Hutchins. Unlike the poor Kossie, he lacks some of the fighting spirit.

He gets along well with his teammates in daily life. In games, he is a silent assassin, making accurate shots and finishing fast breaks, easily scoring more than 20 points per game.

He never clashes with opponents on the court, and he rarely commits any violations throughout the season—he has been in the league for five seasons and has never received a technical foul.

Unlike Gan Guoyang, who received two technical fouls in just five games—one against the SuperSonics while arguing with the referee about a foul call, and the other against the Lakers while elbowing Rambis unconscious—Gan Guoyang did not receive a technical foul.

Off the court, Vandeweghe and Drexler have a very good relationship. One loves to sleep in late, and the other is too lazy to defend. They are birds of a feather. It is normal that they cannot get along with Gan Guoyang, a strict and self-disciplined training fanatic.

Of course, their relationship wasn't bad. Drexler would be Gan Guoyang's number one gossip provider for many years to come. Many secrets about the inner circles of NBA stars were told to him by Drexler. It's just that they couldn't be the kind of good buddies who hung out together every day.

Drexler gave up after trying Gan Guoyang for a day; his physical condition was good enough, but he still couldn't handle it.

Drexler came off the bench in the game against the Warriors on the night of the 11th but didn't have a particularly impressive performance, which he attributed to not getting enough sleep.

He decided to train shooting with Gan Guoyang and Fan Deweichi from now on, and try not to be late in the morning, but he would give up on exercising in the early morning.

On the night of the 13th, the Trail Blazers hosted the Dallas Mavericks. During the pre-game briefing, Ramsey asked VanDeWeiche, "How are you going to defend Aguirre tonight? How many points do you want him to score?"

Vandeweghe said, "I'm prepared to offset Aguirre's points with my shots."

"You're quite clever, so you'd better get 40 points tonight!"

Vandeweghe smiled but didn't say anything. Ramsey sighed and said, "You weren't like this when you played under Larry Brown. You were very aggressive on defense at UCLA, weren't you?"

When Larry Brown was mentioned, Vandeweghe's smile vanished, and he said, "It's a good thing he's not the Trail Blazers' coach... otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to come to Portland to play."

When Vandeweghe was a senior at UCLA, the team's coach changed to Larry Brown, and he endured a nightmare season, although his stats reached an all-time high that year.

With the most points, the most rebounds, the most blocks (0.6), and the most fouls, Larry Brown recommended Vandeweghe to the Nuggets after the season, and the Nuggets selected him in the draft.

So the two have a good relationship off the court, but on the court, Vandeweghe doesn't want to play for Larry Brown because it's too restrictive.

“Then I’ll have to call Larry and ask him for advice,” Ramsey said.

At this moment, Gan Guoyang, who had been tying his shoelaces, stood up and said, "I'll take care of Aguirre. Let Qiqi focus on scoring and fast breaks. Everyone should do what they're good at on the court."

Ramsey glared at Gan Guoyang and said, "You're going to deal with Aguirre? Then who's going to guard Sam Bowie?"

Gan Guoyang stretched out both hands and said, "I have two hands. I'll handle Aguirre with my right hand and Bowie with my left."

Ramsey sighed, hands on his hips, and said, "I should have sent you to run for president this year. With your ability to spout nonsense without thinking, even Reagan wouldn't have been able to beat you!"

Despite saying that, Ramsey actually agreed to Gan Guoyang's defensive plan, and during the game, he was assigned to mismatch guard Aguirre.

It seems that Dr. Jack wants to collect more observation samples.

"...Gan is an extremely competitive player, especially demanding in defense. On the court, he directs everyone on defense, pointing out each player's defensive weaknesses. He was a commander from the moment he entered the league. But Gan never complains. Sometimes, players like Kiki and Paxson receive a lot of criticism for their defense, but Gan never blames them off the court. It's not because they are seniors; many years later, when he became the oldest player on the team, he never casually attacked the rookies' defense or attitude."

Gan always led by example. He would defend the opponent's sharpest weapon, from center to small forward, while leaving the point guard and shooting guard positions to Clyde. He would inspire everyone with his defensive passion, even the usually lazy defender Kiki would often be infected by his ferocity and become fierce.

In November 1984, Reagan easily won the election. His campaign slogan that year was, "The welfare system is broken, and I'm the one who will fix it." If Gan had run for president, I think his slogan would have been, "The defense system is broken, and I'm the one who will fix it." And he did.

—Excerpt from "Dr. Jack On Winning Basketball," published in 2011 by Jack Ramsey and Neil Waller.

(End of this chapter)