The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 141 Gump is Gump
(The image of Dawkins shattering the backboard has been censored; the reason is unknown.)
News reports of Gan Guoyang breaking the rim with a dunk during the game and his defensive shutdown of Aguirre in the first quarter quickly dominated the pages of American sports newspapers and magazines.

In November 1984, the second issue of Sports Illustrated was published, and a photo of Gan Guoyang breaking a basketball hoop became the cover of this issue.

This is the second time Gan Guoyang has graced the cover of a magazine in his basketball career. His astonishing performance on the court after entering the NBA has begun to attract increasing public attention.

However, this full-body photo of Gan Guoyang dunking, taken from below, brought him some trouble—because the Avia Skyscraper sneakers he was wearing did not comply with league regulations in terms of color scheme. After the photo appeared on the cover, it attracted more attention, and some people filed complaints with the league office.

According to the league's dress code at the time, players' shoes had to be a single color, with a few other colors allowed, but the main color had to be white or the team's color, such as the Celtics' green, the Lakers' yellow and purple, etc.

Gan Guoyang has two versions of the Avia Skyscraper sneakers. One is mainly white with some red and black accents, which the league turns a blind eye to.

The other design features black as the main color, with a lot of red and a little white, which looks gaudy and completely violates the regulations.

In the game against the Mavericks, Gan Guoyang wore the same black shoes that matched the main color scheme, and they even appeared on a magazine cover, forcing the league to intervene.

On November 14th, the NBA office called and faxed the Trail Blazers' management office, stating that if Gan Guoyang continued to wear these shoes on the court, he would be fined, starting at $1000 per game.

Spoelstra, the Trail Blazers' general manager in charge of operations, approached Gan Guoyang, told him about the incident, and asked him if he wanted to change his shoes and stop wearing those black Avia sneakers.

Gan Guoyang was very dissatisfied with the league's conservatism and angrily said, "Jordan wore it too."

After Jordan signed with Nike in October, Nike quickly launched the first generation of Jordan's signature shoe, the Air Jordan.

This sneaker, which is very similar in design and color scheme to the Avia skyscraper, was accused of plagiarism as soon as it was released.

However, with Avia's production capacity and marketing efforts not being sufficient, the first generation AJ gradually became a more affordable alternative to the Avia Skyscraper.

In just over a month, it sold tens of millions of dollars worth of products, earning back Jordan's five-year endorsement fee.

Spoelstra said, "Jordan was also fined, but Nike paid the fine for him."

Gan Guoyang immediately called Tim Haney. After receiving the news, Haney immediately came to the Trail Blazers headquarters with a check for $30 and told Spoelstra, "We'll pay for three seasons first, and then we'll pay the fines later."

Any sales director who hesitates for even a second on this matter is out of their mind.

Hani is not a marketing genius; he's just a normal person with pretty good luck.

While Gan Guoyang shone brightly on the NBA court wearing Avia sneakers, Avia's sales were soaring, and this year would be the most profitable fiscal year since the company was founded.

Gan Guoyang's appearance on the cover of a pictorial magazine wearing an Avia shirt that dunked a backboard will further promote Avia and make up for the shortcomings of Avia's advertising department.

Avia's biggest problems right now are insufficient production capacity and limited distribution channels. They are too young to compete with Nike, which has been established for over a decade and has an operating history of over eighty years.

Nike started by manufacturing sneakers and selling sporting goods, while Avia started with sneaker cushioning technology. One has strong marketing capabilities, while the other has technology but is not so good at sales.

Both companies are headquartered in Portland, so competition between them is inevitable. Hani told Gan Guoyang that Nike has recently been poaching Avia's design team and even wants to snatch Gan Guoyang, their biggest cash cow, to join forces with Jordan.

"The competition between your companies is your own business, and I can't interfere. Nike did contact me, but they didn't say they wanted to poach me; they just wanted to be friends. I will remain loyal to the brand during my contract period, but you guys need to step up your efforts in advertising and sales. I don't want to be overshadowed by Jordan's Air Jordans," Gan Guoyang reminded Hani.

The rivalry between Jordan and Gan has been ongoing in every aspect. Just yesterday, Jordan scored 45 points against the Spurs, breaking Gan Guoyang's scoring record for the 84 draft class.

This record will definitely be broken and refreshed in the future; it's just unknown where the upper limit will be.

Hani understood what Gan Guoyang meant. Gan Guoyang was Avia's only big star and a real cash cow. The boss would never allow him to be poached by Nike.

Nike, being in a favorable position, maintained close contact with Gan Guoyang and carried out routine public relations work, all in preparation for Gan Guoyang's contract expiring so that Nike could poach him.

If nothing unexpected happens, Gan Guoyang will most likely grow into a hot superstar in the league in 5 years. If Avia loses the signing battle at that time, the company may go bankrupt or be acquired.

Hani discussed coping strategies with the company's boss and senior management. One faction within the company believed that in order to spread the risk, they should discover more other star players to expand Avia's fan base and influence, so that if Gan Guoyang's contract expired and he switched teams, Avia could still be sold.

Hani strongly opposed the suggestion, arguing that there could never be another Gan, and no other star could have the same influence as Gan Guoyang. He believed that instead of wasting resources on others, it would be better to stick close to this most powerful figure and hope that he would become the brightest star.

Moreover, Hani believes that Gan Guoyang is a loyal but proud person. If you give him enough sincerity, even if you don't give him enough, he will still treat you wholeheartedly.

But if you are half-hearted and don't give him enough respect, even if you give him a lot, Gan Guoyang won't care.

This is an experience that Hani observed when he recruited Gan Guoyang from Gonzaga University and the Portland Trail Blazers, and when Avia signed a contract with Gan Guoyang.

Ultimately, Tim Haney persuaded the boss and management to use all the limited funds for the development and promotion of Gan Guoyang's skyscraper series, as well as various sponsorships for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Although he had convinced the higher-ups, Tim Haney was still very uneasy. If Gan Guoyang did not reach the level they expected, they would lose even more completely in this gamble.

So when he sensed the pressure from Gan Guoyang, Tim Haney expressed his concerns: "Gan, we'll put all our resources into you and your shoe development. But... but you know, most of the time, center shoes don't sell well."

Although the center is the core of the court, fans don't like the shoes worn by centers because they are too tall, too clumsy, and too different from ordinary people.

The best-selling sneakers are those worn by perimeter players who can fly high, dunk, run fast, and pass well: Dr. J (Irving), Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and of course, Michael Jordan. Centers aren't cool at all.

Gan Guoyang said to Tim Haney, "You need to tell consumers that a center is a center, and Forrest Gump is Forrest Gump, understand?"

Center is Center, Gump is Gump.

Tim Haney took out his notebook and wrote down Gan Guoyang's words.

This will be Aiva's core strategy for promoting star player Gan Guoyang for a long time to come.
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Avia paid Gan Guoyang's fine, and Gan Guoyang, wearing his black skyscraper, continued to appear on the floor of Memorial Stadium, where they faced the Seattle SuperSonics again on the 15th.

After suffering a crushing defeat, Lenny Wilkens learned from his mistakes and placed great emphasis on defense before the game, making specific arrangements to counter Gan Guoyang.

This worked well in the first half, as Gan Guoyang was tightly surrounded and cut off from his teammates.

Mitchell Thompson got more scoring opportunities, scoring 17 points in the first half, but the SuperSonics never really targeted him with their defense.

They were convinced that Thompson's offense couldn't break down the team's defensive formation, and the game against the Lakers proved that. Riley provided valuable experience for other coaches:

To beat the Trail Blazers, we have to shut down Gan Guoyang; his winning effect is too strong.

Gan Guoyang is, after all, a newcomer. He has an unusually rich amount of competition experience, but there is one thing he lacks: the tacit understanding between his teammates.

This requires time and competition to accumulate experience.

When Gan Guoyang was under extremely tight defense, his teammates' support for him, as well as his feedback and help to his teammates, were insufficient.

He hasn't yet established that camaraderie-like connection with Clyde, Vandeweghe, and Paxson. They have different playing styles and habits, and they don't know each other well enough.

This is also the significance of setbacks.

Oh, of course, the Trail Blazers didn't lose the game.

The SuperSonics used their enhanced defense and highly focused attention to suppress the Trail Blazers for most of the game.

As a result, they lost two offensive rebounds in the crucial moments of the fourth quarter.

A pass from Gan Guoyang to the outside assisted Paxson to make a shot, helping the Trail Blazers tie the game.

Gan Guoyang passed the ball to Thompson under the basket, who scored two points and drew a foul from the opponent.

These two crucial rebounds helped the Trail Blazers narrowly defeat the SuperSonics 93-94 at Memorial Arena, a one-point advantage.

Lenny Wilkens and the SuperSonics' efforts throughout the game crumbled in the final moments.

After the match, when Wilkens shook hands with Ramsey, he said, "Jack, you're lucky."

Wilkens' words were loaded with meaning; despite being championship coaches of the same era, the two had always harbored some resentment towards each other.

Wilkens coached in Portland for two years, then took on a player-coach role, but achieved little success.

Ramsey took over in 76 and immediately won the championship, which led to a lot of criticism of Wilkens.

It wasn't until 1979, when he led the SuperSonics to the championship, that he finally got his moment in the spotlight. Even then, some people said he benefited from the Trail Blazers' injuries, which Portlanders disagreed with.

Ramsey replied, "Luck is also a part of strength."

In the final moments of the game, Jack Ramsey did not call a timeout, which is not in line with his usual playing style.

The lack of a timeout deprived the SuperSonics of the opportunity to set up their defensive priorities, and as a result, two offensive rebounds cost them the victory.

The Trail Blazers maintained their winning streak, and the consecutive home games allowed everyone to recover well.

But then on the 16th, they went to Los Angeles to play a back-to-back game against the Clippers, and unexpectedly lost to their opponents 109-113.

After losing the game, they had no time to analyze the situation. They immediately went back to the hotel to sleep and catch their flight the next morning to the east.

Two weeks into the season, all of the Trail Blazers' opponents have been from the Western Conference, mainly from the Pacific Division, including the Lakers, Suns, Clippers, and SuperSonics, with two games played against each of them.

In the back-and-forth of "running and running," Gan Guoyang experienced the wildness of the Western Conference teams.

It is said that the Eastern Conference teams have a completely different style.

(End of this chapter)