The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 348 Leading the Worst Class

As September arrived, three months had passed since the Finals, and the fervor surrounding the 1986 championship gradually cooled, beginning to become a cherished memory for Portlanders.

All teams began preparing for the 1986-1987 season. Various trades and signings emerged in the free market. Strong teams strengthened their rosters, while weak teams restructured. Before the new season even started, every team seemed to have a bright future.

Among all the signings and trades, the most important and eye-catching deal came between the Detroit Pistons and the Utah Jazz. The Pistons sent their star small forward Tripka and Kent Benson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for one-on-one king Adrian Dantley.

This was a swap between star small forwards. Both the Pistons and the Jazz were dissatisfied with their current situation, so they decided to swap their scorers in the same position to see if it would have the desired effect of "moving a tree dies, but moving a person brings them back to life".

Chuck Daly has long coveted Dantley, and Dantley's ability to draw fouls is crucial in the defensive system he is trying to build, as a large number of free throws can effectively slow down the opponent's offensive pace.

Meanwhile, Dantley's low-post offense is exactly what the Pistons need. Dantley's arrival can effectively enrich the Pistons' offensive capabilities, giving them more ways to win in half-court sets.

The Pistons also drafted a rookie small forward, Dennis Rodman, in the 1986 NBA draft. Daly believed that Rodman could replace Dantley and contribute on the defensive end.

With Karl Malone on the roster, the Jazz were determined to build a new offensive and defensive system around him, making forwards like Dantley, who occupy a lot of low post space, seem out of place.

Moreover, Dantley's attitude in training and games was not very satisfactory. The Jazz were worried that he would corrupt the young Karl Malone, so they simply traded him for Tripka, who plays a more outside style.

The two teams essentially swapped resources, each getting what they needed.

Another major deal occurred earlier. Stu Inman wasn't entirely idle in Portland; his connections in the Northwest and his close ties with Seattle played a key role in the Jack Hickma trade.

After a disastrous 1985-1986 season, the championship-winning center, Hugh Hickma, decided to leave the Emerald City for a place where he could contend for the championship.

Although Sikma is not a top center in the league, he is very popular in the Seattle area. The SuperSonics have never thought about trading him. Their general manager even said: "I would rather have Marilyn Monroe resurrected in my bedroom than trade Sikma."

Marilyn Monroe will not be resurrected, the SuperSonics do not want to trade Hikma, but Hikma wants to leave.

Now 31 years old, his career is entering its later stages, and he wants to taste the championship again.

In the 80s, when medical conditions were not as advanced, 30 years old was often a watershed moment for a player's physical condition.

When Bob Lanier was traded to the Bucks, he was only 31 years old, but his knees were already badly damaged.

But even with a partially crippled Lanier, the Bucks still managed to get past the Celtics, and now Nelson needs a new, strong interior player.

The trade of Hickma meant that all the members of the 1979 championship-winning SuperSonics team were gone.

A chapter in Seattle's history has come to an end, and they are entering a new phase, looking forward to the arrival of a new team savior, just like the arrival of players like Hikma 10 years ago.

Besides these two eye-catching big deals, various other small, patchwork agreements and transactions also occasionally pop up to attract attention.

These trades may seem insignificant now, but because they involve the ownership of a large number of future draft picks, they will have a significant impact on the league's landscape many years later.

In September, the Los Angeles Lakers made a significant trade, sending Kurt Rambis and a draft pick to the San Antonio Spurs after Kubrick decided to retire. In return, the Spurs acquired 7-foot center Kevin Duckworth, who was selected in the second round.

The Lakers are considering finding a successor for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The rise of the Rockets' twin towers and Gan Guoyang made Kareem Abdul-Jabbar look so old, and the Lakers' weak interior defense was brought to the forefront.

Since acquiring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers have been looking for a backup and a bodyguard-like partner for him every summer.

The Lakers prefer big men who have made their names on other teams. They are not very interested in developing their own big men; they just sign finished or semi-finished players.

For example, Jim McDaniels, Kermit Washington, James Edwards, Dave Robbies, Jim Jones, Bob McAdoo, Maurice Lucas, and so on.

None of these players were developed by the Lakers themselves. They all made a name for themselves on other teams, were strong players, All-Stars, or even regular season MVPs. After their careers faded, they were attracted to the Lakers in Los Angeles, California, to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's backup and good partner.

Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wasn't developed by the Lakers themselves, and neither was Wilt Chamberlain; they were both poached from other teams.

This has always been the Lakers' principle for building their core roster: nurture their own perimeter players and go out and grab the best inside players.

Kevin Duckworth was an exception. Maurice Lucas's failures convinced Jerry West to develop a reliable successor in the paint, especially since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was already 40.

West's favorite center is the Trail Blazers' power forward Mitchell Thompson, but the Trail Blazers have just won the championship and it's impossible for them to trade Thompson.

Aside from Thompson, there weren't many suitable established centers who had faded into obscurity, so West turned his attention to rookies. He traded Kurt Rambis for two reasons: first, West was optimistic about A.C. Green's development; second, Rambis had suffered psychological damage from being beaten by Gan Guoyang in a game against the Trail Blazers, and West didn't believe he could play a crucial role in the upcoming season against the Blazers, so he traded him away.

From a talent standpoint, acquiring Kevin Duckworth and trading Rambis was a worthwhile trade.

Duckworth will soon prove he is a promising center.

But the Lakers players have a deep affection for Rambis, and trading him away, just like Auerbach trading away Maxwell, makes the players question whether the Lakers are still a family.

They used to live in the Green Valley players' apartment, living, training, playing, and competing together.

With salaries rising and players getting older and starting families, many are buying properties in Los Angeles, leaving apartments in the Green Valley area vacant.

Those days when the young people lived together like a family have become beautiful memories, and will never come back.

Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers' young players gathered at the Portland Community College training facility in September to begin this year's rookie training camp.

In addition to Curry and Hornacek, the Trail Blazers selected five other players in the seventh round of the draft, who came to the camp as practice partners for the rookie selection.

If they perform well, the Trail Blazers might offer them a guaranteed contract, although most of them will never have the chance to play in the NBA.

In addition to Sabonis, the five players also include Yugoslavian player Petrovic, who, although selected, is also unable to play in the United States due to his nationality.

The Portland Trail Blazers have had a good experience with Gan Guoyang and are very fond of these foreign players. They don't care if they can actually come or not, they'll just pick them first, in case they do come later.

In addition to the rookies, Gan Guoyang, as the team's star player, also participated in the rookie training camp, which put a lot of psychological pressure on the rookies.

As an assistant coach at the rookie training camp, Bellman assisted Rick Adelman in guiding training and observing the rookies' performance.

Gan Guoyang's presence raised the intensity of the training camp by more than one level. The training started at 10 a.m., with a one-and-a-half-hour break in the middle, and continued until 3:30 p.m.

Around 2 PM, some people couldn't keep going. By the time training ended at 3:30 PM, only Curry and Hornacek had managed to stay together; everyone else had given up.

Hornacek was exhausted and on the verge of collapse, but he persevered to the end thanks to his strong willpower.

Seeing Curry and Hornacek's exhausted appearance, Gan Guoyang said, "Training is over. Let's do some extra shooting practice. This is the best time to practice shooting."

Curry and Hornacek are about to collapse. They're already this exhausted, why do they have to do extra training?!
But there was nothing he could do; he had to listen to the team leader. As a result, Gan Guoyang maintained a high shooting percentage in the following three-point practice sessions.

He even became more and more accurate with each shot, and his performance improved with each attempt, almost like a perpetual motion machine.

Curry and Hornacek shot terribly, especially Hornacek, whose three-point shooting was completely inaccurate; it was obvious he didn't know how to shoot.

Gan Guoyang asked, "Can't you shoot three-pointers?"

Hornacek, supporting himself on his knees, managed to squeeze out, "No way~ I didn't get three points in college."

Gan Guoyang sighed and said, "You are the worst rookie class I have ever coached. Practice hard, and after practice, we'll do an extra hour of three-point shooting... never mind, half an hour."

Being drafted by the Trail Blazers was unexpected. Before registering with the team, I had already found a job at an accounting firm.

Before coming to Portland for the training camp, I asked the company if I could come to work for them if I couldn't play basketball. The company said it was no problem, so I felt relieved to go for the tryout.

Unexpectedly, Sonny Gan also came on the first day of training. His arrival made the training camp terrifying. The training intensity was astonishing. Everyone was full of enthusiasm because no one wanted to be scolded or glared at by Gan.

By 2 p.m., some people couldn't hold on any longer. I persevered until 3:30 p.m. with Curry, and then Agan had us do three-point shooting drills with him.

To be honest, my hands were sore from throwing so many air balls. Forrest Gump got a little angry and said, "You guys are the worst rookie class I've ever coached!"

Haha, I later found out that he said this to the rookies every year at the rookie training camp.

—In a 2010 interview, Jeff Hornacek recalled his rookie season with the Portland Trail Blazers. (Excerpt)

(End of this chapter)