The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 359 Trust
Gan Guoyang was taken aback when Ramsey asked him that question, thinking that Dr. Jack was quite concerned about him.

"Of course I'm fine. I'm healthy, have plenty of energy, eat a lot, sleep well, and think little. My performance in the competition is absolutely fine."

After answering, Gan Guoyang looked at Ramsey's eyes and suddenly realized something. He said, "Jack, you don't agree with Bobby's suggestion to let me play one-on-one like Michael, do you? That would cost extra money."

Ramsey said, "I was just concerned about your health, don't overthink it. Okay, everyone go back and get some rest, we need to make some changes."

Ramsey didn't draw any conclusions on the plane. After the team returned to Portland, he gave them a day off, while he himself met Bobby Bellman at a seafood restaurant to discuss team tactics over dinner.

Unlike when he works for the team, when Ramsey goes out to eat, he wears bifocals, grips the menu tightly when ordering, tilts his head back slightly, and squints his eyes—looking exactly like an old man.

He doesn't speak with the same powerful voice he uses when directing a game; instead, he speaks softly, choosing precise words and enunciating clearly, making it easy to communicate with him.

Ramsey ordered salmon and oysters, while Behrman ordered a regular seafood paella with lemon tea. Most people in the restaurant knew Ramsey, while Behrman was "the man who ate with Dr. Jack."

After all, Ramsey has been a coach in Portland for 10 years, and he has been working in the coaching position for 30 years.

While waiting for the food, Ramsey spoke first, asking, "Bobby, what kind of coach do you think I am?"

Bellman hadn't expected Ramsey to ask such a question. He paused for a moment and then uttered some clichés such as "great," "amazing," and "pioneer."

Ramsey shook his head and said, "These are outdated media clichés. You don't need to flatter me. I can accept some criticism."

“Jack, you just led the team to the championship. We just lost some games at the beginning of the season. I don’t think we need to criticize you.”

"Let me put it another way: do you think I'm a stubborn, conservative, and inflexible old-school coach?"

“Uh… I… I don’t think so. I don’t think you’re stubborn or old-fashioned. Everyone can see that you’re changing. Of course, if you take my advice, this change seems… seems a bit too big.”

"I remember when I first started my coaching career, the average height of centers on the court was 6'2". If your team had a 6'5" guy, he could dominate the court. Now, 6'9" guys are playing guard, and 6'10" and 6'11" players are shooting threes from the outside. Basketball is a sport without limits, and in order to win, nobody knows what the future holds.

Bobby Bellman heard Ramsey's words of support for him.

After the food was served, Ramsey stated frankly, "I agree with some of your points regarding utilizing the rules for isolation plays. I have reservations about the statistics. Starting next week, we'll experiment with some low-post isolation offense and practice related tactical plays more in training. Also, we mustn't let Agan's isolation plays affect the offensive enthusiasm of other players; this is a crucial issue. We need to reposition Kiki, Clyde, Paxson, as well as Porter, Hornacek, and Curry."

Ramsey's words excited Bellman. He didn't expect to be able to implement his ideas in an NBA team so soon, and he didn't expect Ramsey to be so responsive.

He suddenly realized that this might be how Forrest Gump transformed his coach.

Sure enough, Ramsey then said, "The fundamental reason I'm willing to accept this strategy is that I know Forrest Gump's one-on-one ability. I wouldn't use this tactic with any other player, even Michael Jordan. This is a strategy that only suits Forrest Gump; he has the ability."

Behrman gradually relaxed and became uninhibited, saying, "I told you long ago that we should learn how Forrest Gump used the coaching method."

Ramsey laughed, then sighed deeply, saying, "I used to consider coaching an art, and the basketball team was the ultimate way to express my artistic philosophy, the medium through which the outside world understood me. Later I discovered that the art of basketball, like other arts, is actually moving further and further away from perfection when you think it's close to it. The other day when you were talking about those messy statistics on the plane, I suddenly had a feeling, a... a feeling of pastoral poetry being destroyed by combine harvesters. I was a little resistant, but a voice inside me told me that this might be the trend and the way things are going."

While eating his seafood paella, Bellman said, "Jack, I haven't thought that much about it. Data is just a tool to assist coaching. It's like...like a telescope or a microscope, allowing us to see further and more clearly. But after seeing things clearly, how to make decisions still requires the coach's art, experience, and strategy. That's how I see it."

“You’re not wrong, maybe I’m just getting old and more sentimental. By the way, would you be interested in participating in a triathlon together? I think it’s a great way to ignite a competitive spirit. I’ve been away from it for a long time since winning this summer, and I’m ready to pick it up again. We could do it together.”

“Oh, of course, triathlon! I did it in college, it was very challenging, I was fine with it.”

Bellman was the first Trail Blazers member invited by Jack Ramsey to participate in a triathlon.

After all, this isn't a dinner party; if you don't have a certain level of experience, participating in this is tantamount to suicide.

During the team's group training session the following day, Ramsey announced at the pre-training meeting that the team would adopt a new offensive strategy, which can be simply described as one against four.

Gan Guoyang will take on and handle most of the ball possession through one-on-one isolation plays. Drexler and Porter will be the second and third ball handlers, and their tactical role will be to run pick-and-roll plays with Gan Guoyang and Thompson.

Van de Werner is a target man for receiving the ball and attacking, but his ball-handling ability is reduced in the starting lineup, while he is required to contribute more defensively.

Besides assisting in offense and defense, one of Mitchell Thompson's important roles is to feed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

Thompson had great passing talent when he was young, but it was somewhat buried as he got older.

His height and passing technique make him the best choice to feed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

It only took one afternoon to get the Trail Blazers players to accept this new tactical system.

Because it's really simple, there aren't many complicated parts. Almost half of the time, it's just "give the ball to Forrest Gump" and then watch from beyond the three-point line.

The remaining half is not much different from the old system, with cuts after pick-and-rolls and guards deciding their own offensive options when they have the ball.

Bellman also pointed out that they could make great use of long-range shots from the corner, especially three-pointers, "leaving the 45-degree angle on the wing to Agan."

During Gan Guoyang's rookie period, he mostly operated on the central axis when attacking, occasionally moving to the flanks.

In just three seasons, the coaching staff decided to settle him in the 45-degree wing position, give the central axis to the ball-carrying defenders, and the bottom corner to the shooters.

This simple, even somewhat crude, architecture was thus built.

After practice that day, everyone was complaining in the locker room: "Sonny, is this how you guys won the championship in high school? The level of basketball in California isn't that great."

"This was the easiest tactics lesson I've ever had. I think even my grandma could figure out how to play it... Give the ball to Forrest Gump!"

"Forrest Gump, you're going to have a tough time in the next game if we keep playing like this."

"I suspect Dr. Jack is possessed; he used to hate one-on-one fights the most."

"Can we win the game like this? People have always said that this kind of play is not going to work."

As his teammates chattered amongst themselves, Gan Guoyang interrupted them, saying, "Doesn't anyone care about my feelings? Jack said he wanted to increase my usage rate. Am I a donkey? I'm getting the same salary as before, but I'm expected to do more work. This is fucking unfair."

Everyone burst into laughter, saying things like, "The more capable you are, the more work you should do. This is the blessing you deserve. With great power comes great responsibility. This is Coach Bobby taking care of you," and so on.

Gan Guoyang shook his head, thinking that these people were truly heartless. Then he changed his clothes and went back to the training hall to continue his extra training.

As a rookie, Dell Curry naturally didn't have much say in the locker room, but he was a little confused when he heard everyone teasing Forrest Gump.

As he left the training facility, he asked Porter, "Terry, people don't seem to have much faith in this new tactic. Will it work?"

The two shared a room during the Olympic selection training camp and got along very well.

Porter patted Curry on the shoulder and said, "We don't need to trust any tactical system, just trust Forrest Gump. Everyone's joking, do you think Forrest Gump is afraid of constantly posting up? The other big men in the league should be afraid. Forrest Gump is just worried that if he posts up too much, it might affect the performance of others. Anyway, if you get a chance to play, perform well, especially your outside shots, you'll get your chance."

Curry hasn't had much playing time yet, but he's been practicing diligently, waiting for his chance to shine.

I overslept this afternoon, hence the late update. There will be another update later.

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(End of this chapter)