The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 457: The Heart of a Champion
A team's team-building strategy can be roughly divided into three levels.

The first level is the strategic level: whether your team focuses on the inside or the outside, offense or defense, fast or slow, counter-attack or positional play.

These factors are determined by the player roster, coaching style, and the overall atmosphere of the city where the team is located.

Once decided, it is not easily changed.

Any changes indicate that the team is entering a rebuilding phase.

The second level is the tactical routine level, which is what routines the five players use on the field, how they run, how they cooperate, and how they distribute possession of the ball.

What defensive strategies to use, whether to double-team or defend one-on-one, whether to switch, etc.

These require coaching guidance, extensive off-field training, and numerous matches on the field to refine team cohesion.

Tactical routines are often determined by strategy, and they will continue to be enriched and improved as basketball skills and tactics develop, but the general direction will not change.

The third level is the technical and tactical details, and there are many details to consider.

For example, even with the same pick-and-roll, different details of the screen can have completely different effects.

Other factors include distance management between players, a player's decision-making on the field, the way they pass the ball, the speed of their runs, and their hand gestures when defending.

The details are endless, and these seemingly insignificant things often determine the success or failure of a competition.

A mature championship team like the Trail Blazers won't change its strategy.

They are a well-rounded team, with a stronger offensive presence overall.

The team has a calm, resilient, and decisive style, excels at winning in the third quarter, has extremely high offensive efficiency in crucial moments, strong offensive explosiveness, and good defensive tenacity. The intensity of the defense is average but varied.

In terms of tactical approach, Jack Ramsey excels at playmaking tactics centered around centers and power forwards, but he has fewer tactics centered around backcourt players.

Depending on the player roster, there will be different focuses and changes each season.

The typical tactical routine in the 85 season was Gan Guoyang cutting to the basket, receiving the ball, and driving to the rim for offensive rebounds.

In the 86 season, the three tall players were the mainstays. In the 87 season, with the decline of Walton and Thompson, Gan Guoyang took on the main responsibility in one-on-one play, combined with the weak-side receiving and attacking of the basket by Vandeweghe, Porter, and Drexler.

The different focuses reflect the changes in the players' strength and form.

However, the overall tactical routines do not change much. A team has a dozen or so signature and well-coordinated tactical combinations, which is sufficient.

Generally, you keep a few sideline ball tactics that you don't usually use, but can use in crucial moments, so they can come in handy when the game is critical.

For teams like the Trail Blazers, when no tactics work, there's still a safety net: give the ball to Forrest Gump.

We don't need to worry about whether Forrest Gump is in the low post or not; he can shoot threes anyway, so just let him play.

Therefore, in terms of strategy and tactics, there are not many things that a championship team like the Trail Blazers can change. What they can really improve and change are the details.

The "two reductions and one increase" essentially represent changes in details, while also adding some tactical routines.

Of course, these details didn't appear out of nowhere; they were all traceable.

For example, fast breaks decreased; the Trail Blazers had a lot of fast breaks in the 85 season.

Drexler, Vandeweghe, and even Gan Guoyang all had a lot of fast breaks.

Gan Guoyang's defensive rebounding numbers in the 1985 season are currently his career peak, and they decreased year by year in the following two years.

It wasn't because his rebounding ability declined, but because the team had fewer fast breaks, and Drexler and Vandeweghe took away some of the rebounds.

By the 1987 season, the Trail Blazers were no longer the typical fast-break team in the league; they were better at half-court offense.

There was also a decrease in passing. The 1986 season was the peak of the Trail Blazers' passing and assist numbers. In the 1987 season, as Gan Guoyang began to play one-on-one, passing was already decreasing.

Needless to say, the Trail Blazers are one of the teams that use three-pointers the most.

Therefore, Ramsey and Berman did not suddenly come up with three rules that were completely different from the past, and asked everyone to play according to these principles.

Instead, it summarized the trends in team and league tactical development over the previous three seasons, further strengthening these detailed requirements in order to further consolidate and improve the team's combat strength.

However, in practice, it's not as simple as it seems.

During training camp, the preseason officially began, and teams played according to the new principles.

As a result, they did not perform well in the preseason.

Drexler loves fast breaks, and he's gotten stronger this summer, significantly improving his fast-break ability.

The team is now reducing fast breaks and playing more positional offense, which makes him very uncomfortable during games.

This season is Drexler's contract season, and he certainly wants to put up good numbers to help him get a bigger contract.

He couldn't make the All-Star team last season, and he's eager to have a breakout season.

But reducing fast breaks felt like a shackle on him, giving him a feeling of having energy but being unable to use it.

Drexler knew that these three principles of detail were designed for Forrest Gump.

Reduce fast breaks because Forrest Gump has become heavier and will be more effective in the low post. Let him hit more often.

Reduce passing, just give the ball to the center, don't pass it around randomly.

As for the three-pointer, it was to create space for Agan.

Drexler was dissatisfied, but he couldn't say it out loud.

First, he dared not; Forrest Gump's status in Portland was second only to God. Second, he respected Forrest Gump; he was his daughter's godfather and had taken good care of her.

So Drexler was sullen throughout the entire preseason training camp.

Vandeweghe is also in a bad situation; his performance from beyond the arc, at least in the preseason, has been terrible.

He spent the summer recovering from a back injury, which led to increased body fat and a decline in his shooting touch.

Even more dramatic is Jim Paxson's decline; whether in training or games, he can no longer return to his former All-Star level.

Two championships were enough for him, and he shifted his focus to other areas of life.

Hornacek and Dell Curry are in good form, but they are too young, and they start making mistakes as their playing time increases.

They still have a lot to learn.

Mitchell Thompson is another year older, and he showed no passion for the game during the preseason.

This summer, like Gan Guoyang, he also got married.

He married his college girlfriend, a volleyball player, who was beautiful and radiant. Thompson wanted to focus most of his energy on having children, and basketball became a job.

Young Jerome Kossie, on the other hand, is incredibly passionate. He has made great progress and is eager for his next big contract.

During the off-season, he bought several luxury cars for himself, as he needed money to buy and maintain them.

Big contracts come from on-court performance and statistics; he needs playing time.

During training, he often competed with Vandeweghe, and as their strengths shifted, conflicts between the two players in the same position were inevitable.

The Trail Blazers have a record of 2 wins and 4 losses in six preseason games, which is not a pretty record.

The principles demanded by Ramsey and Bobby Bellman were not fully implemented.

Moreover, even if it is fully implemented, the effects will not be seen in a short period of time.

These details need to be fully internalized by the players, and results can only be obtained after a large number of matches.

The team will be more efficient, make fewer mistakes, and their offense and defense will become easier and more fluid.

But at first it was quite painful, and everyone was in a state of confusion.

Of course, a large part of this confusion comes from the emptiness after winning the championship.

Everyone still wants to win the championship, but they're not as eager as they used to be, and everyone is thinking more about themselves.

In their final preseason game, the Trail Blazers suffered a heavy defeat at home to the Golden State Warriors.

George Karl ended his partnership with the team after failing to reach an agreement in the summer.

The Warriors, however, already had their sights set on Adelman and poached him.

Adelman looks great, very energetic. It's different when you're a head coach; he looks more like a German leader.

After the game, the players all hugged and greeted Adelman.

Gan Guoyang squeezed Adelman's hand tightly and said, "Rick, are two rings enough for you? Once you leave Portland, I don't think you'll be able to get any more."

Adelman winced in pain and quickly let go, saying, "Not everyone is Sonny. For many people, one is enough."

Adelman is right. Gan Guoyang could sense that the team was emitting a rotten smell, just like he had smelled it with the Celtics and Lakers before.

He went to Ramsey's office and barged in without knocking.

Ramsey was startled and said, "Sonny, don't bring up 'why not give you all the balls' again. You know these three principles were tailor-made for you!"

Gan Guoyang said, "I'm not here to ask you to add more balls. I want to ask you... Jack, are you planning to resign?"

Ramsey was startled; he hadn't told anyone about this, he'd only been thinking about it.

Did this kid peek into my diary? I don't even keep a diary.

Ramsey said, "Who told you that nonsense?"

Gan Guoyang said, "I can smell it."

"What is the taste?"

"The smell of decay. Everyone seemed to want to leave."

Ramsey remained silent for a long while, knowing that Gan Guoyang's feeling was correct.

"The world is always changing. Nothing lasts forever. Besides, the NBA is already changing at an accelerated pace."

As they left the office, Gan Guoyang and Ramsey said, "Coach, we will be champions again this season."

"why?"

"Never underestimate the heart of a champion."

Ramsey lay back in the sofa chair, reflecting on Gan Guoyang's words.

He thought that his old bones would have to rely on the players' motivational speeches to get through this.

Let's hold on for one more season.

(End of this chapter)