The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 462 Where Did the Bucket Come From?

Wang Fuxi came prepared this time, as the two had never seriously considered the issue of having children since their marriage.

Gan Guoyang is focused on basketball and has no plans to have children for the time being.

His experience growing up in an orphanage gave him a natural aversion to having children.

The orphanage is full of children who have been abandoned by their parents.

However, the new body and life are gradually dismantling this resistance.

Especially when he returns to his hometown island in the summer, he kowtows and pays respects at his mother's grave, and childhood memories of his mother resurface.

Because his mother passed away very early, these memories are very faint, but the image of his mother carrying him on her back, gazing at the starry sky over the sea at night, is still firmly imprinted in his mind.

My mother was a very tall woman. She was very clean and, despite living by the sea, she didn't smell of fish at all; she always had a faint scent of soap on her.

She often sang for Gan Guoyang, some very melodious and cheerful tunes, which were rare in those days.

After she fell ill and died, Gan Guoyang rarely heard anyone sing for him anymore.

On the way back to Gan Family Restaurant from San Francisco, Gan Guoyang said to Wang Fuxi, "Sing me a song, and I'll agree to your request."

"Really? You'd agree to have a baby if I sang for you?"

"Yes, but you have to sing until I'm satisfied."

"I can sing pretty well. Tell me, what do you want to hear? English, Cantonese, or Mandarin? I can sing anything I can."

Wang Fuxi's family owns a music and video store, so she listens to and knows a lot of songs.

Gan Guoyang thought for a moment about what songs he had heard in 1987. He couldn't very well ask her to sing a song that hadn't been released yet.

"It's snowing in winter, so why don't you sing 'About Winter'?"

In 1987, Chyi Chin released the album "Winter Rain," which achieved great commercial success, and the song "About in Winter" became a classic of the era.

Wang Fuxi knew how to sing this song, but shook his head and said, "No, this song is about parting. The first line is about leaving you, and I don't want to."

“We’re always going to be apart, you know. I’m going back to Portland tomorrow, and tonight I have to head to Cleveland for an away game. I’ll be gone for a week. But in the end, we’ll always be together, right?”

Gan Guoyang comforted Wang Fuxi, and Wang Fuxi finally sang softly: "Gently, I will leave you, please wipe away the tears from the corners of your eyes, in the long night, in the days to come, my dear, don't cry for me..."

Gan Guoyang didn't cry, but Wang Fuxi started crying as he sang.

Thinking about how the two would be separated for long periods of time after the season started, tears welled up in her eyes.

Gan Guoyang quickly hugged her, wiped away her tears, and said, "I promise you, after I win the championship this year, we'll have a child."

Wang Fuxi said, "Do you have to win the championship before you can have a child? What if you can't win? You've already won two championships, and you don't have a single child!"

"Believe me, you will definitely win this year. I will do my best to win the championship for your wish."

Wang Fuxi stopped crying, finished singing the rest of the song, and the two went home hand in hand.

Quentin and the Feng brothers remained seated in the car, following behind and slowly flashing their lights at the two men.

"Brother, are Yangtou and his wife acting in a movie? They're hugging one minute and crying the next."

"You don't know anything, this is love."
-
Christmas gave the Trail Blazers players a great opportunity to rest, as they had no games from the 23rd to the 26th.

For the first time in many years, Jack Ramsey was able to spend Christmas with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law, giving his weary soul a chance to relax.

Even at the Christmas dinner table, Ramsey couldn't escape the allure of basketball.

Because his son-in-law, Jim O'Brien, recently lost his job.

From 1982 to 1987, he served as head coach at Wellington Jesus College, an NCAA Division II school.

After the 87 season ended, he ended his partnership with the school and is currently looking for his next job.

For a coach, such a gap in performance is unbearable.

Jack Ramsey is currently at the peak of his career in the NBA, and finding his son-in-law a basketball-related job shouldn't be a problem.

Ramsey knew his son-in-law had some ability, after all, he had achieved some success as a college coach.

But to be honest, he doesn't have much talent, and his personality as a coach is just average. Simply put, he's just average, good enough to make a living, but it's very difficult for him to become a top coach.

But unable to resist his daughter's pleading, and wanting to spend a rare Christmas with his family, Ramsey reluctantly called Buckwalt and asked him to arrange a position for O'Brien. Buckwalt asked if he could be an assistant coach, but Ramsey quickly said no, O'Brien wasn't good enough yet, and suggested he be a trainer or video analyst, with the possibility of moving into a coaching position later.

As a result, after going for the interview, O'Brien felt that he was not good enough to be a trainer or video analyst, and he still wanted to seek a head coach job, so he rejected the offer.

This made Ramsey somewhat embarrassed; he had arranged jobs for his family, but they didn't appreciate it.

In this respect, Bobby Bellman was different; even after achieving certain success in college, he was already dreaming of entering the NBA.

After arriving in the NBA, he became an absolute workaholic. He would work overtime until late at night to watch videos for a single tactic, statistic, or even a single move, practically making the video room his home.

As a traditional coach, Ramsey initially scoffed at analyzing tactics through game footage, believing that doing so demonstrated a coach's lack of basic spatial imagination.

However, with the widespread adoption of video recording technology, the benefits are indeed increasing.

Bellman often spent time with Spoelstra in the video room, editing current and past games and conducting detailed analyses of both sides.

Ramsey is getting old and in good health, but his eyesight isn't what it used to be; watching videos for too long becomes tiring.

Since he has decided to retire after this season, Ramsey has begun to consider his successor.

Although the coach is not a throne of power that can be appointed by the previous one.

But generally speaking, unless you've been fired, the previous coach's opinion is still very important.

Ramsey originally intended for Rick Adelman to be his successor, but the guy left early to become a coach in Golden State.

Bobby Bellman has relatively little experience, but he has a great advantage: he was Forrest Gump's high school and college coach.

It's very important that he has the support of the team's leader.

As a result, Ramsey gradually began to consider having Bobby Bellman succeed him.

After Christmas, he decided to focus on developing Bellman, gradually delegating authority to others and giving him more responsibilities.

On December 26th, the Christmas holiday ended, and the entire Trail Blazers team gathered in the afternoon to fly to Cleveland, beginning their first long-distance trip to the Eastern Conference this season.

Since Larry Weinberg is a relatively small owner overall, the two-time champion Portland Trail Blazers still have to travel by business jet for their away games.

This made Gan Guoyang very dissatisfied. He had already won two championships, so why couldn't he spend some money to buy an airplane?

Their defeated rivals, the Detroit Pistons, are all traveling on private jets.

Weinberg laughed and said he would consider buying a plane next season, telling him not to rush.

Although they don't have a private jet, the Trail Blazers try their best to buy large, comfortable, and luxurious passenger planes so that the players can sit in first class.

The plane arrived in Cleveland in the early morning, and the team held a warm-up training session at 10 a.m. the next day. They arrived at the Rifield submarine at around 4 p.m. to prepare for the match.

Gan Guoyang then produced a bucket from somewhere, threw in a roll of $10 bills, and said, "Let's make a bet on tonight's game. Let's see if my combined blocks with Gilmore's can exceed 10. If we do, Train and I win; if not, you win."

By the third season, when the competition for the championship was intensifying, the thrill of victory and the title had diminished for the players.

The regular season is getting longer and longer, and harder to endure.

Especially for long-distance road trips in the East, which only happen once a year, the outcome doesn't matter much. Especially for teams like the Cavaliers, who are not even played in the playoffs, there's not much motivation.

At this point, something else is often needed to stimulate the process.

Small stakes in gambling are often a great way to get excited, and Gan Guoyang uses them frequently.

However, everyone had some questions this time, since blocking shots is something Forrest Gump excels at.

"Increase to 15 times!"

“I think I can take a gamble after 12 tries, I’ll bet $10.”

"20 times!"

"20 times, including Mitchell."

"I think I'll pass. I probably won't be able to block any of them, but I'm willing to take the gamble. It makes the game more interesting."

"Forrest Gump, where did you get this bucket?"

(End of this chapter)