The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 519 Liger
Gan Guoyang doesn't really like golf.

Compared to sports like basketball and football, which are full of physical contact and adrenaline, golf is a bit too refined.

Moreover, playing golf is less about competing with an opponent and more about competing with yourself; when you swing, you only have the club, the ball, and the wind.

Golfers are always figuring out the power, angle, and wind speed, competing with themselves again and again, which is similar to shooting basketball.

Many NBA players enjoy playing golf, which is an important symbol of entering the elite class and a way to stimulate themselves and escape pressure in their spare time.

Gan Guoyang never pushes himself too hard, so he doesn't like participating in this elitist sport, although sometimes he has to for social reasons.

Like his good friends Jordan and Barkley, they are all avid golf enthusiasts, and Gan Guoyang would play a few rounds with them in his spare time.

Surprisingly, Gan Guoyang was the best golfer among the three, which drove Jordan crazy.

This guy always believes that brute force brings miracles, so he swings hard without thinking twice and the ball always lands in a good spot.

Perhaps due to his long-term practice of shooting, Gan Guoyang has an excellent judgment of distance and angle, and his ball-passing feel is first-rate.

Jerry West was also a golf enthusiast. During his time off after retiring in 1974, he spent a lot of time playing golf at the Belle Country Club in Los Angeles with Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Ryan Martin, and even the famous Baron Hilton.

Even after becoming the Lakers' general manager, he still makes time to play golf to relieve his stress.

So even though he didn't like it, Gan Guoyang still had to go to the golf course to meet Jerry West.

Before meeting West privately, Gan Guoyang had no intention of recruiting him as the Trail Blazers' general manager.

West is indeed good, but he hasn't succeeded since 1985, and he was always blocked from winning the championship by Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang admires West's reputation and work ability, and hopes that he can mediate with Tang Jianguo to create a more stable playing environment for the Trail Blazers.

After all, Old Tang is too much of a troublemaker, so if we need to install a brake or a thermostat on him, the usually stoic West would be a perfect fit.

Furthermore, with the addition of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Orlando Magic, the NBA environment has become increasingly complex, and the draft has become even more troublesome.

The Trail Blazers need an experienced helmsman to take control of the situation.

But if he is unwilling or unable to come, Gan Guoyang doesn't think it matters; he can still lead the Trail Blazers to the championship.

I've taken on coaching duties before, and if necessary, I can do some management work part-time for extra pay. It's not difficult anyway.

More than recruiting, Gan Guoyang wanted to see what kind of person Jerry West was off the court.

After all, he was a legend on the field, so it would be great if we could learn something from him.

NBA's top stars are all very individualistic people, and most of them have some mental issues.

The earlier the era, the more mental health issues there are; the later the era, the more normal the mind and personality become.

Gan Guoyang, the director of the orphanage, has always been very interested in these kinds of troubled children.

In the morning, Gan Guoyang and Tang Jianguo arrived at their destination – Belle Country Club.

The Country Club, located on the campus of UCLA, is a social club within the university and the home of the UCLA men's and women's golf teams.

Two years ago, Jerry Bass showed his goodwill to Gan Guoyang by giving him a membership to the Belgian Football Club.

Unexpectedly, he now wants to poach the Lakers' meritorious manager together with Tang Jianguo.

However, it was Bass who first clashed with West and sided with Don Nelson between the coach and the manager.

Emotionally, Buss was biased towards West, but the problem was that the Lakers hadn't won a championship since 1985.

In the 1989 playoffs, the Lakers finally overcame the formidable obstacle of Gan Guoyang, thanks to Don Nelson's three-guard strategy.

This led to Nelson gaining Buss' trust, while West's failure to prevent Buss from trading Worthy in 1986 remained a lingering unease.

Because they lost to the Detroit Pistons in the Finals, and Aguirre was on the Pistons roster.

Before the start of the 1988-1989 season, West vowed that he would resign if he failed to win the championship.

To win the championship, he began trying to stop Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from retiring three years ago, making many promises and exhausting a lot of favors.

He changed coaches and personally fired Pat Riley, which caused him considerable pain.

He kept seeking deals and spent a lot of time scouting newcomers, hoping someone could stop Forrest Gump.

He even went abroad to scout Yugoslavian center forward Divac, hoping he could inherit Jabbar's mantle.

He still didn't win the championship, and he wouldn't allow himself to stay any longer.

Jerry Buss could have persuaded West not to leave, as West could have become the team's president with Bill Sharman nearing retirement.

However, considering Don Nelson's desire to also serve as the team's general manager, Jerry Buss did not immediately step in to persuade West.

As a result, West resigned in anger after the Finals, and Jerry Buss quickly regretted it and tried to persuade him, but West refused to see him.

Tang Jianguo seized this opportunity.
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Gan Guoyang met West on the golf course. He was 51 years old this year and looked to be in good spirits.

His expression remained cold, and he shook hands with Gan Guoyang without a trace of a smile, saying, "You lost the Western Conference Finals."

Gan Guoyang exerted force, and West remained expressionless, but cold sweat poured down his face.

After holding hands for a while, Gan Guoyang finally let go. West turned pale and couldn't speak for a long time.

"I almost lost my life," West thought to himself. The group then got into a golf cart and headed to the first hitting spot, four people in one cart.

Tang Jianguo, Gan Guoyang, West, and Jack Nicholson were present, with Tang Jianguo driving himself.

Jack Nicholson is a well-known die-hard Lakers fan and a friend of Jerry West.

Nicholson expressed anger and sympathy for West's resignation, saying he disliked Don Nelson's coaching style.

He believed that Don Nelson had not grasped the essence of showtime and was too lax, unlike Riley who was strict.

Nicholson was very resentful that Don Nelson had usurped his position and secretly ousted West, who had recruited him.

The reason he told Tang Jianguo about West's resignation and hoped that Tang Jianguo would recruit West was partly because he wanted his friend to have a new job so that he wouldn't be idle at home and wasting his life on the golf course.

On the other hand, Jack Nicholson really hopes that West can have more contact with Gan Guoyang, and it would be best if he could work for the Trail Blazers for a period of time.

Once you've gotten to know them well, try to bring Gan Guoyang to the Lakers, just like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did when he joined the Lakers.

Nicholson's idea is certainly imaginative, but it's not impossible for it to be realized.

As an NBA fan, no team wouldn't want to acquire Gan Guoyang.

In the summer of 1988, Gan Guoyang signed only a four-year contract, which meant he would soon become a free agent.

At that time, Gan Guoyang was only 28 years old, right at the peak of a player's career.

If West can use this connection to lure Agan to the Lakers, the Lakers will be able to rebuild.

Other people's super centers are just so effective.

That's why he's a well-known Hollywood actor; Nielsen's idea has a bit of a spy-within-a-spy feel to it.

After hearing his good friend's unreliable plan, West scoffed and said that he had no intention of going to any other team, let alone his old rival, the Trail Blazers.

"Go to the Trail Blazers? Then I might as well go to the Celtics and assist Auerbach."

Despite saying that, West did not refuse the meeting with Tang Jianguo and Gan Guoyang.

His thoughts were actually the same as Gan Guoyang's; he wanted to meet this young man who had once frightened him in private.

Since the 1986 season, Jerry West has been worried about one thing: that the Portland Trail Blazers would become the second Celtics of the 60s, and that Forrest Gump would be the second Bill Russell.

The three-peat proved his fears were real, while the 1989 defeat was influenced by many non-basketball factors.

Moreover, it was precisely because Jerry West witnessed the tragic failure of the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang to defend their titles that he genuinely felt the player's surging power.

In May, West attended Larry Fleischer's memorial service and knew of the deep friendship between Gan Guoyang and Fleischer.

Having experienced the death of a loved one, he understood that feeling. At that time, West thought the Trail Blazers were doomed and would lose to the Suns in the semifinals.

Unexpectedly, Gan Guoyang persevered all the way to the Western Conference Finals, and even tied the score again after being down 0-2.

At that time, West and the entire Lakers team were truly panicked, experiencing an unprecedented level of panic.

If he loses again in this situation, West will never want to touch basketball again in his life.

On the day of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, West didn't go to the stadium; he stayed home and slept.

West didn't breathe a sigh of relief until his son came home late at night and told him the result of the game.

He then asked Forrest Gump what happened, and his son told him, "He strained his calf but insisted on finishing the game and scored 33 points, almost turning the tide."

West could easily imagine the breathtaking and fierce competition contained in that short sentence.

The Western Conference Finals against the Trail Blazers exhausted the Lakers. West believed that the Pistons were no match for the Lakers, who were the best Lakers team since 1980.

The moment they defeated the Trail Blazers, the Lakers players thought they had won the championship, that the road was over, and they relaxed.

The two are now sitting side by side in the back of the golf cart; both are very tall, so the back seat is a bit cramped.

They started discussing some topics, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with basketball.

"Between a lion and a tiger, who is stronger in a fight?"

"It's obvious, it's a tiger, and the tiger is Chinese."

"No, according to the records of the Roman Colosseum, lions won more often."

"Wrong! The duel in the Roman Colosseum was between Barbary lions and Caspian tigers. The Barbary lion, being 20% ​​larger, won unfairly. Later, the fierce Bengal tiger took over, and the lion was no match for it. Moreover, the majestic Barbary lion is now extinct, leaving only the ugly and smaller African lion, which makes the lion even less of a match."

"The Bengal tiger doesn't belong to China."

"But China has even bigger Siberian tigers."

"That's called a Siberian tiger. Siberian tigers are named after their habitat..."

Tang Jianguo and Nicholson, sitting in the front row, looked at each other, wondering what the two of them were talking about.
Are they high school students? Why are they discussing this kind of thing?
You guys are basketball giants, why are you arguing about a lion versus a tiger?
Nicholson asked Tang Jianguo, "Donald, what do you think?"

Tang Jianguo said, "No one knows more about beast fighting than me... I'll end this argument."

(End of this chapter)