The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 107 - 14 Gan’s Conditions
Although Jordan understood Knight’s expectations and knew the principle of "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," there was still a distance between cognition and practice.
Therefore, in the following days, when Jordan faced some of Knight’s unfair criticisms and even verbal abuse, he would still feel very upset.
Whenever this happened, he would think to himself, "What would Ah Gan do in this situation?"
Thinking of how Ah Gan always appeared nonchalant in front of Knight, easily defusing anything Knight said, Jordan’s heart would also calm down.
After the game with the Indiana University alumni team concluded, everyone packed up and headed to their second warm-up game location, Providence.
Leaving Bloomington was a release for the players; they had been there for too long, training every day without the opportunity to go out, which was quite suffocating.
Upon arriving in Providence, the first thing Jordan did was to grab Gan Guoyang, Perkins, and Wu De for a McDonald’s run.
Their driver was Coach George Laflin, Bob Knight’s assistant, who simply couldn’t believe that this car full of future NBA millionaires chose McDonald’s as their first stop after leaving the training camp.
"I think you guys should be eating steak, indulging in some red wine instead of munching on burgers and sipping cola like high school students," he said.
Jordan didn’t care in the slightest, saying, "I don’t care how much money I make, I’m just a McDonald’s kind of guy."
Gan Guoyang expressed his agreement. They never felt superior or demanded special treatment just because they were good at basketball or became basketball stars.
Eating McDonald’s, drinking cola, wearing ordinary sneakers and clothes, their daily expenses for food and clothing were not much different from ordinary people’s. They would not start spending extravagantly in advance just because they were about to make a lot of money.
This had to do with their upbringings and personalities. Their childhoods were decent enough; at least they didn’t grow up in slums. They had a relatively complete paternal or maternal love, so they didn’t have such a deep craving for material things.
Of course, they were still young, and no one would know what they would turn into in the future.
After enjoying their McDonald’s meal, everyone was satisfied. Gan Guoyang returned to the hotel to find that Fleisher was waiting for him in the lobby.
"Where have you been?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
"I went to McDonald’s."
"Just to McDonald’s?"
"Yeah, Coach Laflin was with us," Guoyang replied.
Fleisher was worried that Gan Guoyang would run off to have fun during their outing. Hearing that Laflin was with them put his mind at ease.
Then, the two returned to the room, and Fleisher discussed the contract signing with the Trail Blazers with Gan Guoyang.
Because Gan Guoyang had been running around with the US national team lately, he hadn’t had time to report to Portland after being selected.
Fleisher told Gan Guoyang that there was no rush to report to Portland and that he should do well in the upcoming national team vs. All-Star Team games to show his face to American fans.
By the end of July, when the final game in San Diego concluded, Gan Guoyang would be able to go directly from California to Portland to participate in a press conference and sign the contract.
"How big of a contract are you preparing for?"
"Can I want as much as I wish?" asked Gan Guoyang knowingly.
"Of course not, it has to be within the salary cap," came the reply.
"Why isn’t there a rookie scale contract based on draft rank, offering rookie salaries according to a percentage of the salary cap?"
Gan Guoyang was referring to measures launched many years later by the League to curb the inflation of salary caps and the unrestricted large contracts of rookies.
Fleisher pushed his glasses up and said, "Your idea is interesting, but it’s not included in the current collective bargaining agreement. We still need a proper offer."
Before the 1984-1985 salary cap rules came into effect, player contracts were arbitrary; each one was custom-made, and the amount given depended on negotiations and the depth of the owner’s checkbook.
The upcoming season was the first year of the salary cap system, and as one of its proponents, Fleisher was busy dealing with all kinds of details.
All contract amounts would be made public, rather than kept private at individual discretion as it was before.
In such circumstances, comparison among players was inevitable. Everyone would gauge abilities by their salary, and some were bound to feel disgruntled, thinking, "Why does he make more than I do?"
After some thought, Gan Guoyang asked, "How much did the second pick from last year make?"
Fleisher said, "Steve Stipanovich, a four-year contract for 2.6 million US Dollar, with the first year at 400,000 USD. How about it, do you want to use this standard?"
Gan Guoyang said, "Considering inflation and the League’s increasing income, my contract should be slightly higher than his, shouldn’t it?"
"No problem, that’s the basic rule, indeed it can be higher."
"Then let’s make it 100% higher, I want a contract for 4 million USD, with the first year at 800,000 USD."
Fleisher almost choked, he pointed at Gan Guoyang several times but couldn’t decide what exactly to say.
Gan Guoyang continued, "Larry, you said it yourself that you would fight for my best contract interests. 800,000 USD a year doesn’t seem too much, does it? The more I get, the more you can also get, right?"
Fleisher composed himself, actually what Gan Guoyang said was not wrong – if a scrub like Stipanovich could get 400,000 USD a year, what was wrong with Gan Guoyang getting 800,000 USD?
Last year’s hot number one pick, Ralph Sampson, has a contract this year for 1.3 million US Dollar.
This year’s salary cap is 3.6 million US Dollar, and Sampson’s salary accounts for one third of the total.
Fleisher calculated and found that the current total salary of the Trail Blazers was around 2.5 million US Dollar.
It was possible to take on Gan Guoyang’s 800,000 USD contract, but if they gave Gan Guoyang 800,000 USD, it meant they would have very little room left for other players who had yet to sign.
After some thought, Fleisher believed the amount was reasonable, because he knew Gan Guoyang’s value.
"I can negotiate that price, but don’t you think four years is a bit too short?"
In the 80s, many NBA players sought longer contracts for stability.
Magic Johnson’s 25-year contract was a testament to Jerry Buss’s great sincerity.
It meant that Magic was definitely going to devote his entire career to the Lakers.
Gan Guoyang said, "The growth rate of the salary cap is going to increase faster than the rate of my contract. If I sign for too long, it would actually be disadvantageous for me. Of course, I know you’re concerned about stability, so I have another request."
"What request?"
"The Portland Trail Blazers need to replace their medical team; I don’t want Bill Walton’s incident to happen to me."
After being selected by the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang was reminded by several people of the medical risks in Portland – not just one person, those bigwig coaches at the camp knew a lot of inside information.
The Trail Blazers’ medical team failed to diagnose and treat Walton’s injury correctly in 1978; instead of proper treatment, they injected him with painkillers – xylocaine and marcaine – as well as anti-inflammatory medication. These could only temporarily relieve pain symptoms but were of no benefit to Walton’s injury, only making things worse.
This led to Walton suffering two fractures during games – the first when he was injected with painkillers during a halftime break, resulting in a broken leg in the second half.
The second time was before a game after which he could hardly walk. The team doctors’ solution was to inject painkillers to force him to play, and he fractured his leg again.
Walton’s career was ruined as a result, leading to many painful surgeries. He left the Trail Blazers and sued the team and the doctors, an undeniable basketball tragedy.
"I’m not someone who turns a blind eye or a deaf ear. My girlfriend goes to University of Portland, and I’ve been to Portland a few times, I know the situation there. It’s a city that loves basketball, with high attendance, always full house. But it seems the Trail Blazers are somewhat intoxicated by this enthusiasm, to the point they would sacrifice the health of their players to satisfy the passion of the audience. I think from both the perspectives of players and basketball, this is very shortsighted and intolerable, their disregard for the health of players is actually a harm to the fans’ passion for basketball and is unsustainable."
Gan Guoyang had a serious exchange with Fleisher, and as a union leader who had long fought for players’ interests, Fleisher very much agreed with Gan Guoyang’s point of view.
"However, getting a team to fire their entire medical staff for a rookie might not be very realistic."
"Then I will just leave the Portland Trail Blazers and play somewhere else."
"Don’t be so radical, Gan, there’s a solution to this. I will negotiate with the Trail Blazers to see if they can set up a new medical team for you. Or perhaps, cover all your medical expenses, I can get you in touch with good medical resources in Oregon."
"Larry, no matter how you handle it, I won’t back down on this matter. The Trail Blazers must realize the mistakes they have made and sincerely correct them, only then are they a team worthy of a player’s total dedication. Team-player, it’s a mutual choice, please make sure to clarify this with them."
Fleisher took a deep breath, thinking to himself that he had really taken on a big hassle – the kid was terrifyingly clear-headed.
Yet, Fleisher also felt that Gan Guoyang’s words were very true, the bad habit of teams letting players play with injuries in the League was something that needed to be seriously addressed.
He thought to himself that this might be a good opportunity to push NBA teams to improve their management of player injuries,
