The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 122 - 25 Treat the Coach’s Low Blood Pressure
On July 28, 1984, the 23rd Olympic Games officially opened at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
Gan Guoyang missed the opening ceremony because he had signed a contract with the Trail Blazers, but he was able to watch the Chinese delegation make their appearance at the Olympics on television.
Basketball player Wang Libin carried the national flag into the stadium, marking the official appearance of Chinese athletes at a world competition.
The famous American athlete Ra-Johnson lit the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony, and Guoyang flew from Portland to Los Angeles with Wang Fuxi to watch the Olympic competitions.
On the morning of July 29, Gan Guoyang witnessed Xu Haifeng win China’s first Olympic gold medal in shooting, achieving a breakthrough from zero Olympic gold medals for China. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
That same evening, one of the matches Gan Guoyang cared most about took place, Team USA vs the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team. He knew the Chinese team was sure to lose, but still went to the venue to watch the game with Wang Fuxi, toughing it out.
As expected, Team USA won by a massive advantage of 106:48, 58 points ahead. Jordan scored 21 points in the first game, leaving the Chinese guards powerless.
After the match, the American players all sought out Ah Gan, but Gan Guoyang, too embarrassed to face anyone, quickly left with his girlfriend.
Luckily, mobile phones didn’t exist at that time, or else Gan Guoyang would definitely have been bombarded with messages from the American players.
China’s head coach Qian Chenghai lamented the huge gap in strength between China and America after the match. Unexpectedly, the American head coach, Bob Knight, came over to say hello, stating, "You should have recruited Ah Gan into the national team. If you had, you could have lost by less."
The team’s interpreter relayed Knight’s words to Coach Qian, who then asked who Ah Gan was. The interpreter brought over various newspapers with reports about Gan Guoyang and went over them with the coach.
After learning this, Qian Chenghai was shocked, wondering how such a basketball talent existed in China without common knowledge about him.
The feature written by Tang Yizhou on Gan Guoyang had not made much of a splash in China, condensed into a short news item, with most people unaware of what the NCAA really was.
The high-level exchanges between China and America were not publicized, and ultimately, basketball did not hold a high position in the hearts of Chinese people—it was just a sport. As the country opened its doors, people were more concerned with matters of the capital world like food, clothing, and shelter, as well as high technology.
After watching the game footage provided by the interpreter, Qian Chenghai was shocked by Gan Guoyang’s performance. He wanted to meet Gan Guoyang, but the interpreter informed him that Gan was now a professional player, ineligible to represent the national team.
Despite feeling regret, Coach Qian left his contact address in China with an embassy minister, hoping to pass it to Gan Guoyang in the future, so he could get in touch with the national team.
Over the following days, Gan Guoyang watched the games in Los Angeles while relaxing with Wang Fuxi in the city before the new season started.
The Americans took the Olympic men’s basketball championship without any suspense, winning each game by an average of over 30 points, easily dominating each match.
The Chinese Men’s Basketball Team finished in tenth place, while the Chinese Olympic Delegation brought home 15 gold medals, starting China’s Olympic gold medal journey that would last for decades.
On August 12, the Olympics officially closed. The games, doubted before they began and funded by private capital, achieved unprecedented success, thanks immensely to television broadcasting.
From that edition onward, the Olympics, which had been managed at a loss, began to be seen as attractive prospects by countries vying to host them. They not only brought prestige but also stimulated the economy, promoted infrastructure development, and boosted consumption.
After the Olympics, Gan Guoyang took Wang Fuxi and left Los Angeles to return to Portland, where he rented an apartment in Oswego Lake Park.
Many of the veteran players from the Trail Blazers lived here because it was near the team’s training ground—the basketball gymnasium at Portland Community College.
While the other team members were still on vacation, Gan Guoyang came to Portland early to adapt to life there, with Wang Fuxi accompanying him to shop for furniture, appliances, and various other living necessities.
Gan Youwei wanted to accompany Gan Guoyang to Portland to take care of him, but Gan’s Restaurant simply couldn’t do without him. Guoyang did not want his father to come to the unfamiliar Portland and endure lonely days.
A few days after settling in, Gan Youwei sent over a bunch of dried fruits and candied goods he had personally prepared. Over the phone, Gan Youwei expressed concern that Gan Guoyang’s training and work might be too tough and told him to have one whenever he missed home or his father to sweeten his day.
With his departure from school and the college team, Gan Guoyang had to take care of all matters such as food, shelter, and transport by himself. Professional teams only managed the games, training, and wages and wouldn’t bother with other matters.
Gan Guoyang assured his father that he would take good care of himself. He and Wang Fuxi finally felt at home in Portland, which excited them both. They spent time exploring downtown Portland, buying many things. Guoyang planned to buy property in the city center to make it convenient for him to go to the Memorial Coliseum for games.
Gan Guoyang quickly established his own social network in Portland, which included Yin Man, Dr. Ogilvy, the management team, coaching staff, Avia’s sales director, a bunch of sales managers, designers, and more. If he wished, almost every day, someone would invite him out for meals, golf, bowling, and countless other events and celebrations. He could even get paid for attending.
However, Gan Guoyang still focused more on spending time with his girlfriend and training. On his first day back in Portland, he began physical training, enjoying long, arduous runs amidst the beautiful lakes and mountains.
He visited Dr. Ogilvy’s office three times a week to undergo "visualization training," a mental training regimen based on meditation and verbal guidance, similar to what Beelman had introduced to the team but more professional and thorough with the use of videos for enhanced effect.
After three weeks of visualization training, Gan Guoyang felt his hook shot had further improved, with the most notable progress being his ability to easily score hook shots from around 20 feet, a distance considered long-range for other players.
Dr. Ogilvy was quite excited; he had not expected the visualization training to show effects so quickly—though he would later find that such rapid improvement only occurred with Gan Guoyang.
Of course, both were unaware of just how much Gan Guoyang’s improved move hook would frustrate Jack Ramsey.
Owing to his participation in games with Team USA and the All-Star Team, Gan Guoyang missed out on the Trail Blazers’ summer league, but in September, the Trail Blazers set up a rookie training camp at the Portland Community Gymnasium, offering training and competition resources for the new players joining the team this year.
Attendees included Gan Guoyang, the 19th pick in the first round Bernard-Thompson, the 22nd pick in the second round Jerome Kossie, the 33rd pick in the second round Steve Colter, and the 117th pick in the seventh round Tom-Scheffler.
Besides these five, students from the Portland Community College, University of Portland, and Portland State University basketball teams also practiced with them.
The head coach of the training camp was team assistant coach Rick Adelman, who had played for the Trail Blazers and was familiar with everything about the team. The coach, who bore a resemblance to a certain German leader, had a voice as raspy as a broken gong.
Like Jack Ramsey, Adelman initially held some prejudice against Gan Guoyang, but it only took a few days into the training camp for Adelman to realize that Gan Guoyang was simply on a different level from the others.
It was to be expected, after all; the guy had been slaughtering it with Team USA and the NBA All-Star Team. How could these rookies, coupled with young college players, be on the same level as him?
But what surprised Adelman even more was that Gan Guoyang was very popular at the training camp. Within just one day, he became the core leader of the camp, and during training, he demanded strict discipline from his teammates much like a coach would.
The caveat being, Gan Guoyang was even more strict with himself.
Every day, after training was over, Gan Guoyang would practice extra until it got dark and the gym closed.
His boundless energy amazed everyone, and his love for basketball also left a deep impression on Adelman.
For some players, especially professional ones, playing basketball became a job for them. Over time, playing ball gradually turned exhausting and painful.
Yet at the training camp, Gan Guoyang was always full of energy. The longer he played, the more excited he became; his radiance shone especially during intense games.
On the last day of the training camp, Adelman announced the disbandment after the afternoon training concluded, stating that the next camp would be in October when the Trail Blazers would start their preseason games.
However, Colter, Kossie, and others didn’t leave but instead stayed to practice extra with Gan Guoyang. Adelman had never seen such an influential player before.
Compared to Drexler, the two were polar opposites. Although Drexler was exceptionally talented, he was lackadaisical during training and never arrived on time.
Gan Guoyang, on the other hand, was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. He always trained happily and could drive others to invest themselves as well.
Adelman reported these observations to head coach Jack Ramsey. Upon hearing them, Ramsey showed little reaction, just saying, "Let’s wait until the training camp starts to see."
In September, the main task for the Trail Blazers’ management was to renew the contract of their star player Jim Paxson.
Gan Guoyang’s rookie contract of six hundred thousand a year with a total of four million posed a difficulty for the Trail Blazers’ renewal, as Paxson’s contract from the previous year was only one hundred and twenty-five thousand.
As a rookie was earning four million, Paxson naturally wanted a large contract, seeking a five-year deal with an annual salary of five hundred thousand.
Due to Gan Guoyang’s contract, the Trail Blazers had already exceeded the salary cap, leaving no space.
However, this summer, the Celtics faced a similar situation when renewing Larry Bird’s contract, forcing the League to introduce the Bird Exception, allowing teams to re-sign veterans above the cap.
Paxson had served the Trail Blazers for five years and was eligible for the Bird Exception. It was entirely up to the Trail Blazers whether they wanted to re-sign him above the cap.
The stalemate continued until early October when the preseason training camp was set to begin without any agreement reached, and Paxson refused to attend the camp.
On the first day of the training camp, Ramsey arrived early in the morning at the Portland Community College gymnasium and saw Gan Guoyang already sweating profusely from practice.
It appeared that what Adelman said was correct. Not only was the kid punctual, but he also arrived early and trained very hard.
However, seeing the specific drills Gan Guoyang was practicing on the court, Ramsey’s blood pressure surged.
What in the world are you practicing, kid? Seriously practicing hook shots from the three-point line!
