The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 123 - 26 Knocking
The last person who easily hit a hook shot from the three-point line distance and left a video of it was Wilt Chamberlain.
To showcase his incredible upper body strength, he performed a long-distance hook shot ability in front of the camera.
Of course, Chamberlain only used this move during practice for fun, as it wouldn’t have been practical in a real game.
If he had the ability to do so in games, his free throw percentage wouldn’t have been so low, he could just hook it directly from the free throw line.
Gan Guoyang was practicing three-point hook shots not for use in games, but to improve the stability and feel of his hook shot.
In the intense environment of a game, shooting and hook shots generally don’t give you time to aim and think; you rely on muscle memory built up day by day.
Following Dr. Ogilvy’s instructions, while performing visualization training Gan Guoyang also had to further strengthen his muscle memory during practice.
The close-range hook shots of the Mikan drill were no longer enough to satisfy Gan Guoyang’s desire to perfect his touch; he needed to expand his range to have better distance control.
When Gan Guoyang made a super long-distance hook shot, watching Jack Ramsay got so mad his blood pressure skyrocketed, and he couldn’t help shouting, "Gan, what are you doing!"
Gan Guoyang ran to the basket to pick up the ball and said, "I’m training, Coach. You’re early today, just two hours later than me."
Today was the first day of training camp, and Ramsay had already arrived early enough, but he didn’t expect that Gan Guoyang had already been training for two hours.
For a moment, Ramsay was both angry and helpless; it was like seeing your child wake up at 5 a.m. for morning reading and feeling proud, only to discover they are reading ’One Hundred Thousand Whys.’
"Excessive training isn’t necessarily a good thing; rest is just as important as training. And it should be rational and scientific, not mindless!" Ramsay said seriously.
"This is a training program developed together with Dr. Ogilvy, which can effectively enhance the control of my hook shot and expand my sweet spot area," he explained.
Saying so, Gan Guoyang picked up the ball and ran to the front of the three-point line, this time using his left hand to hook the ball. The ball drew a high arc and hit the rim without going in.
"My left hand is still not good enough," Gan Guoyang muttered to himself.
Ramsay didn’t know what to say; at this distance, being able to effortlessly hook the ball toward the basket with good accuracy was very difficult.
Most players wouldn’t even hit the basket, let alone execute a standard hook shot close to it, unless they had strong upper body strength and good coordination.
Gan Guoyang made it look easy, making the ball seem smaller and lighter in his hands, and the basket somehow seemed closer.
But as a player attempting three-pointers, Ramsay was already displeased, a three-point line hook shot? Ramsay didn’t know what to criticize at the moment.
"Forget it, when he makes a mistake in training, I’ll knock him down a peg," he decided.
Ramsay resolved to take the opportunity to break Gan Guoyang of his "bad habit" once the official training started.
Ramsay still had high expectations for Gan Guoyang and the new season, with Gan Guoyang’s defense being the most satisfying aspect for Ramsay.
On the offensive end, Ramsay thought Gan Guoyang played too "fancy," using too many techniques too broadly, and believed his coordination and passing abilities needed further improvement.
In comparison to Drexler, Ramsay was relatively satisfied with Gan Guoyang’s excellent shooting, but he also believed that too good a shooting ability could easily lead to Gan Guoyang "chucking."
Watching Gan Guoyang’s games from college and high school, Ramsay believed Gan Guoyang took too many sudden long-range shots, which, while accurate, were harmful to the team’s offense.
In college and high school, playing encounter games might work, but in the NBA, facing the same opponents over and over, it was easy to get targeted. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
However, Ramsay didn’t consider the lack of offensive power at Shui Zhong and the Bulldogs during Gan Guoyang’s high school and college years, and the enormous pressure Gan carried in terms of ball-handling duties, sometimes leaving him no choice but to "chuck."
Like in the NBA All-Star Team and U.S. Olympic Team game, where his teammates were all-star players, Gan Guoyang’s scoring pressure dropped sharply, significantly reducing his long shots and focusing mostly on defense and support.
By around nine o’clock in the morning, the Trail Blazers coaching staff, support personnel, and the players began to arrive at the Portland Community College gymnasium one after another, officially starting the team’s 1984-1985 season.
When Ramsay began blowing the whistle to line up the players and lay out today’s training tasks, Drexler, carrying his sports bag, finally arrived late and went to the locker room to change into his training gear.
"Hurry up, Clyde! It’s the first day of training, and I don’t want to get mad at you!" Ramsay shouted toward the locker room, not looking like someone who didn’t want to get mad.
Five minutes later, Drexler joined the court while the players were already warming up under the command of Ramsay and Adelman.
"Add fifty shuttle runs," Ramsay told Drexler as a punishment for being late.
Drexler didn’t mind; fifty shuttle runs were a piece of cake for him.
When everyone finished warming up and started tactical training, Drexler was still on the sidelines doing shuttle run exercises.
This year, the Trail Blazers welcomed many new players, not only keeping five out of twelve drafted rookies but also making a shocking league trade before the June draft.
The Trail Blazers traded away Fatt Lev, Wayne Cooper, and Calvin Natt, acquiring All-Star forward Cheche Vandeweghe from the Nuggets team.
Last season, Vandeweghe averaged 29.4 points per game for the Nuggets team, making him one of the strongest scorers in the League.
Of course, the Nuggets’ defense was famously terrible; they almost gave up on defending and focused entirely on offense, averaging 123 points per game and ranking first in the League.
In the 1981 season, the Nuggets set an NBA historical record for the highest average points per game for a team with 126 points, a record that would not be surpassed for decades to come.
On December 4, 1983, in a game between the Nuggets and the Pistons, both teams fought hard for points, and after three overtimes, the score ended at 186:184, a combined 370 points, setting the record for the highest-scoring game.
From these data, it is clear Vandeweghe’s 29.4 points were somewhat inflated. His impact within the Portland Trail Blazers’ system would depend on Ramsay’s adjustments as well as his own adaptation.
As an old-school college coach, Jack Ramsay placed great emphasis on fundamental tactics. On the first morning of training camp, basic tactical coordination was the main focus of practice.
Pick and roll, positioning, passing, cutting, screening, and high-low passing, among others, he had them practice in groups, all while assessing the tactical literacy of the players.
Throughout practice, Ramsay maintained a full-on state, constantly blowing his whistle, yelling at the players, and correcting their mistakes in training.
There is a significant difference between college basketball and professional basketball. College allows zone defense, thus offense tends to be more monotonous.
Although Beelman had Stockton and Gan Guoyang memorize over a hundred sets of tactics at Gonzaga, during games they likely only used about a dozen of them.
Because zone defense could only be broken by relentlessly moving the ball, searching for open shots on the perimeter, and then fighting hard under the basket.
The NBA does not allow zone defense and pre-emptive double teams, as it does not want to see the game become uniform and monotonous. The mandatory one-on-one defense provides the offense with more possibilities, making various tactical collaborations useful, and also allowing the display of players’ individual skills.
Ramsay split the rookies into a group, began teaching them some Trail Blazers-specific tactics, and told them tactical codes like "duck in" and "pin down." When Ramsay shouted these codes, the players had to follow his commands to complete their movements.
Kossie, Kolter, and others practiced for over ten minutes, confused by these movements which were much more complicated than anything they had learned in college.
"Don’t worry, there are over two hundred more sets of such tactics in the manual. You can take a look at them in your spare time after training," Ramsay’s words made Kossie and the others quite distraught.
Gan Guoyang was quite calm; he had been repeatedly practicing these tactical routines since high school under Beelman’s guidance, and practiced even more in college. Many were variations of the same set.
After integrating them, the so-called two hundred tactics were about a dozen in his mind, with the rest being variations of those. On the court, situations change rapidly, and within those variations, new changes would emerge.
While the other rookies were still confused and nervous, Gan Guoyang was already running wherever Ramsay’s commands directed, and he could even lead his teammates.
"Jerome, go to the corner!"
"Kolter, roll to the top of the arc; this is my spot."
"Bernard, move! Wrong way, go the other way!"
Under Gan Guoyang’s direction, everyone completed Ramsay’s training content with some stumbles.
As time went on, everyone improved, but Ramsay grew more and more anxious on the inside: why isn’t the kid making any mistakes?
Ramsay had no chance to train Gan Guoyang; his tactical positioning and understanding were nearly perfect, even allowing for variations based on that understanding.
After the group tactical training ended, Gan Guoyang joked with Ramsay, "Dr. Jack, you ought to give me a third of your coaching salary, I contributed too!"
During the break, while everyone was resting, Adelman had a chat with Ramsay, "How is it, isn’t Ah Gan good? His tactical level is very high."
Ramsay snorted without speaking, "Let’s talk after the internal scrimmage ends this afternoon."
At noon, everyone went their own way for lunch, with Gan Guoyang inviting the other four rookies to a nearby restaurant.
He had already covered all their meals during rookie orientation, and in this regard, he was very generous.
Gan Guoyang quickly became the leader of the group of rookies, and at the dinner table, they discussed Ramsay’s complex tactics.
Jerome Kossie was worried about his future, saying, "I might not be able to play many games under Dr. Jack; I never practiced anything this complicated in college."
Gan Guoyang reassured everyone not to worry, saying that if you grasp some basic principles of tactical movement, sometimes even without a tactical diagram in your head, you could still execute the tactics.
"Have you seen the Discovery Channel? There’s those huge schools of small fish in the ocean. When they gather together, they almost act as one and can effectively evade bigger fish. Do you think they have tactical meetings beforehand? Of course not, they just pay attention to the fish around them. When a nearby fish moves, they follow suit. Basketball is somewhat similar; sometimes don’t think too much, focus on your teammates and opponents nearby. If I drive into the lane, you definitely go to the corner; if I pull out, someone surely has to cut to the basket. Stay focused and follow commands, then you won’t make major mistakes."
Kossie, Kolter, and the others nodded in agreement, finding Gan Guoyang’s words enlightening.
In the afternoon, Jack Ramsay had the players change into different colored practice jerseys for an internal scrimmage.
Stu-Inman and owner Larry Weinberg also arrived at the training facility. Yin Man raised an eyebrow at the segregation: "Jack, having five rookies up against Vandeweghe, Thompson, and Drexler? Isn’t that a little too unbalanced?"
Ramsay said, "What’s the issue? The U.S. national team is made of college players, and they still play and win against the NBA All-Star Team."
Inman knew that Ramsay was most likely looking to test Gan Guoyang’s mettle and perhaps put him in his place, so he didn’t say much else, just, "We have media coming at three o’clock for the new season’s interviews, as well as Gan’s and Cheche’s jersey unveiling ceremony, so save some time, Dr. Jack."
"That depends on how they play, and when they finish," Ramsay replied.
