The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 143 - 42 No Longer Lonely_2

Some players and staff, in order to secure a contract, had no choice but to deliberately ingratiate themselves with the boss, thus Sterling controlled the life and death of players, coaches, and staff, playing everyone like puppets.

By these means, Sterling made a fortune each year, but such actions were devastatingly destructive to the team’s cohesion and fighting spirit. The Clippers, from top to bottom, were a completely selfish, terrible team, with no one truly caring about winning, nor feeling any shame in defeat.

After the team ended the last season with a record of 30 wins and 52 losses, the marketing team actually printed the number "30 wins" on cheap white T-shirts as promotional items and mementos, distributing them to fans and players to wear during games and team events.

Sterling even turned these T-shirts into a holiday gift for the team—ordinary organizations in China distribute zongzi and mooncakes for festivals, yet the Clippers distribute T-shirts, boasting the "great achievement" of 30 wins.

Any team that was a little sane and had some regard for their record would never produce such ridiculous promotional memorabilia. No fan would ever wear such a laughable T-shirt.

All these things were later told to Gan Guoyang by Bill Walton, who became friends with him during the summer Olympics vs. All-Star game. This somewhat eccentric giant took a liking to Gan Guoyang, and he was equally fond of the redhead who loved music and had a freewheeling temperament.

Walton admired many players and had quite an eye for talent. Jordan was someone he recommended to UCLA, and he strongly recommended Bird to the Trail Blazers, even suggesting they wait a year for him if necessary. During his travels and teachings in Europe, he also took notice of the 19-year-old Sabonis, trying his utmost to bring him to the NBA.

Perhaps there is a mutual attraction between superstars, but unfortunately, neither UCLA nor the Trail Blazers heeded Walton’s advice; otherwise, the fate of both teams would have been different.

And Sabonis did not come to America due to political reasons, but Walton’s recommendation did bring the Trail Blazers’ attention to this Lithuanian talent.

The game that evening between the Trail Blazers and the Clippers was unremarkable. The Clippers had talent; there was no issue with the players’ abilities or experience, but on the court, they lacked the fighting spirit and unity needed to win.

During the game, Gan Guoyang could clearly sense the Clippers players’ lack of desire to win, as if they were just clocking in for work, going through the motions on offense and defense with no real highs or lows.

There were some smooth plays and impressive goals; some of the defense was good as well, but when it came time to really put in effort, the Clippers just couldn’t keep up.

That’s why the Clippers could keep pace with the Trail Blazers in the first and third quarters, but once the second and fourth quarters came, when it was time to change the rhythm and turn the tide, the Trail Blazers’ surge of offense left the Clippers floundering, and they showed no determination to catch up. Even if individual players wanted to, the team couldn’t come together, and they were no match against the united Trail Blazers.

Gan Guoyang had a regular performance that night, 17 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, and only 27 minutes on the court. Ramsay was limiting Gan Guoyang’s time because they had a back-to-back game against the Lakers the next day.

The final score was 131:115, with the Trail Blazers comfortably beating the Clippers by 16 points. The fans who didn’t show up really made a wise decision.

At the end of the game, Walton and Gan Guoyang shook hands and hugged. Walton said he wanted to invite Gan Guoyang to dinner that evening, and Gan Guoyang agreed.

And he asked him, "Shall we invite Dr. Jack too? Let him pick up the tab."

Walton hesitated for a moment, then said, "Maybe not, we haven’t really made up yet. I need some time."

Gan Guoyang understood Walton. He said, "I had dinner with Dr. Jack yesterday. Sterling paid for it, and Dr. Jack was very upset."

Speaking of Donald Sterling, Bill Walton just let loose, telling Gan Guoyang all about the bizarre owner’s wrongdoings.

And he cautioned Gan Guoyang, "Never play for Sterling, unless he offers you a billion dollars, then you might consider it."

Gan Guoyang thought to himself, in the future, a billion dollars might not be so difficult to achieve, but even for ten billion, he wouldn’t go.

The venting about the owner actually brought the two of them closer together, and Gan Guoyang could sense that Walton had had enough of being here.

He suddenly wondered whether the giant might want to return to Portland someday in the future.

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At dinner, Walton told Gan Guoyang about many of Sterling’s miserly deeds, truly opening his eyes.

In his impression, the Clippers were perennially a terrible team, where any promising rookie or famous star seemed unable to make a name for themselves.

He had thought that it was because the team’s name was bad or that they were unlucky, but it turned out the team had such an unfortunate owner.

According to Walton, ever since Sterling had forcefully relocated the Clippers to Los Angeles without the League’s approval in 1981, the League had been trying to oust this owner but never succeeded.

Walton also expressed deep regret that he wasn’t able to keep the Clippers in his hometown of San Diego, feeling he had let the local fans down.

It was clear that Walton was a player who valued emotions.

When he spoke about Sterling, his words were filled with resentment, but when it came to the Trail Blazers, they were all positive remarks.

He said Larry Weinberg was a good owner, and Stu Inman was a very insightful general manager—although it seemed he had changed a lot in the past two years.

In talking about Trail Blazers fans, Walton said they were the best and most passionate fans in America.

He recalled many amusing incidents from when the Trail Blazers won the championship, such as how the fans all flooded onto the court when the game was over.

However, the CBS television network in charge of live broadcasting left the arena with their equipment and went off to a nearby golf course to broadcast golf instead.

So many fans turned on the TV hoping to watch the wild celebrations of the Trail Blazers’ championship, only to find a golf game that seemed as still as a painting, which led to a lot of subscription viewers calling CBS to complain.

After hearing this, Gan Guoyang thought to himself that even American TV networks pulled such stunts; he remembered how back in China, a basketball game that was being broadcast fine suddenly switched to dragon boat racing or a marathon before the game was even finished.

Walton had a lot to say, and Gan Guoyang was an excellent listener—uncommonly patient, not interrupting or interjecting, asking questions from time to time.

Gan Guoyang had learned a lesson from a very young age: if you want others to listen to you, you must first learn to listen to them.

When he was the king of the orphanage, his little friends were always willing to talk to him because he listened even more patiently than the caretakers.

Throughout their conversation, Walton never once mentioned Ramsay; the two had just exchanged greetings and shook hands after the game ended, indicating their relationship was thawing, but they were not yet at the point where they could completely let bygones be bygones.

Gan did not bring up Dr. Jack either but asked how Walton would defend against Jabbar.

At this question, Walton furrowed his brow and shook his head, saying, "Difficult, very difficult. It’s nearly an impossible task."

In 1977, Walton had led the Trail Blazers to defeat the Lakers, and it was a 4:0 sweep, but that was a team victory, not Walton personally besting Jabbar.

"A few years ago, you could still use 3/4 body pressure to force him to turn right, not letting him turn left to hook with his right hand, but this move hasn’t been effective anymore in the past two years, his right turn attack has become almost as good as his left."

Walton mentioned the common defensive strategy against Jabbar was to force him to turn right, as Jabbar could only use his left hand or a turnaround jump shot when turning right, which were relatively less efficient offensive moves for him.

If you let Jabbar turn left and launch his right-hand sky hook, whether it went in or not would depend on his touch.

But as Walton pointed out, Jabbar hadn’t been idling all these years; he kept improving and refining himself.

After being bested by Walton and Moses Malone, Jabbar focused on improving his right turn offensive techniques, and it was no longer a weakness.

"Maybe you should learn from Sermonde, defending Jabbar is a complex project, a duel of both spirit and body; you have to completely overwhelm him in terms of momentum, or else he will destroy you."

Gan Guoyang remembered Sermonde’s guidance, who had indeed mentioned that battling Jabbar was a war.

This once-in-a-generation basketball prodigy had been a mountain in front of all centers since entering the League in 1969.

Even at 37 years old that year, he was still the Lakers’ most reliable scorer and the League’s most challenging giant to defend against.

"How about it, feeling nervous about going up against the Lakers and Jabbar tomorrow?" Walton asked, noticing Gan Guoyang looked a bit lost in thought and assuming he was nervous about the upcoming marquee matchup.

Gan Guoyang, however, shook his head, saying, "No, I’m not nervous. I’m actually quite excited because tomorrow, I doubt I’ll be lonely anymore."