The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 205 - 93 Business

Before their Eastern road trip next week, the Trail Blazers had to host two visiting Eastern Conference teams at home, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Indiana Pacers.

During the last Eastern road trip, Gan Guoyang stirred up trouble on the East Coast, furiously elbowing Moses Malone in Philadelphia, leaving the league’s most popular superstar center with a cut eyebrow.

Looking across the league, there were very few who dared to draw blood from Moses Malone’s head with an elbow. This seemingly quiet and short center was one of the toughest players in the league.

Since he started playing basketball, the name "Moses Malone" always surrounded Gan Guoyang. From high school, he constantly grabbed offensive rebounds and blocked opponents. In one game, he took down many rebounds, easily dominating his opponents. People began to compare him with Moses Malone.

Upon entering the NBA, Gan Guoyang’s energetic playing style, his height of 6 feet 10 inches, and his strong body gave people the impression of a ’Little Moses’.

Gan Guoyang indeed watched many of Moses Malone’s game recordings, learning his techniques for fighting for offensive rebounds, as well as how to hide his height disadvantage in the low post and use his strength to attack the basket directly.

His signature scissors-leg turn-around move under the basket was even more skilled and impressive than that of Malone’s protégé, Olajuwon.

Moses Malone also had a considerable connection with the Trail Blazers. When the NBA and ABA merged in 1976, Malone’s ABA team was disbanded, and he was claimed by the Trail Blazers in the draft, becoming a member of the team.

At that time, the Trail Blazers already had Bill Walton in the paint and had acquired Morris Lucas during the ABA disbandment process. Adding Moses Malone to that lineup, it could be said that in terms of both immediate impact and potential, the frontcourt was frighteningly strong.

Initially, Ramsay believed that the college-less Malone lacked tactical literacy during training and could not perform tasks like screening and high-post coordination well. He wasn’t the ideal inside player for his system.

But when preseason started, Malone’s liveliness in official games, his capability for offensive rebounds, and his unparalleled basketball instincts in the paint convinced Ramsay that he was an excellent player, worth keeping as a potential asset, even if he did not fit the team’s system.

However, team owner Larry Weinberg’s main purpose in acquiring Malone was to get a trade chip to exchange for other needed players or cash resources, since Malone’s salary was too high. He brought his $300,000 contract from the ABA to the NBA, and Weinberg was not keen on paying such a high salary to a high school player, especially with Walton and Lucas already on the team.

Therefore, Larry Weinberg discussed with San Diego and verbally agreed to trade Moses Malone for other players and draft rights.

Jack Ramsay, after learning of this news from Stu-Inman, asked Yin Man to stop the trade and keep Moses Malone, but Yin Man couldn’t do it.

Ramsay was extremely disappointed, and so were the Trail Blazers players; they really liked Moses Malone.

In the end, before the 1976-1977 season started, Malone was sent to San Diego, then to the Rockets, beginning his NBA journey that included three MVPs.

The Trail Blazers, although they won the championship in 1977, would have had an excellent backup in Malone after Walton’s injury in 1978. They could have maintained their championship contention throughout the late ’70s and early ’80s, especially as Moses Malone was the only player at the time who could contain Jabbar.

Since that incident, Ramsay felt that as a general manager, Stu-Inman had vast knowledge, rich connections, and excellent team-building ideas, but he lacked intuition and firm convictions.

Losing Moses Malone, losing Bill Walton, and, if not for Ah Gan, he was prepared to pick Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan at the draft, despite his close friend Nate’s advice—all these pointed out what Yin Man was missing.

In contrast, Lakers’ general manager Jerry West would not compromise so easily. When Jerry Buss was considering following Magic Johnson’s advice to trade James Worthy for Magic’s close friend Mark Aguirre, West immediately called Buss upon hearing the news, furiously declaring that he would resign if Buss dared to complete the trade, forcing Buss, who had already made a verbal agreement, to backtrack.

This was quite embarrassing for an NBA owner, but West dared to follow his intuition and implement his ideas with firmness and determination. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Yin Man lacked this ability, and he was fortunate to have picked Ah Gan.

On the afternoon of January 8th, the Trail Blazers and the 76ers both arrived at the Memorial Coliseum for warm-up training.

By then, in the All-Star voting, Gan Guoyang had completely surpassed Jabbar, securing the position of the starting center for the Western Conference All-Stars.

Currently, in the league-wide player vote, only Moses Malone had more votes than Gan Guoyang for the inside position.

Therefore, the NBA officials brought Malone and Gan Guoyang together before the game to take a series of photos in the media room as prelude promotion for the All-Star Game.

Also involved in the shoot was the 35-year-old Julius Erving, who continued to enjoy high popularity in the league, as his dunks were always a fan favorite.

Due to the previous conflict between Gan Guoyang and Moses Malone, along with Malone’s consistently silent and reticent personality, the atmosphere in the media room was somewhat tense.

The photographers were so cautious that they dared not speak loudly, always feeling that these two could start fighting at any moment. After taking a few sets of shots, the photo shoot for both of them ended.

Then Irving had a photo session with Gan Guoyang, and the atmosphere suddenly became much friendlier and harmonious, with the two laughing and chatting on the photography stage.

Irving was always a man of mild temperament, known in the NBA for his gentlemanly and elegant style of play.

During the previous incident between Gan Guoyang and Moses Malone, Irving stepped in to prevent the two from further conflict.

Moreover, Irving told Gan Guoyang that he had been to China; ever since the Washington Bullets’ visit to China in the 1980s, the NBA had always maintained contact with this huge potential market.

In the summer of 1982, Irving, along with ML Carr, Mayweather, and six other NBA players, made a friendly visit to China. They climbed the Great Wall in Beijing, saw the Terracotta Army in Xi’an, and enjoyed fine foods in Guangzhou.

In Beijing, he stayed in the same hotel room where Nixon had stayed during his visit, met and dined with many high-ranking leaders, and ate a lot of duck tails.

While in Guangzhou, he learned that Darryl Dawkins had been traded, which greatly thrilled Celtics’ ML Carr, who believed this spelled doom for the 76ers.

Back then, due to the lack of international phone access in China, Irving couldn’t phone back home to get the full details; he was depressed, believing the 76ers had no hope for the championship in the next season.

Surprisingly, news soon arrived that the 76ers had signed Moses Malone. Carr was dumbfounded upon hearing this, saying, "You guys just won the championship."

This scene left a deep impression on Irving, so when he recounted this little story to Gan Guoyang in the photo studio, imitating Carr’s tone, he did so with remarkable likeness.

Gan Guoyang didn’t expect Irving had already been to China. Irving shared his impressions, finding it simple, pure, but also quite undeveloped in places.

"I really like it there, and people there love basketball, they are filled with passion for sports. Converse had activities in Nanjing years ago, organized games, and the gymnasiums were packed. They are eager to watch good games. I think if you go back to your country, you will definitely cause a frenzy."

After the photo shoot, Irving continued to chat with Gan Guoyang on the way to the court for warm-ups.

"I’m looking forward to that day, but our country is still developing, and information is quite blocked. Many people are still working hard to make ends meet, and sports are more of a luxury."

"No, no, no, Ah Gan, I disagree with you. Sports should not be a luxury. On the contrary, it is the power and guidance for many of the impoverished to find hope in life."

Irving had a point; in America, many kids from poor neighborhoods climb out of their difficult circumstances through sports.

However, the situation in China is different, which cannot be fully explained in just a few words. Gan Guoyang didn’t argue with Irving and nodded in agreement to his point.

The reason why Irving chatted so much with Gan Guoyang wasn’t just because he admired him. As Converse’s lead endorser, Irving became the first star to sign a sneaker brand deal in 1975 and would become a small shareholder in Converse in the future. He wanted to establish some connections with the most popular player in the league.

As for championships, Irving no longer had great ambitions, although the 76ers had a good lineup, and after drafting Sam Perkins, Irving found a fine successor.

But Perkins was ultimately young, and with Irving’s knees growing weary, it was hard for them in the Eastern Conference to compete with the Celtics. The 35-year-old Irving began considering his career after retirement.

Among these, a sports brand was a major direction he planned to develop. Converse was once dominant in sneakers, but this year, Avia and Nike had taken all the limelight away from Converse.

Nike, with its powerful marketing capabilities and Jordan’s ability to attract fans, had already begun to surpass Converse as America’s number one shoemaker within just half a year.

While Avia, despite having the big selling point of Gan Guoyang and releasing the Skyscraper first, always fell just short in its advertising efforts.

Seeing the potential in the Chinese market, Irving and Converse were keen to forge an early relationship with Gan Guoyang, possibly teaming up in the future to compete against Nike.

They had even begun making plans for visiting China in the summer of 1985.

NBA is a competition, but at the same time, it’s a business, and it will become more and more like business as time goes on.