The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 266 - 8 Substitute

Stockton wasn’t nearly as busy as Gan Guoyang. After the playoffs, he had taken a flight back to Spokane.

Upon returning to Spokane, the first thing he did was to use the salary he had saved during his rookie season to buy a house—he had purchased the house next door.

When Stockton said he would take Gan Guoyang to see the house he had just bought, driving his pickup truck, Gan Guoyang was quite looking forward to it.

He thought that since the kid had decided to enter the ’grave of love,’ he should at least change his stingy ways. After all, marriage and daily life involve two people, and there would be a lot of expenses. He couldn’t let Nada, who came from a governor’s family, lead a hard life with him.

It was too early to buy a house in Salt Lake City, but getting a beautiful little villa in Spokane, like Gan Guoyang and Wang Fuxi, and enjoying a wonderful life for two was no problem.

When Stockton drove back home along the familiar route and parked the car in front of his house, Gan Guoyang asked in confusion, "Didn’t you say you were going to take me to see your newly bought house?"

Stockton said, "Yes, we’ve arrived. My newly bought house is right next to mine. The neighbors moved away, and when it was empty, I bought it."

Sitting in the passenger seat, Gan Guoyang was silent for a while, thinking that you saved an entire season’s salary, just to be neighbors with your parents! That’s no way to buy a new house!

However, Gan Guoyang was always very tolerant. Friends should have common ground despite their differences. Jordan, Barkley, Stockton, and Ewing all had distinct personalities, but they could be friends because of their commonalities.

"Did you discuss with Nada that you guys will live in this house after you get married, next to your parents’ place?" Gan Guoyang still asked.

"This is for the future; we definitely can’t live in Spokane for the time being. She has to accompany me to Salt Lake City, where we plan to rent an apartment."

"What? Nada accompanies you back to Salt Lake City and you’re still going to rent an apartment with her? You... Will Nada agree to that?"

"Of course. She has already found a job in Salt Lake City, and we’re preparing to rent in the same apartment building."

After graduating, Nada worked at a law firm in Spokane, but if the two were to stay together for the long term, Nada did indeed have to follow Stockton to Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City wasn’t a city young people liked to move to—cold, monotonous, plus the religious issues—but Nada didn’t care much. She had given up her firm’s job and had become a substitute teacher at a school in Salt Lake City.

"Living in the same apartment building, you mean, you’re not living together, you’re still living separately?"

"Yeah, we’re not married yet. Nada’s family doesn’t allow cohabitation before marriage, so we’re staying separate for now."

"So, you want to get married to live together."

"No! It’s not like that, I want to marry her because I love her... Anyway... I haven’t proposed to her yet."

Stockton had told Gan Guoyang about his wish to get married because he wanted his help in thinking of how to propose.

Gan Guoyang thought for a moment and said, "You could arrange to propose during a home game, during halftime or after the game, in front of the entire audience. She would definitely be moved."

Stockton’s eyes lit up and he said, "That’s a great idea. But do you think everyone will cooperate with me?"

"They will. Proposing at a home game doesn’t cost money and you can have so many spectators come to witness it. Isn’t that great?"

Gan Guoyang’s comment about "not spending money" hit the spot for Stockton, and he decided to choose a regular-season game to do just that.

"John, although you don’t live together and rent separately, at least help Nada with her rent, right?"

Gan Guoyang thought Stockton might be frugal, but he was mainly frugal with himself, generous with family and friends.

"Of course, I wanted to help Nada with the rent, but she disagreed. She said she could earn her own money and didn’t want to use mine. Laura also plans to subsidize a part of Nada’s rent."

Nada was a very traditional girl, not wanting to spend a penny more than necessary on her boyfriend before they were married, and her twin sister supported her a lot.

Stockton was really crafty, just as astute as he was on the basketball court, finding himself a girlfriend who’s so sensible and frugal.

"You saved half of the rent money, so spend a bit on renting an apartment, at least. You don’t have to live in that shabby place anymore, the one where you don’t even want to turn on the heating!"

After getting out of the car, Stockton parked it properly, then said somewhat sheepishly, "I don’t need to spend money on my place; the real estate company was running a promotional event, and they offered it to me for free to live in. I just helped with some advertising~"

Gan Guoyang almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. John, you’re incredible! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

I might beat you in basketball, but when it comes to saving money, ten Ah Gans couldn’t catch up with Stockton.

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Returning to Spokane and staying in Stockton’s home felt like going back to college days.

Gan Guoyang settled into a peaceful, regular routine, getting up early each morning, having breakfast, and then going cycling or jogging with Stockton.

He was no longer disturbed by the noise of New York, didn’t have to worry about the constant traffic, and didn’t need to be concerned about being recognized by fans on the street, being asked for photos and autographs.

The residents of Spokane knew Gan Guoyang and Stockton, of course, but when they saw them, they would just greet them friendly and say, "Keep it up, Ah Gan."

In New York, Gan Guoyang, Jordan, Ewing, and others were attractions in their own right. When locals and tourists encountered them, they certainly wanted to take a photo as a souvenir.

In Spokane, Gan Guoyang was just a well-known celebrity everyone was familiar with, being a part of the city, a simple greeting would suffice.

This feeling allowed Gan Guoyang to return to a state of peace both in mind and body, preparing himself for the new season starting from scratch.

In the morning, Gan Guoyang and Stockton would return to Gonzaga University’s Kennedy Gymnasium for training.

The new recruits of the Gonzaga Bulldogs had just finished their West Coast trip and returned to the school. Fitz and Beelman led the team and ran a round in the Midwest region to sell merchandise before coming back.

Even though the school had allocated more funds to the basketball team after winning the NCAA championship, the tradition of frugality was not to be discarded, and hats and clothes still needed to be sold.

Beelman didn’t go to the NBA to become an assistant coach but stayed in Gonzaga to continue coaching for three more years; he signed a new contract with the school.

Last time he made a big sacrifice in his salary to come to Gonzaga, and this time the school compensated him, making Beelman’s financial situation much more comfortable.

As for why Beelman didn’t "defect" to the NBA, Beelman himself explained, "I think I still need to hone my skills in the NCAA, to perfect my strategic thoughts."

Fitz, however, told Gan Guoyang, "Because no one wants him! His stuff is totally dismissed by NBA coaches, hahaha! Including Coach Ramsey of your Trail Blazers."

Indeed, some of Beelman’s ideas and his emphasis on data were far too advanced at the time, and even though Ramsey had a lot of changes in thinking, it was difficult for him to accept it in a short time.

Besides, the Trail Blazers did not have a need for recruiting new assistant coaches, as the pairing of Ramsey and Adelman was entirely sufficient at present, and adding another person would disrupt their work plans.

Chuck Daley did indeed invite Beelman to Detroit, but after hesitating, Beelman decided to stay in Spokane. He said he had gotten used to living on the West Coast and did not want to return to the Midwest region.

Gan Guoyang comforted Beelman, saying, "Your tactical thoughts will definitely be valued in the future. Until then, please stay put and don’t defect. A traitor needs capital and leverage to be accepted."

In daily training, Gan Guoyang and the coaching staff discussed the direction of his development for the next season, whether to gain weight or slightly reduce it to become faster and more agile.

Beelman and Fitz fell into an argument. Fitz believed Gan Guoyang should slightly reduce his weight to maintain around 250 pounds, which is completely adequate for today’s League.

"Your opponents are the Lakers. You need speed and agility to deal with the Lakers’ front line, and a lower weight will also help sustain your health, 250 pounds is already not light."

Beelman, on the other hand, thought Gan Guoyang should continue to gain weight, saying, "The League is enhancing physicality and reducing the number of possessions, which will become a trend in the coming years. More and more low-post monsters will emerge. You’re already not advantaged in height, if you lack weight, your strength will be affected as well. Advantages must be amplified, play to your strengths and avoid weaknesses."

"Even if Ah Gan drops to 250 pounds, his weight and strength are totally sufficient. His agility and speed can be further improved."

"At present, all the League’s big men are intensifying their strength training, everyone knows Ah Gan is powerful so they will focus on targeting him."

"You can’t even make it into the NBA, how would you know?"

"I... I’m an NCAA championship coach, of course, I know!"

"I’m the one who recruited you."

"And now you’re the one begging me to stay!"

Towards the end, the two started bickering about things completely unrelated to training, and Gan Guoyang sighed deeply.

He thought that both coaches had their points but as Coach Cap had said, the key was to see if the Trail Blazers had good backups for the interior positions.

If Stu-Inman and others could find a good backup center to fill the paint, it would be reasonable for Gan Guoyang to lose some weight and focus more on offense and covering the perimeter.

Playing center was exhausting. Gan Guoyang was already a monster with superhuman stamina and durability, yet even he couldn’t hold up in the final moments of the sixth game of last year’s Western Conference Finals.

The toll of 80 regular-season games plus the intense playoffs and playing 48 minutes without rest would have collapsed other players; Gan Guoyang merely had a tumble.

Physical fitness is crucial to on-court performance. Gan Guoyang always had excellent stamina, and as a rookie, he had never even thought about conserving energy for the game. This season, he considered preserving more energy for the playoffs.

Fitz and Beelman’s arguing would likely continue for at least another three years.

The usually reticent Coach Steve Delong quietly formulated a new strength training plan for Gan Guoyang.

"The purpose of this plan is to ensure you possess both strength and agility," Coach Delong understood Gan Guoyang’s needs.

Gan Guoyang spent a very fulfilling two weeks in Spokane, during which Wang Fuxi visited him at the school. They toured the volcanic lake and the great waterfalls together.

They both liked an apartment near the school in the city center of Spokane, which Gan Guoyang purchased. He would often return to Spokane during the holidays; he couldn’t always mooch off Stockton’s family for food and lodging.

Though a single-family home is nice, it’s expensive and troublesome to maintain if not lived in for long periods. An apartment has a property management company and regular visits from cleaners. During the offseason, he could return to train and recuperate at the school.

In mid-September, Coach Cap from San Francisco suddenly called, asking Gan Guoyang to make a trip to Los Angeles, mentioning that Bill Walton and John Wooden wanted to meet him.

Upon hearing Walton’s name, Gan Guoyang was intrigued, wondering if the Trail Blazers had found their interior substitute.