The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 394 - 13 The Difficulty of Defending the Title
Training with Gan Guoyang always makes you feel like you never arrive early enough, train hard enough, or eat enough.
The week-long rookie training camp saw Gan Guoyang taking everyone through seven solid days of training, which had everyone groaning with exhaustion.
Those fringe players, the third-round and fourth-round picks, thought that maybe they weren’t cut out for the NBA after all, because it was simply too much to handle.
Dell Curry and Hornacek, who had found accounting work at a firm, were the ones who persevered. As training progressed, their adaptability grew stronger.
Hornacek, in particular, went from being too exhausted to stand straight on the first day to keeping up with the pace on the second day. By the time the camp was ending, he was able to shoot normally in the three-point drills after three-thirty.
Though he still wasn’t shooting well, at least he wasn’t airballing anymore.
Besides leading everyone in intensive training, Gan Guoyang also made sure everyone ate well together.
He provided a basketball diet plan, as well as a map of healthy eating spots in Portland, ensuring everyone maintained good eating habits.
It’s said that Drexler even provided the rookies with a "Portland Strip Club Guide," as Oregon is known for its abundance of adult entertainment, from a large number of strip clubs to adult bookstores.
After a week of grueling training camp, the rookies were tired yet felt a sense of reluctance to leave.
They could sense from the attitude of the team leader towards basketball and life that this was a great team.
Unfortunately, most weren’t good enough to meet the Trail Blazers’ signing requirements. In the end, only Hornacek and Dell Curry stayed.
Dell Curry’s performance at the camp was even more impressive. He was a first-round pick and well-known in All-America during his college years.
Hornacek was relatively unknown, but after the summary meeting at the end of the rookie camp, Beelman and Adelman said, "Hornacek has a more comprehensive potential. He has a strong sense of the game and is very smart. Dell has superior skills, especially in shooting. He is more of a pure shooter."
Beelman thoroughly enjoyed his week as an NBA coach, as he ran the entire training camp while Adelman watched, observed, and offered advice.
In terms of ability, Beelman certainly had no issues, it was only experience he lacked, but Gan Guoyang’s presence compensated for this shortcoming.
If even Gan Guoyang would follow his commands, then there was no reason for anyone else not to. Thus, Beelman had an easy time during the camp and felt grateful to Gan Guoyang. The young man knew how to deal with people.
However, in front of Dr. Jack, Ah Gan still had to be criticized when necessary!
Adelman agreed with Beelman’s thoughts but still pointed out, "Both of them are not yet up to the rotation standard. They need more rigorous training to earn a chance to play. The backcourt is our weak point and needs our focus for their growth."
The arrival of Dell Curry and Hornacek indicated that the Trail Blazers were moving onto a new tactical path.
Jack Ramsey’s traditional frontcourt system could no longer thrive in the current NBA. Starting last season, Ramsey began to delegate significant control to the backcourt trio of Drexler, Porter, and Paxson.
The Trail Blazers’ style of play had evolved significantly from the 1970s. Only when Bill Walton was on the court could glimpses of the past occasionally be seen.
If the team had continued to draft new players in line with Ramsey’s system, the Trail Blazers should have chosen more frontcourt forwards.
Yet, with the team now focusing on developing two guards, it showed Ramsey’s system was gradually fading within the Trail Blazers, being replaced by newer elements.
Although Ramsey was still undeniably the head coach and one of the soul figures of the team, his actual influence on the team was steadily waning.
Time flew, and by the end of September, more than half of the long offseason had passed. The players were returning to their teams, and the training camps for the preseason games were ready to go.
Every season sees new players come in and old ones leave, an ongoing cycle of regeneration.
Tom McMillen, the "Silver-Haired Man" of the Washington Bullets and Bill Walton’s nemesis, decided to retire this summer. His basketball career came to an end, but his political career was just beginning. He was set to become a congressman for Maryland, joining the ranks of America’s ruling class.
Jamaal Wilkes, once a star of the Lakers, decided to retire after a bad season with the Clippers. He was only 32 at the time of his retirement.
This was another major blow for the Clippers, who criticized Wilkes for his lack of contribution to the team. The death of Len Bias made the Clippers seem all the more pitiful.
Donald Sterling might really need to think seriously about the team construction, wondering why good players decline in performance once they arrive, reluctant to play for the team.
Another legend who left the fans’ view was George Gervin. After playing a season with the Chicago Bulls, he officially retired from the game. The NBA would no longer witness the Iceman’s elegant "Finger-roll," and Gervin was moving on to fight against drug addiction.
At the Trail Blazers, Bill Walton was also torn between retiring or playing one more year.
This summer, he underwent his 36th career surgery to try to fix the shattered structure of the bones in his ankle.
The shots he took to play in the finals aggravated his old injury, and the surgeons had to use a saw to cut open parts of the ankle and leg bones, then connected them back together using a drill and steel pins.
All summer, Walton’s leg was bound in thick casts. By the time preseason training camp started, he could walk with the aid of crutches, but it would be months before he could train or play again.
Jack Ramsey told Walton to take a good rest at home, preferably in a warm, dry place, but Walton chose to stay in Portland and even showed up for the team’s first training camp of the new season.
"I can’t always be alone; I need a bit of vitality, for vigorous vitality to nourish me. Nothing is better than watching Ah Gan train," Walton said to Ramsay, who agreed to let him watch from the sidelines. The two sat courtside while Ramsay handed over the training duties to Adelman and Beelman.
"The new coach Bobby is Ah Gan’s past high school and college coach, a lively and passionate fellow from the University of Notre Dame."
"The liveliest and most passionate in the past was you, Jack. I feel you don’t look as energetic as last year. Too tired?"
"A bit... I’m already sixty-one years old, and lately, I’ve been suffering from insomnia, poor sleep, nightmares, and getting up at night. I need to find my form again."
Winning the championship had taken a toll on the physical and mental energy of people. Ramsay, advanced in years, was exhausted by the success of the 1986 season, unlike in 1977, when his age hadn’t been such a factor.
Back in 1977, he had just arrived in Portland at the age of fifty-two, a time when a coach is in his prime, full of ambition and desire for success.
Nine years had passed, reuniting with his accomplished protégé and reaching new heights, he had finally achieved his wishes, leaving no regrets in his coaching career.
So for this training camp, Ramsay was somewhat disengaged, delegating most of the detail work to Adelman and the new assistant coach, while he focused on the overarching tasks.
"I’m considering retirement. I wonder if it makes sense to play another year. I no longer have any regrets," Walton said with a hint of pessimism in his voice.
"No, there are still regrets. We were supposed to win consecutive championships and build a dynasty."
"We were young back then; things are different now. My situation, at most, allows me to play one more year."
Walton recalled the pain when he woke up from surgery, feeling as though he was caught in a painful cycle that he yearned to break free from.
Ramsay now understood Walton’s pain, but he still said, "Our core is very healthy, maybe even too healthy."
Ah Gan’s condition couldn’t just be described as healthy; as Ramsay put it, even if you fried him in oil, he’d be fine after a good sleep.
On the first day of the preseason training camp, Ah Gan appeared in the best shape. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
He maintained a perfect physique, keeping his weight around 250 pounds with no plans to change that.
The balance of agility and strength of the previous season’s scoring champion looked quite suitable to him.
Besides Ah Gan, others had their own conditions.
Terry Porter seemed stronger. Although he won the championship in his rookie season, Porter didn’t relax his self-improvement efforts over the summer.
For a rookie like him, a championship was just an added bonus; survival in the league still depended on individual skills.
He had been steady in the playoffs, but it clearly wasn’t enough; being outplayed by Dennis Johnson in the finals indicated there was much room for improvement.
Another in good form was Vandeweghe. Originally on the slender side, he had bulked up significantly over the summer.
Standing at 6 feet 8 inches, his weight increased from 220 to 230 pounds, a significant progress, necessary for enhancing his defensive level.
The previously not-so-keen-on-strength-training player had spent most of his summer in the gym, making more progress than the previous season.
The championship undoubtedly motivated him.
Those who seemed to have declined were Drexler, who appeared sluggish on the first day of camp, perhaps due to an overly indulgent summer, and Jerome Kossie, who seemed to have put on weight after an offseason of indulgence and purchasing both a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.
After his rookie contract ended, the Trail Blazers offered Kossie a new three-year guaranteed contract, boosting his confidence.
In the locker room, Ah Gan looked at Kossie’s belly and slapped it, "Are you switching to sumo wrestling?"
Kossie was a bit embarrassed. Ah Gan warned him, "You better lose that belly before the new season starts, you’re only a sophomore, don’t think you’re secure just because you’ve got a new contract."
Jim Paxson spent the summer rehabilitating his leg injury, and a decline in his condition was inevitable, but he was not averse to a bench role.
Old-timer Mychal Thompson kept himself in shape over the summer. Always diligent, he remained Ah Gan’s most reliable partner on the inside.
During the offseason, several teams inquired about Thompson, especially from the Eastern teams and the Lakers, but the Trail Blazers refused, as Ah Gan made it clear that Thompson was an essential partner in the paint.
Overall, compared to the start of the last season, the Trail Blazers lacked the same drive, which inevitably followed a championship win.
That’s the challenge of defending a title; more often than not, it’s not the adversaries that defeat the champions, but the champions themselves.
