The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 500 - 3 The Train Arrives

Gan Guoyang, after returning from China, learned the news that Spoelstra and Adelman had left.

At first, he was shocked and wanted to talk to both of them, but soon he calmed down and thought it was quite normal.

Since Bobby Beelman joined the Trail Blazers, Adelman’s status had plummeted, to the point where he even lost his job as a messenger.

Larry Weinberg was not some super tycoon, and after giving Beelman a salary, it became difficult for Adelman to ask for a raise.

Now, with two championship rings in his possession, many teams were extending olive branches to him; leaving for either money or success was a very normal choice.

Gan Guoyang knew that Rick Adelman had the potential to be a head coach; he had it in him and would become a great and notable coach.

As for Spoelstra, as a marketing guru, he had always had a poor relationship with Ramsay.

Ramsay was old-school, disliking various flashy marketing and packaging that the team engaged in.

Although he had become more open-minded in the past two years, it was only limited to the basketball court; off the court, he remained an old stick-in-the-mud.

After securing the Trail Blazers’ third championship, Coach Ramsay’s status in the coaching world rose further, acquiring somewhat of a Godfather of Portland feel to it.

In such a scenario, Spoelstra’s days were definitely going to be tough, so he simply followed in Yin Man’s footsteps to seek opportunities on the South Coast.

Gan Guoyang called both of them, congratulating them on carving out a new sphere for themselves with the new teams.

"But when it comes to our matchup, I won’t be showing any mercy," said Gan Guoyang, half-joking, half-threatening.

After hanging up, Gan Guoyang couldn’t help feeling a tinge of loss.

His hunch from last season wasn’t wrong; the Trail Blazers were indeed undergoing changes.

The team was like Theseus’s ship sailing in the ocean; one day, from the owner to the manager, from the players to the janitors, everyone would be replaced.

The championship not only did not slow down the speed of this replacement but to some extent, actually accelerated the process.

For the time being, this departure was only happening at the management level; the player roster remained relatively stable, since all the Trail Blazers’ players were within their contract periods.

Gan Guoyang would be entering his contract year this season, and the Trail Blazers management was preparing to initiate early renewal negotiations with him.

It was rumored that the Trail Blazers wanted to secure Ah Gan with a super long 10-year contract, making him the totem of Portland.

But Gan Guoyang had his own plans; he didn’t intend to leave, but he also didn’t wish to sign such a long contract.

In the long run, the NBA was on the rise, with the salary cap climbing steadily, so the longer the contract, the more one stands to lose later on.

Drexler’s contract was also set to expire at the end of this season; he had signed a two-year contract worth 770,000 US Dollars with the Trail Blazers in the summer of 1986.

Compared to Drexler’s performance on the court, this contract was an absolute bargain; in the summer of 1988, Drexler was certain to seek a big contract.

Vandeweghe’s disappointing semi-invisibility in the 1986 playoffs was a letdown, but the Trail Blazers still gave him a six-year-long contract, albeit at a slightly reduced price.

And Vandeweghe’s performance in the 1987 season was crucial, to say the least; besides Gan Guoyang, he was the number two man, frequently hitting crucial shots at critical moments.

Looking at it now, this long-term contract seems to be worth it.

However, starting from the finals, Vandeweghe was again troubled by a back injury.

This summer, Vandeweghe needed to properly manage his injury.

Mychal Thompson’s contract would expire at the end of the 1988-1989 season.

Porter, Kossie, Hornacek, and others were all on rookie contracts at a bargain.

Overall, the Trail Blazers’ salary situation was very healthy.

In order to achieve the three-peat, Buckwalter called Spurs’ general manager Bob Bass.

On July 1st, the Trail Blazers completed a trade, sending a 1988 first-round draft pick to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for the veteran center "The Train" Gilmore.

This star center, whom Gan Guoyang had once furiously shoved, became his backup, also becoming the most important puzzle piece in the Trail Blazers’ campaign for the three-peat of the 1987-1988 season.

When this trade occurred, Gan Guoyang had already left Portland for New York.

In New York, he continued to train with Bernard King, working together on improving their offensive skills.

Bernard King had finally recovered from a horrifying ACL tear and was able to play basketball again.

On April 10th, 1987, he made his comeback in the game between the New York Knicks and the Milwaukee Bucks.

The moment he set foot on the court again, Madison Square Garden erupted in a huge cheer, welcoming back their former King.

That night, his performance was mediocre, having just recovered from a serious injury, he had not yet found his game rhythm and scored only 7 points.

The Knicks lost to the Bucks by a 39-point margin.

In the subsequent game against the Celtics, Bernard King scored 20 points.

Then 19 points, and later, facing the strong Pistons, King scored 30 points!

He announced to everyone that New York’s King had returned.

In the last three games of the season, King scored 30 points, 29 points, and 31 points respectively.

He was still the unstoppable scorer, still able to contribute spectacular scoring performances.

He wanted to continue playing in New York, to work with Patrick Ewing and strive for higher goals.

However, the cheers of the fans were not enough to sway the Knicks management; New York already had a new King.

To this injured old King trying to reclaim his throne, the NBA showed its ruthless side.

The new management of the Knicks did not want Bernard King’s presence to affect Ewing’s development; they refused to renew King’s contract.

Ewing had not played even a single game with King; starting from April, Ewing was absent for the rest of the regular season due to a knee injury.

Clearly, Ewing was not interested in the former New York great; he wanted to build his own team. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Thus, Bernard King became a free agent. He needed to find a new job, to play somewhere new.

Before that, he had to ensure his own good condition – after all, an ACL injury is no minor matter, and he hadn’t played for almost two years.

He decided to train with the most sought-after guy in the whole league, with Gan Guoyang – after all, this kid had stolen quite a few tricks from him.

Now was the time to pay back the master, to learn from each other.

At City College of New York, the two rented a court and brought together a group of players to practice.

To find his best form for the summer, King decided to train as Gan Guoyang did, for as long as Guoyang trained.

Only after half a day, King couldn’t keep up anymore; the intensity of the training and the long hours completely exceeded his limits.

While King and the others sat on the floor, gasping for air, Guoyang was still running and practicing moves on the court.

His offensive footwork, shot selection, had already surpassed the master in refinement, diversity, and variation.

Gan Guoyang had combined the essence of modern center and classical small forward techniques to create his own set of skills.

With strength, speed, and physicality, Bernard King thought to himself, Ah Gan is still improving, which ignited a tremendous fighting spirit in King.

He had known Gan Guoyang for many years, and now that Guoyang had won two NBA championships, yet the two had never faced each other on the NBA court.

It was all down to injuries, always causing them to miss their matchups.

King persisted, completing sixty percent of the training regimen.

During rest breaks and meals, King felt like his legs were no longer his own.

"Ah Gan, what exactly is your body made of? No wonder they call you the Bionic Man; it really is a fitting nickname."

"Same as you, composed of carbon atoms. Physical fitness is the foundation of all sports, and I am quite fortunate to have a good foundation."

Halfway through the meal, Bernard King’s pager went off, and he went to make a phone call.

Upon returning, Bernard King couldn’t conceal his excitement, saying, "Ah Gan, a team wants to sign me!"

"Who is it? Don’t tell me it’s our Trail Blazers?"

"No, it was Lou Holtz on the phone just now, the Bullets want to sign me, he asked me to go to Washington to talk."

"Woh! The Bullets, Charles’s team! That kid’s good, next season you have a chance at being runner-up in the championship."

Bernard King had a strange look on his face, but he didn’t refute Gan Guoyang and instead said, "Maybe the championship really is yours. Lou Holtz also told me something, he said the Trail Blazers signed Gilmore, the train’s heading to Portland."