The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 505 - 8: The Heart of a Champion

A basketball team’s building strategy can roughly be divided into three levels.

The first level is the strategic layer—whether your team focuses on the inside game or outside game, offense or defense, fast-paced or slow-paced, fast breaks or set plays.

These are all determined based on player configuration, the coach’s style, and the overall temperament of the city the team is from.

Once these are set, they are rarely changed.

If they change, it indicates the team is starting to rebuild.

The second level is tactical routines—what routines the five players run on the court, how they move, how they coordinate with each other, and how the ball is distributed.

On defense, the team decides on strategies such as double-teaming or man-to-man, and whether to switch players on defense, etc.

These require direction from the coach, extensive off-court training for the players, and lots of in-game teamwork.

Tactical routines often solidify according to strategy. As basketball techniques and tactics evolve, they become richer and improved, but the overall direction doesn’t change.

The third level is technical and tactical details, and there are plenty of those.

For instance, with the same pick and roll, different details of screening can lead to completely different results.

There are also things like controlling the distance between players, specific decision-making on the court by the players, the style of passing, the speed of movement, and hand movements on defense, amongst others.

Details are endless and these seemingly inconspicuous things often determine the outcome of a match.

For a mature championship team like the Trail Blazers, their strategy won’t change.

They are a balanced team that leans more toward offense, with an attacking style.

The team’s style is steady, tough, and decisive, skilled at winning in the third quarter, with a remarkably high offensive efficiency in key moments, explosive offensive power, good defensive toughness, and general intensity but multifaceted.

When it comes to tactical routines, Jack Ramsey is skilled at coordinating tactics centered around the center and power forward, with fewer routines centered around the backcourt players.

Every season, depending on the player configuration, there will be a focal point and changes.

The typical tactical routines in the ’85 season were Gan Guoyang catching the ball following a cut and attacking the basket, plus offensive rebounds.

In the ’86 season, they played with three centers, and in the ’87 season, as Walton and Thompson aged, Gan Guoyang carried the team solo, combined with Vandeweghe, Porter, and Drexler’s weak side cuts and basket attacks, and so forth.

Different focal points reflect changes in the player’s strength and condition.

However, the overall tactical routines didn’t change much. Having about a dozen or so well-rehearsed and coordinated plays is enough for a team.

Then there are a few additional plays reserved for critical moments, which aren’t used much normally but can be effective when they matter.

For the Trail Blazers, when no other tactics work, they have a fallback: give the ball to Ah Gan.

It didn’t matter whether Ah Gan was in the post or not—since he could shoot threes, just letting him take over would do the job.

Therefore, for a championship team like the Trail Blazers, there isn’t much they can change in strategy and tactics. What really can be improved and changed are the details.

The essence of "two reductions and one increase" is changing the details while also adding some tactical routines. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Of course, these details didn’t just appear out of nowhere—they are traceable.

For example, the reduction in fast breaks—in the ’85 season the Trail Blazers had a lot of fast breaks.

Drexler and Vandeweghe, including Gan Guoyang, also frequently sprinted ahead.

Gan Guoyang’s rebounding numbers at the backcourt in the 1985 season were the peak of his career, but they decreased over the next two years.

It wasn’t because his rebounding ability declined, but because the team had fewer fast breaks and Drexler and Vandeweghe took away some of the rebounds.

By the 1987 season, the Trail Blazers were no longer a typical fast-breaking team in the league; they were better at set plays.

Then there’s the reduction in passing. The ’86 season saw the peak in the Trail Blazers’ passing and assists, which continued to decrease in ’87 along with Gan Guoyang starting to go solo.

And it goes without saying about three-point shots—the Trail Blazers were one of the teams that utilized threes the most.

So, Ramsey and Beelman did not whimsically set three entirely new rules that differed from the past for the team to follow.

Rather, they summarized the trends in team and league tactics over the past three seasons and further reinforced these detailed requirements, hoping to further strengthen and improve the team’s performance.

However, in practice, it was not as simple as imagined.

During the training camp and as the preseason officially started, the team began playing games based on these new principles.

The result was their performance during the preseason was not good.

Drexler liked to fast break, and he had become stronger over the summer, significantly enhancing his fast-breaking ability.

Now with the team aiming to reduce fast breaks and play more set plays, he felt very uncomfortable during games.

This season was Drexler’s contract year, and of course, he wanted to put up good numbers to secure a bigger contract.

He didn’t make it into the All-Star game last season, so this season, he was eager to have a breakout year.

But the reduction in fast breaks was like putting a shackle on him, giving him a feeling of having energy that he couldn’t utilize.

Drexler knew these three detailed principles were designed for Ah Gan.

Reducing fast breaks because Ah Gan had gained weight, making him more powerful in the post, so let him play that role more.

Reduce passing just by giving the ball to the center, don’t make unnecessary passes.

And as for three-pointers, it was all about creating space for Ah Gan.

Drexler wasn’t happy about this internally, but he couldn’t voice his discontent.

First, he didn’t dare, as Ah Gan’s status in Portland was second only to God.

Second, he respected Ah Gan, who was the godfather of his daughter and often took care of him in normal times.

So throughout the entire pre-season training camp, Drexler was sullen and unenthusiastic.

Vandeweghe was similarly in a bad spot, his performance beyond the three-point line, at least during the preseason, was terrible.

Because of a back injury, he had been nursing it all summer, his body fat increased, and his shooting touch had slipped.

Experiencing an even more severe decline was Jim Paxson, who, whether in practice or in games, could no longer return to his former All-Star level.

Two championships were enough for him, and he had shifted his life focus to other areas.

Hornacek and Dell Curry, on the other hand, were in good shape, but they were too young; once they played for an extended time in a game, they would start making mistakes.

They still had a lot to learn.

Mychal Thompson had aged another year, and he had no passion for any of the pre-season games.

This summer, like Gan Guoyang, he had also stepped into the hall of matrimony.

He married his college sweetheart, a female volleyball player, who was bright and beautiful. Thompson needed to put much of his energy into having children, making basketball just a job.

Meanwhile, the young Jerome Kossie was too passionate; he had improved a lot and was very eager for his next big contract.

In the off-season, he had added several luxury cars to his collection, and to buy and maintain them, he needed money.

And big contracts come from on-court performance, from stats; he needed playing time.

In practice, he often competed with Vandeweghe and as their skills ebbed and flowed, conflicts between the two competing for the same position were inevitable.

In the six pre-season games, the Trail Blazers had a record of 2 wins and 4 losses, not playing very beautifully.

The principles encouraged by Jack Ramsay and Bobby Berman weren’t fully implemented.

And even if they had been fully implemented, the effects wouldn’t have been immediately visible.

These details required the players to fully internalize them, and only after a large number of games could results be seen.

The team would have higher efficiency, fewer mistakes, and their offense and defense would become easier and more comfortable.

But the beginning was quite painful, and everyone fell into a somewhat confused state.

Of course, a good part of this confusion stemmed from the emptiness after winning the Championships.

Everyone still wanted to win the championship, but the desire wasn’t as strong as before, and moreover, each person was more concerned with their interests.

In the last game of the pre-season, the Trail Blazers lost by a large margin to the Golden State Warriors at home.

George Karl hadn’t come to an agreement with the team during the summer, ending the collaboration.

And the Warriors had already set their hearts on someone else, digging out Adelman.

Adelman looked pretty good, brimming with vigor; taking on the head coach role really was different, and he even began to resemble a certain German leader.

After the game, the players all hugged and greeted Adelman.

Gan Guoyang shook Adelman’s hand firmly and said, "Rick, are you satisfied with just two rings? Leaving Portland, I think it’ll be tough for you to get another."

Adelman winced in pain and quickly let go of his hand, saying, "Not everyone is you, Sonny. For many people, even one is enough."

Adelman had a point. Gan Guoyang could feel the team was emitting a rotten smell, just like what he had smelled with the Celtics and Lakers before.

He went to Ramsay’s office and barged in without knocking.

Ramsay jumped in surprise and said, "Sonny, don’t come in here again saying ’why don’t you give me the ball’, you know that these three principles are tailor-made for you!"

Gan Guoyang said, "I’m not here to ask for more shots. I want to ask you... Jack, are you planning to resign?"

Ramsay was shocked. He hadn’t told anyone, it was just something he was considering.

Did this kid read my diary? But I don’t even keep a diary.

Ramsay said, "Who’s been feeding you nonsense?"

Gan Guoyang replied, "I smelled it."

"What smell?"

"The smell of imminent decay. It’s like everyone wants to leave."

Ramsay was silent for quite awhile; he knew Gan Guoyang’s sense wasn’t wrong.

"The world is always changing, nothing lasts forever, and besides, changes in the NBA are like someone’s pressed the fast-forward button."

As he left the office, Gan Guoyang said to Ramsay, "Coach, we’ll be champions again this season."

"Why?"

"Never underestimate the heart of a champion."

Ramsay sat reclined in his chair, mulling over Gan Guoyang’s words.

He thought to himself, he’d have to rely on his players’ boost of morale to make it through.

Hang in there for one more season.