The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 507 - 10 Leaders
In his fourth season, Gan Guoyang had undoubtedly become the Undisputed Leader of the Trail Blazers Team. He wasn’t the traditional "team boss" but rather acted like the head of a family.
Although only 24, he had a deep understanding of psychology and knew how to manage a group of problem children.
His first principle was always to lead by example, not just talk big.
In any team matter, whether on or off the court, Guoyang’s word was as good as nailed down; he always did what he said.
When something came up, he was always the first to bear the brunt, never blaming his teammates.
The boast he blew would be realized, not forgotten after a while or switched to another statement.
When dealing with teammates, he would first be strict with himself and then with others.
He expected 100 points from others, but he would first aim for 120 and emphasized encouragement over suppression or bullying.
As the team leader, if someone on the court was bullied, he would be the first to stand up for his teammate like a lion.
While other teams found tough guys to protect their boss, he was the protector of the whole team, safeguarding the entire Trail Blazers.
With his unparalleled on-court performance, Guoyang’s prestige in the team had even surpassed that of Ramsay and the boss Weinberg.
In the locker room, when four people were arguing, if Guoyang came in and scolded all four, nobody would say a word.
But Guoyang didn’t do that. Instead, he called the four men into the shower room one by one where the water was flowing, and no one could hear what was being said inside.
Drexler came out first, followed by Porter, then Kossie, and finally Vandeweghe.
Some spent ten minutes, some five; after they emerged, the four of them stopped arguing, returned to normal, packed up their stuff—those who needed to go home went home, and those who needed extra practice went on to practice.
Guoyang was the last to leave the locker room; he had almost washed his skin off in the shower room.
He wasn’t planning on going home. Instead, he was dragging Beelman back to the court for another half hour of practice on threes and free throws.
Beelman felt curious about what Guoyang had said to them.
As he helped Guoyang pick up the balls, he asked,
"Sonny, what did you say to them?"
"Nothing much, I mostly listened to what they had to say."
"Listened to them?"
"Sometimes listening is more important than talking. When you understand their thoughts, you know where the problem lies and what needs to be done."
"So what do you plan to do? The team is now starting to have conflicts. Professional teams are different from college teams— everyone wants a share of victory’s spoils. More money, more ball rights, more attention. But you know, there is only one ball, there’s a salary cap on the money, and the spotlight is limited..."
"There’s indeed only one ball, but I’ll teach them well how to play. If they don’t want to play according to Dr. Jack’s philosophy, they can find another team to showcase their talent."
Saying so, Guoyang scored a three-pointer.
The Memorial Coliseum was now empty, with no one left but Guoyang and Beelman, the staff leaving a light on to illuminate half the basket.
Beelman ran to pick up the balls for Guoyang; standing by the side of the court, he watched Guoyang standing outside the three-point line, bathed in a beam of light in the darkness.
He stood with his arms akimbo, looking both imposing and solitary.
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As time entered December, an unexpected incident occurred in the Trail Blazers.
Vandeweghe suddenly experienced intense back pain and spasms during training. Medical examinations revealed that his back injury was very serious and he needed to take a break for treatment.
With Vandeweghe unable to play, Kossie naturally moved up to the starting position.
This marked an end to the starting battle between Vandeweghe and Kossie.
However, the struggle between the two still wore out head coach Jack Ramsey.
In the ’60s and ’70s, when coaches were most authoritative, it was always the coach’s call who would sit on the bench, and that person had to comply unconditionally, even if they were a star player.
Nowadays, players were getting increasingly temperamental because the starting role was tied to stats, exposure, and contracts, all of which were becoming more intertwined, making the coach’s job tougher.
The conflict between Drexler and Porter was gradually resolving as the distribution of ball rights was reevaluated.
In Ramsay’s traditional system, the Point Guard was responsible for organizing the attack, bringing the ball up the court, while the Shooting Guard focused on positioning, attacking, and shooting.
But with Porter in control, his first target was always Guoyang; playing half-court, Drexler naturally had complaints.
In the subsequent games, Guoyang delegated some of the half-court ball control and organizing responsibilities to Drexler, letting Porter run off the ball, and Guoyang directly collaborated with Drexler on ball handling.
At the same time, Guoyang took over the authority for fast breaks and counterattacks.
After grabbing a defensive rebound, he decided whether to go for a fast break.
If they went for the fast break, he would make a long pass to Drexler or Kossie upfront.
If not, he would pass the ball to Porter and slowly move up the court to set up the play.
This way, Drexler couldn’t blame Porter for not launching a counterattack.
It was Ah Gan who decided not to counterattack—you got a problem with that, go argue with Ah Gan.
Additionally, in set plays, Drexler had a bit more of the ball, so naturally, he had little to complain about.
While Porter did give up his playmaking duties, thanks to Gan Guoyang’s defensive presence on the weak side, he got plenty of shots.
His attempts and shooting percentage both reached career highs, registering good scoring data in several games, which made Porter quite satisfied.
After seven or eight games of settling in, organizing, and summarizing after losses, the Trail Blazers slowly began to find their rhythm.
The Trail Blazers, being a championship team, had to undergo such painful changes not just because of the players’ changing mindset but also due to the shift of the team’s strategic focus from the frontcourt to the backcourt.
Even though Gan Guoyang was the undisputed primary core and was getting stronger.
Compared to the previous two seasons, in ’86 they had the "three big men" frontcourt, in ’87 under the allowed isolation play, Gan Guoyang single-handedly took charge, plus Walton and Thompson were still in form, Vandeweghe was at his best.
Porter and Drexler played supplementary roles in both championships.
The 87-88 season was different.
Walton had retired, Thompson was aging, Gilmore could only contribute on defense, Vandeweghe was injured.
The Trail Blazers’ core in the frontcourt was reduced to only Gan Guoyang, while in the backcourt Drexler was entering his prime, Porter, Hornacek, and Curry were rapidly improving.
They were beginning to transition into a center-guard focused team, so changes in strategic focus and ball distribution were inevitable.
Jack Ramsey’s "subtract two add one" was a very correct strategy, but as for how to execute it, Ramsey truly had no experience.
This was a blind spot for the tactical master; he had no experience with modern guards like Porter and Drexler, who had previously played like traditional guards, revolving around frontcourt players, which naturally worked fine.
Now that they were expected to carry the main load, things got messy. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
In this regard, Gan Guoyang saw things much more clearly.
He knew that Drexler wasn’t a traditional Shooting Guard—his shooting alone was not conventional.
He was more a combination of a Forward, Shooting Guard, and Point Guard.
So relegating him to merely a Shooting Guard’s duties was a waste.
His offensive organizing, fast breaks, and rebounding were all quite impressive; he was an all-rounder, akin to Magic Johnson.
Therefore, letting him handle the ball more in set offenses and allowing for occasional fast breaks was when he felt most comfortable.
Similarly, Porter was not a traditional Point Guard; he was capable of averaging 10 assists per game, but his greater threat stemmed from his shooting and driving to the basket.
Among point guards, he had a tall build and long arms, exceptional stop-and-pop jumper technique and precise perimeter shooting.
So making him play the pure Point Guard role wouldn’t maximize his potential either.
Allowing him to take on some Shooting Guard responsibilities, focusing on off-ball play and perimeter catch-and-shoot, provided him with better opportunities to excel.
Gan Guoyang’s positioning of the two players was in fact spot on.
This was due to his keen observation and understanding of Porter and Drexler, as well as some help from Adelman—after moving to Golden State, Adelman often phoned Gan Guoyang.
It’s possible that neither of them even realized that this was the most suitable way for them to play.
Ramsay, seeing Gan Guoyang leading Porter and Drexler and playing better with each game, more than once said, "I might as well hand over the coaching position to you, Sonny."
Gan Guoyang, of course, did not agree, and it didn’t come with a pay raise.
However, due to Adelman’s departure, Gan Guoyang indeed took on some assistant coach responsibilities again, just like in 1985.
The only difference was back in ’85 he was in charge of defense, now he was responsible for the offense.
By mid-December, before the Christmas showdown, the Trail Blazers’ record stabilized at 17 wins and 7 losses, trailing only the Los Angeles Lakers and ranking second in the Western Conference.
Besides Vandeweghe’s injury, what caused the Trail Blazers fans’ concern was their two losses to the Los Angeles Lakers.
One of those games saw the Lakers scoring 148 points.
Under the leadership of Don Nelson, the Lakers seemed even more ferocious than under Riley.
