The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 581 - 5 Foxbat_4

Aside from hijacking the Divac trade for Edwards, West was also preparing to let go of Cheche Vandeweghe, using him in exchange for a steady, reliable guard.

Tang Jianguo said, "I like Cheche, we shouldn’t just trade him away casually."

West said, "Then you trade me, I’m a legendary guard too, maybe someone will want me."

Tang Jianguo didn’t say anything more, West didn’t need to reason with the owner, the power to trade was in my hands.

This was where West had more clout than Buckwalter; his legendary player status gave him an inherent authority.

And it was you, Tang Jianguo, who sought me out, if you can’t even support a very normal trade, why did you bring me here?

Afterward, West and the others studied the rules of trading seriously, pondering various possibilities and finally formulated Plans A, B, and C.

If everything went smoothly, they would complete the draft and trades according to Plan A during the draft event, achieving their strategic goals.

Once successful, West would announce his appointment and begin addressing the issues with Sabonis, Petrović, and the coach.

If there were any mishaps, they had Plan B, and if Plan B couldn’t be achieved, there was Plan C—essentially ensuring that nothing could go wrong.

At the end of the meeting, West said, "We’ve all won championships before, everyone should know that the roster is only the foundation of victory. To reach our goals during the long season, there’s so much detailed work to do, we face so many hardships and difficulties. The draft and trades are just a small part of the job— we also need to scout players, train rookies, and do logistic work. I hope in the new season, in the days to come, we can work together closely, like Ah Gan said, to build a dynasty."

West’s calm and meticulous working style quickly established his authority and earned everyone’s recognition.

Tang Jianguo raised his hand, "I haven’t won a championship yet!"

Gan Guoyang said, "You’ll have one soon enough, no need to rush."

After the meeting, Tang Jianguo, Gan Guoyang, and others left first, while Buckwalter stayed behind to discuss some issues more deeply with West.

Until West officially took over, Buckwalter remained the general manager of the Trail Blazers, with all operations to be carried out by him.

The two of them exchanged ideas until late in the night, Buckwalter greatly admired West’s intuition and decisiveness as a manager, qualities that Buckwalter lacked as a non-superstar player turned coach.

Buckwalter’s decision-making relied on a lot of scouting, data, and the aggregation of opinions, which made him adept at discovering unknown players.

West was different, his intuition was very sharp, and he could often make quick judgments with just a glance.

He could always swiftly conclude whether a player was right or not, the more talented the player, the more accurate his judgment.

In this respect, the two complemented each other well.

After finishing their work discussion, the two sat in the somewhat empty study, lighting a cigarette to chat about other matters.

Buckwalter was a few years older than West, also a former player, graduated from the University of Utah.

He briefly coached the Seattle SuperSonics, and his first scouting job was with the Utah Stars.

His claim to fame was picking Moses Malone in the draft, making Malone the first high school player in professional basketball history.

From this, it’s evident that Buckwalter was very good at making unpredictable choices, selecting players others were afraid to pick.

West admired this trait, saying that he was missing this kind of vision, otherwise the Lakers would have been even more successful.

They enjoyed their chat, and Jerry West felt that working with Buckwalter would smooth his path with the Trail Blazers.

Inevitably, they talked about Ah Gan, and Jerry West said that on the court he was like Russell, but off the court he resembled Chamberlain.

Buckwalter laughed heartily, agreeing that he was indeed like Russell in his control over the game.

When Buckwalter played for the University of Utah, his team was eliminated in the 1956 NCAA national sixteen by Russell’s University of San Francisco.

As they were talking, Buckwalter suddenly said to West, "Jerry, those words you said at the end of the meeting, they were really inspiring. We’ve both won championships, and you know how tough the journey is, how much work there is off the court. You made a lot of sense, but I want to say...

Buckwalter paused, and West said, "You can speak freely if you think there was something incorrect in what I said."

"No, no, no, you were absolutely right. But I’m afraid you might misunderstand something in the future, so I want to clarify a few things."

West sat up straight, listening attentively.

Buckwalter said, "Jerry, do you know about the Soviet plane called the MiG-25?"

"Oh, I know, the Foxbat, a very very fast high-altitude fighter jet."

"Then you must also know about Belenko’s defection. He brought a Foxbat to a Japanese airport in Hokkaido, giving it to us for analysis. Before Belenko’s defecation, the Foxbat was shrouded in mystery. It could fly at Mach 3, it was thought to be alien technology, the military was terrified, believing it incorporated titanium alloys, special radar, some kind of black technology. After Belenko’s defection, our military researchers dismantled the plane, only to be disappointed. There was nothing mysterious about it; they used stainless steel for the body and relied on two extremely powerful engines to get it to Mach 3. It was that simple."

The 1976 defection of Soviet pilot Belenko shocked the world, and at the same time revealed the secrets of the mysterious Foxbat fighter jet.

Underneath the veil, however, its true face was a disappointment. It turns out that reaching Mach 3 wasn’t due to any black technology at all, but rather to "brute force makes miracles possible."

West knew this anecdote well, and he was very astute and adept at understanding roundabout talk since he himself liked to talk in circles.

"You mean...the Portland Trail Blazers...are much like that Foxbat fighter jet..."

Buckwalter nodded and said, "The main reason we could win three championships in a row was thanks to Ah Gan, the engine, ’brute force makes miracles possible.’ Other factors mattered, but they weren’t decisive."

West said, "I’m aware of that. Superstars are indeed decisive; no championship team can do without them."

"Not, not, not, Ah Gan is different. His decisiveness is extremely, extremely decisive. Once you really become a manager, you’ll understand how all-encompassing and important he is, how he even reshaped the Trail Blazers. You’ll come to rely on him heavily, but you must never become addicted, or you’ll never be able to leave Portland."

Buckwalter’s words seemed to carry a hidden meaning, and Jerry West smiled awkwardly.

After Buckwalter left, Jerry West stayed alone in the house that Gan Guoyang had once lived in.

He suddenly remembered his college roommate, his good friend, Willy Auerbach.

In terms of personality, Willy was the complete opposite of West; he was happy, lively, easy-going, always surrounded by many women.

West’s biggest regret was marrying too early and not taking Willy to Los Angeles. If he had been single, he would have definitely brought Willy to Los Angeles with him, trying to secure him a position with the Lakers.

Only in front of Willy did West feel most relaxed, most at ease; he could let go of his heavy shell.

If Willy had been there, his career would probably have been different, West thought to himself again.

West decided that he would call Willy tomorrow and tell him about his decision.