The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 591 - 8 The Final Puzzle Piece_2
Beelman placed great value on data, efficiency, and the results brought by long-term statistical analysis.
He wasn’t particularly interested in specific tactical plays, believing those to be things a professional player should master in college.
In professional leagues, coaches should construct a team from an elevated perspective, rather than wasting time on refining plays.
"But plays and detailed pre-game preparations are indispensable, you must have learned quite a bit from Dr. Jack," West said.
Jack Ramsey had always been one of the coaches in the league with the most thorough and detailed tactical preparations.
Beelman nodded and said, "Yes, I don’t have the erudition or the ability to command on the spot like Dr. Jack, or else we wouldn’t have lost the Western Finals."
Last season, without Drexler, the Trail Blazers didn’t experience a severe decline, still maintaining strong competitiveness.
Beelman’s overarching planning definitely contributed significantly, but his data-focused style made many coaches unable to understand his approach, naturally making it impossible for them to coordinate with him.
Originally, West considered, if truly unable to find a suitable assistant coach, he would personally step in, much like how he assisted Riley in 1982, to support Beelman.
However, after communicating for some time, West realized he couldn’t do it; this was his first encounter with a style like Beelman’s.
West asked Beelman why, considering his traditional college background and being a distinguished student of coach Tighe Phelps, he had taken such an "errant path."
Beelman smiled and said there were two reasons, one being that through gambling, he recognized the power of data, that as long as there were enough samples, high-probability events would eventually yield returns.
The other reason was because of Ah Gan.
"If you’ve coached Ah Gan, you’d know he can solve a majority of the intricate problems for you, allowing you to think about higher matters. Or rather, he forces you to do what the brain should be doing, to plan strategically, because he resolves all the issues below. Of course, you could do nothing, and he could still lead the team to victory."
This wasn’t the first time West heard such an argument; he had heard similar statements from Buckwalter and Glickman before.
West’s curiosity intensified; what kind of player was Ah Gan exactly? Could it be that, in four years of studying him repeatedly, what he saw was only the tip of the iceberg, and beneath the surface lay a much larger portion?
West didn’t quite believe this because he himself was a former player, and not just any player, but a historical superstar with immense talent.
He knew the importance of a coach to a player, inside and outside of games, even the most exceptional player couldn’t do without a coach’s guidance due to personal limitations.
You would always have blind spots that needed someone else’s perspective.
Moreover, a player’s form isn’t constant, fluctuating throughout the long season due to many factors.
Without an external force to supervise and guide the player, they could be like someone walking blindfolded, thinking they’re going straight, only to remove the blindfold and discover they’ve veered off course, possibly even walking back to the starting point.
Seeing West’s skeptical look, Beelman simply smiled and said, "Sonny often says himself that the team owes him an assistant coach’s salary. There are a lot of jobs he could do for extra pay, including that of the head coach and general manager. In the league, the only one who could compare with him is Larry Bird. But Bird’s body isn’t as durable and tough as Ah Gan’s—that’s Ah Gan’s biggest advantage."
After much discussion back and forth, West found it indeed hard to find an assistant coach who matched Beelman, and Beelman himself had no intention of training one, already accustomed to handling many tasks on his own, as he was a workaholic.
West considered bringing Dr. Jack back as a consultant, for his unmatched work in tactical preparation and attention to detail.
Unfortunately, Ramsay had by then been recruited by South Florida’s Sunshine Sports Network to commentate on sporting events, primarily covering Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers games.
Heat seemed to be trying to gut the Trail Blazers, poaching their manager, operations, and now after their second-in-command, a coach.
Riley appeared to be intent on replicating the Trail Blazers in Florida, looking for an opportunity to get revenge against his former team.
With Jack Ramsey out of the picture, West turned his attention to the colleges but still found it difficult to locate an assistant coach to match the team’s needs.
That was until West learned that Rick Adelman and the Golden State Warriors had parted ways. West immediately thought that maybe Adelman could return as Beelman’s assistant coach.
But when West mentioned this idea to Beelman, it put Beelman in a difficult position.
Initially with the Trail Blazers, Adelman was the lead assistant coach, and Beelman was the second.
Now, asking Adelman to step down from the head coach position to assist Beelman was likely something Adelman wouldn’t agree to.
Thus, as people strive for higher positions and water flows downward, Adelman, having tasted the authority of being a head coach, would not be willing to become an assistant again, especially to someone who had once been his subordinate.
West said that wouldn’t hinder matters; Phil Johnson had just re-signed with the Utah Jazz.
He had served as an assistant coach for the Jazz in his early years, then spent a few years as the head coach for the Kings, and now was back with the Jazz as an assistant coach once more.
Moreover, the head coach was no longer the esteemed Frank Layden but the novice coach Jerry Sloan.
