The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 592 - 8 The Final Puzzle_3

Phil Johnson was as willing as ever to lower his guard and offer his support to Sloan.

Under West’s persuasion, Beelman indicated that as long as Adelman was willing, he could restart their collaboration.

West immediately called Adelman to ask if he was interested in returning to coach in Portland. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Adelman hesitated on the telephone; he knew Beelman had a solid position with the Trail Blazers.

He still hoped to secure a head coaching position to prove himself.

However, the temptation to return to Portland was indeed great; his family was still there, and it was his home.

Later, West brought Buckwalter and Glickman together to help persuade Adelman.

Eventually, Beelman called Adelman, saying, "Portland needs you. We have a lot of new players joining; they are very talented and need your guidance and leadership. Rick, we make a good team, don’t we?"

Beelman’s call ultimately convinced Adelman, who also said on the phone, "I miss Portland, the Memorial Coliseum, and I miss Ah Gan."

Thus, Adelman decided to return to Portland to contribute to the Trail Blazers’ rise once more.

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On July 6th, the Trail Blazers officially announced Rick Adelman’s return to the Portland Trail Blazers as an assistant coach.

Tang Jianguo specifically held a contract signing and welcome event for Adelman, and the signings of Petrović, Divac, Cliff-Robinson, and Mike-Sanders were also conducted during the press conference.

The reporters curiously asked General Manager West, "Why hasn’t Sabonis arrived in America to sign and report? Is it because he likes the number 11 jersey that Ah Gan is wearing, so he doesn’t want to come?"

The reporters in the room burst into laughter, but it was a serious question.

Larry Flesher had settled Sabonis’s contractual and procedural issues before his death.

Now, the only difficulty was not with his home team, nor with the barriers of the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union, but with Sabonis’s personal wishes.

He had participated in the 1988 Olympics and won the gold medal, but that was playing injured, and now his injuries might be worse.

West had made contact with Sabonis, whose English was not very good, making communication over the telephone somewhat difficult.

West tried his best to express the Trail Blazers’ expectations, hoping he could come to play in America this year and collaborate with Ah Gan.

However, Sabonis mentioned, "You guys have Divac now."

Clearly, the Trail Blazers’ selection of Divac had caused some misunderstanding for Sabonis.

He knew Divac well; they had faced each other multiple times in Europe and competed for the gold medal at the Olympics.

Given that the Trail Blazers had picked both Divac and his Yugoslavian teammate Petrović, Sabonis hesitated about whether or not he should go to Portland and if the team’s atmosphere would still suit him.

He had already received a contract offer from the Valladolid Club in the Spanish league, inviting him to play in Spain.

West really wanted to tell Sabonis that taking Divac initially was meant for a trade, but, unexpectedly, no trade occurred.

But such matters were hard to clarify; Divac had already signed and stayed in Portland, an unchangeable reality.

West thought to himself that if he had become the Trail Blazers’ general manager sooner, he should have secured Sabonis’s contract first.

At that time, communications were not well developed, and making trans-oceanic contact with someone was not so easy, limited not only by communication tools but also by language barriers.

West pleaded over the phone, hoping Sabonis would consider it carefully not to sign with another club, and that the Trail Blazers would send someone to Lithuania in person to explain the situation to him.

Sabonis agreed to wait, putting aside the Valladolid contract to wait for news from the Trail Blazers.

In truth, Sabonis was very worried about his Achilles tendon, concerned about whether he could make a name for himself in the NBA. If not, he did not want to face humiliation in America.

His encounter with Gan Guoyang at the 1988 Seoul Olympics had both positive and negative effects on Sabonis.

The positive aspect was that playing with such an outstanding and interesting player like Gan Guoyang as a teammate would be a wonderful experience.

Sabonis had watched Gan Guoyang’s game tapes and seen him play in person.

He was amazed by Gan’s explosive playing style, and they complemented each other very well.

High-low post, twin tower formations, any strategic combination was feasible with either of them playing high or low positions.

Such a perfect match made it hard for Sabonis not to be moved, especially since as a Chinese player, Ah Gan’s legendary experience was inspirational to every overseas player who dreamed of making it in the NBA, providing a continuous source of motivation.

The negative aspect, however, was that after a genuine one-on-one matchup, he realized he couldn’t beat Ah Gan.

Not only could he not win, but there was also a huge gap in the details, which couldn’t be seen just by watching games.

In strength, skill, touch, Sabonis understood that this man was two or three levels above himself.

For Sabonis, who had been a basketball prodigy from the start, this was unimaginable.

Even in the 1988 Olympics final, despite being dominated by David Robinson, he knew Robinson was just physically stronger than him.

In basketball IQ, in controlling the game, Sabonis was confident he was better than Robinson, and ultimately, they defeated the seemingly invincible Team USA.