The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 593 - 8 The Final Puzzle_4

However, when facing Ah Gan, Sabonis no longer had that confidence.

This guy was clearly only 6’10", a somewhat undersized center.

But his strength was astonishingly great, his skills alarmingly plentiful, and his offensive and defensive details were maxed out.

Although they had only conducted some one-on-one confrontations, combining those with his game videos, Sabonis knew the gap between them was vast.

Precisely because of this, after the Olympics ended, as Sabonis’s injuries grew increasingly severe, and his body struggled to recover to its pre-Achilles tear peak condition,

Sabonis began to hesitate.

His hesitation might have cost him the opportunity to play in America, and it wasn’t the first time he’d missed out.

In 1985, the Hawks drafted Sabonis, but his pick was annulled due to his age.

By 1986, Louisiana State University’s zealous coach Dale Brown had written specifically to Soviet leader Gorbachev, hoping to invite him to America for a basketball visit, certain that he would bring Sabonis with him.

Then find a way to keep Sabonis in America to play for Louisiana State University, to make up for the team’s sudden loss of their sophomore big man, John Williams.

At that time, most college players played until their senior year, and with John Williams’s abrupt draft entry, the school missed the opportunity to recruit freshmen, leaving Dale Brown with no choice but to find another way to woo Sabonis.

He wrote not only to Gorbachev but also to Reagan, and finally, he found an American tycoon, Hammer, who had long done business in the Soviet Union, hoping he could persuade the Soviet side to agree to let Sabonis play basketball in America.

However, before the plan could be executed, Hammer, at 88 years old, fell ill and couldn’t travel, forcing them to cancel.

But Brown was a stubborn coach. He managed to reach out to a Lithuanian-American journalist who had seen Sabonis at a charity game in 1982.

Convinced by Brown, she went to Spain to find the Soviet national team, trying to reach Sabonis to ask if he was willing to play basketball in America.

Because Sabonis had no clue about being drafted and then undrafted by America, not knowing a coach was scheming to get him to play,

Sabonis said he was tempted, but he couldn’t just leave; he was a player raised by his nation.

The journalist even suggested that Sabonis defect, which he, of course, rejected; he would never defect.

If he were to play basketball in America, he had to do it openly and legally.

Afterward, the journalist lost contact with Brown and Sabonis.

Despite this, Brown wasn’t discouraged and tried everything to organize an international youth basketball exchange for the Reagan administration, through which he could meet with Soviet officials and then ask for help to invite Sabonis to America.

This was Brown’s final effort. In the end, the Soviet men’s basketball team stated that Sabonis needed to prepare for the ’88 Seoul Olympics, and he wouldn’t leave the national team for America.

The incomplete ’80 and ’84 Olympics, one lacking America and the other the Soviet Union, spoke volumes about the world’s highest basketball stage.

With America and the Soviet Union both competing in ’88, the prestige of the basketball event was self-evident, and the Soviets were certainly not willing to let go of anyone.

Furthermore, with Sabonis’s Achilles injury, they were even less likely to let him compete in America and risk worsening his condition.

Eventually, under the intervention of both governments, Dale Brown was ordered to stop his relentless recruitment efforts.

The crazed Brown backed off, but he didn’t anticipate the Trail Blazers nonchalantly picking Sabonis in the draft.

Then, the Trail Blazers could leverage the NBA’s immense global influence to entice Sabonis to want to come play in America on his own.

Such is the power of the NBA draft, it doesn’t persuade you to come play, it attracts you to want to come.

No matter how much he hesitated, deep down, Sabonis yearned to be in Portland, especially after the 1988 meeting with Gan Guoyang at the Olympics, a meeting that stuck in his heart, leaving him restless.

He knew if he didn’t make a trip to Portland, to properly team up with Ah Gan for a season, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

The Trail Blazers weren’t just sitting around, passively waiting for Sabonis to have an epiphany and call to express his desire to come to Portland.

As Tang Jianguo had said, some people don’t need to be persuaded; they make their own choices, but you have to help them see the environment and situation clearly.

Tang Jianguo knew what it meant for Sabonis to come to America to play basketball. He didn’t care about any Socialist Legions; he wanted the eyeballs, the public discourse.

Moreover, coincidentally, Tang Jianguo had a deep history with the Soviet Union. Initially, Brown shouldn’t have approached Hammer; he should have sought Tang Jianguo’s help.

In 1986, Tang Jianguo met with the Soviet Ambassador to the US in a building named after him, sharing breakfast in a friendly setting.

In 1987, Moscow specifically invited Tang Jianguo for a visit. In July, he went and explored the place, with plans to build a hotel in Moscow.

This openly connected itinerary also led to suspicions years later of Tang Jianguo being a KGB spy.

Using his familiarity with the Soviet Union, on West’s advice, Tang Jianguo specifically assembled a lobbying group.

Led personally by Tang Jianguo, he took Buckwalter, Bill Walton, Beelman, and Adelman to the Soviet Union to conduct youth basketball coaching activities.

They held a week-long training camp, teaching American-style basketball training methods and finding time to meet with Sabonis.

The task of meeting Sabonis was given to Bill Walton.

Walton had seen Sabonis as early as the early ’80s during the European Championship, utterly astounded by his talent.

Walton later recalled that Sabonis had achieved a quadruple-double by halftime, and in the second half, the coach simply didn’t start him, letting him rest on the bench.

That year, Sabonis was only 19 years old, while Gan Guoyang was a basketball supervisor at Gonzaga University.

Walton successfully met with Sabonis, and after exchanging pleasantries, Walton didn’t engage in endless persuasion.

He pulled out a videotape and found a VCR, inviting Sabonis to sit and watch it together.

Surprisingly, the tape contained a training video recorded by Gan Guoyang.

In the video, Gan Guoyang, with Walton’s assistance, detailedly explained the offensive strategies and features of the Trail Blazers’ positioning.

The two of them recreated the exquisite high-low plays from the 1986 season, all of which Sabonis excelled at.

At the end of the recording, Gan Guoyang addressed the camera, "We may be building the greatest, most unique team in NBA history; don’t you want to be part of it, Arvydas?"

Bill Walton’s visit and Gan Guoyang’s video made Sabonis feel the sincerity.

At that moment, he knew he could no longer hesitate; he had to accept this challenge like a fighter.

On July 15, 1989, Sabonis arrived in Portland and officially signed with the Trail Blazers.

Since Gan Guoyang already wore jersey number 11, Sabonis chose number 15.

After the signing ceremony, Jerry West heaved a great sigh of relief; he had finally completed the Trail Blazers’ roster for the new season at the quickest speed, and the last piece of the puzzle was in place.

Tang Jianguo beamed with joy. He was extremely satisfied with the strong reinforcements joining the Trail Blazers Legion and was full of confidence for the new season.

He couldn’t wait to shout "Trail Blazers Champions."

However, after the team doctor examined players like Sabonis and Petrović, the health reports they submitted showed that the foreign legion had to resolve their health issues if they truly wanted to perform well.

Jerry West’s previously relaxed brows furrowed once again.