The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 615 - 17 Loyalty Will Only Hurt You

Gan Guoyang had a good sleep on the plane.

Initially, he really wanted to do some visualization training, but it got so damn tiring that he fell asleep sitting there with his legs crossed.

It was all because of taking care of the child.

Since Gan Guoyang was about to play an away game, he took the initiative last night to take care of his child, giving his wife a chance to catch her breath and rest.

As a result, his son stayed up with him, playing a game of "you sleep, I don’t sleep," occasionally crying out for milk, preventing him from getting a full night’s sleep.

Even so, Gan Guoyang could not sleep in the morning, got up on time for training, got dragged to a promotional event by Tang Jianguo in the afternoon, and finally, when he boarded the plane to Houston in the evening, he was free at last.

The charter flight certainly had its advantages; an entire row of seats for one person, spacious and quiet. With an eye mask and earplugs, he could rest well for a while.

Gan Guoyang really wished the flight could be longer so that he could rest a little more.

After arriving at their destination, the Trail Blazers immediately headed to the hotel, where it was already past nine in the evening.

Bobby Berman allowed the players to go out and have some fun that night, but they had to return to the hotel before midnight, as he would be checking rooms.

In a professional team, it’s very rare for coaches to do this. After all, coaches and players are colleagues, and there’s no managing a colleague’s personal life.

But a team is a collective, and the collective needs management, discipline, and a certain amount of control and pressure exerted by the coach on the players.

Beelman did not suck up to the players just because he was a rookie coach. Since last season, he had been very tough, as uncompromising as Jack Ramsey.

During away trips, he would appropriately interfere with the players’ private lives, forbidding solicitation of prostitution, drinking, and gambling before a game. The most they could do was play cards in the plane or their rooms.

After a game or at the end of an away trip, players were allowed to relax a bit, do something they enjoyed.

When Adelman had just returned to Portland, there were voices in the media and among the fans hoping Adelman would take over as head coach and relegate Beelman back to an assistant’s role.

Tang Jianguo had this idea as well, but it was vetoed by West, and Buckwalter also believed Beelman was more suitable as head coach.

Because Beelman was tougher and had more principles than Adelman, he was willing to have conflicts with the players and seemed to have a good grasp on moderation.

In an NBA team, it’s impossible not to have conflicts and issues. A coach who always compromises and concedes to the players might maintain harmony ordinarily, but at critical moments, unity can fall apart like a house of cards.

After Beelman had set the rules, no one messed around that night; everyone stayed in their rooms to sleep and rest.

The next day at noon, when they went to the arena for shooting warm-ups, Beelman could tell everyone was in good shape.

At about four in the afternoon, the Trail Blazers arrived at Summit Arena, ready for the game against the Rockets.

After the 1986 Western Conference Finals, the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trail Blazers went on two different paths.

The Rockets were ruined by injuries and drugs, and the once-mighty team built around the Twin Towers had collapsed, leaving only some remnants.

The biggest remnant was, of course, Hakeem Olajuwon. After enduring hardships and converting to Islam, he seemed to have lost some of his ferocity and become more closed off and silent.

Lloyd and Wiggins, who were once banned for life due to drug issues, went two seasons without playing. The League finally gave them a break, lifting the ban and allowing them to return to the court.

But by then, things had changed significantly; the Rockets were no longer the Rockets of old.

Last season, Bill Fitch, the architect of the Twin Towers, had left Houston.

His replacement was Don Chaney, a former understudy of Coach Lewis and a star player from the University of Houston.

Chaney, having had a tough time with the Clippers, came back to his roots, hoping to bring some vitality to himself and the Rockets.

The Rockets also traded away McGrady, acquiring Audie Norris from the King to assist Olajuwon and fill the void left by Sampson.

During this summer’s off-season, the Rockets brought back John Lucas, who had been expelled from the team by Bill Fitch.

Due to Lucas’s drug abuse and substance addiction, Fitch didn’t want to keep a toxic influence around.

Sadly, the roots of the problem had already run deep, and getting rid of Lucas couldn’t prevent the downfall of Wiggins and Lloyd.

Lucas, Lloyd, and Wiggins were all back, along with Olajuwon and Norris, and it seemed the Rockets could return to their 1986 glory.

But they were missing one crucial person: Bill Fitch.

Fitch, known for being too harsh on players and for his terrible temper, had strained relationships with both the players and management.

Therefore, he never stayed long with a team, often leaving with poor relationships within the squad and sometimes even being ousted by a coup.

In this regard, he was even worse than Dick Motta, because at least Motta didn’t have as bad a reputation for his mouth.

Then his replacements were always coaches with good relationships with the players, who were good at handling interpersonal connections.

KC Jones and Don Chaney were such figures.

Many years later, however, when players reminisced about Bill Fitch, they acknowledged that Fitch was a good coach, most suitable for a championship team, only they were too young then to realize it.

Larry Bird said this, and Olajuwon thought so too.

After another first-round exit in the 1988-1989 season, Olajuwon felt disappointed with the Rockets and the coach.

In his view, Don Chaney tried to please every player, but in fact, that was impossible.

When Fitch was there, everyone had a tense relationship with him, but as a result, everyone was focused during training and games, fearful of being called out and scolded by Fitch.

Chaney wouldn’t do that; he wasn’t that serious and always maintained a loose relationship with the players.

Of course, this made everyone feel good, but come game time, the Rockets lacked aggressiveness.

Gan Guoyang had clearly felt the absence of the Rockets’ formerly aggressive nature during last season’s games against them.

In the 85–86 season, every game between the Trail Blazers and the Rockets was a fierce battle in the three-second zone, like Mars hitting Earth.

Every time Gan Guoyang faced the Houston Twin Towers, he would block five or six shots, then get blocked five or six times in return, engaging in bumper car-like fierce confrontations under the basket, leaving his muscles and bones sore the next day.

Now, even Olajuwon seemed somewhat lackluster when facing Gan Guoyang, with no strong will to fight.

Because they just couldn’t beat him. They couldn’t win one-on-one, nor could the team.

Tonight’s game was no different; the Trail Blazers early on established a lead in the first quarter.

Olajuwon was completely off tonight, making consecutive mistakes while handling the ball against Gan Guoyang.

Instead, Rockets forward Buck Johnson played superbly, carrying the team’s offense.

Don Chaney’s tactics did not completely revolve around Olajuwon; he tried to take a team-based approach to offense and defense.

The Rockets actually had a decent lineup, including Buck Johnson, Thorpe, Maxwell, Floyd, and Wiggins, with several useful players on the bench, such as John Lucas, Mike Woodson, and Larry Smith, all capable players.

The team certainly had the ability to make the playoffs and become a strong competitor in the Western Conference.

But the absence of an absolute core led to scattered play; everyone fought their own battles according to their own ideas.

When the players were in good form, each was like a dragon, able to win many games, especially at home.

But once they were out of form, without a standout core and lax discipline from the coach, they would become disorganized.

Last season the Rockets finished with 45 wins and 37 losses, a decent record.

But they were 31-10 at home and 14-27 away, with a significant difference between their home and away records.

The inability to win away games indicated a lack of discipline and fighting spirit, showing they weren’t equipped for tough battles.

Tonight, the Rockets trailed the Trail Blazers by 11 at halftime. In the third quarter, excluding Olajuwon, the outside players took shots and made breakaways to attack, overturning the disadvantage and narrowing the gap to 2 points.

At critical moments, the Trail Blazers slowed down the pace, with Gan Guoyang scoring consecutive baskets in the low post.

And with the Rockets’ perimeter shooting suddenly fading, the Trail Blazers extended their lead once more.

In the fourth quarter, the Rockets tried to double-team, but Gan Guoyang assisted Hornacek and Petrović in hitting threes, securing the victory.

In the end, the Trail Blazers beat the Rockets 116-107 away, notching a three-win streak with a 9-point advantage.

Gan Guoyang scored 34 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 8 assists.

Olajuwon only scored 12 points, though he did grab 18 rebounds.

Tonight, the Rockets used Olajuwon as a blue-collar center.

At the end of the game, Olajuwon and Gan Guoyang hugged.

Olajuwon was clearly very downcast, his faith unable to soothe the pain of defeat.

Gan Guoyang knew he wasn’t happy with the Rockets these two years, and his talent was being wasted.

With the Rocket’s history of owners, none were as emotionally stable as Weinberg or as high-profile and generous with money as Tang Jianguo. This ranged from contract negotiations with Olajuwon when he first joined the team, attempting to low-ball him, to the drawn-out issues with Moses Malone—generally demonstrating a somewhat unstable and stingy character mixed with bad luck.

No wonder Olajuwon had to rediscover his faith to get through his days.

Gan Guoyang patted Olajuwon on the shoulder and said, "Hakeem, if it really comes down to it, go find Clyde on the South Coast. I think you guys would make a good pair."

Olajuwon gave Gan Guoyang a look and said, "I won’t leave Houston. I’m loyal to this place."

Gan Guoyang said, "Loyalty will only hurt you, Hakeem. Take care of yourself."

[In 1996, when Ah Gan decided to return to the NBA, every team launched recruitment efforts, but he chose to go back to the Trail Blazers.

When asked if this was because he was loyal to Portland, Ah Gan said, no, it was because Portland was loyal to him.

And so, Ah Gan returned to his cherished Portland.]

—————— Published in 2025, by Wu Zhixiong, excerpt from The Story of Ah Gan.