The Golden Age of Basketball

June 1985, a hot and beautiful summer, a brand new summer.

Inside the advertising studio at Nike headquarters in Portland, a set of sneaker posters are being shot.

"Raise the chin a little bit more, lift it up, and narrow the eyes a little bit, so as to give people a feeling of looking into the distance... Very good... Keep the current state. OK! It should be no problem, the effect is very good...Okay, Moses, it's your turn." In the studio, the cameraman is the boss, and those tycoons who dominate the field all follow his command.

"It's a good shot, Gan, you look more and more like a superstar standing there..."

"I just think it's just a chat. I still want to go to the gym to train in the afternoon."

The two who spoke were Gan Guoyang and his agent David Falk.

The 1985 playoffs had entered the decisive battle for the highest honor at this time, but Gan Guoyang and his Blazers lost the qualification to compete for the championship. They were easily swept out by the Los Angeles Lakers with a score of 4:1 in the Western Conference Finals.

In the match between the Western Conference semifinals and the Nuggets, Gan Guoyang played at the MVP level in the next two games and led the Blazers to complete a big reversal. In the sixth game, they beat the Nuggets in Denver, and in the seventh game. The 5-point advantage had the last laugh, and the Trail Blazers finally advanced to the Western Conference Finals after experiencing ups and downs in the semifinals.

However, when the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang were full of ambitions and were preparing to fight the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, they realized in the first game in Los Angeles that in a game of the Western Conference Finals, they and Los Angeles How big is the gap between the Lakers. [

"Very good... This pose is very good, Moses... Hey Gan, come here and take another group of photos with Moses." At this time, the photographer called Gan Guoyang to take a group of photos together.

The one who shot the poster with Gan Guoyang was the super center of the Philadelphia 76ers, the king of offensive rebounds, Moses Malone.

Moses Malone had already signed with Nike when he was in the Rockets. In 1982, Nike also summoned four other very "hardcore" players besides Malone to work together for Nike's sneaker brand "r-fore" at the time. endorsement.

The design of this sneaker itself is very good, and it will become a classic sneaker in the future, but its sales were relatively average at that time. After all, the spokespersons invited by Nike were all "strength", and they couldn't be as "strength" as Dr. J and Magician. "Idol Pie" helped Nike sell well.

Among the five, the biggest name is Moses Malone. He won the regular season mvp in 1982, and he appeared as the famous "Jewish Prophet Moses" in the posters shot for Nike. The nickname of the Prophet.

This time, Nike summoned two centers who had just finished the division finals to Portland, and also wanted to use the momentum of the two this season to prepare for the company's summer publicity offensive-you know, the two played in the regular season. Swept the top two rebounds.

"Okay, I'll come right away!" Gan Guoyang responded, "Also, David, don't arrange business affairs for me casually, this is the last time, you signed a contract for me without my consent, if there is another time , I would like to cooperate with my agent will not be less."

After Gan Guoyang said these words to Falk, he went back to the camera board and took pictures with Moses Malone, leaving Falk standing there in a daze.

"Heh~ this kid, he's growing up really fast..." Falk recalled Gan Guoyang's words, with a wry smile on his face.

For many nb players, especially young players, they have never had much interest in business affairs, and they don't have too many opinions. They usually leave these matters to their agents and act as shopkeepers themselves, just waiting to collect money.

However, the two players Gan Guoyang and Michael Jordan have shown a maturity beyond ordinary young players, especially Gan Guoyang, who has a strong tendency to break free from Falk's control.

If it was half a year ago, Falk would definitely not have cared about Gan Guoyang's threat, and he would have only regarded it as a sign of rebellion by young people.

However, a series of recent incidents have made Falk understand that this kid may really be out of his control.

…………

"Okay, the two of you stand facing each other, separated by a distance of a basketball, good... use your eyes to glare at the opponent... good... let's switch teams..."[

The two giants Gan Guoyang and Moses Malone are like two marionettes, being fiddled with by photographers, without the slightest domineering on the court.

However, the results of the photos are very good, fully demonstrating the inheritance and struggle between the old and new rebounding champions.

It didn't take long to take pictures, but there were not many other sounds in the studio except for the click of the photographer taking pictures and the commanding voice of the photographer, because both Gan Guoyang and Moses Malone were quite silent.

Although Gan Guoyang is not a chatterbox, he is also a talkative person, and he can often make witty remarks; however, Moses Malone, who cooperates with him, is a real dull gourd. His taciturnity is well-known in the nb media circle.

And, even if he wants to talk to you, his slurred, rural South Florida accent makes chatting difficult.

Therefore, it is only natural that the studio is so silent.

This kind of silence made the photographer unbearable. After taking enough negatives, he finally nodded to indicate that the two of them could take a rest.

Ma Long went straight to the sofa where he was resting, sat down quietly, and began to drink water slowly. He always seemed slow and dull when he was off the court, but only on the court, the opponents could appreciate the brutality of this guy .

"Hey, Gan, I promise, I won't accept commercial contracts for you casually in the future, and I will respect you." Seeing that Gan Guoyang had finished taking the photo, Falk stepped forward and said to him.

Gan Guoyang nodded while drinking some water. He knew that Falk must have something to say later.

"So, I'm going to talk to you about the next commercial... it's about Coca-Cola," Falk continued.

Gan Guoyang knew that if Falke just wanted him to take a set of photo posters, he didn't have to travel all the way to Portland. Gan Guoyang himself was in Portland, and he didn't know Nike very well. Yes, just come here by yourself.

Since Falk came here in person, there must be other things to discuss.

"Coca-Cola's new-oke can't continue." Gan Guoyang said bluntly.

"...That's right, they have decided to take the new-oke off the market and restart the production line of the old Coca-Cola, so your prediction has come true, the Coca-Cola Company contacted me, I hope you can do something for the re-listed old Coca-Cola Spokesperson."

The prediction made by Gan Guoyang in March became a reality. Of course, Gan Guoyang did not predict it himself at all. He just said what happened in history in advance.

"No problem, I still hope to wait until the finals are over before filming commercials. Tomorrow I plan to go back to California, go to San Francisco to visit my father, and then go to Los Angeles to watch the finals. The finals are over, you can contact me again Atlanta." Gan Guoyang proposed his schedule.

After the end of the playoffs, the Trail Blazers team has entered the vacation, and most of the players have gone to various parts of the United States for vacation, but Gan Guoyang still stayed in Portland to continue his training. After the fight, Gan Guoyang was once again full of motivation to improve himself.

In this regard, Falk can only nod in agreement now, he can no longer control Gan Guoyang's schedule as before.

The filming ended soon, and Falk left in a hurry. He still had many players to attend to, so Gan Guoyang invited Moses Malone to have a meal at a Mexican restaurant in Portland.

In the regular season, Gan Guoyang and Ma Long had only one encounter experience, but they had a deep impression on this super center. Moses is one of the few inside players in nb who can suppress Gan Guoyang with strength in the low post.

During the meal, without the attention of other staff members, both of them relaxed a lot, and the silent Moses Malone also slowly opened up the chatter box, and communicated with Gan Guoyang.

It's just that Moses' accent is really strong. Even though Gan Guoyang has been in the United States for nearly five years, some words still sound quite difficult.

The two giants chatted intermittently about basketball. At the end of the meal, Gan Guoyang suddenly proposed to compete with Moses Malone in the training hall of the University of Portland.

After hearing Gan Guoyang's words, Moses Malone looked up at Gan Guoyang, without the slightest surprise on his face, he nodded slowly to express his agreement.

Maybe Moses Malone also felt that two people communicating on the basketball court would be much better than eating.

Soon, the two big guys went straight to the University of Portland in a taxi.

Along the way, the taxi driver was chattering to the city hero Gan Guoyang and the big star Ma Long. Obviously, he was flattered to be able to carry these two guests.

"Gump, do you remember that 15-foot hook you had in the fourth quarter of Game 15? God, I was driving over the Willamette Bridge with Sean Leigh on the radio. When the Blazers and the Nuggets were tied, my heart was beating! Then I heard Sean Leigh say, 'Gan catches the ball on the left, hits a [-]-foot hook with the left hand, rp-ty '! It made me so happy that I almost drove the car into the river!"

Gan Guoyang and Ma Long watched the driver dancing and dancing. They happened to be driving on the Willamette Bridge. They were worried that the driver would really drive the car into the river this time.

In Game 2, it was not easy for the Blazers to win the game. The two sides kept criss-crossing each other. At the critical moment, Gan Guoyang's long-range hook and Paxson's 1 plus [-] gave the Nuggets a fatal blow.

Portland couldn't sleep that night.

Looking back on that night now, Gan Guoyang is still unforgettable. At that time, they even thought that they might win the championship, but the subsequent Western Conference Finals brought them back to reality.

At this time, the driver seemed to feel sorry for the Blazers' failure to go further, saying: "But the Lakers are too good...they have always been so good, especially Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."

"Humph", at this time, there was a cold hum from Gan Guoyang's side, it was Moses Malone.

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