The Golden Age of Basketball

Olympic Building, 645 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York.

In Manhattan's financial district full of tall buildings, this dark gray high-rise building is not so conspicuous. Compared with the Twin Towers built in 1873 and the once tallest building, the Empire State Building, the Olympic Building is more like a picture on the background wall. raised.

But for all basketball fans and NBA players, this is the "NBA White House" in their eyes, because the headquarters of the NBA is located in this building.

And a room of only 25 square meters on the fifteenth floor of this building is the office of NBA President David Stern.

For the new president who has been in office for more than a year and is coming to the end of his first full season, this season has been a fruitful one.

The three major elements of each NBA season-rookies, All-Stars, and finals, the NBA under Stern has all had good results.

Needless to say about rookies, the 1984 rookies are destined to become the best in NBA history, and the addition of Gan Guoyang will only make them more star-studded.

This year's All-Star Game was also a great success. The format, venue, broadcast, and excitement of the game have reached a very high level. The slam dunk contest before the main game is also very classic.

Now, Stern is already considering adding a new element to the All-Star Game next season—the three-point contest.

The matchup between the Lakers and the Celtics in the finals is also what Stern wants to see. In the first year of Stern's tenure in 1984, the Lakers and Kais battle that year made the Jewish lawyer with a keen sense of smell realize that this The grievances between the two most traditional giants will become an effective catalyst to promote the development of nba.

Now that the finals are about to be decided, Stern just rushed back to New York from Los Angeles yesterday, and then he will fly to Boston to witness the birth of the championship at the Boston Garden Arena.

The championship is about to be born, which means that the 1984-1985 season is coming to an end, but this does not mean that Stern's work for the year is coming to an end. On the contrary, many troublesome things have just begun.

For example, regarding the issue of the NBA draft in the new year, the 1985 NBA Draft will be the first time in history that the lottery will be used to arrange the draft picks. This is also one of the most important reform measures since Stern took office.

On May 5th, when Gan Guoyang's Blazers were still fighting fiercely with the Lakers, the NBA's first draft lottery ceremony was held at Madison Square Garden in New York. Expanding the influence of nba.

According to the analysis report of the scouts, the quality of this year's rookies is not much worse than last year's golden generation, so each lottery team is very concerned about their draft results.

Finally, there was a loud cheer from the crowd when Stern drew one of the last two envelopes from the lottery box and called out "Indiana Pacers" because the envelope left in the box belonged to the New York Knicks -- They got the No. 1985 pick in the [-] draft.

However, all kinds of speculations followed, because everyone knows that the top pick of this year's draft is not the super center of Georgetown University, Patrick Ewing is none other than Patrick Ewing, and sending Ewing to the Big Apple City is undoubtedly It is extremely beneficial to the development of nba business.

Therefore, many people think that Stern has tampered with this lottery. Among them, the "envelope corner" and "envelope freezing" are the most common guesses.

They believe that Stern manipulated the draft to allow superstars to go to bigger cities to expand the influence of the NBA, and the main purpose of Stern's draft reform was to manipulate the flow of talented players.

But no matter what, the draft position has been settled. No matter what the outside world guesses, many things may always be buried in the hearts of insiders.

After the lottery troubles were over, Stern also focused on solving various details, such as the construction and layout of the team's venues, commercial contracts signed with broadcasters and advertisers, and so on.

However, there are two issues that are currently at the top of Stern's plan and the most important issues. One is the internationalization of the nba, and the other is the handling and shaping of the nba's image.

The first question is one of Stern's major strategic goals after he came to power, which is to let the NBA go out of the United States and go to the world, open up overseas markets, and create more value for the league.

And Stern, a shrewd and decisive little man, has set his sights on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the huge market that has a population of more than one billion but has not yet been fully opened.

In Stern's small office, the most important thing is not those exquisite decorations or those basketball memorabilia, but a telephone on his desk. Here, relying on these phones, Stern is always available for his needs. It can also convey his requirements and meanings to those in need.

"Dingling~" Just as Stern was still thinking about overseas market development in the office alone, a phone on the desk rang, and Stern quickly answered the phone, and the front desk operator came from inside. The voice said that it was a call from Sonny Gan, a Portland Trail Blazers player.

"Come in!" Stern said without hesitation. He just wanted to find this Chinese kid, but he didn't expect someone to send a pillow when he fell asleep.

"Hello, Gan, I'm Stern." Stern said kindly, he was very polite to everyone.

"Hello! Mr. Stern...can you hear me?! Ah?" But Gan's growling voice came from the earpiece, and Stern was startled, but there was a lot of noise in the earpiece. The signal doesn't seem to be very good.

"I can hear... what's the matter, Gan?"

"I can't quite hear what you're talking about. I'm on a farm in Iowa. I'm using a satellite phone! The signal is not very good! I just have one thing to ask you about the Chinese national team Regarding the visit to the United States, can I participate in this reception, you know, I am still a Chinese!"

At this time, Gan Guoyang was using Hansen's satellite phone to talk to Stern. In this era, mobile phones have not yet appeared, and the signal of satellite phones is not very good. He talked with the front desk of the Olympic Building for a long time before finally Let the front desk lady know that he is Gan Guoyang, an NBA player.

Stern endured Gan Guoyang's yelling on the phone. In fact, he could still hear Gan Guoyang's voice quite clearly, but he couldn't hear Gan Guoyang clearly, so Gan Guoyang spoke like a deaf man, with a particularly loud voice.

Stern wondered how Gan Guoyang knew the news that the Chinese national team was going to visit the United States. According to Stern, Gan Guoyang was not selected for any level of basketball team when he was in China, not even a school team player.

After becoming an NBA player, he has never returned to China, and he has no basketball connection with China. Although the Chinese Basketball Association has indeed noticed this basketball star, it is unlikely to notify Gan Guoyang in advance, because even Stern I haven't been able to contact Gan Guoyang recently.

"I don't know how you got this news! But we do need your participation! They will come to the United States in mid-July, mainly visiting several cities in the east. Of course, the last stop will be Portland I hope that you can act as an intermediary of communication and promote the friendship between the two parties..." Stern knew that Gan Guoyang could not hear clearly, so he rarely said loudly.

The other staff outside the office were a little surprised. They rarely heard Stern speak so loudly, and they thought he was arguing with someone on the phone.

"Mr. Stern, you are talking too loud! My ears are going to be deaf! I will go directly to New York to find you in a few days! Oh no...it should be Boston! I will go to Boston to find you! Ask about your specific situation!"

The first sentence Gan Guoyang said almost made Stern vomit blood. The guy who yelled for a long time actually disliked Stern's loud voice. Stern resisted the urge to slam the phone and listened to Gan Guoyang finish speaking.

"I will stay in Boston during the finals. You are welcome to watch the game in the Garden Square. I will wait for you there."

There are some things that cannot be clearly explained on the phone, and with the current quality of the call, Stern already wants to bring Gan Guoyang over the phone and suspend him for three games.

After hanging up the phone, Stern's ears became much quieter instantly, and he began to recall his impression of Gan Guoyang as a player.

In fact, until now, Gan Guoyang has been a mystery to many NBA players and fans, including the American public.

Before he came to the United States, he had almost zero information, only knowing that his father was a chef. After coming to the United States, he started to study in the senior year of high school. He suddenly emerged in the powerful California basketball circle and became the topic of high school basketball.

After coming to university, he chose UCLA, a prestigious school, but quickly turned against this giant, and went to the little-known Gonzaga. After a year of silence, he won the NCAA championship with a season that shocked the entire United States. .

Soon, he entered the NBA again, and quickly made a name for himself, established a firm foothold in the league, participated in the All-Star, signed with Nike, and led the Blazers to the Western Conference Finals.

All this happened so fast that the Americans felt dizzy. They didn't know why this yellow-skinned kid had such a high basketball talent.

And he seems to be very resistant to the media, and rarely accepts in-depth interviews, but in general interviews, his choice of words is as flawless as a diplomatic spokesperson.

In Stern's heart, this big man is as mysterious as the country on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, but full of great potential.

Stern knows that this player will be of great significance to the NBA. His performance this season has exceeded Stern's expectations and met Stern's basic requirements.

"I will give you the chance to reach the top, but whether you can reach that step depends on yourself."