The Golden Age of Basketball

The University of Houston, the most famous school in Texas, is also n's famous basketball school. This school has contributed to nb like Elvin Hayes, Akeem Olajuwon, Drexler and An All-Star player like Otis Birdson.

Therefore, every summer, the training hall of the University of Houston is always full of stars. Not only will Houston Rockets players come here for training, but those stars who have graduated from here will also come back here, just like they did in college. Sprinkle your own sweat in the arena.

"Hold on, hold on! Don't give him a chance..."

"Oh!"

"nice shot!"

In the basketball gymnasium of the University of Houston’s Campus Recreation Center, the sizzling sound of sneakers rubbing against the floor and the shouts of players continued to be heard. Obviously, a fierce confrontation training was going on inside.

"Great job, Akeem, you must find space, space, in the most crowded place, as long as you have space, you have a chance to escape." A tall black man wearing a red vest and blue shorts stood on the sidelines Said, he is Moses Malone.

After Malone left Portland, he returned to Houston.

Since Malone entered the nb directly after graduating from high school, he is an outlier in the league. Naturally, he does not return to his alma mater to train like those players who graduated from college, but he habitually comes to Houston—although he is now in Philadelphia play ball. [

As early as when Malone was still playing for the Rockets, he would come to the University of Houston to train with Akeem Olajuwon, who was still a college player at the time, during the offseason. His great strength and excellent skills in the low post, It deeply affected Olajuwon and laid a solid foundation for this future super center.

Now, Olajuwon is already a professional player in the nb, and the two have become opponents on the court, but this does not prevent them from being close to a master-student relationship off the court.

"Akim did a good job, but you, your reaction seems to be slower, and you should not press forward. If it were me, I would give up this chance to block because you have lost the most powerful ability to block. Conditions are met, Akim already has space."

Ma Long then changed the subject and pointed to the center who was facing Olajuwon, the University of Houston's biggest enemy-Gan Guoyang.

Before Gan Guoyang came to Houston, he had no idea that university fans would hold grudges like this, so when he was accepted by Drexler to the University of Houston, the number of times he was given the middle finger along the way exceeded Gan Guoyang's average per game last season. Rebounds.

"Fortunately, it's a holiday now, otherwise the person who gives you the middle finger will exceed your total rebounds for the season." Hearing what Drexler said, Gan Guoyang could only "lucky" that he came late.

But when Gan Guoyang made some adjustments and came to the training hall to start training the next day, he was no longer "lucky" that he was late, because he found that nearly a month of slack made him fight against Olajuwon. , actually began to be at a disadvantage.

No matter in the N period or when playing in the professional league, Gan Guoyang can always maintain a certain degree of suppression against Olajuwon.

Although Olajuwon has better jumping, speed and explosive power, Gan Guoyang is smarter, has more solid skills, and a very important point, Gan Guoyang has a great advantage in key strength.

Even though Olajuwon claimed to be able to compete with Moses Malone in terms of strength when he was in college, it was just a propaganda. Gan Guoyangcai and Moses are of the same level of strength, while Olajuwon is still worse a quantitative level.

But in the confrontation on the first day of the training camp, Gan Guoyang discovered that Olajuwon had made great progress in strength, and even if he still couldn't reach his level, he had narrowed the gap.

What's worse is that Olajuwon's skills have improved significantly compared to his rookie season, and his footsteps have begun to become dreamy.

On the previous goal, Olajuwon grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket, and Gan Guoyang raised his hands to defend himself. Olajuwon tried to push Gan Guoyang but failed, but he immediately turned around with his right foot as the axis, and quickly turned away from Gan Guoyang's body. Then make a fake right hand hook.

Although he didn't deceive Gan Guoyang, he took a step back and made a jump shot. Not only did he make the ball, but he also caused Gan Guoyang's thug to foul.

If this happened just once, it's normal. Against a player like Olajuwon, it's impossible to take advantage every time. [

However, in today's training, Gan Guoyang was almost unable to limit Olajuwon's offense on the defensive end. blockable.

In the offense, Gan Guoyang was also very struggling. Facing the handy turnaround jump shot of the Chinese players, he was replaced by Olajuwon to defend, and the effect was completely lost. Gan Guoyang had difficulty even taking shots.

And Gan Guoyang is convinced that Olajuwon must have accepted Moses Malone's guidance on how to defend the hook, which makes Gan Guoyang even more difficult on the offensive end. "Okay, let's take a break. We've been playing for half an hour. Everyone can adjust." Moses Malone clapped his hands and said.

"Your condition is not good, Gan. Why did you come here so late? I thought you had been training in Portland." During the break, Drexler said to Gan Guoyang.

In the confrontation between the two sides, Drexler and Gan Guoyang were in a group, while Olajuwon had Birdson as his assistant. Compared with Gan Guoyang's downturn, Drexler was in much better condition. I have been training here for more than a month, and the situation in all aspects is quite good.

"I know, I'm too slack, I've been running around this month, I haven't trained systematically at all, I hope it's not too late to start now." Gan Guoyang reflected while drinking water.

The deficiency caused by the lack of systematic training for a month is not obvious on the surface, especially after Gan Guoyang brutally abused the Chinese team, he even felt that he was more stable and mature in terms of strength.

But really against players of the same level, especially after a month of targeted improvement of the opponent, it is certain that Gan Guoyang will suffer in one-on-one.

"It's not too late to start. Many training camps start at this time, and then there is the team training camp in September. Let's work hard." Drexler comforted Gan Guoyang, saying that he had made this mistake before.

However, Drexler also understands that with Gan Guoyang's character, the slack is only temporary, followed by crazy training. You must know that he is the one who trains the most hard for the Trail Blazers.

While the players were resting and exchanging experience with each other, a middle-aged white man in a beige T-shirt walked into the training hall, attracting everyone's attention.

"Coach Lewis!" Drexler was the first to go forward, and the person who came was the head coach of the Houston Panthers, Guy Lewis.

Gan Guoyang is still very impressed with this coach. This legendary coach who graduated from the University of Houston and has served as the head coach of the Panthers since 1956 and led the Panthers to fnl-four four times, is always on the sidelines. That calmness is in stark contrast to the passion of the Bulldogs' former coach Behrman.

"Hello, Mr. Lewis." Gan Guoyang also stepped forward to shake hands with the famous coach.

Although Gan Guoyang single-handedly destroyed coach Lewis' chance to lead the Jaguars to the n highest honor, his lore, plus Olajuwon's departure, made Lewis realize that he would never have the chance to touch that trophy again.

But he still admires Gan Guoyang, appreciates his skills, and his extraordinary sense of the game.

"Hello, Gan, welcome to the University of Houston. Maybe people here are hostile to you, but we respect every opponent on the court. I hope you can make progress." Coach Lewis seemed very friendly.

This season, the Panthers, who had lost the outstanding players of the previous year, failed to even enter the national competition. Guy Lewis was already a little disheartened and ready to leave the post of head coach.

However, during the offseason, he is still very happy to go to the training ground to give pointers to the former proud disciples so that they can go further in nb.

The training continued quickly, and this time began a one-on-one confrontation practice in groups. Gan Guoyang and Olajuwon were unsurprisingly assigned together, and the two of them continued to hone their one-on-one offensive and defensive skills.

"Akim's recent progress is indeed obvious. Sure enough, as long as there is a target opponent in front of him, his progress will be faster... However, Gan's skills do not seem to have changed much. His arsenal is still a bit monotonous, but he The feel of the ball is really good, even better than Akim..."

Coach Lewis observed the confrontation between Aitu and Gan Guoyang, and he also saw that Olajuwon had made progress in more than a month of hard training, while Gan Guoyang seemed to be standing still.

Unlike coach Bellman and Georgetown coach John Thompson, both of them are good at training players' defensive ability and defensive awareness, especially the latter, the future Mutombo and Mourning will be his Proud disciple.

On the other hand, Coach Lewis is good at developing the offensive potential of players, especially good at carrying forward the offensive advantages and independent offensive awareness of players. Therefore, his four major disciples, Hayes, Olajuwon, Drexler, and Birdson all Is an offensive strongman.

Of course, the disadvantage of him is that Hayes and Olajuwon were once called black holes on the court, Drexler never repented of his shooting flaws, and Birdson can only attack and not pass. The shooting guard of the ball, these are all bad habits formed under Lewis' free system.

However, because of this, he is very good at tuning players' offense.

"You two stop, come here Gan, I think you should improve your offensive thinking and offensive skills."