The Golden Age of Basketball

Steve Colter, a typical black player born in a poor family in Phoenix, Arizona.

In high school, he has become a dominant player in Phoenix street basketball and the strongest ball handler in the area.

After that, he went to New Mexico State University. During the four years of the New Mexico State Farmers, he became an important task of the team, representing the team in nmsu (a secondary league of American universities) many times.

The four years of college life have changed many of his bad habits in playing and living. He has changed from a small ball handler who is keen on dribbling and playing tricks to an excellent point guard who is smart and understands the overall situation.

This also allowed him to be selected by the Trail Blazers in the second round of the 1984 draft. At that time, the Trail Blazers had a big trade and just lacked a second point guard.

After coming to the Trail Blazers, Coulter quickly won Ramsey's trust and became the Blazers' first backup point guard-of course Ramsey had no other choice at that time.

Colter's ability to get a stable chance to play is not all because he has no other options, but Colter does make Ramsey more satisfied. Although he is mediocre, he is destined not to become a first-line star. From his pick come out.

But after four years of college training, he has all the qualities of a qualified point guard. He is stable, calm, and possesses all kinds of skills. The most important thing is that he can strictly implement Ramsey's arrangement Tactical requirements, this is what Ramsey values ​​most.

So Colter's first season should be said to be quite good. For a second-round pick, being able to enter the team's stable rotation is already relatively perfect.

But this season, Colter's performance in the first two games can no longer be described as "disappointed". In fact, the entire Trail Blazers can understand what Colter is doing, but only Gan Guoyang seems to know nothing about it.

"Hey Colter, what's the matter with you?" Gan Guoyang asked Colter after the game, putting his shoulders on Colter's shoulders in the passage leading to the locker room.

Gan Guoyang still remembers how he felt when he saw Colter for the first time in the rookie training camp. He thought this guy was a big goldfish with an exploding head, because Colter's eyes were separated, and His afro is amazingly big.

The relationship between the two was relatively ordinary at the beginning. Gan Guoyang always felt that it was difficult to get along with this kind of authentic black player. He still liked to be with a well-mannered black player from a middle-class family like Drexler.

But in the game, Gan Guoyang found that Colter is definitely a very good basketball partner. In the game against the Lakers, Gan Guoyang "ordered" Colter to pass him the ball, and Colter did the same. As a result, Gan Guoyang scored 39 points .

Since then, the relationship between the two has become better and better, and their tacit understanding on the court is also very good. The quality of the balls that Colter lobs to Gan Guoyang inside is very good.

But one thing is, Gan Guoyang occasionally goes out to have fun with Colter, Carl and others, but he never goes deep into the life circle of these black people. As a person of yellow race, he will never be able to truly integrate into their cultural atmosphere.

It's just that this also keeps Gan Guoyang away from many dirty and dark things.

For example, drugs.

"I'm just... just not in good shape. I need to rest and adjust. The season has just started, and I haven't adapted yet." Colter was hugged by Gan Guoyang, but his eyes were dull. He was very disappointed, but when he thought of the intoxicating feeling, his mind was a little messed up again.

"Not in good shape? What have you been doing this summer, gambling in Las Vegas? Didn't you participate in any training camp? Or find a coach to improve your strength." Gan Guoyang wondered what this guy did in the summer. Why did you go.

"I...I don't know...Okay, don't ask any more, this is my own business..." As he spoke, Colter shook off Gan Guoyang's arm, broke free from under Gan Guoyang's arm, and went alone One quickly returned to the locker room.

"**...what is this guy doing?"

In the evening, at the invitation of Kenny Carr, an old alcoholic, Gan Guoyang went to drink and relax with Terry Porter, Jerome Cosey, and Drexler.

Since he was going to Los Angeles tomorrow, Gan Guoyang originally wanted to go back and have a good rest, but thinking about Colter, he decided to go to the wine and ask the old ghost Kenny Karl, who knows everything, for advice.

In the center of Portland, on the west bank of the Willamette River, is Portland's Old Town, which was once the heart of Portland.

With the development of American cities, counter-urbanization has begun to appear, and more and more wealthy people and middle-class people will move their residences to the suburbs. Therefore, in many American cities, the city centers are instead slums.

This old city, now Portland's Chinatown, is also a relatively chaotic community.

But the more chaotic the place, the easier it is to have fun, not to mention that this community is just across from the Memorial Stadium. The Memorial Stadium is on the east bank and it is on the west bank, so Portland players generally like to go to this place to have fun after the game .

Especially when Gan Guoyang came to this city and became famous, more and more people came to Chinatown, and Gan Guoyang became the most popular guest here, although he rarely came here.

"Hey Gan, you see those girls are all winking at you, as long as you walk over now, they will definitely post them one by one, and then you can pick one to go home... No, you should pick two, Coach Behrman is still living at your house..."

At the entrance of a restaurant in Chinatown, Kenny Karl saw some beauties making fun of Gan Guoyang at the entrance. He also knew that although Gan Guoyang was not a gentleman, he had never been very interested in those vulgar fans.

"If I could, I would have a fling with Madonna instead of wasting my energy here." Gan Guoyang didn't even look at those women.

Madonna was popular in 1984 and 1985. Her avant-garde styling and outrageous behavior made her instantly full of great controversy, but also brought great temptation. She wore white at the first mtv awards ceremony in 1985 The shape of underwear and golden waist ring sang for the party, but it shocked everyone's attention.

Of course, Gan Guoyang is not surprised by this "extraordinary" behavior, and now he is more concerned about what happened to this guy, Colter.

"Are you talking about Colter? Oh, you may be the only one in the entire NBA who can't see what happened to Colter." Kenny Karl said nonchalantly while drinking.

Gan Guoyang looked a little confused after listening. It seemed that when he asked Drexler this question, Drexler also looked at him with an idiot look and smiled "It's still a question".

Seeing that Gan Guoyang was still in a daze, Kenny Carr said, "Okay, good boy from China, although you have been in the United States for many years, there are still many things you don't understand about this great country... …Like this Chinatown, we used to come here to drink, but you know what, in the depths, in a lot of places you haven’t been, a lot of people are doing shady things…not everything is like the nba The game is played under the spotlight, and even in the NBA, we have a locker room that is not open to the public."

Gan Guoyang listened to Carl's nagging a lot and didn't mention the main point, but he already heard what Carl meant: "I'm not a fool, I understand what you mean, dark places, prostitution, crime, violence, and ...drugs. No wonder Colter came to the gym so early that day..."

Gan Guoyang thought for a moment that Colter came to the training hall early in the morning. It seems that he didn't get up early for training at all, and he didn't sleep all night. In order not to be late, he went directly to the training hall and smoked something to refresh himself. .

"Haha, yes, drugs, the root of all evil. But it's not that terrible, I bet 70.00% of nba players, or more, have touched those things."

Kenny Carr's words shocked Gan Guoyang, 70.00% of NBA players have touched drugs?It's just unbelievable.

In Gan Guoyang's view, in order to maintain their physical condition, professional players should not even touch alcohol or cigarettes, let alone drugs. As a result, there is a big alcoholic around him, and there are many players who smoke cigars and cigarettes.

But when it comes to drug use, thinking of the anti-drug promotional videos that will often appear on TV in the future, Gan Guoyang thinks it is incredible that 70.00% of the players take drugs.

"Don't fucking look incredible, as if you saw a ufo. Seeing you like this, I think you can survive in the nba and get along so well. It's incredible. Drugs (drugs) are not all those who want The things that kill people, and some, are not so scary. They are soft drugs. Let me tell you, most young Americans have smoked marijuana in high school and college. Do you know marijuana? It's almost like cigarettes! It's just that this guy, Colter, obviously played too much, and it's a pity to toss himself like that."

Different from the drug propaganda accepted by Gan Guoyang, although marijuana is also classified as a drug, compared with some high-addiction and high-harm drugs, its addiction is much lower and its physical harm is much smaller, but it is also Has a strong psychological dependence and physical destructiveness.

In the world, except for the Netherlands, marijuana is prohibited, but the number of people who smoke marijuana in the United States is quite large, especially among teenagers, and many people use marijuana as a rite of passage.

In the few years since Gan Guoyang came to the United States, he has always kept a respectful distance from drugs, and there is no marijuana smoking in the circle he often comes into contact with.

Gan Guoyang is not sure about other NBA teams, like last season's Portland Trail Blazers is still very clean, at least no one took drugs during the season.

However, during the offseason, Colter, who had just received a large salary, failed to control himself. While enjoying himself, he also opened up to smoking marijuana, and as a result, he completely sank into it.

Kenny Carl looked at Gan Guoyang after he finished speaking, saw Gan Guoyang's thoughtful look, and said seriously: "Don't try to save him. In this alliance, everyone should be responsible for their actions, and no one can save him." Nobody."