The Golden Age of Basketball

The preseason is very close, and Adelman is constantly adjusting the best lineup in his mind. In the confrontation, he repeatedly adjusted the combination of players, just like playing a jigsaw puzzle, hoping to find the most suitable lineup rotation plan.

The most natural starting plan is Gan Guoyang, Buck Williams, Jerome Cosey, Drexler and Terry Porter.

Since the 1987 season, the three outsiders have become the commonly used outside three-person team for the Blazers, but at that time the Blazers still relied on Vandeweghe's outside firepower, and Cauchy was often used as a defensive supplement and the impact of the second team. point play.

In 1988, Vandeweghe began to suffer from injuries, and Gan Guoyang's return shifted the focus of the Blazers' offense to the inside. The Blazers needed a third wing defensive gate to reduce Gan Guoyang's defensive pressure on the inside.

After all, in the first two years of the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang did not miss the outside loopholes. Now he must allocate more energy to the offense. Wiping his butt is really exhausting Gan Guoyang's physical strength.

As a result, Cauchy began to replace Vandeweghe as the starter in the 1988 season, and he burst out with great energy. This player, who was only selected in the second round, averaged 1988 points and 17.8 rebounds per game in the 6.9 season. Be a qualified role player.

And in the playoffs, in the battle against the Los Angeles Lakers, he took on the heavy responsibility of marking Magic Johnson. Not only did he do his best on the defensive end, but he also made many achievements on the offensive end, becoming the second strong player besides Drexler. Fast break finish.

It has to be said that Cauchy's ability to reach this point is inseparable from his hard work and diligence. The hardest player in the entire Blazers team, except for Gan Guoyang, is Jerome Cauchy.

The transformation completed by Terry Porter is no smaller than that of Cauchy. Since Adelman entered the Trail Blazers, Porter began to change from a traditional passing-oriented point guard with scoring as an auxiliary point guard to a point guard. Attack-oriented, pass-assisted attacking No. [-] position.

This is naturally due to Drexler's poor shooting ability and relative lack of independent offensive ability. Now Adelman has fully tapped Porter's accurate shooting and bold shots, turning him into a player who can play at critical moments. Excellent attacker who takes over the game.

In addition, Drexler, who has been making steady progress and has more and more comprehensive positioning, is also sitting on the bench with veteran Jim Paxson. In the past two seasons, he has been actively developing his three-pointers, and he has also adapted to it. The role of the sixth man, ready to play to provide firepower for the team.

In this way, the three-person combination on the outside and the rotation basically don't need Adelman to think about it.

The main problem lies in the inside line, but it is not that the inside line is weak, but the inside line is too strong, so that Adelman does not know how to arrange and combine.

Gan Guoyang and Buck Williams should be the natural starting combination. Although the height of the two is relatively short in their respective positions, this does not affect their performance on both ends of the offense and defense.

Gan Guoyang is an all-around superstar, and every year he will master a new skill. As long as his support level is above the average this year, he will become a big killer with his own system on the offensive end.

The combination of Buck Williams and Gan Guoyang can reduce Gan Guoyang's excessive energy consumption due to large-scale movement in defense. Williams' relatively light body and excellent mobility among power forwards will largely replace him. Gan Guoyang became the middle road scavenger.

Duckworth on the bench is undoubtedly a starting-caliber center forward. He was underestimated in the draft and started to shine when he came to the Trail Blazers. In the first week of training, Gan Guoyang gave him hook training. It has paid off.

Gan Guoyang himself also likes this naive big man. He plays very solid and practical. Adelman also thinks that Duckworth is more than enough to serve as a substitute.

However, Adelman knows that the Blazers will also have a center to arrive, and that is Sabonis, who is famous in the European basketball circle.

According to the rules of the nba, no matter how good an overseas player like this is when he comes to the nba, he will definitely sit on the bench for a long time in the first season, especially in a team like the Blazers who are determined to win the championship and have a complete and stable lineup strong team.

However, Gan Guoyang supported Sabonis in his communication with Adelman, and claimed that if this player can be used reasonably, the Blazers this season will be absolutely unstoppable.

As an academic coach, Adelman is not particularly good at using rookies and surprise players. A solid starting lineup, stable rotation, and adequate pre-match preparations are the foundation for Adelman to guarantee victory.

Relatively, poor on-the-spot command and lack of adaptability are Adelman's flaws, which are also related to Adelman's game philosophy-practical, well-prepared, choose a strategy and stick to it to the end and never change easily.

In the 1988 Western Conference Finals, Adelman had to pay part of the responsibility for the Blazers' loss. Facing the effective defensive strategy of the Lakers against Gan Guoyang, Adelman never changed his offensive style of play, leading to a loss in the fourth quarter of Game [-]. , The Blazers lost the chance to enter the finals at home.

Of course, this is also related to the serious lameness of the Blazers at the 4th position at that time.

Today, the Blazers' No. [-] position has been supplemented, and Adelman is quite satisfied with Williams' performance in the training camp. Indeed, he is a good supplement for Gan Guoyang on both offensive and defensive ends.

However, in the communication after the training, Gan Guoyang still repeatedly emphasized the importance of Sabonis. The opinion of the first star made Adelman also have to consider how to arrange the upcoming European mvp.

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In October, after all the "customs clearance documents" of Sabonis were completed, the giant finally got a visa to the United States. On October 10th, four weeks before the regular season, he arrived in Porter by plane. orchid.

On this day, the weather was excellent, the autumn air was crisp, and the blue sky was clear. Reporters dispatched by major media in Portland gathered at Portland International Airport, waiting for the arrival of the Soviet giant.

For the Blazers, not only manager Inman and head coach Adelman arrived, but even Gan Guoyang arrived at the airport in person, which is enough to prove that the Blazers attach great importance to Sabonis' arrival.

Sabonis joined the Trail Blazers and obtained the consent of the United States and the Soviet Union, which also caused a great sensation in the United States, not only because he was the first player from a Soviet and Eastern European socialist country to play in the United States during the Cold War, but also because of the 1988 Olympic Games , The basketball earthquake brought by the United States' complete defeat to the Soviet Union in the semifinals.

Sabonis was the backbone of the Soviet Union.

Such a grand welcome ceremony made Sabonis a little flattered, especially the arrival of Gan Guoyang, which made Sabonis quite excited. After seeing Gan Guoyang at the exit, he stepped forward and hugged him warmly.

"Avidas, look, when I came to Portland before, the reporters who greeted me were not even half of what is here." Gan Guoyang said with a smile to Sabonis.

After being selected as the No. 1984 pick in [-], Gan Guoyanggui was the No. [-] pick and the MOP of the NCAA Finals. Few reporters came to Portland to greet him, because no one thought that a Chinese could succeed in the NBA.

Now, Sabonis is just a rookie at the end of the first round, but he is treated like a champion. This is not only related to his strength and identity, but also related to the importance of the Blazers, or the importance of Gan Guoyang.

Adelman looked at the burly and tall Slavic giant from the sidelines, and also stepped forward to shake hands with him, but he was thinking about how to arrange the position of the center in the team.

Before Sabonis came to Portland for trial training in 1986, Adelman had spent a lot of time watching the video of Sabonis. It can be said that Sabonis' playing style was beyond Adelman's expectation.

Adelman thought that a 7-foot-2, strong and tall center like this should be a powerful offensive insider. He was still troubled. The Blazers already had such an offensive weapon as Gan Guoyang, so what's the point of another offensive insider? significance.

But after carefully watching some of Sabonis's games and getting in touch with Sabonis in the trial training, Adelman realized that this is not a traditional inside line. His coping ability, especially the high post coping ability , amazing.

What Adelman has to do now is how to arrange suitable tactical positions for Sabonis on both ends of the offense and defense. Obviously, it is a waste of his talent to let Sabonis be a blue-collar center, but it is impossible for the Blazers to design a system around Sabonis. , He can only adapt to the current Blazers system.

At the same time, whether Sabonis and Gan Guoyang are compatible, how to arrange his playing rotation, and how to ensure his coexistence with Duckworth and Buck Williams are all issues that Adelman needs to consider.

And all this, the time given to Sabonis and Adelman is less than four weeks.

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After arriving in Portland, the Blazers quickly arranged a residence for Sabonis. It was the house where Gan Guoyang once lived in the West District. Now Gan Guoyang has moved to a high-end villa in the Jewish community, because it is closer to the Blazers' training hall.

In the evening, Blazers owner Weinberg specially hosted a banquet for Sabonis. The entire Blazers team attended and expressed their welcome to Sabonis.

Such a grand welcome ceremony made Sabonis feel valued, because the last time, when Sabonis came to Portland in 1986, he was no different from an ordinary tourist.

But this also puts great pressure on Sabonis. He received such treatment on the first day, and there are many praises from the media. If his performance in the new season does not meet expectations, then the verbal and written criticisms he has received must be in the current ten. Times, by then, he will have a difficult life as a Soviet.

After the banquet, Gan Guoyang took the initiative to drive Sabonis to his original residence, which is now Sabonis' home in Portland.

Sitting in Gan Guoyang's modified Mercedes-Benz S-500, Sabonis still looked a little reserved. In fact, Gan Guoyang was a few months younger than Sabonis in terms of age.

"You look nervous, Arvedas."

"Yes, very nervous, you are too enthusiastic, I was thinking, what will happen if I can't play well? Will I be driven back."

"Haha, don't worry, I believe in your level. However, time is really running out. I will come to you tomorrow morning to find you, and we will go to training together. It is very early, remember to get up."