The Golden Age of Basketball

Leaving the icy and snowy Milwaukee, the Trail Blazers took a plane to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second stop of the six-linked team.

Gan Guoyang arrived in Philadelphia with the team the day before the game. In the words of Cauchy, everyone didn't want to stay in Milwaukee for even one more minute.

Philadelphia is as cold as Milwaukee. It was still snowing when the Blazers arrived, but this oldest city in the United States is much more interesting than Milwaukee. After arriving in Philadelphia, Gan Guoyang received the news as soon as he arrived at the hotel. Wilt Chamberlain He is also in Philadelphia, and plans to invite Gan Guoyang to play in the Baker League tonight.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Gan Guoyang did receive an invitation call from Chamberlain. Zhang Dashuai has been wandering around the United States, looking for someone to play with, or going to the arena to watch the game live. After the game, he will be interviewed by reporters. Make complaints about the poor scoring ability of NBA centers now.

Of course, Chamberlain has always admired Gan Guoyang very much. As early as when Gan Guoyang was in high school, the two had been friends for years. Chamberlain especially liked to brag and chat with Gan Guoyang. Sometimes he would make a special trip to watch Gan Guoyang’s games away, especially when the Blazers played against the Lakers, Warriors and In Philadelphia, because Chamberlain played in these three cities, getting a ticket was easy.

For this unmarried old naughty boy who likes to play everywhere, Gan Guoyang is sometimes too kind. The team has always opposed things like going to the street to play. Not to mention the possibility of players being injured, they will also play on the street. Disrupt players' physical strength adjustments and training plans.

After receiving the call from Chamberlain, Chamberlain couldn't help but talk on the phone. Gan Guoyang had no chance to refuse, so he agreed to Chamberlain and prepared to go to the destination.

This time Gan Guoyang is not going to play in the ordinary streets, but to participate in the famous Baker League in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia's Baker League is well-known in the United States. It was founded in 1960. The founder is Sonny Hill, a legend in the history of Philadelphia basketball. Although he never entered the NBA, he has been in the NBA's subordinate league. He played in the "Eastern League", but then he created the Baker League, which made the 5-foot-9 man who was the first to be rejected for a basketball scholarship go down in the annals of basketball history.

In the 60s when the professionalism of the NBA was not yet developed, it was very common for professional players to go to the streets to play in the league in the summer, so street basketball at that time was not just a ostentation later, and the famous Chamberlain came to the streets of Philadelphia to play games, " Black Pearl" Earl Monroe, Billy Cunningham, Bill Bradley and a large number of outstanding professional players.

Moreover, professional players come here not just to pass the time or get some bonuses. Players like Bill Bradley who have been away from the professional league for a period of time have to rely on the Baker League to restore their status.

After that, as the salaries of the players got higher and higher, and the NBA's game schedule became more and more heavy, many big-name players were unwilling to "waste" their precious time on the streets, and they were even less willing to take the risk of injury.

Later, on the basis of the Baker League, Sonny Hill founded the "Sonny Hill" league, which is mainly for young high school players. After that, the scale of this league has continued to expand, extending to lower grades and colleges , so that more and more young people get the opportunity to exercise.

In the days to come, a son of Philadelphia who returned from Italy will hone his skills in the Sonny Hill League and eventually embark on the road of superstardom.

But the Baker League did not end because of this. This league has become a basketball mecca for young players in the Philadelphia area, and it is equal to Rock Park in New York.

Gan Guoyang took a taxi in Philadelphia in the snowstorm, and soon arrived at the alumni-donated arena of St. Joseph University mentioned by Chamberlain, which is one of the venues for the Baker League.

After arriving at the destination, fortunately, Gan Guoyang is already well-known in the United States, and those who showed him the way along the way all took the initiative to post them, and then Gan Guoyang arrived at the alumni donation gymnasium, and saw him wearing a thin suit at the door. Sportswear, and Wilt Chamberlain, who is naked and wearing sunglasses in winter.

"Hi Gan! You are really too slow, Hill and I have been waiting for you here for 15 minutes and nine seconds!"

Gan Guoyang ignored this guy lazily, stepped forward and gave him a high five, and then shook hands with a small black old man with mottled hair standing aside.

This little old man is Sonny Hill, the founder of the Baker League, and a godfather-level figure in the Philadelphia basketball world.

"Nice to meet you Gan. Jack used to mention you when he called me on the phone. Now that he's retired, he still mentions you. Haha, I've watched you play for many years. This is the first time I've talked to you. You face to face."

The enthusiasm of the old man surprised Gan Guoyang, and what surprised Gan Guoyang even more was that the Jack he mentioned was Jack Ramsey, the former head coach of the Trail Blazers and now retired to take care of his wife at home.

In the 60s, Ramsey worked for the Philadelphia 76ers. At that time, his position was the team's general manager. He had heard of Sonny Hill's name for a long time, and knew that Sonny Hill was interested in working as a live basketball broadcaster. , So he kindly asked Hill to become a radio commentator for the Philadelphia 76ers, and the two formed a deep friendship.

"Thank you. Mr. Ramsey is my best mentor. I regret that he did not continue to fight in the league, otherwise I will definitely bring him another championship." Gan Guoyang thought of Jack Ramsey. The coach, who loves and hates him, felt a bit of sadness in his heart.

"Okay, okay, don't let this meeting turn into a sour greeting, we should be more straightforward, I called you here just to have a good game with you, don't talk so much nonsense, there is a guy inside Waiting for us," said Chamberlain impatiently, a gentle fellow who sometimes wasn't as patient as Nate Thurmond.

Sonny Hill gave Chamberlain a blank look, and brought Gan Guoyang into the arena, where many people were already training and competing in full swing.

Gan Guoyang immediately found the familiar guy that Chamberlain said, because everyone else took the initiative to give him a basket for him to practice shooting, and the others could only use the basket on the other side. He was wearing a red training uniform , carrying the number 6 on his back, it is Philadelphia's urban basketball hero, Dr. J, Julius Erving.

In the 1986-1987 season, after being eliminated by the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs, the 37-year-old Irving knew that his basketball life was exhausted. At the end of the season, he chose to retire. The once iconic NBA Thus ended his illustrious career.

Taking one season, Gan Guoyang was reimbursed for the entire season due to injuries, so he was unable to complete the last two matches with Dr. J. It has to be said that it is a pity. After all, Gan Guoyang's dunks are often called the "low-altitude flight" version Dr. J dunks.

At this time, Dr. J has long since lost the flamboyant afro when he was young, but has simple and plain short hair. He looks like an ordinary middle-aged black man, not at all like the super flying man who used to fly over the basketball court.

Seeing Gan Guoyang and Chamberlain coming in together, Dr. J also stopped practicing and stepped forward to shake hands with Gan Guoyang.

Not only Dr. J, but the entire alumni-donated gymnasium stopped. They looked at Gan Guoyang with excitement, whether it was the excitement of seeing the idol, or looking forward to the next match on the court.

"Wilter, this guy, as long as he likes, he will call other people to play. It doesn't matter if he calls retired people like us, even active players who want to play games." Dr. J said to Chamberlain's "dominant" The behavior is also really helpless.

In San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, Chamberlain likes to invite friends to come out to play. In San Francisco, Thurmond can't call, so he will pull the Warriors players to fill the field.

Every summer in Los Angeles, he would go to UCLA to compete with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to continue his career, not to mention New York, which is one of his sites, and the door of Rock Park is open to him at any time.

In Philadelphia, revisiting the Baker League is what Chamberlain often does. Moses Malone has always been unimpressed with Chamberlain. Now that Dr. J has retired, Chamberlain likes to pull Owen to play in the Baker League.

Not allowing Owen and Gan Guoyang to struggle, Chamberlain took off his thin sportswear, pointed at the players around him, and divided the team up. Anyway, he was on the same team as Dr. J, and Gan Guoyang led another team. Team people.

Some of these players are street basketball players here, some are local college students and high school students, anyway, they are all basketball talents in Philadelphia, but these people don’t pay much attention to Chamberlain, even though he has retired for almost 20 years.

Gan Guoyang, who was at the peak, naturally didn't care any more. Anyway, he was just playing with these students. The main task was to make Chamberlain play enough and have a good time.

Chamberlain obviously doesn't need any warm-up. He still has a perfect athlete's figure after taking off his clothes, which is enough to show that he has maintained a lot of exercise in the more than ten years since he retired.

Gan Guoyang also didn't warm up very much. He took off his coat, looked at the players who were pointed towards him by Chamberlain, nodded at them, and was ready to play.

"Wilter, do you think if I reproduce the miracle of scoring 100 points on your head, what will the media report?" Gan Guoyang walked to Chamberlain and suddenly said to Chamberlain.

Upon hearing this, Chamberlain looked at Gan Guoyang, and wanted to refute, but when he thought that he had retired for more than ten years, Gan Guoyang was at his peak. If he played with all his strength, he might really get [-] points against him.

Thinking of this, cold sweat broke out on Chamberlain's head, thinking that it might be a mistake to find Gan to play, and his fame will be ruined like this?