The Golden Age of Basketball

() When the twelve players heard Coach Farmer's words, the expressions on everyone's faces immediately divided into three factions.

The first faction is the old players, their faces are full of joy, as if they are about to complete a happy and interesting event.It seems that it is their tradition to confront the old and the new on the first day of this kind of training, at least it is the tradition of this Farmer coach.

Some old players turned into veterans after a year of rookie. In the past, they were bullied by their seniors. Today it is finally their turn to bully the rookies!

And the second group is naturally those newcomers who are still in a state of ignorance. They don't even know where the toilets in the UCLA gymnasium are, and they are about to play games with these senior seniors.

A few rookies don't even know each other's names, how can they play against veteran players who have been teammates for at least a year?

In addition to these two expressions, there is a third one, which is Gan Guoyang.

After listening to Coach Farmer's suggestion, Gan Guoyang was neither happy nor frightened. He neither felt that this was a good opportunity to show himself, nor did he feel that such a game would embarrass him.

He just thought that Coach Farmer's behavior was boring and rigid.

Gan Guoyang knew that Farmar just wanted to use this method to give the proud newcomers a blow and let the newcomers understand that college games are different from high school.

In this way, it is also convenient for Farmar to manage and train these players in the future.

Gan Guoyang didn't take this seriously. He felt that basketball players should have a sense of arrogance and an aura of not admitting defeat and daring to challenge.

In this regard, Bellman had a profound influence on Gan Guoyang.

Bellman often scolded Gan Guoyang loudly, but he allowed Gan Guoyang to talk back, and even allowed Gan Guoyang to use his performance on the court to fight back against his criticism.

On the one hand, Gan Guoyang respects Bellman's criticism and opinions, on the other hand, he never obeys orders, but has his own ideas and ways of playing.

Such two masters and apprentices are not only players and coaches, but also friends off the court.

Therefore, the expression on Gan Guoyang's face was different from other people's. He raised his chin, neither looked around nor took a deep breath nervously, but had a look of indifference, even a trace of disdain.

His slight disdain was particularly obvious among a group of people, and was immediately noticed by Farmar.

"Mr. Gan, I wonder if you have any opinion on my arrangement?" Farmar asked Gan Guoyang by name.

Although Gan Guoyang is not well-known among ordinary fans, he is already quite famous in the California basketball circle. Many coaches and scouts who have watched him play think he is extremely talented.

So those old team members have heard of Gan Guoyang more or less. When Farmer called Gan Guoyang's name, they immediately turned their heads to look at this unique yellow skin and see how he would answer.

"Dear Mr. Farmar, how to arrange player training is the most important responsibility of the coach, and the unshirkable responsibility of the players is to obey the coach's arrangement." Gan Guoyang replied to Farmar without being soft or hard. Didn't say bad either.

Farmar touched a soft nail, and his face was obviously a little bit uncomfortable, and his somewhat Squidward-like face was stretched longer.

"Very good, Mr. Gan, since you are willing to obey all arrangements, then I will arrange for you to sit on the bench. Of course, maybe you can be an excellent head coach to direct the team's offense and defense." Farmar Yin said with a sullen face.

Gan Guoyang did not expect Farmar's arrangement, and this time it was cruel enough to not let him play!

"Okay, let's do some warm-up exercises, you five, get ready for the competition." Farmar ignored Gan Guoyang who was standing there and didn't know what to say, and began to arrange this extremely unbalanced match between old and new.

Whether it was an old player who was secretly happy or a newcomer who was nervous, they all took off their coats and started to warm up.

Gan Guoyang, who was left on the sidelines again, was full of anger, so he had to sit on the bench, raise his legs and prepare to watch the game.

There are exactly five players on the rookie side, three guards, two forwards, and no center forward; on the old team side, there is just a team with five positions, and one extra person will be the referee.

"Here you are, the technical statistics book, count all the statistics of the game." Farmar came to Gan Guoyang and threw him a notebook and a pen.

It seems that he didn't want Gan Guoyang to relax and watch the game with peace of mind, so he started the technical statistics work.

This is Gan Guoyang's old profession. When he was in Palo Alto High School, he was often put on the bench by Behrman to do technical statistics, saying that he wanted to exercise his ability to analyze the situation on the field.

But in the past, he didn't play training because he was too strong, but now he was punished because he offended the coach.

After warming up, Farmer gave each rookie a red training vest with numbers 1-6 on it. This is the logo jersey for the rookie training match.

Gan Guoyang was issued a No. 6. Seeing that it was not the No. 11 he was familiar with, he was naturally upset for a while, but whether he could play or not was still a problem, and he didn't care when he thought about it.

This crude in-team training match is about to begin. The rookies are like cannon fodder that has just been sent to the battlefield, and their footsteps on the floor are a bit vain.

"Look at your prospects, it's not like you haven't played a game before!" Gan Guoyang slandered in his heart. He felt that there seemed to be no teammates in this group of rookies that were particularly worth looking forward to.

Indeed, since John Wooden retired and ucla failed to defend its title in 1976, the team's record has been worse year after year.

The team's performance is poor, and naturally it is difficult to attract talented players. UCLA is not the same as North Carolina, Houston, Georgetown, and Kentucky, which are now in the limelight.

An outstanding talent like Gan Guoyang is also an insider. If it wasn't because he was of yellow race, Qian Hui didn't understand the American college basketball situation, and Behrman didn't intervene in his college application, UCLA wouldn't have gotten such a player.

It's good now, I don't cherish such a player, and the coach even let him sit on the bench, which also planted the seeds of disaster for a series of things in the future.

"Beep!" With the whistle of the guest referee, the training match officially started.

The 7-footer Gan had seen on the team before, Gray, easily outpaced the rookie power forward on the jump ball -- he was only 6-foot-9.

The ucla team started to attack.

UCLA University is most famous for the UCLA tactics summarized by the meritorious coach John Wooden. The core idea of ​​this set of tactics is to mobilize the offensive enthusiasm of every player on the field when attacking. A player creates scoring chances.

Like other famous tactical ideas in history, UCLA tactics are not a collection of old-fashioned running routines, but a basketball philosophy and a strategic idea.

He will not ask what kind of players must be equipped, but will use the power of this set of tactics according to the characteristics of the players, so that each player can play a role.

In the history of UCLA, John Wooden can teach students according to their aptitude, whether they have an offensive super killer like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or have Bill Walton, the most versatile center, and give full play to their abilities in the system. role.

Gan Guoyang has heard about this for a long time, but it is a pity that the coach of UCLA is no longer the legendary old man Wooden, but this farmer with a stinky face.

Farmar seems to have little interest in UCLA's traditional classic tactics, because Gan Guoyang can see from the positioning and running of the first team that this is a telescopic tactic that became popular in the 70s.

The classic position of ucla tactics is 1-4 position, one person is in the high position, and four people are in the bottom line; and the telescopic tactic is also called the folding line tactic, which is generally 2-3 position, with two people in the high position and three people in the bottom line.

Although both focus on pick-and-rolls, screens, and fast conduction, ucla tactics are richer and more flexible in offensive selection; while broken-line tactics focus on the coordination of routines to run out of open space for jump shots or layups.

Therefore, ucla tactics are more broad and profound, and difficult to use well. Once integrated, they are extremely powerful.

The telescopic tactics are simple and easy to learn, the routine is fixed, and it is easy to learn. It is perfect for dealing with novices.

Sure enough, after the rookies of the second team destroyed a pass from the first team and the ball went out of bounds, the first team used an empty-handed run to create a huge space in the bottom corner.

The server sent the ball directly to the shooting guard who was squatting there, and the latter made an easy shot, 2:0.

"These idiots are already at such a disadvantage with their height, they still use man-to-man so rigidly, and they are led by the opponent's tactics." Gan Guoyang saw the characteristics of both sides clearly off the court.

The telescopic tactic is used to deal with man-to-man. Since its name is "flexible", it uses the flexibility of the stance to stretch the defensive space. The defender is easily overwhelmed by a few covers, and finally reveals a huge loopholes.

It was the rookie second team's turn to attack. With three defenders, they had no problem passing halftime.

But after falling to the ground, they didn't know what to do. These five people had never been trained together, and they didn't know what their respective characteristics were.

The point guard was dribbling the ball and didn't know what to do. Finally, he saw that the No. 4 power forward was in the ribs, which was considered an inside singles tactic, so he lobbed the ball into his hands.

However, the gap between the height of 6 feet 9 and the height of 7 feet is quite big. Covered by Gray's pair of long arms, the No. 4 power forward arched hard, and there was no chance at all.

He had no choice but to pass the ball out, but the cooperation was not tacit, and the ball was cut off by the small forward of the first team.

The first team launched a fast break, and the second team had no awareness of returning to defense at all, and was easily scored by the first team, 4:0.

"Shit! I don't even know how to retreat, and I have to pull down!" Gan Guoyang muttered off the court. Except for the phrase "shit", everything else is in Chinese, so others can't understand it.

Although they only played two goals, the rookies of the second team obviously lacked confidence and started to play randomly.

There is no way, a group of freshmen have never practiced together, and the lineup is not reasonable, how can they fight against the seniors of the university?You can only use your personal ability, rely on a few simple pick-and-rolls and running positions, and rush in no matter who holds the ball.

But there is a 7-footer Gray sitting in the three-second zone of the first team, and no one in the second team can restrain his energy, so that he can devote himself to swatting flies and stun the rookies who rush in one by one.

In this way, the two sides agreed on a 15-minute cut-off match for the first half and the second half. After 6 minutes in the first half, the first team had already led by 16 points by 3:13.

The second team only relied on a forced layup and two free throws to score a total of three points.

"Cheer up, rookies, this is your first game, I don't want to see you perform like this." Farmar, who was standing on the sidelines as a neutral person, shouted, this training game is actually his inspection An important means for newcomers.

When the first team once again relied on a jumper from the horn position to score two points, the score had reached 18:3, a huge gap of 15 points, and the game lasted less than 7 minutes.

"Okay, timeout, new players, you should rest and think about how to break this embarrassing situation, instead of doing nothing on the court and making no achievements." , the confidence of the rookies of the second team would be shattered, and he didn't want to do too much, so he gave a timeout.

"Hey, buddies, what's the matter with you? They made it like this on the first day?" Gan Guoyang said as he watched the other five people leave the field dejectedly.

Gan Guoyang said this at this time, more like mocking and provoking, the five people all gave him a sideways look and ignored him, and sat on the bench one by one.

Seeing this, Gan Guoyang immediately brought some water for them to drink from the side, and then continued: "Don't be like this buddy, I don't think they are very good. Otherwise, they won't even be unable to enter the top 48 of ncaa!"

"But at least they often train together. They are a tactical team, but what about us? What are we? Were they randomly pulled from the street?"

"Who said you were randomly pulled from the street? This is UCLA. We can come here, which means we are still good enough, doesn't it? We just need time to adapt. I think 7 minutes is enough. I still remember When I played the warm-up match for the first time, I was so nervous that I couldn’t even find the basket! But soon I calmed down and used my defense and rebounds to let the opponent understand that I am not a rookie and I am not easy to bully!" Gan Guoyang used his own experience to encourage others.

"Then what should we do? We are not familiar with each other at all, how should we fight?" Someone asked again.

At this time, Gan Guoyang has subtly become the backbone of this rookie team.

"It's okay, we still have a 2-minute break, we can discuss and arrange it together. Come on, I have a notebook here... Oh, your statistics are really horrible... In this way, everyone will tell you one of your best abilities, I put it on the back of your numbers. Then we get the best out of everyone."

After listening to Gan Guoyang's suggestion, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. They didn't know if it would be useful for this guy to do so, but they had no choice but to be a dead horse as a living horse doctor.

Gan Guoyang recorded everyone's strengths, and then assigned tactics to them like a coach, especially defensive tactics, which was also taught by Bellman's precepts and deeds.

When a person is helpless, grabbing a straw will be a life-saving treasure, but now, for the five newcomers who have been shocked by their hearts, Gan Guoyang, a newcomer like them, has become the straw.

Therefore, everyone is listening to his arrangement carefully.

Farmar watched Gan Guoyang on the bench commanding the arrangements like a coach, with blue veins on his forehead exposed, and he was a little angry.

The purpose of letting rookies and old players play is to frustrate the rookies, and then give them some guidance and arrangements when they are most helpless, which will have an immediate effect and establish his own authority.

And this Gan Guoyang not only gave him soft nails face to face, but now even acts as a coach on his behalf. Is this going to challenge his authority on the first day?

According to the scout report, although this guy is a yellow man, he is an out-and-out basketball genius, and he is probably the hope of UCLA's revival.

Even so, Farmar wouldn't allow a rookie to challenge him.

"I want to see what tricks you can come up with!"