The Golden Age of Basketball

() (Please collect it, especially the jrs in the pedestrian street, please collect it.)

When Stuart Inman stood in front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, looking at the tranquil Portland in the morning and the quietly flowing Willamette River, he could not calm down.

Since the Portland Trail Blazers joined the NBA in 1970, Stuart Inman has been working for this young team. rookie.

He selected a group of excellent players for the Blazers, such as Geoff Patry, Larry Steele, Lionel Hollins, John Davis, etc., and made a contribution to the revitalization and rise of the Blazers. Outstanding Contribution.

And the best pick in his scouting career, and the best pick in the history of the Blazers, was the selection of UCLA's super center Bill Walton in the 1974 draft.

Although it was almost certain that Bill Walton won the No. 1977 pick in the draft that year, the Blazers relied on a series of drafts to select a group of high-quality young players, plus Bill Walton, in [-]. won their first nba championship.

They were less than 10 years old at the time.

Among them, Situ Inman can be said to have contributed a lot, because all the first five players of this championship team were the results of the Blazers' draft. The oldest of the five starting five players in that year was Larry Steele, who was in the sixth year. The others are third graders, second graders or "fish" (rookies) who are juicy.

Now, Situ Inman, who has become the general manager of the Blazers, wants to rely on the 1984 draft year to try to reproduce the Portland miracle in 1977, and the Blazers are frantic.

In the 1982-1983 season last year, the Trail Blazers achieved the third place in the Western Conference, but they were eliminated by the Phoenix Suns in the first round, and the beautiful results of the regular season were wiped out.

For this reason, Inman performed major surgery on the Trail Blazers this summer. First, he sent last season's main player Calvin Knight, plus Wayne Cooper and Fat Leaf to the Denver Nuggets. Kiki Vandeweghe, one of the three shots of the Nuggets, plus two draft picks.

He then cut Eddie Jordan, Jeff Lamp, Tom Piotowski, and Pete Van Horn.

In this way, the original roster of 13 people lost 7 people at once, and with the addition of Vandeweghe who was just traded, there were only 7 players left, only half of the original team.

Faced with such a big vacancy, Inman can only use his draft picks to fill the team with fresh blood. This is exactly what he wants to do, relying on the draft to regain glory.

After the past 1974 years in 10, in 1984, Portland had a 50% chance to get a No. [-] pick again. If they could, they would take Olajuwon of the University of Houston and make him the second pick of the Blazers. Bill Wharton.

But in that fateful throw, God sided with the Houstonians, giving the Rockets the No. [-] pick.

According to the original historical trajectory, Yinman will make the most stupid choice in his life, and will be ridiculed by the world for this until he dies in peace.

But God’s light wave in 1981 allowed a Chinese from across the ocean to change history, the fate of the pioneers, and Inman.

In the 84 draft, Inman finally chose the main center from Gonzaga University, the 1984 NCAA champion, betting the entire hope of Portland's revival on the Chinese.

Afterwards, Inman, who still held 4 draft picks in his hands, selected a group of high-quality rookies in his opinion. If it is typed out, then Inman's choice is a success.

But now Inman is facing an extremely difficult problem, that is, the second place he chose, the hope of Portland, Gan Guoyang, is unwilling to sign with Portland.

Unlike some players who are unwilling to play for Portland and have not offered to trade, he made a request that no one has ever asked: change the team's team doctor.

In the past, the last great god Bill Walton also made this sound, but that was 4 years after he entered the Trail Blazers, when he had already spent more than half of his time on the sick bed due to injuries.

Another No. 1978 pick in the Blazers, the rookie Mitchell Thompson in [-], was also unwilling to play for Portland because of the team doctor, and even asked for a trade, but he stayed in the end and is still an important player for the team until now. main players.

Now the rookie center hasn't brought any results comparable to Walton and Thompson for the Blazers, and it's a good idea to imitate their bad temper.

This is not good news for Inman. He has tried his best to get Gan Guoyang's agent Falk to persuade the rookie. In this way, the conflict between the two parties can be eased, and Gan Guoyang can make a concession.

But yesterday when Gan Guoyang returned to Portland, Falke called Inman and wanted to talk to Inman today to try to finalize the contract so that Gan Guoyang could start the summer training camp with peace of mind.

"Dinglingling~" Just as Yinman was thinking about all kinds of troublesome things, the phone on the desk rang.

It was a call from the receptionist downstairs in the office. Today's protagonist has arrived.

Yesterday, Gan Guoyang sat in the car driven by his father and arrived at a du li-style house on the 23rd street northwest of Portland. This is the residence provided by the pioneers for Gan Guoyang and his father. Living in a restaurant is much better.

After placing the luggage, Gan Guoyang spent the whole day communicating with Falk about the signing of the contract, including the special conditions.

In terms of salary contracts, due to the introduction of this year's salary cap, the team can no longer make big contracts without limit. Therefore, how to sign a reasonable and suitable contract price for Gan Guoyang is something that Falk must consider.

Gan Guoyang didn't care much about how much money he got. He handed over all the work to Falk, but he still asked Falk to teach him some knowledge in this area. He hoped to be a shopkeeper, but he didn't want to be fooled. inside.

As for the team doctor, Gan Guoyang was also a bit loose.

He knows that only he can predict the future in this world, and as history changes, his ability to predict will become weaker and weaker. In addition, he himself is not a master of history, and he can't remember many things clearly.

He is not sure whether the Trail Blazers team doctor will cheat people as always. He raised this condition as a precautionary measure, even if others cannot understand it.

Since it was too much for a rookie to put forward such a condition, he decided to settle for the next best thing and hire a private doctor for himself.

If there is any problem with the body, if there is no result with the Trail Blazers team doctor, you can find your own personal doctor.

Of course, he really hopes that his cousin Qian Hui's good friend Shui Miao will be his personal doctor. After the back injury treatment, until now there has been no sequelae, and his back is very healthy.

It's just that all of this has to wait until the contract, training and other things are completed before they can be carried out step by step.

Therefore, the next morning, Gan Guoyang took Gan Youwei and drove the car—Gan Youwei, who had nothing to do now, took the initiative to become Gan Guoyang's driver, and went with Falk to the pioneer headquarters on the Willamette River , Completed the signing of the contract with the general manager Yinman.

This is not the first time Gan Guoyang has come to Portland, except for the trial training here before. During college, Gan Guoyang went to Portland with the team to play away games against the University of Portland.

Gan Guoyang clearly remembered that he won the double 20 in that game and beat his opponent violently. That year, the University of Portland also ranked last in the West Coast League.

Portland, like Seattle, has an oceanic climate, which is humid and rainy, and the roads are often wet.

Due to the relatively high latitude, the light here is not very sufficient, and the whole city looks rather gloomy and cold, not as enthusiastic as Los Angeles.

Gan Guoyang couldn't help thinking when he came here, no wonder the players here are prone to injuries. Such a climate is really not conducive to the recovery of injuries.

Looking at this standard clean and tidy American city, Gan Guoyang felt a little complicated. How many years would he spend here in the future?One year, two years, five years, or ten years?

When Gan Guoyang and Falke arrived at the headquarters in Portland and came to the office of general manager Yinman, when he saw the general manager again, Gan Guoyang couldn't help thinking in his heart: "The weather here doesn't seem to be conducive to hair growth." grow."

When Gan Guoyang met Yinman for the first time, there was not much hair on Yinman's forehead, but after this summer's operation and Gan Guoyang's torment, the hair on his forehead became even rarer.

"Hello, Gan, we met again. Are you having a good time in Los Angeles?" Of course, Yinman didn't know that Gan Guoyang was hitting him on the head, so he asked Gan Guoyang very friendly.

"Hello, Mr. Yinman, I saw the Chinese people win the gold medal for the first time in Los Angeles. It felt great." Gan Guoyang talked about his viewing experience in the Olympic Games.

"Haha, I hope you can also win a championship for the Blazers, then we will all be very happy." Inman said with a smile.

"That's right, but first I want to play for the Trail Blazers, so I need to sign a contract with you." Gan Guoyang quickly talked about the topic, the issue of the contract.

However, to Yinman's surprise, the previously stagnant negotiations went very smoothly this time. The two sides quickly reached an agreement on some key issues. Gan Guoyang was also ready to sign the contract and held a press conference in the afternoon. Yes, I will make an explanation on the signing issue.

Yinman found that during the entire conversation, Gan Guoyang did not completely leave things to his agent Falk, but expressed his demands more by himself.

This is rare among young people in the NBA, and it also made Inman feel the maturity of this Chinese beyond his peers, as well as his extremely proficient English. His speaking level is almost as good as that of Mav Albert.

Yinman was also thinking in his heart, maybe there will be another trash talker in the nba in the future.

"Okay, the stone in our hearts has finally been let go. We will hold another press conference in the afternoon, and then you will be a real Trail Blazers player." Seeing that all the problems have been solved today, Yinman is also greatly relieved. tone.In this way, the Blazers can also devote themselves to the preparations for the 84-85 season with peace of mind.

"However, Gan, I still want to ask, why do you insist on changing the team doctor? Now you also ask for a personal doctor for yourself. Is it because of Bill Wharton?" Inman solved the big problem Finally, he took off his eyes and asked in a relaxed tone.

Gan Guoyang was drinking good coffee while thinking about how to answer. He couldn't say, "According to my experience in later generations, many Blazers players will be destroyed by injuries, and the team doctor will play the villain role"?

"Yes Mr. Inman, Bill Walton is only one of the reasons, I heard the team also tried out Sam Bowie of the University of Kentucky, and the team doctor examined him, and the team doctor concluded that How is it? Good or bad?" Gan Guoyang also asked.

Inman did not expect that Gan Guoyang would raise this question. The Blazers did try out Sam Bowie, but this was more of a smoke bomb, and it was also their insurance strategy.

"We did try out Sam Bowie, and while he's good, you know you beat him in the Final Four. The doctors did a physical on him and said he's fine." Yinman complimented Gan Guoyang first, and then told the situation.

At that time, the team doctor's examination indicated that Bowie's physical condition was very good, and there was no problem in the game.

"Mr. Inman, we can wait half a season for Mr. Bowie to verify whether the team doctors of our team have really played their due role. I believe they are all responsible doctors, but there are some things It’s not something that can be done just by being responsible.” Gan Guoyang began to call the Blazers “our team”.

As far as Gan Guoyang knows, Bowie will miss a lot of games due to injuries in the first season.

Although due to the appearance of Gan Guoyang, Bowie went to Washington and escaped from the clutches of the Blazers, but according to the medical level at the time, the 7-foot-1 Bowie was likely to have relatively serious injury risks.

Gan Guoyang still remembers the semi-final match, the Sam Bowie who fought against him on the field, his slender calves made people worry about whether he could support such a huge body, and they seemed to be broken at any time.

Gan Guoyang's words also made Inman fall into thinking. In fact, before this negotiation, he was already a little shaken. He really wanted to make a big change to the team's medical system, although it was very troublesome.

Because this is already the third high-ranking rookie complaining about the Blazers' medical level, although based on the team's injuries in recent years, the work of the team doctors is still qualified.

But in the nba, you don't know when a fatal mistake by the team doctor may destroy a talented player, and then destroy the entire team.

The dust has finally settled on Gan Guoyang's signing. Gan Guoyang also took a step back on the issue of the team doctor, but he still insisted on this string.

Afterwards, in the press conference hall of Portland's home memorial stadium, the Portland Trail Blazers held a press conference for signing Gan Guoyang, and Gan Guoyang signed his name on the contract on the spot.

Soon the photo of Gan Guoyang smiling and holding the hand of the Portland general manager will hit the headlines of Portland newspapers, and Gan Guoyang will also become a real star in the city.

But later, there are more troubles waiting for him.