The Golden Age of Basketball

() When he entered the gymnasium and saw the number 22 on the jersey of the trainer in the arena, plus his incredible bounce, Gan Guoyang roughly guessed that this person was the future legendary star, Drexler.

But Gan Guoyang didn't care that his warm greeting was ignored by the other party. He knew that there was a reason for Drexler's indifference.

Because Drexler is a student of the University of Houston and a good friend of Olajuwon, and in this year's ncaa finals, Gan Guoyang led the Gonzaga Bulldogs to shatter the championship dream of the Houston Cougars.

As a player who graduated from the University of Houston, Drakes will naturally not have much affection for Gan Guoyang, the "enemy of his alma mater", even if they will become teammates fighting side by side.

Drexler's one-on-one invitation can also be seen as his revenge for the University of Houston. In the ncaa finals that day, when he saw Gan Guoyang's shot from the free throw line, he almost smashed the TV impulse.

Later, he got the news that Gan Guoyang would be selected by the Trail Blazers. Since then, he has been planning to find an opportunity to compete with the Chinese on the court to compensate for the pain of his alma mater being killed.

On the first day of training camp, Drakes arrived at the University of Portland early to warm up and work on his shooting skills, because the coach always thought his shooting was not good enough.

After practicing for a while, he felt a little bored, and on a whim, he wanted to take off from the free throw line and dunk.

During last season's All-Star Game, Drexler was shaken when he witnessed Julius Erving's iconic free-throw line dunk.

So in his usual training, he began to try this difficult movement, with successes and failures.

Drexler's jumping is no problem, but his palm is not as huge as Irving's. This kind of ultra-long-distance dunk takes off quickly, and the arms and body are very stretched, so the control of the basketball will be poor.

The attempted dunk just now was because the ball was not well controlled, and he lost his hand during the gliding process and hit the basket. The attempt failed.

But after he landed, he saw the figure who often appeared in newspapers and TV on the sidelines, the person who Olajuwon called and told him "must beat".

And when this guy saw that he was still greeting him as if nothing had happened, Drexler was so angry that he proposed a one-on-one challenge.

One year of NBA experience has greatly improved Drexler's skills. His various skills and game experience are no longer at the same level as those in college.

Therefore, facing Gan Guoyang, the main force of the NCAA championship, the second place in the draft, and a center who is 4 inches taller than him, he is also fully sure to defeat his opponent.

He has always been so confident.

For the first two goals, everything was as expected by Drexler. Gan Guoyang was too careless in the attack. He did not have enough awareness of protecting his own ball, and was intercepted by Drexler, who is good at stealing.

On the second ball, Gan Guoyang underestimated the confrontation ability of NBA players and was attacked suddenly. Drexler taught the rookie a lesson with a head-to-head dunk.

But the next goal made Drexler unexpected.

He didn't expect Gan Guoyang to make such a large cross step as a defender, and he even thought that his turn was so fast and unstoppable.

When Drexler tried to resist Gan Guoyang's back to prevent him from turning around, he found that Gan Guoyang's strength was astonishing, and he was firmly stuck behind him, with no room for resistance.

Gan Guoyang returned Drexler with a crisp dunk, tying the score of both sides to a 1:1 tie.

However, the duel between the two sides did not continue, because other players, coaching staff and staff of the Trail Blazers arrived in the arena one after another. This was the first time Gan Guoyang met with the members of the Trail Blazers.

After Gan Guoyang, the first person to arrive at the arena was the head coach of the Trail Blazers and the team's meritorious coach, Jack Ramsey.

As soon as Ramsey arrived at the arena, he saw two of the team's most talented players on the court, as if in a bullfight, and shouted: "Put away your dueling swords and get ready to meet new friends .”

Ramsey is a typical white college coach. It can be seen from his vulture-like face, eyes, and vulture-like hairstyle. This is a strict and strict guy.

It's just that his clothes surprised Gan Guoyang a little. It was a pink and green suit and brown and yellow checked pants, which looked extremely cool.

In the United States in the 80s and 60s, with the proliferation of various ideas, the clothing industry began to free itself from the dull and seriousness of the [-]s and [-]s, and all kinds of colorful and gaudy clothes, hairstyles, and decorations became popular.

Exploding heads are just for children, bohemian headwear is just for embellishment, exaggeration and hybridization of the overall style is the general trend of the fashion industry.

This is especially evident in the nba arena. The image of those black players is affecting many people, and the various suit jackets of the coaches are also a highlight. Even Ramsey, who has always been known for his strictness, is not immune .

Gan Guoyang looked a little sly, but dressed in a fashionable old coach, and felt a little bit drummed in his heart.

Gan Guoyang has been very concerned about the coaching issue since he met such an uncomfortable coach as Larry Farmer at UCLA, but this famous champion coach did not appear at his signing conference.

Inman said that the old man was on vacation in California. Unexpectedly, Ramsay rushed back on the first day of the training camp, and he came very early.

"Hi Gan, nice to meet you, I never thought that I would have the opportunity to coach a Chinese, I think your skills must be as amazing as Chinese Kung Fu." Ramsey greeted Gan Guoyang in a friendly manner, with Said in a joking tone.

Gan Guoyang relaxed a lot at Ramsay's words, and he also greeted the old coach with a smile.

After that, some other players also arrived one after another, as well as the team's assistant coach Buck Buckwater, several team staff and auxiliary trainers. Everyone introduced themselves to each other, and the atmosphere was very friendly and harmonious.

The smell of gunpowder brought by Gan Guoyang's previous bullfight with Drexler quickly dissipated in the air of the arena.

But what surprised Gan Guoyang was that, with the addition of Gan Guoyang, there were only 6 players present, while the Trail Blazers had 12 players.

"Okay dear friends, I'm very glad that everyone can get together today to start our first training." Everyone stood on the court and began to listen to the head coach's instructions.

"Of course, everyone may be wondering. There are 12 Trail Blazers in total. Why did only 6 players show up, and where did the others go? We know that the Trail Blazers had a major surgery this summer, and many people were sent away. , and many more people arrived. Among them are 5 of you, the rookies of the NBA."

Only then did Gan Guoyang understand that the 6 players present except Drexler, the other 5 players, including himself, were all rookies this year, and Drexler was only a sophomore, so he was considered a rookie .

So this training camp is a rookie training camp. It is likely that the Blazers used this training camp to adapt so many rookies to the NBA basketball game.

"I think some people have already guessed, this is really a rookie training camp, in the morning we will do some basic practice, and in the afternoon, there will be players from the University of Portland and some free players who have not been drafted. Came here to play against you guys, and I hope you guys can give your best as players for the Portland Trail Blazers."

Ramsey's words confirmed Gan Guoyang's conjecture that Portland has too many rookies this year, and they can all make up a starting lineup.

In addition, the entire team is in a period of relatively large changes, so it is necessary to teach these new players a lesson.

At the same time, players from the University of Portland can take this opportunity to get exercise-although it is likely to be a nightmare, and those players who are not selected can also show themselves through such a training camp, so that the team can look at them, In order to find a job and gain a foothold in the league.

This is really a training camp that kills three birds with one stone.

However, Gan Guoyang still doesn't understand, it's enough for an assistant coach to take such a training camp, why Ramsey has to go out in person to teach such a group of rookies.

In fact, there are only two reasons, one is for Gan Guoyang, and the other is for Drexler.

In the 1976-1977 season, Jack Ramsey took office as the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Trail Blazers won the championship that year. Ramsey was a blockbuster, and the coach reached his peak in his rookie year.

The Trail Blazers were also different from the usual old-fashioned and calm championship teams. The five starters were all young people, and the coach was also a newcomer. They were full of vitality.

After that, the Trail Blazers fell apart due to Walton's injury, and the team went from a contender for the league championship to a second-rate team.

In the process of continuous reconstruction afterwards, Ramsey was always looking for a new Bill Walton to reshape the glory of 1977.

In the original history, the Blazers got Sam Bowie. Unfortunately, he is as fragile and vulnerable as Wharton, but he does not have Wharton's talent and strength.

Now, God has brought Gan Guoyang to the Blazers and Ramsey. The old coach who is nearly [-] years old will naturally come to inspect the goods in person to see if this is his second Wharton.

The second reason is for Drexler.

In Ramsey's view, Drexler is a player full of talent and creativity, and his progress in the first season is gratifying.

But Ramsey didn't like this player very much, his ego was as high as his talent, he was unwilling to follow some of Ramsey's advice, and more importantly, in that 1977 Trail Blazers team, there was no Drex Such a player.

Which means Drexler is outside of Ramsey's plans, which isn't the type of player he wants.

He hopes that through his own training and training, Drexler can be more seductive and more "orthodox".

Of course, Ramsey didn't know that players like Drexler represented the style of a new generation of shooting guards.The shooting guard is no longer an outside shooter with empty-handed running and fixed-point shooting, they will play a more important role.

This former cutting-edge coach did not realize that he had begun to fall behind the trend of the times.

But at least, this is a very good coach, and many of his suggestions and experience will benefit the young players of the Blazers, which Gan Guoyang quickly felt.

The training of the nba team is obviously more professional than that of the university, and the various preparations before the training alone take up to an hour.

Since Gan Guoyang came early, he saw how those training assistants prepared all kinds of facilities, equipment and documents needed for training, all for the better practice of these players.

Before the official training started, one of the team doctors once again did some simple checks on the physical condition of the players. These rookies had undergone several physical examinations before being selected.

Gan Guoyang looked at the doctor who was examining him carefully, thinking that he was almost fired because of him, and couldn't help feeling weird.

After that, the team doctor did some treatment for the injured parts of each player, such as bandaging with bandages to prevent the recurrence or aggravation of the injury.

Gan Guoyang's ankle was also wrapped with thick gauze. Basically, for any player, the injury will follow him from the first day he stepped into the training hall.

Then, all 6 players started the morning training.

The first project is the basic warm-up training. Under the leadership of the physical fitness coach, they started running, walking and stretching exercises.

Gan Guoyang started doing these exercises when he was in high school, and it was nothing to him at all, and of course it was a piece of cake for the others.

But after running for a while, Gan Guoyang heard Coach Ramsay yelling beside him: "Gan! Stop, stop, come to me!"

Gan Guoyang had to stop, ran to Ramsay's side and asked, "What's the matter, Mr. Ramsay."

"Gan, show me how many times you do switchbacks, not too fast, switchbacks at normal speed." Ramsey said.

Gan Guoyang was a little strange, could he have problems with his running?But he complied, making a few short switchbacks on the sidelines.

"No no no, Gan, you shouldn't run like this, your posture is harmful." Ramsay shook his head and said.

Gan Guoyang is even more strange, is there a special posture for running?Isn't everyone the same?

Ramsey saw Gan Guoyang's doubts, and continued: "Your upper body's center of gravity is too far back, so your knees have to bear more force in order to maintain the balance of your body. In a season of 82 games in the regular season, Your knees won't take it."

After hearing this, Gan Guoyang ran a few steps aside, only to realize that he did not lean forward enough when running. He likes to run with his back straight.

In this way, the center of gravity of his upper body is leaning back, while the lower body is running forward, and the center of gravity is forward. In order to balance the position, the thighs have to exert force to stabilize the upper body, and the pressure on the knees will follow.

"Then what should I do?" Gan Guoyang asked.

"It's simple, lean forward more, and at the same time you should reduce the span of your stride appropriately. You have a long stride, which is an advantage, but always, you will become Willis Reed one day. Yes," Ramsay said.

Willis Reed, who only played eight seasons due to injuries, has always been known for his great strides and quick feet.

Gan Guoyang listened to Ramsey's suggestion and began to try to reduce his steps and leaned his upper body forward.

In the past, he never cared about the problem of running posture, he ran as fast as he could, and never considered the possible injuries caused by incorrect running posture-he has always been healthy, and there is a guarantee of talent.

But after improving his running posture, he obviously felt less pressure on his knees and ran more smoothly.

"Wow, is this the training of the NBA? I suddenly realized that maybe even my hairstyle needs to be improved." Gan Guoyang said incredulously after trying it.

"That's right, thinning hair helps reduce the resistance brought by the wind. Go back and pay more attention, you still have a lot to learn." Ramsay touched his bald forehead and said with a sense of humor.

This is how Gan Guoyang's professional basketball training began.