The Golden Age of Basketball

()(I am busy with dinner with my friends today, so please forgive me for the late update. The pace of writing may be relatively slow recently, and I spent a lot of pen and ink writing training, and it is estimated that there are still two chapters related to training. I think this After all, it is the first season, and it is necessary for the protagonist to complete the transition from college to professional league, so I spent a lot of space to write the content before the season. In fact, it is the easiest for me to write about the game, and there is almost no need to stop and look up. The information, but I still have to write the foreshadowing content, so that the progress, hard work and shortcomings of the protagonist can be reflected in the game. Moreover, there are many geniuses in the NBA, which cannot be compared with universities. If you don’t do enough foreplay, you can directly write about the game It will be boring. I hope readers will forgive the slow pace.)

In 1984, the No.20 three Olympic Games came to an end in mid-August. It can be said that this was an extremely successful Olympic Games.

In terms of political influence, although Eastern European countries headed by the Soviet Union refused to participate, a total of 140 countries participated in this competition, which was larger than any previous competition.

At the same time, because of the participation of the People's Republic of China team, the Olympics suddenly gained 10 billion followers.

Economically, this Olympic Games is the first of its kind in non-governmental fundraising to host the Olympic Games. All fundraising and sports games expenses are completed by private financing, which also makes this Olympic Games a commercial miracle, turning losses into profits, and realizing the Olympic Games. profit.

Prior to this, the Olympic Games were almost impossible to hold due to continuous losses.

In terms of sports, many Eastern European sports powerhouses did not participate in this competition, but this cannot obscure the light of many dazzling superstars in this Olympic prosperity.

The famous American track and field athlete Carl Lewis won four gold medals in one fell swoop, repeating the miracle of Jesse Owens.What's even more amazing is that Carl Lewis, a student who graduated from the University of Houston, was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the second place in the tenth round of this year's draft.

Whether he wants to go or not is another matter.

In the Olympic basketball arena, the basketball giant, the United States, only relied on a representative team composed of college students to defeat all kinds of players and won a very important team gold medal.

For the Chinese team participating for the first time, the first Olympic gold medal was born in this competition, and finally won a total of 15 gold medals, which established China's status as a sports power in one fell swoop.

Finally, the grand sports event came to an end, but this super city did not become deserted because of it. On the contrary, it is a city of entertainment and sports that never sleeps.

In September, heat waves hit most cities on the east and west coasts of the United States, but Los Angeles was still cool and comfortable, so many people from all over the United States came here to escape the heat.

However, it does not include the nba players. Their vacation is over, and many players have already started pre-season training to prepare for the coming of the new season.

Among the players in these trainings is Gan Guoyang. Although he is still a rookie, he has not participated in even one NBA training.

The training of him, 4 other rookies and Drexler at the University of Portland lasted for nearly a month and ended at the end of August. The next collective training of players will start in early October, when the Blazers team will be training. up.

The main purpose of the Trail Blazers for this rookie training camp is to let newcomers get acquainted with the NBA training environment. By the way, let Ramsey inspect a large number of rookies from the Trail Blazers this year.

For Ramsey, these four weeks can be described as mixed. The good news is that Gan Guoyang, the No. [-] pick, has shown unparalleled talent and strong learning ability. In this short training period, his progress is obvious.Almost every technical movement of his has improved.

His shooting began to gradually stabilize. Under the guidance of Ramsey, Gan Guoyang is constantly exploring the shooting style that suits him.

His passing became more and more timely. Gan Guoyang always seemed a little hesitant when he first entered the training camp and practiced double-teaming and transferring the ball.

His cover movements are becoming more and more standardized. Although he still makes small movements occasionally, he has begun to learn to be as concealed as possible. Ramsay appreciates his cunning.

His tactical understanding ability is getting stronger and stronger. Before that, Gan Guoyang's offensive tactical routines could be counted with one hand, but now his hands and feet may be able to gather together.

The worry is that Gan Guoyang, like Drexler, is accustomed to his own set of things and likes to use his own methods to solve problems.

Even though these methods seem to be effective sometimes, in Ramsey's view, he will definitely suffer in the NBA.

When Gan Guoyang left the training camp, he still remembered what Ramsey said, "Perhaps relying on your own methods can solve most problems, but one day you will find that you can't use these things to win what you really want. thing."

Gan Guoyang kept this sentence firmly in his mind, but he didn't really understand it. After all, he just won the NCAA championship, and he was like a fish in water in the rookie training camp, so he naturally didn't care about Ramsey's profound teachings.

After training camp ended, the entire month of September was empty.

At Drexler's suggestion, Gan Guoyang went with him to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where the University of Southern California organized a summer league, where many college players and NBA players trained.

Several other Blazers rookies also went together, where they continued their professional training.

Gan Guoyang had a very fulfilling life in the training camp. Every day he had a lot of time to hone every skill he had, from shooting to dribbling, he was constantly improving himself.

At the same time, he is also carefully observing every player who trains with him, and he thinks that maybe one of them will become his opponent on the field in the future.

It is a pity that most of the players who came to this training camp were undrafted and college players. Gan Guoyang did not see the players he wanted to see, such as Olajuwon, who was still training in Houston.

The only old acquaintance is Gan Guoyang's old opponent and his defeated opponent, Kevin Johnson.

Kevin Johnson fulfilled his championship dream in 1983, winning the California Championship, scoring champion, and the honorary title of Mr. Basketball in California.

After that, he chose the University of California as his home team in the NCAA. In the first season, he averaged 12 points per game.

But it is a pity that the University of California itself is not strong, and they belong to the powerful Pacific Ten Schools Conference. With 13 wins and 15 losses, they were finally blocked from the national competition.

Meeting old friends also made the training process much easier and more enjoyable. Gan Guoyang, who is super strong, quickly became the number one among these rookies and college players. Basically, in an ordinary practice game, Gan Guoyang scored 30 points and 15 rebounds. not a problem.

This also made Gan Guoyang a little slack. After more than a month of training, Gan Guoyang always felt that although he was making continuous progress, he couldn't figure out how big the gap between him and the NBA was.

By the end of September, the training camp of the University of Southern California is coming to an end. In October, the official training camps of all NBA teams will start one after another. The players will wake up from the long vacation and start working.

Gan Guoyang and Drexler live in a hotel not far from the University of Southern California, and the two have become very good friends now.

On the morning of September 9, the last day of training camp, the two began to discuss what to do next.

"Clyde, I heard that some people have left. I think this training camp is meaningless." Gan Guoyang said while brushing his teeth.

Halfway through training camp, student players like Kevin Johnson left as colleges reopened.

As for other undrafted players, some left to try their luck in other cities, and some decided to give up entering the NBA after the training camp. They found that they were far from the standards of professional players.

"Yes, the training camp doesn't seem to be interesting anymore. I haven't met any particularly good guys in a month." Drexler said while changing clothes.

"Then we might as well go back to Portland. Falk told me to return to Portland before the start of the training camp. He said I have a commercial contract to sign." own orders.

"Business contract? Probably sneakers, Converse? Oh, there are too many good guys there, Bird, Kareem, Irving, Johnson..."

Converse was the overlord of the American basketball shoe market at that time, and several of the best players were all under its banner.

"I don't know, who cares, I just play my basketball well. By the way, do you think the Los Angeles Lakers will train here? I think maybe we can go and see." Gan Guoyang suddenly thought, the Lakers It is possible to start a training camp recently.

During the month here, Gan Guoyang wanted to go to UCLA several times to see if Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was training there, and if so, he could ask for advice.

But thinking of his status as a UCLA student, he still gave up the idea of ​​going to UCLA. He didn't want to be thrown rotten eggs.

"My God, your idea is great! I remembered that the Lakers started training yesterday, but not in Los Angeles, but in Palm Springs, which is far away from Los Angeles."

…………

Palm Springs, also known as palmsprings, is a small city near Los Angeles, California, and a famous tourist city.

If you look down on the city from the air, you will find that the small town is a regular rectangle.

The largest number of buildings in the city are hotels, as a large number of tourists come here every day, and the city itself is an excellent tourist attraction.

The most common sport here is golf. The golf course here has a beautiful environment and complete facilities. It is a good place for many successful people to spend their leisure time.

However, there is also a basketball stadium here. Near a luxury hotel, there is a basketball training hall, and this stadium is prepared for the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the 1984 Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers lost to their old rival Boston Celtics in seven games, continuing their unbeaten record against the Celtics in the Finals.

Before that, they had lost to the Green Empire six times in the finals, and now it is the seventh time.

This failure was regarded as a great shame by the entire Lakers, so on September 9, all Lakers players gathered in the basketball gymnasium in Palm Springs for brutal training.

"Hey Clyde, do you think if we show up suddenly, will the Lakers coach kick us out of the arena?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But when the team is training, the media can visit part of the time, and even the fans can. At that time, we will watch the training of the top nba team as a fan. Said To be honest, the Blazers practice always felt like something was missing to me."

Drexler was driving a Chevrolet convertible, carrying Gan Guoyang on the expressway to Palm Springs.

In the morning, Drexler and Gan Guoyang rented a car and set off from Los Angeles to their destination.

"I have played against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before, of course I died a miserable death, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said that I have improved, and I want him to see that I have improved even more!" Gan Guoyang thought of the previous encounter with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in UCLA One-on-one practice, although he was ravaged by Kareem, but also benefited a lot.

Especially now that he has practiced the hook, he can't wait to show it in front of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

"I hope so. In fact, I want to compete with the Magician. I hardly got too many opportunities to play against the Lakers last year. But Johnson is so good that no one on our team can stop him. As long as there is He’s here, and the Lakers’ offense is always unstoppable.” Drakes recalled the experience of playing against the Lakers, in those games he got very little playing time, and the team was not the Lakers’ opponent at all.

"I swear, you can't guard Johnson with one ball, but I can guard Kareem Abdul-Jabbar one, or two, and I have done it before." Gan Guoyang recalled his previous successful defense against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and couldn't help feeling a little proud.

"Oh, no kidding, I promise I can steal Magic one, or two, you know my steals are very good, I have at least one steal in every game in 82 games last season!"

Facing the wind blowing outside the car, the two young men lost their confidence.

Two months of training made them believe that their condition is quite good. Even if they start playing in the NBA immediately, they are also confident that they will perform well.

Especially Gan Guoyang, he is quite confident in his skills, he can feel that his various talents are gradually filling up, and his physical condition is also very good.

Drexler is relatively calm, after all, he has one season of NBA experience.

However, last year Drexler delayed training due to contract issues in the summer. Even so, in the limited playing time of his rookie season, Drexler still did quite well, which is one of the reasons for his conceit .

"Okay, we're here." Drexler drove to Palm Springs, and quickly found the conspicuous luxury hotel, next to the Lakers' training facility.

"Oh my God, there seems to be no one at the door, no reporters or fans, how should we get in?" Drexler stopped the car, only to find that there was no one else near the arena.

This means that the Lakers' training is not open to the public, how should the two get in now.

"Don't worry, they always have to eat at noon. When they eat, I can go to Mr. Kareem, and I will try to talk to him about whether we can watch their training." Gan Guoyang hopes that Kareem, the big The star has not forgotten him, a Chinese kid.

"Okay, then I'll find a place to wait for a while...Listen, there are sounds in the arena, the sound of basketball, and the sound of sneakers rubbing against the floor... Very dense, it seems that their speed is extremely fast." Drake Seller listened to the sound in the arena and said.

"That's right, I hope some of the voices in the afternoon come from us." Gan Guoyang smiled.

But he didn't expect that the experience in the afternoon would be a nightmare for him.