The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 234 Substitute
Stockton was not nearly as busy as Gan Guoyang; after the playoffs ended, he flew back to Spokane.

The first thing he did after returning to Spokane was to use his rookie season earnings to buy a house—he bought his neighbor's house.

When Stockton drove his pickup truck and said he would take Gan Guoyang to see his newly bought house, Gan Guoyang was still looking forward to it.

He thought that since this kid had decided to step into the grave of love, at least he could change his stingy habits. After all, marriage is not a one-person affair, and it costs a lot of money. He couldn't let Nada, who came from a governor's family, live a hard life with him.

It's too early to buy a house in Salt Lake City right now, but it's not a problem to get a nice little villa in Spokane, back in our hometown, just like Gan Guoyang and Wang Fuxi, and live a wonderful life as a couple.

When Stockton drove home along the familiar route and parked his car in front of his house, Gan Guoyang asked in confusion, "Weren't you going to show me your new house?"

Stockton said, “Yes, I’m here. My new house is right next to mine. My neighbor moved out, and it became vacant, so I bought it.”

Gan Guoyang sat in the passenger seat in silence for a long while, thinking to himself, "You saved up money for a whole season just to be neighbors with your parents! What kind of person buys a new house like this!"

However, Gan Guoyang has always been a very tolerant person. He seeks common ground while respecting differences among his friends. Jordan, Barkley, Stockton, and Ewing all have very different personalities, but they can become friends because they have common ground.

"Have you discussed with Nada whether you'll live in this house after you get married, next to your parents' house?" Gan Guoyang asked again.

“This is for the future. We definitely can’t stay in Spokane for now. She’s going to come with me to Salt Lake City to rent a place.”

"What? Nada is going back to Salt Lake City with you, and you want to rent a place with her? You... can Nada agree to that?"

"Of course, she has already found a job in Salt Lake City, and we are going to rent an apartment in the same building."

After graduating, Nada worked at a law firm in Spokane, but if the two were to be together long-term, Nada would indeed have to go to Salt Lake City with Stockton.

Salt Lake City isn't exactly a city young people like to move to; it's cold, monotonous, and has religious issues. But Nada doesn't care much. She quit her job at the agency and became a substitute teacher at a school in Salt Lake City.

"You mean that you don't live together, but rather live separately, even though you rent apartments in the same building?"

"Yes, we're not married yet. Nada's family doesn't allow premarital cohabitation, so we're separated for now."

"So you want to get married so you can live together."

"No! No, it's because I love her... Anyway... I haven't proposed to her yet."

Stockton told Gan Guoyang about his desire to get married, hoping he could give him some advice on how to propose.

Gan Guoyang thought for a moment and said, "You can arrange to propose during halftime or after the game at home, in front of the entire audience. She will definitely be very touched."

Stockton's eyes lit up. "That's a good idea," he said. "But do you think everyone will cooperate with me?"

"Yes, it will. Anyway, proposing on your home turf is free, and you can invite so many spectators to witness it. Isn't that amazing?"

Gan Guoyang's words "it doesn't cost any money" struck a chord with Stockton, and he decided to do the same in a game after the regular season started.

"John, even though you don't live together and rent separate places, you should at least pay Nada's rent, right?"

Gan Guoyang thought to himself that although Stockton was stingy, he was mainly stingy with himself, but very generous to his family and friends.

"Of course I wanted to help Nada pay the rent, but Nada disagreed. She said she could earn her own money and didn't want to use my money. Laura would also subsidize part of the rent for Nada."

Nada is a very traditional girl who doesn't want to use a single penny of her boyfriend's money before marriage, and her twin sisters are very supportive of her.

Stockton is such a shrewd guy, just as clever as he is on the court. He even found such a sensible and frugal girlfriend.

"Then you've saved half the rent. It's good to spend a little money to rent an apartment. You don't have to live in that shabby place anymore, where they couldn't even afford to turn on the heating!"

The two got out of the car, and Stockton parked it, saying somewhat embarrassedly, "My house was free; the real estate company gave it to me as a promotional offer, and I helped with some advertising."

Gan Guoyang almost spat out a mouthful of blood. John, you're awesome!
You can't beat me at basketball, and ten Forrest Gumps couldn't catch Stockton when it comes to saving money.
-
Returning to Spokane and staying at my home in Stockton felt like stepping back into my college days.

Gan Guoyang's life entered a peaceful and regular state. Every morning, he would get up early, have breakfast, and go cycling and running with Stockton.

He is no longer bothered by the noise of New York, no longer has to worry about the constant traffic jams, and no longer has to worry about being recognized by fans on the street and asked for photos and autographs.

The residents of Spokane certainly knew Gan Guoyang and Stockton, but when they saw the two, they would only greet them in a friendly manner and say "Go for it, Gan."

In New York, people like Gan Guoyang, Jordan, and Ewing are themselves tourist attractions; when locals and tourists encounter them, they naturally want to take a picture.

In Spokane, Gan Guoyang is just a well-known celebrity, a part of the community, and you can simply say hello.

This feeling allowed Gan Guoyang to regain his composure and prepare for the new season starting from scratch. In the morning, Gan Guoyang and Stockton will return together to Gonzaga University's Kennedy Stadium for training.

The freshmen of Gonzaga Bulldogs had just returned to school after a trip to the West, and Fitz and Bellman led the group on another trip to the Midwest to sell clothes.

Although the school allocated more funds to the basketball team after winning the NCAA championship, the tradition of hard work and frugality could not be abandoned, and hats and clothes still had to be sold.

Instead of going to the NBA as an assistant coach, Berman stayed in Gonzaga to continue coaching for another three years, signing a new contract with the school.

He made a great sacrifice in terms of salary last time in order to come to Gonzaga, and this time the school compensated him, making Bellman's financial situation much better.

As for why he didn't "defect" to the NBA, he explained, "I think I still need to hone my skills in the NCAA and refine my tactical thinking."

Fitz told Gan Guoyang, "Because nobody wants him! NBA coaches don't even look at his stuff, hahaha! Including your Trail Blazers' coach Ramsey."

Bellman's ideas and emphasis on data were indeed too advanced for his time, and even though Ramsey's thinking had changed a lot, he couldn't accept them in a short period of time.

Moreover, the Trail Blazers don't need to hire a new assistant coach. The current partnership of Ramsey and Adelman is perfectly adequate, and adding another person would disrupt their work plans.

Chuck Daly did invite Bellman to Detroit, but Bellman hesitated and decided to stay in Spokane, saying he was used to the West Coast and didn't want to go back to the Midwest.

Gan Guoyang comforted Berman, saying, "Your tactical ideas will definitely be valued in the future. Until then, you should stay put and not betray us. Traitors need capital and bargaining chips to be accepted."

During daily training, Gan Guoyang discussed his development direction for the next season with the coaching staff, including whether to gain weight or lose some weight to become faster and more agile.

Bellman and Fitz got into an argument, with Fitz arguing that Gan Guoyang should lose some weight and stay around 250 pounds, which would be perfectly adequate in today's league.

"Your opponent is the Lakers. You need speed and agility to deal with the Lakers' frontcourt, and a lower weight helps you stay healthy. 250 pounds is not light."

However, Bellman believes that Gan Guoyang should continue to gain weight. He said, "The league will strengthen its competition and reduce the number of rounds in the next few years. There will be more and more low-ranking monsters. Your height is not an advantage to begin with. If you lose weight, your strength will also be affected. You must amplify your advantages and play to your strengths while avoiding your weaknesses."

“Even if Forrest Gump dropped to 250 pounds, his weight and strength would be more than enough, and his agility and speed could be further improved.”

"All the big men in the league are now intensifying their strength training. Everyone knows that Forrest Gump is incredibly strong, so they will be focusing on targeting him."

"You can't even make it to the NBA, how do you know?"

"I...I'm an NCAA championship coach, of course I know!"

"I'm the one who hired you."

"Now you're begging me to stay!"

Later, the two started bickering again, talking about things completely unrelated to training. Gan Guoyang sighed deeply.

I thought both coaches made sense, but as Coach Karp said, the key is whether the Trail Blazers have a good backup in the paint.

If Stu Inman and his team can find a good backup center to fill the paint, Gan Guoyang can indeed lose some weight and focus more on offense and perimeter defense.

Playing center is very physically demanding. Gan Guoyang is already a super stamina monster and an iron man, but he still couldn't hold on in the final moments of Game 6 of last year's Western Conference Finals.

The strain of 80 games in a season, coupled with the high intensity of the playoffs and playing 48 minutes straight without a break, would have broken any other player, but Gan Guoyang only slipped and fell.

Physical fitness is crucial to performance on the court. Gan Guoyang has always had excellent physical fitness. He never considered physical reserves during his rookie season. In the new season, he needs to consider saving more energy for the playoffs.

Fitz and Bellman continued their bickering, and this situation was expected to last for at least another three years.

Coach Steve Delon, who is usually a man of few words, quietly devised a new strength training plan for Gan Guoyang.

"The goal of this program is to give you both strength and agility." Coach Delong understood Gan Guoyang's needs.

Gan Guoyang spent two very fulfilling weeks in Spokane, during which Wang Fuxi visited him at the school, and the two of them toured the volcanic lake and the great waterfall together.

Together they found an apartment in downtown Spokane that was close to the school, and Gan Guoyang bought it. He would be returning to Spokane frequently during his holidays and couldn't always freeload at Stockton's house.

While detached houses are nice, they require expensive and troublesome maintenance if not used for extended periods. Apartments, on the other hand, have property management companies that provide regular cleaning services, allowing him to return to school for training and rest during the off-season.

In mid-September, Mr. Cap suddenly called from San Francisco, asking Gan Guoyang to go to Los Angeles, saying that Bill Walton and John Wooden wanted to meet him.

Gan Guoyang's heart skipped a beat when he heard Walton's name, wondering if the Trail Blazers had found a backup center.

(End of this chapter)