The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 477 Good Brother

As February arrived, the Trail Blazers' record declined as expected.

They lost several games they shouldn't have lost, such as to the poor Clippers and the weak Kings.

In the games they lost, the Trail Blazers used very long rotations, with Jack Ramsey playing every player on the bench.

The team's tactics were somewhat aggressive, with a lot of long-range shots from the outside and a lot of shots taken from the top of the key after screens.

The ball is being switched more and more frequently between the strong and weak sides in attack, while the short passing combinations in the half-court that Ramsey once took pride in are becoming less and less common.

In the past, Ramsey's positional warfare formations emphasized stacking on one side and leaving the other side empty.

For example, stand in a straight line at the free throw line, completely leaving the area under the basket and the baseline empty.

Another example is a one-sided clustering formation, with four players on the strong side and one on the weak side. This also maximizes the gaps in the opponent's defense and breaks down their defense to the greatest extent.

This requires players to execute excellent small-ball plays, and interior players to have very refined playmaking, passing, and screen-setting skills.

Before Gan Guoyang arrived, the Trail Blazers' half-court offense was very sharp, with many beautiful small plays, and their regular season results were also very good.

However, this style of play often becomes ineffective in the playoffs.

Small mistakes are common in teamwork, and it's even more difficult to create a completely open space.

With the introduction of the three-point line, the space on the court has become more diverse.

Starting in the 1985 season, Ramsey focused on researching new tactical foundations and began to emphasize the change in tactics from lines to areas, and from small-area coordination to large-area movement.

This season, with the implementation of the "two reductions and one increase" policy, this change has become increasingly significant.

The previous weak-side positioning has been reduced, and it has been replaced by a more even and comprehensive average positioning that covers the entire field.

Gan Guoyang's playmaking is becoming more and more sophisticated, and his ability to switch the ball on the strong side is getting stronger and stronger.

Wide-ranging lateral passes and creating more space will gradually replace the previous short passes in the half-court and become the team's main tactical strategy.

These are different from the "two reductions and one increase" approach; they require a lot of matches to get the players together and to develop chemistry between them.

In such situations, it's necessary to sacrifice some less important matches to use them for training.

Logically speaking, it's strange that a team aiming for a three-peat would need to train its players.

But the Trail Blazers are indeed special. They have a lot of young players, and even their core player is only in his fourth year, only 24 years old, and still improving.

So this amazing team can be described as decaying on one hand and being reborn on the other.

As the team slowly crumbles, a new team is also slowly emerging.

Ramsey did not exploit the team's potential by relying heavily on veterans and employing conservative tactics just because he was about to retire.

Instead, he acted like a coach of a young team, ensuring good results while also taking into account the development of young players and new tactics.

At the same time, he focused on developing Bobby Bellman, and even took a break during the game, letting Bellman direct and arrange tactics.

From the players' perspective, Ramsey was becoming increasingly complacent, not particularly concerned about the results, not exploiting the players, and even letting the assistant coach overstep his bounds.

But in reality, Ramsey had his own plans; as the saying goes, parents who love their children plan far ahead for them.

Ramsey loved the Portland Trail Blazers, Forrest Gump, and these young players like he loved his own children.

As the saying goes, each generation has its own responsibilities. He knew that with his basketball knowledge and experience, he was no longer able to make a complete transformation.

With coaches like Dick Motta next door already dismissed and Hubie Brown now a commentator, these three coaches, who are touted as the most knowledgeable about basketball in the NBA, have reached a stage of generational change.

Ramsey's ability to accept three-pointers and adapt to the league's trends is already at its limit.

He couldn't completely revolutionize himself; no one could.

He could only silently pass the torch to the next generation, to Bobby Bellman, so that he could build a more dominant basketball empire around Gan Guoyang.

Ramsey didn't mention these things to anyone, including Bellman and Gan Guoyang.

But the two seemed to have guessed Dr. Jack's intentions, and they carried out Ramsey's plan exactly as he had intended.

Even after losing some games, Gan Guoyang didn't complain. Instead, he tried his best to maintain order in the team's locker room.

In particular, it's about protecting young players like Hornacek, Curry, and Anderson, providing support and encouragement when they underperform or make numerous mistakes.

Drexler wouldn't dare do anything to Gan Guoyang, but he could easily bully a newcomer.

Back when Jerome Koch first joined the team, he quietly carried Drexler's bag for three months.

Until one day, when Kossi offered to help Mitchell Thompson carry his bag, Thompson said, "The Trail Blazers don't have a tradition of letting rookies carry their bags. I'll carry mine myself."

Drexler never let Cauchy carry his bag; it was Cauchy who heard from outside that newcomers were expected to carry their bags, and that's why he did it.

Drexler was just teasing him; Cauchy had been working as his bag carrier for three months.

Gan Guoyang is now the absolute authority in the locker room. Even if there are conflicts among the members in private, they will not be exposed on the surface, and the locker room is still harmonious on the surface.

Gan Guoyang is not only good to his current teammates, but also very loyal to his former teammates.

Just before the All-Star Game in February, Gan Guoyang received a message from Ke Xi: Steve Colter was in trouble in Atlanta.

Colter entered the league with Gan Guoyang and Ke Xi. For a period of time, he lived with Ke Xi and the two had a good relationship.

After Colter was traded to the Utah Jazz, Kossie and Colter remained in contact.

Gan Guoyang had once asked Stockton in Salt Lake City to look after Colt and keep him away from drugs.

But things didn't go as planned. Cort was soon traded to the Chicago Bulls, and then to the Atlanta Hawks.

Atlanta is one of the cities with the highest crime rates and the most chaotic in the United States.

Guns and drugs are rampant here, making it easy to buy contraband.

When Gan Guoyang was in charge, Cort was able to discipline himself and train and play well.

However, after losing Gan Guoyang's influence and wandering between several teams, Cort lost his way again in Atlanta.

He got into a fight with drug dealers during a drug purchase, and as a result, he was detained and his family was asked to pay a ransom.

Because Cortés is an NBA player, and the league currently has very strict drug control regulations, the Suns' case led the league to issue a strict ban.

If news of his drug purchase is leaked, he will definitely be banned for life.

Drug dealers also read newspapers, know Colter's identity, and know that Colter is a small fry who is relatively easy to manipulate.

So Colter's family didn't dare to call the police, but they couldn't raise enough money. After all, Colter was a substitute and didn't earn much money in a year. Besides, he had a lot of expenses and didn't have much savings.

Unfortunately, Colter didn't have many friends on the Eagles, so they had to contact Cahill, who then contacted Gan Guoyang to ask for a solution.

Upon hearing this news, Gan Guoyang immediately sent Quentin and the Feng brothers to Atlanta to bring enough cash to negotiate with the drug den and kidnappers.

Quentin has a wealth of experience dealing with all sorts of people over the years.

The Fung brothers' cold, stern Asian faces instilled fear in drug dealers about their power.

In the end, Quentin and the Fung brothers successfully brought Colter back.

Without alerting the Hawks or the NBA, the matter was quietly settled.

After Cort was rescued, Gan Guoyang gave him a phone call.

After the call connected, Gan Guoyang didn't say anything. Colt held the receiver and started sobbing, saying that he regretted it, that he had let Gan down, and that he would definitely quit drugs.

Gan Guoyang didn't say much, only telling Cort: "Play well. Consider the ransom a loan from me. Pay me back with the money you earn playing basketball, and remember there's interest."

From that day on, Cortt completely broke free from drugs. He played in the league as a substitute player until 1995 before retiring completely. After that, he started working in basketball training and opened a training camp.

To maintain secrecy, only a handful of people knew about this, including Jerome Koch.

Ke Xi was originally Gan Guoyang's staunch follower and a bodyguard trainee.

After this incident, he became even more devoted to Gan Guoyang, thinking that this good older brother would really save him if he was in trouble.

(End of this chapter)