The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 817 Too Late to Regret

With a 16-game winning streak, the Trail Blazers escaped Boston unscathed.

Bird avoided the embarrassment of losing to his former team as soon as he returned by not handing them a victory at his former home court.

At the end of the game, Bird and Auerbach hugged goodbye. Bird said, "I can feel that the current Trail Blazers are better than our best days."

"Oh, so your heartache is cured? Why are you so eager to say such things? Don't speak too soon."

"You should say good things early. Just wait and see, Reed. This season is ours, and I won't repeat the same mistakes."

Auerbach knew that Bird was referring to the 1986 season, when the Celtics dominated the regular season but were unfortunately defeated by Forrest Gump in the Finals.

For many years, the loss in this Finals has been a scar in Bird's heart. He has always believed that the Celtics should have won the championship that year.

That was the pinnacle of Celtics team basketball, but in the ultimate showdown, they were defeated by youthful heroism. This defeat was even more devastating than the loss to the Lakers in 1985.

Since then, the Celtics have never recovered, and Bird, during his playing days, has never come close to a championship.

When Bird coached the Trail Blazers last season, one of his motivations was to gain a deeper understanding of what kind of team the Trail Blazers were and what kind of player Forrest Gump was.

This was an attempt for him to resolve a long-standing inner conflict and to personally experience what it was like to be defeated by a formidable enemy.

Of course, Bird did this after he retired and became a coach; he never thought of doing it when he was a player.

The 1996-1997 Trail Blazers were incomplete, which forced out one of the greatest individual single-season performances in NBA history.

Even so, the Trail Blazers still failed to make the playoffs, and individual heroism failed them.

In Buckwald's words, even the most powerful engine can't keep up with the fuselage of a propeller plane; excessive afterburner will cause the fuselage to disintegrate.

Bird realized that the Trail Blazers' great achievements over the years were essentially built on an A-level platform, and then Forrest Gump worked his magic to elevate the team to an S+ level and crush their opponents in crucial games.

This year's situation is slightly different; the Trail Blazers' platform is likely not A-level, but rather S-level.

Although in terms of player age and ability, they have no advantage compared to the Trail Blazers during their three-peat and four-peat eras.

Even looking at the roster purely on paper, this season's Trail Blazers are not as good as the four-time champion Trail Blazers, especially at the small forward position.

But Bird knew that a team's strength couldn't be judged solely on paper, nor was it simply a matter of stacking player statistics.

The current Trail Blazers team has a complete roster at every position, and the players have excellent chemistry, playing together seamlessly from training camp onwards.

Amidst increasingly fierce defensive tactics and declining scoring averages across the NBA, the Trail Blazers manage to rack up 108 points per game, demonstrating formidable offensive firepower.

Furthermore, 108 points is not the Blazers' ceiling. In many games, they overwhelm their opponents in just three quarters, dragging the game into garbage time early on.

Forrest Gump's scoring average dropped to a historic low, but his individual ability was actually at the peak of his career. His low scoring was simply because his opponents were not worth his full effort.

Moreover, when Forrest Gump no longer needed to put in so much effort in scoring and playmaking, his influence on the defensive end expanded rapidly.

As a basketball prodigy, Bird spent over a month at home recovering from his coaching duties, but this observational experience actually gave him a clearer understanding of the current Trail Blazers:
When Forrest Gump can free up his hands to focus on defense and do all the details, the others can unleash their offensive potential, making the whole team run exceptionally smoothly and creating a positive cycle.

Conversely, if key players consume a lot of resources on offense but their teammates have to constantly clean up their messes on defense, role players will not be able to perform on offense, leading to a vicious cycle.

This is determined by the basic principles of basketball: offense brings greater pleasure, scoring a goal boosts confidence, while defense is relatively more tedious and difficult.

Forrest Gump did the hardest part best because his teammates on offense were trustworthy, and everyone was someone he could trust—a quality that the Portland Trail Blazers of the past lacked.

Gan Guoyang also prefers defense. The thrill of scoring goals has diminished for him. This season, he prefers to prevent his opponents from scoring.

The Trail Blazers will then continue their Eastern Conference road trip with consecutive away games against the New Jersey Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers.

On the evening of December 4th, at the Continental Air Arena, Gan Guoyang met Hakeem Olajuwon, who was wearing a Nets jersey, on the court.

Two old rivals and old friends meet again. Gan Guoyang is still the same Trail Blazers number 11, while Olajuwon is now a player with three different surnames.

I wonder what Hakeem Olajuwon felt years later when he recalled Gan Guoyang's words, "Don't let loyalty ruin you."

After a complete falling out with Pat Riley, Hakeem Olajuwon chose to leave South Beach. In Miami, he took home two Eastern Conference titles and an NBA championship ring, which was a respectable result.

However, he could no longer tolerate Riley's coaching style and knew full well that as he grew older, he would become Riley's discarded pawn.

If you don't leave today, you'll still be abandoned tomorrow or the day after. You might even be traded away and sent to a place you don't want to go.

It would be better to take advantage of your bargaining power, seize the initiative, leave the Heat, and go somewhere where you can continue to shine.

Hakeem Olajuwon's mentality was different from Clyde Drexler's. Drexler had lost his ambition; he had won enough championships. Olajuwon, on the other hand, wanted to fight for one more.

Hakeem Olajuwon's most desired destination is Houston, his second home. Although he left the Rockets after falling out with them for various reasons, the team now has a new owner, and Alexander might not necessarily refuse the return of this former son of Houston.

Unfortunately, Hakeem Olajuwon overestimated his importance to the Houston Rockets and the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets are now Chris Webber's team, and the young Webber represents the future of the Rockets.

Hakeem Olajuwon, however, is already in the twilight of his career, his abilities are gradually declining, and he is still the same ball-hogging black hole and practice-field bully he once was.

The Rockets didn't want to bring back an old veteran and offend their young, new core players, and they also couldn't offer Olajuwon the salary he wanted.

Therefore, the Rockets did not respond to Olajuwon's overtures, and the management stated that they would not make any major moves in the summer.

Having been turned down by his former team, Hakeem Olajuwon set his sights on other Eastern Conference teams. He was unwilling to go to the Western Conference unless he could return to the Rockets.

Returning to the West and facing Forrest Gump four times every season is a really tough experience; it's much more comfortable in the East.

However, Hakeem Olajuwon's situation was quite awkward. If he were 28 or 29 years old, he would definitely be a hot commodity in the eyes of every team, and his phone would be ringing off the hook with calls from team managers waving checks at him to fill out.

Even Pat Riley wouldn't let him go; he'd practically beg for a big contract.

但1963年1月出生的他在1997-1998赛季将满35岁，90年代的NBA，35岁是一个坎。

Looking back at history, due to limitations in injury management and scientific advancements, almost no star player in the league has avoided a precipitous decline in performance by the age of 35.

The only exception was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but he only declined slowly instead of maintaining his peak performance. At 35, the difference between being 10th and 1st in MVP rankings was significant.

Other well-known superstar centers are all entering the final countdown of their careers at the age of 35, and will retire within one or two years.

For Hakeem Olajuwon, the good news in the summer of '97 was that he was still an All-Star center with 20+10 points the previous season, and his influence would certainly remain in the '97-98 season.

The bad news is that people aren't very confident about how long his influence will last, because his decline is clearly visible, and everyone knows that once this decline begins, it will be difficult to reverse, it will only accelerate, and eventually he will fall into freefall.

With September approaching and the Summer League already over, Hakeem Olajuwon hadn't received a suitable offer, leaving the superstar in a very awkward position.

Of course, some teams expressed interest in collaborating with him, but none of them were willing to offer Olajuwon a big, long-term contract. They were only willing to offer a moderately priced, two- to three-year contract.

How could Hakeem Olajuwon possibly accept such an offer? He knew that the summer of 1997 was his last chance to get a long-term contract, and that the veteran's bonus would end when the standard contract came into effect in the summer of 1998.

Just then, an opportunity suddenly presented itself: the New Jersey Nets changed hands.

Microsoft tycoon Paul Allen acquired the Brooklyn Nets, becoming the team's new mastermind.

In 1988, Allen wanted to buy the Portland Trail Blazers, but lost out to Tang Jianguo in the competition.

For the next 10 years, they watched helplessly as Tang Jianguo, a guy who knew absolutely nothing about basketball, won one championship after another.

After amassing a fortune through Microsoft, Paul Allen was eager to explore the world of professional sports.

After failing to acquire the Trail Blazers, Allen turned to the NFL, and in 1996, he acquired the Seattle Seahawks, a team from his hometown.

Unlike in 1988, by the mid-to-late 90s, Paul Allen's wealth had expanded further, and money was no longer an issue for him.

After successfully acquiring the Seahawks, Allen's interest in acquiring NBA teams was rekindled; his love for basketball surpassed that for American football.

After failing to acquire the Seattle SuperSonics, Paul Allen turned his attention to the New Jersey Nets, who had been struggling in recent years and were preparing for restructuring.

The Nets were owned by a group of seven New Jersey businessmen, led by Allen Cohen and Joe Taub, who took over the team in 1977. They were known as the "Secaucus Seven." (Secaucus Seven is a 1980 American film.)
The seven-man group owned shares in the Nets for 20 years, but the team never really improved.

Whether in terms of win-loss record or market performance, the Nets have always been a mid-to-lower tier team in the league.

The NBA is a place where one team rises and another falls, with each team experiencing highs and lows, ups and downs.

But the Nets have been in a slump for the past 20 years, and the team's situation has been getting worse and worse.

The once ambitious seven-man team has lost hope of achieving anything in basketball after 20 years of setbacks.

Fortunately, riding the wave of the NBA's rapid development, the Nets' market value soared, and by selling in 1997, the owner was able to make a fortune.

When the Nets were bought in 1977, seven people pooled together $1.5 million. When the team was sold in 1997, Paul Allen generously offered $180 million. This was 20 percent higher than the prices offered by other buyers, but for Paul Allen, this amount was insignificant.

A year ago, he invested $1.94 million to acquire the Seattle Seahawks, and immediately after the acquisition, he invested another $1.4 million to build a brand new stadium.

In the process of acquiring the Nets, no one was a match for this Microsoft tycoon. Led by Microsoft, this group of IT nouveau riche fully took center stage as behind-the-scenes players in the sports industry in the mid-to-late 90s.

Compared to the traditional asset-heavy industry bosses who have many assets but little cash, and who have to raise money to form consortia to play professional sports, the protagonists of the stock market wealth myth like Allen, an IT guy, often have a net worth of tens or hundreds of billions, with incredibly abundant cash flow.

Starting in 1995, the United States entered the era of the dot-com bubble, with stock prices related to computer technology soaring, and Microsoft being a prime example.

In 1995, Microsoft released its groundbreaking operating system, Windows 95, which generated $60 billion in sales in a single year and reached a staggering market capitalization of $1490 billion by 1996.

As one of the founders of Microsoft, Paul Allen's net worth naturally skyrocketed. The surging stock market created wealth at a rate that Allen simply couldn't spend all his money.

I woke up this morning and found my net worth had increased by hundreds of millions. I quickly started buying and spending the money.

After easily acquiring the Nets, Allen's biggest regret was that he didn't have more cash on hand back then.
If he had had more cash in 1988, or if Microsoft's market value had been higher, he could have acquired the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Nets were more of a substitute, so Allen was obviously much more anxious after the deal was made. His first priority was to sign stars and build a strong team.

At this point, Hakeem Olajuwon, the former MVP and considered the only center who could rival Forrest Gump, became Allen's primary target.

The negotiations went very smoothly, and Hakeem Olajuwon quickly put on the Nets' number 34 jersey and made his debut at the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey.

Unable to return to Houston, he ultimately followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Moses Malone, winning a championship and then donning the jersey of his third NBA team.

However, apart from signing Hakeem Olajuwon, the Nets' management did not make any major moves. The only noteworthy move was to sign former All-Star forward Buck Williams back on a veteran's minimum contract to assist Olajuwon.

Two veteran centers don't seem to be able to bring about a qualitative change for the Nets.

In reality, Paul Allen's ambitions didn't lie in this season. There were no big names in the 1997 free agency market, and the Nets lacked cap space due to salary cap restrictions.

After acquiring Hakeem Olajuwon, Allen set his sights on the summer of 1998. To this end, the Nets did not re-sign center Jason Williams and gave Olajuwon a very special contract.

“Hakim, did you really accept that contract? This is blatant cheating.”

"This isn't cheating, Forrest Gump; it's within the rules, but that won't work anymore in 1998."

“You’ve changed, Hakim. You weren’t this unprincipled before.”

"God is the only principle, He is guiding me, I have no problem."

During a warm-up chat, Gan Guoyang learned about the contract details from Hakeem Olajuwon.

The Nets' contract with Hakeem Olajuwon was unique. In the 1997-1998 season, the Nets gave Olajuwon a salary of $1700 million, putting all their salary cap space into him.

However, in the following year, the 1998-1999 season, Hakeem Olajuwon's contract will be reduced to $300 million, which will free up more than $2000 million in cap space for the Nets.

With the total salary cap projected to be around $3000 million, over $2000 million in cap space can do a lot of things, enough to change the Nets' fate.

Olajuwon's second-year salary of $300 million was extremely important, as it freed up nearly $1000 million in cap space for the Nets, while also ensuring he received a substantial amount of money.

This was clearly a ploy to land big fish in the summer of 1998, when free agents whose contracts expired would include Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, and Michael Jordan, who had a player option.

If the labor negotiations in 1998 went smoothly and the maximum salary system was implemented according to the 1996 agreement, the New Jersey Nets would have had the opportunity to sign at least two superstars in 1998, forming a Big Three with Hakeem Olajuwon and making a run for the championship.

The key lies in Hakeem Olajuwon's special contract, which was worth $1700 million in the first year and $300 million in the second year.

Hakeem Olajuwon is no longer the naive African boy he once was. Having experienced the ups and downs of fate, he knows how to weigh the pros and cons.

It does seem a bit unethical for me to use this special contract to create a loophole for building a super team in the future, but the Trail Blazers also exploited a loophole in the rules to sign Sabonis, who had been away for four years, using Bird rights.

So, Forrest Gump, let's not judge each other.

Your words, "Loyalty will ruin you," destroyed my resolve and caused me to sink into the sea of ​​desire.

Now that God has guided me, I shouldn't think too much; eliminating the enemy is the best outcome.

However, in terms of on-court performance this season, the gap between Olajuwon and Gan Guoyang has widened even further.

Hakeem Olajuwon's weight continued to increase, while his once-proud explosiveness and speed declined rapidly.

When his bursts of speed and pace drop, his once-dazzling footwork that used to confuse defenders can easily turn into a disastrous dance.

If you can't get your speed up, your opponent can just let you dribble around. In the end, you'll just finish with a fadeaway jumper anyway, so what am I worried about?

Hakeem Olajuwon's scoring average dropped to 18 points per game, the lowest in his career, and the first time he fell below 20 points per game.

However, on the defensive end, he still averaged 2.1 blocks and 1.8 steals per game, providing excellent rim protection for the Nets.

Aside from Hakeem Olajuwon, the Nets' most notable player is the white rookie power forward, Van Horn, whom the team acquired in a draft trade.

This white forward, a graduate of the University of Utah, who averaged 22 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in his senior year, possesses superb shooting skills and a 90% free throw percentage, will inevitably be labeled as "the second Bird".

In the 1997 draft, the first overall pick was "the second Forrest Gump" and the second overall pick was "the second Larry Bird". Obviously, in the mid-to-late 90s, no one was sure about the future form of the NBA and the path of superstars, so they kept looking for shadows of the stars of the 80s, after all, that was a successful path.

Van Horn's performance in college was indeed outstanding. After the Nets acquired him, they hoped he could form a strong offensive and defensive frontcourt pairing with Hakeem Olajuwon.

However, after being selected, Van Horn missed the team's training camp and all of November's games due to injury.

This home game against the Portland Trail Blazers marked Van Horn's return from injury and his first game in his NBA career.

Before the game, many people advised Van Horn not to return to the court, saying that the opponents were the Portland Trail Blazers and Forrest Gump, and there was no need to face this monster.

In his first game of December, top draft pick Tim Duncan was utterly crushed, scoring only 2 points and suffering a crushing defeat that left him questioning his very existence.

Now it's the second pick's turn. If you make a comeback at this crucial moment, aren't you just asking for trouble?
As a senior player, Hakeem Olajuwon advised Van Horn, "Brother, wait another game. If the start is too difficult, it won't help build confidence. The later you meet Forrest Gump, the better."

But Van Horn has been waiting for this game for a long time, and he has been eagerly anticipating his return for two months.

How could someone as fearless as a newborn calf back down just because he was going to face off against Forrest Gump?

On the contrary, he was even more motivated and eager to take the stage because he was going to face Forrest Gump.

The coaching staff had no choice but to include Van Horn in the squad and start him in the game.

After the warm-up and opening ceremony, Van Horn, wearing jersey number 44, came onto the court and stood in front of Forrest Gump.

On the sidelines, Paul Allen watched the game closely from the VIP seats, still holding high hopes for Van Horn.

He wanted to see how Van Horn would perform against the king of the NBA.

Gan Guoyang looked at Van Horn, the striker who was hailed as the second Bird, but whose physique was too thin.

Bird's success led many to believe that any white forward with accurate shooting, around 6'9", and some skill could become a superstar in the NBA.

But in reality, Bird was so different and gifted that his physique and strength were the most prominent and easily overlooked features.

His broad shoulders, his large hands, and his thick core and back provided a constant source of power for Bird's technique.

Van Horn clearly lacks the necessary skills. He was very good in the NCAA, but in the NBA, he's simply not good enough to become the next Bird.

Gan Guoyang looked at Van Horn's jersey and said, "Number 44, not a bad number. Are you planning to score 44 points against me?"

Number 44 is Petrovic's jersey number, and Gan Guoyang always makes a mental note of it whenever he sees it.

Upon hearing Gan Guoyang's words, Van Horn was momentarily speechless.

Only when he was actually face-to-face with Forrest Gump on the field did he understand why many people say they would want to kneel down when they see him.

He truly resembled a god; his muscles, face, and bearing exuded an awe-inspiring aura.

"Silence? Silence means acquiescence? Fine, come on, let me see your methods," Gan Guoyang said again.

Van Horn didn't say a word, yet he was accused of "scoring 44 points over Forrest Gump."

Van Horn felt wronged; shouldn't he have chosen the number 0 jersey?

Or perhaps he should have chosen to return in the next match.

But it was too late for regrets; the competition had already begun.

(End of this chapter)