Chapter 49: The Dunk Apprentice

Gan Guoyang only used one goal, one assist, and one defense to win Falke's favor.

It may take some time to pick out a beautiful swan from a flock of geese, but it couldn't be easier to pick out a white crane from a flock of chickens.

Although Gan Guoyang is a yellow race, Falke sees a unique talent in Gan Guoyang, a superstar temperament.

This made him a little impatient, and before the game was over, he stepped forward and said loudly that he wanted to talk to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang ignored Falck, unlike other streetball players who saw Falck as a savior, Gan Guoyang did not have much affection for this sparsely haired and depressed Jew.

From his eyes, Gan Guoyang seemed to be able to see the cunning, cunning, and greed contained in it.

Therefore, Gan Guoyang shook his head at him, signaled that the game would continue, and ran back to the half-court defense.

However, in addition to being cunning and greedy, Falke is no different from Gan Guoyang in a few points, that is, tenacity, competitiveness, and vowing not to give up until he achieves his goal.

This was inherited from his mother, who was equally competitive and hardworking.

So, he patiently stayed on the sidelines, watching the 6-foot-10 center on the court, playing the point guard position, and playing with those street fish.

At this time, Gan Guoyang was simply a magician-like existence on the field, he constantly directed the running positions of his teammates on the field, and accurately passed the ball when the opportunity came out.

If he doesn't have a chance, he will also rely on his individual ability to create chances or use one or two passes to change the offensive situation on the field.

Even in the face of a group of street players who are far inferior to him, even if he is playing in a position that he is not familiar with, the expression on Gan Guoyang's face is still so focused, as if he is fighting a crucial battle related to the victory or loss of the series.

He will shout when his teammates score a goal, comfort and encourage him when he makes a mistake, and shout and curse when he defends.

All his teammates were listening to him, and all the spectators were watching him.

Gan Guoyang became the focus of the field in one minute, the core of the team in two minutes, the leader of the team in three minutes, and led the temporary team to victory in five minutes.

That's the difference between a star and a regular player.

If Falke had gone to watch the California Division II more than two months ago, perhaps he would not have seen Gan Guoyang like this.

Two months have passed, and in addition to relying on continuous training to improve and even torture himself physically, Gan Guoyang has also begun to change his concept in attitude.

In the past, he always thought that he should concentrate on the toughest battles, playing in some inconsequential game, or in garbage time.

Now he feels that no matter what kind of opponent he faces, as long as it is a match, he has to work 100 percent hard to win every match.

He doesn't want to experience defeat anymore, even though it's inevitable in basketball life.

But if he did his best every game, then he would feel better.

Falke saw another advantage in Gan Guoyang: unparalleled concentration and a strong sense of competitiveness.

This is often the key factor in determining whether a player can actually succeed in the professional league.

There are too many geniuses who have wasted their great talents because of their profligate shape and lack of competitiveness.

"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle for the end of the match.

The game was made a lot of suspense by the addition of Gan Guoyang, and the white team, led by their point guard and center, led all the way to the blue team, easily defeated the blue team by 15 points.

Although Gan Guoyang didn't score much, he, the point guard who played a cameo role as a center, did an excellent job, organized the team's offense, supported the team's defense, and demonstrated his basketball ability to surpass others.

"Mr. Gan, your performance is so wonderful, it's really breathtaking, I even saw the shadow of a magician." Falke did not hesitate to praise his praise for Gan Guoyang's performance.

"Thank you, Mr. Falck. I'm just enjoying basketball and I think it's fun to play like this. Gan Guoyang said that in addition to victory, he also found that as long as he devotes himself to the game, no matter how big the gap between the opponent and his own level is, he can enjoy the fun of basketball.

The rest of the people on the field were also convinced by Gan Guoyang's performance.

Especially the players of the white team, for the first time, they felt that playing with such a player could be so comfortable.

Slater found that as long as he was in the right place at the right time, the ball would reach him, and he threw the basketball in his hand into the basket, and the mission was over.

This is really high-level basketball, simple, efficient, and practical.

"Okay, Mr. Gan, I think we should talk, talk about your future, talk about some of your thoughts on basketball." At this time, Falke only had Gan Guoyang in his eyes, the black fat uncle had already been thrown aside, and Falke would not pay attention to this down-and-out street old ruffian anymore.

"What thoughts? Of course I'm going to go to college and then play in the NCAA, and if I'm lucky, see if I can play in the NBA, that's all. I'VE GOT AN OFFER FROM UCLA. In Gan Guoyang's mind, this should be his established line, and he will not waste his good talent in vain.

"Oh my god, UCLA, the place where Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Wharton were raised, it's a great place to go." Falck's heart was a little lost, because if Gan Guoyang could go to UCLA, it would mean that this guy was by no means a thing in the pool.

But this does not reflect the value of his Falke.

"But why have I never heard of you, I mean I haven't read about you in newspapers and magazines. Maybe it's because I'm in the East for a long time and don't know about basketball in California. However, before Abdul-Jabbar and Wharton entered UCLA, they were famous all over the United States. Falck continued, with a hint of thorniness in his tone.

"Mr. Falke, you look at my face and see clearly, a pure and unadulterated Chinese face. Do you think the California media would spend a lot of space on such a face? No, unless one day I win an NBA championship, I don't think they're going to take a fancy to me. Although Gan Guoyang's words are obviously exaggerated, in fact, as soon as he enters UCLA and starts to compete, the eyes of the whole United States will focus on him.

But he did suffer from media injustice, and in the foreseeable future, this injustice will continue, simply because he is a yellow race, a Chinese.

In the American sports world, Chinese immigrants are not as good as Nigerians, and now a Nigerian rising star has lifted off in Space City.

Falke heard Gan Guoyang's words and could understand his feelings.

In the 60s, the race movement in the United States reached its climax, and apartheid was lifted.

However, racial discrimination is far from disappearing in American social life.

The NBA entered a dark age in the '70s, and the NBA, which was overwhelmingly black, was full of drugs, alcohol, and violence.

The NBA has been ostracized by mainstream American society, who blame the depravity of the league on the blacks.

However, basketball is an out-and-out black sport, and the majority of star players are black.

And now, he is a yellow race, and his status in the basketball world is not even as good as that of a black person, how can he get the attention and popularity of the mass media.

"I think if you get some help, maybe you can completely change the situation now, and even affect the entire NBA in the future." Falke suddenly had a huge plan in his mind, and although it was only an idea, he felt that if it could be completed step by step, it would be a great development.

"Hey there, Butterbomb, can I play basketball with you for a while?"

Gan Guoyang didn't understand what Falck meant, but he heard a rough male duck voice in his ear.

Gan Guoyang turned his head and saw a black boy standing behind him, holding a basketball in his hand, looking at him with blank eyes.

"Hello, uh, I'm talking to someone right now, wait for me a little bit, OK?" Gan Guoyang said to the boy.

"Mr. Falck, I see what you mean. But I don't think it's time for me to think about these issues, I'll be sure to contact you if you need to, and you can leave me an address or phone number. Gan Guoyang knew that this Falck wanted to build a brokerage team for him to deal with various affairs.

But let's not talk about whether Gan Guoyang can become a star, ordinary players can't enjoy this kind of treatment, and Gan Guoyang still has to go to college, he thinks he doesn't need to deal with any messy things for the time being, so he politely rejected Falke.

"It's okay Mr. Gan, this is my business card, with my company address and phone number, you can contact me at any time if you need it, I think there will be a day."

"Thank you, Mr. Falck, this little guy seems to want to play basketball with me for a while, and I think I should satisfy him."

'No problem, a star has to learn how to treat his fans and you do it right. I have something to go, I don't want to stay here for a minute, good luck and a chance to see you again. Falck knew that there was no point in dwelling on it, that the seeds planted would slowly blossom and bear fruit, and that he had more important people and things to deal with.

Gan Guoyang no longer cared about the Jew, and turned to the boy with the duck voice, who was obviously a boy who had just entered puberty.

"Mr. Butter, can you teach me how to dunk?" The boy didn't know Gan Guoyang's name, but he knew the nickname "Butter Bomb", so he called Mr. Butter.

"Call me Gan. It's not a weekend, aren't you going to school? Gan Guoyang saw that he was only eleven or twelve years old, although the blacks were precocious, so he asked.

"Yes, I skipped class because I knew there were scouts coming today and there would be games here. But I still want you to teach me how to dunk, like yesterday and today, it was the most beautiful dunk I've ever seen on the street. ”

Gan Guoyang has been praised for accurate shooting, strong rebounding, good defense, and good blocking, but dunking is really not his strong point, and he just uses dunk as a means of scoring.

The reason why he repeatedly thought about the dunk in the North Division finals was because it involved a very important issue, which was also an idea that Gan Guoyang had been speculating.

Now at Inglewood, he actually made two similar dunks, which further confirmed his suspicion.

But this boy wanted Gan Guoyang to teach him to dunk, which really made Gan Guoyang scratch his head a little.

"Okay, though, first you have to be able to dunk." Gan Guoyang looked at this boy who was in his early 6 feet and a little thin.

At the age of eleven or twelve, when he is still growing his body, he can grow to 6 feet, and it seems that he will definitely not be short in the future.

"No problem! Look at it. ”

The duck picked up the basketball in his hand and ran to the basket, 20 feet away from the basket.

Then, he expertly dribbles, holds the ball, jumps, and dunks with one hand!

"Wow, that's an amazing bounce." Gan Guoyang was a little surprised when he watched it from the sidelines, he knew that this guy would definitely dunk, otherwise he wouldn't have come over to teach him.

But his ability to bounce surprised Gan, who must have jumped more than 3 feet high.

3 feet is a hurdle in jumping, vertical jumping more than 3 feet belongs to the super jumper, and 3 feet is the basic line of outstanding jumping.

With Gan Guoyang's jumping talent in Live65 and his continuous efforts since coming to the United States, 3 feet of running and jumping is almost his limit.

And this newly developed male duck's voice so easily surpassed his bounce level, which really made him a little psychologically unbalanced.

"Well, in that case, I'm going to teach you how to make your dunk look more beautiful and beautiful, your dunk just now looks like you're digging a bird's nest."

Gan Guoyang still decided to use his own experience to teach this talented little guy some tricks.

…………

Wang Fuxi didn't have a good class all morning today.

Although the end of the semester is approaching, this will be the last semester of intense study, and the twelfth grade will start to think about applying to university.

"Chris? What's wrong with you today? Confused all the time, Chris? Chris is Wang Fuxi's English name, and after school at noon, her good friend Martha asked.

"Huh? Not... It's nothing... I was just... Maybe I haven't slept lately. Wang Fuxi seemed a little incoherent, and she didn't know where to focus her attention.

"Oh~ Oh my, Chris, you're not going to be in love, are you? Tell me, who in Inglewood can win the favor of Queen Chris? Martha noticed that Wang Fuxi was a little different from usual, and she was not like she was today.

Although Wang Fuxi is a Chinese-American mixed-race, she is a big beauty in all directions of 360 degrees, and her personality is more American.

In school, she has always been competitive, no matter what she does, she must be the first in studying, the first in piano competitions, the first in debate competitions, and the first in long-distance running competitions.

Her only flaw is that she can't be the team's number one star in the basketball team, which is determined by talent.

It is precisely because of her stubborn and competitive personality and fierce demeanor that no one dares to bully her in Inglewood, a predominantly black school, but few people pursue her.

But now, in the eyes of her friend Martha, Wang Fuxi has changed from Scarlett in Gone with the Wind to Tess of the D'Urberville family, judging from her experience of falling in love 3 times at the age of 16, Wang Fuxi must have a situation.

"Don't talk nonsense! Without such a thing, I... I was just... I'm going to see a friend at noon, and he's coming from far away... I think... Hmm..."Wang Fuxi's mind was obviously very confused at this time, and she didn't know what she was talking about.

"Hey, look, why are there so many people on the court?" Martha said suddenly.

Wang Fuxi took a look, and sure enough, there were a lot of people on the basketball court not far away.

It's noon now, and there are classes in the afternoon, so many people around the stadium can only show one thing - someone is going to fight alone.

"Chris, let's go check it out."

"No, I still have friends waiting for me."

"Chris~~ Look, there's a tall guy there, who seems to be Chinese!"

As soon as Martha said this, Wang Fuxi seemed to have been shocked, and hurriedly took a closer look.

Sure enough, there was a tall giant standing on the sidelines, wearing a woolen shirt, looking at the arena with his hands on his chest and a serious face.

At this time, on the field, there is no bullfight, but a slam dunk contest.

It turned out that after Gan Guoyang instructed the little duck to dunk in his voice, he thought that Wang Fuxi was about to leave school, so he was ready to leave to find Wang Fuxi at Inglewood High School.

The little male duck who skipped class went to junior high school at Inglewood Middle School, and the high school and junior high school were together, so he went back with Gan Guoyang.

As a result, when he arrived at the campus, Gan Guoyang found that someone was dunking in the game on the basketball court, so he dragged the little duck by the throat and asked him to play with the other party.

In the basketball nation of the United States, some students start dunking in the ninth grade.

A student-organized slam dunk contest always attracts a lot of attention.

"Relax! Take a deep breath and don't be influenced by others! Trust me, you can, you'll be the best dunk at Inglewood! ”

At this time, everyone else on the court has finished their performances, although their dunks are really a little creative in Gan Guoyang's opinion, after all, there was no dunk contest in 1982, and many concepts of dunks are still only at the level of "jump high and smash in". ”

In contact with the little duckling's voice, Gan Guoyang found that this guy's bounce, flexibility, and waist and abdominal strength are all first-class. In addition to the fact that the body did not grow, the bones were weak, and the strength and explosion were insufficient, all aspects proved that this was a good seedling for dunking.

Although Gan Guoyang's dunk value is only 50, Gan Guoyang, who can dunk the "dream dunk" that amazes everyone, has understood that the most important thing in dunk is beauty.

No matter how high you jump, how much strength you have, and how fancy your movements are, a dunk that lacks aesthetic sense will not be able to arouse the admiration of the audience.

His three dunks can have that effect, one is because it was in the middle of the game, which is different from the feeling of pure performance dunks; The second is the feeling of stagnation caused by Gan Guoyang's outstanding waist and abdominal strength, the sense of stretch brought by excellent flexibility, and the sense of control brought by the ultra-long arm span and huge palm, which makes his dunk action full of athletic beauty.

Even if his bounce is not top-notch, his movements are not fancy, and such a dunk appears in the game, which is absolutely breathtaking.

Now, this little male duck voice, although only 6 feet 1, has a better talent, and under Gan Guoyang's nodding, he seems to be beginning to find the true meaning of dunking.

"Come on! Come on! ”

The duckling also stood 20 feet away from the basket and began to dribble, run, hold the ball, and jump!

Like a full bow and arrow, the little duckling flew through the air, stretching his limbs with all his might.

"Phew!"

In the air, the bow was stretched in an instant, and the ball was quickly dunked like a basket, as fast as a sharp arrow.

A powerful, yet crisp two-handed slam dunk.

"Maybe-the-play-of-this-year......" Gan Guoyang muttered, he didn't expect that this guy would be able to reach such a level after only one morning of practice.

Before, it was like digging birds' eggs on a tree, but now it is a force to split Huashan.

It's a slam dunk genius.

The little duck was surrounded by the excited crowd for a long time, and enjoyed the treatment of an idol for the first time in the cheers.

"Forrest Gump?" Gan Guoyang's ears suddenly came with a pleasant and soft voice.

"Fuxi." Gan Guoyang looked back and saw that it was Wang Fuxi and blurted out. saw that Wang Fuxi's face was flushed with a little red tide.

It seems to be too affectionate to call it that.

"Who's that boy?"

"Oh, my new apprentice, Harold Mainer, a very good dunk boy."

Harold Miner, the Inglewood kid, will be remembered for his two NBA dunk contest trophies in 1993 and 1995.