(I'm sorry, I'm delaying the update today...... No way, the weekend is such a steady delay. ）

Thinking about it, Gan Guoyang hasn't been back to San Francisco for a while.

Since being drafted by the Trail Blazers in the draft, Gan has hardly returned to this place, but has been running around elsewhere.

As Gan Guoyang's second hometown in the United States, this city has left Gan Guoyang with too many memories of basketball.

A small basketball hoop next to Union Square in San Francisco, where the reborn Gan Guoyang truly experienced the fun of basketball for the first time and discovered his talent in basketball.

It was here that he also met Bernard King, from whom he learned a quick turnaround jumper that destroyed all the high schools in the San Francisco area.

At the Coastal Stadium, "Guns N' Rose" was challenged by "cancer", and Gan Guoyang vowed to be a strong center after the defeat, and since then he has embarked on the road of fighting on the inside.

There is also the street court in Auckland, where his heads-up with street legend Mitchell has become an eternal legend on the streets of Auckland.

Not to mention the Palo Alto High School he attended, which is now the biggest pride of the school, even though he didn't bring the Vikings a California championship trophy.

It carries too many memories of Gan Guoyang, those beautiful, painful, difficult, happy, everything, forever left in his new life.

And one of the places that is as important as a holy place for Gan Guoyang is the Great Nette Grill Restaurant located in San Francisco's South Side.

After Gan Guoyang arrived in San Francisco with the pioneers, he first took the time to go back to the Ganjia restaurant in Chinatown, got together with his father, his cousin, and his cousin, and had a meal cooked by his father, and then took a taxi to leave for the big net barbecue restaurant.

Just like the first time he came to San Francisco, he was driven by an Indian Ah San, which also made it convenient for Gan Guoyang to not be pestered by the driver to ask for an autograph or something, because Indians are not interested in basketball at all.

When encountering some drivers watching football in other cities, Gan Guoyang will inevitably be entangled.

When Gan Guoyang arrived at the Da Nette barbecue restaurant, he found that the business was booming, and Gan Guoyang did not enter directly through the gate, but went around to the back yard and came to the basketball hoop where he had been practicing low-level techniques.

The basket was a little tattered three years ago, and it had been ravaged by Gan Guoyang, Thurmond and Chamberlain, and he looked rusty and older at this time, but the basket was still very positive, the metal net was still there, and although the rebound was missing a corner, the black frame line drawn was faintly recognizable.

"How tall was I at that time? 6'6? It's still 6'5......" Gan Guoyang recalls the first time he practiced with Thurmond here, and he never forgot the "use of his butt and back" that Thurmond taught him.

"Hey, Gan, you're back." A deep voice came from behind Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang couldn't be more familiar with this voice, "Mr. Thurmond, long time no see." Gan Guoyang turned around and said.

He saw Thurmond standing at the back door of the barbecue restaurant in woolen pants and a dark casual suit with a sleek red roll-neck sweater underneath, baring his white teeth to indicate to Gan Guoyang, "I'm here."

Since Gan went to college, he has had less contact with Thurmond, because Gan Guoyang does not return to San Francisco very often, he is busy with training, studies and games, and then began his basketball career.

Unlike Chamberlain, Thurmond just stayed in San Francisco, running his barbecue restaurant and doing some community service activities.

Unlike Chamberlain, who was running around the United States, the best way for Gan Guoyang to find Chamberlain was to buy a newspaper of the day and see where he went again.

And if you want to see Thurmond, you just have to go back to San Francisco and give him a call.

"Ho ho ~ you're almost like me already! I remember when I first met you, you were a 6-foot-4 kid! Thurmond walked up to Gan Guoyang's side, patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder like an elder and said.

6'4 is still small in Thurmond's eyes, and it can only be said that the world of giants is too terrible.

"I remember I was 6'5! Yes, it's 6'5, I was only 6'3 when I first arrived in the U.S., and then I grew up so fast...... Actually, I think I can grow to seven feet...... "Gan Guoyang made it 7 feet when he set the height of the player, so now he will be 7 feet.

"Really...... I don't remember exactly, but you weren't as strong as you are now...... Come on in, let's sit down and talk...... Talk about your NBA feelings, rookie ......" Thurmond said as he pulled Gan Guoyang into the barbecue restaurant.

And Gan Guoyang does have a lot of troubles to communicate with his enlightenment teacher.

"How does it feel to defend Abdul-Jabbar?" Gan Guoyang had just sat down, and Thurmond asked while giving Gan Guoyang some rum, lit a cigar himself, and opened his mouth.

Gan Guoyang knew that Thurmond had fought with Abdul-Jabbar, but he didn't know the grievances between the two, and it was a little strange why he asked Abdul-Jabbar all of a sudden.

"It feels... I'd rather do a hundred switchback runs, even if I try my best, I can only limit him occasionally, and the rest of the time I have to watch the sky and eat, betting that his hand is not good. Gan Guoyang took a sip and said.

"Haha, if you want to restrain him, you have to show the strength to do a hundred switchback runs, and let him do two hundred switchback runs at the same time. This guy's hook is like an adult playing with a schoolboy's basket, you have to make him a schoolboy too. Thurmond seemed to be reminded of the old days when he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fought on the pitch.

In the 44 games that Thurmond has played against Abdul-Jabbar, Abdul-Jabbar has averaged 25 points per game, a good number but well below his average.

In the playoff series, Abdul-Jabbar was limited to just 40 percent shooting and 22 points per game by Thurmond, which no other center, even Chamberlain, could do.

Therefore, Thurmond has always been Abdul-Jabbar's bitter hand, and now he thinks that his disciple will enter the NBA and fight against Abdul-Jabbar in the Western Conference, so he wants to give Gan Guoyang a few tricks.

"I tried to lock him up like a wrestler and it worked, but I can't always do that, the referee sometimes blows me for fouls and I have to help defend other players." Gan Guoyang said helplessly.

"It's right to increase physical contact, he just hates too much physical contact, and your strength is good. But you have to pay attention to some techniques and pay attention to his habits when doing movements, such as you should defend closer to the left side of his back, rather than in the middle. If you're in the middle, then he pushes you away with his left hand and hooks you directly with his right hand, which is almost impossible to defend. And you're on the left, and he can't easily push you away with his left hand, and he'll foul you. Of course, you'll want to guard against his right turn and left hook, as well as his step-back jumper, but his move is much less threatening and requires more effort than a direct right-handed hook. ”

As he spoke, Thurmond asked Gan to stand up and show him how to stand and how to interfere with Abdul-Jabbar's shot.

Thurmond's remark made Gan Guoyang is mouth suddenly, he didn't expect that there was so much attention to the original defense.

"Also, you have to be fast, if he turns right you have to follow, if he rolls over to the basket you're done." Thurmond added.

"Well... But there's more than just Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the league, so should I study them one by one? Gan Guoyang said.

"Of course! You have to study the characteristics of each opponent and come up with a specific strategy and then implement it, which is not only your job but also the team's job. ”

"My first two games were terrible, I was choked by Bill Wharton and Jack Sikma and I wanted to teach them a lesson, but... I feel like I have to think about the whole team. Gan Guoyang said what he felt depressed about recently.

He was torn between the team and his ego, and the conversation with Karl leaned him towards the team, but two consecutive defeats made his ego begin to revival.

"I know what you're thinking, all star players go through this process – whether it's putting the team first or being yourself." Thurmond smiled and took a drag on his cigar, looking like an experienced godfather who specialized in solving difficult problems.

"If Wirther were here, I think he would be better suited to answer your question than I am."

What plagued Chamberlain's entire career was the contradiction between individual performance and team victory, which tormented him for many years and caused him great controversy.

"I know, Wirt's stats are fantastic, but the win is always Russell's, but he won the assist title one year! And then the team won the championship! Gan Guoyang thought of Chamberlain's miraculous performance in the 1967 season.

"That's right, so do you think you can be the assist king?" Thurmond asked.

"I... I... No... I can't even make a good pass after being packed. "Gan Guoyang's biggest technical shortcoming now should be passing, for any strong center forward, passing after being caught is a compulsory course.

Gan Guoyang still needs a long time to hone before he can do a good job in this seemingly simple but strategically significant technology.

"There are not many people who can do it, Wirt is Wirther, there will be no second Chamberlain. You have to understand that what you have to do is what the team needs you to do. As long as you do that, you become one with the team, and you can show yourself and contribute to the team. ”

"It's like Wirt, he's already scoring too much, and the team doesn't want him to score so much, so those extra points are not good for the team...... Why is it useless to score, you ask? Because these points can be scored by other players, and they can be more efficient. Wirt's shots would have been scored more if they had been distributed to teammates, but he didn't, so he always lost to Russell. But then, he learned to pass, he used his deterrence to attract the defender, and then passed the ball to his teammates to score, which was different from his own scoring, which was more efficient. ”

"And you're different, I've seen your game, the one with the Rockets, you don't have any problems, the opponent played too well, it's normal to lose. But in the last two games, obviously your teammates weren't in good shape, they didn't feel like they were attacking and that's a problem that happens in the pros. At this time, what the team needs is not to share the ball, but to score! Need to score! Ramsey was a good coach, but he was so obsessed with team basketball and sharing the ball that the 1977 Trail Blazers couldn't be replicated. He still doesn't understand that sometimes superstars can solve problems on their own, especially offensively. ”

Thurmond did not hesitate to share his experience with Gan Guoyang, and every word spoke to Gan Guoyang's heart.

In fact, Thurmond's words are essentially the same as Kenny Carr's, except that Carl emphasizes "compromise" while Thurmond emphasizes "self".

In the game against the Clippers and the SuperSonics, the Trail Blazers fell into offensive crises many times, and Ramsey made tactical adjustments, but he couldn't stand the players not shooting.

At this time, it should be the time for someone to stand up and score consecutive goals, and at this point, Gan Guoyang's super scoring explosiveness gives him this ability.

Although his stability and tactical ability still need to be improved, once the touch comes, he really can't stop it.

"Stand up when you need to step up, do a good job of supporting when you need you to do a good job, stay on the bench when you need to take a break."

"So how do I judge, and when I need what ......?"

'With your own heart, you're going to be one with the team, with the coach, with your team-mates, with the fans, and then you'll know their needs as well as you know your own needs, and then do what you can.' Thurmond took another hard puff on his cigar, then stood up and walked over to the television.

"Here's a tape of a game I played, Oct. 18, 1974, in the season opener, my Hawks played the Bulls, and I got a quadruple-double, and we still lost." With that, Thurmond turned on the VCR.

The old match of '74 began to be shown on television, and Thurmond kept the tape, which was recorded on local television at the time and given to him as a commemoration of Thurmond's four-double performance.

Thurmond, on the other hand, showed it to Gan Guoyang as a negative teaching material, and he wanted to tell Gan Guoyang that omnipotence does not necessarily lead to victory, and it is certainly not possible to do nothing.

What you need to do to be a team is the best.

By the time Gan Guoyang left the Da Nette Barbecue Restaurant, there were basically not a few customers left in the barbecue restaurant.

There is still a game tomorrow, and Gan Guoyang still needs to rush back to the hotel to rest early and prepare to turn the tide in Auckland.

Thurmond personally drove Gan Guoyang back to the hotel in Auckland, and when he was leaving, Thurmond rolled down the window and said goodbye to Gan Guoyang.

"Gan, if one day you can understand the needs of the whole league and the whole league, then the league is yours."

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