Gan Guoyang heard the news about his ban after arriving in Philadelphia on the airport bus to the hotel, when the radio on the bus was broadcasting yesterday's sports news.

The news came as a surprise to the Trail Blazers players, workers, and coaches on the bus, because a three-game ban was too heavy.

After arriving at the hotel, the Trail Blazers called the league president's office and received a three-game ban, in addition to a $20,000 fine.

This means that in the next games against the Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, Gan Guoyang will not be able to play.

In the hotel room where the team stayed, Gan Guoyang was discussing the next arrangements with Ramsay.

"I think you'd better go back to Portland first, you're not going to play until December 6th, it's a whole week, you can't train well here, you need to adjust yourself, both physically and mentally. You know, by this time, a lot of rookie players are going to have problems. Ramsey sat on the sofa chair in the room, drinking coffee and Gan Guoyang said.

Gan Guoyang sat on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, he thought that as long as the fine would pass, he didn't expect to be banned, or three games.

Although the ban is not a big deal, in this matter, Gan Guoyang feels that he has been treated unfairly.

Ranbir, who was also suspected of a malicious foul and also made a move, was not banned, but only fined and added a technical foul.

"I still want to be with my team-mates and play the last two away games with them...... Gan Guoyang said as he looked at Ramsay.

"You should be with them when you're able to play, not now, and you need to calm down now or go back to Portland." Ramsey continued.

"But I don't think I deserve to be banned, why wasn't that Ranbir guy banned? Isn't it because he didn't do it first? Or is it because this guy is Caucasian! Gan Guoyang suddenly became excited, but he didn't notice that Ramsay was also a Caucasians.

Ramsey put down the coffee cup in his hand, stood up and walked to Gan Guoyang's side, looked at Gan Guoyang, who was a little excited, and said: "The NBA is a professional league, and you also know that this is Stern's first official season, and you are a rookie who entered the league with him, so he needs to use strict punishment to establish authority, and it just so happened that you hit the muzzle." ”

"You know, there aren't many players who would dare to hit someone in their rookie season, and I couldn't believe my eyes when you jumped up and threw punches. And this is a league of stars, the biggest star among the players, before Dr. J and Bird fought on the field, and as a result, they were not banned, why? Because they're superstars, they have championships, they have MVPs, they have countless fans who support them, so the league can't ban them, that's the rules of the NBA. ”

Ramsey spoke earnestly to Gan Guoyang about some of the unspoken rules under the glossy surface of this league, and of course there is one thing Ramsay did not mention, that is, Gan Guoyang's yellow skin is also one of the reasons why he is isolated, and the influence of Asian Americans in professional sports leagues is too small.

"I understand, I'm nothing, even though my stats are good, even though I look like I'm playing well, I'm still nothing." Gan Guoyang listened to Ramchi's words, and his heart was already a little relieved, no matter which time, space or country he was in, some things would not change after all.

The weak will always be bullied, and the strong will always take advantage.

It's just that the NBA is already very fair in comparison, because the strength here is won by sweat and hard work, and if you want to take advantage, you have to put in enough effort.

"It's good that you understand, so you can go back to Portland first, adjust yourself, and we'll go back on the 2nd." Ramsey patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder and said.

Gan Guoyang finally accepted Ramsay's arrangement, and after coming to Philadelphia, he immediately bought another plane ticket and flew back to Portland accompanied by trainer Culp.

Gan Guoyang didn't know that another reason Ramsey asked him to go back early was that Ramsay didn't want Gan Guoyang to have more conflicts with Sampson in the team.

While Ramsey struggled to balance the two, he had sensed that the rift between the two might be difficult to repair, and that it would be too hard to get one of them to bow his head when the players on the NBA team were arrogant talents.

In the game with the Pistons, Gan Guoyang and Ranbier clashed, Drexler, Vanderwich, Colter and other good friends of Gan Guoyang rushed up to clear the game, only Sampson stood aside and watched the play, without the slightest idea of helping.

Ramsey is now racking his brains, thinking about how to make good use of these two internal lines, one champion and one leader, and it would be a pity if he broke up because of internal contradictions.

Fortunately, although it seems that although the private relationship between the two is stiff, it has not affected the cooperation on the field, and the two still have basic professionalism and do not bring personal grievances to the court.

It's just that if it continues like this, a trade is almost inevitable, and even if the current Trail Blazers are still leading the West, Ramsey can feel that this team is hiding a big crisis.

One is the height and thickness of the interior, the tallest player on the team is Tom Scheffler at 6-foot-11, but he's just a water cooler manager, and he doesn't play a point or two in garbage time every game, which doesn't make much difference at all.

The remaining main center Gan Guoyang and main power forward Sampson are both 6-foot-10 and weigh less than 240 pounds, between the center and the power forward, and their defensive skills and rebounding ability are not bad.

But Gan Guoyang is too young, inexperienced, and easy to be impulsive, Sampson's hardware conditions are average, and one-on-one is no problem, but he can't support the inside line of the whole team.

In addition, the Trail Blazers only have Karl and Norris left on the inside, both of whom are only 6-foot-9 tall and standard power forwards, but sometimes have to be pushed to the center position.

Kenny Carr is a good interior blue-collar who can score, rebound, block, and play, but it's just good. This guy also likes to drink, he often takes young players to drink, and he doesn't spoil young people, so Ramsey is thankful.

Norris can't be counted on, although there are occasional outbursts, but Ramsey can see that this is also a player who doesn't have much talent, and his road in the NBA should not be long.

In the NBA at that time, without a strong inside line, he would definitely miss the championship, Gan Guoyang was obviously a seed of hope, but when he developed into a towering tree, there was still a period of waiting.

Ramsey didn't know if he could wait until that day and maybe he would be fired, so he adapted to local conditions and let the Trail Blazers focus on the outside this season, playing fast.

The second is the problem of defense on the outside.

The team traded for Van Dewicki, with Sampson and Drexler, as well as Valentine, plus Colter on the bench, and there was no problem at all on offense.

The reason why the Trail Blazers were able to achieve such a good start was mainly due to the strong firepower on the outside, and Van Deweyg's strong individual ability turned the tide of the game many times and led the team to victory.

But the ensuing problem, and the biggest headache for Ramsey, is the defense on the outside.

In the game against a team with a strong small forward, the opponent's small forward position almost exploded in points, often cutting 30 or 40 points, which made Ramsey extremely helpless.

There's also the issue of Drexler, who has broken Ramsey's heart almost as much as Gan Guoyang, who has been unhappy with his playing time and even clamored for a trade.

Drexler is indeed very talented, second only to Gan Guoyang in the team, and he is more mature in the second year, except for shooting problems, he is quite good in all aspects, especially he is also the most important chess piece on the bench.

In other defenses, his physicality and vitality are extremely important when the Trail Blazers' perimeter defense is generally poor.

It's just that he is not satisfied with being a substitute, he has wanted to be a starter since he was a rookie, and Ramsey feels that he is more suitable to be a substitute, so the relationship between the two has not been good.

There is also Jerome Cauchy on the bench, who also appears to be a talented perimeter at the moment, but Ramsey is happy with his level of effort and may be a rotation player in the future.

Ramsey led such a contradictory team to the penultimate opponent of consecutive road trips, the 1983 NBA champion and the mighty Philadelphia 76ers.

There is also an important reason why Gan Guoyang doesn't want to go back to Portland first, that is, he can watch Moses Malone's game off the court.

Gan Guoyang still remembers the shocking feeling when he saw Moses Malone's performance on television and newspapers in 1981 when he was recuperating from his injuries at Santa Barbara Hospital.

Especially when he was 6-foot-10 tall against Abdul-Jabbar and was like a lone hero on the court, Gan Guoyang fell in love with this round-headed black center, and dreamed of competing with him in the NBA one day.

In 1983, after Malone led the 76ers, under the slogan of "fo-fo-fo", to sweep the Lakers in the finals to win the championship, Gan Guoyang cheered like a 76ers fan in front of the TV.

In addition to Ma Long, the 76ers also have Dr. J Irving, which is also a player that Gan Guoyang likes very much, the first time he watched the finals was the game between the 76ers and the Lakers, although the 76ers lost, but Dr. J's performance that day was still deeply engraved in Gan Guoyang's heart.

After Rì, whenever someone said that Gan Guoyang's dunk posture was like Dr. J's, Gan Guoyang always shook his head, thinking in his heart where he could compare to him.

And the biggest regret is that the rìzi who met with Charles Barkley has to be postponed again.

After returning to Portland, Gan Guoyang returned to his home in the West Side alone, and immediately called Gan Youwei in San Francisco and Wang Fuxi in Spokane, explaining his situation and asking the two not to worry.

What followed was a boring wait, waiting for the Trail Blazers to return to Portland and Gan Guoyang to join up with his teammates.

When Gan Guoyang was alone in an empty house, he suddenly found that once he didn't have a basketball, he seemed to have nothing.

He doesn't like to drink, he doesn't like to play with women, and he doesn't have a lot of nightlife in Portland.

He has no friends, no relatives, no classmates here, and Gan Guoyang doesn't know where else to go except the training ground.

At this time, it was 1984, there was no Internet, no PS game console, and Gan Guoyang didn't want to watch the latest game console just released, which means that Gan Guoyang had no way to stay at home.

Gan Guoyang could only do repeated shooting drills on the small basketball court at home until the restaurant made himself some food, and then turned on the TV to see what NBA games were played.

On November 29, there were only three games played in the United States, with the Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls playing live in the Pacific, with the Bulls taking on the Suns away.

After the last game with Jordan, Gan Guoyang still misses Jordan.

But from the perspective of individual performance, Jordan in that game was going to surpass Gan Guoyang, because Jordan not only scored by himself, but also led the whole team.

Gan Guoyang was hot in the third quarter, how to shoot, at best, he brushed a few assists for his teammates, and failed to become a tactical axis.

Ramsey also pointed out this after the game, which made Gan Guoyang feel unhappy.

However, after watching this game between the Suns and the Bulls, Gan Guoyang also had to admit that in terms of the team's tactical position, Gan Guoyang was indeed inferior to Jordan.

Jordan in his rookie season is already the leader of the Bulls, and his tactical presence in the offense is extremely strong, he is not only an excellent finisher, but also a promoter who is out of the sè.

It's just that the ability of the other players of the Bulls is average, especially on the inside, although Korzin is oily, his strength and talent are really not enough, and he was beaten by the Suns' Larry Nance and James Edwards in turn.

The gap inside was too large, allowing the Bulls to lose backcourt rebounds in the crucial fourth quarter, and the Suns scored one after another, resulting in Jordan's high shooting percentage of 9-of-17, and they lost the game 95-100 in Phoenix.

Gan Guoyang didn't react to the Bulls winning or losing, just a regular season game.

After Gan Guoyang watched the game, he began to think about whether there is a gap between himself and Jordan now, and what is he worse than Jordan?

Although the Trail Blazers are not the same as the Bulls, the Trail Blazers are a strong team with many stars on the team, and the team's goal is also to win the championship.

The Bulls are a team that is all about developing new talent and creating the future, so it is only natural that Jordan will be the centerpiece of the team in his first year.

But Gan Guoyang doesn't think so, he was the core of the team from high school to college, and he gradually adapted to the rhythm of professional games in the NBA, and the NBA seems to be less difficult than imagined.

A thought began to slowly emerge in his mind.