When he entered the gymnasium and saw the number 22 on the trainer's jersey in the stadium, plus his incredible bouncing, Gan Guoyang guessed that this person was the future legend, Drexler.

And his warm greeting was ignored by the other party, Gan Guoyang didn't care, he knew that there was a reason why Drexler was so cold.

Because Drexler is a student at the University of Houston and a good friend of Olajuwon, and at this year's NCAA Finals, Gan Guoyang led the Gonzaga Bulldog to shatter the Houston Puma's championship dream.

As a player who graduated from the University of Houston, Drexes naturally does not have much affection for Gan Guoyang, the "enemy of his alma mater", even if they will become teammates who will fight side by side.

Drexler's heads-up invitation can also be seen as his revenge for the University of Houston, and that day in the NCAA Finals, when he saw Gan Guoyang shoot from the free throw line, he almost felt the urge to smash the TV.

After that, he got the news that Gan Guoyang would be selected by the Trailblazers, and since then he has been planning to find an opportunity to compete with the Chinese on the court to compensate for the pain of his alma mater being killed.

On the first day of camp, Drexes arrived early at the University of Portland to warm up and work on his shooting skills, as the coach had always thought his shooting was not up to par.

After practicing for a while, he felt a little bored, and he had a whim, and wanted to jump off the free throw line and dunk.

At last season's All-Star Game, Drexler was shocked to witness Julius Irving's iconic free-throw line dunk.

So in his usual training, he began to try this difficult movement, and there were successes and failures.

There's no problem with Drexler's jumping, but his palms aren't as huge as Irving's, and this kind of ultra-long-range dunk jumps violently, and the arms and body are stretched out extraordinarily, and the control of the basketball will be poor.

The attempt at xìng just now was unsuccessful because the ball was not properly controlled, and he got out of his hand during the gliding process and slammed into the basket, and the attempt failed.

But after he landed, he saw the figure that often appeared in newspapers and TV on the sidelines, and the man who called him to tell him that he "must beat".

And when this guy saw that he was still greeting him casually, Drexler was angry and proposed a heads-up.

A year of NBA experience has greatly improved Drexler's game skills, and his skills and game experience are no longer on the same level as those in college.

Therefore, in the face of Gan Guoyang, the main champion of the NCAA, the leader of the draft, and the center who is 4 inches taller than him, he also has full confidence to defeat the opponent.

He's always been that confident.

The first two balls, everything was as Drexler expected, Gan Guoyang was too careless in the attack, he lacked a sense of protection of his ball, and was cut off by Drexler, who was good at tackles.

And in the second ball, Gan Guoyang underestimated the confrontation ability of NBA players and was launched a surprise attack, and Drexler taught the rookie a lesson with a slam dunk that cut his head and covered his face.

But the next goal caught Drexler by surprise.

He didn't expect Gan Guoyang to make such a guard action as a large cross-step, and he was even more thought that his turn was so fast and unstoppable.

When Drexler tried to resist Gan Guoyang's back and prevent him from turning around, he found that Gan Guoyang's strength was amazing, and he was stuck in his back with no room for resistance.

Gan Guoyang returned Drexler with a neat dunk, and the bullfighting score between the two sides was tied at 1:1.

However, the duel between the two sides did not continue, because other players of the Trail Blazers, as well as the coaching staff and staff, arrived at the arena one after another, and this was the first time Gan Guoyang met with the members of the Trail Blazers.

The first person to arrive at the arena after Gan Guoyang was the head coach of the Trail Blazers and the team's meritorious coach, Jack Ramsay.

As soon as Ramsay arrived at the arena, he saw two of the team's most talented players on the pitch as if they were fighting bulls, and shouted, "Put away your dueling swords and get ready to meet new friends." ”

Ramsey is a typical white college coach, and as you can tell from his vulture-like face and eyes, and vulture-like hairstyle, that he is a strict and stern guy.

It's just that his costume surprised Gan Guoyang a little, a pink and green suit and brown and yellow plaid pants, which looked very cool.

In the United States in the seventies and eighties, with the flood of all kinds of thoughts, the clothing industry began to free itself from the dull seriousness of the fifties and sixties, and all kinds of colorful and fancy clothes, hairstyles, and decorations began to become popular.

Exploding heads or something is just pediatrics, bohemian headsets are just embellishments, and exaggeration and hybridization of the overall style are the general trend in the fashion industry.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the NBA, where the image of the black players influences many, and the varied blazers of the coaches, even Ramsey, who has always been known for his strictness, is a big attraction.

Gan Guoyang looked at this old godhead who was a little yīn owl but dressed fashionably, and he also played a little drum in his heart.

Since meeting a coach like Larry Famar at UCLA, Gan Guoyang is still very concerned about coaching, and the famous championship coach did not appear at his signing conference.

Inman said that the old man was on vacation in California, but Ramsay came back on the first day of training camp, and he came early.

"Hello Gan, it's nice to meet you, I never thought I would have the opportunity to coach a Chinese, I think your ball skills must be as magical as Chinese kung fu." Ramsey greeted Gan Guoyang very kindly, and said in a joking tone.

Ramsey's words made Gan Guoyang relax a lot at once, and he also smiled and greeted the old coach.

After that, a number of other players arrived, as well as the team's assistant coach Buckwater, several team staff and support trainers, and everyone introduced themselves to each other, and the atmosphere was very friendly.

The smell of gunpowder brought by Gan Guoyang's previous bullfight with Drexler quickly dissipated in the air of the arena.

But what makes Gan Guoyang strange is that with Gan Guoyang, there are only 6 players present, while the Trailblazers team has 12 people.

"Okay dear friends, it's great to be here today for our first training." Everyone stood in the middle of the pitch and began to listen to the manager's instructions.

Of course, you may wonder why the 12-man Trail Blazers only have six players on the court and where the others go. We know that this summer the Trail Blazers had a major surgery, many were sent away, and many more arrived. Among them are 5 of you, newcomers to the NBA. ”

At this time, Gan Guoyang somewhat understood that except for Drexler, the other 5 players, including himself, were all rookies this year, and Drexler was only a 2nd year, and he was also a rookie.

So this training camp is a rookie training camp, and it is likely that the Trail Blazers used this training camp to get so many rookies to adapt to the NBA basketball game.

"I think some of you have guessed that this is really a rookie camp, and in the morning we're going to do some basic practice, and in the afternoon, we're going to have Portland players and some of the zì yóu players who weren't selected coming here and playing against you guys, and hopefully you'll play your best as Portland Trail Blazers players."

Ramsey's words confirmed Gan Guoyang's conjecture that there are too many newcomers in Portland this year, and they can put together a starting lineup.

In addition, the whole team is in a period of big change, so it is necessary to teach these new players a lesson.

At the same time, Portland players can take advantage of the opportunity to get a workout — which is likely to be a nightmare, and those who don't make the cut can also show themselves through training camps like this, so that the team can look at them in order to get a job and establish themselves in the league.

It's really a training camp that kills three birds with one stone.

However, Gan Guoyang still doesn't understand why Ramsey wants to go out in person to teach such a group of rookies why such a training camp is just an assistant coach to take it.

In fact, there are only two reasons, one is for Gan Guoyang, and the other is for Drexler.

In the 1976-1977 season, Jack Ramsey took over as the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, who won the championship that year.

The Trail Blazers are also different from the average old, calm championship team, the five starters are all young, and the coach is also a newcomer, which can be described as energetic.

The Trail Blazers then fell apart due to Wharton's injury, and the team went from a championship contender to a second-rate team.

In the process of rebuilding, Ramsay was always looking for a new Bill Wharton to recreate the glory of 1977.

The original history of the Trail Blazers got Sam Bowe, but unfortunately he was as fragile and vulnerable as Wharton, but he didn't have Wharton's talent and strength.

Now that God has brought Gan Guoyang to the Pioneer and Ramsay, it is only natural that the old sect leader, who is nearly sixty years old, will come and inspect the goods himself to see if this is his second Wharton.

The second reason is for Drexler.

In Ramsey's opinion, Drexler is a player full of talent and creativity, and his progress in his first season has been gratifying.

But Ramsey didn't really like the player, his ego was as high as his talent, he was unwilling to follow some of Ramsey's advice, and more importantly, there was no player like Drexler on the 1977 Trail Blazers.

That said, Drexler was out of Ramsay's plan, and it wasn't the type of player he wanted.

He hopes that through his own training and training, Drexler can be more sè and more "orthodox".

Unbeknownst to Ramsay, of course, a player like Drexler is representing the style of a new generation of shooting guards. Shooting guards will no longer be outside shots with empty hands and spot shots, they will play a more important role.

The former up-and-coming coach didn't realize that he had begun to fall behind the cháo stream of the times.

But at the very least, this is a very good coach, and a lot of his advice and experience will benefit the young players of the Trail Blazers, which Gan Guoyang quickly felt.

The NBA team's training is obviously more professional than in college, and the preparation before training alone can take up to an hour.

Because Gan Guoyang arrived early, he saw how the training assistants prepared all the facilities, equipment and documentation needed for training, all so that they could practice better.

Before the start of the official training session, one of the team doctors did another brief physical examination of the players, and the rookies had several medical examinations before being selected.

Gan Guoyang looked at the doctor who was seriously examining him, thinking that he was almost fired because of himself, and he couldn't help but feel strange in his heart.

After that, the team doctor did some treatment for each player's previous injuries, such as bandaging them to prevent the injury from recurring or getting worse.

Gan Guoyang also has a thick gauze wrapped around his ankle, and basically any player will follow him from the first day he steps into the training gym.

Then, all 6 players started the morning training.

The first event was a basic warm-up exercise, where they began running, marching cāo and stretching in place under the guidance of a strength and conditioning coach.

These exercises Gan Guoyang started when he was in high school, and they were nothing to him at all, and of course they were a piece of cake for several others.

But after running for a while, Gan Guoyang heard Coach Ramsay shouting next to him: "Gan! Stop, stop, come to me! ”

Gan Guoyang had to stop, ran to Ramsay's side and asked, "What's wrong, Mr. Ramsay." ”

"Gan, you do a few switchback runs for me, not too fast, normal speed switchback runs." Ramsay said.

Gan Guoyang is a little strange, will he have problems with running? But he did it anyway, doing a couple of short switchbacks on the sidelines.

"No, no, no, Gan, you shouldn't run like this, your posture like this is harmful." Ramsey said, shaking his head.

Gan Guoyang is even more strange, is there a special posture for running? Isn't everyone the same?

Ramsey saw Gan Guoyang's doubts and continued: "The center of gravity of your upper body is too far back, so that your knees have to bear more force in order to maintain the balance of your body, and your knees will not be able to stand it in a regular season of 82 games. ”

Gan Guoyang listened, ran a few more steps on the side, only to find that it was true that his body leaned forward not very much when he was running, and he liked to run straight up.

In this way, the center of gravity of his upper body is back, and the lower body is running forward, the center of gravity is forward, in order to balance the position, the thighs must exert force to stabilize the upper body, and the pressure on the knees will follow.

"So what should I do?" Gan Guoyang asked.

"It's very simple, lean forward more, and at the same time you should reduce the span of your stride appropriately, your stride is big and that's an advantage, but always like that, you'll be Willis Reed one day." Ramsay said.

Willis Reid has only played eight seasons due to injury, but he has always been known for his great stride and agile footwork.

Gan Guoyang listened to Ramsay's advice and began to try to slow down his pace and lean his upper body forward.

In the past, he never cared about his running form, he ran as fast as he could, and he never thought about the injuries that could come with incorrect running form – he was always fit and he had a guarantee of talent.

But after improving his running posture, he noticeably felt less pressure on his knees and ran more smoothly.

"Wow, is this what NBA training looks like? It dawned on me that maybe even my hairstyle needed to be improved. Gan Guoyang said incredulously after trying.

"That's right, thinning hair helps reduce the drag of the wind. Go back and pay attention, you still have a lot to learn. Ramsey touched his bald forehead and said with a sense of humor.

Gan Guoyang's professional basketball training began in this way.