(I'm busy eating with friends today, so I'm late for the update, so please forgive me.) Recently, the pace of writing may be relatively slow, and it took a lot of pen and ink to write about training, and it is estimated that there are two more chapters related to training. I figured it was the first season after all, and it was necessary for the main character to make the transition from college to professional league, so I spent a lot of time writing pre-season content. In fact, writing a contest is the easiest for me, and I almost don't need to stop looking up the information, but I still have to write the foreshadowing content, so that the specific competition can reflect the progress, efforts and shortcomings of the protagonist. And there are a lot of geniuses in the NBA, which are not comparable to universities, and if you don't do enough foreplay, it will be very boring to write about the game directly. I hope readers forgive this slow pace. ）

The 23rd Olympic Games of 1984 came to an end in mid-August, and it can be said that it was an extremely successful Olympic Games.

In terms of political influence, although the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries refused to participate, a total of 140 countries participated in this competition, which is larger than any previous competition.

At the same time, because of the participation of the People's Republic of China team, this Olympic Games has gained 1 billion followers at once.

Economically, this Olympic Games is the first to set a precedent for private fund-raising to hold the Olympic Games, and all the fund-raising and sports expenditures are completed by private financing, which also makes this Olympic Games achieve a commercial miracle, turn losses into profits, and realize the profits of the Olympic Games.

Before that, the Olympics were almost impossible to hold because of continuous losses.

Sportingly, many of Eastern Europe's sporting powerhouses are not in the fray, but that doesn't overshadow the many of the biggest stars in the Olympic spectacle.

Carl Lewis, the famous American track and field athlete, won four gold medals in one fell swoop, repeating the miracle of Jesse Owens. What's even more amazing is that Carl Lewis, a graduate of the University of Houston, was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the 10th round in this year's draft.

It's just that whether he wants to go or not is another matter.

On the basketball court of the Olympic Games, the basketball giant United States, relying only on a team composed of college students, defeated all kinds of good players and won a very heavy team gold medal.

For the Chinese team participating in the competition for the first time, the first Olympic gold medal was born in this competition, and finally won a total of 15 gold medals, which established the status of China's sports power in one fell swoop.

Finally, the curtain has come down on this sports extravaganza, but this megacity has not become deserted because of this, on the contrary, it is a city of entertainment and sports that never sleeps.

In September, most of the cities on the east and west coasts of the United States were hit by a heat wave, but Los Angeles remained cool and comfortable, so many people from all over the country came here to escape the heat.

However, this does not include the NBA players, whose holidays are over and many have already started preseason training in preparation for the new season.

Among the players in these training sessions is Gan Guoyang, although he is still a rookie and has not participated in a single NBA training game.

He and four other rookies and Drexler worked at the University of Portland for nearly a month, ending at the end of August, and the next group workout will begin in early October, when the Trail Blazers will work out as a team.

The main purpose of the Trail Blazers' rookie training camp is to familiarize newcomers with the NBA training environment, and by the way, let Ramsey examine the Trail Blazers' large number of rookies this year.

The past four weeks have been a mixed bag for Ramsay, with the good news that Gan Guoyang has shown unrivalled talent and a strong ability to learn, and his progress has been evident in this short training period. Almost every one of his technical moves has improved.

His shooting began to stabilize gradually, and under Ramsay's guidance, Gan Guoyang continued to explore his shooting hand.

His passing is getting more and more timely, and when he first enters the training camp and practices the transfer of the ball, Gan Guoyang always seems a little hesitant.

His cover moves have become more and more regular, and although he still occasionally makes small movements, he has begun to learn to be as subtle as possible, which Ramsay appreciates for his cunning.

His tactical understanding ability is getting stronger and stronger, and the offensive tactical routines in Gan Guoyang's brain can be counted with one hand before, but now his hands and feet may be able to make it up.

The worry is that Gan Guoyang, like Drexler, is accustomed to his own set of things and likes to solve problems in his own way.

Even if these methods sometimes seem to work, in Ramsey's opinion, he will definitely suffer when he gets to the NBA.

When Gan Guoyang left the training camp, he still remembered what Ramsay said: "You may be able to solve most problems by your own methods, but one day you will find that you can't use these things to win what you really want." ”

Gan Guoyang kept this sentence firmly in his mind, but he didn't really understand it, after all, he had just won the NCAA championship and was like a fish in water in the rookie training camp, so naturally he didn't care about Ramsey's profound teachings.

After the end of the training camp, the whole month of September was empty.

At Drexler's suggestion, Gan went with him to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where USC organized a summer league where many college players and NBA players trained.

Several other rookies from the Trail Blazers also went with them, where they continued their professional training.

Gan Guoyang has a very fulfilling life in the training camp, and every day he has a lot of time to hone every skill of himself, from shooting movements to dribbling pace, he is constantly improving himself.

At the same time, he is carefully observing every player he trains with, and he thinks that maybe one of them will become his opponent on the field after rì.

Unfortunately, most of the players from this training camp are still undrafted and college players, and Gan Guoyang didn't see the players he wanted to see, such as Olajuwon, who was still training in Houston.

The only old acquaintance is Gan Guoyang's old rival and his defeated subordinate, Kevin Johnson.

Kevin Johnson fulfilled his championship dream in 1983 by winning the California Championship, scoring title, and the California Basketball Man.

He then chose the University of California as his parent team in the NCAA, where he averaged 12 points per game in his first season.

Unfortunately, the University of California itself is not strong, and they are part of the powerful Pacific 10-University League, and they were finally blocked from the national competition with 13 wins and 15 losses.

The meeting of old friends also made the training process much easier and more enjoyable, and the powerful Gan Guoyang quickly became the number one person among these rookies and college players, basically an ordinary practice game, Gan Guoyang got 30 points and 15 rebounds is not a problem at all.

This also made Gan Guoyang a little slack, close to more than a month of training, Gan Guoyang always felt that although he was constantly improving, he himself couldn't figure out how big a gap there was between him and the NBA.

By the end of September, USC training camp is coming to an end, and by October, all NBA teams will have their official training camps and players will be waking up from a long vacation to get to work.

Gan and Drexler live in a hotel not far from the University of Southern California, and the two have become very good friends.

On the morning of September 28, the last day of the training camp, the two began to discuss what to do next.

"Clyde, I've heard that some people have left, and I don't think this training camp is interesting anymore." Gan Guoyang said while brushing his teeth.

Halfway through training camp, student players like Kevin Johnson left as college started.

Other players who failed to make the cut, either left to try their luck in other cities, or decided to forgo the NBA after training camp, found themselves a little far from the standard of a professional player.

"yes, the training camp doesn't seem to be interesting anymore, I haven't met any particularly good guys in a month." Drexler said as he changed his clothes.

"Then we might as well go back to Portland, Falck told me to get back to Portland before training camp started, and he said I had a commercial contract to sign." After Gan Guoyang finished washing, he thought of Falke's instructions to him.

"Commercial contracts? I guess it's sneakers, Converse? Oh, there are so many good guys out there, Bird, Abdul-Jabbar, Owen, Johnson, ......"

Converse was the dominant player in the U.S. basketball shoe market at the time, and several of the most outstanding players were all under its banner.

"I don't know, whatever, I just have to play my basketball. By the way, do you think the Los Angeles Lakers will train here? I thought maybe we could check it out. Gan Guoyang suddenly thought that the Lakers might start training in the near future.

In the past month, Gan Guoyang has wanted to go to UCLA several times to see if Abdul-Jabbar has trained there, and if he is there, he can also ask for advice.

But thinking of his former status as a UCLA student, he still dismissed the idea of going to UCLA, he didn't want to be thrown rotten eggs.

"Oh my God, what a great idea! I remembered that the Lakers started training yesterday, but not in Los Angeles, but in Palm Springs, which is not far from Los Angeles. ”

…………

The city of Palm Springs, also known as Palm Springs, is a small city near Los Angeles, California, and a famous tourist city.

If you look at the city from the air, you will see that the town has a regular rectangle.

The most important building in the city is the hotel, which is a great tourist attraction in its own right, as it is visited by a large number of tourists every day.

The most common sport here is golf, and the golf course here is beautiful and surrounded by facilities, making it a good place for many successful people to spend their leisure time.

However, there is also a basketball arena here, and near a luxury hotel, there is a basketball training hall, and this stadium is for the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the 1984 Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers lost to arch-rivals the Boston Celtics in seven games, extending their winless streak in the Celtics Finals.

Prior to that, they had already lost to the Green Sè Empire in six finals, now for the seventh.

This defeat was regarded as a great shame by the entire Lakers, so on September 26, all the Lakers players gathered in the basketball arena in Palm Springs City and began a brutal training session.

"Hey Clyde, you said if we showed up out of nowhere, would we be kicked out of the arena by the Lakers' coach?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But when the team is training, the media can visit part of the time, even the fans. When the time comes, we will have to watch the training of the top teams in the NBA as fans. To be honest, the Trail Blazers' training always made me feel like something was missing. ”

Drexler was driving a Chevrolet convertible on the highway to Palm Springs.

In the morning, Drexler and Gan Guoyang rented a car and set off from Los Angeles to their destination.

"I've fought Abdul-Jabbar before, and of course I died miserably, but Abdul-Jabbar said I've improved, and I want him to see it now, and I've improved even more!" Gan Guoyang thought about the one-on-one practice with Abdul-Jabbar when he was at UCLA, and although he was ravaged by Abdul-Jabbar, he also benefited a lot from it.

Especially now that he's practiced hooking, he can't wait to show off in front of Abdul-Jabbar.

"I hope so, but I'd rather play with the Magic, I didn't get a lot of playing games against the Lakers last year, but Johnson is so good that no one on our team can stop him. As long as he's there, the Lakers' offense will always be unstoppable. Drakes thinks back to playing against the Lakers, where he got very little playing time and the team wasn't a match for the Lakers.

"I swear, you can't stop Johnson with a ball, but I can guard Abdul-Jabbar with one, or two, I've done it before." Gan Guoyang recalled the successful defense of Abdul-Jabbar in the past, and couldn't help but feel a little proud.

"Oh, no kidding, I promise I can steal one or two of the Magicians, you know, my steals are pretty good, I had at least one steal in every game out of 82 last season!"

Two young people, facing the wind blowing outside the car, slowly became confident.

After two months of training, they believe that they are already in good shape, and even if they start playing in the NBA right now, they are confident that they will perform well.

Especially Gan Guoyang, he is quite confident in his skills, he can feel that his various talent values are gradually filling, and his physical condition is also very good.

Drexler is still relatively calm, after all, he has a season of NBA experience.

However, Drexler missed training in the summer due to contract issues last year, and even then in his limited playing time in his rookie season, Drexler still did quite well, which is one of the reasons for his conceit.

"Well, we're there." Drexler drove to Palm Springs and quickly found the conspicuous luxury hotel next to the Lakers' training gym.

"Oh my god, there doesn't seem to be anyone at the door, no reporters and no fans, how are we supposed to get in?" Drexler stopped the car, only to realize that there was no one else near the arena.

This means that the Lakers' training is not open to the public, so how can the two get in.

"Don't worry, they always have to eat at noon, and when they do, I can go to Mr. Abdul-Jabbar and I'll try to talk to him if you can let us see their training." Gan Guoyang hopes that the big star Abdul-Jabbar has not forgotten him, a Chinese boy.

"Okay, then I'll find a place to wait for a while...... Listen, there's a sound in the arena, it's the sound of a basketball, there's the sound of sneakers rubbing against the floor... It's very dense, and it seems that they are very fast. Drexler said as he listened to the noise coming from the arena.

"That's right, hopefully some of the afternoon's voices will come from us." Gan Guoyang smiled.

But he didn't expect that the afternoon experience would be a nightmare for him.