Of the three coaches Gan has encountered, Bellman is undoubtedly the most important.

Larry Farmar doesn't need to talk about him, and he is still being blamed by many people for his mistakes that cost UCLA the chance to get back to the top.

Jack Ramsey is a good coach, and he is dedicated to Gan Guoyang's training, but his ideas are not always fully agreed with by Gan Guoyang, even if Gan Guoyang's assists have steadily increased in recent games, Gan Guoyang always feels that it is very unpleasant for him to only play 20 minutes once in a while.

Not to mention that at the beginning of the season, Gan Guoyang had all kinds of small conflicts with Ramsey because of his playing habits and playing time.

Only Bellman, he is Gan Guoyang's real professional basketball enlightenment mentor, he has regarded Gan Guoyang as the most important core from the beginning, he taught Gan Guoyang the basic qualities that a basketball player should have, and he also gave Gan Guoyang the best growth environment.

What's more, he and Gan Guoyang have walked to the highest peak together, and this memory is destined to be engraved in my heart forever.

But now, for Gan Guoyang, this glorious past has become a ladder to a higher peak, but for Bellman, it has become an unbearable weight of life.

When Bellman looked at the pit bull lineup without Gan Guoyang on the court, and watched the team lose games again and again, he felt that his passion for basketball was like being naked in the ice and snow - it was rapidly draining.

The only thing he is pleased with now is that Gan Guoyang and Stockton have performed very well in the NBA, especially Gan Guoyang has even entered the All-Star, which is also a light on Bellman's face.

But the glory of the past does not change the fact that the defending champion bulldogs are not even able to enter the NCAA National Championship, and they are not even invited to participate in the NIT (National-Invitation-Tournament).

This meant that by mid-March, Bellman would have nothing to do and would no longer be able to lead the team, and in fact by the time Gan and Stockton arrived in Spokane, the Bulldogs' season had already ended prematurely, and they were certain to be unable to compete in the national races.

This situation finally made Bellman confide in front of his two beloved apprentices, he didn't want to do it anymore, although it was only a year of failure, which is not at all for many college coaches, but Bellman still couldn't accept the gap between the front and back, and the huge pressure it brings.

Gan Guoyang and Stockton looked at Bellman's somewhat lonely expression, and they didn't know what to say, they both knew that the pit bull really couldn't return to the top level in a short time - it would be almost twenty years before the pit bull re-entered the strong team.

Gan Guoyang and Stockton can't take off their NBA team jerseys and come back to play for the bulldogs.

Moreover, Gan Guoyang also knows that without him, without him crossing over from the future, Bellman still doesn't know where no one cares about doing ordinary coaching work.

Of course, Gan Guoyang does not feel that he is the savior of Bellman, but he knows that Bellman's fate has taken a turn because of him, and it may be time to return to normalcy.

"Maybe I should go back to high school and become a PE teacher, I can teach basketball, I can teach running, long jump, volleyball, baseball. Actually, when I was a kid, I still preferred baseball. Bellman began to describe his plans for the future.

"Maybe you can stay in the university, and in Gonzaga, everyone respects you." Stockton said, eating macaroni.

"Oh no, I don't feel like everybody respects me, I'm just a ...... A defensive coach with good luck – that's the highest they say about me. Bellman said self-deprecatingly, and it seems that he has also received a lot of criticism at Gunzaga University.

"It's not fair! You are the best and most passionate coach I have ever met, and your defensive strategy has taken my breath away. You know, we don't practice much defense in the NBA, because the NBA doesn't have a team, and the Trail Blazers are an offensive team. Gan Guoyang is telling the truth, in the NBA without joint defense, defense mainly depends on individual ability, for coaches, the main thing to strengthen defense is to instill in the players the belief of "don't let the opponent score easily", rather than laying out a set of sophisticated defensive strategies.

"At this time, the difference between the NBA and the NCAA, coaches who teach well in the NCAA may not be popular in the NBA, but I don't even want to stay in the NCAA." Bellman said.

The three of them chatted at home for a long time, about many things about the past and the present, and by the time Gan Guoyang, Stockton, and Wang Fuxi left Bellman's house, it was already dark.

"I'll be back to Salt Lake City tomorrow, how about you?" Stockton is back tomorrow and has a game.

"Me? Come to think of it, I looked at the schedule before I came...... Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll fly straight to Atlanta, right to Atlanta, hopefully I'll be able to catch the plane. "This trip to Spokane is also the first time that Gan Guoyang has asked the team for leave, and he has been absent from the team's training. And tomorrow morning he will fly to Atlanta to meet the team, and in the evening they will play the Hawks on the road.

Of course, this is also the first time that Stockton has taken a leave of absence from the team.

"I'm going to Atlanta with you too!" At this time, Wang Fuxi next to her spoke up, and she proposed to go to Atlanta with Gan Guoyang.

"What? You're going with me? You don't want to go to class? ”

"I haven't had a lot of classes lately, so what's wrong with skipping a few classes! I just want to go to Atlanta with you! ”

Gan Guoyang knew that once Wang Fuxi's stubborn temper came up, no one would be able to pull it back, and Gan Guoyang himself could be regarded as a strong seed, but he was defeated in several confrontations with Wang Fuxi.

Now Wang Fuxi would rather skip class than go to Atlanta with Gan Guoyang, and Gan Guoyang knows that he must not be able to leave this follower.

"Okay, then you can go back to Portland with us, you can drive back soon, and I'll book my tickets in the evening." Gan Guoyang also knew that it was easy for the two to have problems when they were separated for a long time, and Wang Fuxi wanted to go with him because he missed him.

So, Stockton drove Gan Guoyang's car all the way back to Portland from Spokane.

The next day, March 5, Gan Guoyang and Wang Fuxi flew to Atlanta, the "crime city" of Georgia in the east, early in the morning.

As a large commercial city with more than half of the black population, Atlanta is also known for its high crime rate in the United States, and of course, it is also famous for the black civil rights movement, which has been developed by Martin Luther King Jr.

When Gan Guoyang and Wang Fuxi hurried to Atlanta and settled down, it was already 4 o'clock in the afternoon when Gan Guoyang contacted the team staff.

Gan Guoyang didn't hesitate, and immediately took a taxi to the Atlanta Eagles' home stadium, Omni Stadium.

In the taxi, the driver immediately recognized Gan Guoyang, you must know that now Gan Guoyang is almost unknown in the United States, as long as you watch basketball games, you must know him, and even if you don't watch basketball, the Nike commercials that are broadcast on TV every day are also promoting this Asian face to Americans.

Fortunately, although this driver is an Eagles fan, he still has a work ethic, and he did not send Gan Guoyang to the suburbs, but sent Gan Guoyang to Omni Stadium on time.

"Sorry, I'm late!" The first thing Gan Guoyang did after rushing into the locker room was to apologize, and now there is just over an hour left before the start of the game.

"Very well, I finally heard good news." Ramsey saw Gan Guoyang coming in a hurry, nodded and said.

Before that, Ramsey heard the bad news that the team's leading shooting guard, Jim Paxson, has suffered a leg injury and will not be able to play against the Atlanta Eagles, with an undecided return date.

This made Ramsey, who already had little hair, even more worried, Vanderwich had just returned from injury, and the backcourt general had another injury, and now he began to wonder if there was really a problem with Portland's medical team.

And then, after coming to Atlanta, the team's main point guard Valentin pulled his thigh in training again, which was really a leak in the overnight rain, if Gan Guoyang couldn't arrive in time, there would only be two people left in the starting lineup.

Fortunately, Gan Guoyang arrived in time, and he came to the court with his teammates to prepare for tonight's game against Atalanta.

The Trail Blazers' starting lineup naturally made adjustments, Drexler was finally placed in the starting position, and Colt, who has been relatively stable, naturally became the starting point guard.

However, this also means that the Trail Blazers will be stretched thin in the backcourt bench rotation, and the only thing Ramsey can use is the No. 19 pick they selected in this year's draft, Bernard Sampson. (There are too many Sampsons!) ）

Bernard Sampson, as the No. 19 pick this season and the second-highest draft pick behind Gan Guoyang, was originally expected to be high.

But the Trail Blazers have too many outstanding players in the backcourt, and even if a talent like Drexler is struggling to compete for playing time, Bernard Sampson can only stand aside in comparison.

At the same time, he has never been as hard as Jerome Cauthy in terms of training effort, so he can only get some playing time when the team suffers a large number of injuries at the back.

This game is the first meeting between the Trail Blazers and the Hawks this season, in addition to Dominic Wilkins, an old friend in the slam dunk contest, there is also an interesting guy, that is, Gan Guoyang's rookie of the same year - Kevin Willis.

Kevin Willis was supposed to be drafted directly by the Atlanta Hawks in the draft, but he dropped to the 16th pick and was drafted by the Jazz, who then used Willis to put a soy sauce on it and bring Stockton back from Atlanta.

And all this circle was due to Gan Guoyang, who made Stockton the point guard of the championship team, and Stockton's position naturally rose.

So the Hawks knew that the Jazz wanted Stockton very much, so they selected him in advance in exchange for more chips in the Jazz's hands.

And there is another reason why Willis fell to 16th place, and that reason is in the assessment of scouts - "As an interior player, his arm span is too short, especially compared to Gan. ”

With a height of 7 feet, his arm span is only 6 feet 10 to 6 feet 11, and his arms look like the small short hands of Tyrannosaurus rex, which is a bit ridiculous in comparison with Gan Guoyang's gibbon-like figure.

He also earned the nickname, "The Short-Armed Eagle" – which was given to Gan Guoyang after the match.

(Second Shift, 10:30)