Chapter 2026: Chapter 7: Reinforcements (Part 2)
When returning to the locker room to rest, Gan Guoyang asked Yao Ming, "How do you feel? Are you tired from running?"
Yao Ming shook his head and said, "Not tired, only 10 minutes. It’s a piece of cake."
Stamina is Yao Ming’s weakness, but it’s not so weak that running for 10 minutes would tire him out.
After all, he is the core in China. Core players not only have to run, but also handle the ball for offense, and perform a lot of defense.
If it’s just simply running back and forth, Yao Ming can run for 40 minutes in a game without a problem.
"Just running is not enough. You have to deliver more on the court. Preseason games are your chance to observe. Watch closely, study the features of our tactics, combine training content with actual games, think through every step. You’re a newcomer, so you have leeway to make mistakes, but with me, this leeway isn’t very large. Work hard."
While guiding, Gan Guoyang fully demonstrated pressure, putting stress on Yao Ming.
Yao Ming has worked with Gan Guoyang in the national team and knows well that Ah Gan hates players making mistakes or turnovers in matches.
One warning glance, a second question mark, and by the third time, the intensity will increase.
Porter saw Gan Guoyang intimidating Yao Ming and privately comforted him, saying, "Don’t be afraid, don’t listen to him, play your own way. He just likes to scare people. He’s retiring soon; Glory is your team."
Yao Ming didn’t dare respond, could only smile sheepishly. Porter, as expected, was again signed for another year.
Now he looked like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, clocking in and out for training every day, not arriving late or leaving early, just practicing normally.
Occasionally undermining Gan Guoyang, like ’fire me if you dare, I’ve long wanted to quit.’
Yao Ming certainly couldn’t follow Porter’s advice, he still needed to ponder more about how to survive better in the NBA.
The NBA rules differ greatly from FIBA, especially on defense, where there’s a three-second rule, which is quite troublesome for Yao Ming.
In FIBA, Yao Ming could camp under the basket, but in the NBA, he couldn’t. He had to roam outside the three-second zone, testing players’ judgment and reaction.
During team drills, Yao Ming was placed by Tomjanovich as a facilitating center, taking Sabonis’s role back then.
However, Yao Ming was inferior to Sabonis in many details and experiences.
Not to mention, Yao Ming lacks those big hands and long arms of Sabonis.
This led to Yao Ming not being able to clutch the ball easily like Sabonis, holding it without worry of being interrupted.
Yao Ming’s first priority after receiving the ball is not to lose it, not to be stripped. Such ball protection makes it difficult to facilitate.
This is related to talent, so Tomjanovich quickly abandoned this idea—Yao Ming wouldn’t become the second Sabonis beside Ah Gan, he couldn’t be Ah Gan’s B-side, he was a different type of player.
Yao Ming needed to find the role that suits him.
Gan Guoyang gave him an initial role as an indoor single-point offensive player, which was very similar to Wang Zhizhi.
In fact, Asian players being picked by the NBA, aside from an extraordinary case like Gan Guoyang, is due to offense rather than defense.
Developing offense, strengthening strengths, establishing a foothold in the league, then finding ways to patch defense weaknesses is the right path.
Except offense requires ball control and shots, unlike defense, where you can show up and perform, therefore making it difficult for Asian players to settle in the league.
Yao Ming has excellent shooting touch, great footwork, and obvious height advantage on offense.
So during regular season time, surrounding him with offensive strategies will yield high scoring efficiency.
In the second half against the Suns, Yao Ming continuously demanded the ball in the paint, with Gan Guoyang comfortably passing from high positions, Yao Ming turned and scored easily, high accuracy consecutively scoring.
This way, Yao Ming can shoulder part of the team’s interior scoring tasks, compressing the opponent’s defensive formation.
This is part of the function. Gan Guoyang hopes Yao Ming can practice more on mid-range shots and rim protection, which will be a lengthy process.
From this perspective, Yao Ming is not Ah Gan’s B-side but supplements part of Gan Guoyang’s functions, which young Gan Guoyang could single-handedly cover before, now choosing to partially outsources to other players, focusing on tasks others can’t complete.
After playing against the Suns, the Glory Team continued their preseason journey while training.
The Glory team deliberately added to the coaching staff, hiring John Wetzell, who was once an assistant coach under Trail Blazers’ Beelman.
Wetzell, along with Adelman and Shalov, assisted Beelman and witnessed the Portland Trail Blazers’ most glorious, legendary four-peat.
At that time, the Trail Blazers built an entire tactical system around the Princeton Offense, sweeping the league, and even crushing the Chicago Bulls.
Nowadays, the Princeton Offense philosophy has blossomed all over the league. The Kings made it to the Finals last season, and Beelman’s Celtics have also integrated the Princeton Offense philosophy.
Elegant and smooth team offense tactics are the best way to break the current league’s stagnation and muscle defense.
Learning from the Kings’ experiences, John Wetzell, after joining the coaching staff, worked with Tomjanovich and others to research, deciding that the new season’s Glory Princeton system should be structured around the pick-and-roll between Gan Guoyang and Jordan.
"Our core tactic initiation should start with the two old guys’ pick-and-roll."
However, the problem is Jordan never played pick-and-roll like that in his life, and Gan Guoyang isn’t a pick-and-roll-loving player either. Their abilities are too strong, and pick-and-roll might instead lead to double-teaming or missed opportunities.
