Chapter 738: Chapter 2 Thoughts_2
All three were visibly brimming with talent; they all loved basketball and led clean, simple lives off the court, maintaining their condition and collaborating together for five or even ten years wouldn’t be a problem.
As long as they grew well with Ah Gan, and Jerry West managed reinforcement well, the 90s would definitely be the era of the Portland Trail Blazers.
But the Trail Blazers, having enjoyed the benefits of drafting overseas players, had to accordingly bear the cultural and political risks.
At this charity golf event, Gan Guoyang did not perform miracles with his strengths; he used the most strokes, while Jordan used the fewest, winning the first place.
Ah Gan was somewhat distracted.
Champion Jordan was very happy, showing off the trophy to Ah Gan as if to say, next year’s NBA championship would be mine as well.
At the basketball training camp for stars, the confrontation between Jordan and Ah Gan reached an extremely intense level.
Behind closed doors, everyone trained together, and soon Charles, Ewing, and others couldn’t handle the intensity.
In the end, only Ah Gan and Jordan remained on the court, with others sitting on the sidelines watching these two maniacs engage in endless one-on-one duels.
Jordan had grown stronger than the previous season; he persisted in strength training and it paid off. Although still not a match for Ah Gan, he felt less powerless.
Gan Guoyang’s power had reached its peak, and no matter how much more he trained, he could only maintain, not increase his strength—unless he put on more weight.
But increasing weight would affect agility, and right now he had achieved a perfect balance between strength and agility. Disturbing this balance would not be worth the cost.
This was also a problem that troubled Gan Guoyang; after all, he was human, not a god. No matter how good his physical foundation was, there was a limit. When it wasn’t possible to break through that limit, he would have to find another way.
Therefore, Gan Guoyang started to focus more on technical progress. At the training camp, he and Jordan learned from each other - he learned Jordan’s dribbling and driving with the ball, while Jordan learned his post positioning and back-to-the-basket moves.
Gan Guoyang’s dribbling was top-notch among frontcourt players, but naturally, there was a gap compared to a top guard like Jordan. This gap gave him motivation to improve, and he set higher expectations for his future.
In the two-week training camp, Charles and others were trained to exhaustion. By the last three days, Charles didn’t even want to train anymore.
"What Rebound King, what Scoring King? I don’t know, I never said that!"
"Sonny, I want to eat a burger!"
"I want to go to San Francisco; I’m going to find your dad!"
Charles Barkley looked carefree and talked nonsense.
Jordan could be considered sharp-tongued, but he had no tricks when it came to Barkley.
This big mouth never played by the book; he dared to say anything and took nothing to heart.
However, Charles Barkley wasn’t actually carefree. Over the past two years, he got married, had a child, overcame financial crisis, and became one of the League’s hot stars.
His big mouth was his persona, his label. He was smart and had ideas.
He made friends with Ah Gan, Jordan, and others because he knew the crowd you hang with often determines what kind of person you become.
Barkley also longed for a championship, eager to enter the finals once again. The 1988 finals were like a dream.
He had not dreamt the best ending when he woke up and had trouble falling asleep ever since because the Washington Bullets were in decline.
Although Bernard King miraculously returned to All-Star status, King was a player of the past era. He belonged to the 70s.
In that era, small forwards didn’t need to defend, didn’t need to shoot long-range, they just needed to score, score, and score inside.
Now it’s the 1990s, and the small forward position is seeing more and more versatile monsters appear.
A pure scorer cannot boost a championship-level team, but the Washington Bullets, whether in drafts or trades, saw no bright future.
Now the whole League was hyping "Gan vs Joe"; everyone was expecting the Bulls and Trail Blazers to clash in the finals.
But Barkley thought, I entered the finals earlier and faced Ah Gan sooner, so why has everyone forgotten me?
The 1988 finals have been forgotten because the Bullets’ journey was too tough, and they were decisively beaten in the finals.
Their only role was to serve as a stepping stone for the Portland Trail Blazers’ three consecutive championships, becoming the backdrop for Portland’s first empire.
In the finals, Barkley’s performance was not comparable to Ah Gan’s; he seemed like a greenhorn, completely dominated by Gan Guoyang.
Charles Barkley was not content; he didn’t want to linger outside the finals doors when the 90s came.
After the 1988 finals, Barkley signed a four-year 12 million US Dollar contract with the Bullet Team, taking the advice from Ah Gan not to sign for too long.
Now with two years left on the contract, Barkley was somewhat impatient.
During this charity golf event hosted by Pollin, Barkley communicated with Pollin, hoping he could trade for stronger players.
Be it a center or a guard, the current Washington Bullets were full of holes in both frontcourt and backcourt, far from their glory in the 1988 season.
In the 1990 season, Barkley reached his peak, but in the Eastern Semifinals, they were slaughtered by Michael Jordan.
Jordan scored 43 points in the series, crushing the Bullets and Barkley, making him feel powerless; he was battered by the beasts Ah Gan and Jordan.
