(I was busy having dinner with my friends today, so I updated late, please forgive me. I may have written a slow pace recently, and I spent a lot of writing to write training, and there are probably two chapters related to training. I think this is the first season after all, and it is necessary to let the protagonist complete the transition from college to professional league, so I spent a lot of time writing pre-season content. In fact, writing games is the easiest for me, and I almost don’t need to stop looking up information, but I still have to write the content that lays the groundwork so that the protagonist’s progress, efforts and shortcomings can be reflected in the specific game. Moreover, there are many geniuses in the NBA, which are not comparable to college. If you don’t do enough foreplay, it will be boring to write games directly. I hope readers will forgive this slow pace.)

The 23rd Olympic Games in 1984 came to an end in mid-August, which can be said to be an extremely successful Olympic Games.

In terms of political influence, although Eastern European countries led by the Soviet Union refused to participate, a total of 140 countries participated in this competition, which exceeded any previous session.

At the same time, the participation of the People's Republic of China team has caused the Olympic Games to add 1 billion followers.

Economically, this Olympic Games set a precedent for private fundraising to host the Olympics. All fundraising and sports games expenditures were completed by private financing, which also made this Olympic Games achieve a business miracle, turning losses into profits, and achieving profits from the Olympics.

Before this, the Olympics were almost impossible to hold due to continuous losses.

In sports, many Eastern European sports powers did not participate in this competition, but this did not conceal the brilliance of many dazzling superstars in this Olympic prosperous era.

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

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

In the Olympic basketball court, the basketball giant America, relying solely on the team composed of college students, defeated all kinds of good players and won a team gold medal with a heavy weight.

For the Chinese team that participated for the first time, the first Olympic gold medal was born in this competition and eventually won a total of 15 gold medals, establishing China's position as a sports powerhouse in one fell swoop.

Finally, the sports event came to an end, but this super city did not become deserted. On the contrary, it is a city of entertainment and sports that never sleeps.

In September, most cities on the east and west coasts of the United States were hit by heat waves, but Los Angeles was still cool and comfortable, so many people from all over the United States came here to avoid the heat.

However, this does not include NBA players. Their holiday has ended and many players have begun to engage in pre-season training to prepare for the arrival of the new season.

Among these players who train, Gan Guoyang is still a rookie and has never participated in even one NBA training.

His training at Portland University lasted nearly a month with four other rookies and Drexler, ending at the end of August, and the next group training for players will begin in early October, when it will be the training camp for the entire Trail Blazers.

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

For Ramsey, these four weeks were mixed. What was happy was that Gan Guoyang, the second-tier show, showed unparalleled talent and strong learning ability. In this short training time, his progress was obvious. Almost every technical movement of his has improved.

His shooting began to gradually stabilize, and under the guidance of Ramsey, Gan Guoyang was constantly exploring the shooting hand shape that suited him.

His passes became more and more timely. When he first entered the training camp and was practicing double-teaming and transferring the ball, Gan Guoyang always seemed a little hesitant.

His cover movements became more and more standardized. Although he still made small movements occasionally, he had begun to learn to do as much as possible. Ramsey appreciated his cunning.

His tactical understanding ability is getting stronger and stronger. Before, Gan Guoyang could count the offensive tactical routines of his brain with one hand, but now he may be able to get it together with both hands and feet.

What’s worried about is that like Drexler, this guy Gan Guoyang is used to his own things and likes to solve problems in his own way.

Even though these methods sometimes seem effective, in Ramsey's opinion, he will definitely suffer a loss when he goes to the NBA.

When Gan Guoyang left the training camp, he still remembered a sentence Ramsey said, "Maybe you can rely on your own methods to solve most problems, but one day you will find that you can't use these things to win what you really want."

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

After the training camp, the whole month was empty.

Gan Guoyang, at Drexler's advice, went to the University of Southern California with him, where the University of Southern California organized a summer league where many college players and NBA players trained there.

Several other rookies of the Trail Blazers also went there to continue their professional training.

Gan Guoyang is very fulfilling in the training camp. Every day he has plenty of time to hone his every skill, from shooting movements to dribbling steps, he is constantly improving himself.

At the same time, he is also paying close attention to every player who trains with him. He thinks that perhaps whoever among them will become his opponent in the future.

Unfortunately, most of the training camps are undrafted and college players. Gan Guoyang did not see the players he wanted to see, such as Olajuwon, who is still training in Houston.

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

Kevin Johnson completed his dream of winning the championship in 1983, winning the California Championship, scoring title, and honorary title of Mr. California Basketball.

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

But unfortunately, the University of California itself is not strong, and they are in the powerful Pacific Ten Schools League. They were eventually blocked from the national competition with 13 wins and 15 losses.

Meeting old friends also made the training process much easier and more enjoyable. Gan Guoyang, who was extremely capable, quickly became the number one among these rookies and college players. Basically, in an ordinary practice game, it was not a problem for Gan Guoyang to score 30 points and 15 rebounds.

This also made Gan Guoyang a little lazy. After nearly a month of training, Gan Guoyang always felt that although he was constantly improving, he himself couldn't figure out how big the gap between him and the NBA was.

By the end of September, the training camps at USC are coming to an end. By October, all official training camps for NBA teams will be opened one after another, and players will wake up from the long vacation and start working.

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

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

"Clyde, I heard that some people have left. I think this training camp is meaningless anymore." Gan Guoyang said while brushing his teeth.

Halfway through the camp, student players like Kevin Johnson left because colleges were all about to start.

Some of the other players who lost the ball left and went to other cities to try their luck, while others decided to give up entering the NBA after training camp. They found that they were a bit far from the standards of professional players.

"Yes, the training camp seems to be meaningless. I haven't met any particularly powerful guy in a month." Drexler said while changing clothes.

"Then let's go back to Portland. Falke told me that I would return to Portland before the start of the training camp. He said I had a commercial contract to sign." After Gan Guoyang finished washing up, he thought of Falke's instructions to him.

"Business contract? Probably sneakers, Converse? Oh, there are so many excellent guys there, Bird, Jabbar, Irving, Johnson..."

Converse was the overlord of the American basketball shoe market at that time, and all of the best players were under its umbrella.

"I don't know, don't care about him. I just play my basketball well. By the way, do you think the Lakers will train here in Los Angeles? I think maybe we can go and have a look." Gan Guoyang suddenly thought that the Lakers might start training recently.

In the month here, Gan Guoyang wanted to go to UCLA several times to see if Jabbar trained there, and if he could ask for advice.

But thinking about his former UCLA student, he still gave up on the idea of ​​going to UCLA. He didn't want to be thrown into rotten eggs.

"Oh my God, your idea is great! I remember that the Lakers started training together yesterday, but not in Los Angeles, but in Palm Springs, which is unwilling to be from Los Angeles."

…………

Palm Springs, or Palm Springs, is a small city near Los Angeles, California and a famous tourist city.

If you look down at the city from the air, you will find that the small city is in a regular rectangular shape.

The most common building in this city is hotels, because a large number of tourists come here every day, and the city itself is an excellent tourist attraction.

Here, the most common sports are golf. The golf course here is beautiful and has a complete range of facilities. It is a good place for many successful people to have a leisure and vacation.

However, there is also a basketball court here, and near a luxury hotel, there is a basketball training hall, which is prepared for the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the 1984 finals, the Los Angeles Lakers lost to their rivals Boston Celtics in seven games, continuing their record of losing against the Celtics.

Before that, they had lost to the Green Empire in six finals, now for the seventh time.

This failure was regarded as a great humiliation by the entire Lakers. Therefore, on September 26, all Lakers players concentrated in the basketball court in Palm Springs and carried out cruel training.

"Hey Clyde, you said if we suddenly appeared, would we be kicked out of the venue by the Lakers coach?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But when the team is training, the media can visit it in part of the time, and even the fans can. At that time, we can watch it as fans, the training of top NBA teams. To be honest, the training of the Trail Blazers always makes me feel that something is missing."

Drexler was driving a Chevrolet convertible and was speeding on the highway to Palm Springs in Gan Guoyang.

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

"I had fought with Jabbar before, of course I died miserably, but Jabbar said I had made progress. I want him to see now, and my progress has become even greater!" Gan Guoyang thought of the one-on-one practice with Jabbar when he was in UCLA. Although he was ravaged by Jabbar, he also benefited a lot from it.

Especially now that he has trained to hook up, he can't wait to show off in front of Jabbar.

"I hope so. Actually, I want to compete with the Magicians more. Last year, I didn't get much chance to play in the game against the Lakers, but Johnson is so powerful that no one in our team can stop him. As long as he is here, the Lakers' offense is always unstoppable." Drex recalled his experience of fighting with the Lakers. He got very little playing time in those games, and the team was not a match for the Lakers at all.

"I swear, you can't defend Johnson with one ball, but I can defend one or two of Jabbar, I've done it before." Gan Guoyang couldn't help but feel a little proud when he recalled his successful defense against Jabbar before.

"Oh, don't joke, I promise I can steal one or two of the Magicians. You know my steal is very good. Last season, I had at least one steal in each game in 82 games!"

The two young men, facing the wind blowing outside the car, were slowly confident.

Two months of training made them believe that they are in a very good state. 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 talent values ​​are gradually filling up, and his physical condition is also very outstanding.

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

However, Drexler delayed training in the summer due to contract issues last year. Even so, Drexler did a very good job during his limited playing time in the rookie season, which is one of the reasons why he is arrogant.

"Okay, we're here." Drexler drove to Palm Springs and soon found the conspicuous luxury hotel next to it was the Lakers' training hall.

"Oh my God, there seems to be no one at the door, no reporters or fans, how should we get in?" Drexler stopped the car and found that there was no one else near the stadium.

This means that the Lakers' training is not open to the public, so how should the two of them get in?

"Don't worry, they always have to have lunch. When they eat, I can go to Mr. Jabbar. I will try to tell him if we can visit their training." Gan Guoyang hopes that Jabbar, the big star, will not forget him, a Chinese boy.

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

"That's right, I hope some of the sounds in the afternoon come from us." Gan Guoyang smiled.
Chapter completed!