On October 12, the Trail Blazers will usher in their first preseason game at the Memorial Stadium. They will face their old opponent in the same district, Phoenix Suns.

In the morning, Gan Guoyang went to the western district early to find Sabonis, and the two ran to the training hall together.

Along the way, Sabonis seemed a little excited, and for the first time he said more than Gan Guoyang.

He has a good English foundation. In the past few days, he has been "chatted" by Adelman and Gan Guoyang, and watching TV and listening to news at home, and his English proficiency is a huge miles a day.

Now he has been able to use some slang that he didn't understand before, and he is finally no longer confused about Gan Guoyang's trash words. Sometimes he can even respond to one or two sentences, which often makes Gan Guoyang laugh.

Sabonis has been asking Gan Guoyang what kind of team the Phoenix Suns is, what characteristics it has, and how good their inside level is.

Gan Guoyang originally wanted to tell him that it was just a preseason game, so there was no need to worry about it, but when he thought that this was his first official appearance, he still said: "Phoenix Suns, they focus on offense, don't worry, their inside line is pure soft persimmons, whatever you want! Don't worry."

"pushover?" Sabonis didn't quite understand the meaning of this word. Gan Guoyang made a crushing move with his hands, and Sabonis nodded.

Having said that, this is for Gan Guoyang. In fact, for Gan Guoyang, except for a few teams in the entire league, the inside line of other teams are soft persimmons, not to mention teams like the Suns who have been rebuilt and shifted their focus to the outside line.

Today, the training content of the Trail Blazers is mainly tactical training. Adelman is different from Ramsey. He is a relatively open-minded coach and is often willing to give players a large degree of freedom on the court.

However, basic tactics still need to be practiced. Players need this tactical practice to cultivate good tactical literacy and tacit understanding in cooperation. Otherwise, the result of free play on the court will be a random fight.

"Pay attention to your first pass! The first pass is very important. Don't be too stable. Here you can let go. In this case, you can pass it directly to Drexler, or according to their running position, Cauchy is the second choice, and Porter is the third choice. If you ask for stability, give the ball to Cauchy to strive for a better opportunity to switch offense and defense."

During fast break training, Adelman reminded Sabonis this way that Sabonis' first pass is indeed very, very beautiful, with first-class techniques and precision.

But Sabonis has never really played in the Trail Blazers after all, so he is still used to the fast attack style in Europe. Once he fails to attack, he will pass the ball to the point guard.

For this goal, he underestimated Drexler's speed and ability to get rid of it, and did not notice Cauchy's running position, passing the ball to Porter, who was standing not far away to respond.

If it were Gan Guoyang, the ball would have been passed directly to Drexler for a very long time.

"It would be great if Kiki was still there. Kiki and Paxson were on the court, they must like passers like Sabonis." Gan Guoyang said while watching them do fast break training.

When Van derwich was still there, he and Paxson formed a fast-down combination, which is best at pulling the bottom line. In this case, Sabonis passed the ball to the point guard and then passed the ball to the side, which is a commonly used counterattack routine for the old Trail Blazers.

Now, the sharp knife composed of Drexler and Cauchy is better at direct impact or long-pass penetration, and is more aggressive, but relatively lacks changes.

"Okay, Gan, as far as I see, Sabonis' passing skills will sooner or later become the Trail Blazers' longest passer. Gan, do you think if Sabonis plays better and better, will your assists fall below one?" said assistant coaches Bellman and Gan Guoyang on the side.

Gan Guoyang was also stunned when he heard this. His average assists per game last season was 1.7, which was already a record high, but it was still pitiful.

At the same time, Olajuwon's assists rose to 2.1. Although they are still at the same level as Gan Guoyang, they have begun to slowly surpass Gan Guoyang.

Because with Ralph Sampson being injured, Olajuwon has become the only core point of the Rockets' inside line, and improving their ability to transfer the ball is imperative. Even if they are on the shelves, they will be able to practice.

But for Gan Guoyang, Adelman doesn't need Gan Guoyang's assists. He just needs to score, rebound, and block.

"No, Mr. Bellman, I believe that my assists will rise this season and we will definitely play the best basketball." Gan Guoyang said to Bellman.

Bellman was about to laugh at him after hearing this, but he swallowed it again because he suddenly remembered that Gan Guoyang told him more than a year ago that he would increase his average steals per game to more than 2.

As the longest-timer with Gan Guoyang, Bellman thinks that Gan Guoyang's idea is a bit fantastic. After all, there are not many defenders who average 2 steals per game.

However, in the 1988 season, Gan Guoyang tied for fifth in the season's steal rankings with his teammate Drexler with an astonishing average of 2.5 steals.

From then on, Bellman realized that he still underestimated his most proud disciple too much.

The reason why Gan Guoyang wanted to improve his steals was actually very simple. During the summer training with Olajuwon that year, under the witness of Drexler, Olajuwon bet with him that whoever has a lower steals in the new season would have to invite the other party to eat ice cream for one month.

In 1987, Olajuwon averaged 1.9 steals per game, but in 1988, he rose to 2.1. How could he have won Ganguo Solar averaged 2.5 steals per game.

The consequences of betting are of course very simple. In July, Olajuwon, Houston, I invited Gan Guoyang to eat ice cream every day, and I wanted to vomit after eating it.

However, this also shows Gan Guoyang's determination to work hard at all costs to achieve his goal. At that time, in order to improve the steals, his training content added a lot of defender-style training, while the center training did not reduce at all.

So, Bellman also believed that Gan Guoyang would definitely say that he would do it.

……………………

At around 7 o'clock in the evening, the audience in the Memorial Stadium was surprisingly surprising. There were rarely so many spectators in the average preseason. Obviously, everyone is a newcomer to see the Trail Blazers, Sabonis.

"This guy is really huge. I think our team has another Mark Eaton." Some fans on the sidelines said when they saw Sabonis warming up on the court.

"I think he is more flexible than Eaton. I don't know how many blocks he can give to his opponents per game in the new season."

"I bet, 4, oh no, 3, he probably won't have that much playing time."

"I guess it's 2. If you can give it to the opponent three by one. If you do 3 more, others won't have to shoot in our inside line."

So far, most fans still regard Sabonis as a big inside defense gate like Mark Eaton, and they never thought about what changes he would bring to the Blazers on the offensive end.

But at this time, on the court, Gan Guoyang was busy reminiscing with his old friends.

"Rookie, what are you going to have a drink after the game?"

"No, I don't drink. When did you become an alcoholic? This is not like you. Don't tell me that you are now infected with the habit of smoking and drinking..."

"Oh my God, can you put away your preaching look? You look like your Secretary of State Schultz. Let me tell you, even if I drink a bottle of brandy now, I can still beat you all."

After Gan Guoyang finished speaking, he walked to the near three-point line with the ball. A three-pointer at a very long distance was hollowed out into the net, which attracted a burst of surprise from the fans on the sidelines.

The person who chatted with Gan Guoyang was Gan Guoyang's opponent in high school, Sacramento High School point guard Kevin Johnson.

Although he entered university with Gan Guoyang, Kevin Johnson chose to finish four years of college and get his degree, and then participated in the 1987 draft.

The Cleveland Cavaliers selected the No. 7 player with the seventh pick in the first round, but Johnson was not satisfied with the Cavaliers because the Cavaliers already had an excellent starting point guard, Mark Price, so Johnson, the No. 7 rookie can only play as Price's substitute.

So, before the trading deadline, the Cavaliers and the Suns made a multi-person deal, sending Johnson to Phoenix, and "Purple Lightning" became the swift rattlesnake in the Arizona desert.

After coming to the Suns, Kevin Johnson's playing time increased and his data also rose, from averaging 7 points and 3 assists to a standard starting point guard level of 12 points and 8 assists.

However, the Suns still ranked ninth in the West and unfortunately missed the playoffs.

This summer, the Suns caught a big fish in the free market and directly signed a naked win with supersonic power forward Tom Chambers.

In this way, the Suns dominated by Adams and Larry Nance have become a thing of the past. An internal and external iron triangular lineup with Tom Chambers, Jeff Hornersek and Kevin Johnson as the core has been formed. With Eddie Johnson and Almond Gilliam, a new Sun rises in the West of the league.

……………………

After nagging with his old friend for a few words, Gan Guoyang returned to the sidelines, took off his clothes, and began to prepare for this preseason game.

In his eyes, Kevin Johnson is no longer able to reach his opponent. At least within three years, the Suns will definitely rise, but they will not threaten the Trail Blazers.

After the simple entry ceremony, Gan Guoyang once again stood in the center of the stadium. Although it was not a formal regular season, the journey of the new season will begin here.
Chapter completed!