The Golden Age of Basketball

Bernard King indeed had special training techniques, and his guidance on footwork brought great benefits to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang tirelessly practiced what seemed to be the simplest layup drills, repeating exercises with different postures, angles, and steps over and over.

The training process was tedious and dull, even reaching a point where it was unbearably boring, as if a person were a puppet being manipulated to perform the same set of movements.

Bernard King said that one could add some interesting games or unique methods to the training to make it more acceptable.

Yet Gan Guoyang refused, saying, "This is already very interesting."

Bernard King shook his head, looking at the tall Gan Guoyang, agile and nimble like a small forward, he reaffirmed that UCLA must have lost their minds.

"He has more talent than Albert even. But he works harder than Albert, even harder than me," King thought.

King remembered his younger brother Albert Jin. In the past, people in the New York area thought that Albert had more talent than Bernard.

This year in the NBA draft, he followed the same path as his brother Bernard King, being picked 10th overall by the New Jersey Nets (Bernard King was chosen 7th by the Nets in 1977).

Meanwhile, as an older brother, Bernard King had already managed to emerge from the shadows through sheer hard work, becoming an NBA All-Star.

Whether Albert Jin could catch up with his brother depended on his own effort and opportunities.

Bernard King thought to himself that if Albert could be as diligent and focused on basketball as Gan, surpassing him with his talent wouldn't be a problem.

But the issue is that playing basketball in the New York area isn't necessarily a good thing, especially for rookies from New York. Being too close to home could indulge the player in familiar surroundings, lacking a sense of crisis and the drive to move forward.

Bernard King remembered how, when he was playing in New Jersey, he would drive to Manhattan after every home game ended.

He suddenly made a lot of money and signed a contract beyond his wildest dreams; he felt like a celebrity in New York and had to go play in Manhattan.

One night, he got completely drunk with friends and passed out. Knicks player Dean Meminger, who was also there, took him to his apartment and even parked his car downstairs, until the next day when King sobered up and drove home himself.

If it hadn't been for that, King very likely could have driven drunk and then died on the road.

But King did not learn his lesson; from then on, he drowned in alcohol, even drinking while driving and being stopped and taken to the police station by officers.

Alcohol made him irritable. In a game against the Pistons in 1978, he got into a conflict with Bob Lanier and threw the ball at Lanier's stomach.

Lanier, fists raised, charged over, and King, knowing he would be killed by a punch, backed away, ending up falling on spectators at the edge of the court, causing a child to injure their ankle.

The referee for that game was Dick Bavetta (who was 39 that year); there were 66 personal fouls called in the whole game, with the Nets committing 34; 10 technical fouls, 8 by the Pistons. Three players were ejected, four fouled out.

This was a scene from the chaotic 1970s NBA, and Bernard King was a young man struggling in that turbidity. He was lost.

Coming out of his memories, Bernard King watched as Gan Guoyang remained unweariedly engaged in step training. They had known each other for more than half a year, and King had never seen Gan Guoyang go to bars, nightclubs, or places of pleasure.

He was always playing basketball, just basketball, as if all the world's pleasures could be found in the game.

Bernard King had asked Gan Guoyang if he had any hobbies other than basketball.

Gan Guoyang's response was very straightforward, "I also cook."

With the intention of not letting Gan's cuisine die out, Gan Guoyang would follow Gan Youwei in learning to cook a signature dish every week.

This was beyond Bernard King's imagination, and yet Gan Guoyang simply said, "I'm just relatively simple."

Simple? King didn't think so. A simple person wouldn't turn down UCLA; his decision not to go to UCLA was clearly a consideration for his future career planning.

He had become frighteningly mature on the court, and after the CIF Championship in March, the Shui Zhong Team played several more games over the next few months.

Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana—these games sold out every single time, and the Shui Zhong Team's influence spread nationwide.

As far as Bernard King knew, the Shui Zhong Team had maintained a winning streak, and Gan was known for his exceptional consistency in the games—he hardly ever slipped.

After the "Bionic Man," people gave him another nickname, "ballast," meaning a stabilizing force.

However, the nickname lacked momentum; after a brief mention by some media, it disappeared without a trace, and few remembered it.

"Bernard, are you tired? You've been sitting for 20 minutes!" Gan Guoyang shouted at King who had rested for quite a while.

"Rest is as important as training; you need to let your body recover so your muscles can perform better."

"I'll have plenty of time to rest when I'm dead. If you're not going to practice, I'm going to work on my long shots."

Gan Guoyang seemed like a tireless machine. While he enjoyed the fun of training, he was more focused on catching up.

He knew that all technical moves had to be deeply ingrained as muscle memory to be effective; otherwise, they wouldn't come out in a high-intensity game.

How to form it? By repeating it over and over again, like stalactites in a cave, slowly formed by the accumulation of minerals in the water drops.

"Gan, can't you take a break? I have something I want to talk to you about."

"Speak, it won't interfere with my shooting. I have good ears."

"All right, you maniac. I am asking you, if you're not going to UCLA, then what are your plans?"

"I'm not going to the University of Tennessee! Get that out of your head; the South is too hot."

"Damn, I know that; I'm not trying to convince you to go to Tennessee, I'm just concerned about you. I want to give you some advice. Do you want to stay in the Bay Area? The University of San Francisco is finished. Or do you want to stay in California? It's great here, no one who comes wants to leave, there are so many good schools here, and the basketball atmosphere is top-notch..."

"Swish!"

Gan Guoyang made a 24-foot long shot. He never stopped working on his shooting.

After scoring, he said to King, "Bernard, I'm not going to stay in California. I have plenty of options, but I want to leave this place."

Bernard King was taken aback; he had been considering how to convey to Gan Guoyang that it might be a good thing to move a little further from home.

It turned out Guoyang had the same thought; Bernard King asked, "Can you tell me why? Don't say you're tired of it here; no one gets tired of California."

"Swish!"

Gan Guoyang made another long shot and then took a breath, "Apart from UCLA, I've also visited other schools in California. They were all very enthusiastic, but I could feel they didn't truly trust me. They didn't think a Chinese player could perform in college basketball the way I did in high school.

I know college games are much harder than high school, and most high school players can't make it in college basketball. Their vision for me is usually a good team player, a quality benchwarmer, at most a defensive core in the paint. Maybe, I'd even have to substitute for the seniors and be limited in playing time in my first year at any prestigious Californian school. That's not what I want.

Perhaps I could prove myself at the school, step by step, and eventually become a key player, but I feel I don't need to prove anything to them. I don't owe them anything. Please, I've conquered California, and they only see me as a screw. In building a nation, I could be a screw, but not in basketball. I've already wasted too much time..."

Saying that, Gan Guoyang took another shot, but this time it hit the rim and did not go in.

The pride displayed by Gan Guoyang surprised Bernard King; in his memory, Gan had always been humble and polite.

Then he thought to himself, aren't all talented players like Gan? He had been the same at one point.

"So, do you have any targets?"

"Mr. Kap contacted me yesterday, saying a school in Washington State is very interested in me. Their director of athletics is coming to meet me tomorrow. If I agree, they will take me on a two-day tour of the school."

Bernard King nodded, "That's the right attitude to treat talent. You have no idea how grand the welcome from the University of Tennessee was when they recruited me."

King got lost in his own memories, while Gan Guoyang picked up the ball and continued training.