The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 297 - 37 Trading

Portland in the early morning, a faint mist drifts above the Willamette River. By December, the weather had become cold, and the city, enshrouded in thin veils, quietly awaited the rise of the morning sun.

On the bridge over the Willamette River, before dawn arrived, the shapes of a tall and a shorter figure were already running through the hazy fog. Although the mist was not great for the respiratory system, it was certainly better than anesthetics and painkillers.

"Good morning, Gan, out for a run so early again!" a postal worker delivering papers and milk shouted from his vehicle upon seeing the runners’ silhouettes; the runners were none other than Gan Guoyang and Steve Colter, whose tall figure was familiar to every postal worker on the streets of Portland.

Ever since being forced into drug rehabilitation by Gan Guoyang, Colter was dragged out for a morning run in Portland every day. Now he looked much more spirited.

"Good morning, sir, watch your speed!" Gan Guoyang called out to the postal worker speeding on a fixie down the street, offering friendly advice.

In the late 70s, postal workers sped through streets and alleys on brakeless, fixed-gear bicycles to deliver mail quickly.

On his morning runs to the training center, Gan Guoyang often saw postal workers crash their fixies, bikes that were truly difficult to control for the average person.

"Thanks for the heads up! But please don’t stop, keep picking up the pace!" the postal worker shouted back as he whizzed by.

In December, the Trail Blazers faced a grueling schedule: 16 games in one month, 11 away games, including a four-game road trip and a five-game one.

Last year, it was during December that the Trail Blazers experienced fluctuations, with injuries and defeats coming one after the other, but this year they had held strong.

They had clinched several crucial battle victories, especially on December 6th when they beat the Celtics 122:115 in Boston, meaning this season they had successively vanquished the Lakers and the Celtics.

Coming off the bench, Steve Colter and Jerome Kossie became key to winning the game. Colter made 5 out of 9 shots and scored 12 out of 14 free throws, totaling 22 points for the game.

Gan Guoyang even wondered if Colter was Stern’s illegitimate child—how else to explain so many free throws in one game.

But Colter earned every free throw through his own efforts, receiving the ball and charging into the paint time and time again.

He carried the Trail Blazers’ offensive banner during the transition and secured the most splendid victory since the season had started.

Meanwhile, Jerome Kossie successfully restricted Bird on defense. Bird made only 8 out of 26 shots and scored a paltry 18 points with a terrible shooting percentage.

The Trail Blazers didn’t even need to use their three-tall lineup, simply relying on the benches’ offense to leave the opponents without a solution.

After that game, the Celtics exposed their second issue: aside from struggling with slow-paced set plays, the Celtics’ overall athletic ability was average.

Facing increasingly strong and fast African American players, the Celtics, with their many white players, found it tough to keep up on both offense and defense. Forwards with excellent physical attributes like Kossie made Bird very troubled.

Perhaps KC Jones should have developed and utilized Marques Johnson more, but Marques Johnson was at too great a disadvantage in strength when facing Gan Guoyang, which posed a dilemma for the Celtics’ coaching staff.

The Trail Blazers handed the Boston Celtics their first home defeat of the season, which was also the Celtics’ only regular-season home loss that year.

During the four-game road trip, the Trail Blazers went 3-1, with the single defeat coming against the Washington Bullets in Washington.

It’s said that after eating a fish-flavored hamburger made by Gan Guoyang, Charles Barkley’s strength surged, and he snatched 31 points and 20 rebounds in the next night’s game.

Gene Shue’s flexible and dynamic deployment and unpredictable tactics resulted in the Trail Blazers suffering their first loss of the season.

After returning home for a game against the Warriors, the Trail Blazers started a five-game road trip in the Western Conference and once again achieved a record of 4 wins and 1 defeat.

Their one loss was against the Denver Nuggets. Just like the Washington Bullets, Doug Moe addressed the three-tall with speed and shooting, ensuring the game wouldn’t devolve into a battle of set offenses.

The constant away games left the entire Trail Blazers team feeling exhausted, and the Nuggets, filled with a desire for revenge at altitude, dealt the Trail Blazers their third defeat of the season.

On December 21st, the Trail Blazers returned to Portland with a record of 27 wins and 3 losses, firmly at the top of the league, leaving the 23-win, 4-loss Lakers and the 21-win, 6-loss Celtics in their wake.

This start was even more impressive than the Portland Trail Blazers of 1978, the defending champions, who had a record of 23 wins and 4 losses, already a dominating presence in the league.

Among the key figures was Bill Walton. His return became the perfect lubricant within the team, significantly easing the pressure on the Trail Blazers’ interior.

On the court, his passing and defense were crucial. He completely freed Gan Guoyang, making him the league’s most dangerous inside assassin—Gan Guoyang won the Player of the Month award for November, with a performance of 32 points, 16 rebounds, and 4.7 blocks per game that was simply too compelling not to vote for him.

Walton’s optimism, erudition, enthusiasm, and his deep emotional connection with the people of Portland, coupled with his past championship experience, deeply influenced the team, injecting the squad with a different kind of energy.

Gan Guoyang could feel that last season he was dragging the team forward, but in the end, he was tired and couldn’t carry them anymore. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Even if he had blocked Johnson’s layup and scored the winning three-pointer, they most likely would not have beaten the Lakers in Game 7.

There was a significant difference in overall strength; individual performance could narrow the gap but not surpass it.

This year was different, Gan Guoyang wasn’t dragging the team forward, but moving ahead together, and in some games, it was his teammates who carried Gan Guoyang forward.

For instance, during the away game against Boston, Gan Guoyang was strictly guarded by the Celtics, but Kossie and Colter stepped up to solve the problem.

Walton often had crucial plays in the interior, a beautiful pass, a solid block, always bringing a change to the situation.

This feeling was really great.

"Sonny, Sonny... are we going to run until the sun turns yellow?"

The panting Colter from behind asked when they would stop.

Colter’s stamina was not an issue, the problem was that Gan Guoyang’s pacing was too fast!

"It’s cloudy today, so it seems we won’t be seeing the sun turn yellow. Let’s turn back and go to the gym for training," Gan said.

"Ah? It’s our day off today, are we still training?"

"Isn’t training a form of rest? Do we have to sleep instead?"

"..."

Lately, Colter had been running and training with Gan Guoyang; he truly experienced what it meant to be a training maniac.

But Gan Guoyang’s training wasn’t just about piling on the hours – his efficiency was high, and the intensity was great.

Indeed, the total training time was certainly longer than that of an average player, about twice as much in a day, but if the intensity and efficiency were counted, the total would be more like four to six times as much.

For those not in good shape or with poor stamina, following him in training was torture. However, once Colter persisted, he found he no longer needed painkillers.

Because they were useless anyway, it was better to tough it out; once his fitness improved, he could adapt.

On the way back, they encountered the same postman as before; Gan Guoyang noticed his swollen left cheek and a torn knee in his trousers.

"You look like you’ve got some work injuries! It seems you didn’t listen to my advice," Gan called out loudly.

The postman gave an awkward smile; indeed, he had fallen shortly after passing Gan Guoyang, scraping both his face and knee.

Gan told him to stop, pulled out 10 US dollars from his pocket, and said, "Do you have any spare newspapers? I’ll buy them all."

"I do have a few, but it doesn’t cost 10 dollars."

"It’s okay, go buy some new pants and get some medicine."

Gan Guoyang bought all the extra copies of the newspapers and handed the postman 10 dollars.

Colter, nearly exhausted, finally got to rest for a bit. If they kept running back to the gym, he would have to jump into the river.

As Gan Guoyang browsed the newspaper, it was December 1985, filled daily with various events big and small – geopolitical conflicts between the US and the Soviet Union, increasingly severe racial issues in society, a plethora of new movies in culture and art. But in the sports news, which Gan Guoyang cared about most, he saw the League’s latest trade:

the Detroit Pistons sent the sturdy defender Dan Roundfield to the Los Angeles Clippers, in exchange for the Clippers’ hefty inside player, Melvin Turpin, who nearly left Donald Sterling breathless.

This trade was widely criticized as soon as it was announced, with many suggesting that the Pistons were being reckless.

They were already short on interior defense and had traded away their only tough defender at the power forward position, in exchange for a rookie proven to be unable to control his eating habits.

However, Gan didn’t see it that way; Roundfield was getting on in years, and he had struggled with injuries the previous season, playing in only 50 games and not taking the floor against the Trail Blazers.

In his season with the Pistons, he contributed little, and the Pistons needed to rejuvenate their roster, so keeping him on didn’t make much sense. Thus, the Pistons attempted to trade him for Rick Mahorn in the summer.

Mahorn was Charles Barkley’s good friend, and Barkley said if Mahorn was traded, he wouldn’t want to play in Washington anymore, so the Bullets didn’t agree to the trade, leaving the Pistons to begrudgingly keep Roundfield.

This time, they were able to trade with the Clippers for Turpin, simply because Turpin’s rear end embarrassed Sterling, who felt ridiculed every time he saw him.

Since Turpin’s performance was mediocre and he couldn’t control his weight, the Pistons happily swapped him for Roundfield, who still had some gas in the tank – after all, the guy was a three-time All-Star and two-time member of the All-Defensive Team.

The Clippers continued their path of collecting washed-up stars, getting further and further away on a road of no return, as long as they could sell tickets.

As for Turpin, his future lay with Detroit where he would become Bill Laimbeer’s backup or even partner, facing the harsh test of the Eastern Conference.

Gan Guoyang was quite looking forward to seeing how Turpin would fare in Detroit, but since the game against the Pistons wasn’t until February of the following year, he just hoped Turpin would still be alive in Detroit by then.