The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 389 - 9: Cooking on a Small Stove

Since Gan Guoyang entered the league in the 1984-1985 season, the status of the three-point shot was gradually becoming more prominent.

In the 1985-1986 season, the NBA’s average number of three-point attempts per game had reached 3.3. Although the number of attempts was still not high, it was evident from some important games that the three-point shot was playing an increasingly significant role.

For example, in the finals, Larry Bird relied heavily on the three-pointer during the chase to close the gap, often taking the opponents by surprise with his successful shots, putting great pressure on the Trail Blazers.

The team that took the most three-point shots in the ’86 season was the Los Angeles Lakers, with an average of 5.4 attempts per game, followed by the Mavericks, Bullets, and the Portland Trail Blazers, all above five.

Aside from Gene Shue, coaches across the teams were developing simple three-point tactics to be used as a key weapon for catching up in crucial moments.

Unlike in the first few seasons when the three-point line was introduced, when taking a three-pointer was more of a desperate choice for players and success was purely a matter of luck.

Some young, ambitious coaches had already sensed the importance of the three-point shot in offense. It wasn’t just about scoring one more point than a two-pointer, nor was it merely a fancy skill to please the audience. It also meant larger offensive space, higher scoring efficiency, and a richer tactical choice.

Additionally, in the playoffs and finals, the three-pointer often played a role in critical moments, even potentially deciding the outcome of the game.

Therefore, starting that summer, everyone from players to coaches began to pay serious attention to this new offensive approach.

It was foreseeable that in the 1986-1987 season, the three-pointer would experience a mini boom in the ’80s.

Gan Guoyang certainly understood the role of the three-pointer; he never fell behind in three-point training and was the best inside-line three-point shooter in the league.

However, at present, it was difficult for him to use the three-pointer as a regular weapon. He could only show his brilliance occasionally, serving as a deterrent presence and making dramatic impacts at critical moments in key games.

Vandeweghe was different, as one of the NBA’s earliest scorers to actively attempt three-point shooting. He had a great talent for shooting and, with his height and arm length, was difficult to defend.

In regular training, he and Jim Paxson both had a decent three-point shooting touch. In the 1982-1983 season, Vandeweghe was among the players in the league who had attempted over 50 three-pointers.

After joining the Trail Blazers, he had been entrusted with many of the team’s solo plays from the perimeter, and because Dr. Jack didn’t like three-pointers, Vandeweghe’s attempts had actually decreased.

Last season, Dr. Jack began designing some three-point tactics, but they were mainly prepared for critical moments. During regular playtime, Gan Guoyang was the only one who dared to recklessly shoot threes without fearing scolding from the coach.

Gan Guoyang had Vandeweghe practice hard on three-pointers over the summer, but Vandeweghe had his doubts, wondering what to do if Dr. Jack disagreed.

But then he thought, if that happened, he would just say it was Ah Gan who told him to shoot, what could Dr. Jack do about it?

With guidance from Gan Guoyang in this area, Vandeweghe decided to shift his summer training focus to defensive footwork and three-point shooting.

Gan Guoyang continued to hone his low-post skills at Pete Newell’s Big-man Camp, but he soon realized there wasn’t all that much there that was truly useful to him.

The most useful aspects were footwork and low-post tactical observation; these two points were the focus of Guoyang’s learning.

Currently, Gan Guoyang’s attacks from the low post were still somewhat systematic, and he relied a lot on strength and explosiveness. Although his speed was incredibly fast, making him hard to defend, faster didn’t always mean better.

Pete Newell pointed out, "Being quick makes it hard for your opponents to defend, but it also doesn’t give your teammates time to position themselves, and it doesn’t give you time to read the defense and tear through the opponent’s offense. Slow down to observe, which requires higher skill and better intelligence."

This was the area Guoyang was most eager to improve, how to initiate a team offense from the low post and, when the team offense failed to launch, to use footwork to complete efficient attacks under the basket.

So after three days of training in the camp, Pete Newell was ready to give Gany Guoyang some specialized coaching. Having him follow the others in basic training was a complete waste of time.

The cost of this specialized attention was that Gan Guoyang had to assist Washington by helping Newell with some training items—like using a large pad to push against players in the low post.

Boy, did Gan Guoyang find himself a fun job. He was like a bulldozer with a big pad, pushing anyone he came across, unmovable by anyone.

Even Olajuwon got pushed over by him, face down in a fall. When Olajuwon tried his best to hold his ground, Guoyang pulled a classic ’pull the chair’ move, causing Olajuwon to fall on his buttocks, getting his sweet revenge.

Pete Newell had to remind Gan Guoyang that this was a big man’s basketball technique training camp, not a playful pushing club, and to act normal, giving everyone else some space to survive.

When the afternoon camp ended and everyone else had left, Pete Newell would keep Gan Guoyang for tactical lessons.

Newell was a very experienced coach with deep qualifications, he had a clear grasp on the development of basketball tactics.

He said to Gan Guoyang, "Jack is a good coach, with an extensive knowledge base, but as a head coach his work is overwhelming. He has to think from a global perspective, and there might be some details he overlooks. Moreover, he has never really coached a top-tier interior player as the pivot in the low post, he prefers to have the center move to the high post. Such play is indeed more flexible, and the court will have more space. But you know, the three-point shot is on the rise, you were at the coaches’ seminar last season, everyone was talking about three-pointers and ball movement between the strong and weak sides."

"In the past, coaches needed to place the center at the high post to open up space for others. But with the three-point shot, we’ve found that letting perimeter players shoot from deep is also a good way to create more space. This is a trend, like in the 60s when we discovered that having the big man play outside and the little guy inside, could create more space. That’s when we started to create and use tactics involving the high post center. In the 70s, pick and roll rules changed, and Bob Knight started to heavily use screens, creating motion offense. In the 80s, the three-point shot, along with low-post monsters like you, Olajuwon, and Ewing are changing the tactical ecosystem of the league."

"Your learning ability in basic offense is impeccable. Honestly, I’ve never met someone who can learn movements so quickly. You will master all the low post offensive moves by the end of my course. I also admire your games. Your passion and energy are unmatched, burning through the league like a flame, reducing the Celtics to ashes. But if you want to integrate better with your teammates on offense, you need to be calmer, slower, more observant, you need to understand how a set offense happens..."

In the classroom, Pete Newell started explaining various tactical details, key points, and the inner logic of set offenses from the very beginning, using the whiteboard.

Gan Guoyang knew these things. He had been following Coach Beelman since high school and had listened to Jack Ramsay’s incessant reminders with the Trail Blazers, but Pete Newell was the first to break it all down for him, tracing everything from the invention of basketball in 1896 to how various tactics formed in the ’20s, how they evolved in the ’40s and ’50s, and how they transformed in the ’70s and ’80s, bit by bit.

This was just the first lesson, and in the following ones, second and third, Pete Newell singled out some tactics, analyzing various situations in detail, like a math teacher explaining geometric solids.

Gan Guoyang was naturally insightful, and with Newell’s detailed guidance, he immediately felt ’I could be a coach too!’

In fact, Gan Guoyang had felt this for a while, that coaching was mainly about management, and tactics played about thirty percent of the role.

If you don’t know something, you can find an assistant. Now, I don’t need to find an assistant. If I study hard, it’s not that difficult.

After a week of training, the Big Man Camp came to a successful end. Gan Guoyang didn’t linger in Los Angeles, but rushed off to Washington with Drexler and Vandeweghe to meet with President Reagan.

After this session of the camp ended, Newell called his old friend Stu Inman: "Sonny is a quick learner, very insightful, but a week isn’t enough to learn everything, he needs time to digest and polish his skills. He’s now a big star, terribly busy, I’m afraid he won’t have much time."

"I’m not worried about that, he’s a basketball maniac," replied Inman.

"Why don’t you come to Los Angeles to meet him?" Newell asked.

"Oh no, there’s no need, no need..." replied Inman.