Barkley kept his promise, he really brought Gan Guoyang over, shook hands with Coimbra, took photos, and Gan Guoyang even gave the frail Coimbra a large personal autograph.
Gan Guoyang’s autograph is the most precious and unique among many NBA stars, not only because Ah Gan is the Basketball God, but also due to his name in Chinese characters, making it extraordinarily distinctive compared to other alphabetical names.
Everywhere he goes, Gan Guoyang attracts a large crowd of fans eager to "surround and intercept" him, which is why he has to stay separately from his teammates and take a helicopter to and from the hotel and the venue.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to move an inch in Barcelona.
The next match was Germany against host Spain.
Germany’s strength was evidently greater, as they had NBA-caliber player Schlammfeste.
Meanwhile, in the 80s and 90s, Spain’s basketball league was burgeoning, with league teams achieving much in the European arena, though they mainly relied on foreign players.
Spanish homegrown players were still not well-known; in 1986, they had an inside player named Fernando Martin who was picked by the Nets and entered the NBA.
Later, he played for the Portland Trail Blazers on a short contract as Ah Gan’s backup, but only briefly before returning to Spain.
In 1989, Martin died in a car accident, and Spanish basketball lost a talented inside player. If he were there, he would surely have played for Spain in the Olympics.
The 1992 Olympic basketball games were a contest of which teams had a high NBA player count, with more NBA players equating to higher competitiveness.
After all, at the time, there was a significant gap between the NBA and international basketball, with players trained in the NBA being a notch above those in FIBA.
Facing Spain’s home team, Schlammfeste displayed his clearly superior basketball skills, scoring 26 points with 4 assists, helping Germany, participating in the unified Olympics for the first time, defeat host Spain 83:74.
The last match of the night was Croatia against Brazil.
After watching Team USA’s game, the players of the Chinese National Team returned to the Olympic Village.
The morning game was exhausting, and they needed to return early for some rest in preparation for the next game.
Gan Guoyang stayed until the last match because Croatia had his own teammate, Petrović.
"Hey Peter! Your hair’s grown long!"
During Croatia’s warm-up, Petrović came to the sidelines, and Gan Guoyang tousled his fluffy head, noting it had grown longer.
In Croatia, Petrović was the center of attention, the absolute core.
But in Portland, he was just a shaggy-haired kid in Gan Guoyang’s eyes, in need of a haircut.
"Are you confident for tonight, how about scoring 50 points! I heard Oscar Schmidt on the other side is quite formidable; you should challenge him."
"Sonny, I’m not confident, I don’t get that many opportunities... but I’m certain I’ll overshadow Schmidt."
"The real spotlight is tomorrow against America; I’m looking forward to your performance, Peter."
"I’ll give them a lesson. You hit Sabonis pretty hard; I ran into him at noon, and he said he hates you."
"Whatever, let him hate; I already showed mercy. They didn’t put up a real fight; we initially planned to give up, but they handed me the chance."
The two chatted casually, their attention already shifted to tomorrow’s game between Croatia and the US Dream Team.
This match was highly anticipated, not only because Croatia had Petrović, but also because they had Toni Kukoc.
The Bulls had many conflicts with Pippen due to Kukoc, almost refusing to give Pippen a big contract just to sign Kukoc.
If Kukoc hadn’t decided to postpone going to the NBA, Pippen might not have secured his long-term contract, leaving a knot in Pippen’s heart.
He wanted to see on the Olympic stage what level of skill Kukoc had that fascinated Klaus so much.
Croatia was indeed very strong, but Brazil was equally formidable.
Brazil Team’s Oscar Schmidt was acclaimed as the strongest basketball player outside of the NBA.
In 1991, he was voted one of the 50 greatest basketball players by FIBA.
Schmidt was known for his formidable scoring ability, attacking quickly and efficiently, often racking up high scores in games.
In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, against Spain, he scored an Olympic basketball historical high of 55 points, averaging 42.3 points that Olympics, showcasing explosive scoring ability.
In 1984, the same year Gan Guoyang, Jordan, and others were picked, Schmidt was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the sixth round of the draft.
But Schmidt rejected the full contract offered by the Nets, despite the higher earnings in the NBA compared to Europe and Brazil.
At the time, playing in the NBA disqualified players from representing the Brazilian national team in World Championships and the Olympics, so Schmidt didn’t go to America.
When FIBA later lifted restrictions on professional players, Schmidt was 31, already a global name in basketball and no longer needed to prove himself in the NBA.
Petrović vs. Schmidt, both players known for explosive scoring ability in FIBA, drew many spectators even though the game was scheduled last, starting at 10:30 PM.
Like Lithuania, Croatia’s core members were once the mainstays of the Yugoslav basketball team.