The successful completion of the first training session greatly increased Bird’s confidence as a coach; he realized that being a head coach isn’t too difficult as long as you can reasonably utilize your assistant coaches.
Technical work was assigned to Rick and Dick; Rick was responsible for offense, Dick for defense, and Bird himself took charge of fitness and discipline.
As for relationships with the players, Bird didn’t need to introduce himself to anyone; he was well-known, recognized by everyone in the basketball circle.
Even the troublesome ones carried out the training obediently. Bird didn’t want to know or bother with what they did outside of training.
On the third day of training camp, still no one was late, arriving at the training gym after 7:30.
Although Riddle was always the last to arrive, he would make sure to step into the Willamette University Gymnasium before 7:30.
For someone like Riddle who had such a tarnished reputation, being punctual was already a miracle, and Bird couldn’t demand more from him.
On the fourth day of training camp, the first one to mess up surprisingly was Kobe, whom Bird had always admired.
That morning, Bird arrived at the training gym and saw the usual figures of Ah Gan, Little O’Neal, and Kobe.
All three were intensely passionate about basketball.
But this time Bird noticed that Kobe wasn’t playing on the court; instead, he was standing on the sidelines, lost in thought.
Upon closer inspection, he saw Kobe’s left hand wrapped in bandages and a cast; the kid had gotten injured.
"What’s wrong with your hand?" Bird asked.
"Uh... something happened..."
"What happened? Be direct, kid."
"I fractured it."
"Fractured? Went too hard with the fast ones?"
"Oh no, it’s not like that, Coach, I... I went to play streetball..."
Kobe’s tone showed some regret, but his eyes didn’t shy away, clearly not thinking he did anything seriously wrong.
Actually, because of this, his parents had already scolded him half to death, and Buckwalter was also shaking his head repeatedly.
The new season was about to start, and the day after tomorrow, the Trail Blazers were to play their first preseason game of the season against the Phoenix Suns.
After yesterday’s training, Kobe encountered a group playing streetball in the park on his way home. The street kids recognized him and asked if he wanted to join.
Generally, professional players wouldn’t casually play streetball with strangers because of the huge skill gap, and it’s pointless; besides, an injury wouldn’t be worth it.
But Kobe couldn’t restrain himself; he agreed to join them, and after a dunk, he lost his balance and fell to the ground, using his hand to support himself, which resulted in a minor fracture of his hand.
The injury wasn’t serious, but a fracture would take at least a month to heal, meaning Kobe would miss all preseason games and a part of the regular season opener.
If he were a veteran, it might not matter, but he was a rookie, a seedling urgently needing growth, training, games, and experience.
It wasn’t worth it for a streetball game and a dunk, especially considering the impact on his commercial value.
Kobe didn’t choose the Avia contract of his idol Ah Gan, nor did he choose Nike, but signed a contract with Adidas.
Kobe admired Ah Gan and was often referred to as the second Michael Jordan, but Kobe only wanted to be the first himself; he wanted to forge his own path.
Bird, however, wasn’t angry; he just patted Kobe on the shoulder and said, "Small issue, look at my finger. In my rookie season, I injured it under similar circumstances, just as the season was about to start. But it didn’t affect my shooting at all, just remember to protect yourself next time."
Bird’s right index finger wasn’t straight; it was twisted in a kind of unhealthy manner, as if it had grown an extra piece.
This was caused by a fracture from being hit by a baseball during a game in 1979. The situation was quite severe, requiring two surgeries, but it never returned to normal; a cyst-like thing always accompanied it, preventing Bird from even making a fist with his right hand.
This was his shooting hand, but Bird wasn’t affected by it; he trained his shooting hand with its half-disabled state and still became one of the best shooters in league history.
Kobe nodded, saying, "I will protect myself; that’s why I used my left hand to support."
Gan Guoyang walked over at this time, saying, "Don’t learn from this fool; during the 1985 finals, he got into a fight and injured his hand, otherwise he might have won another championship."
Bird shot Gan Guoyang a look, saying, "The one I should’ve fought is you, leaving you to take the League astray."
"Oh, knock it off, Larry; if you had fought me, your career would have ended prematurely."
The two old rivals exchanged jokes; nowadays Gan Guoyang was truly a veteran in the league.
Starting from 1984, this was already his 12th year in the League.
However, due to his retirement and rest in between, Gan Guoyang was very excited about the upcoming game.
By contrast, although Kobe didn’t think he was wrong, he was still quite dejected, having to sit out from training.
Missing all preseason games and sitting on the bench for a period during the regular season was going to be an ordeal for him.
Gan Guoyang did not comfort Kobe; comforting someone like Kobe was pointless; instead, he encouraged Kobe not to slack off.
Your hand may be injured, but your legs aren’t, nor is your right hand, so you should train your lower body strength in the gym and maintain your physical endurance.