Quentin said, "So, you’re actually protecting him."
Gan Guoyang replied, "Sort of. But he did waste one of my assists, otherwise I’d have had 15 assists and would have surpassed John!"
Quentin: "..."
Gan Guoyang rarely obsesses over stats unless he’s determined to compete with a friend or rival.
There were two previous occasions, one competing with Jordan for the scoring title, the other with Rodman for the rebound title.
This season he wants to play for the assist title from his old friend Stockton, after all, John has already won for 9 consecutive seasons.
-----------------
After defeating the Spurs, the Trail Blazers faced a small challenge, they needed to strive for a winning streak.
Fortunately, the Trail Blazers’ next three games were all in Portland, allowing them to adjust well.
The season had already started two weeks ago, and the team was operating smoothly, with training and games proceeding methodically.
Currently, there were no injuries within the Trail Blazers, and the locker room atmosphere was good.
The two urgent issues needing to be addressed were defense still not forming well, and too many errors on offense.
To tackle these issues, Bird improved the training content by adding practical combat training while maintaining high-intensity physical training.
On November 11th, the team continued organizing training at 7:30 AM, practicing until after 9:00 AM, when Bird started jogging along the sidelines.
The head coach was warming up.
"Hey Larry, what are you planning? Preparing to give yourself a short contract? We don’t lack people currently!"
Gan Guoyang noticed Bird couldn’t resist joining the training to personally guide the players.
Bird ignored it, ran a few laps, and took off his jacket before walking onto the court.
"You guys don’t know crap about playing smart or what real offense is. Give me the damn ball, I’ll teach you how to execute smooth offense and how to pass!"
The players started making noise, a chorus of boos ensued.
Bird was already over 40 years old, having retired years ago, and his body was full of injuries.
With those old arms and legs, if he accidentally got injured, the Trail Blazers’ head coach would be out due to injury.
The season’s only two weeks in, rookie blunder on a fast break, head coach out injured, the Trail Blazers mustn’t become the league’s biggest joke.
"Don’t damn worry about me getting hurt, worry about whether your defense might have issues first!"
Bird split the players into offense and defense groups, joining the offensive group to participate in position offense.
The players from both groups alternated, combining different lineups for tactical drills and coordination.
Bird was indeed Bird, despite years of retirement and numerous injuries, his sense of offense was still sharp.
His shooting and passing were still threatening, even without quick running and jumping.
Especially his passing, more ingenious and creative than Gan Guoyang’s.
Some passes didn’t result in assists but had a touch of turning stones into gold, an instant enlightenment feeling.
This was where Gan Guoyang felt inferior, regarding passing talent, he indeed fell short compared to Bird.
Gan Guoyang’s passing and playmaking were developed through hard training, extensive learning, thinking, and leveraging his strong defensive attraction.
During the first three-peat period, his playmaking and passing abilities weren’t developed, and he often only assisted two or three times.
Later as he improved, many of his assists relied on tactical routines, a situation arose, he’d certainly make the pass.
Bird, as a talented passer, could create opportunities from initially having none.
Only Magic Johnson could match him in this aspect, and in terms of passing creativity, Bird even surpasses Johnson.
With five balls in a group, Bird quickly led the offensive group to eliminate several groups, gaining a momentary head coach spotlight.
Finally, it was Gan Guoyang’s turn on the defensive group, preparing to put intensity on the head coach!
Bird ended up blowing a whistle from the sidelines, ending this bout of training!
"Hey! Larry, I haven’t practiced yet! I haven’t practiced yet!"
"You don’t need to practice, I’m not playing with you, I’m tired."
Bird offered no more explanation to Gan Guoyang, putting on his coat, not playing anymore.
On one hand, he was indeed a bit tired, continuing might really result in injury.
Additionally, the intended effect was achieved; practicing with everyone and personally guiding felt completely different.
On the other hand, there was no need to say, Ah Gan was preparing to intensify, anyone not dodging would definitely have some issues in their head!