After that, the Trail Blazers were steady when crushing weaker teams, but they clearly struggled against top-tier teams, lacking in game control.
Bird and the coaching staff studied the matches and identified a serious problem: the gap between Ah Gan and his teammates was too wide, his teammates couldn’t keep up with him.
In some December games, Gan Guoyang’s shooting attempts significantly increased, while the team’s assists, movements, and cooperation decreased.
At the same time, Gan Guoyang’s average turnovers reached a career high, not because his skill declined, but because some teammates couldn’t catch his passes.
Bird could feel Gan Guoyang’s frustration; after all, a high-level player watching his teammates fall behind in all aspects, wouldn’t their mindset explode?
Bird understood this well, but as the head coach, he had to balance the locker room while soothing Gan Guoyang’s emotions.
On the 20th, the Trail Blazers lost at home to the Seattle SuperSonics again, Ewing was humiliated by Gan Guoyang, but Payton exploded for 31 points.
The SuperSonics relied on overall performance to narrowly defeat the Trail Blazers by 1 point on the road.
In the final two seconds, the Trail Blazers had a chance to win, but a turnover on the inbound play cost them the game.
Such a loss made Gan Guoyang very dissatisfied; it was rare for him to lose his temper with his teammates in the locker room.
The next day after practice, Bird found Gan Guoyang in the locker room to say: "Sonny, sometimes you need to slow down a bit, otherwise the teammates can’t keep up, which can hurt the team’s morale."
Gan Guoyang replied: "Do you mean I shouldn’t make a move when I have the chance? I really can’t stand wasting opportunities and repeated turnovers, especially turnovers, do you understand, Larry?"
"I understand, but the problem won’t be solved right away, you said you would be patient and wait for them to grow."
"I’ve already shown enough patience, in some games I wish I could revert to my 1987 playing style, where I could single-handedly crush opponents under the basket. You can’t, Michael can’t, Chamberlain can’t, but I can!"
"Can you do this in a series against the Utah Jazz or the Chicago Bulls?"
Gan Guoyang fell silent, he had an answer in his heart, which was a negative.
This is the most torturous part of the NBA, playoffs require series.
If it were a tournament system, Gan Guoyang’s dominance would be even stronger.
He could lead the China Team to the finals and win silver at the Barcelona Olympics.
But if the Olympics were also a series, not a best-of-seven, even a best-of-three, the China Team would be very dangerous.
A series requires overall strength, requires error tolerance, and reaching the end needs contributions from everyone on the bench.
The current Trail Blazers are at best a playoff-level strong team, capable of posing significant threats to champion-level teams in a series.
But the likelihood of beating the Jazz in a series, or even the current Chicago Bulls, is not high.
Only if Gan Guoyang explodes can they drag the series into a game seven with a greater possibility.
And that’s not what Gan Guoyang wants to see, he hopes to move forward together in a united and strong team.
"So, sometimes you need to wait a bit, be more patient." Bird tried his best to comfort Gan Guoyang.
"Larry, when I first entered the league in my twenties, we made it to the West Finals in the first year, losing to the Lakers. At that time, I was very patient, I felt the whole season was fun. Losing was a bit painful, but winning was exceptionally joyful, every night was thrilling and extremely satisfying."
"I still remember when Yin Man asked me if I wanted to trade away Vandeweghe, that guy’s defense was too poor. We could get Marques Johnson, which would immediately make us strong contenders for the championship. But I refused, I didn’t want to trade anyone, I was patient and wanted to grow together with everyone to win the championship."
"Now, winning is still joyful, I’m grateful my joy hasn’t been taken away. But the pain of losing... no, it’s not pain, but the anxiety has increased. Maybe because I retired for two seasons, I always feel like I’ve lost a lot, I want to get everything back quickly."
Bird sat beside Gan Guoyang, the afternoon winter sun shone through the window onto the bench, and Gan Guoyang’s body was still steaming.
"Do you want a trade?" Bird asked.
When the team’s leader loses patience with the team, the most common choice is to request a trade.
Either trade himself, or bring in reliable help through a trade.
In Bird’s view, maybe Gan Guoyang is no longer at the age of 20 when he could patiently wait.
Gan Guoyang was silent for a while, then said: "No, I don’t want a trade. Actually... our roster is quite good, I trust my teammates."
Bird patted Gan Guoyang’s shoulder, stood up and stretched his arms and legs, saying: "There’s still some time, would you like to play a game of horse? Or, shall we have a one-on-one?"
Upon hearing about a one-on-one with Bird, Gan Guoyang perked up, jumped up and said: "Of course! Let’s have a one-on-one, shall we bet on something?"
"Oh no no no, we’re just having a simple exercise, exchanging skills only. Besides, I’ve quit gambling."
So, Bird and Gan Guoyang returned to the court for a one-on-one match.
Gan Guoyang agreed not to use physical strength, focusing mainly on technical skill exchanges instead.
After years of honing, Gan Guoyang was already a master of comprehensive skills.
His dribbling and shooting reached the level of an outside player.
Bird was naturally not good at one-on-one duels, after several rounds, Gan Guoyang scored consecutively.