There’s only one Ah Gan. Back in the day, the socialist Bionic Man program probably only administered drugs to him.
As the head coach of the Lakers, Beelman gave Hu Weidong considerable attention, providing him opportunities in both training and rotations.
In some games, Hu Weidong’s performance was commendable. However, as the season progressed, he quickly encountered the same issue as Song Tao back in the day: injuries.
The intensity and frequency of NBA games are unmatched by domestic games. After coming to America, Hu Weidong worked very hard, following the advice of coaches and nutritionists by eating and training intensively to gain weight and improve resistance.
But the result of rapidly gaining weight blindly increased pressure and wear on the joints.
Old Hu had already played many games with the national team and Jiangsu Team, with very intense training, leaving his body with many injuries.
Back then, China’s sports medical level was very underdeveloped. When Gan Guoyang took the national team to Portland for training and checked everyone, he found that everyone had some old injuries that had missed the optimal treatment period.
As a young guard in his prime, Hu Weidong was often running and dunking on hardwood floors, putting his knees at high risk.
After coming to America, combined with high-intensity training, weight gain brought high stress, constant weekly travel, and the loneliness and hardship of living in a foreign country, Hu Weidong finally collapsed during a training session in December.
His injury was similar to Petrović’s back then, a partial tear of the cruciate ligament in the knee.
He could opt for conservative treatment or surgery. Not wanting to end his season easily, Hu Weidong chose conservative treatment and recuperated in his apartment.
Hu Weidong, unfamiliar with his surroundings in distant Los Angeles, had no familiar friends or family to care for him when he was injured.
After Gan Guoyang learned the news, he called his friend Daxiong, who worked in Los Angeles, and asked him to help find a domestic helper to take care of old Hu’s life.
Later, Hu Weidong’s mother rushed to America to look after her younger son. With his mother and the helper present, Hu Weidong’s life finally caught a breath.
This time visiting, Gan Guoyang brought many things, food, drinks, necessities, and two souvenirs.
But when he entered Hu Weidong’s rented apartment, he still felt he had brought too little.
The apartment was set up too simply, even looking empty. Apart from some essential life items and basic appliances, there was nothing else.
Hu Weidong’s mother said that these were the results of her purchasing after coming to America. Otherwise, what Hu Weidong lived in couldn’t be called an apartment, more like a prison.
Although Hu Weidong had been in America for a while, his nature was still that of traditional Chinese people of that era, very frugal, just enough to eat and use.
At that time, in China, the concept of "consumption" was just emerging alongside the market economy, with consumerism in its infancy. Thriftiness and making full use of everything were still ingrained in the bones of Chinese people.
Meanwhile, in 1996, America’s GDP had reached an astonishing 8 trillion US dollars, ten times that of China at the time, with a population less than one-quarter of China’s. Such a small population and such a high GDP were strongly supported by massive production and consumption.
Back then, even poor Americans often had refrigerators and storage cabinets full to the brim.
Various living supplies, only things you couldn’t think of but not things you couldn’t buy.
From houses and cars to razors and toothbrushes, all came in a wide variety, frequently replaced with new ones.
For traditional Chinese people like Gan Youwei, a towel could be used for several years, even when it had holes, he was reluctant to throw it away.
But in America, things were replaced every few months, or they simply used disposable paper products. Broken things were not repaired but replaced with new ones.
Many Chinese people coming to America at that time were shocked, experiencing both material and spiritual impacts.
Little did they know that one day China would be like this and go even further.
Not staying long in the apartment, Gan Guoyang invited Hu Weidong and his mother out for a meal.
Hu Weidong’s mother insisted on eating at home, saying she wasn’t used to outside food, so Hu Weidong went out with Gan Guoyang.
With a knee brace on his knee, supported by a crutch to get downstairs and into the car, Gan Guoyang casually said, "You should buy a car."
Hu Weidong smiled and said, "I don’t even know how to drive... who drives where we come from?"
Back then, in China, driving was undoubtedly a technical skill, unlike in America where driving is a necessary skill, like riding a bicycle.
"Won’t you consider learning?"
"Hmm... Haven’t thought that far."
Hu Weidong, being an introvert, didn’t speak much. He was very grateful for Gan Guoyang’s care but didn’t know how to express it.
Gan Guoyang didn’t mind, however. Through Hu Weidong’s answer, he realized that Old Hu seemed unconfident and unprepared for long-term stay in America.
Just like Song Tao before him, going to America to play basketball seemed great, and Gan Guoyang’s success was dazzling, but only upon arrival did they know how difficult it was to survive in the NBA.
For Chinese players of that era, the hardest hurdle was injuries.
The physical demands of the NBA were too high; surviving in the NBA was a classic case of needing both.
Both strong power and durability, both long-lasting endurance and instantaneous explosiveness were required.
Hu Weidong’s physical fitness was already top-notch domestically, but limited by nutritional conditions and medical technology, his foundation wasn’t as good as European and American players, making survival in the NBA extremely difficult.
Gan Guoyang had watched Hu Weidong’s game footage, and some plays could be executed very well, and he had shown significant improvement over the three months.
But when the weight and confrontation increased, his body couldn’t take it and collapsed. Without a healthy body, everything else is futile.