As the season progressed, Bird increasingly tried letting Gan Guoyang play the small forward position.
Firstly, it further showcased Gan Guoyang’s versatility, and secondly, it compensated for the Trail Blazers’ weakness at the small forward position.
Additionally, it provided more playing time for Little O’Neal and Ben Wallace to gain experience.
It’s a strategy that kills three birds with one stone, though it comes at the cost of sacrificing Gan Guoyang’s comfort.
Many team leaders prefer to play within their comfort zone, while role players fill in the gaps, compensating tactically and functionally.
Gan Guoyang is the opposite; he enables other players to maximize their strengths, fills any gaps himself, and acts as a safety net for everyone, being a superstar who does it all.
Back in the tripe and four-peat eras, Gan Guoyang would frequently switch between positions, reducing the pressure on his teammates and taking on the extra pressure himself.
Last season, Gan Guoyang had no choice but to play within his strongest domain because his teammates weren’t up to par.
This season, with the team’s strength significantly increased, Gan Guoyang once again assumes the role of an all-purpose player, capable of doing anything.
In terms of versatility, no position is more versatile than the small forward; it’s the role with the highest demand for comprehensiveness among the five positions, fully expressing a player’s all-around abilities.
Over the years, Gan Guoyang has continually improved; he had nearly reached his ceiling at the center position very early on, which explains his championship victory just in the second year of his rookie season in 1986.
In the following years, he didn’t grow vertically but horizontally, continuously enriching his skills and positional abilities, expanding his skill set, then narrowing it down again, reaching the realm of mastery without complexity.
Upon his return, he shifted from playing less to playing more; by this season, he entirely entered a realm where he acts freely without overstepping bounds.
This means on the court, he can play however he wants, at any position he desires, against any opponent he chooses.
He is entirely different from those who boast about being able to play all five positions, like Magic Johnson, who claimed he could play from position one to position five, and famously substituted for Jabbar as center in the 1980 Finals, winning the championship and earning FMVP, becoming a legendary story in the NBA.
But those who know the truth would realize, Johnson merely replaced Jabbar in the jump ball at center court; he still played as a point guard, not a center, on the court.
Moreover, if Johnson played shooting guard or small forward, his off-ball movement and catch-and-shoot capabilities weren’t up to par, making those positions hard for him to truly handle.
If put in the center position, his height and weight couldn’t match up against real centers, allowing him to only occasionally fill in.
Gan Guoyang is different; by 1998, he had the technical and physical capabilities to fulfill any position.
Center and power forward went without saying; Gan Guoyang frequently filled in as a point guard, with the 1992 Finals being his classic performance.
The shooting guard position is the only one where Gan Guoyang seemed somewhat out of place, but he possessed excellent catch-and-shoot skills and a beautiful step-back jumper, techniques he learned from Vandeweghe, so any issues with him playing there were resolvable without a doubt.
It’s just that having him play shooting guard seemed like an overqualified role, unnecessary when small forward truly showcases his versatility, combining the attack of a shooting guard, the defense of positions three and four, and the passing of a point guard.
Bird realized this while resting, watching live games on TV from a pure overhead perspective clearer than any head coach’s view.
He noticed that this guy Ah Gan could truly go wherever he wanted, never stuck at any position upon receiving the ball, capable of initiating attack or facilitating with teammates.
Ah Gan reached such a state of freedom, being another reason for the Trail Blazers’ continual victories: having an unprecedented superstar on their side.
Despite his past achievements being already astonishing and unreachable, even in 1998, he continued to evolve.
This evolution wasn’t because Gan Guoyang worked harder; quite the opposite, he reduced his training time and intensity this season.
Where he used to be the first to arrive at the gym, he now allows himself adequate rest and recovery, with Kobe and Little O’neal opening the gym doors instead.
Gan Guoyang’s training intensity has always been notoriously high, so high that other NBA players would feel sick trying to keep up with him, with Barkley unable to last even a day.
This season, Gan Guoyang reduced the frequency of high-intensity training, switching to low-to-medium intensity, according to research from sports experts at the University of Portland showing that continuous high-intensity training isn’t necessarily as effective as low-to-medium intensity workouts for high-level athletes.
Gan Guoyang is at a stage where he uses scientific methods to prolong his athletic career and maintain health, wanting to continue thriving at a high level in the league, avoiding a decline lower than Jordan’s.
Moreover, Gan Guoyang increased his visual training time, a high school joke that unwittingly became an essential part of Gan Guoyang’s daily training routine.
So, Gan Guoyang hasn’t actually had substantial changes in the quality or quantity of his training.
Reaching such a state wasn’t some sudden enlightenment or entry into new mental territories.
In fact, over the years, Gan Guoyang’s basketball philosophy hasn’t significantly changed; his mindset bears no difference from when he first entered the league.
Many of the ideas in his mind were already formed before he even came to this era; unlike Jordan, who took many years to understand ordinary players, empathize with them, and thus become a team player.