Gan Guoyang wouldn’t be criticized for such a performance; the management, teammates, and fans all understood him.
But not Carl; he’s the head coach and has to bear the most fire and pressure. If they lose a game, he has to figure something out.
The immense pressure once made Carl consider resignation. Being a head coach is truly a daunting task; he hadn’t even gotten married yet, and already felt completely drained.
Larry Bird sought Carl out multiple times to talk with him, providing mental support and giving Carl a chance to vent.
Bird could be considered half a mentor to Carl, but Carl’s current predicament was partly due to Bird.
Once, as Carl became more agitated talking, he even said, "Larry, how about you take the head coach position? I’ll be your assistant coach."
Bird quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, no, I’m... I’m not suited to be a head coach anymore. Three years was enough for me."
Yes, three years, two championships, and you encountered that most comprehensive, powerful, and competitive Ah Gan after retirement.
You had it all, fulfilled the promise of a three-year plan, and left gloriously. Who could boast better than you?
Carl didn’t want to give up so easily either; after calming down, he discussed tactics and configurations with Bird more.
Carl keenly sensed an issue, saying, "Larry, I found that no matter which team we play against, their research and targeting of the Trail Blazers are strong. We’re having a harder time in the regular season, with every game consuming a lot of effort and preparation, and that’s what pains me the most."
Bird nodded and said, "To wear the crown, one must bear its weight. The strongest teams are naturally studied the most. Besides..."
"Besides what?"
"Besides, everyone has already found the best way to deal with Ah Gan. Though the best way doesn’t guarantee a win, it’s the closest approach to victory, and everyone’s doing it, making matches tougher."
Bird unveiled another major dilemma for the Trail Blazers this season: the team no longer has an absolute advantage in tactics and strategy.
The Trail Blazers, having won so many championships over the years, have had their tactics and system studied by coaches and management from other teams for many years, who have found the optimal tactical solution.
It’s about piling up talented forwards and guards, simplifying the interior lineup, and just ensuring adequate defense. Don’t allocate too many resources to low-post firepower; it’s a waste and unnecessary.
In this context, facing the Trail Blazers will offer better odds. Otherwise, if your resource investment overlaps with Ah Gan’s strength, you’ll end up getting crushed.
Gan Guoyang’s dominance over players in the same position is historically unmatched. Investing $5 million could result in getting reduced to 0 against him, and in his prime, he’d leave you in the negatives.
In the late ’80s to early ’90s, there was a surge in the value of tall interior players in the NBA because of Ah Gan’s rise, leading players in the same position to secure big contracts.
But by the mid-1990s, especially after Gan Guoyang’s retirement and comeback, the value of center players started to decline, with contracts for some mediocre players dropping by at least 30%, such as Horace Grant.
Against Ah Gan, this type of player was entirely useless, neutralized to the point of being scoreless in a game and offering no defensive benefit.
Overpaying these players was sheer waste; spending $2 million or $5 million resulted in the same outcome against Ah Gan, making it wiser to bolster the perimeter instead.
Conversely, players like Robert Horry and Cliff Robinson, who could play both forward and center and had perimeter shooting abilities, became popular. Even if they couldn’t defend, they could stretch the floor and contribute offensively, avoiding gifting blocks under the basket.
Gan Guoyang’s dominance of the league and other teams’ countermeasures accelerated the tactical evolution of the NBA and the transformation of player demands.
It’s akin to the rapid advancement in military technology during the Cold War due to US-Soviet rivalry, with a continual update of new-generation weapons.
In the 1980s, led by Gan Guoyang and Ramsay, the Trail Blazers sparked a three-point revolution, transforming the court system from point-line to a combination of point-line-surface.
Although the three-point shot was mainly to create space for the interior rather than become a scoring staple, it still held breakthrough significance, prompting teams to prioritize three-point shooting years earlier than usual.
In the ’90s, Bobby Berman, relying on Gan Guoyang’s formidable personal ability, introduced the Princeton System, enriching on-court play styles and pioneering the use of advanced statistical models to guide team training and tactical arrangements, introducing efficiency formulas.
Presently, every team has at least one data analyst to mathematically model the offense and defense, advancing this process by several years.
Take the Phoenix Suns, for instance. Sikels is theoretically a more traditional, defense-oriented coach. However, data and player characteristics indicated that the Suns would be better off adopting an offensive approach to maximize the advantages of wings and guards. Hence, Sikels decisively steered the team towards an offensive path.
It’s not just Sikels. Although the ’90s NBA trended towards stronger defense, slower pace, and increasingly stagnant offense, the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang set an example that kept offensive power shining, vying against the defensive approach.