The experiences from 1992 and 1996 led people to not allow Team USA to lose at the Olympics. They not only mustn’t lose, but must win easily and beautifully, ideally with big scores in every game.
Otherwise, if the NBA claims to be the world’s strongest league, and these stars are each earning millions of US Dollars annually in the league, with media and journalists extolling them as extraordinarily talented and powerful, and one player’s income surpassing the opposing team’s entire earnings, failing to overpower opponents is a kind of failure.
However, fans’ expectations aside, only insiders know that the gap between world basketball and American basketball has been rapidly narrowing in recent years.
Moreover, while NBA players have strong individual skills, once they’re grouped to compete in the Olympics, they face challenges like short training time, lack of teamwork synergy, and most importantly, the difference in rules between the NBA and FIBA.
Combining 12 NBA players earning millions together, it’s almost impossible to fully utilize each player’s strength; underperformance is inevitable.
Additionally, in this Olympics, Gan is representing China Team to compete, and their first match in the group stage is against China. To claim there’s no fear is false.
Who wouldn’t be intimidated? Who dares not be intimidated? In 1992, when other players’ skill gaps were so large, Gan could still play the match to that extent. Now with the gap narrowing, the scene is simply unimaginable.
Although Gan is already 36 years old, he just won the 2000 championship, with extraordinary playoff performance evident to all. In the Olympics’ knockout tournament setting, it’s Gan’s prime battlefield.
So, even thinking about it is frightening; many famous coaches have hung up a "Do Not Disturb" sign, including Beelman, who straightforwardly went to Eugene to be a guest coach for China Team, giving lectures to Chinese players, unwilling to wade through the Dream Team’s muddy waters.
Others like Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Tomjanovich, either unwillingly or considering themselves lacking enough credentials to command respect, shy away from taking this hot potato.
After careful consideration, USA Basketball Association decided to invite Trail Blazers’ head coach Rick Carlisle to coach this Dream Team.
This shows USA Basketball Association truly exhausted options; although Carlisle is a championship coach with relatively rich experience, he’s still a rookie.
A rookie coach lacking sufficient credentials, leading a team filled with stars, is highly likely to be disastrous.
However, USA Basketball Association and the Olympic Committee truly couldn’t find anyone, as NBA coaches wouldn’t come, and NCAA veteran coaches were unwilling to step up.
Ultimately, they could only resort to finding young talents, persuading Larry Bird and others, having Dick Hart, Larry Brown, and others assist Carlisle as assistant coaches.
Ah Gan’s head coach became Dream Team’s coach, then defeated Ah Gan in the Olympics, achieving double honors with NBA championship and Olympic gold -- this script had played out before.
Bobby Beelman achieved fame in the U.S. with this accomplishment and now has a commanding presence in Boston, capable of building a championship team according to his own philosophy.
For Carlisle, who is still young and ambitious about the future, this job is very appealing.
Moreover, the success of the 1999-2000 season gave Carlisle great confidence.
That year was very challenging, but precisely because of these challenges, Carlisle gained much training and accumulated considerable experience.
It can be said Carlisle’s gains from being the Trail Blazers’ head coach in the 1999-2000 season equate to three years of ordinary coaching experiences elsewhere.
This profit and confidence, coupled with multiple invitations from the Basketball Association and encouragement from people around, finally intoxicated Carlisle, leading him to dive into assembling, training, and competing for the Dream Team shortly after the finals without much rest or adjustments.
But soon, Carlisle realized this task was truly not easy.
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On September 10th, five days before the start of the Sydney Olympics, the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team finished several warm-up matches overseas and flew to Sydney in advance to prepare for the Olympics.
Prior to this, Gan Guoyang went to meet with the national team in the cities of warm-up matches after his final hearing in New York and played several warm-up matches worldwide.
Within 20 days, the Chinese National Team visited five major cities: Milan, Italy; Kinshasa, Congo; Auckland, New Zealand; Tokyo, Japan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, spanning five continents.
Wherever they went, it could be described as a citywide or even nationwide sensation - of course, this sensation was brought by Gan Guoyang.
This Olympics, AVIA not only sponsored the basketball team’s apparel and shoe brands but also equipped the entire China delegation.
Before the Olympics, the men’s basketball warm-up matches were a major event in Avia’s global strategy, with Gan Guoyang accompanying China Team worldwide for competitions and promotions.
In past seasons, due to Gan Guoyang’s focus on NBA courts and various offseason matters, there was no time for European or Asian tours as in his younger days.
Avia lost the acquisition battle for the Trail Blazers due to lack of support from the league office and other team owners (concerned that if Avia took the Trail Blazers, Gan wouldn’t retire, extending the Portland dynasty indefinitely), ultimately losing to Nike and failing to acquire team shares.
After this year’s finals and shortly after the draft, Tang Jianguo sold the remaining team shares to a consortium led by Nike, once again dwarfing Avia in domestic brand competition.
However, overseas has always been Avia’s strength, a field Avia has cultivated deeply for years. As the NBA’s international influence grows, Avia reliant on Ah Gan has thrived globally.