Porter has been through thick and thin with Gan Guoyang for over a decade, achieving great success. After retiring from playing, he wasn’t going to get any rest and continued coaching courtside.
Porter originally wanted to refuse, but Ah Gan threatened him, saying if he didn’t coach, he wouldn’t allow him to retire and would force him to continue playing.
When he renewed his contract, Porter indeed signed for two years, so he had no choice but to agree and then signed a five-year coaching contract.
Since 2004 until now, it’s already the fourth year. Porter’s hairless head is about to grow hair.
Porter actually isn’t very suited for coaching because he’s just too normal and lacks a certain wickedness and sufficient passion.
In 2003, occasionally filling in as a coach was fine, but doing it for a long time, especially handling the long regular season, was really demanding.
He happens to be capable, highly respected in the locker room, and the only one in the team who dares to scold Ah Gan. If he doesn’t coach, everyone won’t agree.
Therefore, he continued half-heartedly and reluctantly for several years. Glory’s performance was decent, reaching the playoffs every year, with the highest being the West Finals, and a good win rate. It’s considered good except for the lack of a championship.
"What are you daydreaming about, Terry? Do we still need to think of tactics?"
"What do you mean not think? Can we still just hand the ball to you now? Can you handle it? Are you still capable?!"
Porter was very frustrated and hearing Gan Guoyang’s words, he became angry.
He was under significant pressure. Once you sit in the head coach’s seat, nobody’s temperament improves.
In these few seasons, Glory has always been facing many issues, including Ah Gan’s aging and the players’ overall mid-to-high strength, but lacking sufficient explosiveness.
Moreover, the core players have quite obvious shortcomings. Yao Ming has already grown into a quality center, but his weaknesses are difficult to compensate for.
Gerald Wallace is the best defensive player and all-rounder on the outside, but shooting problems have always plagued him, which is also Glory’s issue.
Raja Bell is similarly the best defensive shooting guard, but such functional players cannot bring a qualitative change to the outside.
Andre Miller is steady and sometimes has impressive performances, but his ceiling is just that, and it’s hard to make new breakthroughs.
As for Ah Gan, this guy has aged another year, but his defense is rarely getting better and more solid.
However, his offense no longer has the incredible all-round striking power from his younger years. Now he has to choose between production and key explosions.
If this guy’s back injury resurfaces and he isn’t in good form, then you won’t get anything from him, and you’d be anxious.
As for the group of rookies, Hayden, Ariza, Rondo, all have clear strengths and weaknesses.
Moreover, these guys are too young. What important role can they really play?
The more Porter thinks about it, the more he gets a headache, so don’t expect him to have a good demeanor.
Porter actually has very high expectations of himself. In his basketball career, competing for the championship has always been the main theme.
No season has not revolved around striving for the championship, so he’s already formed a thinking habit of aiming for the championship every time the season starts.
He can’t accept tanking or barely making it to the playoffs; he feels it would let down the 11 rings he has.
After getting snubbed by Porter, Gan Guoyang wasn’t angry and told Porter, "Don’t worry, my back injury is much better. My form this season will be a lot better than last season."
"How much better? Can you be seventy percent of 1991?"
"Probably not, about sixty percent, similar to Karl Malone that year."
"You’ve fallen to compare yourself with Karl Malone, and it’s not even Malone from 97!"
"My defense is definitely better than his."
"What we need most now is offense, buddy. Hey, go warm up, stop bothering me." Porter remained irritable.
The biggest issue for Glory in these two seasons is a lack of offense, with only Gan Guoyang being the reliable one-on-one option in critical moments.
Especially come playoff time: Gan Guoyang, at 40, still has to take on the task of one-on-one offense in the third and fourth quarters.
He has to overly rely on mid-range jump shots to conclude, barely maintaining efficiency, and hope for a breakout in his touch to win games.
Moreover, between the defense and offensive expenditure, he needs to balance the nuances; he has squeezed himself into the most cost-effective machine.
The once-varied and carnival-like offensive techniques have gradually been replaced by monotonous yet effortless jump shots, and he has almost completely given up on Offensive Rebounds.
But at the same time, his fight for defensive rebounds has returned to the forefront of the League; he has consecutively claimed the League Rebound King for two seasons because of his excellent defensive rebound capabilities.
His blocks have dropped to historical lows because he’s using more anticipatory skills to block opponents, relying on experience, strength, and anticipation to build a new line of defense, competing against younger players.
Although they didn’t win the championship and got eliminated in the playoffs, Gan Guoyang still contributes new things over these three seasons, providing high-quality game content.
If it weren’t for injuries, the need for teammates’ growth, and some lineup shortcomings at Glory, given Guoyang’s level, they would still be very competitive.
This is also the reason why Gan Guoyang is willing to stay and fight for another season; these three years were far from futile for him. On the contrary, he gained a lot as he learned how to play his game in the NBA with a 40-year-old body.
So, another major reason for Porter’s irritation is his feeling of wasting Ah Gan’s last best years.