Chapter 2201 - 24: Pioneer
Before the game against The Warriors started, Gan Guoyang met Teacher Cap Raven. He came to the scene as a fan to watch Glory’s game against The Warriors.
Time flies, Raven is already 76 years old this year. He looks quite old and has been retired for a long time. Every year Gan Guoyang always takes time to visit him in San Francisco.
His son, Steve Raven, also came to the scene. That child who was once beaten mercilessly by Gan Guoyang on the streets of San Francisco is now a pretty good NCAA coach.
From 1996 to 2003, he was in charge of UCLA. Although he didn’t win a championship, he managed to reach the national tournament every year, proving he has a certain capability.
Raven tightly held Guoyang’s arm while journalists took pictures of the two of them. Raven said in a hoarse voice, "I can hardly believe that after all these years, I’m still here watching you play. My son has been a coach for almost 20 years, yet you, Ah Gan, remain ageless."
"Thank you for always coming to watch me play. It makes every return to San Francisco feel like coming home."
Before the evening game began, as Gan Guoyang appeared, he was still greeted with enthusiastic cheers and applause from the fans. Gan Guoyang is still the pride of the Chinese people in San Francisco.
The faces of Chinese-Americans in the audience were particularly numerous, more than half were yellow-skinned, because this game featured not only Gan Guoyang, and Yao Ming but also another Chinese player, Yi Jianlian.
Nowadays, there are four Chinese players in the NBA: Gan Guoyang, Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, and Yi Jianlian, who was selected by The Warriors in the 2005 draft.
Glory also considered choosing Yi Jianlian in the 2005 draft, but The Warriors favored him first and were unwilling to trade with Glory.
Gan Guoyang thought, Yi Jianlian going to The Warriors was a good choice. Glory’s aim in the past two years has been to win championships, not necessarily providing Yi Jianlian space for development.
In the Bay Area where Chinese people gather, Yi Jianlian can equally get good development opportunities.
On the court, Yi Jianlian seemed obviously nervous when he saw Gan Guoyang. Trying to greet, he didn’t dare to look directly at Ah Gan.
Unlike Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian’s character is rather taciturn and introverted, lacking the humor and generosity seen in Yao Ming.
But he is diligent, focused, and serious in training. Although a latecomer in the basketball field with average talents, he pushed his physical talents to the limit.
Like Yao Ming, he followed Gan Guoyang’s growth path, diligently practiced long-range shooting and attacking face-forward, specializing in individual defense and backcourt rebounds on the defense end, ignoring other concerns. Last season, he already achieved 10+8 statistics, establishing his foothold in the NBA.
As long as he follows Gan Guoyang’s plan, avoiding outside disturbance and finding his own positioning, he can survive in the NBA.
Like Wang Zhizhi, although wandering among teams, he often can score when subbed in due to his accurate shooting, many teams want him as a substitute. Now he plays well with the Clippers and has settled down, married, and started a family.
Therefore, in a foreign land in the NBA, having someone paving the way ahead can truly save a lot of missteps.
Moreover, with Gan Guoyang’s presence, Chinese fans don’t hold overly high expectations for players like Yi Jianlian, and Yao Ming.
No matter how high your potential is, can you exceed Ah Gan? That’s really impossible, so surviving is enough.
Gan Guoyang looked at the somewhat timid Yi Jianlian and said, "Look at me, don’t be afraid, we are going to match off."
Yi Jianlian replied quietly, "Okay, big brother."
"Don’t call me big brother, just call me Ah Gan."
"Okay, Big Gan."
"It’s Ah Gan."
"Okay, Ah brother."
"..."
Gan Guoyang didn’t want to make it difficult for Yi Jianlian either, he patted his shoulder, telling him to give his best in the game and not to slack off.
Since the disbandment of the RUN-TMC lineup, The Warriors haven’t truly risen again in 20 years.
Nowadays, the NBA scene is chaotic. Any strong team has a chance to win a championship, while weak teams just survive in their turf, selling tickets to make money and maintain operations.
The Warriors selecting Yi Jianlian is more from a commercial perspective, hoping to earn more money.
Yi Jianlian indeed brought much attention to The Warriors; more and more Chinese companies came to San Francisco and Oakland to cooperate with The Warriors, signing advertising contracts and creating image ties. The Warriors are also striving to increase Chinese elements to develop and share an increasingly large stake in the Chinese market.
For example, tonight, the jerseys worn by The Warriors and Glory have their team names printed in Chinese on the chest.
At this stage, the relationship between China and America was still quite good. China’s economy was developing rapidly, becoming the world’s factory and taking a vast amount of manufacturing orders.
Americans transferred many manufacturing industries to labor-rich China, while those controlling the currency supremacy in America only needed to print money to buy abundant daily commodities from China—a globe filled with Made in China products, including the jerseys worn by players tonight.
Of course, The Warriors’ strength isn’t weak this season. Since Don Nelson came to The Warriors, he has implemented his offensive style effectively, turning The Warriors into quite a forward-thinking team.
Their starting lineup tonight is Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Stephen Jackson, El Harrington, and Yi Jianlian.
The Warriors only have one inside player, and that is Yi Jianlian. Yet, Yi Jianlian is not a center, he is a power forward. However, under Don Nelson’s scheme, even Al Harrington can play center, let alone the standard 6 feet 11-inch Yi Jianlian, letting him guard the interior is more than sufficient.
This lineup is fast, strong in shooting, focuses on offense without defense. The inside is vacant, while the forward’s firepower is fierce.