Losing a regular-season ga was not a major setback for the Shui Zhong Team; on the contrary, it helped them identify problems and find solutions.
From mid-November to late December, the Shui Zhong Team played a total of 7 gas and achieved a record of 6 wins and 1 loss.
Aside from losing to the Washington Eagles, other schools in San Francisco were no match for Shui Zhong.
Gan Guoyang’s statistics dropped in the latter four gas, with a decrease in his offensive rebounds.
To counter well-trained opponents, Gan Guoyang reduced his offensive rebounding to focus more on getting back on defense.
Maintaining a stable zone defense to minimize the opponent’s fast breaks was a top priority for Gan Guoyang.
On the offensive end, Gan Guoyang faced more double teams, and to avoid turnovers, he reduced his low-post plays.
Franklin took on more of the offensive duties, easing the scoring pressure on Gan Guoyang and making it harder for the opposition to defend against them.
While most schools focused on team basketball, Shui Zhong Team had already adopted a pro-team’s twin-star model.
Although touted as twin stars, Gan Guoyang far surpassed Franklin in both impact and popularity.
As the gas progressed, his reputation grew not just in the Bay Area but throughout California.
Playing at away gyms or Kezar Stadium was undoubtedly a huge waste of Gan Guoyang’s popularity.
Starting from the fourth ga, with the efforts of Huang Shaohua, the team’s gas were held at the War morial Gymnasium of the University of San Francisco.
With additional seating, the venue could accommodate 5,000 spectators, and ticket sales were a substantial source of inco.
People ca from all over to watch the gas, not just locals from San Francisco.
There were those from Sacranto, Los Angeles, and even neighboring Nevada.
They didn’t mind the three-and-a-half-hour drive.
Many of them were Chinese people living in Arica, eager to see this Eastern "Biochemical Warrior" with their own eyes in San Francisco.
Gan Guoyang did not disappoint these fans who had traveled from afar, winning victories for his team and cheers for himself with focused, dominant performances on the court.
In San Francisco, he encountered no center capable of contesting him one-on-one—California was not known for producing centers.
It was rumored that in Houston, Boston, and Pennsylvania, there were young, talented big n like Gan Guoyang, but they had yet to et on the court.
Besides ticket sales, the school also sold caps, T-shirts, and posters with Gan Guoyang’s autograph, and a Wilson basketball signed by him fetched $500 in an auction before one of the gas.
Before the gas, students would set up stalls outside the gym to sell Chinese snacks to raise funds for the team’s training expenses and equipnt purchases.
The remaining funds were partly deposited into the Chinese Progress Foundation to support the activities and rights of the Chinese community, with the rest allocated as subsidies to Shui Zhong Team players.
Gan Guoyang, of course, could take a larger share, as this money was essentially earned because of him.
He did not go for egalitarianism, but after receiving the money, he gave half to Gan Youwei and spent the rest on treating others to als, leaving nothing behind.
The school also made plans for future gas: naturally, it would be best if they could make it into the CIF State Championships.
If they failed to enter the state championships, next sester they could still compete in other invitationals, traveling to other states like Ohio, Indiana, or even Florida to play gas.
In short, in basketball-developed Arica, if you have a decent team and a famous star, there won’t be a lack of gas to play or money to be made—there are plenty willing to spend to watch the gas.
At that ti, NBA was not the entirety of Arican basketball, not even a major part—just a small but sowhat influential segnt.
In December, NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien announced at a press conference, "We have just signed the largest television broadcasting contract in league history," ending the awkward situation of over a month of the NBA season passing without television coverage since its start.
O’Brien didn’t lie; this political figure, known historically for the Watergate scandal, understood the devastating consequences of lying.
But not lying doesn’t an he was reflecting the full picture; the NBA’s new broadcasting contract was for 4 years at $88 million, with networks clearly stating in negotiations they would not offer a price over $100 million.
The annual average of $22 million was the sa as the last year of the previous contract, without a single cent increase.
Considering the high inflation in the US economy at the ti, the contract was effectively reduced in value.
And with a duration of only four years, concluding with the 1984-1985 season, it was evident that networks weren’t very optimistic about the NBA’s future developnt.
For comparison, the recently concluded MLB strike resulted in a $184 million contract.
And the NCAA college football league secured a $260 million contract.
The contract amounts for NCAA college basketball are also on the rise, not standing still.
Not to ntion the NFL, which now sits at the top of the four major leagues, their new broadcasting contract is 21 billion US dollars.
The NBA’s contract is not even a fraction of the NFL’s.
In such a context and comparison, how much water is in O’Brien’s "biggest in history" is clear to anyone who looks closely.
In the new broadcasting contract, the number of regular-season gas CBS broadcasts has been reduced from the previous 41 to 28.
Fans can only watch 28 NBA ga broadcasts on TV in a year. The NBA’s official explanation is: Less is more.
They will offer fans the best gas, not those boring, uninteresting matches, to maintain a good image of the league among fans.
How much self-deception there is in this theory can only be asked of the NBA executives themselves.
The reduction in TV broadcasts also made it difficult for Guoyang to catch live NBA gas in his free ti.
Until December 25th, Christmas Day, the NBA’s traditional Christmas Battle, when the television network broadcast the Nets versus the Knicks.
With school on break, Guoyang could watch the live broadcast at ho.
The ga was held at the famous Madison Square Garden Plaza, and surprisingly, the attendance rate for this headline New York derby was only 50%.
Through the TV cara, it was visible that many seats were empty because neither team had any popular stars.
The ga was scheduled for the afternoon Eastern Ti, so when Guoyang watched it, it was noon Pacific Ti.
You Wei finished up in the kitchen and found Guoyang watching the TV, saying, "Guoyang, I have sothing here, help return it."
Guoyang asked, "Sothing? What is it?"
You Wei took out a large tal box and handed it to Guoyang. Upon opening it, inside were stacks of upscale restaurant discount coupons, many supermarket gift cards, three watches, two rolls of high-end ties, and a Mont Blanc gold pen set.
"Dad, what are all these? Did you buy them?"
"No, they were given by soone, from the University of San Francisco."
"University of San Francisco? Why would they give you these?"
"Of course, they were not for ; they were ant for you. Since you never accept things from others, they handed them over to your uncle, who then gave them to . I’ve stored them, and when you have ti, you can return them all to the givers."
Ever since Guoyang beca famous, countless people have wanted to give him gifts.
Journalists, agents, scouts, and college basketball recruiters all want to get closer to him by giving gifts.
But Guoyang knows the saying, "one who takes gifts finds himself indebted." As long as he plays basketball well, he won’t be short on money in the future and doesn’t need to fall into traps by accepting others’ gifts.
When it cos to gift-giving, Aricans and Chinese both use the sa tactics: If the person himself won’t accept, then take a detour and go through relatives.
Guoyang’s closest relative is his father, You Wei, but You Wei is also a straightforward and honest man.
Gan’s Restaurant gain fa through Guoyang’s achievent, and he makes a living through his culinary skills, not by freeloading.
Accepting gifts from others changes the nature of things. You Wei knows this could bring trouble to his son and firmly refuses to accept.
So, so people found another roundabout way, going to Youtang and entrusting him to pass the items to You Wei, and thus the gifts still ended up in his hands.
You Wei certainly would not use them and didn’t want to nag his son daily and interfere with his basketball and studies, so he simply collected everything.
When Christmas break arrived, he handed it all to Guoyang to deal with.
After understanding the situation, Guoyang agreed with his father’s approach, but to whom should he return these things?
After so thought, Guoyang thought of Mr. Kapu-Lavin, so he made a call to Mr. Kapu-Lavin and arranged to et at Rochambeau Court that afternoon.
The Knicks and the Nets ga was still going on, but Guoyang lost interest in watching; it really was not worth watching.
As he was leaving, he suddenly rembered sothing and said to You Wei, "Dad, I won’t be back for dinner tonight."
"You’re not coming back tonight? Do you have a date?"
"No, an old friend invited for dinner."
"Alright then, just be careful, don’t ss around."
Watching his son leave, You Wei muttered to himself, "Old friend, you haven’t been in Arica that long, and you already have old friends?"
He didn’t know that the "old friend" Guoyang ntioned truly was an "old" friend.
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