He seed to be telling Jordan, "Your ti has co, hurry up, I’ve been waiting for you for a long ti."
Lost in thought, Gan Guoyang suddenly felt a wad of paper roll under his foot and hit his shoe.
Gan Guoyang looked down, then looked up and saw it was Peterlović who had kicked it, staring at him.
Gan Guoyang flicked the paper wad with his foot to Sabonis, who smiled and kicked it to Hornacek next to him.
Hornacek then kicked it to Porter, Porter kicked it to Jero Kossie, Kossie kicked it to Cliff-Robinson...
The entire team had a go at it, and finally, the wad of paper ended up back at Peterlović’s feet. He skillfully flicked it into a trash can with the tip of his foot.
A cheer erupted from the VIP room, waking Beelman who was catching a nap.
"****,*****,****!"
The VIP room fell silent.
-----------------
After being stuck in Milwaukee for about five hours, the snowstorm ceased, the airport cleared the snow, and the players finally boarded the plane back to Portland.
The Trail Blazers had achieved an impressive record of 5 wins and 1 loss during their week-long road trip, placing them first in the league with a 19-2 record.
Such a record was outstanding even in the entire history of the NBA.
Upon returning to Portland, Beelman gave the players a day off. On December 10, the Trail Blazers would face the Los Angeles Clippers at ho.
After the disgraceful 1987-1988 season with 17 wins and 65 losses, the Clippers, a notoriously weak team, obtained the No. 1 pick at the 1988 NBA Draft, selecting the talented forward Danny Manning.
Manning had beco famous early, recognized as a prodigious player throughout Arica during his high school days.
He was invited to join the 1984 Olympic Team selection camp during high school, training alongside college stars like Gan Guoyang and Jordan.
However, Manning’s performance was disappointing after being selected for the U.S. Olympic Team in 1988.
In the crucial semifinal against the Soviet Union, Manning failed to score, turning in a blank performance.
As the team’s second-leading scorer, his failure to score in such a pivotal ga highlighted his deficiencies in ability and ntal toughness.
Despite this, the Clippers still chose him, but Manning’s rookie season was cut short by an ACL tear.
This series of setbacks seed to predict the difficulties and struggles that lay ahead in Manning’s basketball career.
After a season of rest and recovery, Manning returned to the Clippers lineup this season.
After an unsuccessful one and a half seasons, Gene Shue finally left the coaching position.
His golden days were over, no longer the "fixer" he once was. His basketball philosophy was outdated.
Perhaps one day his ideas would shine again, but now was not his ti, not his era.
Taking over from Gene Shue was assistant coach Don Casey, who had previously coached in the NCAA and the Italian basketball league.
The Clippers’ managent really had no good coaching options, as reputable coaches were reluctant to join the Clippers.
Before the ga, while players were warming up, Elgin Baylor, the Clippers’ general manager who had co to Portland with the team, sat courtside and chatted with his good friend Jerry West.
Baylor had beco the general manager of the Clippers during the 1986-1987 season, with a friend in the Lakers and another in the Clippers.
Unexpectedly, West had "defected" to Portland, leaving Los Angeles, but this move did not affect their close relationship.
Baylor might be the person who understood West best in the world, knowing that many tis West didn’t want to win, he just didn’t want to endure the pain of losing.
Both sought the sa outco, but their initial motivations drastically differed.
Escaping Los Angeles ant escaping from pain; he had endured too much suffering there.
As for Baylor, although he was often made fun of for having the most runner-up finishes in history without a championship,
Baylor himself didn’t particularly mind; he had a more light-hearted view regarding not having a championship.
On the other hand, West genuinely held a grudge that Elgin Baylor wasn’t there when they won the championship in 1972. So much so that when they won, there wasn’t much of a smile on his face; all he could think about was why Baylor wasn’t there.
"You should just co to Portland," West said to Baylor, "I need a good assistant here, why bother working for soone like Donald Sterling."
"Haha, don’t you work for your own Donald too?" Baylor retorted.
In terms of social reputation, Tang Jianguo wasn’t necessarily much better than Donald Sterling; both were controversial figures.
"I’m not working for Donald; I’m working for Ah Gan; this year our form has been exceptional, better than I’d anticipated."
"You want to make him the next Russell."
"Hmm... but I won’t be the next Reed, he disgusts ."
"Haha, I’m doing fine in Los Angeles, I like the Clippers, even though they’re terrible. There always has to be a runner-up in basketball gas, and if that runner-up has to be ... I think I’m okay with it."
Baylor shrugged, and West, looking at Elgin’s great attitude, said, "If only Michael had your mindset."
Baylor and West burst into laughter.
[Once on a plane, I ran into Jerry, and Jerry chatted with for a while.
He reached for the magazine in the seatback pocket, rolled it up, and said, "We had a good team, right El?"
"Yes."
"We ca close to winning the championship, what, seven tis?"
I nodded, "We couldn’t compete with Russell."
Jerry paused, his hand resting on my arm, unexpectedly whispered, "You should have a statue."
"What?"
"In Los Angeles, there should be a statue of you, believe , I’ve contacted the Lakers..." his voice faded, "I’ll keep applying..."
I didn’t say anything, imagining in my mind Staples Center’s Star Plaza, where seven life-sized bronze statues of Los Angeles sports legends welco visitors.
Wayne Gretzky, De La Hoya, Magic Johnson, Chick Hearn, Luke Robitaille, Jabbar, and Jerry West.
All worth it, all Los Angeles heroes, funny, I arrived before all of them.
When the Minneapolis Lakers were struggling to survive, the owner Bob Short used the No. 1 pick to choose ; he later said I saved the team from bankruptcy and enabled him to move the team to Los Angeles.
Ironically, I was the literal aning of a Laker.
Minnesota, the land of ten thousand lakes; Los Angeles has many features, but lakes are not one of them.
Jerry, it’s okay, I thought, I don’t need a statue.
At that mont I didn’t say anything, but later I imagined going back to the plane, talking to Jerry West:
"Jerry, I never asked for anything. I never have; I am content with what I’ve received. Oh, I’ve been through things like everyone else, but I’m a survivor; I feel lucky, no, I believe I am blessed."
But I guess I wouldn’t mind that statue.]
——Published in 2018, excerpt from Elgin Baylor’s autobiography "Hang Ti: My Life in Basketball."
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