The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1684 - 24: A Hard Life (Part 2)

Barkley couldn’t take it anymore and retorted, "You’re heavier than me now, Larry!"

Having successfully lost weight, Barkley indeed looked more fit and lean, whereas Bird, who had been retired for years, had clearly started to gain weight, so it was normal for him to outweigh Barkley.

Bird smiled and said, "That’s because I’m wearing a few more rings than you."

Barkley had nothing to say, so he buried himself in training; he would forever be overshadowed until he got a championship ring.

Endless physical training, it’s a tradition of the Trail Blazers, and a hallmark of Bird’s training method.

The entire morning was spent on basic fitness exercises to awaken the players’ bodies that had "slept" for four or five months.

During the lunch break, Larry Bird reminded Carl that the Trail Blazers are an aging team, so don’t spend too much time on physical training.

"Maintaining health, comfort, reducing fatigue, and avoiding injuries are among your main tasks this season," said Bird.

Carl nodded and made appropriate adjustments to the training plan for the coming period.

Being a new head coach as well, Carl was more cautious, careful, and methodical.

While Bird back then was more laid-back, often acting as a hands-off manager, delegating specific matters to assistants.

Subsequently, Bird also gave Carl some opinions on his plans and strategies, helping Carl strategically navigate his rookie period.

Of course, this situation wouldn’t last too long; Carl is experienced and quite assertive, having his own ideas about coaching.

While serving as an assistant coach, Carl focused on offense, designing a brilliant fluid offense around Gan Guoyang, achieving an astonishing 1997-1998 season.

However, some situations in the 1998-1999 season made Carl realize that when players’ performance declines, age increases, and concentration wanes, the effectiveness of the fluid offense would diminish.

This system was still too immature, especially as it was highly dependent on Ah Gan’s talent. Without Gan Guoyang’s all-around offensive threat and superb support skills, the Trail Blazers’ fluid offense appeared quite ordinary.

After considering the team’s age situation and roster configuration, Carl decided to redeploy the Trail Blazers’ offensive and defensive resources for the new season, slowing down the team’s offensive pace and investing more energy in defense.

This is akin to the Trail Blazers in their first three-peat period in the 1988 season; entering the phase of competing for the third crown, player aging, weakened competitive mindset, and internal turmoil meant the team should not take the offensive approach, but rather focus on defense, using defense, experience, and absolute talent to grind through an entire season.

Carl’s strategy received recognition from the management and other coaches, and in several preseason games, the Trail Blazers’ tactical experiments visibly lowered their offensive speed, aligned with the current league trend, and introduced many new defensive strategies.

Charles Barkley’s debut at the Rose Garden was warmly welcomed by the fans, and Barkley was quite eager to show off his fit build after losing weight.

However, since his position overlapped with Gan Guoyang, Barkley could only sit on the bench, and once the new season started, Barkley would also come off the bench and compete with Little O’Neal and Ben Wallace for playing time.

Little O’Neal and Ben Wallace were quickly growing, entering their fourth season in the league, a critical stage to make a name for themselves and potentially become All-Stars in the future.

Barkley’s arrival made the internal competition within the team more intense, as after all, Little O’Neal and Wallace already had rings, and personal development and larger contract amounts were what they were pursuing.

Fortunately, Barkley announced in advance that this would be his last season, and that he’d retire after playing, so the young players still showed him superficial respect.

Barkley has repeatedly expressed at various occasions that he doesn’t want to influence the young players’ development and is willing to make any needed contribution to the team.

"Including wiping Ah Gan’s butt!" Barkley unabashedly said in a postgame interview.

Barkley’s arrival added a comedic atmosphere within the Trail Blazers team.

Of course, not everyone was satisfied with the Trail Blazers’ new season strategy.

Kobe Bryant’s father, Joe Bryant, had, after some time in the preseason, intentionally or unintentionally hinted to the media about his dissatisfaction with Kobe’s role in the Trail Blazers and the team’s strategic choices for the new season.

In Joe Bryant and his wife’s eyes, or rather their plan, the new season should have Kobe become the Trail Blazers’ second core, a key figure on the perimeter only second to Ah Gan, Ah Gan’s successor, the next Oregon King.

But judging by the Trail Blazers’ recruitments and tactical arrangements, Kobe’s role for the new season remained much like before, a strong support for Ah Gan, still not holding a status in the team equal to those of the veterans.

Kobe himself had no major objections, but Joe Bryant and his wife were displeased, believing it would affect Kobe’s growth progress, especially his notoriety and commercial value.

This summer, Adidas and Kobe renegotiated the details of the 1996 contract, amending certain clauses.

The contract both increased the resource allocation for Kobe and terminated the clause that specifically paid Joe Bryant.

Because when Kobe signed the contract in 1996, he was under 18, and to appease his guardian Joe, Adidas agreed to pay a cash amount of around $150,000 annually to Joe.