The Golden Age of Basketball

On Monday, after daytime classes, the Shui Zhong Team students as usual headed to the YMCA gymnasium for training.

Their coach, Coach Beelman, who was always early waiting for them at the gymnasium, was not there.

Gan Guohui frowned and muttered, "Could it be that after all this time, Mr. Beelman has dropped out?"

Just then, Coach Beelman appeared. He had overheard Gan Guohui's comment and said, "Fat Guohui, slandering the coach, twenty shuttle runs."

"What? I was just joking!"

"Thirty."

Gan Guohui dared not say another word and turned to start his shuttle runs.

While everyone was snickering, they quickly noticed that Coach Beelman had brought a strange new face, a black man.

He was very tall, with an afro, wearing a brown T-shirt with holes in it, and his dark face looked up with wariness and hostility.

"Let me introduce the new team member, Becker-Franklin, 6 foot 4, playing as a small forward."

"Hey, I haven't agreed to join the team yet! I'm just here to try out."

"That's right, to try out... Go change your clothes, and we'll start with a physical test shortly."

Coach Beelman handed Franklin a new team uniform, which Franklin changed into in the locker room and came out.

He now looked even more like a basketball player.

During the physical test, he displayed excellent athletic ability; dunking was as simple for him as eating and drinking.

In the fundamental skills test, his dribbling was solid, his shooting form a bit awkward, but his accuracy was passable.

What impressed everyone the most was his explosive power; both his acceleration and his jumps were incredibly quick like springs.

The rest of the Shui Zhong Team watched in amazement.

When Franklin finished his tests, Gan Guohui had completed his shuttle runs, panting and out of breath, but still alive.

Coach Beelman was very pleased with Franklin's performance, thinking to himself that with Franklin's natural athletic talent and skills, he had a chance to play in the NCAA Division I league.

However, his technique was a little wild, clearly a relic of street brawling, and needed proper guidance to correct.

"Okay, let's move on to training now."

"Bobby, I told you I'm just here to try out. You want that Ah Gan to come out; you say he's better than me, that I can only be second fiddle?"

Coach Beelman laughed, "You want to challenge Ah Gan one-on-one?"

"Right."

"That's street stuff, bullfighting is only a small part of basketball. The person with the strongest one-on-one ability isn't necessarily the core of the team. It's like Wes Unseld and Hayes, Monroe and Reed. We now have exactly 10 people on the team, let's have a 5v5 after training to prove, once and for all, who is the core, how about that?"

Franklin hesitated before nodding in agreement.

After convincing Franklin to come for a trial yesterday, Coach Beelman had been gradually leading him on.

By the time he had worn the jersey, taken the money, registered at school, dealt with his family, and trained, he wouldn't believe this guy could still refuse.

Dealing with this kind of belligerent black guy, Beelman had his methods, mixing cajoling, deceiving, and provoking to lead him by the nose.

"He's much easier to handle than Gan," Coach Beelman thought to himself. Gan Guoyang was someone he couldn't deal with at all, completely unable to grasp the kid's thoughts.

At this time, Gan Guoyang did not say a word, just normally participated in the team training.

During the training, Franklin observed Gan Guoyang closely and even verbally provoked him.

But Gan Guoyang ignored him completely, silently completing the training exercises.

Coach Beelman's training was intense. At first, Franklin could be distracted, but soon he could only focus on the practice.

When training was over, Coach Beelman organized team scrimmages and told Franklin, "I'm giving you the starting players, the substitutes will be with Ah Gan."

Franklin said it didn't matter to him, "I'll win no matter who I'm up against, as long as the ball is in my hands!"

When the match was about to start, Gan Guoyang suddenly came over and said to Franklin, "I know you, I've seen you before."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've seen you, that day near The Cathedral of the Assumption, you were playing on the court. The ball slipped out of your hands towards me, and I went to pick it up to return it to you, but you screamed and shouted at me."

"What are you talking about, I don't remember... I did play near The Cathedral of the Assumption, but when was that?"

"A car came rushing by, nearly hit me; I almost died."

"What's that got to do with me?"

Gan Guoyang didn't say anything more, just gave him a faint look; the showdown was about to start.

Franklin's heart was suddenly in disarray; he tried hard to recall his time playing basketball near The Cathedral of the Assumption.

But the places and frequency of his games were too many to count; ever since he was expelled, he'd been hustling by playing streetball to earn his meals.

Compared to being restricted by the school team, he preferred the free life on the streets—at least, that's how he justified it to himself.

He thought he was great, the best dunker in San Francisco, only a bit behind those monsters from the streets of Oakland.

What else could these yellow-skinned, black-haired guys do besides study?

Franklin tried to organize his emotions, thinking that later on, he had to dunk on that Ah Gan's head.

But would he bump into me, Franklin couldn't help worrying. What did his words actually mean?

-----------------

Half an hour later, with Coach Belman's whistle, the scrimmage training ended.

There was no scoreboard on the sidelines, and no one kept track of the score, but everyone knew who won and who lost.

Beads of sweat kept rolling down Franklin's black forehead; his jersey was completely drenched, and his injured left leg was faintly in pain.

The training of more than an hour, plus over 20 minutes of continuous scrimmage, had drained the proud physique he so boasted about.

Coach Belman came over, handed him a new set of uniforms, and said, "This is a new jersey for you to change into. Remember to wash it after you get back. If it's too much trouble for you, leave it in the locker room, and the school's laundry staff will take care of it."

Breathing heavily, Franklin looked up at Coach Belman, then glanced at Gan Guoyang, who was still practicing on the court.

After today's scrimmage, only Gan Guoyang was still practicing; even Xu Xun couldn't handle it anymore.

"How many points did I score?"

"I didn't keep track, but I'm sure you guys lost."

"We trained too long; I'm drained."

"Everyone trained, and we train like this every day."

"..."

Watching Franklin fall silent, Coach Belman persuaded him, "Basketball is a team sport; it's only within a team that an individual can showcase his value. We're heading to Oakland the week after next, to face Fremont High School, which will decide our fate. We need an outstanding forward like you. Don't you want to dunk in the Tiger Gymnasium at Fremont?"

"People from the streets of San Francisco all hate Oakland."

"That's right, this is your chance, in Oakland. Besides, that guy will become your teammate, guarding you in the three-second zone."

Both of their gazes shifted to Gan Guoyang, who seemed tireless, shooting again and again, his tall figure intimidating.

"He scares me. Before the jump ball, he said he knew me, to be honest, I was a bit frightened. I'm not someone who gets scared easily."

Opening up to the friendly Coach Belman, Franklin spoke his heart.

"It's normal; that guy is a devil. But he's generally a good person, just don't be an opponent to him."

So Franklin took the clean jersey from Coach Belman's hands and officially became a member of the Beiqiao Shuizhong Team.