The Golden Age of Basketball.

Chapter 995 Totem
Wearing another team's jersey back to play in Chicago wasn't something Jordan found hard to accept; he had already experienced it once last season, and was greeted with applause that lasted for several minutes.

Just like Gan Guoyang's return to Portland, Jordan is a totem here, a memory of many fans' youth, a mark of their growth, and an indelible trace etched into their lives.

These traces are not necessarily related to championships. Like Reggie Miller with the Indiana Pacers and John Stockton with the Utah Jazz, even if they never won a championship, they are still a memory of a city and an important part of the city's sports history.

Superstars like Gan Guoyang, who brought 10 championships to their cities, and Jordan, who brought 3 championships to the Bulls, naturally received more applause and more enthusiastic cheers, and the memories they left behind were mostly sweet.

The bad news is that Gan Guoyang is involved in all three of the Bulls' history of missing out on the championship. They were defeated head-on by Gan, which is a lasting pain for Chicago fans.

Bulls fans could accept Jordan going to the Seattle SuperSonics, who were their Finals losers.

It's hard to accept Jordan going to the Glory. Although Jordan won't be returning to the Bulls, isn't it a bit inappropriate for him to join the team that defeated the Bulls three times?

Therefore, the Chicago media's opinion on Jordan joining the Glorious was never very friendly, with criticism and ridicule everywhere. When the Glorious visited Chicago this time, many people expected the fans to boo Jordan.

However, public opinion can be deceiving, but ticket prices cannot.

Following the precedent set by the Milwaukee game, ticket prices for this Chicago game skyrocketed.

Because the tickets were already sold out, the only option was to find scalpers or insiders privately.

Previously in Portland, Gan Guoyang had essentially turned the Trail Blazers' season tickets into an investment product.

Buy when the price goes up, and it immediately rises. Sell it when the season is almost over, and you can make a fortune.

Because the Trail Blazers' record is so consistent, as long as Forrest Gump is on the court, the price of season tickets is guaranteed to rise steadily, even more steadily than buying government bonds.

The Glorious are now following this trend, which has also boosted ticket sales for other teams in the Eastern Conference.

On the afternoon of November 1st, the Glorious team arrived at the United Center in Chicago, which has a full capacity of 21879 fans. When the Seattle SuperSonics visited Chicago last year, the number of seats was increased to 23534.

Today, Jordan and Gan Guoyang visited at the same time, and it was also the beginning of the season, so the arena gritted its teeth and increased the seating capacity to 23661.

This is the limit. We can't add any more. We really can't add any more. If we add any more, it'll just hang from the ceiling.

After that, whenever the Glory played away games this season, especially their first visit to the city, the arena always had extra seats added.

The media had already filled the pre-game press room. Gan Guoyang and Jordan were interviewed together and chatted briefly.

Since it was a trip back to Chicago, Gan Guoyang handed the microphone to Jordan, letting him answer most of the questions.

When faced with some rather pointed questions from reporters, Gan Guoyang would stand up for Jordan and ask, "Which newspaper are you from?"

After the interview, Jordan complained, "Are you crazy, Sonny? You're threatening the media?"

"I'm helping you threaten them, what does that have to do with me?"

"Do I need your help? I don't know what these guys will write."

"These guys won't write anything, don't worry, Chicago fans still love you. As long as the fans love you, the media won't write anything to smear you. They can offend the stars, but they can't offend the vast number of fans and readers. It's a triangular relationship, you understand? Stars, media, fans, they check and balance each other."

You have a point.

"When have I ever been unreasonable? Tonight's stage is yours."

Gan Guoyang patted Jordan on the shoulder, saying that the Chicago Dance must be handed over to Jordan.

At 7 p.m., as the game was about to begin, the once empty United Center in Chicago gradually filled up with people, eventually becoming a bustling hub of noise.

More than 23000 spectators, the largest number of attendees at a game in the entire league.

Since the Alamo Dome and Silver Dome, which were converted from super-large stadiums, are no longer in use, the United Center has become the largest and noisiest basketball arena.

The fans were full of enthusiasm and eagerly anticipated the evening's game, hoping to see the two gods team up live. As for whether they were opponents, did it matter?

When the players were introduced, Gan Guoyang of the Guanghui team was the first to appear, and boos rang out from the crowd, which was perfectly normal.

This was the player Chicago fans hated most in the 90s, their nightmare.

Even when shushing, one doesn't dare to shush for too long or too loudly.

Jordan was the last to appear, and the lights in the arena suddenly dimmed.

As the classic Bulls entrance theme played, the crowd erupted in unparalleled cheers.

This is the greatest tribute Chicago fans can pay to their former king.

When the Bulls players entered the court, the atmosphere was rather subdued, with only sporadic applause and cheers.

When the camera on the big screen focused on Jerry Krause, who was sitting courtside watching the game, he was met with a chorus of boos, which made Krause look very unhappy.

In the past two years, Krause has been too eager for quick success. He selected a group of promising young players, played for them for a year, and when he felt they weren't good enough, he traded them away, tanked the game, and then selected another group to continue experimenting.

Players like Elton Brandon and Ron Artest are very talented. Although they had many problems in their rookie seasons, they are rookies and need time to develop.

But Jerry Krause was blinded by two things.

Firstly, he was eager to build a championship roster for the post-Jordan era.

This is to prove his management skills; he is a championship-caliber general manager, not just a lucky guy who relied on Jordan.

He could still win championships and build a strong roster even without Jordan.

The second thing, however, is related to Jordan: his appetite was spoiled by Jordan.

What level was Jordan at? He averaged 25+ points per game in his rookie season, an achievement that many players can't reach in their entire careers.

Why was Artest abandoned by the Bulls? He was clearly a good young man.

Because Jerry Krause thought his offense was too poor; let alone averaging 25 points per game, it was questionable whether he could even reach 20 points at his peak.

For Krause, who was used to Jordan, how could he tolerate it? He simply traded them all away!

Furthermore, Jordan was an outside star, so Krause accumulated talent over the years and desperately tried to make an inside player the core.

Brand, Chandler, Eddie Curry—he doesn't want to choose the so-called "Jordan successor," and he doesn't want to continue living in Jordan's shadow.

In the 2001 NBA Draft, the Bulls, holding two high picks, could have easily selected Chandler, but Krause insisted on getting Eddy Curry instead.

In fact, behind Eddie Curry, there were Jason Richardson and Joe Johnson. Although they were not as good as Jordan, they were all excellent shooting guards.

If Jerry Krause could let go of his obsession and pick a Jordan-type player to pair up inside and outside, the Bulls' roster would be more balanced.

Look at the Bulls' current starting lineup. The frontcourt is a mess of fat and thin, and the twin towers of Chandler and Curry are unusually cumbersome. Although they seem to be starters, they often only play for less than 20 minutes before being taken off the court to rest. They are fake starters.

When it comes to truly tough battles, we still need veteran generals.

Shooting guard Trenton Hassell, a workhorse-type perimeter player, shares no technical similarities with Jordan except for both being Black. Jalen Rose, acquired in the trade for Ron Artest, is already 30 years old and has no further potential to be developed.

He has a decent scoring ability, but he can't make the All-Star team and can only be used as a near-All-Star player. Last season, he only played 30 games due to injury.

Starting point guard Jay Williams, the second overall pick, also failed to inspire much imagination among fans.

After Jordan left the Bulls in 1998, the Bulls tanked and acquired a lot of high draft picks.

However, none of these efforts have translated into combat power. Instead, through repeated periods of neglect, trading, and abandonment, the situation has deteriorated into its current chaotic state.

In the opening game, the Bulls visited the Boston Celtics and were soundly defeated by the defending champions, offering no chance to fight back.

In the second game against the Glory, he was bound to get another beating. How could Chicago fans not boo Krause?

Klaus sat there, his obese body expressionless, a sense of loss filling every cell of his body.

He was 63 years old and knew he wouldn't be able to stay in the general manager position for much longer; his struggles over the past few years had undoubtedly failed.

Seeing the cheers Jordan received upon his return to Chicago, and the boos he received, Krause knew he had completely lost.

Especially with Forrest Gump and Jordan teaming up, Krause had even less of a chance of winning.

Before the match, Klaus's wife advised him not to go to the stadium to watch the game that night.

He can make a fortune by selling tickets to others, so why bother going to the live show? That would definitely be Michael's feast.

But Krause stubbornly refused; he still went to the United Center, sat down in a front-row seat, and watched the game.

While the other audience members were enjoying themselves, Klaus was being tortured, tormenting his mind with utter defeat in order to find some kind of relief.

For the Glory, the starting lineup was the same as in the previous game, with Ewing and Gan Guoyang forming a twin towers combination. Facing the Bulls' young twin towers, they actually had more energy.

Tyson Chandler and Stephen Curry were too inexperienced; they didn't even go to college, jumping straight from high school into the NBA, and were both selected by the Bulls at very high draft positions.

Before the NBA season starts, it's a beautiful fairy tale: young people make their way in the world, gain fame early, and become renowned.

It wasn't until the NBA season started that I realized not every high school player is Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, or Jermaine O'Neal.

The Portland Trail Blazers drafted two high school players in the 1996 NBA Draft, who grew into league superstars in the post-Forrest Gump era and continued to be highly competitive.

This success story made Jerry Krause overlook the fact that the Trail Blazers had Gan Guoyang at the time, who had invested a lot in developing the two young players, and that the Trail Blazers had a very stable environment for growth.

Of course, most importantly, Kobe and Jermaine O'Neal had the talent to grow into superstars, while Chandler and Eddie Curry did not.

It is said that Yao Ming was confident in playing in the NBA because he dominated Tyson Chandler in a scrimmage.

If this is the level of the so-called strongest high school player in the United States, then Yao Ming feels that he has no problem playing in the NBA.

Chandler was able to put up incredibly impressive numbers in high school thanks to his exceptional physical advantages.

But in the NBA, surrounded by physical monsters, without the training he received in college, Chandler lacked any independent offensive skills and could only rely on his height, wingspan, and jumping ability to score lobs and block shots, with no other skills.

Their defense is also very inexperienced, averaging less than 20 minutes of playing time and committing 2.5 fouls per game.

In comparison, Chandler's role model, Kevin Garnett, averaged 28 minutes per game in his rookie season and committed 2.4 fouls per game.

A player's maturity can be seen just from their ability to control fouls, and Chandler is far behind in this aspect.

Eddie Curry's performance further disappointed Jerry Krause and Chicago fans, as Krause clearly did not conduct a thorough background check on him.

He assumed that every player was like Michael Jordan or Forrest Gump, fiercely competitive, talented, and would work hard to climb to the top step by step.

As a general manager, all he needs to do is continuously collect high-quality players and build a team.

As it turns out, Eddie Curry isn't the kind of player who works hard at all; he doesn't even like playing basketball.

The reason he played basketball when he was a child was simply because he was tall and people asked him to play basketball.

He did play very well later on, and he chose the NBA over college because he could earn money faster, which was millions of dollars.

How hard can you expect a player like that to work?

His daily routine is just like clocking in and out for get off work: training, competitions, and more.

As for the championship? And beating a monster like Forrest Gump? To hell with it, let's finish this game and go home.

Krause's relationship with Curry is therefore very bad, unlike his relationship with Jordan back then.

His bad relationship with Jordan stemmed from their intense competitiveness. They vied for control of the team and credit, leading to mutual attacks and dislike.

Curry is because this guy is too unambitious and lazy. He doesn't meet Krause's requirements at all. Krause even gave up Brand for him.

Klaus felt a pang of heartache whenever he thought about it. How could he have been so blind as to choose this gluttonous fat man? He's even more gluttonous than me!

After the game started, Curry and Chandler were completely dominated by Forrest and Ewing in the paint.

Moreover, Curry was clearly afraid of playing against Forrest Gump; he would pass the ball out when it reached the paint and refused to execute post-up plays.

He doesn't love basketball, he doesn't want to challenge the gods, he just wants to finish the game peacefully and go back to take a shower.

Don't provoke Forrest Gump on the field, or he'll get beaten up and the scene will be ugly.

Gan Guoyang wasn't in the mood to beat the kids tonight; his goal was to give Jordan a chance to shine.

However, Jordan's shooting was off at the start, missing his first three shots.

Gan Guoyang grabbed two offensive rebounds under the basket and warned Jordan, "If you miss again, I'll slam your head into the rim."

Jordan smiled, received the ball, drove to the baseline, at a zero-degree angle, facing the defense, and released a classic fadeaway jumper, which went in!
The audience cheered. What a familiar scene, what a graceful gesture!

Although the takeoff height and breakthrough speed are not as good as at their peak, the feeling is the same.

The atmosphere at the United Center gradually became more lively, and then Gan Guoyang made a bounce pass to Jordan on the wing during a counterattack.

Jordan received the ball, stopped abruptly, and took another mid-range shot, which went in! His consecutive successful shots thrilled the fans.

While on defense, Jordan said to Gan Guoyang, "I'm getting hot, give me more shots."

"How many are you preparing tonight? 40?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course it's 50 points."

(End of this chapter)