[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-golden-age-of-basketball":3,"chapter-the-golden-age-of-basketball-the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-971":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Golden Age of Basketball",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1444438,1896,"Chapter 971 - 19: Going for the Big Score","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-971",971,"\u003Cp>After the 1988 season ended, I was fired once again, with no support from anyone, the entire League seemed like strangers to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was shocked and felt empty. I had led the team to the playoffs, full of ambition to go further, only to be told I was no longer the coach of the team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Replacing me was the Trail Blazers’ assistant coach Adelman, who, in fact, didn’t last long as the Warriors’ coach and soon humbly returned to Portland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, I realized that being a basketball coach is a difficult way to make a living.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The money is a lot, but there’s no sense of security, no stability, and you spend long periods away from your wife and kids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My self-esteem took a deep hit; it felt like no matter how much I did, I never gained trust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For several months, I was in low spirits, and I called my former Spurs teammate, Kobi Derrick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What should I do now?\" I asked him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re a coach, you can only coach; what else can you do?\" Kobi answered me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go back to the CBA?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t know, George, you can only be a coach, whether in the CBA or the NBA; it’s all coaching.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kobi seemed to be saying nonsense, but it was actually very useful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knowing who you are is an important principle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too many people and teams waste time trying to be someone or something they’re not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m a basketball coach, I was in the past, I am now, and I will be in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ve proven myself in the NBA, but maybe it’s not the right place for me right now. I can go somewhere else to continue coaching and start anew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a new place, I will win games, enrich myself, and make myself better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stopped waiting aimlessly and proactively called around for job opportunities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the following days, I met Phil Jackson, whose path at that time was opposite to mine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was leaving the NBA, while Phil was returning to the NBA.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After coaching the Albany Patroons in the CBA for 5 years, Phil was hired as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The owner of the Patroons called me, asking for a recommendation to replace Jackson.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I said, \"What about me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What!?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gary Holly was a bit incredulous that I would do such a thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Firstly, the salary for coaching in the CBA couldn’t compare to the NBA; it was downright paltry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Secondly, a former NBA coach going back to a minor league? There’s no precedent; it’s quite humiliating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I still did it. I realized who I was, and I let go of unnecessary pride and dignity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I am a basketball coach; I need to coach a team, win games with everyone, and achieve victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I didn’t do anything to maintain my identity as an NBA head coach, I would eventually lose everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For someone like me, who’s often doubted, the Patroons and the CBA are perfect, perfect for me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My NBA credentials combined with my confident coaching style made me a strong coach, and here I rebuilt my confidence and dignity as a coach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The team’s home court was the Washington Avenue Armory built in 1890, holding 3,600 people. It was made of red brick, with a copper spire outside and a dark and dirty interior filled with people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s a building that could resonate with me. I liked it—another one, of course, was the Rifield Submarine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After staying in Albany for a year (we achieved a 36-win and 18-loss record), I went to Madrid to coach Real Madrid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sudden death of Spanish basketball legend Fernando Espina caught us off guard, and after a sad yet crazy season, I was fired again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the 1990-91 season, I returned to the Patroons once more, where the doors were always open for me, and I underwent the final test that fate had in store for me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We achieved a 50-win and 6-loss record—the best record in professional basketball history.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our winning percentage of 89.3% surpassed that of the Lakers, the Bulls, and the Portland Trail Blazers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>50-6.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How was this achieved? Of course, there was credit to me as the coach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, the team’s manager Oliver also deserves recognition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We didn’t perform well in the training camp, but Oliver found three very good players: Mario Ellie, Vince Ask, and Albert Jin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the future, they would shine in the NBA, but they first proved themselves under my guidance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I also proved myself once again through me and the Patroons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end of our season, my old teams, the Warriors and Real Madrid, both called to ask if I was interested in returning to coach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mike Dunleavy did well with the Warriors, but they needed to take a further step, while Real Madrid was in trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My self-esteem and confidence were restored, I decided to go back to Madrid again to save Real Madrid, just like how I saved the Patroons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time my coaching performance was better than before, but my situation got increasingly worse; my relationship with the media was as bad as ever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At one point, I felt tired, extremely tired.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>San Antonio, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Oakland, Albany, Madrid, Albany, Madrid... In 11 years, I moved back and forth between 8 places.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My family followed me everywhere, and the kids never had a stable environment to grow up in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On New Year’s Eve 1991, our family had dinner at a Chinese restaurant near the Spanish Building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I told my daughter and son that I would resign after the season, and we would move back to America.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I would try to find a college coaching job to stabilize our lives, to recruit young students, and guide them to play in the NCAA.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few days later, the Bulls’ general manager Jerry Krause called me to ask for my views on Toni Kukoc and Sam Bowies.\u003C\u002Fp>",992,"2026-06-06T01:41:40.447Z",1,"novelbin.me","112614cc11cc434ab8b6b1329e6de55b6de415a7654a4b500fc8b37181697ef9","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-972","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-970",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]