"For an insider, there are two parts that are very important. The first is your butt. When you have a strong butt, you can have a stable foot plate when you are stuck, and you can firmly occupy the position. Stay in position and don’t let your opponent push you away easily.”
"Second, it's your back. When you use your butt to hold the position and stabilize your lower body, you need to use your strong and flexible back to gain room for movement. At the same time, the perception of your back is your second pair of Eyes, you have to be able to use them to observe the defense."
At the end of July, on the basketball court in the backyard of THE BEGINING restaurant, Nate Thurmond was instructing Gan Guoyang on how to use his body muscles to achieve singles with the ball behind his back.
Both of them kept their promises, one taught the skills step by step, and the other brought delicious meals.
"Use the power of your hips to push back and see if you can push me away." Thurmond stood behind Gan Guoyang and asked him to push back.
Gan Guoyang stuck his butt out and arched his back, but it was not easy to maintain balance when people couldn't see him, so he had to tilt his center of gravity forward to prevent himself from sitting on the ground.
As a result, he rubbed against Thurmond's body like a wild boar rubbing against the bark of a tree. Thurmond was like a tree, rooted to the ground and motionless.
Thurmond suddenly leaned forward, pushed him with his body, and gave Gan Guoyang a gentle push. Gan Guoyang staggered and fell to the ground.
"Xie Te, am I still not strong enough?" Gan Guoyang stood up, feeling a little annoyed.
"No, you are wrong. In fact, your strength is very good, but there is a problem with your focus and skills. Don't be anxious, it takes time." Thurmond corrected him.
Since the birth of basketball, post-up skills have been a special "high-end skill" that you can hardly find in other sports.
It requires you to turn your back on your defender, move backwards without seeing the offensive target, and finally send the ball into the basket.
Many talented athletes are naturally good at playing basketball. They are skilled in basketball and have accurate shooting. They are often also good players in football and baseball, because these sports have something in common.
But few people are born with the ability to hit from behind.
Because everything about back hitting doesn't seem to conform to the basic laws of sports, it means you have to practice more if you want to master it.
"Adjust your center of gravity. You are too far forward. That will prevent your strength from being concentrated together. Come again." Thurmond asked Gan Guoyang sternly.
He was not just playing around, but was very serious. He found that Gan Guoyang was making rapid progress, so fast that he found it incredible.
Gan Guoyang stood up and continued to try. This time, he shifted his weight back. As a result, Thurmond pulled the stool and Gan Guoyang sat down on the ground again.
"You're cheating!"
"You were too careless. I asked you to put your center of gravity back, and you just fell back regardless? Fool, get up and continue."
Gan Guoyang got up again, patted the dust on his clothes, and continued to go into battle.
This time he was no longer anxious to exert force, but leaned on Thurmond to find a suitable balance point so that his center of gravity and force point could be combined.
When his feet were firmly planted on the ground and his whole body leaned back without falling, he felt it was time!
He gathered all the strength of his body, combined with the weight of his body and the explosion when dribbling, to push backward rhythmically.
Thurmond's boulder actually became slightly loose. He took a half step back, exposing the gap.
Feeling the change in his back, Gan Guoyang was overjoyed. He stepped in with his right foot, combined the ball with his right foot, turned right in, and made a layup with his left hand!
But his suppression of Thurmond was obviously not enough. Thurmond took off at the same time and blocked Gan Guoyang's layup.
Gan Guoyang picked up the ball and hit his head twice. He was very annoyed and almost succeeded in taking the ball alone.
"Well done young man, but you're not quite ready yet." Thurmond said this, but thought in his heart, this boy's progress is really amazing.
If Gan Guoyang had been faster or more experienced and used his other hand to press Thurmond, the goal might have been scored.
He only practiced here for two days, and he was already able to break out a hole in a historical NBA interior defender who had retired for five years.
"Let's continue." Gan Guoyang got angry and insisted on scoring.
Thurmond shook his head and said, "Do you know how much a personal trainer like me costs per hour?"
Gan Guoyang said: "No one in the United States can make the crystal gourd meat that my dad made. We are equal exchanges."
Thurmond was speechless. The plate of Crystal Sour Pork at noon was really amazing. He thought that if THE BEGINING had such a chef, it might not close down.
Thurmond has a short tongue and cherishes talents, so he continued to give Gan Guoyang one-on-one guidance.
The two fought until the sunset, and Thurmond finally gave out. His knees could not bear too much strenuous exercise.
He was out of breath after not having systematic training for a long time, and he was no longer the juicer under the basket that drained every ounce of energy from his opponents.
Although Gan Guoyang was sweating profusely, he was still full of energy. Thurmond was not good anymore, so he was alone under the basket doing various turning and attacking movements.
Thurmond also taught him the McCann hook practice method and cultivated his touch for scoring goals under the basket. Gan Guoyang took the trouble to complete these mechanical and boring actions over and over again.
Thurmond took a bottle of beer, called his wife to explain the situation, returned to the sidelines, and looked at the boy under the summer sunset. He remembered that when he was as old as Gan Guoyang, he spent the whole summer in Akron. Hone your skills on the basketball court at home.
He continued to practice shooting from 12 to 15 feet and trained his low-post post moves, but by the time he went to school, apart from significant improvements in shooting, his low-post post offense had very limited growth.
At that time, he was the same as Gan Guoyang, muscular but lean, but his coordination was average. When faced with defensive confrontations, his offense seemed very jerky. He still preferred to defend and stop his opponents.
Therefore, he prefers to play center than power forward.
Now, Big Nate, who has been in the league for 14 years, has also retired for 5 years.
The new boy is dreaming of the NBA and has not yet started his journey.
When it was getting dark, Thurmond wanted to go home, and Gan Guoyang had to leave.
Before leaving, Thurmond patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder and said: "Gan, maybe one day you can really enter the NBA. You have to remember that a real basketball game is a war, and the inside line is the most fierce battle in this war. place. A center must fight like a warrior every moment on the court. Either you die or I die. If you don’t have the determination to fight with your opponent for three hours, no matter how good you are Even with your back-up skills, you are not a qualified inside man or a real center. This is the most important lesson in my training course, please remember it."
Gan Guoyang nodded and said: "I understand that the center must die on the inside, right?"
"Yes, but it's better to die later."
"I will not die, I will live until the end."
