Zhiba NBA

Chapter 7 ([-]) An Unexpected Friendship
远飞的主要工作是认真分析本队的比赛数据，除此以外首日的比赛还有两场球引发了远飞的关注。强大的卫冕冠军湖人96:86战胜了强敌开拓者，奥尼尔砍下36+11+5。史上夺取了该赛季东部冠军的76人队29分大胜尼克斯，费城之子艾弗森贡献25+6+9。

In the next day's game, the Raptors faced back-to-back (that is, 2 consecutive days of fighting) 76ers.The Raptors lined up a super three backcourt lineup of Carter, Francis, and Mark Jackson.The game ended with Iverson's lore, 103:104, and the 76ers narrowly won.

On November 11, the third day of the season, the Rockets continued to host the Bucks at home.At this time, the Bucks consisted of three "Musketeers" formed by Ray Allen, Cassel, and Robinson. They were the starting trio with the most shooting ability in the NBA.And the Rockets just happened to show their amazing three-point shooting ability in the first game.The media thought it would be a three-point shootout.

The result was surprising. The Bucks players felt nothing that day. The Rockets' Williams broke out and scored 28+10+4 star data. With McGrady's 25+11+6, the Rockets beat their opponents by 22 points.

As in the first game, Tang Shuai encouraged the players and then announced the end of work.The players left the locker room one after another. Yuan Fei wanted to comfort Reed, who was not performing well in this game, but was stopped by Tang Shuai.

"Jason, I've wanted to talk to you alone for a long time."

"Mr. Tomjanovich, do you think I'm taking too much control? I'm only doing it for work, and sometimes I can't handle it properly. Please forgive me." Yuan Fei still respects Tang Shuai very much, and his words are very polite.

"Just call me Rudy."

"Your age and qualifications are so much older than mine, how can I call you by your first name?"

"It doesn't matter. The boss ordered me to arrange the staff in the first midfield. Although the media attributed it to me, I am ashamed." Tang Shuai said, "I think the boss's instructions have something to do with you?"

"This..." Yuan Fei felt embarrassed and didn't know how to continue.

"When I first saw you, I was very unconvinced. I am an old man in the league. From player to coach, I have been severely injured. I have achieved a lot. I just led the US team to win the Olympic gold medal in the summer. I have experienced so many storms that I slowly feel that young people are too immature to match me in wisdom."

"I know that you are one of the coaches I respect the most."

"But now I think it's great that a young man like you can join the management team." Tang Shuai said sincerely: "My resume has made me arrogant, and now I find that I still have a lot to learn. It's great that the boss can hire you."

"Thank you for your compliment." Yuan Fei was flattered, but still expressed his gratitude in an unassuming manner.

"I want to be not only your work partner, but also your friend, even your student. I never thought I could learn so much from such a young boy."

"Mr. Tomjanovich, you are too polite." Yuan Fei felt a little flustered before Tang Shuai's sudden enthusiasm.

"Call me Rudy!"

"Okay, Rudy. We'll be good friends."

***
After negotiating with Alexander, Yuan Fei decided to let Tang Shuai know the identity of his shareholder.

"I know that there must be something unusual about you being able to enter the team at your age, but I didn't expect it to be a shareholder." Tang Shuai yelled regardless of his identity, "But two bosses, I thought the team could make it to the playoffs this season, but the substitute is too bad. When I saw the roster for the first time, I wanted to strangle Dawson to death."

"Mr. Dawson could have signed a better substitute, but I stopped him, and then let him sign a few third-rate players to make up the number." Yuan Fei said: "Mr. Dawson and I are thinking about selling badly and hoarding draft picks. The team's future talent pool is not a problem. By the way, Mr. Alexander, is the NBA preparing to build a developmental league?

"No problem, that's what I planned." Alexander was very satisfied with the team's performance in the first two games. "Where will our team be at the end of the season?"

"According to my calculations, excluding unexpected factors such as injuries, if a few good substitutes are signed, it is estimated that we can reach eighth or seventh in the Western Conference." Yuan Fei said: "But now that Rudy has joined our planning team, the problem will be easy to handle. We can play even worse. To be honest, I think the person who made a bad plan is the most sorry for Rudy, ruining his coaching career statistics."

"There is no need to think like this, Jason. I have devoted my whole life to this team, and I love the Rockets. As long as the future of the Rockets is bright, it doesn't matter if my team loses a few more games. I promise to control McGrady's playing time in the future and let him rest at critical moments. If he has complaints, I will bear it myself." Tang Shuai looked at Yuan Fei and smiled. stored energy."

"The plan we initially discussed was to play poorly for two years and accumulate enough draft picks in 2 and 01. We started to play well in the 02-02 season. We had the Raptors' first-round pick in that year, and it didn't matter if our pick was a little bit worse." Alexander thought, "By then Hakim will also retire, just to clear the space. With McGrady as the core and a few young players to build the team."

"There is a small problem. Hakim seems to want to play for a few more years." Tang Shuai said.

"This Dawson also talked to me. If it doesn't work, I can only let him go. I know his value, but I can't let an old player occupy a high salary for too long, it will affect our development."

"Mr. Alexander, there is such a story in China." Yuan Fei interjected, "There was a rich man in ancient times who wanted to buy a horse that could run 500 kilometers a day, but he couldn't buy it. He finally found one, but unfortunately, the horse just died of illness. So he used a lot of gold to buy the bones of this horse."

"What does this mean?" Tang Shuai and Alexander were confused.

"This rich man is a smart man. He said that many people want to buy a thousand-mile horse, but few people are willing to pay for the bones of a thousand-mile horse. The spread of this story will let many people know that this rich man loves horses so much that he will send him a good horse. Sure enough, he soon bought three thousand-mile horses and realized his wish."

"I see." Alexander was also a shrewd businessman, not stupid at all. "You mean, Hakeem was a horse when he was young, but now he is the bones of a horse when he is old. I only need to pay for Hakim, and other horses will come to me."

"You explained it perfectly."

"I will arrange for Dawson to discuss this matter, and Hakim must be kept."

***
Soon Christmas came, and the players also enjoyed a rare day off.

Yuan Fei did not rest, he was still studying the trend of the Western Conference.

Team wins/losses
King 19/7
Jazz 20/8
Lakers 20/9
Blazers 18/10
Sun 16/9
Spurs 17/10
Calf 18/11
Supersonic 15/13
Timberwolves 15/13
Nuggets 15/14
Rocket 11/15
Clippers 10/18
Grizzlies 8/19
Warriors 8/19
(Note: At that time, the Hornets were in the East, and there were 14 teams in the West. The Rockets lost 2 games more than the same period in history due to poor planning)
At this time, McGrady was secretly glad that among the three Eastern Conference teams he almost chose before, the Magic injured Hill early, and their record at this time was a terrible 9 wins and 18 losses;Although the Rockets' record is not very good, the age structure of the team is much better than that of the Heat, and the future development prospects are much better. It is very comfortable to be the boss here.Moreover, the atmosphere in the Rockets is very good. The young people are average in talent but can train hard. The big brother Olajuwon also sets an example and always reminds newcomers.All this makes McGrady think he made the right choice.

But there is one thing that makes him unhappy, that is, too little playing time.McGrady believes that his physical fitness was at its peak when he was playing, and there was no problem with averaging 40 minutes per game, but now he averages only 31 minutes per game.Tang Shuai's explanation is to protect young players.

Thinking of this, McGrady immediately changed his clothes.Tang Shuai didn't know what kind of madness he had drawn and invited Mai Di to his house for lunch.Professional players are on the go all day, isn't it good to spend Christmas with their families?With this in mind, Maddie went to the appointment.

***
"Tracey, welcome to my house." Tang Shuai smiled all over his face, "I also invited Jason and Hakim. You and Hakim are my most important disciples, and Jason is one of my best friends in the Rockets."

"Friend?" Maddie wondered inwardly, "You two are almost 40 years apart, do you have a common language?"

Several people happily ate turkey and chatted about trivial matters in life.Tang Shuai finally turned the topic to McGrady's concern. "Tracey, you are the core of the Rockets in the future. Hakeem and I are old, and we will help you establish the prestige of the core of the team before you take over as the captain. But I want to know what you think of this team now. It is not an official expression, but a private expression, just like a conversation between friends."

"By the way, praise and flattery can be ignored." Olajuwon also said cooperatively.Tang Shuai is his mentor, he is very grateful to Tang Shuai, and of course he will cooperate.And recently, Dameng heard from his agent that the contract negotiations were going well, and he was in a particularly good mood.

"I think the management is satisfied with my performance? I'm not sure." McGrady said hesitantly, "Coach, can you tell me the team's top management's opinion?"

"Let me talk about this." Yuan Fei finally spoke, "I have a very good personal relationship with Mr. Alexander, and I can guarantee that he is very satisfied with you. I am also the one who advocated trading you with the Raptors. I can represent Mr. Alexander, Mr. Dawson and Rudy, and express 100% approval to you. I can't represent players, let Hakim speak."

"You are the third most talented player I have ever seen." Olajuwon said: "The first two are Michael Jordan and Shaq O'Neal. You will become the greatest superstar in the history of the Rockets, and I am the second greatest."

McGrady smiled shyly, but was still listening carefully, feeling a little warmth in his heart.

"We've expressed it, it's time to talk about your opinion." Yuan Fei said.

"The team's performance is not good. As an offensive organizer, I have the main responsibility." McGrady still reviewed himself first.

"No, I am the first responsible person." Yuan Fei said: "I advocated the replacement of Francis and the sale of Drew, so there is no good point guard in the team at all. As an acting organizer, you can't do better, and this is not your responsibility. As for the poor record of the team, it is part of the management's long-term plan. I can tell you clearly that we will have a bad season in the future. The 2002-2003 season is our rising period. In the previous year and a half, you will be the number one star of a bad team. After that, you will be the core of a dynasty team to win the championship."

"This is what we all agree on." Olajuwon said: "It's not good news for me to be bad at the end of my career. But you are still young. For your future and to accumulate strength, this is worth it."

"Yes, I can understand." McGrady nodded.

"And you can see that we are different from those bad teams like the Bulls and Clippers. We are restrained and planned to be moderately bad, and we have never really lost competitiveness." Tang Shuai said: "In the second half of the season, I will occasionally let you release it, and go all out to fight against some strong teams."

"That's great!" McGrady still loves basketball, and he is eager to win.

"You may feel that you have too little playing time? Do you have any?" Tang Shuai said.

McGrady scratched his head and smiled, "A little bit."

"This is to protect you. You are our future core, and you cannot be injured due to excessive fatigue." Yuan Fei said: "And we have to play badly. If you play too much, it will increase our winning percentage. I hope you can understand all this. Our goal is the same, which is the championship."

"I can understand it all." McGrady thought for a while and said, "I have one more opinion about you, Jason."

"Oh?"

"Thank you for bringing me from that dead cold foreign ghost place (the Raptors' home in Toronto, Canada) to Houston, and I hope you can see me as a friend, a friend like a coach."

"Of course!"

Yuan Fei's hand and Mai Di's big hand were held together.

(End of this chapter)