If he was given a chance to choose again, Zhou Xuan would never pass this empty cut ball to Ellis, and now he regrets it. This is the second time in a week that Yao Ming's right knee has been hit. This time it was obviously more serious than when he played the Pacers, and Yao Ming went straight back to the lounge with the help of his teammates.

Zhou Xuan suddenly felt a sense of guilt, in case Yao Ming was very injured and missed the All-Star Game, Chinese fans would have to rejoice, and they would have to wait for next year to see two Chinese appear together in the Star Game.

The Rockets, who lost Yao Ming, immediately messed up, with Scola making a cameo as center and Landry as a big forward. Randolph and Margety took turns bullying Brooks with a physical misalignment, and the Rockets were reversed in the fourth quarter.

101-90, the Warriors won seven in a row, Zhou Xuan scored 12 points, 3 rebounds and 9 assists, and won Yao Ming's team for the third time, but he was not happy at all.

At the press conference, Zhou Xuan said: "I just hope that Yao Ming is okay now, this is more important than the team wins." ”

Unfortunately, it backfired, and after an MRI, the rocket confirmed that Yao Ming had a mild fracture in the tibia of his right knee and was out for six to eight weeks. Back in 2006, Yao Ming was sidelined for weeks with a collision to his right knee, and this time he was in the same position.

This is terrible for the Rockets, who are short of major generals, Maddie has not returned, and Yao Ming has fallen again.

In the highly competitive West, with the core out for a month and a half, it's hard to make the playoffs. Now the Rockets can only rely on Battier, Artest, Scola and others, and Hayes will replace Yao Ming as the shortest starting center in history.

Chinese fans have become a little accustomed to hearing about Yao Ming's injury, and he has almost become synonymous with "Glass Man", and it is a luxury to play the whole season. The management of the Rockets is also almost convinced, and Yao Ming has not played a full game in recent seasons. They also began to wonder if it was the right choice to use Yao Ming and Maddy as the core of the team, and after playing for several years, they failed to pass the first round of the playoffs. The two rarely played together and didn't play a full season healthy.

Online, Rockets fans lashed out at the team's management. scolded the Rockets coaching staff, assistant coach Elston drove away Zhou Xuan, and Adelman let Yao Ming play more than 35 minutes per game, without a second high school forward as a substitute, and the pressure on both offensive and defensive ends was placed on Yao Ming. The fans scolded Alexander for slamming the door, not finding a good substitute for Yao Ming, and letting him play for so long.

In February 2008, Yao Ming had a stress fracture in his left foot, which was caused by overwork and fighting alone. Yao Ming has not had a qualified bench since he joined the Rockets, and the stingy Rockets owner has allowed Yao Ming to struggle on the inside for nearly 6 seasons. Yao Ming brought a huge fortune to the rocket boss Alexander, but Alexander was stingy with money and was unwilling to spend a penny more on Yao Ming, constantly "squeezing" Yao Ming's potential.

Alexander sees making money as much more important than finding a backup for Yao Ming, and Van Gundy was very unhappy with this when he was in charge, and he once complained after leading the Rockets to play the Knicks, hoping that Alexander would spend a lot of money for the team like Knicks owner Dolan.

Van Gundy said: "The Knicks owner is very bold and will not hesitate to trade as long as he feels that it is good for the team. For us, luxury tax is something that we have always feared, and money keeps us from making any mistakes. ”

This shows how cautious the Rockets owner is about the financial expenses of his players.

According to the internal staff of the rocket, Alexander's biggest characteristic is "stingy", and he is harsh even on general staff who are not well paid. In terms of recruiting the team, Alexander also wants to recruit players with lower salaries. Even outsiders can see that Yao Ming's injury is caused by fatigue. In 2008, "Big Z" Ilgoskas, who played for the Cavaliers, said of Yao Ming's injury: "We are shocked and sad. Yao Ming has always played very well, which is a disease of exhaustion. He looked tired after the All-Star break and against us, and these injuries were the result of exertion. ”

However, the Rockets owner has turned a blind eye to these and continues to overdraft Yao Ming this season.

For Ellis, who injured Yao Ming, the fans had a tolerant attitude, and Ellis had publicly apologized after the game, watching the game video replay, he didn't mean to, he looked to the side at the time, and hit Yao Ming on the first step after receiving the basketball, which was caused by inertia, rather than holding the ball and deliberately hitting the position. Ellis doesn't have such a precise ploy to harm others, and no one will risk their health to harm others.

In one day, Yao Ming was suggested to transfer, and posts criticizing the Rockets coaching staff for being harmful were all over the Rockets forum. Adelman and his coaching staff stinked completely, and the fans listed seven deadly sins at once. Dorsey, who couldn't play the ball, was also shot while lying down, and some people said that the Rockets took a signing spot to leave this waste wood that couldn't play the ball, so they missed Zhou Xuan.

In the Rockets' office, Alexander and Morey were talking about the team.

Alexander frowned and said, "Daryl, is there any way to trade Maddie and Yao Ming out of the company now?" I'm really fed up with injuries all the time, and I keep getting hurt, look at the Warriors, Nuggets, Suns, these fast-paced teams, and look at us. ”

"Yao Ming should be able to trade out, but Maddy is very difficult, other teams are worried about whether Maddy's injury can still play basketball, boss, I proposed to trade Maddy and the Pistons in the summer, but you didn't agree."

Alexander was speechless. Maddy scored 40 points against the Pistons in the playoffs, and he thought that Maddy still had a chance to return to the top, after all, he was not old, and he knew that after the surgery, he would be even more depraved. Because of Yao Ming, now the Chinese are about to treat him and the rocket management as public enemies, how can he make money?

The Rockets have always used defense to gain team results, and the cost of doing so is that the game is of low spectatorship and many fans, and now that the Rockets have changed their head coach, Princeton's tactics of emphasizing passing and cutting are still not working. Alexander also thought it through, as long as Yao Ming is here, as long as the team focuses on low-post strong attacks, every game will be so boring, with no results and no fans, it is better to pay more attention to commercial value.

Yao Ming is such a hard-working player. He arrives at the gym first and leaves last every day. After endless training, his weight increased from 120 kg to 140 kg, but his fat content was declining, and his bench press weight rose sharply. He went from being a tall, lanky man squeezed by the strong black players to a giant who no longer suffered against anyone. But even so, when Yao Ming was absent more and more, Alexander's heart also changed.

Alexander thinks that if he signs Zhou Xuan in the summer, all problems will be solved, but for now, they can only consider a trade to change the team. The sun had O'Neal and immediately became ugly, O'Neal went to the Clippers, and the sun bloomed again, which gave Alexander a revelation. If all the energy is used to change the team, Yao Ming will have to be traded, and all players who are not suitable for running and speeding up will be traded.

It has been proved that the record of the team that adopts the run-and-gun tactics is no worse than that of the defensive team, and the Suns, who started with the run-and-bomb, have a far better record than the Rockets, and the Warriors can create the Black 8 Miracle also rely on the run-and-gun tactics. The commercial value of a run-and-gun team is far higher than that of a defensive team.

The attendance rate and jersey of the Warriors, Suns, and Nuggets, and the sales volume of sneakers are all among the top five in the league, and the ticket price is higher than that of the Rockets and the supply exceeds demand, while the attendance of the Rockets is only in the middle of the league's attendance, and the sales of jerseys and shoes are not high.

As we all know, although the NBA implements a globalization strategy, the absolute main force of the market lies in the United States, the main force of the international market lies in Western Europe, the Chinese due to limited economic strength, can not bring substantial economic benefits to the team owner, in the Forbes player economic value list, Yao Ming brings direct and indirect economic benefits only 65% of the Suns center Stoudemire, less than 30% of Kobe, which is one of the reasons why Alexander began to consider giving up Yao Ming.

Morey analyzed: "Nowadays, players with the same salary as the speed type power center or power forward and Yao Ming are being cultivated by various teams as the main force and potential leaders, such as Bosh and Stoudemire are unlikely to be exchanged for Yao Ming by the team, I think if Yao Ming cannot be successfully traded out this summer, his playing time will be greatly reduced, and there is a possibility of another injury, we must decide as soon as possible." ”

"Who do you think would be the best match?" Alexander asked.

"It's hard to say, I think it's better to swap draft picks, we can draft potential rookies and rebuild as quickly as possible, there are still a lot of teams that don't have centers," Morey said. ”

"You operate, if it can be set before the trade deadline, it is best to send one away, there are Chinese who are not satisfied all day, simply trade him, hurt so many times, I see that he can't play well." Alexander said coldly.

The mall is ruthless, and from the perspective of a businessman, Alexander is right. When injuries accumulate on Yao Ming, his performance will naturally decline, and if Yao Ming changes from a core player to a role player, if Yao Ming can only sit on the sidelines in a suit all day, his commercial value will inevitably shrink significantly. And this impact is not only on the rocket's record and future construction, but also on Alexander, in addition to Yao Ming.

The heart is separated from the belly, it's really like that. From the perspective of loyalty, fans feel that it is difficult for a trade to happen to Yao Ming, and they feel that the Rockets will not treat Yao Ming like this. But when Yao Ming's chin, elbows, knees, calves, ankles, and toes were all scarred, the coldness of business also came out.

And Alexander knows very well that because of the existence of Zhou Xuan, Yao Ming is no longer the favorite of the Chinese, and the fans are tired of watching him play, and Yao Ming, whose commercial value has declined, what is he doing in the rocket?

In the final analysis, everything is because of the butterfly effect caused by Zhou Xuan's joining the NBA.