After the victory over the Lakers, the Rockets encountered a wave of treacherous schedules and fought against strong teams. As a result www.biquge.info the Rockets lost to the Spurs, Mavericks, and Pistons, and suffered three consecutive defeats for the first time this season. Although they immediately bred up and won the two underdogs, the Bulls and Grizzlies, they lost to the Mavericks again. They went on to win one and lose one of their next two games against the Timberwolves, and then won over the Kings and Cavaliers. In the end, the pre-All-Star record was locked at 35-13. Second only to the 38-10 Mavericks, the 32-16 Spurs and the 33-17 Kings are second in the West, but third due to division rules.

For the Rockets this season, in addition to their excellent record, their popularity is also rising. After Olajuwon has aged in recent years, the Rockets have only one All-Star player, Maddy, and the arrival of Yao Ming has changed that. What is particularly surprising is the enthusiasm of the Chinese fans. Since the All-Star Game is a voting system, Yao Ming finally voted 1286324, still surpassing the league's No. 1 center, Shaq. O'neill. He was also able to become the starting center of the Western Conference All-Star. This is the case since '95 Grant. Hill is the first rookie player since Hill to be elected as an All-Star starter.

But after all, Da Yao is Chinese, and his bones speak of etiquette and humility, which is completely different from the personality of American players. Yao Ming thinks deep down that O'Neill should be the starting center, and he should be a substitute.

In this way, Yao Ming embarked on a journey to Atlanta with another All-Star teammate, Maddie, with conflicting feelings. Maddie's re-election is unquestionable. The Rockets have an excellent record, Maddie is the boss of the team, the statistics are very beautiful, and the popularity of playing is also high, which is deeply liked by fans. And Chinese fans in the East also like this Yao Ming's teammate, and they voted for Yao Ming by the way.

The Western Conference All-Star head coach is Kings veteran coach Adelman. Yuan Fei saw this old gentleman in front of the TV, not only was he full of emotion. Historically, it was he who led Yao Ming to the final four of the Western Conference in the playoffs, but unfortunately Yao Ming's foot fracture caused the Rockets to lose to the Lakers 3-4, which was also the closest Yao Ming came to the championship.

The starters in the West are Yao Ming, Duncan, Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Maddy. The starting point in the East was Ben. Wallace, O'Neal Jr., Carter, Jordan and Iverson. To say that in the 2003 All-Star Game, in addition to Yao Ming starting in place of O'Neal, there is another major event, that is, Old Man Qiao will retire for the third and last time. The league has specially made a special MVP trophy for Jordan, the superstar of the superstar, which is several times larger than the All-Star MVP trophy in previous years.

Yao Ming didn't understand these things yet, he was looking at Ben on the other side at the moment. Wallace was worried. This big Ben offense is scum, but the defense is quite skillful. In the last game when the Rockets lost to the Pistons, Daben defended Yao Ming with only 4 points and 6 rebounds, and he lost face. And Big Ben himself got 9 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks, although he didn't score much, his statistics were still quite beautiful. Anyway, I can't beat this short and chubby, so I can just play around. The open-minded Da Yao thought so.

After the game started, Yao Ming didn't have any desire to score at all, he was not in an important position on the inside, and most of the balls were passed, and he only scored 2 points with a dunk under a wonderful pass from Maddie. Soon Adelman understood that this oriental lad did not want to show himself. The old handsome man understood that he would replace O'Neill and let the big fat man go up and play.

Yao Ming sat on the bench, but his heart was very satisfied. He knows that this all-star depends on the preference of Chinese fans, not on strength, just play around. He also secretly made up his mind that he must prove that he can become an All-Star starter by virtue of his strength in the future.

***

At halftime, the league specially arranged for Jordan to give a speech, and one of the words made Yao Ming deeply touched. Jordan said, "Johnson and Bird passed the torch to me, and now I'm going to pass the torch to you. The world of the future is yours. You're going to keep the game moving forward. ”

Maddie also listened quietly, and her heart swelled with love for basketball and a vision for the future.

Kobe Bryant, Iverson, Carter and so on, the younger generation of stars are quietly listening to their greatest basketball god talk about his heart.

***

The game went to overtime, and with five seconds left in overtime, Jordan hit a step-back jumper to give the East a 138-136 lead over the West. The audience cheered for Jordan's quasi-lore. But Bryant made a three-pointer with the last 5 seconds, and O'Neal Jr. stupidly fouled Bryant and gave Bryant three free throws. Bryant hit two free throws to send the game into second overtime. In the end, the west turned defeat into victory. Traditionally, the All-Star MVP must be awarded to the star with the best stats on the winning team. So Garnett awkwardly lifted the "special" trophy.

Yao Ming played only 17 minutes and scored 2 points, the lowest of all. He doesn't mind that, he's just looking forward to the legend.

"I'm going to be such a great player too." He swore in his heart.

***

A day later, Alexander's office. Yuanfei tried hard to encourage the boss.

"Jason, I've always trusted you, but I'm really not happy with this player." Alexander rarely refused a long flight.

"Boss, the inside bench is a bit bad right now. Although his strength is average, he is willing to play as a substitute, can sit on the bench with peace of mind, and has a three-point skill, which is similar to Oku, and much stronger than Bryant and Long. Yuanfei continued to state his reasoning.

"Jason, you're not just trying to sell me your Chinese players, are you?" Alexander said: "If he is not Chinese, if it is not for the huge market behind him, how can the Clippers sign this player?" Now that we've won this market battle with the Clippers, why do we have to jump in and re-mix it ourselves? ”

That's right, the inside bench recommended by Yuanfei to Alexander is another basketball genius from China - Wang Zhizhi.

(Note: Wang Zhizhi is a legendary star who is known as China's three major centers along with Yao Ming Battle, but in the summer of 2002, Wang Zhizhi did not return to China to participate in the national team competition, which caused conflicts with the Basketball Association.) In October of the same year, the national team officially announced the expulsion of Wang Zhizhi. Dazhi was banned from China until he returned to China in 2006. ）

"Boss, let's say Bird (Celtics legend Big Bird in the '80s) and Johnson (Lakers legend Magic in the '80s) both go to play in China. Do you think Green Shirts fans will tune in specifically to watch Johnson play? Will Purple Gold fans tune in specifically to watch Bird play? ”

"This ...... Probably not. ”

"Wang and Yao, in China, are magic and bird. They are China's greatest stars and each has a large group of fans. More recently, China's CBA League was championed by Yao's team in 2002, while the previous six years were all won by Wang's team. Wang has won so many championships in the Chinese Basketball League, his achievements are even greater than Yao's, and his fans are even more than Yao's. Yuan Fei paused and continued: "And he is only 25 years old now, it is true that his prospects are not as good as Yao, but he can become our backup interior line for the next 10 years, and he only needs a fraction of Maddie's salary to win a large group of fans for our Rockets!" ”

"You're right, Jason. I also know a little bit about these. Alexander was still a little shaken by Yuan Fei's words, "But I heard that he had a conflict with your Chinese Basketball Association, and was even expelled from the national team, so the Clippers' games will not be broadcast in China." I'm afraid that after the king is bought, our rocket's ball will also be banned, and this loss will be big. ”

"Boss, when it comes to understanding Chinese sports, you are not as good as me." Yuan Fei said with a smile: "Wang will be banned by the Chinese Basketball Association in any team, but not in our rockets." Because we have Yao. If the Basketball Association wants to block our Rockets' games, can Yao's fans agree? Can all Chinese fans say yes? In fact, there are many high-ranking officials in the Chinese Basketball Association who like Wang, and they are looking for a reason to recruit Wang back to the national team. We can help them build that bridge. ”

"I see, you have a point." Alexander began to nod.

"For the Clippers, Wang is useless. If you don't play well, you can't bring the market. For Wang, there is only a chance to play again and repair the relationship with the Chinese Basketball Association, and we Rockets are the best intermediary for them to repair the relationship. For us, Wang can bring the other half of the fans in China and is the most powerful weapon for us to accelerate the development of the Chinese market. Seeing the boss nodding, Yuanfei became more confident. He continued: "Through this matter, we can also strengthen communication and cooperation with the Chinese Basketball Association. The Chinese Basketball Association is part of a government agency. Reaching out to their authorities and building good relationships is of great significance to our future market development. ”

"Very good, just do as you say!" Alexander also cheered up and said: "After the completion of the project, I will personally go to China and have a good talk with the officials of their basketball association." Strive to resolve the contradiction and make the Rockets a training camp for Chinese players in the NBA. This is done, and the future of our wallets is bright, haha. ”

"Boss, you come forward in person, you must be a success!" Far away does not lose the opportunity to send sycophants.

***

On Valentine's Day, February 14, the Rockets officially announced a deal with the Clippers. Art. Long (190,000) traded for Wang Zhizhi (1.9 million), and the Clippers got a trade exception.

(Rule Explanation: First, because the Rockets' total salary before and after the trade was below the salary cap, they could get players sent by the Clippers that were much higher than the salaries they paid for the players.) The Clippers received a trade exception of 1.71 million for the difference between the two, which can be used to exchange players with a salary of less than 1.71 million; Second, the essence of this transaction is that a part of Wang Zhizhi's value was first exchanged for Art. Long, whose remaining value, the trade exception, can be exchanged for other players in the future, completing the entire transaction in two steps. So this type of transaction is called asynchronous transaction; Three, Art. Not long after Ryunggang was acquired by the Rockets, he was sent away, and this kind of trade is in line with the rules of the league. ）

(Another: Here is also an explanation of Wang Zhizhi's strength.) In his final season with the Mavericks, '01-02, he was worth more than the league average in terms of efficiency and win contributions in both the regular season and the playoffs. With a stat of 18+6 per 36 minutes, he is a qualified substitute player. In particular, he has a good three-point shooting ability, so he also maintains an above-average scoring efficiency. The disadvantage is that the defense is relatively poor, and in general, Wang Zhizhi has the ability to become an important substitute in the NBA during the Mavericks period. But after he arrived at the Clippers, the decline was more obvious, and there is a folk saying that he didn't stick to training in the summer of '02 so he got rich. The Clippers initially had high expectations for Wang, believing that he could be an important rotation for the team. But by November '03, he was laid off by the Clippers, and by this time he had been reduced to a fringe man in the NBA. ）