Houston, Texas, where red occupies a large chunk of Fox Leon's few basketball memories of his past life.

He was not a basketball fan in the past, but even if you are not a basketball fan in China, you will more or less know the Chinese giants and the red Houston Rockets that are active in the professional basketball arena on the other side of the ocean.

On the contrary, after becoming the coach of the NBA, Leon's impression of this place is shallow, because in the past, in Boston, they only had the opportunity to play against the Rockets twice a year, and they would not meet in the playoffs, so for the Rockets, Leon did not spend too much effort to study.

After coming to the Suns, the Rockets have become an important opponent for the Suns in the West, and the two teams with very different styles will collide with wonderful sparks every time they meet. It's just that in Leon's eyes, the Houstonians can't be called a threat, and for several years in a row they can only be called a quasi-powerhouse in the West, and they are not up to the level of competing for a championship - in fact, they have struggled to even get past the first round.

In Leon's view, the Houstonians' regular season strength is probably between 4-6, and there is no way to win the Western Conference crown at such a level and ranking. Although the Houstonians once managed to win the NBA championship in 1995 as the sixth place, throughout NBA history, no championship team has dropped out of the top three in the regular season since the NBA entered a new era in 1980, and the fact that the Rockets are the only exception does not mean that they have always been able to do so.

The third place is a hurdle, and the Rockets are difficult to overcome in the West, because there are Spurs in front, the Mavericks, two strong rivals in the same state, a stable strong player like the Suns, and a super strong team like the Lakers who don't know when it will rise.

So Leon really didn't take the Rockets too seriously, but Stoudemire seemed a little excited after arriving in Houston, because he was about to play against Yao Ming, a center who entered the NBA in the same year as him. In fact, the two had nothing to do before entering the NBA, one was a black high school basketball student who grew up in the slums, and the other was a CBA giant who grew up in Shanghai, but after the 2002 draft, the two inevitably became the object of comparison, especially in the rookie season when they competed for the best rookie and clashed with each other in the game, and people even called them "enemies for life".

But this is nothing more than an exaggeration and exaggeration by the media, and it will soon become clear that the lifelong enemies of these two men are not each other, but their own bodies and damned injuries.

That being said, Xiao Si is still very eager to fight Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6 super giant can always inspire Xiao Si's inner desire to tear the basket, and nothing makes him feel more excited than a dunk on the head of a giant, although such an act may lead to a big hot pot eating himself.

The whole team arrived in Houston on the evening of the 16th, and after settling in the hotel, Xiao Si took the initiative to go to the training hall to play for a while, saying that he needed to recover. However, his request was rejected by Leon, and he told Xiao Si to rest well, and the team will have a training session tomorrow at noon, asking him to save the excitement for tomorrow's game.

Then, in the middle of the night in Houston, Leon leaves the hotel and takes a taxi to an ice cream restaurant in Houston, where he has a date.

Arriving at the restaurant, in an inconspicuous corner, Leon meets the man who asked him to come over - it was the current general manager of Houston and Leon's old friend at the Celtics, Darryl Morey.

When Leon was in the Celtics, Morey was the person who was recruited into the team and carefully cultivated by Leon, his sensitivity to numbers and his serious and diligent attitude in his work were very appreciated by Leon, and his level of table tennis was also good, although it was still not as good as Leon. When he left the Celtics, Leon actually hoped that Morey would inherit the position of general manager of the Celtics, so that he could leave a little legacy in Boston and pass on some of his ideas.

But apparently, Angie didn't think so, and after Leon's resignation in 2006, Morey was swept out of the house as well. With the help of his old boss Wallace, Morey became the deputy general manager of the Rockets and Dawson's assistant. And this summer, after a less than successful season for the Rockets, Dawson retired and Morey became the new general manager of the Rockets.

After becoming the new general manager, Morey naturally has to do something, but for now, Morey has not done anything enough to change the operation of the Rockets, after all, it is not so easy to make a strong team a championship team in the NBA, especially if you don't have too many resources at your disposal.

For small and medium-sized clubs, their biggest resource is draft picks, and the Houstonians won Olajuwon with the 1984 No. 1 pick that was a valuable coin grab, and eventually won two NBA championships — a process that took them a decade.

And now, they have another giant Yao Ming in the team, he is very good, but he is obviously far from the level of Olajuwon. As for the team's other superstar, McGrady, injuries have started to plague him, and he hasn't been out of the injury list since the start of the season and won't be playing tomorrow against the Suns.

In this case, it is normal for Morey to not be able to do anything, and because of this, Morey took the initiative to invite Leon out for a meal tonight, wanting to discuss and communicate with his old boss. In fact, after knowing that Leon was coming back, Morey once tried his best to invite Leon to coach in Houston, and he knew that compared with other coaches, Leon brought not only simple tactical level and training, but also his own scouting resources, which is what Morey lacks most now.

But Leon turned down Morey's offer, not because he didn't like Houston, but because he didn't think he had experience coaching a low-post center. Perhaps Leon can learn how to use a low post player after coming to Houston, but the Suns are clearly more in line with his views on tactical development. The low-level behemoths disappear one after another, and their role will become smaller and smaller. In fact, the Celtics' 2004 championship proved that – they didn't have a single true low-post attacker on their team.

Of course, this does not affect the friendship between the two, in Morey's eyes Leon is a very respectable and incredible person, his style of acting in the team and the way he operates, have opened Morey's eyes, and he uses him as an example to try to carve out his own career with the Rockets.

So the two had a great chat after meeting at the ice cream restaurant, and as the days in this time and space got longer and longer, the time spent in the NBA grew, and Leon's old friends grew. As soon as there are many old friends, people will begin to become nostalgic, like to reminisce about the past, and look back on those times that used to not look so good, but they are very tasteful to recall.

Of course, the conversation between the two inevitably comes to basketball, and Morey is keen to have Leon be fair in his comments on his summer operations. He knew that Leon must know the details of the operation of the remaining 29 teams, and his ability to control information has reached an astonishing level.

Sure enough, Leon thought about it and replied, "I think for your operation, I can only give a C grade." ”

This answer was expected by Morey, and it was a good idea to get a C, because they didn't have a high post in the draft, and then there were no big fish to catch on the free market, and a C was considered a pass.

León continued: "The best operation is to switch from San Antonio to Luis Scola, which is good, you can reach the B level, and you can grab them well." Considering that it is the Spurs that are grabbed, you will be given an A-grade. Leon's words made Morey laugh out loud, getting the Scola trade was indeed the Rockets saw the weakness of the Spurs, and used poor chips and some cash to get Scola, a spiritual forward, which suddenly made up for the Rockets' power forward problem that had been criticized for many years, and it could be regarded as Morey's first and very cunning and excellent transaction after arriving at the Rockets.

Leon added: "However, the action of signing Steve Francis is only rated D, of course, I know that this can be regarded as a sentiment of yours and can give you extra points in Houston." But I'm telling you, if there are no victories and championships in the league, all feelings are hypocritical. ”

The only win for the Rockets on the free market was Francis, the former Rockets boss, who has now fallen to the point of no one's attention, and Morey extended an olive branch at this time, and this signing also added a lot of points to him. But from a basketball point of view, Francis is really embarrassed, injuries and illegal drugs have hollowed out his body, and Leon is absolutely not wrong about that, because he has the most abundant scouting resources in the league.

"Maybe he can still play with his energy," Morey said. ”

Leon said: "Don't think about it, as a manager, sometimes you have to look forward and find an opportunity to trade him." If the deal doesn't go out, I can consider helping you. ”

Morey looked at Leon and didn't speak, he knew that if he wanted Leon to help, it would have to be the price of a comeback. After all, it's like that when it comes to making deals with the devil.