After finishing the interview with Time Magazine, Qiao Hai took the ticket given by David Falck and flew to Houston to prepare for his duties.

……

At Houston International Airport, Rockets owner Leslie Alexander personally picked up the plane, and the team's head coach Rudy Tomjanovic and several of the team's main players were also present.

Several media outlets have also appeared at the airport, including Hoop Sports, ESPN, Yahoo Sports, Houston Documentary, ...... Obviously, these are the media that got the news.

Qiao Hai stepped off the plane, shook Alexander's hand, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then shook hands with Rudy Tomjanovich.

He was followed by a group of players such as Catino Mobley and Steve Francis.

Qiao Hai shook hands one by one and exchanged a few words.

Then, the media reporters gathered around.

"Joe, tell me why you chose the position of general manager of the Rockets to come back instead of the head coach of another team?"

Qiao Hai knew that this was equivalent to his inaugural press conference.

Because he knows that he will not be in the position of general manager of the Rockets for a long time, or rather, Qiao Hai's ultimate goal must still be the head coach, as for whether he will become the head coach in the Rockets, Qiao Hai can only say that if he has the opportunity, he will try.

So Qiao Hai told Alexander that the signing ceremony is not necessary, and even the press conference is better not to be held, and this time as a rocket, everything must be low-key.

Of course, this can't stop the media reporters from being interested and coming to the door on their own.

Of course, Qiao Hai would not say what he thought in his heart for this first question, so he gave a somewhat ridiculous reason as an explanation: "Greg Popovich said that I can't get the best manager, so I have to prove it to him." ”

A group of reporters burst out laughing.

"When you came to the rocket, did you set any goals for yourself?" This is asked by the Houston Documentary, as a local media in Houston, the Houston Documentary also has different opinions on Qiao Hai, the new leader of the team, but overall, they are optimistic about Qiao Hai's arrival.

"The goal? I just said, I'm going to take the best manager, so you know. ”

Best manager, this means that Qiao Hai is going to bring success to the Rockets, and the reporters of the Houston Documentary are naturally very happy.

Then, Qiao Hai answered two or three more questions, Alexander and they were still waiting aside, Qiao Hai naturally couldn't let people wait too long, waved his hand, and Qiao Hai rejected the remaining questions.

Soon, the group departed from the airport and stopped at an office building next to the Compaq Center, where the Rocket Headquarters was located.

The players have left, and in the conference room, in addition to the team's owner Alexander, there are only Qiao Hai, the team's head coach Rudy Tomjanovic, and Carol Dawson, who has just announced his retirement.

The reason why the Rockets thought of inviting Qiao Hai as the team's new general manager is not unrelated to the retired Carol Dawson.

Carol Dawson has been in the position of general manager of the Rockets for almost six years, and before that, he was also an assistant coach of the Rockets for 16 years, and it can be said that his life has been dedicated to the Rockets.

Entering the new century, Dawson, who was not very old, felt that he lacked energy and always wanted to retire, but because he had no successor, he could only delay it.

Stu Jackson stepped down from the Grizzlies, and he also approached Stu Jackson.

In the end, Stu Jackson recommended Qiao Hai to Dawson, and made it clear: "All the Grizzlies' recruitment work is done by Qiao Hai." ”

Carol Dawson recapped a little, Steve Francis plus Brian Treves for Madiga Shaun Marion, second-round pick Ginobili, and countless successful trades and signings.

Carol Dawson feels that Qiao Hai is not only a coaching talent, but also a general manager talent.

So, he contacted Qiao Hai.

It just so happened that Qiao Hai was in the window period of his career at this time, and there were only two teams that contacted him except for the Rockets, one was the New York Knicks, Qiao Hai looked down on the Knicks who were in infinite civil strife, and directly ignored the Knicks' high-salary offer.

The other is the Chicago Bulls, who also chose to ignore a team that once looked down on him.

So, there is only one option left, the position of general manager of the rocket.

As for the head coach of the Rockets, Qiao Hai can't do it, Rudy Tomjanovich's position at this time is still very stable, and he is a Rocket celebrity, even if Qiao Hai can't let Tang Shuai go out of class directly and make way for himself.

In addition, Qiao Hai also intended to try the position of general manager, so in the end, Qiao Hai and Rocket hit it off.

"Here comes Joe, and our work can begin." Carol Dawson's old voice rang out.

Then, the team owner Alexander also smiled and said, "Joe, tell me your request first, right?" ”

Qiao Hai nodded quickly: "First of all, I need my own management team, and I have already found a ...... in terms of personnel."

As soon as he came up, Qiao Hai was going to change the management of the Rockets, which surprised no one, including the team's former general manager Carol Dawson.

There are too few people available in the Rockets management, otherwise Carol Dawson would not have held on because he had no successor and would not have retired.

The arrival of Qiao Hai, on the one hand, is to support the position of general manager, and on the other hand, it is to help the management of the rocket complete the change.

"First of all, the position of deputy general manager of the team was vacant, and I found Darrell Morey, who is now working for the Barthenon Group, and he is also a data consultant at STATS Ltd., a pioneer in sports data analysis, specializing in data analysis."

"Secondly, the team's scouting director needs to be replaced, and for this position, I found Sam Presti, the video coordinator who now plays for the Spurs."

"For the scouting team, the original scouts Pat Zifer and Atreus Karisorus stayed, and we added a couple of scouts, Samsinki, Gerrard Madkins, Gerson Rosas, Pitcfero, some of them are new scouts, some of them are old scouts that I poached from other teams."

"Also, I've poached Ivanka Dukan from the Chicago Bulls, a Croatian who Tony Kukocz has scouted for the Bulls, and he's going to take on an additional role — head of international scouting."

"His men, I also found a new man, Marseille Ujiri, Nigerian, he will be another international scout for us, the original scout of the team, Atreus Kalisolus (Lithuanian), will be the third international scout of the team, in the future, international players will become more and more important, it is imperative to add an international scouting team."

"In the end, there was a vacancy for the head of player development, and my old partner Stan Carrefour could fill that position."

Alexander naturally agrees with the drastic change in management, although he doesn't know what the achievements of these people poached by Qiao Hai are, but he believes in Carol Dawson, and naturally believes in Qiao Hai that Dawson believes.

After talking about the expansion of management, Qiao Hai has no other requirements, and the most important task of the team at the moment is to sign the name mentioned by Qiao Hai, and then put all the energy into the upcoming draft......

In the 2002 draft, the Rockets had the top pick!