While other teams announced their training camp schedules, the Rockets made a surprising announcement. They performed a minor surgery with Lang Greg Oden, who was traded by Yao Ming, and found signs of cartilage damage, although the injured area is small and can be removed with micro-fragmentation techniques, which stimulates cartilage growth. That means Oden will miss the entire 2007-08 season.

The tragedy that originally belonged to the eagle was transferred to the rocket. The Rockets have been unlucky lately, with six of last season's champions gone, and Oden being unable to play, with only David Lee and Millsap remaining as the strongest interior players they were proud of last season. On the coaching side, a new coaching staff has been hired. Former No. 1 assistant coach Tom Thibodeau was also purged, and Thibodeau joined the Celtics as an assistant coach for the Green Shirts.

Even with the roster changing and the new No. 1 season reimbursed, Rockets general manager Morey and the team's new coach Adelman said at an afternoon press conference that they are very optimistic about Oden's situation. It is believed that the Rockets with Maddie are still very competitive.

The Rockets also made several trades, starting with signing Steve Blake for 12 million. Then Spanoolis was traded with Spanovis, a 2009 second-round pick and some cash for Spurs backup center Butler and Luis Scola. Spanouris had 7.4 points and 2.3 assists last season, which is clearly not a good point guard, and Adelman wasn't optimistic about his playmaking skills, so a deal from Hayes' previous life happened.

Even with these few trades as reinforcements, experts still predict that the Rockets will be successful if they can pass the first round in the new season.

Compared to the Rockets' decline, the all-new Bobcat has caught the attention of fans across the United States.

A group of speed players joined, plus the head coach was D'Antoni, who is particularly good at playing small ball tactics. It's hard to say what the Bobcats will be able to play, but it's widely expected that their offense will be very flashy.

At the press conference at training camp, Hayes easily overtook Gerard Wallace and Okafor with super-high popularity, and was hailed by the media as the new Elvis Presley. Although he hasn't played a game for the Bobcats yet, he seems to have become the owner of the place.

Hayes is also not modest, saying that he will definitely lead the Bobcats to the playoffs.

New coach D'Antoni also said in an interview that the Bobcats will set up tactics with Hayes as the core in the new season. He's excited to be working with Van Gundy, and he's going to be doing something completely new and adding a positional attacking style to the game that won't be exactly like the Suns. Of course, he also fully believes that the Bobcats can now play a "De's 7-second run-and-shoot" offense.

In addition to the seriously injured Shaun May, Bobcats players made a collective appearance, including many Bobcats players whose contracts expired and did not receive new contracts.

Hayes was in the limelight at the media conference, and for this, Okafor, Gerrard Wallace, and Felton, the three core players from last season, were somewhat uncomfortable. Several of their friends from last season were purged, and the rest have not been renewed, all of which are obviously to welcome Hayes, and Hayes also brought a few of his own people, and just arrived at the Bobcats with a boss posture, which is simply unsightly.

In fact, Hayes still greeted the three of them very warmly, but because they were a little blocked in their hearts, they regarded Hayes's actions as hypocritical flattery.

Hayes didn't get angry when he saw the old Bobcats players in unison. It is also reasonable for this situation to happen, and the teammates who fought together have moved away, and it will not feel comfortable to change anyone. The Cats' veteran players will only have three players left in the lineup for the new season, and Hayes knows that he must take those three as soon as possible, and he has that confidence.

The next day, the Bobcats had their first training session.

"Mike, when grouping, it is recommended not to put Chuck and the former Bobcats players in a group, they seem to be a little resistant." Van Gundy sat next to D'Antoni and smiled.

"That's what I'm thinking about." D'Antoni laughed.

The first training session was nothing new, and after the preparation activities, the players split into two teams for a group match. The most important thing for the Bobcat to do now is to run in. It's a patchwork lineup, and most of the players haven't played together at all.

"Chuck, if I put you on a team with a substitute, would you have the confidence to beat the Bobcats' three main players?" D'Antoni and Hayes whispered.

"It depends on who my teammates are, if you arrange a few rookies to team up with me, it's no wonder I can win. But against me, the three of them don't want to please whoever comes. I want to play three positions and try to play against them all. I'll make them feel the gap. As for how to group them, you can do it. Hayes laughed.

"Okay, I've figured out how to group them." D'Antoni said, gathering the players together.

D'Antoni was excited. After the All-Star break last season, he wanted to coach Hayes, but he didn't expect to leave the Suns and really give him a chance. He thinks it's time to prove that offense can win a championship. He was also satisfied with the recruitment of the Bobcats in the summer. In addition to Stoudamire, the most suitable centers in the league to play are the Warriors' Biedlings and the Rockets' David Lee. Petrus, Barnes, Thomas and others are also familiar with the run-and-gun offense and should be able to integrate it into the game quickly.

"Jeff, you're going to be the head coach of the bench team. How about we have a good fight? D'Antoni laughed.

"No problem, you can choose five people first." Van Gundy said.

The Bobcats claim to be the head coach of D'Antoni, and the status of the two on the team is actually about the same, because Van Gundy has the title of senior adviser. Van Gundy has always admired the Suns' running and bombing, and it was not until last season that he had a way to restrain himself, D'Antoni has also changed his opinion of Van Gundy after last season, and it is also fun to work together with two people with opposite styles, and can find some inspiration from each other's tactics, so they get along better than expected.

With such a coaching staff, the players are very excited, especially the marginalized people who want to show themselves in order to stay in the team.

D'Antoni picked five starters: Andris Biedrins, Emeka Okafor, Gerard Wallace, Michael Petrus, Raymond Felton.

Van Gundy picked: Thomas, Hayes, Barnes, Azubuuk, Calderon.

D'Antoni then picked four more men: Walter Herrmann, Jeff McGinnis, Alan Anderson, Weaver.

The remaining Marcin Gortat, Moon, Raymond Sessions, Karl Landry were left for Van Gundy.

D'Antoni wore a red vest for his side, while Van Gundy's players wore a green vest.

If there is one point that Hayes is most dissatisfied with the Bobcats, it is the jersey, although the white jersey at home is simple, it is better, and the away jersey is actually orange, should men wear this color? Now even the vest is ugly enough, it's actually green.

"Chuck, it's not very easy to play, they have so many old players over there, they must have a lot of tacit cooperation. Mike actually picked Van (Weaver) away. Van Gundy said he also wanted to use Weaver to fight a quick counterback. D'Antoni also took a fancy to Weaver's strengths.

"Not necessarily, I think our side is stronger. It is recommended to use Gortat first. Hayes laughed.

Van Gundy immediately put Gortat in the starting line-up and replaced veteran Thomas. This made the big Polish man happy.

"Chuck, I heard that you asked the coaching staff to find me, thank you, I'll try to stay." Gortat walked over to Hayes and smiled.

"Massin, you have height and speed, I think you are very suitable for running and shooting, play well, as long as you are willing to fight, I will definitely advise the coaching staff to let you stay." Hayes laughed. Gave Gortat the one he wanted the most.

When Gortat heard this, not only his eyes lit up, but even his big bald head lit up, and he shook Hayes's eyes.

Hayes walked up to Landry and Sessions and smiled, "I suggested both of you, Karl, you played well in the summer league, and I like you." Raymond, don't feel inferior just because you have a low draft pick, Corunna and I were both undrafted that year, I hope you can prove yourself too! ”

Sessions nodded vigorously, and Landry grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth, Hayes' first thought was that he hoped that those two rows of teeth would not hit Nowitzki's elbow again.

In a few words, Hayes pulled the hearts of the rookies together. The new boss of the team wants to cover them, and the three of them are naturally the first to look forward.

Before going on the court, Calderon also said to Hayes: "Thank you for replacing me, there is a future here than the Raptors." I'm very happy to play with you. ”

Barnes smiled at Hayes, "I'm here for you, and I didn't take it lightly when you tortured me last season." ”

"We're torturing everyone else this season." Hayes laughed. The two clapped their hands.

The first five pressed their hands together. Hayes said: "Come on, let the Bobcats veteran players see why they need to tear down and rebuild!" ”

"Your slogan is really hurtful, but luckily they're all over there." Azubuk laughed.

Players from both sides took the field. D'Antoni believes that the man he has chosen is definitely better than Van Gundy's side. All the players have NBA experience, and Hayes' bench is a ragtag bunch of players.

"Chuck, let me see what you're capable of." D'Antoni thought to himself.

Biedrins and Gortat jumped the ball, and the two were evenly bounced, with Biedrins barely touching the ball first and dialing it to Gerard Wallace.

"Marcin, keep up with Andris, I'll defend Emeka!" Hayes shouted.

Green opened with man-marking. After a couple of passes, Wallace misses a jumper with Barnes' interference. When he was in the position, Okafor was also very hard-working, and he had the heart to compete with Hayes. The two men were evenly matched, with Hayes having a slight edge over with good judgment, grabbed the rebound and handed it to Calderon.

Felton defended closely, and although it was a training match, the two sides had no intention of relaxing. Calderon passes to Hayes. The green tactic is simple, leave it to Hayes.

Red used a 122 joint defense, but Okafor and Biedrins didn't follow. The task of defending Hayes from the outside was given to Gerard Wallace. D'Antoni is satisfied with the current lineup of the Bobcats, but he is not optimistic about the players on Hayes's side, especially when he sees Kurt Thomas being put off the court, he feels that Hayes is even more difficult to play. Thomas still has a shot, Gortat has never played in the NBA at all, and he really doesn't know what this bald head can do except for his height.

The answer was that it could still be blocked, Gotatra was in the high post, Hayes bypassed Wallace, and Biedrins immediately switched defenses. And Wallace came to a close. There was a bag clip in the practice match. D'Antoni did this to test Hayes's abilities.

"Marcin, get down." Hayes shouted. Gortat was stunned and quickly withdrew.

Hayes shouted and dribbled the ball back, and in the process of retreating, he passed back to Azubuuk on the left, who immediately flicked to Gortat who cut in the middle. Gortat dunked the basketball, and Okafor couldn't help it, this explosive dunk was not inferior to Howard's violent dunk!

"It's not that easy to wrap me." Heyer smiled.

Gerard Wallace gritted his teeth, his eyes more serious.

(To be continued)