As a bench player, he scored a career-high 40 points in a single game, averaged 21.5 points per game and was selected as the league's Rookie of the Month, which is how tall and strong performed in his first month in the NBA.

In addition, Gao Dazhuang was also nominated for the league's Player of the Month of the month, you must know that the final winner of the Eastern and Western Player of the Month is the league's hegemon "Little Emperor" James and his most powerful challenger "Thor" Durant, so it is very valuable to be nominated as a rookie and compare with these superstars.

Take a look at the other players who have been nominated: James Harden of the Rockets, Chris Paul of the Clippers, Mark Gasol and Zach Randolph of the Grizzlies, Aldridge of the Trail Blazers, Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks, Russell Westbrook of the Thunder, Nowitzki of the Mavericks, and Tim Duncan of the Spurs, all of whom are among the league's top stars.

It can be said that the tall and strong NBA started very beautifully, but with such a performance, the tall and strong were relegated to the bench in the Rockets, and they were also caught in trade rumors.

For this reason, as soon as the game with the Knicks ended, a large number of media rushed to surround Morey, the general manager of the Rockets, and kept asking questions about the tall and strong trade, hoping to extract any valuable news from his mouth.

"Tall and strong will stay in the Rockets for a long time, and I won't do a trade if I don't make money," Morey said impatiently in the face of reporters' aggressiveness.

"But as far as we know, the Lakers, Nets, and Bulls have all had substantial contact with you, and it's said that the differences between you are getting smaller and smaller," asked Alex Kennedy, a reporter from Hoop World.

"It's not impossible for a trade to happen, but sometimes you have to face the final hurdle and the owner of the team, and I think Houston fans should know from past deals that some deals are not as secure as they seem, and there are a lot of trade rumors that don't happen in the end," Morey responded after a pause.

Morey tried to prove something to reporters, but apparently reporters weren't selling it, with one reporter from the Houston Chronicle asking, "Did the Rockets not wait for a better trade package?" So we need to wait? ”

"You obviously don't want to make a deal that doesn't help the team or equalizes" Morey did not deny it, and then Morey also revealed that he also talked to Gao Dazhuang alone yesterday, "Gao Dazhuang is likely to stay here for a long time, we like the fans to hope that he can stay, he is a very important part of the team, we hope he can bring more help to the team"

……

Gao Dazhuang politely refused to be interviewed by the media, and the media did not extract valuable information from Morey's mouth, everything seemed to be so "calm".

However, the discussion in the media and forums has become more intense, and many experts and fans believe that the biggest problem preventing the Rockets from trading Gao Dazhuang is his potential, and now the potential shown by Gao Dazhuang has made the Rockets executives hesitate: because the biggest risk facing the Rockets comes from Gao Dazhuang's future achievements.

"Trade the future for the present? It's a dilemma for the Rockets' top brassiers, but in fact, after the Rockets signed Harden with a salary cap in the summer, they should have considered it," Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski said in Werther.

But the NBA is a business, business is business, no one is an exception, and without warning, everything changes abruptly:

The day after Gao Dazhuang scored a career-high 40 points and led the team to victory over the New York Knicks, the day after Gao Dazhuang was selected as the Rookie of the Month and was nominated for the league's Player of the Month, and the day after Morey repeatedly claimed that Gao Dazhuang would stay with the Rockets for a long time, the Rockets' official website suddenly announced: "The Tall and Strong Deal" was completed!

It was a big deal involving three teams of seven people, backed by multiple trade exceptions and cash deals:

The Utah Jazz sent power forward Al Jefferson and shooting guard Raja Bell to All-Star shooting guard Joe Johnson and shooting guard Delfino.

The Brooklyn Nets sent All-Star shooting guard Joe Johnson, power forward Andre Bleche and a first-round protected draft pick to get this year's "Pick Show" tall and strong, center Greg Smith and some cash.

The Houston Rockets sent potential rookie Tall Strong, veteran Delfino, backup center Greg Smith and some cash to get Utah Jazz stalwart Al Jefferson, power forward Andre Blecher, shooting guard Raja Bell and a protected first-round pick.

The news immediately shocked everyone, and then the Rockets announced that they would hold a press conference immediately.

In less than an hour, the press conference center of the Toyota Center was surrounded by reporters and fan groups, and Rockets owner Alexander, general manager Morey, coach McHale and players involved in the trade Gao Dazhuang, Delfino and Smith all appeared at the press conference.

"Thank you all for coming, first of all, please allow us to say goodbye to the three players with gratitude, Tall Strong, Delfino and Smith, the Houston Rockets are proud to have such a hard-working, selfless and wonderful player, they are exemplary every day with the Rockets, the team will always remember their contributions to the team, and wish them a wonderful career in their new team" Morey hosted the opening remarks of the press conference, but was booed by some Rockets fans before he could finish his words, Many fans shouted to protest the team's deal.

For this reason, Morey paused awkwardly, and after the security guard calmed down the order of the venue, Morey continued: "In this transaction, the Rockets got the most needed player - Al Jefferson, as we all know, in the past few years, the Rockets have always been weak inside, and now to get such a dominant interior line as Al Jefferson will lay the cornerstone of the team's future interior in one fell swoop, we have reason to believe that the interior line composed of Al Jefferson and Asik and the outside line composed of Harden and Jeremy Lin will become a strong guarantee for the Rockets to re-emerge."

In order to avoid fan outburst, Rockets general manager Morey spent a lot of time praising the new players, and then Rockets owner Alexander and head coach McHale both spoke one after another, but they were nothing more than official words, without emotion or novelty.

Looking at the team executives talking eloquently on the stage, the excited reporters and surprised fans in the audience, in fact, the tall and strong heart is like water.

In fact, after playing the Knicks yesterday, Gao Dazhuang got the exact news from his agent Fagan, and joining the Brooklyn Nets was also the result of Fagan and Gao Dazhuang's efforts.

In fact, after Gao Dazhuang took the initiative to request a trade, the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls were the three most sincere teams, and they all sent team executives to discuss specific trades.

Among these three teams, Gao Dazhuang actually prefers the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Lakers' beautiful scout Bonnie Jill Laughlin and Gao Dazhuang have a good personal relationship, but after experiencing the Rockets' career, Gao Dazhuang has to think about the overall development in the future.

In the Lakers, Kobe Bryant is the real boss, he can influence the decisions of the team's top management, and although the Lakers have a high degree of attention, but the pressure is also high, which is not conducive to the growth of rookies, and the most critical point is that the Lakers are not willing to take out the trade chips that the Rockets expect - Gasol.

The Brooklyn Nets are completely different, unlike what reporters know, not only did the Nets general manager Billy King go to Houston several times to coordinate the matter, but the team's big boss Mikhail Prokhov personally went to Fagan's office to have a face-to-face communication with Gao Dazhuang.

Mikhail Prokhov, the richest man in Russia, the president of Onexim Group, with a total net worth of up to $10 billion, ranked 40th on Forbes magazine's "Global Rich List", Prokhov, who is 2.06 meters tall, is not a professional athlete, but he has been particularly fond of basketball since he was a child, and is a real die-hard basketball fan.

This summer, the Brooklyn Nets are the biggest team in the free agent market and the trade market, they have successively renewed their contracts with core point guard Deron Williams and other main players with an annual salary of tens of millions of dollars, after completing the contract extension, DeLong's annual salary in the new season is as high as 17.17 million US dollars, Humphries and Brook Lopez's annual salaries have also reached 12 million and 13.66 million US dollars respectively, plus Joe Johnson with an annual salary of 19.75 million US dollars, there are four players in the Nets team in the new season with an annual salary of more than 10 million, And Gerard Wallace's annual salary also reached $9.68 million.

Coupled with role players such as Evans, Brooks, Watson, Bogans, Stackhouse, and Taylor Tovic, the Nets' salary bill for the new season has reached $81.8 million, which is the third highest in the league, second only to the Lakers and Heat.

"I'm willing to spend a lot of money to build a championship-level team," Mikhail Prokhov said bluntly when he first saw the tall and strong, "Our goal is not just to build a playoff team, but a championship-level team, all I care about is what to do to bring the team a championship, and the championship is the only criterion."

"I think you are a player worth investing in, you have a lot of potential, you will be the cornerstone of our team, and we are willing to pay any price for you," said Mikhail Prokhov, who made no secret of his admiration for his tall and strong man, and has been emphasizing "influence" throughout the talks.

"If you can play the performance that everyone expects, the team will be transferred by your will" In fact, it was Mikhail Prokhov's words that completely moved Gao Dazhuang, and the "influence" on the team's top management is not something that core players can do, and now only James, Kobe and other giants in the league can do this, and this brings more expectations and challenges to Gao Dazhuang.

The press conference didn't last long, and several players only made brief speeches.

"I have so much love and gratitude for Houston and the Rockets" Gao Dazhuang still expressed his gratitude at the press conference, "Thank you to the fans for supporting me in the past few months, the past few months have played an important role in my life......"

After the press conference, Gao Dazhuang, escorted by security personnel, avoided many reporters, boarded the business car of agent Fagan and left the stadium.

The tall man who got into the car just started his mobile phone, and before he could see a lot of information, he received a call from his old acquaintance Yang Yi.

"Ha, I can't talk about my transaction now, I'm going to New York now, I'll be back soon, thank you very much for your support, I can't say too much now, remember to help me thank the fans" In the face of Yang Yi's interview request, Gao Dazhuang politely refused.

While flying to New York, Nets general manager Billy King said in an interview with ESPN: "We are thrilled to welcome Tall and Strong to the Brooklyn family, Tall and Strong has proven that he is the most promising player in the league, he is our cornerstone player, and we have given a lot to get this talented player, and for that we thank Joe Johnson and Andrey Bleche for everything they have done for the team and best wishes to them."

And compared to Billy King's poise, Nets owner Prokhorov is much more high-profile: "Today, the god of basketball is smiling at the Nets, and with the arrival of tall and strong, our team has formed a great balance between the experience of young talents and veterans, and the whole team looks brilliant and difficult for others to compete with us"

Fagan, a well-known reporter for the Houston Chronicle, also wrote that "Houston says agreeing to a trade is a difficult decision": many Rockets fans like to be tall and strong, but sending him away now is the best choice for himself and the Rockets, at the beginning of the season, the Rockets got the core of the team Harden and the tall and strong style of play, tall and strong need to have the ball in hand to be the most efficient, he needs to have full freedom, can break through the ball or attack the basket at will, but this style of play is not suitable for partnering with Harden and Jeremy Lin, they also need to have the ball in hand, In this case, the Rockets finally chose Harden with difficulty, and I hope the Rockets' choice is not wrong......"