On the second day of the Nets' home game against the Jazz, Gao Dazhuang once again became the focus of attention across the league, because the NBA officially released two messages in a row, and these two messages were related to him.

The first piece of information is that the NBA officially announced the latest All-Star voting rankings, with tall and strong and Kobe Bryant leading the East and West divisions respectively.

In the Eastern Conference, the tall and strong man received the highest number of votes at 926731, which is also the highest number of votes in the league at the moment, and he and Wade lead the guard position in the Eastern Conference, while the league's number one star James has the second most votes in the league with 641348 votes, and Anthony, Garnett and Bosh also top the Eastern Conference frontcourt positions.

In the voting for the guard position in the West Division, Kobe Bryant got 639419 votes, and in second place was Paul who got 353603 votes, and Jeremy Lin, a Chinese-American player who played for the Houston Rockets, also ranked third with his influence in Asia, but he was more than 50,000 votes behind Paul, and he was also very promising to squeeze into the starting lineup, Durant, Howard, and Griffin ranked in the top three of the Western Conference frontcourt player voting rankings.

Unlike in the past, Gao Dazhuang, who is also from China, temporarily ranked as the king of votes with the highest votes like Yao Ming in 05, but this time the tall and strong votes did not attract too much criticism, because the performance of Gao Dazhuang in recent games is too eye-catching, and the data of 40, 50, 50, 31, and 34 points in 5 consecutive games can not even be faulted by discerning American basketball fans.

The second piece of information confirms this very well, and on the same day, the NBA officially selected the best players of the sixth week of the 2012-13 season. The Brooklyn Nets' Tall Man and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant were named Eastern and Western Player of the Week, respectively.

Mr. Gao led the Nets to a four-game winning streak last week, including an away win over the top-ranked city rivals in the East, the New York Knicks.

Last week, he averaged a league-high 41.2 points per game, plus 7.5 rebounds and five assists, and scored more than 30 points in all four games, including a record-breaking 50 consecutive points in two games against the Warriors and Knicks, and his personal score of 50 points is also the highest in a single game this season.

Durant, on the other hand, led the Thunder to a perfect 4-0 record last week, averaging 34 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, while shooting 60.7 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from three-point range. All four games also scored more than 30 points. In the Thunder's game against the Hawks, Durant had 41 points and 13 rebounds.

Other nominees include: Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies. James of the Miami Heat. Larry of the Milwaukee Bucks? Sanders and Anthony of the New York Knicks.

Back-to-back Rookie of the Month and Player of the Week. He also became the youngest Mr. 50 points in NBA history, making the popularity of tall and strong, and the "Nets No. 1 jersey" with a price tag of $100 is now out of stock. There are also many Nets No. 1s on the basketball court in New York, and Nets fans seem to have become the happiest fans in the league all of a sudden.

However, just when the Nets were going all out to win a winning streak, there was not so good news within the team.

After the Nets and Jazz game, Delon told New York Times reporter NateSilver about his foot injury, "I think a lot of professional athletes have this kind of situation, and I'm hesitant to have surgery now, and if I do, I hope it's over this season."

But the next day, the Nets suddenly held a press conference, announcing that Delon will have surgery on both ankles, and the time for surgery is next week, which also means that Delon will miss the next game.

"Delon will have surgery next Tuesday to treat both of his ankles, and we'll have a piece of bone removed from his right ankle and his left ankle will undergo arthroscopic bone spur removal surgery," Nets foot joint expert Dr. Martin Omler said at the press conference, who will also say he will perform Delon himself.

Speaking at the press conference, DeLong admitted that his performance was affected by the injury, "I feel like I've let the fans down, I don't like it, I take my job seriously and train hard in the off-season, but I'm not playing at the level I should be and I'm frustrated." ”

"I can't jump with my left leg, I can't even jump on one foot to dunk, I can feel the injury from morning to night, because even shopping my ankle hurts" Delon said with some sadness: "At first I didn't think that bone spurs in my ankle would be a big problem, and I also used painkillers to relieve the pain, but I was also worried that too many injections would affect my body, and I really had a lot of ......"

In fact, in November, Delon had already received cortisone injections and plasma-rich platelet-rich treatment in both ankles, and before the game against the Heat in December, Delon received cortisone and anti-inflammatory injections again, knowing that throughout last season, Delon also received two cortisone injections and one plasma-platelet-rich therapy.

But it's clear that injuries are holding the All-Star guard down, and this season, Delon averaged just 14.3 points and 6.1 assists per game during the regular season, shooting just 37.5% from the field and less than 30% from three-point range, all of which were career lows.

"I used to just stand on the pitch and feel like my best player, no matter who the opponent was," DeLong admits that his confidence has also been affected, "so I want to regain my confidence, I need surgery to get my old self back, and I believe that in my absence, the young man with a lot of potential in our team will lead the team until I come back"

Later, Nets general manager Billie King said that Deron will undergo full recovery treatment after surgery, but did not give a specific time for his return, but based on previous surgery recovery periods. DeLong could return as soon as the All-Star break.

Dellon's injury still affected the Nets' preparation after all, as Coach Johnson said, "It's hard to say how much Delon brought to our team, but without Delon our game would have been a lot more difficult", indeed, the impact of losing such an experienced All-Star point guard on the Nets is immeasurable.

So on the day Deron announced his surgery, Nets coach Johnson unexpectedly appeared in a tall and strong upscale apartment in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

"New York is a very attractive city, isn't it?" Standing on the apartment's large outdoor balcony and looking at the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance, Coach Johnson turned his head and said with a smile to the tall man.

"Yes. Very beautiful city" Coach Johnson's opening remarks made the tall and strong a little confused. The same tall and strong was equally puzzled by the arrival of Coach Johnson.

"New York is also a fussy city, and the fans here have very high expectations for their team, which is one of the risks of coming to the metropolis, actually before you come to the team. We had a terrible race. A bad time. We couldn't get shots, but I still think we're going to turn things around because I know we haven't assembled the lineup yet. My original plan was to run in the team this year and form a team that can compete for the championship next year," Coach Johnson continued, looking back at the bridge in the distance.

"But all of a sudden, we had six straight defeats, and even though I won last month's Coach of the Month, I could barely stop the fate of the class, you know, it's always disappointing for a coach to lose his job, but when something happens, someone has to take responsibility, and I guess that person is me," Coach Johnson said slowly.

"And even if I could continue to coach at the time, I couldn't do better, because the Nets look good on the roster, but the team is aging, lacking impact, and the team's salary structure, staffing is not reasonable, and the current roster in Brooklyn will be locked in for the next few years, because we have so many big contracts that we can't do anything when the team itself can't meet the needs of the fans and the team, because we only have a small mid-level contract when we strengthen the team. You can only look for the right players in the cheap zone, but these are obviously not enough," Coach Johnson said in a deep voice.

"And it's not worse, the team's top management wants to make a difference in the short term, and in order to solve the problem of matching Lopez with the frontcourt combination, Brooklyn will sign some worse contracts to help the team get short-term improvement, and fans who gave up the Knicks to join the Nets this summer will be familiar with this, and the Knicks under Isaiah Thomas did this in order to solve the problem, and the team facing high salaries and aging players will eventually have to enter a painful rebuild. Just like when Donnie Walsh first took over the Knicks, the Nets will eventually become a black hole for star players and a collection center for garbage contracts, and coaching a team that is slipping in the wrong direction is sad enough, and if it is still a team aiming for a championship, it would be like self-destruction," Coach Johnson sighed deeply.

"Coach, have you discussed these ideas with the team's top management?" At this time, the tall man who had been quietly listening to Johnson's complaint suddenly asked.

"Heh" Coach Johnson let out a self-deprecating laugh: "In addition to the top coaches in the league, such as Zen Master and Popovich, there is also a coach who can really influence the team's top management, in fact, since I came to the Nets, I have not been really trusted by the team's top management, and my contract is only signed until next year, I may not be as good as you players in their eyes, the boss's goal is to win the championship, but he did not give me the full strength to transform the team, and he will not leave me too much time"

"But your arrival has changed all that, your rise has surprised the team hierarchy, and you have covered up a lot of the team's contradictions, but it doesn't matter, the important thing is that your arrival may really solve these problems," Coach Johnson said suddenly.

"Me? I still don't understand what you mean," Gao Dazhuang asked with some confusion.

"In the final analysis, the NBA is a business league, and the NBA is a team of superstars, and everyone comes to see the stars, not passers-by, especially in a metropolis like New York," Coach Johnson said with a little excitement: "Although we have two All-Star players on our team, Delon and Lopez, their popularity has never been comparable to James and Durant, why?" Because they're just all-stars, not superstars."

"And you're different, not only do you have a huge commercial influence, but you also have the talent and strength to match, you have the potential to become a superstar, you've made the whole league look sideways, the fans also value you very much, what you have to do now is to show your talent thoroughly, let the team make up its mind to build the team with you as the core, you have to use your strength to prove that you are the cornerstone of the team, and at this time, your words and deeds can affect the team's top management, And then you can convince the team to give up some meaningless big contracts, you can change the structure of the team, and you can build a championship team with you at the core," said Coach Johnson, staring at Gao Dazhuang.

"This time Deron has surgery due to injury, the whole Nets will be your team for the time being, this is your chance, it's my chance, it's our chance," Coach Johnson finally said heavily.

……

"It's your chance, it's my chance, it's our chance" Even after Coach Johnson left, his words have been hovering in the tall and strong mind. (To be continued......)