Morey looked at Alexander and said with a wry smile: "Boss, we haven't reached an agreement with Wen Hao yet. Should we abide by the agreement with Harden and reduce Wen Hao's playing time?"
Alexander took a sip of coffee and said: "Aren't you asking questions knowingly? Although the negotiation with Wen Hao was not completed today, he did not sign a contract with Toyota, and we could not get the $80 million, but now the two major players in the two industries, Nike and Toyota,
The fact that major brands have signed contracts with Wen Hao is enough to show how big Wen Hao's market value is. It seems that we still underestimated Wen Hao's energy before. I believe that from today on, there will continue to be endorsements
After finding Wen Hao, Chinese brands will come to our door. Then we can make a fortune like we did when Yao was here. And the premise of all this is that Wen Hao can have sustained, stable and outstanding performance.
, and this requires stable playing time as a basis. Therefore, Wenhao's playing time cannot be compressed, and even if necessary, his playing time needs to be increased. As for Harden, you need to solve it."
Morey smiled bitterly again, drank the remaining coffee in the cup, and said: "I understand, boss, I will talk to Harden."
But Morey did not go to talk to Harden immediately. A smart general manager like him needs to take steps to do things, and only by doing things step by step can everything be under his control. Moreover, he is waiting for an opportunity.
In the next ten games, Morey told McHale to first reduce Wen Hao's playing time. According to Harden, as long as Wen Hao plays less than ten minutes in each game.
So in the next ten games, Wen Hao only played about 9 minutes in each game, averaging 10.8 points and 4.3 assists. Logically speaking, he averaged 10.8 points and 4.3 assists in 9 minutes per game.
, this is definitely very impressive. However, the Rockets have not increased his playing time, which has aroused widespread doubts from the outside world.
Some media even guessed the general outline of the matter by putting their hammers and hammers here and there. So many media pointed the finger at Harden. They pointed out that although in these ten games, Harden did try his best.
, he averaged 34.5 points and 5.2 assists per game, but due to his exclusion, Wen Hao could only play for about ten minutes, which almost equaled that the Rockets lost a propeller.
In these ten games, the Rockets lost four games. This is unacceptable for the Rockets who aim to win the championship. What is especially obvious is that in these ten games, Harden passed fewer passes.
The number of his shots increased. When Wenhao and Harden were on the court at the same time, Harden basically didn't pass the ball.
Amid the doubts from the outside world, Harden continued to go his own way. In short, his purpose was not to let Wen Hao's limelight overwhelm him.
But others can't see it, but head coach McHale can clearly feel that in these ten games, although Wenhao's playing time has been compressed and his performance is not as good as before, Harden is not as excited as expected. His
My mood doesn't seem to be as good as I imagined.
It was at this point that Morey felt that the time had come and finally found Harden during a Rockets training break.
"James," Morey said, throwing a towel to Harden, "what do you think?"
Harden took the towel, wiped his face and said, "Very good."
"We have abided by the agreement and reduced Wen Hao's playing time to less than ten minutes. What do you think?"
"Very good," Harden said.
"Really? We have lost four out of ten games, and now our ranking has dropped to fifth in the Western Conference. Do you think it's good?" Morey's voice was not harsh, nor was his expression serious, but the content of his conversation made people laugh.
Harden's heart was shocked.
But Harden did not admit his mistake, and was even slightly angry, saying coldly: "In short, I just can't let his momentum overtake me!"
"James, tell me, what do you value most?" Morey said calmly, "Is it the boss position or the championship?"
"I value both." Harden did not back down.
"What if I told you that based on my data calculations, with Wen Hao, our chance of winning the championship will increase by 10%?"
Harden looked at Wen Hao who was practicing three-pointers on the court with some surprise, and subconsciously said: "No way."
"Nothing is impossible, James, let go of your grudges. If I were you, the most important thing to me at this stage is the championship ring. In terms of the NBA's power, how many powerful players there are, as a team
A leader who led the team to a brilliant record, but ultimately failed to win the championship.
Champion. When they get older, they are even willing to take the veteran's basic salary and go to a team with the ability to win the championship. Isn't it just for a championship ring? Now that we have Wenhao, our chances of winning the championship will be better.
If you want to increase it by 10%, ask yourself, are you really unwilling?"
Harden held the towel in his hand and said nothing.
"You can fight for the top spot, but can you do it after you get at least one ring? At that time, you will have no regrets. Isn't this the best of both worlds? James, at least this season, will work well with Wen Hao to win this championship.
Ring." Morey said earnestly.
Harden still didn't speak, looking at the sky outside the window, seeming to be thinking about something. For a long time, he threw the towel to Morey, without saying yes or no.
But Morey had already seen what Harden meant. He waved to McHale to come over.
"Is the deal done?" McHale asked straight to the point.
Morey did not answer McHale directly, but said: "Starting from the next game, you can increase Wen Hao's playing time."
"Really?" McHale's voice was actually a little excited, "How did you negotiate it?"
"This... secret must not be leaked. In short, you can let Wen Hao play for any number of minutes in the future. Harden will never interfere."
"I understand that. I just want to know how you made Harden agree?"
"It's very simple, you know, the appeal of a championship ring is endless."
McHale nodded thoughtfully: "I understand..."
"But that's what I said. Whether it will work or not depends on tomorrow night's game."
"Tomorrow night we will face the Celtics. Their point guard Rajon Rondo and shooting guard Chris Barb are a very strong backcourt combination this year. In our backcourt, Harden's scoring ability is better than that of Barb.
A little stronger, but Jeremy Lin is better at the point guard position than
Rondo is much weaker. Even Beverley can't compete with Rondo. At this point, the only one on our Rockets team who can rival Rondo in scoring and passing ability is Wen Hao. Even in defense, Wen Hao can't compete with Rondo.
Rondo is better, but he can make up for it with offense."
"So, whether Harden has put aside his grudge depends on tomorrow night's game. He alone cannot defeat the Celtics' backcourt combination. He must form a cooperation with Wen Hao."
"That's right."
…
Time can be said to be slow, and one second passes by, making many people who are full of expectations feel that their days are like years; said to be fast, time is very fast, and a lifetime has passed in a blink of an eye.
Back to this game. The next day came quickly. The Rockets took a specialist in the early morning of the next day and headed to Boston, the city where the Celtics are located.
After a day of rest and adjustment during the day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the Rockets took a bus to the Celtics' home court - TD North Shore Garden Arena, which fans are accustomed to call North Shore Garden.
This is the first time Wen Hao has come to the North Shore Garden since he joined the Rockets. Looking up, you can see that this arena does not look very grand, but if you understand the statistics of this arena and its history
, you will know how amazing it is.
The North Shore Garden Arena covers an area of 70,100 square meters and can accommodate 18,624 people to watch the game at the same time. Entering the arena and looking up, there are as many as 17 championship flags hanging on the ceiling of the arena. This is the most championships won by NBA.
The team, and in the 1950s and 1960s, the Celtics shocked the world by creating an unprecedented eight consecutive championships that would probably never be matched again.
The 22 retired jerseys hanging next to it are also the most among NBA teams, including the No. 32 jersey of current Rockets head coach Kevin McHale.
When McHale entered the stadium, the fans at the scene still habitually gave McHale applause. McHale was the hero of the Rockets' championship that year. Although they are now different, his status in the hearts of Boston fans is still
It is extremely noble.
The ones responsible for the commentary this time were Celtic commentators Tommy Haythorn and Mike Gorman.
Haythorn is an extremely burly, yellow-haired old man who even looks a little fat. When he saw that the players from both sides had entered the stadium, he immediately started today's commentary work: "McHale is back again. Let's pay tribute to the man who won the championship."
Salute to the hero."
Gorman is an old man with red eyes and white hair. At first glance, he looks somewhat similar to the Zen master Miles Jackson. He echoed Haythorne's words: "Of course we have to pay tribute, even if he is now our
We are enemies, but none of us can forget the great contribution we made to Boston."
"Okay, back to the topic, let's talk about the highlights of today's game."
"Actually, I can't find the highlight of this game. They have Warcraft and Dayao on the inside, which completely destroyed our inside line. And in the backcourt, we have Rondo and Babu, who completely destroyed theirs.
The combination of Harden and Jeremy Lin or Beverley. So if you have to look for something to watch, it is which one is stronger than their inside line or our backcourt."
"You seem to have missed one person. Don't they also have point guard Wen Hao?"
"Wen Hao? Come on, although Wen Hao's efficiency is very high, as rumor has it, Harden and Wen Hao are at odds, so the Rockets can only reduce Wen Hao's playing time to please Harden. So this point
There’s no need to worry at all.” (To be continued.)
