Zhiba NBA

Chapter 24 (23) Mid-Season Transactions

On November 11, the Rockets returned to the home court to play the Wizards back-to-back. The Rockets rested Dameng and Tracy McGrady.The old Jordan missed the standard and only scored 15 points on 15 of 4 shots. Stackhouse, who was traded from the Pistons, scored a game-high 8 points. Dawson was once considered as a trading target. Larry Hughes scored 26 points.As for the Rockets, Yao Ming scored 22+2 (real data) in the first game of his career, and Xiao Ma, who had a good rest the day before, also scored 5+18. The two centers completely dominated the inside and led the team to a 8-point victory over the Wizards.

"Grandpa, although there are many deals available at present, they must be completed one by one." Yuan Fei said to Dawson: "I asked the boss for instructions, and he meant to talk about the Suns deal first."

"Okay, it's not that difficult, I'll get it done."

Joe Johnson, the No. 2 player of the Suns, is 201cm tall and serves as a shooting guard.In his rookie season, he averaged 24.9 minutes per game and contributed 7.5+3.3+2.3, which is not optimistic from the perspective of efficiency.The Suns are a team of two super guards, Marbury and Hardaway. Johnson plays their substitute in this team, often with another person on the court at the same time, with less possession of the ball and not much room to play.

Judging from the strength he has shown so far, Johnson is much worse than Magloire, who has contributed 27+12 in 9 minutes per game this season.Although the salaries of the two are close, it is obviously unrealistic for the sun to exchange one for the other, and they must give up.And it is here that the main differences arise.The Suns management believes that 03 is a big draft year, and the first-round pick is very important, and their 03 second-round pick has been given to the Bulls in a deal last season, so the Suns manager insists on keeping the 03 first-round pick.And Wang Yuanfei knows that the Suns signed Nash in the summer of 04 and embarked on the road to revival. Therefore, the Suns' first-round picks after 05 are not worth much.

After Dawson's repeated negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement. The Rockets sent Magloire (annual salary 112 million) in exchange for the Suns' Joe Johnson (annual salary 173 million) plus the Suns' first-round pick in 04 (top ten pick protection).

(Small knowledge: For a team like the Rockets whose salary is lower than the luxury line, when the salary of the player sent is less than 980 million US dollars, the upper limit of the player's salary is 1.5 times + 10, and the team that is higher than the luxury tax is 1.25 times + 10. The upper limit of player salary that Magloire can trade is about 178 million, and Johnson meets this condition. So this is a deal that complies with league regulations.)
Magloire was not very surprised when he heard the news that he was traded. After all, Yao Ming had shown great potential, and Olajuwon’s status as the number one superstar in team history was unshakable. Dameng had to be guaranteed the starting position. In addition, Okur, who could play center, would sooner or later leave Ma.At least he went to solar energy to play the main force, which is not bad for Xiao Ma personally.

在道森忙碌不停的这段日子里，火箭战斗的脚步可丝毫没有停歇。他们先是在客场恶战快船，快船球员王治郅替补登场可惜未能得分，姚明也发挥不佳仅得4+7。这也是姚王首次在NBA的赛场上同场竞技。快船核心布兰德大显神威得到了26+15，新援安德鲁.米勒也得到了15+5+8。火箭方面麦迪爆发，他28投18中狂砍49分率领火箭5分险胜。

The next away game against the Trail Blazers, Magloire's deal has just come into effect, and the medical examination procedures for new aid Johnson have not yet been completed, the Rockets can only deal with it with a small number of remnants.In this game, the Rockets had no sense of touch, and they frequently hit the iron outside. Only Yao Mai scored in double figures.The final game ended with Rasheed Wallace's 2 free throws. 2:78 The Rockets lost away.

次日火箭来到奥克兰球馆（注：即为当前的甲骨文球馆，06年以后更改称呼）背靠背战勇士。大梦再次轮休，姚明首发登场。但面对擅长快攻的勇士，汤帅只让姚明打了16分钟（得了14+3）。奥库打了32分钟得到了22分12篮板创造了个人得分篮板两项新高。麦迪也打出了26+10+7的准三双数据，107:94火箭大胜。赛后勇士主帅穆塞尔曼大赞了火箭队的板凳深度。在交易走了马格洛伊尔且大梦缺战的情况下，姚明和奥库两位年轻中锋完全撑起了火箭的内线。

11月29日，火箭来到了西雅图，对手是制造自己赛季首败的超音速，自然是仇人相见分外眼红。此战火箭新援乔.约翰逊替补出场，2投1中得到了4+2。比赛的主角当然不是约翰逊而是火箭真正的巨星——麦迪，他31投19中贡献了51+6+5。尽管佩顿送出了14次助攻也未能阻止火箭带走一场胜利。101:86火箭复仇成功。

12月1日道森又完成了一笔交易。火箭将肯尼.托马斯送到了76人，换来了边缘球员阿特.隆和37岁的老将马克.布莱恩特加上了76人04年的第二轮选秀权（改自史上真实交易，原为02年12月18日发生的包括掘金在内的三方交易）。大梦对老队友马克表示了欢迎（马克.布莱恩特曾于95-96赛季效力于火箭）。

After getting the news, Thomas accepted an interview with reporters and expressed his gratitude to the Rockets.It was the Rockets who allowed this mediocre first-round 22 rookies to grow into the team's main rotation and even the starting player.Now that the Rockets have enough talent, Thomas knows that the team has gradually lost his position, and trading him away before losing his starting position is already the best result.

当日对国王的比赛，托马斯当然已不能出场。代替他的是杰拉德.华莱士，结果他在出场的33分钟里表现神勇，11投10中得到了21+8+4，刷新了个人单场出场时间、得分、助攻三项记录。13胜5负的国王与12胜3负的火箭恶战到了最后1分钟，最终依靠着韦伯的关键进球艰难战胜了火箭，比分是100:105。

The media spoke highly of the Rockets' 5 wins and 3 losses in this difficult 2-game streak.Although Magloire and Thomas were lost successively, people kept coming forward.Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Okur, and Wallace broke out one after another. There is always someone who can let the Rockets show their potential.Even the proud ESPN also issued an article admitting that it was wrong before the season. Tang Shuai is still turning stones into gold, turning one ordinary player after another into a potential star. General manager Dawson has contributed a lot to all this.They even said that they expect Joe Johnson to fulfill his potential and become the next young man who "became a star by the Rockets".

And Yuanfei's work has not stopped. He knows that only offense is not enough, and defense can win the championship.So he instructed Dawson to actively contact the Grizzlies in an attempt to get Battier, a defensive expert.Grizzlies general manager Jerry West (legendary star, known as the godfather of the Lakers) is very strict. Although he expressed strong interest in Reed, he is unwilling to make a one-for-one transaction involving Battier.

"We already have Jefferson and Turkoglu in the third position, and Wallace can also make a guest appearance. Do we really need Battier?" Even Dawson also expressed doubts about Yuanfei.

"Richard's ball handling and Heaton's passing skills are indeed better than Battier's, but they are only middle-level defensive players in the league, while Sean Battier is a real defensive gatekeeper, perfectly compatible with McGrady and Yao Ming. After Kenny is gone, Gerrard must often play the 4th position, and the time spent as the 3rd position is negligible. If something unexpected happens to our 2rd position, we must let Joe or Tracy play this position." Yuan Fei analyzed: "The Grizzlies' power forward, and There are satisfactory candidates for the point guards, and the center often uses Gasol to partner with Swift or Gooden on the road. Their biggest loophole is the [-]nd position. West's outer and inner gang are competitive in their bones. He is dissatisfied with the bad team for many years and wants to strengthen. We must seize this opportunity."

Soon Dawson brought further news, and West made a concession, willing to exchange Jefferson and Reed with Battier plus some top players and draft picks, so that the Grizzlies can use Jefferson to fill the vacancy that lost Battier.But Yuanfei felt that this deal was too much of a loss for the Rockets. After all, they had just exchanged Thomas and Ma for draft picks. If they hoarded picks further, their combat effectiveness this season might plummet.Yuan Fei thought very clearly that it is necessary to exchange some players with too little playing time for draft picks to increase future combat effectiveness, but excessive blood selling leads to constant replacement of old and new in the team and will also affect the championship plan, which is unacceptable to him.

在这笔拉锯交易不断进行的过程中，火箭也不断战胜着对手：12月3日火箭主场14分大胜马刺，邓肯空砍25+12，风头被27+18的姚明抢走；12月6日客场2分险胜黄蜂，姚明再砍16+13；7日背靠背战76人，新转会费城的托马斯贡献了14+7+6的全面数据，而姚明打出18+12完全打爆了76人明星中锋科尔曼。赛后托马斯和老队友们一一拥抱致意。

In the end, the Rockets ended the 23 schedule with a record of 7 wins and 2002 losses, which completely exceeded the expectations of fans.At this time of the new year, the Rockets' record is second only to the Mavericks' 26 wins and 5 losses, overwhelming the Spurs with 19 wins and 13 losses, and the Kings with 23 wins and 8 losses.For a while, the industry was full of praise for the Rockets.John Hollinger even turned over the old scores of the year, emphasizing once again that the Rockets were poor last season.But at this time, who will pay attention to the past?
Only one thing happened that made Yuan Fei very unhappy.

On January 1, the Grizzlies announced a deal with the Magic. In 3, the No. 2002 rookie insider Drew Gooden and guard Gordon Girisek went to Orlando; the Magic traded shooting guard Mike Miller and a pick to the Grizzlies (basically a real deal in history, which took place on February 2, and the Magic paid for two picks. In the article, because the Magic failed to get McGrady, Miller’s data increased and his value increased).The biggest hole in the Grizzlies lineup was filled.

The deal sealed the door for the Rockets to acquire Battier.

(End of this chapter)