The Godfather of Basketball

Tang Tian wasn't in a hurry to find Morey, or it was just his judgment, and we'll have to look at the details later.

If Gasol is really going to be traded, Morey will always look for him in advance.

On February 8, US time, only one week before the All-Star Weekend, the Rockets played at home against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Rockets were obviously stronger than their opponents, and in the end they were bloodless. They defeated the Grizzlies 108 to 78 and improved their record to 42 wins and 10 losses.

Gasol Jr. faced several bigs in the Grizzlies, Darrell Arthur, Chuck Hayes, Darko Milicic and Hakeem Varik played Fengshenshuiqi, the bench He scored 21 points, 7 rebounds and 4 risks in 25 minutes of playing.

With his outstanding performance, Gasol was interviewed by reporters after the game, and was also drenched in cold water by McGrady. He was also very happy.

Tang Tian was also in a good mood after the match.

Gasol played well, and Morey had to weigh it if he really wanted to make a deal.

When he woke up the next day, Tang Tian's cell phone was suddenly broken, and the alarm didn't ring. He arrived at the training hall later than usual.

When he arrived at the training hall, Cole was leading the players to do some basic training.

At this time, he noticed that Gasol was sitting on the sidelines in a daze, looking not in a good mood, and he was a different person from yesterday.

"Mark, what's the matter, didn't sleep well last night?" Tang Tian went over and patted Gasol on the shoulder.

"Coach." The little Gasol came back to his senses, then stood up, "No, I was just distracted just now."

"Train hard, don't relax just because you played a good game." Tang Tian reminded.

Gasol nodded, and then went on to the field training.

Tang Tian smiled, turned around and continued to remind others.

The NBA season is long, and the 82 games are very intense, which is a huge test for players.

Among them, only the All-Star Game is a rare opportunity to rest.

But it was around this time that players were most likely to relax.

After the basic training, there is a full-court confrontation.

Tang Tian noticed that Gasol was still a little absent-minded, he was good on the offensive end, but he was weak on the defensive end.

He turned his head and asked Cole, "Did something happen to Mark?"

"Huh? Don't you know?" Cole was a little surprised.

Seeing Tang Tian's puzzled expression, he probably didn't know. Cole then explained: "Today there are rumors that the team is discussing with the Grizzlies about trading Mark."

Tang Tian was a little surprised. He got up late in the morning, in a hurry, and his phone suddenly broke, so he didn't have time to pay attention to it.

"Just this morning?" Tang Tian asked.

"Yes, I thought you knew about the message from Woj." Cole followed up.

The news sent by Woj must not be false.

If his cell phone wasn't broken, he should have received a text message by now.

Morey didn't talk to him about this in advance!

Tang Tian frowned, greeted Cole to let him continue training, then turned around and went to the general manager's office.

"Darrell, it's me."

Knocking on the door and entering, Morey smiled and said, "Don, you're here. I couldn't get through to you, and I was just trying to get someone to find you."

"The team wants to trade Mark?" Tang Tian asked directly.

"Come on, sit down first, sit down and chat." Mo Lei didn't answer Tang Tian, ​​but motioned him to sit down first.

Tang Tian sat down, his expression was not very good.

"Is the team really going to trade Mark?" he asked again after sitting down.

"It's like this. I asked Dikembe about DeAndre Jordan. I think it's time to give him some opportunities to perform. In addition, Memphis gave them the first round pick for next season, which is basically a lottery pick. And there is a high probability of winning the No. 1 pick, and you also know that in order to deal with Gadzuric’s contract, we have already traded the team’s first-round pick next year.” Morey explained.

"Mark cannot be traded, he is very important to the team." Tang Tian said directly.

This season, he let Cole and Thibodeau go to training. After Gasol grows up, he is as important as Yao Ming. Without this axis, the advantage of the bench lineup will disappear.

Morey frowned, he had already explained it all.

The two were silent for a while, neither of them spoke.

"And DeAndre is not yet ready to play high-intensity games. Doing so may make us withdraw from the championship directly." Tang Tian broke the deadlock.

What he said is not alarmist, Jr. Jordan is different from Jr. Gasol, Jr. Gasol has played professional leagues in Europe for a long time, but Jr. Jordan is still a young boy jumper, which really makes him the number one insider As soon as he comes off the bench, Yao Ming's playing time will definitely skyrocket.

"Don." Morey suddenly sat up straight at this time, looked at Tang Tian and said, "You are the head coach, the change of the lineup, how to adapt is something you have to consider, as the general manager, I have to consider not only the team the present, and the future.”

A high-probability No. 1 pick is different from Millsap and Gasol Jr., who were missed. It is really possible to pick a superstar.

Although the Rockets are strong now, the Big Three are getting older and must have a new cornerstone.

And according to the information he has, this year is the year of the draft, and Blake Griffin, Tyreke Evans, and even James Harden are all players who can become cornerstones.

"It's too late, and now the playoffs are less than two months away. This trade is equivalent to making our efforts before this season fall short!" Tang Tian stood up directly as he said.

Morey has his thoughts as a general manager, and he also has considerations as a head coach.

The two are in direct conflict.

"The team's trade negotiations have been reached, and it doesn't make any sense to say more at this time." Morey also stood up and did not back down.

The information released by Woj shows that the negotiation is really over.

Tang Tian was gasping for breath, Mo Lei's "cutting first and playing later" really made him mad.

He suppressed his anger, took a deep breath and said: "If you really want to trade, at least wait until this year's playoffs are over."

"No, this is a gamble in itself. If the Grizzlies really win the No. 1 pick, will they still trade with us?" Morey was also aggressive.

Tang Tian was about to swear, Mo Lei really didn't want to discuss it with him this time.

Although the two had some minor frictions before, they were resolved in the end, and this time it was a complete showdown.

The matter is a foregone conclusion, and there is no point in talking further.

Tang Tian resisted the urge to swear, turned around and walked out the door.

"boom!"

"boom!"

The door was slammed shut.

At the same time, the sound of Morey slapping the table angrily came from the office.