NBA: Back to 97, to be the Jagged Bishop

Chapter 275 The Draft Begins

The day before the start of the draft, Heat general manager Pat Riley agreed to the offer proposed by Combe, using the No. 10 pick in his hand to exchange for Kwame Brown in Combe's hand.

Before the deal, Riley actually wanted to get more bargaining chips. Even if he couldn't get the first-round lottery, he still needed a second-round lottery. No matter how small a mosquito is, it's meat.

It's a pity that Kongbu just didn't let go, he would change it if he liked it, and he wouldn't give him a penny more.

In the end, Riley had no choice but to nod in agreement.

He really has no other better way to strengthen the team's interior. He was going to choose Caron Butler for the No. [-] pick in his hand, but this choice is quite risky, and the chance of winning the bet is much lower than the bet of losing. probability.

The main reason is that Butler is a super thorn. He started selling DU when he was 10 years old. Although he later corrected his evil ways with the help of his mother, he was still unclear with some gang members. Riley was worried about choosing Butler. Will be a ticking time bomb.

Compared with Butler, Kwame Brown is too honest, and he is still the most valuable center position. He is young and played well last season. In an ordinary draft, it is still possible to be the No. [-] pick based on his performance.

If you do the calculations like this, you won't lose money on this deal.

After Combe got the No. [-] pick, he led Brian Hill and Stan Van Gundy to New York, preparing to participate in the draft.

After arriving at the draft venue, Combe only heard a cold snort from Stan Van Gundy beside him.

It turned out that I saw Jeff Van Gundy, the current assistant coach of the Rockets. The relationship between the brothers has not been very good in recent years.

"Kong, have you read the recent news about the Men's Basketball World Championships?"

After Tang Shuai saw Kong Bu, he led his assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy over and greeted him with a smile.

Kong Bu shook his head, he really didn't pay much attention to the news of the World Championships recently.

"Are there any changes in the rules? Or the venue has changed?" Kumbu asked curiously.

Tang Shuai shook his head, "That's not true. It's just that many top players refused to play for the country. The reason they gave was to prevent your Philadelphia 76ers from becoming another dynasty team."

After finishing speaking, Tang Shuai pointed at George Karl, who was not far away with a bitter face, and laughed.

Everyone knows that the reason why those top players refused to participate in the World Championships is definitely not because they want to prevent Kumbu from creating a dynasty. This reason is really far-fetched.

The main reason is that the attention of the World Championships is too low, and these top stars are too lazy to participate.

There is no benefit at all, and it wastes their rest time, and there is a risk of injury, of course they don't want to go.

But they also have to find a high-sounding reason for themselves to give the fans an explanation.

Kung Bu was speechless, could this matter be on his own?

Needless to say, in the 2002 World Championships under normal circumstances, the Dream Five team sent by Lao Mei really did not have any top stars, and all of them were second-tier stars in the league.

At that time, the top players in the league who were active in the league gave the reason for refusing to participate in order to prevent the peak OK combination from winning four consecutive championships.

Now that the OK combination doesn't even have a championship, Kumbu has become their reason for refusing to participate.

In fact, whether Konbu can create a dynasty has nothing to do with the vast majority of stars. They will never meet Konbu in the playoffs. If they say they want to stop the Konbu dynasty, it is purely putting money on their faces .

George Karl is the coach of this dream team. He doesn't have a single top star, and they are all second-tier players. It's no wonder he looks good.

The point is that he just fired the Bucks not long ago. He thought that he would be able to take advantage of this World Championships. Who would have thought that he would encounter such an embarrassing situation.

Under normal circumstances, Old Carl led his team to score No.6 in the World Championships in front of his home, which was almost sprayed to death, which also led to his historical ranking in the coaching group has not been very high.

The Dream Team played No.6 in front of the house, which is almost the same as the Celestial Ping-Pong game in front of the house and won the sixth place.

For the tragedy that the old Karl is about to encounter, there is nothing that Kumbu can do. After all, he has to lead his team to participate in this World Championship, and his goal is to win the championship, so he really can't help the old Karl.

"Kong, long time no see, why do you feel that you are getting younger and younger."

"It's unbelievable, five consecutive championships! I thought it was impossible for modern basketball to have the feat of Auerbach. Who would have thought that you could do it."

"I don't think it's too much to say that you are God on the sidelines."

Kong Bu was chatting with Tang Shuai, the general manager of the Suns, Danny Ainge, came over and flattered Kong Bu.

He has never had a deep friendship with Angie. Hearing that Angie praised him so much, Kong Bu immediately guessed that Angie must have something to ask for himself.

"Mr. Angie, I think you are getting younger and younger."

Kong Bu shook hands with Angie and said with a smile.

Tang Shuai on the side joked: "I won the lottery, and I can select a player like Yi Jianlian. If it were me, I would have to be at least ten years younger."

Anji's old face smiled like an old chrysanthemum, and he took Kong Bu's hand and said, "Kong, can I discuss something with you."

"Will Yi not be allowed to participate in the next World Championships?"

"You know, we finally hoped for such a cornerstone of the team, and we really don't want him to have any injuries."

"I talked to him about this during the trial training before, and he said that he needed to ask for your opinion."

"Anyway, your Tianchao team has superstars such as Yao, Dazhi, and Daba. The strength is already strong enough. There is really no need to let the young Yi play."

Angie said it right.

Kong Bu understood, no wonder Anji caught him bragging as soon as he came up, it turned out that he really wanted something from himself.

Anji didn't want Ah Lian to participate in the World Championships, but he didn't have bad intentions. His purpose was actually to protect Ah Lian.

"Mr. Angie, don't worry, it's just the World Championships, the intensity of confrontation is not that high."

"The World Championships have been held for so many years, have you ever heard of a player who was seriously injured?"

"And I'm also his coach, so I will definitely protect the kid."

Kong Bu smiled and comforted Danny Angie.

He can fully understand Danny Angie's mood. It can be said that Yi Jianlian is Danny Angie's life-saving straw.

If Angie hadn't won the No. [-] lottery in the previous lottery, then Angie might have been fired at this moment.

If something happens to Yi Jianlian after he arrives in the Suns, Angie will definitely be fired.

It's hard to describe how much the Suns attach importance to Yi Jianlian. The fans have already regarded him as Phoenix's savior.

Hearing what Kong Bu said, Anji was a little disappointed, but he didn't dare to be serious with Kong Bu.

He had been in contact with Yi Jianlian for a few days and confirmed one thing, that is, Kong Bu had an extremely profound influence on Yi Jianlian. According to Yi Jianlian, he had to be approved by Kong Bu to participate in this draft.

If he offends Kong Bu, Anji has no doubts. Kong Bu will call Yi Jianlian and ask Ah Lian to force Gong Sun's boss to fire Anji.

While chatting, one after another of the league's prominent figures walked towards Kongbu.

The general manager of the Bucks, Harris Jr., and the new coach, Bread, belong to the kind of little people who don't have a sense of presence in the crowd, a bit like Kumbu who participated in the draft in 97.

The two formed a sharp contrast with other famous coaches or senior general managers. The suits they wore looked much cheaper than others.

Of course, Kumbu's suits aren't all that expensive, but no one judges Kumbu's league status by his attire these days.

After the two got close to Kong Bu, they faltered and wanted to speak, but they were too embarrassed to speak.

Kong Bu has encountered this situation many times over the years, and the two must want Kong Bu to help.

"Don't worry, take a look at the situation for a while, stare at your phone, and wait for my notification at any time."

"The eighth pick in your hands, right? The ninth pick Cavaliers, which small green house players have been tried out, do you have any news?"

Kong Bu asked in a low voice.

Harris Jr. quickly whispered in Comb's ear and replied: "The Cavaliers lineup is too mediocre and lacks everything, so almost every player from the Green House has tried out."

"However, I heard that there are a few inside players who are very excited. One is Drew Gooden, and the other is high school power forward Stoudemire."

Little Harris has been in this alliance for more than ten years anyway, and there are still intelligence networks.

Comb frowned and nodded. This is a bit difficult. Drew Gooden will definitely be selected in the top five, and it will not be the Cavaliers' turn to choose.

In that case, the Cavaliers holding the No. 10 pick is likely to select Stoudemire, and Comb's No. [-] pick can only select Butler.

"I have to say that you are very lucky."

"Use the No. [-] pick in your hands to select the high school power forward. He should be the best rookie in this draft except for the No. [-] pick."

Kong Bu decided to give Stoudemire to the Bucks. Anyway, he couldn't get it himself, so it would be better if the fat and water didn't flow to outsiders.

Brother Bread looked ecstatic, while Little Harris was a little hesitant.

"Kong, is there any inside player with strong immediate combat power? Mike and I don't have a deep foundation. The team may not give us too much time."

Harris Jr. obviously felt that high school insiders needed too much time to grow up, and he and Brother Bread couldn't afford to wait.

It is not that there were no high school power forwards before, such as Garnett and Jermaine O'Neill. Both of them played well, but it took a long time.

Harris Jr. was worried that he would be fired because of his poor record before he could play.

"Don't worry, this high school student is not quite the same inside line as the previous high school students. His immediate combat ability is still good."

"And you can send him to my training camp. In two months, I can definitely return you an All-Star power forward."

Combe patted Harris on the shoulder to comfort him.

After hearing what Kong Bu said, the Bucks duo felt relieved a lot, so there is nothing else to say, the election is over.

Soon Stern stepped onto the stage from the backstage, announcing the start of this draft.

Unsurprisingly, Ah Lian became the No. [-] pick. Wearing a small white and purple hat from the Suns on his head, he came on stage and shook hands with Stern.

The current color of the Suns' jerseys is purple and white, which is not good-looking, but it is better than the Bucks in the draft, because the Bucks have green hats.

The Chicago Bulls next selected Duke University's Jay Williams with the second pick.

Kong Bu sighed, the bull was really unlucky, and chose a tragic character.

Williams University was quite dazzling, known as the undisputed NCAA No. 1, Naismith Award, Wooden Award, NCAA Player of the Year and other awards were soft.

If Yao Ming hadn't participated in the election, he would have at least a [-]% chance of becoming the No. [-] pick.

Now that Yao Ming has entered the league ahead of schedule, Williams has run into Yi Jianlian again, and can only come in second.

However, not being able to become the champion is actually not necessarily a bad thing for him, otherwise he would also be included in the list of the champion of parallel imports and be ridiculed by others.

In June 2003, Williams happened to play a full season in the NBA, and then he floated, hit a utility pole on a heavy motorcycle, and was crippled and almost amputated.

Many fans think that he is a talented player delayed by injuries, but it is a pity that he has not really grown up.

In fact, even if he was not injured, he would eventually become a parallel importer.

With a height of 188 cm, he has been playing shooting guard in the NCAA. After arriving in the NBA, this height can't play shooting guard at all. The Bulls let him play point guard.

But he doesn't have the ability needed by a point guard at all. He is like the old cat Mobley who was selected by Combe a few years ago. He looks like a point guard, but he can't play a point guard.

And Mobley's physical condition is stronger than Jay Williams.

In his rookie season, he averaged 9.5 points and 4.7 assists per game. His high shooting percentage in college was only 39.9% in the NBA.

In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that it would be good if his future achievements can reach the level of the old cat.

However, such a player is very proud and arrogant, because he was squeezed out by Yao Ming, and he has spoken countless times to clean up Yao Ming.

He was also selected for this year's World Championships, and he did have a chance to play against Yao Ming.

It's a pity that he only played for a few minutes, and the only time he had a chance to talk to Yao Ming was that Yao Ming gave him a big hat.

The Bulls took this player with the invaluable second pick, and their rise must be delayed for a few years.

In fact, this is sometimes the case. Whether those weak teams can rise or not depends on the perspective of the draft.

If the draft is good, it may take three to five years to transform from a small team to a strong team. The Thunder of later generations is the best example.

If the vision of the draft is not good, it is more difficult to rise to the sky, unless you have the financial resources of the Knicks or the Lakers.

Next, the Warriors, holding the No. [-] pick, chose Deng Levy Jr. This choice is not good, but it is not a pitfall.

The Grizzlies with the No. [-] pick selected Drew Gooden. Comb looked towards the Cavaliers, and they really showed disappointment on their faces.

After the Bucks, who held the No. [-] pick, directly selected Stoudemire, Combe breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he had a destiny with Butler, and now he could only choose Butler.

(End of this chapter)