Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 21 "2009 Defensive Player of the Year"

In order to ensure being selected by a certain team, it is not uncommon at the draft to only participate in tryouts for a certain team.

For example, Curry rejected most teams this year and only participated in tryouts with the Kings, Knicks and Bobcats.

However, this situation is more common with popular first-round picks and less common with second-round picks.

But, it’s not impossible.

For example, Austin Reeves rejected tryout invitations from all other teams in order to join the Lakers.

Hansen's current draft stock is at the end of the second round, and the 43rd pick is quite a temptation for him.

And Riley's question hit the nail on the head. He likes the city of Miami, and joining the Heat is a very good choice.

"Mr. Riley, I want to join the Heat, but I also want to complete the rest of the tryout because I want to know if I have a chance to get into the first round."

The biggest difference between the first and second rounds of the NBA draft is that the contracts of first round players are stipulated as 4-year guaranteed contracts, while the second round players mostly have non-guaranteed contracts. Even if there are any, most of them are guaranteed in the first year.

Before, Han Sen didn't have such an idea, because his goal at the time was just to be selected.

But now, after two rounds of tryouts, he found that he was no worse than the second-round prospects, so naturally he had to strive to move up.

As for why I told the truth, it was because the person in front of me was Riley, a shrewd man. It would be better to use a sincere killer move than to make up a thousand excuses.

Riley looked at Hansen for a while, and finally laughed:
"Our draft commitment to you remains unchanged, and if you get a better draft commitment, I hope you can tell me about it."

"No problem, Mr. Riley."

Hansen accepted Riley's new conditions.

After coming out of Riley's office, Hansen was in a very happy mood.

It is also common in the NBA for draft promises to not be fulfilled, after all, verbal agreements have no actual binding force.

But Riley still added new conditions after he said that, which shows that the Heat are really interested in him.

In other words, unless there are any major accidents, he will have secured the guaranteed 43rd pick.

This was going better than he expected, and he had no reason not to be happy.

After trying out with two Eastern Conference teams, Hansen immediately headed to the West. He will try out with the Suns, Thunder and Grizzlies in turn.

Hansen's tryout with the Suns went well.

Head coach Alvin Gentry expressed great interest in Hansen and talked to him for a long time before the tryout was over.

Right after that, NBAdraft released its latest draft predictions, and Hansen had climbed directly from the end of the second round to the middle of the second round, and was expected to be selected by the Suns at the 48th pick.

When NBA teams hold tryouts, management not only does not disclose tryout information to the media, but also requires staff to keep the content of the tryouts confidential to prevent their true intentions from being discovered by other teams.

However, in addition to management and staff, there are also rookies participating in the tryouts at the tryout site, so this confidentiality may not work.

Take the Suns' tryout for example, everyone could see Gentry and Hansen having a good chat.

However, Hansen feels that this draft prediction prospect is not enough.

Moreover, he has been busy with tryouts during this period and has no time to manage social media, so the number of black fans has increased very slowly.

So before heading to Oklahoma for a tryout, Hansen posted a personal status on Facebook.

"I was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Class of 2009."

Han Sen’s previous operations had attracted a large number of black fans to his account.

Once this state was released, especially when the news of him breaking Jordan's ribs was making headlines, his number of haters instantly skyrocketed again.

"You may not be the best defender, but you are definitely the dirtiest. After all, you can kill a 46-year-old man."

"The top scorer in the NCAA, the best defensive player in the class of 2009, why don't you say you should be the top pick?"

"Others rely on their strength to play, but you rely on your own strength to play. You are really opening up a new track!"

……

Hansen has long been immune to these comments and even gave a thumbs up to the guy who opened up a new track.

In fact, in addition to gaining black fans, he is also raising his own value.

Now all teams trying him out are keeping the content of the tryout confidential. As for Jordan's matter, it was because news can sell, so the truth cannot be hidden, but no one knows that he defended Curry until now.

So he wants to let other teams that he has not tried out know that the current draft report is inaccurate and he is defensive. As for the authenticity of the information, if those teams are interested, they will naturally find ways to get information from the teams he has tried out.

And the upcoming tryout with the Thunder is a good opportunity.

The Thunder have been a big draft pick in recent years. They selected Durant and Jeff Green in 07, Westbrook and Ibaka in 08, and this year they have the 3rd, 25th and 54th picks.

He doesn't know who to choose between 25 and 54, but he remembers clearly who the third place winner in 2009 was.

If nothing unexpected happens, he will participate in the tryout with James Harden.

If he can defend Harden in the tryout, the Thunder may not consider him with the 25th pick.

……

On this day, Hansen went to Oklahoma accompanied by Thomas.

Thomas also attached great importance to this tryout because the Thunder was the team he strongly pushed Hansen to join.

Although the Thunder have been at the bottom of the Western Conference in the past few years, they have accumulated enough potential and it is only a matter of time before they achieve results.

And more importantly, the Thunder really needs a 3D outside player.

They traded for "Swiss Army Knife" Thabo Sefolosha from the Bulls last season as the starting shooting guard.

Sefolosha did bring perimeter defense to the Thunder, but his three-point shooting was appalling, with a hit rate of less than 25%. Coupled with Westbrook's poor outside shooting, the Thunder's offensive space was very poor.

Han Sen arrived at the tryout site, but contrary to what he expected, he did not see Harden.

But, he met Kevin Durant!

The Thunder did not make the playoffs last season, so Durant should have been enjoying his vacation a long time ago. Why is he at the tryout?

This mystery was soon revealed later.

Thunder general manager Presti announced that Durant will be the one-on-one opponent for the rookies during tryouts!
When the news was announced, the rookies were all dumbfounded.

Although Durant has just finished his sophomore year, he is already an elite scorer in the league. Last season, he scored 47.6 points with a shooting percentage of 42.1% and a three-point shooting percentage of 25.3%, making him the core of the Thunder.

Han Sen also felt the pressure.

Winning against Curry in a one-on-one match can explain something, but not much, after all, Curry is not good at one-on-one fights.

But Hansen didn't use his full defensive strength at that time, so he was confident that he could defend Harden, who had stronger one-on-one ability.

It’s just Durant. Durant is much stronger than Harden, which is a complete dimensionality reduction attack for the rookies.

But he also sensed an opportunity.

It is definitely not worth the effort to find Durant for a pick at the end of the second round, so this is most likely for the 25th pick.

The news about Thomas is reliable, and the Thunder really need a 3D outside player.

If he can perform well in this aspect, wouldn't he be the best candidate?
The one-on-one tryouts began soon, and Han Sen was ranked last again.

There is no way. Although his draft stock is on the rise, most of the players in this tryout are players with late first-round draft prospects.

Then, Hansen watched Durant transform into Teacher Tony and shave the rookies' heads one by one.

His one-on-one ability is too buggy.

With a height of 2 meters when wearing shoes, he is more than enough to play power forward, but Durant plays as a shooting guard, and a shooting type at that.

Of course Hansen had seen Durant in videos, and even in his prime, but the difference between the video and the reality was too great.

Durant's shooting is not only high, but also very fast.

He deeply understands the saying "Changing direction is a respect for you, what can you do if you pull up?", which cannot be a more apt description.

Finally, it was Han Sen's turn.

Just when Han Sen came on the court, Durant, who was originally a little bored, suddenly became energetic.

He narrowed his eyes at Han Sen and said, "Are you the best defensive player of 2009?"

Han Sen was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered something.

Durant is also a big internet surfer!

(End of this chapter)