king of defenders

Chapter 679
When it was the third pick in the first round, Meng Yun looked at Xiang Long. Just now, Xiang Long mentioned the top three, and now only the third is left. Will it be Xiang Long this time?

The third pick in the first round of this year belongs to the Celtics. This pick was traded from the Nets. The Celtics made it to the playoffs last season, but they lost to the Eagles in the first round. .

So this season the Celtics hope to use the third pick in the first round to further strengthen, so that the team can go further in the playoffs.

It is said that the Celtics are also busy this summer, intending to seek reinforcements from the free agent market and find one or two good players, especially inside players.

Because they suffered a bit from the inside line last season, Jared Salinger acted as an inside line during the regular season, but he was only 206 cm tall. In the playoffs, the Celtics even gave up the inside line altogether and sent Isaiah -Thomas, Avery Bradley, Evan Turner, Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder and other five small lineups.

As a result, it proved that this lineup did not work after one game. Coach Brad Stevens had to bring back Jared Salinger, and then rotated with Jonas Jerebko. .

But neither Jared Sullinger nor Jonas Jerebko could meet the requirements of coach Brad Stevens. In the first round of the playoffs, the Celtics were defeated by the Eagles. The team was eliminated with the following gram.

So this season the Celtics are eager to strengthen the inside line, and Xiang Long and Dragan Bender should be on the Celtics' shortlist.

However, the Celtics are a strong team. Last season, their regular season record ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference, only behind the Heat. Meng Yun felt that Xiang Long might not be comfortable with the Celtics.

Xiang Long has always been more fond of joining weak teams. This has something to do with his preferences and pride, but to some extent it also has something to do with his personality.Xiang Long's character is to go his own way, he cherishes words like gold, and is somewhat withdrawn. Even the people close to him will not show many smiles.

But he has amazing talent and outstanding strength. If he is in a weak team, the team needs to rely on his strength, and his personality problems can be tolerated.

But if it comes to a team as powerful as the Celtics and pays attention to the team, can Xiang Long integrate into it?
Meng Yun was very suspicious of this.

"Now I announce." Adam Silver stood on the stage with a smile on his face, and said: "The Boston Celtics selected Xiang Long, a Chinese from Canada, with the third overall pick in the first round."

It has to be said that Adam Silver is still very particular, and deliberately added the word "Chinese", as if to emphasize Xiang Long's identity as a Canadian Chinese.

The reason for this is mostly because Xiang Long is Chinese, which can further make Chinese fans get closer to the NBA and pay attention to the NBA, just like the attention brought by Jeremy Lin.

Of course, the rise of Meng Yun has established a good bridge between the NBA and Chinese fans, just like Yao Ming at the beginning, but Xiang Long can obviously further attract Chinese fans to pay attention to the NBA on the basis of Meng Yun, and Adam Silver's comeback is just a word, why not do it?

"It's Xiang Long."

"The Celtics actually picked him."

"I didn't expect him to be selected with the third pick and entered the top three. I thought it would be Bender. What did the Celtics think?"

It was previously announced that the 76ers selected Ben Simmons and the Lakers selected Brandon Ingram did not cause much movement, because everyone had already guessed it.

But now that the result of the third pick was announced, it immediately caused a lot of uproar and discussions.

Although the draft prediction platform has already raised Xiang Long's draft ranking to the top few, but before the draft came, it was only ranked fifth.To enter the top three, many people still think it is impossible. The reason is very simple, because Xiang Long is a Chinese. Even if there is Yao Ming first and then Meng Yun, many people still have prejudice against Chinese players.

Last year, the Heat spent a lot of time trading with the Nuggets for Meng Yun. The Nuggets selected Meng Yun with the seventh overall pick in the first round, which made many fans feel incredible.

Based on Meng Yun's performance in NCAA last year, if he is a black player, or even a white player, he would at least be in the top five, but in the eyes of major draft prediction platforms and many people, Meng Yun can only be ranked tenth.

This time, many people thought that Xiang Long should be similar to Meng Yun last year. He was selected from the fifth to the seventh overall picks, but it turned out that he really entered the top three.

"It was actually chosen by the Celtics." Meng Yun was also a little surprised, but he was still happy for Xiang Long, stood up and hugged Xiang Long: "Congratulations, I guessed wrong, you entered the top three. "

Xiang Long is very calm and doesn't see much joy: "Actually, I hope to be selected by the Lakers with the second pick. The Celtics are not suitable for me."

Meng Yun was taken aback for a moment, then nodded seriously, but didn't know what to say.

Xiang Long was selected with the third overall pick in the first round. This is definitely something that many players dream of, and it is said that they should be happy.But it was the Celtics who drafted him, and frankly, not a great place to be.

The only good thing is that Xiang Long also clearly understands this point. Meng Yun only hopes that he can try to change himself to adapt to the team after he arrives at the Celtics.

But is this possible?
Meng Yun shook his head and patted Xiang Long on the shoulder: "Anyway, you are welcome to the NBA. We finally met in the NBA, even though we are not on the same team."

Xiang Long nodded and walked onto the stage.

As always, cherish words like gold, after Xiang Long went up, he only said two sentences, one was that he was very happy to enter the NBA, and the other was to thank his family for their support, and then it was over.

This. This is the end?

People were at a loss, and the scene was a little awkward. It took three seconds for someone to applaud, and then everyone applauded, which made the embarrassing atmosphere dissipate.

"This character." Meng Yun smiled bitterly. I wonder if the Celtics management will regret choosing Xiang Long with the third overall pick in the first round after seeing this scene?
Of course, Xiang Long's talent and strength are definitely worthy of the third pick in the first round, but this character
Later, the Suns chose Dragan Bender with the fourth overall pick. The conclusion that they had almost entered the top three was that Brown fell to fifth and was selected by the Timberwolves with the fifth overall pick in the first round.

sixth pick
The name of Zhou Qi was not heard until the 43rd overall pick in the second round. The Rockets selected Zhou Qi with the 43rd overall pick in the second round.

This result is not surprising. Zhou Qi's draft pick is unlikely to be too high. It is already good to be selected at No. 43 in the second round without losing.

After the draft, Meng Yun flew back to China overnight, and then the Chinese men's basketball team will usher in a new round of warm-up match - the Stankovic Cup.

(End of this chapter)