Bishop of the Devil

Overall, the Bulls did not actually lose money on this deal, but actually made a profit.

The Knicks didn't get any decent players with this pick.

Under normal circumstances, the Knicks' pick would be the second pick, but the Bulls traded it with the Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers were the No. 4 pick, and they used the No. 4 pick to sign Tyrus Thomas in exchange for Aldridge from the Bulls.

Tyrus Thomas's strength is okay, but it's just okay, he can be considered a qualified starter...

At his peak, he had about 10 points and 6 rebounds, which is still far behind the All-Stars.

And now the Bulls have used this Knicks draft pick to acquire Gortat and Ariza, any one of whom is worth more than Thomas.

So no matter how you look at it, the Bulls made a profit in this deal.

Richard can be regarded as making some compensation to the Bulls. After all, they took over Pippen and suffered a big loss.

In the 2006 draft, high-pick trades were quite frequent. Not only did Aldridge and Thomas exchange clubs, but Roy was also selected by the Timberwolves with the sixth overall pick at the beginning, and then was traded to the Trail Blazers without playing a game. By.

There is also Rudy Gay. After he was selected by the Rockets, he also did not play in a game and was sent to the Grizzlies.

Randy Foye was selected by the Greencaps with the 7th overall pick and then sent to the Timberwolves...

Most of the top ten players were traded away by their teams without playing in a game.

This is still quite rare in the entire NBA draft history.

…

The Bulls completed the deal with the Buccaneers immediately and made an official announcement on their own.

Then just before the trade deadline, boxing champion Tyson Chandler was traded.

In this way, they basically settled the impact of Pippen's contract, and then earned Ariza...

…

Soon the door to the trading market was closed, and the trading wave subsided.

Next, the Pirates will start working on Richard's plan.

Originally, Jordan didn't agree with Richard's planned failure in the upcoming schedule. After all, the Buccaneers have already reached the top three positions in the Eastern Conference. If they enter the playoffs with this pick, they are still quite good. A chance to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.

But Richard also expressed his thoughts. First of all, the chance of this team winning the championship is very small.

No matter what pick they take to enter the playoffs, as long as they don't win the championship, it will actually be completely meaningless to Jordan and Richard.

The two of them have a total of eleven championships in total. Do they care about results like division championships?

Obviously they don't care, the only thing they care about is the championship.

Since there is almost no possibility of winning the championship, it is better to focus on next season.

Moreover, this kind of planned failure does not mean that the chance of winning the championship is completely lost.

Any playoff team has a chance to win the championship, provided it is lucky enough and strong enough.

Even if they enter the playoffs in the eighth position in the Eastern Conference, as long as the Pirates can have the dominance of the top Blazers or the top Pistons, they can still easily win the championship.

…

In this way, Jordan no longer had any need to object and could only support Richard's plan.

Richard's plan is to stay in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoffs, which would allow the Buccaneers to get a higher draft pick.

And entering the playoffs will not let the Pirates lose hope of competing for the championship.

Who can say what will happen in the future? Maybe all the Buccaneers' opponents in the playoffs will be injured, allowing the Buccaneers to win a championship in vain. This is not impossible.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was already the end of March.

Purdue is the defending champion of the NCAA, but Richard did not go to watch the game this time.

The reason why he went to the scene last time was mainly because old Philip retired and he had to go. There was nothing special about it now. Faced with this kind of game that could obviously defeat his opponent, Richard was not very interested.

When March ends, the NCAA season is over, and they will enter a busy recruiting period.

For Purdue University, Black March is actually not a big problem for them. The biggest difficulty is this recruitment period.

If we can get all the players on Richard's list during the recruiting period, the national championship will be just within our grasp.

The NCAA is not a commercial league, and it should be fairly fair and just, but in fact the water here is deeper than the NBA.

A strong team will always be strong, and a weak chicken will continue to be weak. This is difficult to change.

For example, some super powerful teams, such as UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, etc., have always been powerful teams.

However, some other minor league teams can only live at the bottom of the NCAA Division I league.

The reason is that they are not attractive to freshmen. Strong freshmen have been recruited by these top schools, and they will never get a chance to make a comeback...

Fortunately, Purdue is now at the level of a top school, and they are now very attractive to freshmen.

As for those weak schools, unless they are lucky enough to recruit unknown and powerful recruits for several years in a row to increase the team's exposure, otherwise, they will always be stuck at the bottom.

And if you want to find an unknown and powerful newcomer for several consecutive years, the chance is simply smaller than winning the lottery.

Unless they can get another time traveler like Richard...

And it can't be an ordinary time-traveler, it has to be a time-traveler who has a good understanding of the basketball circle in order to change their destiny.

…

March ended, and another half month later, the 2005-06 regular season schedule is completely over, and the NBA is about to usher in the playoff schedule.

Before the All-Star break, the Buccaneers maintained the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. However, after the All-Star break, their record declined. By the end of the season, they only had the sixth-best record in the Eastern Conference.

This is quite normal in the eyes of the fans. After all, the Pirates sold Gortat and Ariza, the main players on the bench, and it is natural that the team's record will decline.

I have to say that Pirates fans are quite patient, probably because of their absolute trust in Richard.

Looking at other teams, the team sold two main players on the bench midway through the season. It is estimated that the team will be sprayed by fans.

Now the fans are also very clear about Richard's plan, which is to look for the future...

Sending away Gortat and Ariza in exchange for two draft picks, including a high-ranking Knicks draft pick, will improve the overall strength of the Pirates next year.

Because of Richard's existence, Pirates fans firmly believe that every draft pick represents an All-Star.

…

The Buccaneers' record ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 42 wins and 40 losses, which is worse than the Kings, who are eighth in the Western Conference. You must know that the Kings both have a record of 44 wins.

The current strength of the Eastern Conference is indeed good, but what is good are the top teams. Several teams in the first half of the playoffs are no worse than the Western Conference, and even look better.

The teams in the bottom half of the playoffs cannot be compared with the Western Conference.

The fifth-ranked Pacers have only 43 wins and cannot make the playoffs in the Western Conference.

Richard took a look at the record rankings. Their Pirates' record ranked fourteenth in the league, and they got a first-round pick with the sixteenth overall pick.

This pick is quite powerful, enough to ensure that Richard can easily select Rondo.

…

It is worth mentioning that the Knicks’ record this season is the second to last in the league…

Such an embarrassing record, even if Richard's luck suffers again, is enough for them to get a guaranteed top-five draft pick.

If you are lucky, it is not impossible to win the No. 1 pick again.

If we really get another No. 1 pick, I'm afraid other teams will cry.