I’m Really Playing Basketball

On June 24, 2005, in Charlotte, the Bobcats training facility, at this time, there was a lively and crowded atmosphere inside and outside the entire Bobcats training facility.

Because after the 2005 NBA draft lottery, the Charlotte Bobcats had the No. 1 pick, No. 9 pick, No. 16 pick, No. 18 pick, No. 21 pick, No. 22 pick, No. 27 pick, No. 28 pick and With a number of second-round picks and 12 draft picks in each round, the Bobcats' draft training camp is destined to become the most lively draft training camp for all NBA teams.

Because they have the No. 1 pick, several favorites who aspire to the championship will be here.

Because there is No. 9, which is considered a relatively good pick in the lottery, many rookies with lottery prospects are also here.

In addition to the four mid-level first-round picks of 16, 18, 21 and 22, those backbone rookies with lottery hopes will also choose the Bobcats as their first choice for trial training.

Coupled with the 27th and 28th picks, those rookies who have the opportunity to compete for the first round will also come to the Bobcats to look for opportunities.

In addition to the seven first-round picks, the Bobcats also have five second-round picks. Rookies who do not have a first-round opportunity will also choose to come to the Bobcats. Other teams only have one second-round pick. Here are five. The chances are five times that of other places, and anyone with good math knows their choice.

Therefore, there was such a strange scene in the 2005 draft training camp, that is, no NBA team was as attractive to rookie players as the Bobcats.

For the same two invitations, the first choice for rookie players is the Bobcats.

After all, the Bobcats not only have the advantage of draft picks, but also have the advantage of Jordan, the current No. 1 player in the NBA.

Let's put it this way, that young man has no talent?

Young people all feel that they are talented and underappreciated, they all aspire to be successful, and they all feel that they are underestimated.

And Jordan is now the No. 1 Bole in the NBA.

When Chen Xiao's draft prospects were so unclear, Jordan was willing to select him with such a high pick.

Chris Paul was just a prospect on the verge of the lottery at the beginning. As long as Jordan took a fancy to him, he would directly arrange for the fourth pick.

This is all a matter of buying a horse bone with a thousand dollars.

As long as you are valued by Jordan, he will not treat you badly. Even if you are only a lottery prospect, he will directly sign you with the No. 1 pick. He will never feel it is a waste and then use it as a bargaining chip.

Therefore, the training camp of the Bobcats can really be described as a gathering of strong players.

All the top ten picks predicted by "Sports Illustrated" draft expert Thomason appeared at Charlotte's rookie training camp.

The biggest favorite for the No. 1 pick is Australia's arrogant center Bogut, who thinks he is better than Duncan.

Marvin Williams, the second favorite and the first of the four North Carolina boys.

The third favorite, point guard Deron Williams.

In addition to these three super rookies, there is another super rookie left, high school player Gerald Green.

These four are the four biggest favorites in this year's NBA draft.

The Sports Illustrated draft expert also said that these four people all have a chance to win the No. 1 pick.

It depends on who the Bobcats think they need.

However, due to unexpected circumstances, the Bobcats used their No. 1 pick in exchange for the wonder boy Chen Xiao from the Cavaliers.

And the Cavaliers themselves don't need the No. 1 pick. The Cavaliers think this pick is too high.

So the No. 1 pick traded from Chen Xiao has been put on the shelf.

The chips used by the Bobcats to trade Chen Xiao were their own No. 1 pick and the Cavaliers' own No. 28 draft pick in exchange for it from the Cavaliers.

Use two draft picks in exchange for Chen Xiao, the number one player in the NBA.

This transaction is blood money.

The reason why there is such a lucrative deal is that the Cavaliers do not have junk contracts to deal with. At the same time, the Bobcats do not have the players the Cavaliers need except Chris Paul.

Therefore, there is no need to consider the issue of dealing with junk contracts or robbing valuable players.

It is simply a trade of draft picks for players.

In this case, Jordan and the Bobcats have shown their utmost sincerity by giving away the No. 1 pick, and the No. 28 pick used by the Cavaliers to trade for Gerald Wallace was also returned directly.

If the Cavaliers still want more draft picks, of course Jordan is willing to get Chen Xiao. However, Jordan and the Bobcats are willing to give it away, but the Cavaliers are not willing to take it.

The Cavaliers need to deal with a lot of player renewals this offseason. Although after winning the championship, the team's investment can be gritted and expanded, but the salary pressure is still great, and the contract of the first-round pick is not low.

Moreover, requiring so many draft picks in one session is unnecessary for the Cavaliers, who have already completed their reconstruction.

One high and one low, just right.

The rest can be regarded as Chen Xiao's start-up capital for the Bobcats.

Therefore, the No. 1 pick and No. 28 pick sent by Jordan were indeed chips that suited the Cavaliers' wishes. The Cavaliers agreed without even thinking about it.

For Chen Xiao, Shan Mao sent out the No. 1 lottery.

This incident is quite embarrassing for those high-predicted draft picks who came to Charlotte.

Now the No. 1 pick is in the hands of the Cavaliers, but the Cavaliers don't want the No. 1 pick, so for the proud players like Gerald Green, they don't know who they will end up with.

I can't advance, I can't retreat. I feel like I've been wasting my time here for so long.

Which of them didn't push a lot of teams for the Bobcats' workouts?

Now, it's all in vain.

Therefore, Chen Xiao's joining the Bobcats not only changed the NBA landscape, but the head of the NCAA also came out to speak out, and even the pattern of this year's draft was changed.

The Bobcats traded seven picks in this year's draft with the No. 1 and No. 28 picks, which had a big impact on people like Gerald Green and Bogut, but it had little impact on other rookies.

Even because Chen Xiao joined the Bobcats, the Bobcats became more attractive to them, and they worked harder.

However, in the draft, everyone is eyeing the hot rookie.

Like other rookies, no matter how hard they try, they won't be seen.

When the Bobcats' training camp, Bogut, Deron Williams, Marvin Williams and Gerald Green are all uninterested, then the entire training camp will give people a feeling of uninterestedness.

If this is the case, then this training camp of the Bobcats will be nothing to watch.

but!

The news that wonder boy Chen Xiao will inspect this year's Bobcats rookie training camp before the draft still makes the entire Bobcats training camp excited.

To be honest, what Chen Xiao represents now is attention.

As long as he can perform in front of Chen Xiao, he will be known to the whole country and the entire NBA immediately.

Under such circumstances, it doesn't matter even if you don't know where the No. 1 pick will be eventually traded by the Cavaliers. As long as you have an outstanding and dazzling performance in front of Chen Xiao, that is the best trial!

Therefore, after the Bobcats and Cavaliers completed the transaction, the four talented players this year began to look forward to Chen Xiao's arrival.

Ready to step on Chen Xiao's pedal to the top.

When Jordan was at his peak, there were still rookies who wanted to step on Jordan and rise to the top, so don't underestimate the ambition of these young talents.

For example, this year there was a mad student who underestimated Duncan.

Now he is gearing up and waiting to beat Chen Xiao up.

Of course, Chen Xiao, who was accompanied by Jordan and Bobcats boss Robert Johnson at this time, naturally didn't know this.

Chen Xiao is now walking on the road to the Bobcats training camp accompanied by Jordan and Johnson.

After Chen Xiao came to Charlotte, he started working non-stop.

As he said in his departure statement, there is no celebration, no rest, the end is the beginning.

For Chen Xiao, this draft can determine whether his future job with the Bobcats will be difficult or easy.

What's more, although the Bobcats lost two first-round picks, they still have five first-round, five second-round, and ten picks.

It was enough for Chen Xiao to smoke.

Everyone across the country knows that Jordan is a gambler, and so is Chen Xiao when it comes to the draft.

In the past two years with the Cavaliers, Chen Xiao's draft selection can't be said to be too successful, but it can't be said to be too unsuccessful.

Because Chen Xiao can see the abilities of rookies but not their potential, this basically guarantees that the rookies selected by Chen Xiao can guarantee a certain lower limit. As for the upper limit, it really depends on gambling.

However, Chen Xiao is still very optimistic about the Bobcats' draft work.

In the Cavaliers, he is the team's only opinion on the draft. It's up to him to make the decision. No one can check it for him, and no one dares to check it for him.

But it's different in the Bobcats. The Bobcats have a general manager recognized by the entire NBA as a genius, and he is very good at selecting talents with extremely high ceilings, Michael Jordan!

Therefore, just leave the upper limit to Jordan and the lower limit to him.

What does this mean?

The meaning is very simple, just give the high draft pick to Jordan.

Chen Xiao is responsible for picking up low-ranking draft picks.

For example, around 20 or later, if you select a rookie with a B- or C+ ability, you will actually be less disadvantaged.

But if you use the No. 9 pick or a pick on the edge of the lottery to select a rookie who has certain abilities but no potential, you will suffer a bit.

Therefore, when Jordan respected him very much and asked him to decide on the draft candidates, Chen Xiao very generously gave Jordan the Bobcats' No. 9, No. 16, and No. 18 picks this year.

Chen Xiao himself is responsible for the first-round and second-round picks.

Of course, it is impossible for Jordan to refuse Chen Xiao's request.

As a gambler, if I really want to leave all the draft picks to Chen Xiao, Jordan is also willing, but his hands will be itchy.

Now is the time when his self-confidence is at its peak.

"Chen, regarding this year's rookies, you have just finished playing in the finals and have not had time to fully understand them. Our scouts have now sorted out some good rookies this year. You can get familiar with them first."

Jordan, who was walking next to Chen Xiao, said with a smile when he handed a document to Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao took it and looked down. Good guy, the NBA's eye is indeed a god's eye. They have already picked out the key points according to their positions.

For example, for the center position, the top five selected by Jordan are Bogut, Channing Frye, John Petrol, fourth, Andre Blatche, and fifth, Andrew Bynum.

Chen Xiao has heard about Bogut for a long time.

Standing 7 feet 1 inch (2.16 meters) tall and weighing 245 pounds, Bogut averaged 20.4 points and 12.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore at the University of Utah. His statistics were said to be better than those of Duncan.

In the final season, he won the title of "National College Player of the Year".

In the eyes of many experts, Bogut will become the "No. 1 pick" this year.

And this guy not only succeeded in the NCAA, he also performed very well in the 2004 Greek Olympics, averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.

This is still not easy.

According to the evaluations of Jordan and Bobcat scouts, this guy is good. There is nothing wrong with being the best center in this class, but he is a little too crazy.

Chen Xiao also heard about his madness.

For example, when a reporter asked him about his goal of entering the NBA, he said this: "The goal of entering the NBA? Have you asked Tim Duncan such a thing before? Have you asked Shaquille O'Neal such a thing? You asked Have you ever said such things to Michael Jordan? These words are all asked about rookies like Wonder Boy, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant. I am not disrespecting them. When I was a rookie, I was different from them. , before entering the NBA, I have made all the preparations. When I enter the NBA, I will be stronger and more powerful than now. I don’t have any goals. The goal is to become an All-Star player. Insult me. I know I can do far better than this and I can’t wait to show myself to the audience.”

Good guy, this makes sense. Even the American reporters who originally wanted to cause trouble were shocked. How long had it been since they had seen such a crazy rookie?

They look down on super giants like Chen Xiao, Kobe Bryant and Garnett as dirt.

Although the prospects of the three of them when they entered the NBA were indeed not as promising as Bogut's, they just knew it in their minds and there was no need to say it out loud.

Do you know the status of these three people in the NBA now?

Of these three, except Kobe, the other two are all MVPs!

Therefore, many people say that even if Bogut entered the NBA as the number one pick, if he had not boasted about his own strength, he would have been surrounded and killed by all parties.

It's okay to offend Chen Xiao and Kobe. How dare you diss your close brother Garnett?

Then I can't bear it.

Did you know that 90% of young NBA insiders are fans of Garnett?

Garnett is not as familiar with Bogut, but that is not the case with people like Kwame Brown.

Bogut successfully opened the Hell difficulty for himself.

Chen Xiao is very curious about this rookie who has opened the hell difficulty for himself.

Generally, it is difficult for people without strength to do such arrogant things, unless they are mentally retarded.

Either he is mentally retarded, or he really has super strength.

No matter which one, Chen Xiao was curious.

Because Bogut is a big-mouthed celebrity in the American basketball world, Chen Xiao took a closer look at the center.

Compared with Bogut, some of the other four centers circled by Jordan look ordinary.

Second place Channing Fryer, 7 feet, has mature strength, excellent skills, has a pair of long arms, is a good shot blocker, and has super running ability.

The third place is John Petro, 7 feet. This 19-year-old Frenchman now weighs 260 pounds and is very strong in confrontation. Maybe he can grow taller, but his "footwork" still needs to be improved.

Fourth-placed Andrey Blatche, 6 feet 11 inches, has a strong impact, but he needs to learn to avoid opponents' blocks.

Bynum, who is fifth, is a 17-year-old high school student with a height of 2.13 meters. He has great talent, but he is too young and needs time to grow.

These are the evaluations of the Bobcats scouts led by Jordan.

Among them, Jordan valued Blatche, because of the reason behind the red letter, a bit like the black Larry Bird.

In addition to the center position, Jordan also selected five players at the power forward position.

Ranked first is Spain's Fran Vazquez, who is 6 feet 11 inches tall. He can bring up the atmosphere on the court in every game and is good at blocking shots, but he needs to "gain weight."

Ranked second is UConn's Villanueva. Jordan marked this person at the back, NO, doesn't like it. The reason is that he missed training because he went to participate in the scout's tryout. He was suspended by the NCAA and lacked discipline. Sexual, selfish, not a team player.

The third place is Sean May, a sophomore from North Carolina. After Jordan, there are two words, hero. If you add a few words, you will be a hero with a delicate playing style like Larry Bird!

For his junior brother, it was obvious that Jordan really loved him. If the Bobcats had not lost the No. 1 pick, Chen Xiao even felt that judging from this evaluation, Jordan would have selected him with the No. 1 pick.

Fourth, Chris Tuft, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, is a typical power forward, but needs to improve his dribbling skills.

Fifth place, Ike Diogu, 6 feet 8 inches tall, a junior from Arizona State University, the most dominant student in the past few years, but lacks good teammate support, excellent position grabbing ability, but excellent His scoring ability was not fully utilized.

It can be seen from this that Jordan ranks according to strength, but instead of selecting the five strongest players to rank in the top five, there are players in each range.

These five players are the best choices in the five ranges.

As for the small forward position, the first ranked player is Marvin Williams, Jordan's junior and the leader of North Carolina's four juniors.

Williams is a "wonder boy" small forward who can score from the outside, organize offense, run to receive, and rush for rebounds.

Chen Xiao saw Jordan's evaluation of Marvin Williams and felt that if Jordan was given the top pick, Marvin Williams should be able to surpass Sean May.

The love for Marvin Williams just jumps off the page.

Behind Williams is Gerald Green, 6 feet 8 inches, amazing speed, superhuman athletic talent, style of play quite like McGrady, with the ability to score in chaos and the ability to end games, the No. 1 high school in the United States born.

Third, Danny Granger, 6 feet 8 inches, he is the most comprehensive of all rookies, with excellent offense and defense, and understands the meaning of hard work, very much like Larry Bird!

Good guy, another rookie who was red-dotted by Jordan, and another rookie who made Chen Xiao feel Jordan's love for him vividly on the paper.

No. 4, Hakeem Walik, 6-foot-8, scouts were really excited about this kid with personality, who was always believable around the rim and whose long arms He's great on defense, Pippen Jr.

Fifth place, Joey Graham, 6 feet 6 inches, he has the potential to become the best perimeter defender in the NBA, he is full of hard work, has mastered the essence of one-on-one defense, little Pippen.

When he saw the two at the back, Chen Xiao wanted to laugh a little. The words "Little Pippen" and "Little Pippen" written in red on the back were really disgusting.

If the scouts hadn't insisted on adding these two people, I'm afraid Jordan wouldn't even want to look at these two people.

To be honest, I have seen a lot of scouting report summary documents like Chen Xiao's in the Cavaliers, but there are really no such interesting ones.

After reading three pages, Chen Xiao began to understand Boss Qiao's style.

Love Larry Bird to death, hate Pippen to death...

It was especially obvious at the small forward. Chen Xiao really wanted to complain.

"Chen, is there a problem?"

"Hey, no problem."

Chen Xiao smiled awkwardly and continued to look down.

However, what surprised Chen Xiao was that Jordan's evaluation of this shooting guard was generally very, very low.

Even from the scouting report, Chen Xiao felt that Jordan did not intend to select a shooting guard among this rookie class.

And the same problem also appeared on the point guard, because the Bobcats already have Chris Paul, Chen Xiao's friend, starting, so the Bobcats' demand for point guards is not high.

The first place, Deron Williams, is 6 feet 3 inches tall and a junior from Illinois. This guy's height, size and his amazing speed are in stark contrast. A natural peripheral breakthrough expert, Williams has a great future , a combination of magician and assassin.

Second place, Raymond Felton, 6 feet tall, North Carolina junior, member of the national college championship team, has been the first choice of North Carolina point guard all season, and his stealing ability is also very good.

Third place, Jarrett Jack, a 6-foot-3 third-year student from Georgia Tech and a talented guard, Jack has the perfect physical condition to play in the NBA and has steadily improved every year.

Fourth place, Nate Robinson, 5 feet 8 inches tall, a junior from Washington. Robinson is shorter than Paul, but he is the most incredible offensive player and may eventually slip to the fourth place. Second round.

Fifth place, Lou Williams, a high school student who is 1.85 meters tall. People say he looks like me, but I don’t think so. I’m not that flamboyant. He doesn’t look like Jordan, and he looks like a Jordan fan.

"..."

When Chen Xiao saw Louis Williams, he laughed in his heart.

At this time, Dell Curry and Chris Paul, the team's assistant coaches at the training hall, excitedly watched Chen Xiao and Jordan appear at the gate of the training hall.

Just as the two of them and Xiao Kuli, Xiao Kuli, and Kuli sister next to them were preparing to greet him excitedly, someone stood in front of Chen Xiao first.

"Bogut?!"

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