I’m Really Playing Basketball

Charlotte, the Bobcats' practice facility.

Seeing that the training hall was once again full of rookies attending the Bobcats draft training camp, Boss Qiao, standing next to Chen Xiao, felt as if he had been resurrected.

What about Yao Ming, what about Wade, what about Bosh Iverson, the threat of the Heat, at this moment, he has forgotten it.

As a seasoned gambler, there is nothing more satisfying than gambling with so many draft picks.

Because of Bynum's deal, in the 2009 NBA draft, the Bobcats will have four lottery picks from the Warriors, Hawks, and Mosaics. In addition to their own, the Bobcats will have a total of four this year. First round pick.

According to the order of the draft lottery some time ago.

The Warriors' pick is the sixth pick, the Hawks' pick is the eighth pick, Mosaic's is the 13th pick, and the Bobcats' own is the 25th pick.

Because of the deal between Gortat and Garcia, the Bobcats actually own a future top-three protected first-round pick from the Pacers, but this year the Pacers happened to be the third overall pick, so this pick belongs to the Pacers. , and the Pacers will continue to postpone the draft pick to the Bobcats until 2010.

Otherwise, the Bobcats would have four lottery picks this year.

Although they did not get the Pacers' draft pick, the Bobcats hold three lottery picks and a first-round pick this year, and they are still one of the most attractive teams in the league for rookies.

In addition to popular rookies such as Beasley and Griffin, the Bobcats have these draft picks that can attract almost any player.

The Bobcats' draft training camp did feature almost all rookies, including Beasley.

Why didn't Beasley go to the Thunder to try out and come to the Bobcats?

Because many people say that the Bobcats may use all their lottery picks to exchange for the second pick of the Grizzlies this year. In other words, when Griffin is increasingly likely to be the No. 1 pick, Beasley is also Possibly drafted by the Bobcats.

After the NCAA finals, Beasley was still the favorite to be the No. 1 pick. Why did Griffin suddenly become the No. 1 pick?

This starts with this year's draft lottery.

Because the Thunder, the last team in the league, won the No. 1 pick.

And Griffin, the rookie second only to Beasley in this year's draft, is a native of Goose City.

Griffin was born and raised in Goose City, and went to college in Goose City.

In addition, he has talent and strength that are not inferior to Beasley, and his performance in college is also quite amazing. Except for his shorter hands, his talent is really blind.

When it comes to short hands, Griffin is not outstanding, but Beasley is not that outstanding. He is even worse than Granger, not to mention a beast like Durant.

The static talents of Beasley and Griffin are not as good as that of another popular rookie Thabeet. Thabeet's height and wingspan and other static talents are really as beast-level as Durant.

After comparing static talent, and then comparing dynamic talent, Griffin's dynamic talent is absolutely beast-level. Power forwards who can run and jump are rare in the history of the NBA, and Beasley, his dynamic talent is actually also It's not that outstanding. Beasley's dynamic talent is as good as his static talent. For a rookie at his level, compared to Durant, James, and Oden, such talent is actually relatively average. .

Therefore, in terms of pure talent, Griffin, who has top-level dynamics and second-rate statics, is about the same as Beasley, who has first-rate statics and first-rate dynamics.

Even Griffin, who has animal dynamic talent, is slightly higher than Beasley in talent evaluation. Griffin's talent is rated 10 points on any draft website, while Beasley's draft rating on most websites is 9 point.

After comparing talent and strength, Griffin is better in all-around, while Beasley is better in offense and technology.

The statistics and strength of both of them in college are super strong. Griffin's hard strength is considered to be 9.5, while Beasley is considered to be 10. Both of them have the ability to average 20+ per game when they enter the NBA. Strength.

In this case, the battle between Beasley and Griffin for the No. 1 pick is really a matter of opinion.

When Marquette University had just won the NCAA championship, Beasley, with his stronger strength and momentum, was going to overpower Griffin.

But now that Goose City has won the No. 1 pick, everything is in vain.

After getting the No. 1 pick in Goose City, Beasley lost the possibility of becoming the No. 1 pick in this year's draft.

Of course, this is not something that is unacceptable to Beasley.

Because Beasley didn't want to go to that small place in Goose City at all. He hoped that he would come to the Bobcats with the second pick.

And he got information from his elder brother Chen Xiao and uncle Jordan. Both Uncle Qiao and Brother Chen tried to exchange their No. 6 and No. 8 picks for the Grizzlies' No. 2 pick.

And Grizzlies general manager Jerry West is inclined to accept this deal.

That's why he came to the Bobcats for trial training.

Therefore, almost all of this year's most popular rookies are in the Bobcats' training camp, except for Griffin, who is definitely selected by the Goose City.

These young people really dazzled Chen Xiao and Jordan.

Jordan and the Bobcats have many plans for this year's draft.

Before the draft lottery, Jordan hoped that his team would be lucky enough to get the No. 1 pick or a high pick again.

If the Pacers are included, Jordan hopes to pack Thabeet, Beasley and Curry.

There is a center who can rival Yao Ming in the future (Thabeet).

There is a player (Beasley) who can replace Battier as the five small power forwards in the future.

In the future, there is a guard who can play as a five-point outside three-point attacker (Curry Jr.).

Get these three, and all the Bobcats' future problems will be solved.

But obviously, there is a gap between reality and ideals.

Jordan did not expect that Stern would not cause trouble in this year's draft lottery.

The Thunder got the No. 1 pick.

In addition, the Pacers, who are last in the Eastern Conference and have failed to thrive, also got the third overall pick. According to Stern's past style, the Pacers only have the fourth overall pick, so this pick is Bobcat's.

In short, the surprise of the draft lottery eliminated Jordan's Plan A.

It is impossible for Thabeet, Beasley and Curry to come to the Bobcats at the same time.

According to Curry's current draft prospects, the Bobcats have no problem acquiring him, and the No. 13 pick should be enough.

But No. 6 and No. 8 will definitely not be able to pack Thabeet and Beasley.

Even if you add your existing players and trade them, it won't work.

After all, Thabeet and Beasley are indeed very hot players who are considered to have superstar potential in the future, unless you trade them for superstars.

Therefore, Jerry West of the Grizzlies is willing to exchange the second pick for two 6s and 8s. Boss Joe is already lucky.

Generally speaking, when faced with the possibility of getting Beasley and Thabeet in a year like this, no one is willing to make a complete change.

You can choose Thabeet or Beasley with the second pick, but you can only choose James Harden and DeRozan at No. 6 and No. 8.

James Harden and DeRozan combined are not as valuable as Beasley or four Thabits.

Therefore, Jerry West was willing to make this deal with the Bobcats entirely because of Chen Xiao.

Jerry West believes that Chen Xiao's career will never end in Charlotte, and he is building Chen Xiao's favor for the Grizzlies.

Jordan has certainly seen this now. He is not stupid. He was the one who defeated Jerry West and grabbed Chen Xiao.

Everything Jerry West has done with the Grizzlies over the years, including acquiring Randolph from the Bobcats and sending Rose the No. 1 pick to the Bobcats, and keeping Battelle with the Grizzlies as their mascot for Chen Xiao, and for Chen Xiao, They have always kept Big Brother Kei as the leader of the Grizzlies and so on.

All this is for Chen Xiao.

This even makes the owner of the Grizzlies and others very puzzled and unhappy. After all, if you are so licking and sacrificing so much, you will definitely be able to get Chen Xiao in the future?

If you don't get it, you're going to lose.

Therefore, Jordan also knew that the reason Jerry West did not finalize the deal with him was because he needed to straighten out the team's disputes.

The pressure and voices of opposition were too great.

If the owner of the Grizzlies is Michael Jordan, and he meets a general manager like Jerry West, he keeps doing things that cause losses for Chen Xiao, and then suffers losses for three years and then suffers losses for the fourth year, or even suffers forever. Jordan felt that he wouldn't be willing to do it either, which is human nature.

Therefore, Jordan knows that Jerry West is under great pressure in the Grizzlies.

Even Jerry West said he was physically and mentally exhausted.

He hoped that the Grizzlies owner Heasley could copy the route that the Charlotte Bobcats used to acquire Chen Xiao. It was because this was something a normal person would not do that the Grizzlies had a chance to acquire Chen Xiao. But it seems that Heathley Leigh certainly doesn’t have the patience of Jerry West.

Seems to be losing patience with Jerry West.

Of course, Jordan still believes that Jerry West can sort out the Grizzlies' internal problems. After all, he is Jerry West!

So, now Jordan is executing Plan B.

Use the No. 2 player traded from the Grizzlies to select Beasley, and the No. 13 player Curry.

The main reason why Beasley was chosen between Beasley and Thabeet was that the Bobcats already had enough centers.

The Bobcats' center is weak right now, but there is really no shortage of players.

But the top five super power forwards are missing a player as good as Beasley.

Battier is very good, but his attack is still lacking.

Battier, who doesn't have enough offensive threat, makes the Bobcats' five players not look so turbulent.

However, Jordan, who was very confident in Jerry West, didn't know that historically, Jerry West left the Grizzlies physically and mentally exhausted and disappointed because he lost the complete trust of the Grizzlies owner.

Historically, Jerry West, in the Grizzlies, hoped that the team owner would support him in building the team into a small team that advocates offense like the Suns.

Jerry West believes that this is the future of the NBA.

From the perspective of 2021, almost all of the strong teams in the NBA are the Suns. They can't wait to throw three-pointers after halftime, which is even more sun than the Suns.

But it is obvious that before 2007, most people did not think that the Sun model was the future of the NBA, including the owner of the Grizzlies.

Even the owner of the Grizzlies has a completely opposite view than Jerry West. The owner of the Grizzlies believes that the future of the NBA is Larry Brown, and wants to invite Larry Brown back to build a strong and strong army.

In the end, Jerry West was very helpless and exhausted and chose to leave the Grizzlies.

In the NBA, if you don't have the support of the team owners, then you're just a rubber-stamp general manager and you can't get anything done.

If you can get the support of the team owner and the team, even if you are not the general manager, you can build the team according to your wishes. In the end, Jerry West realized his vision in the Grizzlies with the Warriors.

Because of Chen Xiao, a little butterfly, Jerry West stayed on as the Grizzlies general manager for more than a year, but now, his conflicts with the team owner and the team have naturally become greater.

Not to mention the 2008 trade for Randolph. The pick he gave away was actually the No. 1 pick, causing the Grizzlies to lose Rose. This was the most stressful thing for him.

You know, Rose is a Memphis legend who led the University of Memphis to win the NCAA championship.

Therefore, even if Jerry West has a huge reputation in the NBA, he can now be described as struggling with the Grizzlies. To put it simply, the Grizzlies do not trust their boss Michael Heasley (Heasley). He did.

"Michael, my plan is to use the No. 6 pick from the Bobcats to select James Harden and the No. 8 pick to select DeRozan. I have inspected them and they are very potential players. For the Grizzlies, whether Thabeet or DeRozan Beasley, they go to the Bobcats, both are beneficial to us. The Bobcats get any one of them, it will accelerate the departure of Wonder Boy, and we will become one of his best alternatives at that time, Michael, I I hope the team can support me again.”

"Jerry, the team has supported your plan enough, and of course I still support you, but we need to let our supporters see our achievements."

"..."

As a veteran who has been in the NBA for so many years, West certainly knows that what Haisley said was decent. It seemed that he was supporting him, but in fact, it was against his plan.

If he really supported it, he wouldn't have made no progress at all these days.

Thinking of this, thinking of the Bobcats legend, Jerry West sighed helplessly.

Are we destined to miss each other?

It seems so.

Jerry West closed his eyes helplessly.

Seeing West like this, Grizzlies owner Haisley frowned.

"Michael, please allow me to resign as general manager of the Grizzlies. I am indeed no longer suitable to take on the future of the team."

"..."

"Before I leave, Michael, let me give you one last piece of advice. Thabeet is not a good fit."

"Why?"

Why?

Facing Haisley who no longer believed in him, West did not waste any more words this time. He seemed to say to Haisley or murmured to himself:

"No one knows center better than me."