The rest is just noise

Chapter 1440: A Crazy Draft

Louis thought for a moment, this is a good thing.

Being pushed to a level beyond his own strength will force Xiao Yao to improve his weaknesses. Even if he ultimately fails to meet people's expectations, he will still have the opportunity to reach a level that he did not reach in his previous life.

Although Xiao Yao has already booked to be the No. 1 pick this year, next year, and the year after that, he does not plan to run for the election this year.

Because the timing is not right.

The team that won this year's No. 1 pick is the New Jersey Nets.

This is not a good team. In the history of the NBA, brilliant teams are the ones that fans talk about, and there are also teams as bad as the Clippers.

However, there are also small and transparent organizations like the Nets in the NBA that are so bad that they are silently bad.

They haven't accomplished anything since the merger era, have only made a handful of playoff appearances, and even local fans aren't interested in them.

It seems that their raison d'être is to have an NBA team in New Jersey.

A team like this, which has no foundation, no history and culture, and is extremely unsuitable for the growth of newcomers, is definitely not the first choice for top picks.

However, not every potential No. 1 pick can resist the temptation to become a millionaire a year in advance.

Duke University's Elton Brand didn't hold back and decided to run before the registration deadline.

If he stays in school, he may be admitted to the same year as Yao Yueban in the future. By then, not to mention he will be the number one pick. If there are other strong players in the same year, he may not even be ranked second.

Therefore, if you run for election now and throw yourself into a weak team, you will not be afraid of anything if you get the money.

On the eve of the draft, labor and management held final negotiations.

It is said that the scene was not so much a negotiation as a tense exchange of insults.

Pauline, owner of the Washington Wizards (name changed), said they can no longer afford such high operating costs.

Michael Jordan, who replaced Wilson in the players' union position, was eager to perform and said: "If you can't afford it, you can sell the team." This angered Pauline, who had been in charge of the Wizards for decades.

Union president Ewing is also one of the radical hawks.

When the Knicks were hit by the luxury tax, Ewing was asked if he would cut his salary to help the team reduce financial pressure. As a result, he said that the more he earns, the more he spends.

Today, he still has this attitude.

Negotiations between labor and management broke down as expected.

Subsequently, David Stern officially announced that the NBA will suspend the day after this year's draft.

This is a very special moment.

Since Bob Cousy established the players union in 1954, there have been countless overt and covert battles between labor and management, countless quarrels, accompanying compromises, and disagreements. Whenever labor threatens to lock out, management always shows wavering.

This time, it is the employer who takes the initiative to attack. If it fails to achieve its goal, it will not hesitate to suspend the business.

Although they have been shouting "If it doesn't work, then shut down" for 45 years, the players don't know what the shutdown means.

Louis was not surprised by this moment and is fully committed to this year's draft.

With the 15th pick in the first round acquired from the Clippers, they have many options.

This summer, Nash's rookie contract expired. He had previously rejected the Lakers' contract extension and decided to test the free market this summer.

But he is unlucky, the league is on hold, and free agents this offseason cannot move around.

Having said that, the Lakers are already prepared for Nash to leave the team.

In addition, veteran Joe Dumars was finally satisfied after winning three consecutive championships with the team. After participating in the Lakers' championship celebration, he announced his retirement in public, ending his 14-year career.

In this way, the position where the Lakers are most lacking becomes very obvious.

It's the back line.

In the blink of an eye, the Lakers still have a sufficient defensive line, the main rotation, substitutes, and substitutes are all gone. If they don't add some manpower, they will encounter problems with the rotation next season.

But Louis took a look around and found that among the players expected to be picked around 15th, there were no good defenders.

This year's guards with good prospects are all in the lottery.

This is a bit troublesome.

The hesitant Lakers management ushered in the last NBA draft of the 20th century.

This draft is held in Washington, D.C., so Auerbach has the rare opportunity to become the Celtics' frontline representative.

Louis saw this old man holding a cigar in the draft war room, but was told that smoking was not allowed inside.

He smiled.

Yes, this is what it takes to let the old man know that times have changed, and the world in the 1960s and 1970s where you could smoke anywhere is gone forever.

Stern stood in front of the stage with a fake smile. From the moment he appeared, he was surrounded by boos. The fans had had enough of the farce between labor and management and they just wanted to watch the game.

Then, ten minutes later, the New Jersey Nets, who held the No. 1 pick, made their choice.

There is no suspense, Elton Brand, known as the enhanced version of Wes Unseld, was selected as the No. 1 pick.

"Can he still play center if he is so short?" Buss Jr. said contemptuously, "I think Tim can score 50 points on him."

Louis said jokingly: "I'll let Tim give it a try next season."

The team with the second pick is the Chicago Bulls.

The decision they made is the biggest gamble in this draft.

Five minutes later, Stern announced: "The Chicago Bulls selected with the second pick of the first round. Jonathan Bender (SG/SF/PF/C) from Pienyuca High School!"

"Crazy decision!"

TNT's Ernie Johnson's review says it all.

Subsequently, TNT began to broadcast Bend's game highlights.

Louis discovered that this person was not a college student, but a high school student. In the highlights, he didn't look like a center, but like a shooting guard. He was seven feet tall. It was really amazing to be able to move like this and hold the ball.

He is regarded as a combination of Danny Manning and Hank Gathers, and some scouts who are addicted to bragging even call him a seven-foot magician.

Bend's high school is the result of the butterfly effect.

The emergence of unicorn big men from generation to generation such as Sampson, Manning, and Garnett has made professional basketball crazy about players who look like big men but play like guards. The rebuilding Bulls decided to take this big gamble.

, which can be considered excusable.

But Louis had never heard of this player in his previous life, so he was basically certain that the Bulls were going to lose. Moreover, Bender's high school highlights didn't give him the impression that he was the so-called Manning or Gathers, let alone a magician.

, not related at all.

What he really looks like is Thorne Maker, a South Sudanese-Australian who is suspected to be 6 years younger and plays like a 7-foot Durant in a low-level high school league.

An insider like this with long arms and legs, outstanding athletic ability, and the ability to dribble is invincible in low-level competitions.

Maker's flaws were exposed at a high level.

Bender seems to be at a higher level. He broke Michael Jordan's single-game scoring record in the McDonald's All-American Game not long ago.

This proves that he has the potential to remain competitive at a high level.

It's just that there are many ways to destroy a genius, and no one knows what he will encounter in Chicago.

With the third pick, the Denver Nuggets are the No. 2 gambler in this draft.

They used the third pick to select left-handed magician Lamar Odom, who is talented but whose professional attitude has been questioned.

Then came the Utah Jazz, who selected white shooter Wally Szczerbiak with the fourth pick.

This is still a puzzling decision.

The point guard duo in this draft was actually snubbed among the top four picks.

Then, Steve Francis, one of the top two players, was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the fifth overall pick.

The Philadelphia 76ers used the sixth pick to select fellow double-waller Baron Davis.

With the seventh pick, the Washington Wizards acquired Richard Hamilton.

The New York Knicks (from the Raptors), the owner of the eighth pick, took an unconventional route and skipped several other obviously better players and selected Duke University's Trajan Langdon SG.

Louis thought he heard wrongly. Is R.C crazy?

Was it Baylor who selected him? If it was Baylor who selected him, this would make sense.

The Seattle SuperSonics immediately selected Andre Miller with the ninth pick.

The Charlotte Hornets are also heavyweights. They let go of popular candidates such as Shawn Marion and Jason Terry. With the tenth pick, they selected Aleksandar Radojevic, a European giant involved in a bribery scandal.

C).

This gave Louis hope.

If a team behind him is blind, wouldn't they have a chance to sign Terry? Although he is not a pure point guard, he is still a defender.

Well, as long as five teams in a row go blind after that.

Is this difficult? There are already so many teams that are going crazy. It won’t be difficult to make five more crazy teams, right?

Louis' wishes were quickly dashed.

The Milwaukee Bucks selected Shawn Marion with the 11th overall pick.

The Detroit Pistons selected Jason Terry with the 12th pick.

The atmosphere in the Lakers draft war room solidified.

"What can we do?" Little Bas asked.

West suggested: "Try William Avery (PG)? Isn't he from Duke? What does Coach K think of him?"

Louis and Coach K are old friends, but he doesn't need to ask Coach K because he doesn't know this player.

that's enough.

Zhao Yuanzheng said: "Coach K has praised William's enthusiasm and mental strength on many occasions. Maybe he is a good player."

What is the difference between this and the person you confess to saying, "You are a good person, but we are not suitable"?

"Okay, it looks like Benj and Dejan will have to suffer next season. There is no one left. You can't blame me."

With that said, Louis called the phone to the draft venue: "Please let Ron Artest answer the phone."

This is Louis' spare tire.

Only when there are no defenders to choose from would he choose this man who is not yet named Ci Shiping.

Although West and others still had some doubts, Louis had already made a decision.

Artest learned that the caller was Louis and excitedly expressed his loyalty.

Louis chatted with him for a few words and then hung up the phone.

Then

"In the 1999 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Ron Artest with the fifteenth overall pick in the first round, from St. John's University!"

PS: My mouse seems to be going crazy. The reason is this. I have been traveling with my family with my laptop on my back for the past two days (you ask me why I travel with my laptop? Then shouldn’t I keep it updated and code before going to bed at night?

), everything was normal before I got home. But after I got home, my wireless mouse went crazy, and its sensitivity began to increase sharply. Then I adjusted it in the control panel, but there was no result. The same thing happened when I slowed down the mouse sensitivity.

. So I switched to a wired mouse, and something even weirder happened. The sensitivity of the wired mouse was extremely slow, and the adjustment on the panel was also ineffective. In desperation, I restored the click settings on the panel to the default, and I encountered something even more outrageous.

The problem is that the wireless mouse is fast but the wired mouse is slow. A new problem has arisen. The left button of the mouse can click on the web page normally, but it fails to click on the control panel. Also, watching movies with the player that comes with the computer also works.

I can't drag the progress bar. Is this because the mouse is possessed or the computer is going crazy?

()

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