The rest is just noise

The day after the press conference, Louis came to the Celtics training base.

Compared with the Greek Academy sixteen years ago, the Celtics' current training center is closer to modern basketball. It is called Waltham Training Center.

The first thing Louis did as president was to invite Celtics star John Long to be the team's shooting coach.

Immediately, he made an offer to Joe Dumars.

When Dumas received the news from Louis, he couldn't believe it.

Legendlu actually planned to invite him to serve as the deputy general manager of the Celtics? After retiring, Dumars stayed with the Lakers as an ambassador for the publicity department. To put it bluntly, he was a bastard.

Dumas accepted the job because he had no intention of moving up the management ladder.

His four-year career in Los Angeles allowed Dumas to gain a lot in the business field, and now he is a successful businessman.

But Louis' invitation told him that in addition to being a successful businessman, his relationship with professional basketball was not severed. He might have the ability to be an outstanding management executive?

Dumas rushed to Boston as quickly as possible and discussed his salary first. Louis promised to give him a contract at market price, and Dumas immediately accepted the invitation.

At the same time, Lang, who had not been seen for a long time, also accepted Louis' invitation.

At this time, Louis once again set his sights on gold medal commentator Bill Laimbeer. Louis hoped that he could return to the team as an assistant coach and assistant to the president.

This was a very difficult choice for Ranbir.

He himself intended to develop into coaching. Who would have thought that he would sit in the commentary box for many years and keep getting better and better. If he leaves now, all his previous efforts will be wasted.

What is unexpected is that Laimbeer actually accepted Louis' invitation and he will take up the post after the season.

Later, Louis hired Larry Harris, a sales department guru from Chicago.

Through a large-scale recruitment of scouts, a young scout named Andy Greer was promoted.

This man was 30 years old and had just started scouting. In the interview materials, he submitted a detailed scouting report to the Celtics.

The report pointed out that, with the exception of Yao Yueban, there are many players whose futures are extremely uncertain among the popular rookies in this draft.

The person he looked down upon the most was Kwame Brown, the consensus No. 2 pick and the nation's No. 1 high school student who skipped college and entered the draft early.

Greer believes that Kwame Brown plays lazy, his physical fitness is overestimated by scouts, his wingspan is not long, it is difficult to become a deterrent rim protector, and at the same time, his desire to compete is questionable.

In Greer's opinion, Kwame could ideally be a poor man's Chris Webber.

Once the development does not go smoothly, it may be difficult to survive in the NBA. This scouting report allowed Grier to pass the preliminary test. During the interview in the president's office, Louis asked the other party to provide five reports on expected second-round rookies.

As a result, Greer only provided a scouting report.

The candidate he recommended to Louis was the big man Memit Okur from Turkey.

Greer believes that Okur's shooting attributes can enrich the team's tactics and has the potential to become a high-quality substitute who can help Yao Yueban share playing time.

A risk-averse scouting report and a talent-providing scouting report, Greer did both extremely well.

He reminded Louis of Zhao Yuanzheng who had just started working.

With his sharp vision and precise judgment, unlike Zhao Yuanzheng, this person has the composure to remain calm despite the collapse of the mountain.

Louis immediately appointed Grier as the Celtics' director of scouting for a three-month probationary period.

If Greer has not established any performance within three months, then there is no need to resign and just pack up and get out.

These are Louis' exact words.

In less than a week, Louis' small team was established.

This team is not as powerful as the Lakers' team, nor as smooth as the Knicks' team, but it's better than nothing. Louis doesn't want to have to take care of any big problems by himself.

Louis looked at ESPN's draft predictions.

Yao Yueban is the undisputed No. 1 pick, followed by Kwame Brown as the No. 2 pick, Chandler as the No. 4 pick, Pau Gasol as the No. 4 pick, and Curry as the No. 5 pick.

Seeing this, Louis' eyes fell on Gasol with burning eyes.

There were so few elite white players at the beginning of the millennium that Pau Gasol was simply indispensable if he wanted to create a championship team without black people.

He is Nowitzki's replacement.

However, Gasol predicts the fourth pick, and the Celtics' other lottery pick is the sixth pick.

Louis looked at the teams holding the five picks in front of him. Except for the Nuggets, who hold the fifth pick, and don't really need an insider, the other teams will not refuse to introduce a high-potential inside rookie.

Louis first called the Clippers, who had the second pick.

Well, the big brother of the Clippers is not interested in exchanging the second pick for the sixth pick, even if Louis transfers two first-round picks, it will be useless.

Then, Louis asked about the Seattle SuperSonics. They were also rejected.

Afterwards, Louis approached Atlanta, the owner of the fourth pick. The Hawks simply refused.

Finally, Louie is making progress in his position with the Nuggets.

The Nuggets themselves have Tom Gugliotta and Lamar Odom. Their inside line already has excellent immediate combat capabilities and high-quality potential stocks. They don't need to add more. Louis used the sixth pick and the top five picks in 2005.

A protected first-round pick, plus the aging Tim Hardaway, they acquired the fifth pick and the world's number one tower George Mulesan in scrapped form.

In terms of draft picks, that's all Louis can do to prepare for Gasol. After that, it's about building momentum for the draft.

Louis invited Yao Yueban to the Waltham Training Center for a trial with great fanfare.

In order to test the strength, Louis specially invited retired Ralph Sampson to be Yao Yueban's temporary sparring partner.

Even though Sampson has retired, he still keeps training, even against super rising stars like Yao Yueban who are famous all over the United States.

However, Yao Yueban played a jaw-dropping performance under Sampson's defense.

His offensive methods are very comprehensive.

He can shoot from mid- to long-range—his height of 229 centimeters after wearing shoes makes his shots impossible to block.

In the low post, whether on the left or right side, you can turn and step back for shots, big hooks and small hooks.

Although they are both giants at the level of 220, Sampson's agility is much stronger than Yao Yueban, but when the latter uses his footwork, he does not seem slow at all, and there is a faint hint of Ola when he is shaking back and forth.

Zhu Wang’s style.

After the trial, Sampson sighed happily: "The next 20 years for the Celtics will depend on him!"

Upon hearing this, Louis said flatly with real hope: "I hope he can play for 20 years."

Think about it, what would it be like if Yao Yueban played from 2001 to 2021?

Louis found that after Sampson retired, he had nothing to do except keep fit and participate in various activities, so he habitually extended an olive branch: "Ralph, you are idle when you are idle, why don't you come to the team to help lead the inside line?"

Well, I’ll give you $1 million a year.”

Sampson accepted the job in a joking way: "I was worth 1 million 20 years ago, and I am still worth 1 million now. Coach, life is really a circle." "Who says it's not?"

It’s like he’s been traveling around with someone for 16 years, but he’s still back in Boston, isn’t it?

The next day, Louis continued to train popular rookies at a high level. This time the person invited was Eddie Curry. It was Sampson who was in charge of the one-on-one trial.

Before the trial began, Louis secretly made a request to Sampson: "Ralph, as a senior, I need you to show your grace during the trial."

"Huh?" Sampson didn't know what his dear coach meant.

Louis put it less tactfully: "Just don't steal Eddie's limelight. On the contrary, you should let him steal the limelight and even make him look better than Yao yesterday."

oh

Sampson understood that Coach Lu was wrong in asking him to have a fake match, but a fake training.

But Mr. Weiyi still didn’t know what the meaning of fraud was. “Coach, you might as well make it clearer.”

"Ralph, there are many things in this world that are not beautiful if they are too clear. But since you asked, I will tell you." Louis said seriously, "I want to use this game to improve Eddie's shaky state."

He is a draft prospect, his talent is so great, the minimum limit is at least the level of Shaquille O'Neal, how can he fall out of the top four picks? This is an insult to the genius, I don't agree!"

Ralph Sampson felt his body tremble, as if even his soul was washed away by the noble sentiment contained in Louis' words.

At this moment, his thoughts reached the highest point in his life. He looked at Louis with wide eyes and solemnly said: "I don't believe it."

"Ralph, you don't have to believe in your coach, but you have to believe in the reputation that your coach and I have accumulated in the league over the years." Louis said confidently, "You can just call and ask who doesn't talk about me.

Give me a thumbs up to praise my loyalty?"

"Why would a loyal person let me take false training?"

"What false training?" Louis said seriously, "This is a serious matter to save the reputation of a genius.

"Can we call it fake training? Ralph, you really need to improve your demeanor.

Finally, under Louis' instigation, Ralph Sampson had to step onto the field and start the first fake match in his life.

Oh no, it’s a fake training.