The rest is just noise

Darko Milicic was originally ineligible for the 2003 NBA Draft.

He was born on June 20, 1985, which means he is under 18 years old now.

According to NBA regulations, international players must be over 18 years old if they want to participate in the draft.

Louis guessed that the NBA draft registration deadline was extended a few days later this year, which just allowed Milicic, who was born on June 20, to meet the conditions for participating in the draft.

If Petrovic allowed the NBA to eliminate its discrimination against European players, then European stars such as Bodilloga, Nowitzki and Gasol started the NBA's preference for European players.

European players are more mature and more reliable than college players trained by the NCAA. This is the thinking of quite a few general managers.

Why did this name catch Louie's attention? Because he found a way to effectively lower his son's draft stock.

If Milicic can enchant the Pistons, he can enchant this year's second pick.

Louis doesn't know much about Milicic as a person.

In his previous life, the reason why he watched the NBA was because of the Rockets during the Yao Mai era. Moreover, domestic NBA information at that time was not as comprehensive as it was after 2010. 90% of NBA content was related to Yao Mai and the Rockets. Therefore, Louis naturally did not

How do you know Milicic, a famous parallel import?

However, after he started working in the CBA, he did much more research on the NBA.

Around 2014, Louis' team tried to invite Milicic, who had retired from the NBA for two years, to the CBA as a big foreign aid. Then after Louis' careful study, he changed the team's plan with detailed and reliable conclusions.

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Louis was concerned about Milicic's professional attitude at the time. Various signs proved that he was neither professional nor enterprising. In the NBA, he left numerous records of drinking and rumors of becoming a VIP in major away nightclubs.

At that time, Louis also understood the reasons that brought Milicic to that point. Larry Brown's poison was undeniable, but his own lack of aggressiveness was also decisive. Milicic never liked playing basketball.

The reason was that he was too tall and had no choice. When he profited from basketball, he found that it could help him change his environment and stay away from the war-torn Serbia at that time.

Louis' memories of Milicic end here.

He is now focusing all his attention on this year's draft.

The current situation of the Celtics is not good. Thomas' various actions have disappointed the fans. The media is discussing when Louis will fire him every day.

In mid-February, Yao Yueban and Gasol were elected to the All-Star Game.

During the All-Star break, Louis gave Thomas an ultimatum.

If the Celtics fail to reach the semifinals this year, Thomas will be fired.

Thomas reacted fiercely, believing that this arrangement was unfair because the team did not have the strength to enter the semifinals.

Louis did not relent, this was his bottom line.

The only reason Thomas couldn't reach the semifinals was because he couldn't lead the Celtics to a top-four record in the Eastern Conference.

Because they were unable to obtain a top-four record, the Celtics had to meet the invincible Heat, Knicks and 76ers in the first round. This is not the failure of the Celtics, this is the failure of Thomas.

Because of his incompetence, the Celtics were unable to perform stably against the lower-tier teams in the Eastern Conference, so the Celtics had to face those three teams early in the playoffs.

It makes no sense for Thomas to insist that the team is not strong enough.

The Celtics' lineup is very deep, with two All-Stars inside. If they don't meet the top three in the division, they will have an advantage against anyone.

Except for the top five contenders, no other team in the league can have two All-Star players at the same time.

With this configuration, if they can't achieve a top-four record in the Eastern Conference and can't advance to the semifinals, there's really nothing to say about firing Thomas.

What Louis wants to think about now is who to find to replace Thomas.

The same goes for returning to coaching.

method, but this can only be used as a last resort.

Louis suspected that he had become impotent.

In the past, when he saw the team being tortured like this by Thomas, he might have been unable to bear it, unlike now, when he finds a new coach for the team, he doesn't consider himself at all.

The NCAA's March Madness is about to begin, but Louis chose to fly to Europe to inspect players.

After this news was exposed, it caused a lot of speculation.

Some media speculated that Louis' trip was to inspect Michael Pietrus, known as the French Jordan.

As a result, when Louis chose to go to Serbia, where the situation was unstable, everyone knew his true goal.

Darko Milicic is not an unfamiliar name to NBA scouts and management, but it is rare for Louis to go to Serbia for on-site inspections with such fanfare.

The first person to inspect Milicic was not Louis, but Don Nelson's son.

It was Nelson Jr.'s high praise for Milicic that made the latter's name spread in NBA circles.

Louis' trip to Serbia was neither high-profile nor low-key.

Everyone knew where he went and what he was going to do, but when he arrived at his destination, he refused all interviews and gave no information to the outside world.

Louis watched Milicic's game live.

He doesn't look like a parallel import like Nikoloz Skitishvili. Although he is only 17 years old, he is already very strong and can compete with European adult players. At the same time, he showed a unicorn-like performance on the court.

versatile.

As a seven-foot post, he is fast enough, has amazing speed and has a three-point range.

He has everything except basic inside skills.

He is very unfamiliar with all the skills that an insider must learn.

He did not demonstrate any of the technologies that insiders need to focus on developing.

Milicic seems to have a good base, but it's not just talent that determines a player's upper limit.

It only took one game for Louis to understand Milicic's technical characteristics, problems and future development.

Louis has no interest in selecting Milicic because no matter how he develops, he is not as useful as Pau Gasol, let alone he does not have the mentality of a star.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Louis left the game early.

It seems like he is dissatisfied with Milicic.

However, one day later, Serbian media revealed that Louis had appeared in a restaurant that Milicic often frequented. The two had dinner and had a pleasant conversation.

At this time, Milicic was not eligible to participate in the draft, so Louis violated league regulations by doing this.

However, given Louis' current status in the world, no one was willing to offend him with this trivial matter, so his American colleagues treated it as nothing happened.

Garcia Lynn, the powerful vice president widely seen as Stern's successor, made a special call to alert Louis to the fallout.

"This is not a big deal, but if someone insists on us pursuing you for violating the rules, it will inevitably make it look bad."

Hearing this, Louis smiled and said: "How unsightly it is? Isn't it just a fine? It's not like I haven't been fined before."

Linn suddenly felt a little weird.

Coach Lu is a decent person. In the past, if he was dissatisfied with the referee that night during a game, he would curse at the press conference.

If the league fines him for this, he will show a domineering attitude of not paying a cent, and then the team owner will come forward to pay the fine, which is in compliance with the regulations and makes Louis look good.

What is going on today? Isn’t it just a fine? Is that a matter of fines?

"Coach Lu, don't worry, no one will make a fuss about this matter."

"Garcia, you are wrong to think that way." Louis said sternly, "The alliance is not only the alliance of the alliance office, but also the alliance of all our practitioners. If someone willfully trample on the rules of the game because of his valuable status, there will be others in the future.

Will you act according to the rules? If this rule cannot be broken, just do whatever you want!"

Linn asked suspiciously: "What do you mean?"

"Follow the rules and give me a fine. The matter must be made public. It's best to hold a press conference to highlight the matter. I, Louis, have blatantly violated the rules of the alliance. This is an unforgivable crime. Others must learn from it..."

"Coach Lu...this matter really hasn't reached this level..."

"What you do is your business. I just need to let everyone know about it - I met with Darko Milicic privately and violated the rules, so I will be fined. You must highlight this fact at the press conference.

.”

Linn suspected that Lui was playing a very new thing, but the whole thing seemed to be in compliance with the rules. This was strange. LegendLu, who usually didn't like to follow the rules, suddenly behaved and forced the alliance to give him

Apply eye drops and embarrass yourself in front of all colleagues, what is this?

It wasn't a big deal, so Lynn agreed directly on Stern's behalf.

Louis hung up the phone and waited for good news.

There's already a lot of hype surrounding Milicic, and Luigi just adds to the fire.

What could be more convincing about Milicic's future than the story of "Louis was eventually fined for violating the rules in order to inspect Milicic"?

One day later, Garcia Lynn held a press conference on behalf of the league office and announced the league's punishment for Lui's illegal operation: "There is no rule without rules. If the league wants to thrive, it cannot do without everyone's joint efforts. As LegendLu,

Senior professionals know their mistakes and make mistakes, and we must punish them severely. Regarding LegendLu's illegal contact with Darko Milicic, the league will fine him $20,000."

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