The Whip of the God of Basketball

After arriving at the hotel last night, Leon spent two hours going through the information on the table and in the drawers. Rao had an amazing memory, and it was impossible to fully remember it under extreme sleepiness and in a short period of time. Finally, he fell asleep lying on the table after watching him.

Fortunately, the conversation at breakfast was only tentative. Leon remembered enough things in two hours to fool him, and then he got more information during the exchange chat with the coaching staff.

First of all, the Celtics hold the No. 11 pick. In such a young draft year, this position is really awkward. If you want to choose a big player from among the short ones, it may not be their turn.

Several players like Leon just mentioned, Kenyon Martin, Michael Miller or Chris Mihm, will basically not fall out of the top ten, and the Celtics, who are ranked eleventh, can be said* *** can't even eat hot ones.

Such a bad draft environment is also the time to test the ability of the management team's Nuggets.

Chris Wallace tends to be the Frenchman from UCLA, Jerome Moiso, in the first round of draft intentions, while Vogel and O'Brien are more optimistic about Joel Przybilla, thinking that the selection The white center will be more secure.

"We can't always limit our eyes to the United States. I think in this draft year, this position, we need to take a gamble, open our eyes a little bit, and look at those players overseas. And I think Moiseo is in the United States. It has been proven that he performed very well at UCLA, and Vogel also has videos of him playing when he was studying in France. It cannot be said that his potential is unlimited, but at least it is worth cultivating.” Wallace kept emphasizing Moiso’s French identity , It seems that he attaches great importance to the background of Moiseo's overseas players.

In the NBA, many players have been tracked and followed by scouts since they first entered high school, all the way to college. Many scouts have more detailed and clear records of the growth of super rookies on the basketball court than their parents. The data will all play a role in the draft.

On the contrary, there is much less information about some overseas players. Although Jerome Moiso played in the NCAA for two seasons and performed well, the general NBA scouts still have no idea how much potential he has. Yes, due to lack of information.

Since 1998, Chris Wallace has actively explored the overseas player draft market. In the face of fierce competition in the local basketball market, he hopes to find high-quality rookies at low picks through overseas channels.

Therefore, in 1998, Wallace wanted to get Dirk Nowitzki, a young man from Germany, at the eighth pick, but he was robbed by the Bucks and Mavericks; in 1999, Kyle The Celtics had no draft pick in the first round, but at the end of the second round, Wallace had the opportunity to pick Manu Ginobili, a talented defender from Argentina, but the Celtics team did not like such a big risk. The choice was still questionable, and they ended up taking Keith Clerk - who is no longer in the Celtics lineup this year.

Now, Wallace doesn't want to miss out on potential talent overseas.

"It's an idea to focus overseas, but after all, Moiseo has played in the United States for two years, and he can evaluate how much he weighs. If you look at the performance on the field, Pulzbilla is obviously more outstanding, and we Need a solid inside. The only thing I hope now is that other teams don't take him in the top eleven." O'Brien is more inclined to choose Przybilla.

When Leon heard the names of the two men, Moiso and Przybilla, the information he read last night appeared in his mind. One is a 6-foot-10 power forward, both offensive and defensive, and has a hand-to-hand distance; One is a 7-foot center from Minnesota. He played two seasons at the University of Minnesota. He has improved significantly. He has a strong defensive force, excellent rebound protection, and his block shots have also exploded this season. He is a relatively promising rookie this year.

"I am also more inclined to Przybilla, but it may be difficult to wait for him to fall to the eleventh place. There are several teams wanting to get him. There should be a team in the top ten that will take him off in advance before proceeding. Trade, it is difficult for us to get him. However, Moiseo can indeed, he does have some talents on the offensive end.” Vogel expressed his opinion, this year’s players are generally evaluated as lacking in offensive potential, Moiseo Looks like he's got a lot of work on the offensive end.

Discussions come and go, and the discussion objects of several people mainly focus on a few inside players, especially the players' ability to protect rebounds and protect the basket.

Leon also knows about this. From last night's information, he knows that since 1997, the Boston Celtics have never found an ideal inside line to protect the basket.

The team has tried Travis Knight, Vitali Potapanko, and Tony Masenberg in three seasons. Knight and Masenberg were both signed within a few days. Players who were traded after the deadline, the Celtics have never found a defensive insider that suits their tactical system.

At the same time, Pitino's evaluation of centers is still more like an NCAA coach than an NBA coach.

"It's more like an NCAA coach than an NBA coach..." Leon recalled this sentence in his mind, which was also mentioned by Auerbach in his evaluation of Pitino, and now Leon obviously can't understand It's because he doesn't know the difference between NCAA coaches and NBA coaches in using centers.

"Why don't you pick an outside player?" Leon asked suddenly. He hadn't spoken much during the exchange. After listening for a long time, he finally expressed his doubts.

"We already have Kenny Anderson and Paul Pierce. We need to make up for the shortcomings, not repeat the stack." Wallace responded, looking at his expression, he probably felt that Leon's question was naive.

"However, the Blazers missed Michael Jordan for the same reason. The key is to look at the potential. After all, the team lineup is not static, isn't it?" Leon also has his reasons.

"Hahaha, the excellent reason is that I don't know where your Jordan is at the 11th pick." Pitino couldn't help but said.

Pitino felt that Leon was just relying on his memory and mouth skills to play tricks when he didn't understand anything. In his opinion, if he could find a decent inside player this year, in the relatively weak Eastern Conference, Kay The Walters' record will definitely improve.

"I'll find him in the training camp. Just reading a bunch of texts, I don't know what they are like." Faced with Pitino's ridicule, Leon did not budge.

The others were a little surprised that this new scout dared to contradict Pitino like this. You must know that Pitino has the highest authority in the Celtics team, and he is also a person with a strong desire to control. Not even Jim O'Brien dared talk to Pitino like that.

But what surprised others even more was that in the face of Leon's counterattack, Pitino didn't say a word. He wiped his mouth and said: "I still have appointments with some reporters, you can prepare for tomorrow's training Battalion, Vogel, I need detailed footage of Przybilla, Moisol, and Magloire, get ready."

After speaking, Pitino left.

"Not bad, boy, no newcomer dares to talk to Pitino like this. It seems that you have a good friendship before, or he owes you a lot of money." Wallace patted Leon's shoulder and smiled Said.

Leon just smiled and didn't speak, but thought in his heart, even Auerbach dared to choke, so what about Pitino.

…………………

After breakfast, Leon locked himself in the room, and began to carefully read the materials Weisland gave him again, a total of nearly 50 scouting reports.

According to the information he got at breakfast in the morning, he first picked out the materials of Pulzbila, Moiseo and Magloire, and then put the materials such as Kenyon Martin, Michael Miller, Chris - Mihm and other Celtics basically have no hope of selecting rookie data to be eliminated.

Then, Leon took the lead in browsing the players whose evaluations would basically be selected in the second round. He did not pay attention to the evaluations of these players' skills, but only looked at their growth experience.

Leon is not ignorant of basketball, but compared to those professional scouts, he is not too far away from ignorance.

At this time, Leon remembered the three words that Auerbach said to him, "Trust your intuition, ask one more why, and see things other than basketball."

Leon decided to save his intuition in the training camp and why in daily communication. As for things other than basketball, it is a good choice to watch the growth experience of these players.

Although Leon doesn't know how to succeed on the basketball court, he believes that all successful people have similar characteristics, such as hard work, studious, and persistence. Players with these qualities, even with such and other flaws, still have success. Foundation.

Therefore, Leon carefully looked at their basketball experience in school, and specially selected some players whose team's performance was poor in the early days, and then under his leadership, the performance improved by leaps and bounds, even if their team did not go very far in the NCAA, Ke Leon can feel that this kind of growth experience must be helpful for them to adapt to the professional league.

"Michael Reed, the predicted pick is about 10th in the second round, left-handed, not stable in the middle and long range, and his body may not be able to adapt to fierce confrontation in the NBA... However, the team's performance has improved from 8 wins to 22 in the first year. Loss, 27 wins and 9 losses in the second year, reached the semi-finals, and then 27 wins and 3 losses in the third year, um..."

Leon noticed a player named Michael Reid, who averaged nearly 20 points per game. The team had entered the national semi-finals, but the prediction fell to the second round.

The reason is actually very simple, because in his first season in college, he scored 21 points, but then declined year by year, and only 17 points in his junior year.

If he participated in the draft directly with the help of the team's momentum to reach the semi-finals last year, he would have a high pick, but he chose to play for another year. In the NBA with strong vision, playing for another year means wasting a year. What's more, his statistics this year are not good.

Leon thought about it, decided to put him on the watch list, and threw him into the pile of materials in the first round.