The Whip of the God of Basketball

Since mid-June, with New York as the center, a big melee has begun in the basketball public opinion positions in the United States. The participating parties include "New York Times", "New Yorker", "Sports Illustrated", "New York Post", " Washington Post, Chicago Tribune. All kinds of news flew all over the sky for a week. The major newspapers not only had their own commentary articles, but also constantly quoted and reprinted other sources of news. All kinds of rumors were flying all over the sky for a while.

This is the complete opposite of the boring and boring pre-draft last year. The only surprising thing about the 2000 draft was the swap between the Celtics and the Mavericks. But this year, before the Madison Square Garden conference officially kicks off on June 27, there have been no less than a hundred trade rumors related to this draft. Like the Wizards holding the No. 1 pick, rumors about them trading the best pick have been endless; or the Clippers with the second pick, rumors that Klaus is interested in the talented high school student Tyson Chandler , I hope the Clippers can win this player and are willing to pay a lot for this comeback.

Even the high picks are like this, let alone the middle and low picks. From the 10th to the 25th picks, almost every pick has trade rumors, which makes the young people participating in the draft panic. I don't know how long I can wear that team's hat after being drafted by a certain team before being sent to another city.

This is of course related to last year's poor draft market. The level of rookies in 2000 was really disappointing, and this year there will undoubtedly be some more outstanding young talents joining, which undoubtedly gave the player market a lot of stimulation. But another important reason is that during the week in New York, Leon and his party worked tirelessly on news dissemination and intelligence work. He, Wallace and Morey opened a small hotel in Brooklyn, New York. A room, using this as a base to start moving around every day, either eating and gathering with various scouts gathered in New York to exchange information related to the draft, and "unintentionally" walking out some news; or staying in the room Dissemination of various news through the network.

Leon is a good player in both aspects. One year of working in the development league scouting team has allowed him to meet many unknown basketball workers, especially a large number of scouts. They may be insignificant figures in the NBA. Never in the news, but an important part of the league ecosystem. They produce and provide all kinds of news about players, and they are inextricably linked with many reporters, agents, and team management personnel. One of them may not have much energy, but when they are connected will play a big role. Leon told them what he knew and what he wanted others to know. They didn't deliberately distinguish, but only spread these things layer by layer, so the already chaotic market rumors suddenly became more chaotic.

On the Internet, Leon also has a forward-looking awareness. This is where he is different from the veteran managers of other teams. When Jerry West, Auerbach or Pat Riley are still communicating on the phone At that time, Leon had begun to contact more basketball sources through ICQ software. Maybe the other party is just a high school basketball coach in New York, but Leon can still get a little bit of useful information from him, or spread the news he needs to spread. He is like a large network processor, with a Zhang's intricate news network covered every aspect of this draft under his methodical control.

Of course, compared with those old foxes who have been in business for many years, Leon's news network is still too low-level. He has not been able to obtain the really accurate and final information in time. He has been more muddy the water this week. To cover up the Celtics' intentions in this draft to prevent the possibility of being sniped in the draft in previous seasons.

"Now I don't even know what you guys want to do in the draft? You probably spread nearly half of the news that appeared in the New York newspapers recently. You know how much effort I have to filter out from it. Some useful news to write an opinion piece? One moment you guys say you want to be interested in Radmanovic, the next moment you say you want Diop, I say man, you don't need to cover up like that with me, what do you Just talk to me.” With more than five hours before the start of the draft, in Washington Square Park near Madison Square Garden, Wojnarowski pushed his glasses while talking to the man sitting next to him. Leon complained.

After coming to New York, Leon didn't have much time to meet with Wojnarowski. The two were very busy. They didn't meet in the park until the draft was about to start, listening to friends complaining about Leon's hand. All the pigeon food bought here spilled out, and the greedy pigeons around gathered around and pecked off the corn kernels one by one. Leon clapped his hands and said to Wojnarowski: "In fact, I didn't get any useful news. You know we have been messing up the water. Our draft position is not very good. If we can't pick The person we like, or what we want, our whole plan will be hit, you know, this time we put a lot of energy. Andre, I hope you will do me a favor and spread the word for us News, I will definitely repay you with a big news in the future."

It was the first time for Wojnarowski to see Leon like this. He knew that Leon seldom asks for help. He is a kind but proud person. Asking for help is much more difficult for him than helping others, so Wojnarowski nodded without thinking about it and said: "No problem, maybe this will overdraw some of my credit, but it doesn't matter, I believe you will repay me."

"Okay, then I hope you can convince all teams that the main goal of the Boston Celtics in the draft is to select a good inside player, especially a center!"

…………………

Five hours later, the 2001 NBA draft kicked off in Madison Square Garden. Just like last year's draft, rookies, reporters, scouts and fans gathered, and dozens of cameras captured the symbol of this year. With the NBA's endless major activities, they spread to the United States and even the world through TV signals, showing people the metabolism of basketball.

Those young people sitting in the audience are excited, expecting and nervous. The fate of many of them will change tonight; while the team managers and scouts sitting in the stands on both sides are also nervous but anxious. The fate of many teams will also change tonight. Although this draft seems to lack a superstar who can change the direction of the league, there are still some talented young people who are full of expectations.

At 7:30 Eastern time, Stern walked to the center of the Garden Square on time, announced the start of the draft, and gave the Washington Wizards five minutes to make their selection.

Leon sat on the top and looked down like last year. The difference is that this time he personally used the phone to contact Angie in Boston. If there is any change on the scene or news from the headquarters, it will be through the phone in front of him. communication.

"Hey, let's make a bet, who will the Wizards choose?" It was the first time for Morey to participate in such a conference. He was undoubtedly a little nervous, and dared to bet with Leon.

"Kwame Brown. I bet three hamburgers." Leon responded, but his eyes remained fixed on the venue.

Five minutes later, Stern took the stage again and announced the selection results of the Washington Wizards. Sure enough, they used this precious No. 1 pick to win Kwame Brown from Georgia Green High School. The first high school student champion since 2010, this big man who averaged 20 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks per game in high school, walked up to the stands with a smile and cheers. This may be the highest peak of his life .

"Okay, I'll lose you three hamburgers. How do you know they're going to pick Kwame Brown?" Morey asked. Although Kwame Brown seemed to have the most talent among several popular No. His identity also made many people distrust him. Of course, Garnett in 1995 and Kobe in 1996 minimized this distrust and paved the way for Brown to be selected as the No. 1 pick.

Leon pointed to the audience, and replied: "Look carefully, don't you think Brown looks like Jordan? If I were Jordan, I would choose someone who looks like me."

This may be the most nonsensical explanation Morey has ever heard, although a closer look at Brown does look like a young Jordan. Morey knew that there was only one reason why Leon said such things, and that was that he was not in the mood to care about those high-ranking picks, so he kept his mouth shut and stopped asking random questions.

Like the news flying around before the draft, these news are not all groundless. The first big deal is coming soon. The Clippers won Tyson from Dominguez High School in the second place. After Chandler, the Bulls immediately proposed a deal. They sent the team's 1999 No. 1 pick Elton Brand to the Clippers in exchange for the freshly released No. 2 Chandler.

"Stupid deal." Leon commented, he had heard about the signs of this deal, but he didn't expect Prime Minister Bull to make such a decision.

Immediately afterwards, the Atlanta Hawks, who had the third overall pick, selected Paul Gasol, an insider from Spain. He was also quickly traded by the team. The Spaniard was handed over to Memphis. The trade was so swift that Gasol held a Grizzlies hat in one hand and an Eagles hat in the other while taking pictures.

The transactions can be described as one pile after another. The Nets, who hold the No. 7 pick, even exchanged three with the Rockets once.

Of course, Leon is most concerned about whether the candidate he wants can wear the Celtic green hat.

Finally came the tenth pick, the Orlando Magic, ahead of the Celtics. For the Celtics, their choice is extremely critical, because the person they want to pick is still waiting anxiously in the audience, as long as Orlando If people don't get in the way, the Celtics' first step can be realized.

At this moment, Stern walked onto the stage with a smile on his face, holding a note with the result in his hand, Leon pressed his lips together and waited nervously, his fists even clenched some joints turning white.

"The Orlando Magic selected...Desagina Diop from Oak Hill College with the tenth overall pick!" Stern finally announced the Orlando's selection in a leisurely manner, and Leon finally let go. He breathed a sigh of relief and let go of his fist. He knew that his and Auerbach's vision for the Celtics for the next two years would start from this step.