The Whip of the God of Basketball

The Celtics didn't hesitate to take Joe Johnson with the 11th overall pick, without going through as much debate as they did last year when they took Michael Reed, which was their intended goal. The Celtics put in a lot of effort to grab him at No. 11. With Orlando taking Diop, the guard from Little Rock, Arkansas, fell into the pocket of the Celtics as a matter of course. An important bargaining chip for the Walters.

When the draft came to this point, everything seemed much calmer. Fans and the media would no longer pay as much attention to the No. 1 picks and No. 2 picks. There are feature interviews, and there are only some simple interviews.

But for each team, it is the most important moment when the undercurrent is raging. The frequent transactions of the top ten picks undoubtedly stimulate the flow of the entire player market. Both excited and bewildered, they didn't know when the hat on their heads would change color.

"I guess the media in Boston will scold us again?" Another guard was selected. Don't you know that basketball is a sport that requires height? Is it harder to find a center than to let the Celtics win! '. Huh, sometimes I really want those reporters to sit in my position and work for a day, and then come to find fault with me." Moret said to Leon with his cheeks in his hands. After a year of work, what Morey experienced the most is The omnipresent media. Although winning Joe Johnson is the unanimous choice of the coaching staff and scouts, it does not mean that the fans and the media will understand, especially when they have chosen Michael Reid last year.

Leon frowned and didn't speak, while Chris Wallace explained: "We should be lucky to get Johnson in the eleventh place. There has been news that the Magic wants to keep Johnson in the tenth place. Could it be that Don't you know that the reason why the Blazers didn't choose Jordan was because they had Drexler? For rookies, we should value talent. I am optimistic about his talent. His existence will form a healthy competition with Reed. We are at shooting guard The talent is a bit pitiful, although my Kai's tradition is like this, without the talent of shooting guard, we seem to allocate points to the front line. Moreover, the subsequent trade is the key. It must be admitted that these two guys will only stay One. But right now, they must be fully owned."

Wallace's mind is still very clear. Even though he already knew that Wallace is likely to leave the Celtics within a year or two, and may even switch to his old rival, Leon still did not hide his secrets from Wallace. Wallace was given no reservations about the planning process, including those less than aboveboard tricks.

This made Wallace admire Leon's measure and felt that his confession was worthwhile. Now the relationship between the two has taken a step forward. In the future NBA management network, they will undoubtedly be very good friends.

Morey is younger, and many things are only seen on the surface. Those dense data, sometimes complain about this and that like an ordinary young man, or say witty words to amuse everyone. However, his ability to learn is not trivial, and he does not follow Wallace's footsteps in many things. He has his own ideas. After all, he is a person who started his own company and was the boss. He is not a follower who knows nothing.

It’s just that compared with Leon, it’s a bit far behind. Leon, who is still frowning at this time, has already envisioned three sets of trading plans related to Joe Johnson or Michael Reid, each of which is in line with The salary balance standard, because he can keep in mind the working conditions of all the players in the league. After a while, Leon still shook his head, these plans were directly rejected by him, it seems that they still have to implement plan A, because there is no better and more convenient plan B, and the situation is not too bad To need a plan C.

When the draft reached the 15th pick, the three stopped communicating. Wallace had gone down and handed the Celtics' selection to David Stern. Five minutes later, Stern was on stage. The result was announced -- the Celtics took center Day Samuel Lemport from Haiti with the 15th overall pick.

Undoubtedly, the Celtics played a trick of one hand. Diop, who was selected with the tenth overall pick, was originally very promising. He was one of the six high school students participating in the draft this year. Quite a few scouts gave Good evaluation, I think he is very talented. Originally, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a chance to win Diop at the eighth place, but in the end they gave up the center from Senegal and chose Rodney White instead.

When it was the Orlando Magic's turn, they hesitated for a while between Diop and Joe Johnson, but in the spirit of giving priority to the inside and helping David Stern to suppress the Celtics-since 1991 The work never stopped, and the Magic finally took Diop, and in fact, the Celtics have no interest in high school rookies, unless it is at the level of Kobe and Garnett.

Of course, the Celtics did not completely give up their search for inside players. Dalembert was their choice. It was not Leon who made this decision, but Wallace. The favorability of foreign players has reached an unbelievable level. This 7-foot Haitian center has rough skills and came into contact with basketball very late. His energy is reflected in the defensive end. He is considered to be the next Mutombo, but who knows Well, anyway, any overseas black center will be considered the next Olajuwon or Mutombo.

It’s just that this time Wallace is not unfounded. Leon, Morey, and Westland have made detailed statistics on the defensive statistics of sophomore centers in national famous schools, and then Leon uses a very complicated formula to calculate Based on a statistic he set himself - the defensive efficiency value, it is concluded that Dalembert's defensive contribution ranks among the best in the NCAA, and can even rank first when some weights are adjusted.

This is the internal guarantee for Chris Wallace to dare to make choices. Although the data cannot explain everything, after all, there is no need to always depend on the sky.

After winning Dalembert, the first round is already halfway through. For the draft, it was a climax at the beginning, and then it will become weaker and weaker. However, Leon's heart is getting more and more excited. The first two choices are nothing more than With a stable layout, there will be no back-ups for a while, and the real bayonet will appear at the end of the first round!

At the 21st pick, the Celtics showed up again. As Leon said, they took Gilbert Arenas in the last pick of their first round, and the stubborn Arenas didn't come at all When he arrived at the scene, he was watching the live broadcast of the draft in a small hotel in Los Angeles at the moment. When David Stern read Arenas' name from his mouth at the 21st pick, Arenas suddenly turned off the TV. The psychology melted in his chest, and finally turned into a line of tears that slid down from his eyes.

Arenas expected himself to be in the top ten, at least to be selected in the top fifteen. He even thought that he could be selected as the No. They surrounded him and interviewed him, and his close-ups were broadcast on satellite TV. But now, being hit by the assistant coach of the Celtics, he became a cold name in Stern's mouth. After he finished reading, there was nothing left.

"Another defender..." Morey muttered again, and he seemed to have lingering fears about the complaints and attacks from the Boston media. It's just that now it seems that the Celtics have chosen three guards in two years.

The Celtics' performance in the first round seems to be over. Although they don't have the No. 1 pick, they are really eye-catching with three picks, and from the perspective of the draft, they will be out-and-out big winner.

But everything is not over yet. When the first round reached the bottom, there were still two teams, the Grizzlies and the Spurs. The 29th Timberwolves were revoked because of Smith's violation. At this moment, Popovich and Presti's hearts are broken, because just two minutes before the start of the Grizzlies' election, Popovich received a call from Grizzlies manager Dick Forsyth, saying that they will be on the 27th. To win Tony - Parker, and hope to trade with the Spurs.

Just two minutes ago, Popovich was secretly praying that the Grizzlies would not take Parker, and Forsyth was kind after all. He notified Popovich in advance and "friendly" made a trade application, and Not letting Stern call out his name at the last minute to doom Popovich's hopes. This is of course Leon's request. He said that he should inform the Spurs of the deal in advance, not to let "the sudden blow go to their heads, and choose a way to go black and give up what they want, so that what we want will not be lost." get."

Of course, when Popovich saw the three-party trade plan proposed by the Grizzlies, he knew who the real mastermind was behind the scenes, and all the feedback, curry favor and intelligence they gave to the Celtics before was fed. The dog is gone! "Fuck-Green..."