The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon hung up not to anger Auerbach, but because he had no time to talk with Auerbach in the draft at the Minnesota Target Center, because until now, the Celtics have not finalized. Their draft strategy.

Although the news that Auerbach got is not wrong, that is, Leon has persuaded the Celtics team to choose his favorite candidate, naturally Michael Reid, but on the issue of how to win Reid, the scout team But there was a disagreement.

According to Pitino, since Reid’s draft prediction is in the second round, and Reid’s prediction has not risen with the Celtics’ optimism so far, then he has the 11th pick. The Celtics won Reid directly, obviously not a choice to maximize the benefits.

　　 Because the Celtics did not have a second round pick in this year's draft.

Therefore, Pitino tried to trade down from the No. 11 pick to get a lower first-round pick and second-round pick, so that they can use a first-round pick to win the inside line they want, and then use the second round pick. Acquire Michael Reid.

　　 Pitino's ideas have been supported by the rest of the scout team, except Leon.

"It is less than two hours before the start of the draft. I think Pitino's thinking is correct. Now the Clippers have expressed their interest in trading, and their signing is right for us." Sitting on the target In the center team area, Chris Wallace is persuading Leon.

　　 Tonight Leon, Chris Wallace, and team development director Michael Carr came to Minnesota to participate in the draft as team representatives. But until now, Wallace is still arguing with Leon about the draft order.

　　 It stands to reason that Wallace, as the general manager of the team, has the right to decide on the selection of players. He does not need to pay attention to the opinions of a scout at all. After all, scouts can provide only reference opinions and do not have the right to decide.

　　 But Leon is different.

　　 It has been nearly a month since joining the Celtics and becoming a scout. Leon has used his performance to win the respect of others.

In the rookie training camp, he combined his own data collection and video observations to submit his first scouting report in his scouting career, which included detailed and unique data analysis, meticulous observation of actions, and personal experience of players. , Collecting diligently, it can be said that I handed in a beautiful answer sheet.

　　 This report finally touched Rick Pitino, not only because of the professional and meticulous data analysis that opened Pitino's eyes, but also because of the unique perspective of the entire scout report that made Pitino refreshing. As a newcomer in the scouting world, Leon did not fall into the "herd effect" at all, was not overwhelmed by the surging information of all kinds of scouts and lost his own opinion, and he did not use his own as much as Pitino expected Memory follows suit.

Instead, he kept learning and summarizing. From Vogel, he learned various methods of video analysis. From Jim O'Brien, he learned a lot of basic basketball knowledge. From Chris Wallace, he learned Learned a lot of people in the NBA circle and the rules of trading operations.

　　 In the end, Pitino had to accept the nail sent by Auerbach, and sometimes he thought, maybe this nail would make the crumbling him stronger.

For a period of time after the training camp, Pitino still sent Leon and Wallace to California, Minnesota and Ohio to inspect their target players separately for insurance purposes. In the end, neither Moiseo nor Samaki had any experience. Able to withstand the test of careful observation, the overall performance was extremely disappointing and was eliminated.

Pulzbila was also ruled out because of the Rockets’ robbery. In Ohio’s contact with Michael Reid, the humble and silent young man impressed the Celtics scouts very well. A training session. Said's performance is also extremely bright, and finally the Celtics team decided to ignore the specific needs of the team and only choose the best.

　　 Now, there are differences in how to choose Reid.

Facing Wallace’s persuasion, Leon insisted that Reed must be won in the first round, instead of waiting until the second round to win Reed, even if the Clippers gave the chip 18th in the first round and the second round. The first overall pick.

　　 If according to the current market, it is more than enough to get Reid with the first pick in the second round.

"We must win Reid in the first round. This is not only a respect for him, but also considering the development of future players. If we win him in the second round, according to the current rookie contract rules, if he performs well , Then in two years later, he is likely to be taken away by other teams with a higher offer. Although it is a bit early to consider such a problem, it is necessary to prevent such a thing from happening." After repeated disputes, Leon finally threw one out. Very strong argument.

Because according to the latest labor provisions in 1999, a second-round rookie will only get an early bird qualification after being selected, that is, the parent team can use 175% of his last year's salary and the league after the player becomes a free agent. The average player salary (that is, the middle class) is the higher of the two to renew.

"Since we have given Reid an assessment of his great potential, we must do well in the possibility of him performing well and being coveted by other teams. If we only take him in the second round, then he will become a favorite after two years. In the case of restricting free agency, but because of the salary cap restrictions, he was unable to give him a contract that exceeds the middle class treaty, which led to him being signed by other teams. So what we did in the draft today and what we did before the draft What's the point of various jobs?"

Leon asked other people a question. In the past few days, he has repeatedly read the CBA clause that was just introduced in 1999. Because this clause has just been published for a year, there must be many loopholes. It is precisely because of the worry about this problem. Angcai insisted that Pitino win Reid in the first round.

　　 Leon’s thoughts are undoubtedly prescient, and in the noisy atmosphere of the target center, his words seem particularly calm.

　　 His idea finally touched Wallace. As the Celtics' draft representative tonight, he will tell the Stern team the result of the draft in more than an hour.

　　 So Wallace picked up the phone in front of him and dialed the phone at Celtic headquarters.

　　…………………………

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the 2000 draft meeting officially began. The TV station broadcasted the whole draft meeting. They have two live broadcast stations in the target center venue, one directly in front of the draft station, and one on the left side of the draft station. They are the comment area and the player interview area.

　　 Between the comment area and the draft table are the seating areas for rookie family members, friends, agents, and NBA staff. Now these young people, together with their family and friends, are waiting for the NBA team to throw an olive branch on them.

　　 For many players, this will be a moment to change their destiny. Once they enter the league, money and reputation will come with the high draft picks.

　　 Especially those black players who were abandoned by their fathers and raised up by single mothers. Entering the NBA means not only the continuation of basketball dreams, but also a break from the poverty and poverty of the past.

Leon sat in the team zone, looking at the nervous young people, thinking of looking back at the video of the past few years, those selected players were a little bit excited and tearful, he had to sigh with emotion. How great is the change in the fate of people brought by sports.

"Isn't my destiny changed because of this." Leon thought of himself, of the hard work of coming back for more than a month-a 120,000-word scout report, 135 hours of video editing , 600,000 words of professional book reading, 10,000 miles of travel, and memorization of a CBA labor agreement.

　　He has evolved from a talented scout who relies solely on computing power, intuition and memory to one who has both intuition and expertise, but lacks enough

　　Experienced and capable scout, the speed is staggering.

　　 Now, the results of his one-month work will be revealed here.

　　 At this time, NBA Commissioner David Stern slowly walked to the microphone in the center of the draft stage. Amidst the cheers of the fans, he gave the opening speech with a smile.

"Good evening, and welcome to the scene of the 2000 NBA Draft. Thank you to the fans in Minnesota, and to the viewers who watched the show on American TV and YTV in Canada. Thank you for joining us and thank you for your support. 2000 NBA The first pick in the first round of the draft belongs to the New Jersey Nets. They will have 5 minutes to make a choice."

Stern’s opening speech was strong. After speaking, he walked off the draft platform and left the time to the New Jersey Nets. They will have five minutes to make a choice and inform Stern. En will announce their choice on the draft stage.

　　 The five-minute period is short and long. For those who are anxiously waiting for the results of the draft, Stern can’t wait to tell them who the Nets picked.

Finally, Stern stood on the stage and announced in his steady and gentle tone: "In the first draft of the first round, the New Jersey Nets chose the University of Cincinnati, Kenyon Martin. !"

The Nets chose Kenyon Martin, a result without much suspense. Leon sat in the stands watching Martin and his family hugging and celebrating, but his heart became a little anxious, because he didn't know that Wallace was just there. Whether the call is effective, whether Pitino will listen to his opinion, or what other changes will happen.

　　……………………

The draft went on. The Grizzlies chose Strom Swift in second place, a forward with very good physical fitness, and the Clippers made a similar choice. They won Darius Meyer. S.

　　 This choice is enough to prove that it is not unreasonable for some teams to always get high draft picks. After all, they seem to have nothing but luck.

The Celtics are getting closer and closer. It seems that the Boston headquarters has no intention to trade the draft pick. Wallace and Leon kept guarding the phone until the tenth place Orlando Magic finished. Finally it rang.

Wallace answered the phone. He didn't have any chance to speak. He just hung up the phone after a few "um", and then he said to Leon, "The situation has changed." He left his seat because he was going to tell Stern was the choice of the Celtics.

　　Rao is Leon, who has excellent psychological quality. He also suddenly became nervous. He could feel his heartbeat speed up by 33%, a rare situation.

　　 "Damn, what the **** is going on." Leon couldn't help muttering in his heart.

Finally, Stern stepped onto the draft stage and announced loudly to the audience: "In the first round with the 11th overall pick, the Boston Celtics chose... from Syracuse University, Etan Thomas !"