Chapter 1264: Chapter 511: Draft Night Choices

And now, we have just won the championship, and they are at the peak of their worth. No one can guarantee that we can win the championship again next season, and by then they will be a year older. Rick and Bernie have already made it clear that they won’t take such a risk.

So, unless we give up on next summer’s free agent market, we definitely can’t keep them.”

Emma Roberts understood and sighed: “It’s still about money… money is indeed very important. You can’t blame the two of them for this, but really, after winning the championship, why do the troubles seem to increase?”

Zhang Yang: “That’s how it is. After winning the championship, it’s very natural to want to continue the path of success, choosing stability and trying to retain the previous lineup as much as possible. If we didn’t win the championship, it means we must change for future plans. With Bernie and Rick’s personalities, they directly used the two as scapegoats for losing the championship and announced no contract renewal.”

Emma Roberts: “Oh, it’s like filming a TV series. After the first season succeeds, you want to continue the success. But because of the first season’s success, the actors’ pay rises, but the producer’s budget isn’t that high, so they can only replace people. If the new cast is chosen well, it could continue to succeed. If not, the second season filmed will be the last… In that case, wouldn’t keeping them and continuing with the previous lineup be good? The new players introduced next summer may not be as useful as them, right?”

Zhang Yang: “That’s the logic, but the problem we’re facing now is not only the renewal issue with those two. The state of Brad and Grant afterwards is also hard to guarantee. We don’t know how motivated they can remain after achieving the coveted championship. Kendrick might also not renew next summer… Regardless of whether we renew them or not, it’s almost impossible to continue the 11-man rotation from the finals. The only thing we can be thankful for is that Jarett and Michael are more useful in the regular season, and Aaron (Afflalo) has improved quickly and can perform steadily in the playoffs.

But we still have time to consider. If we can use this year’s three draft picks to choose two outstanding backup players, it will solve many problems.”

“Two then, who can you even draft with the 60th pick?”

“Hard to say, if that guy goes undrafted, our backcourt can become more robust.”

Emma Roberts: “Who? You mean there’s someone with good skills but undrafted?”

Zhang Yang recalled the scouting report sent by Tellem, and responded: “Wade’s schoolmate, a 23-year-old veteran player. He’s fast enough, quite strong, good touch with long-range shooting. His parents were former professional athletes. His father played in the NBA. He might have inherited that.

But the weaknesses are also obvious. His jumping isn’t good, his ball handling is terrible, and he’s not a good passer. In college, his assist-to-turnover ratio was 1-to-1;

Also, since his father abandoned him and his mother, his character is very strong, unwilling to accept help and guidance from others. By the time he graduated high school, he was already Mr. Basketball of Wisconsin, but technically, he has hardly improved over four college years, with only shooting fundamentals seeing improvement. His breakthrough looks better only because he’s stronger as he aged, and he’s older than most college basketball players.

Perhaps because of coming from a single-parent background, he’s also relatively aloof in social interactions, not willing to make friends. Also, because of his strong competitiveness, he clashed with teammates over their poor performances multiple times during his college years. Some experts believe he could become a destabilizing factor in the locker room.

That’s why he’s ranked outside the top 50 on all major media prediction lists.”

Emma Roberts: “Seems like you’re quite optimistic about this veteran rookie. If no team picks him by the 59th pick, Jordan will definitely meet your demand to select him.”

“60th pick. Having him for a year is not bad.”

“A year?”

“Yeah, a player overlooked by all 29 other teams, not selected by the 59th pick, would likely only receive a one-year contract, probably non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed. But if he proves he can play in the NBA, according to the Arenas rule, it’ll be hard for us to keep him.”

“Using the 60th pick for a year, it’s not bad… Who to select with the two first-round picks? Is Lawson a choice for the lottery pick?”

The Bobcats have two first-round picks this year: their own 30th pick and the Kings’ 08 lottery-protected, rolled over to this year’s top-5 protected first-round pick. The Kings just finished the season with a 35-47 record, eleventh from the bottom, didn’t draw the top three, and the Bobcats got the 11th pick.

“Lawson had multiple times where hangovers affected his games. I have explicitly refused to pick him. The owner agreed not to select North Carolina players. Anyway, we don’t need to hang the ‘North Carolina NBA team’ title to attract fans to buy tickets…”

…

While the two continued to chat, the time came to 8 PM, and the draft began, drawing their attention to the live broadcast of the draft.

During the mid-May draft lottery, the Clippers, who were inexplicably bad, secured the first pick with an absolute advantage.

The Timberwolves drew the second pick, and the Thunder drew the third pick.

The Timberwolves received this year’s top three protected first-round pick, the 4th pick, from the Wizards.

The 5th pick belongs to the Knicks, 6th to the Pistons, 7th to the Warriors, 8th to the Toronto Raptors, 9th to the Bucks, 10th to the Pacers, 11th to the Bobcats, 12th to the Brooklyn Nets, 13th to the Rockets, and 14th to the Phoenix Suns.

The Clippers used their first pick to select Blake Griffin from the University of Oklahoma.

The Timberwolves used their second pick to select Tyreke Evans.

The Thunder used their third pick to select Hasheem Thabeet from the University of Connecticut.

With the 4th pick, the Timberwolves selected Ricky Rubio, the Spanish prodigy.

For the top three picks, Zhang Yang found no issues. The Clippers would definitely choose the top hot pick. Their management might not be shrewd, but they wouldn’t play tricks, always opting for the biggest popular pick, and such an operation rarely yielded busts. The “Candy Man” just looked like a bust in the talent-laden 98 class; in a down year, he’d probably be ignored.

The Timberwolves have always had a good eye for drafting, so picking Evans, a top five favorite, is normal.

The Thunder has Rose, Durant, DeAndre Jordan, three prodigies in positions 1/3/5 respectively. DeAndre Jordan can currently play both four and five positions. Thabeet had an incredible three years in college, averaging 4.2 blocks per game and was called ‘the next Mutombo.’ Since there were no shooting guards in the lottery, and the only other projected top ten big man was Jordan Hill, picking Thabeet made sense…

After all, no one foresaw Thabeet’s slow progress in the NBA. If it were the 90s or early 2000s, some teams might have been patient, but in Zhang Yang’s view, the Thunder, with early successes from Rose and Durant, probably wouldn’t be as patient as the Grizzlies, who began succeeding after 09.

But after the Timberwolves picked Evans, who played point guard in college, they also picked Rubio… Will Evans still have such a tragic fate?

At the 5th pick, the Knicks selected Stephen Curry from Davidson College!

When listening to the rookie’s name, Zhang Yang felt as if he’d heard the explosive roar of a crazy scientist!