Champion, please stay!

Chapter 79, Section 77: The Draft (Part 2)

This wasn't the first time Yi Shui had seen a primary school student's distraught expression.

But this is the first time I've seen a laugh so abstract.

The exaggerated expressions Curry made in the past always seemed to be when he was angry?
Yi Shui, who considers himself an idol player, expressed his incomprehension.

Seeing Curry's face contorted with excitement as he stared at the camera, so excited he could barely speak... Yi Shui couldn't bear to look.

I never expected... Walsh really loves elementary school students!
After the joint tryout, it was basically decided that he would join the Knicks. Yi Shui felt that he needed to get to know the team's management well.

The more I learned about Dolan, the more I realized he was just a spoiled brat.

Fortunately, Dolan stepped down as team president in 03 and became team chairman, basically no longer responsible for game-related business... This is thanks to Isaiah Thomas, who instilled many advanced ideas in Dolan.

Donnie Walsh, that's impressive. When he was the Pacers' vice president in 87, he did something that the Cavaliers and Grizzlies wouldn't dare to do now—he rejected local talent Steve Alford.

Alford was born in Indiana, graduated from Indiana University, was selected to the All-American First Team for two consecutive years in his junior and senior years, and led the Indianapolis to the NCAA championship in his senior season... Everyone thought he would be drafted by the Pacers.

But Walsh chose Reggie Miller of the Bruins, whose college career, to put it simply, was a disgrace in the history of the Bruins.

Reggie Miller had only one junior season during his four years at college, averaging 25 points per game, but the Bruins had their worst record in franchise history.

In his senior year, the Bruins' head coach curbed Reggie Miller's shot attempts, reducing his scoring to just over 20 points, which improved their record, allowing them to make it into the third crazy season and then the second round.

At the time, Reggie Miller was known as a cancer and a stat-padder. If it weren't for the fact that the Bruins had a player who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he could have become the all-time leading scorer for any franchise.

Furthermore, Reggie Miller is too thin, leading people to question whether he can survive in the NBA.

This choice almost led to Walsh's immediate dismissal, with local fans refusing to buy season tickets and blocking the arena to boo Walsh and Reggie Miller. However, his judgment was soon proven correct.

After being drafted by the Mavericks, Alford averaged 2 points per game in his rookie year, showing no trace of his college days; while Reggie Miller, as a backup small forward, averaged 10 points per game in his rookie year, became a top scorer by averaging 24+ points per game in his junior year, and eventually became the soul of the Pacers.

Walsh's moves included bringing back the undervalued German forward Detlef Schrempf from the Mavericks; using the second overall pick to acquire Rick Schmitz; and, in that era, decisively poaching Derrick McKay from the SuperSonics with a three-year, $8 million contract, exceeding Jordan's salary... This series of moves made the Pacers a strong playoff team.

Another brilliant move was recruiting Larry Bird as an assistant, and after assessing his abilities, voluntarily relinquishing his power as general manager and stepping down to a secondary role.

Then came the Pacers team that ran from the 99-00 season to the 00-04 season.

Originally, Yi Shui's impression of the Knicks' general manager was that everyone was like Thomas.

But after carefully checking Walsh's information, he remembered that the Knicks did indeed have a surge in popularity around 10 years ago.

They cleared out bad contracts and freed up a lot of cap space in the summer of 10 to sign two max contracts. Although they didn't get James or Bosh, they did manage to acquire Stoudemire.

Later, he acquired Anthony in a zero-for-one trade and poached Chandler from the Mavericks... These were all excellent moves.

Unfortunately, injuries and internal strife led to the Knicks' collapse, and Dolan made another brilliant move—firing Walsh and appointing Phil Jackson as team president.

...

Watching Curry sit down in the 'prize-winning area' in front of the stands, Yi Shui felt a strange sense of regret—wouldn't he have a chance to face him again? Wait, no!

There's a chance we'll be able to fight every day!
Kid! Teach me your rhythm-based playstyle!

Then the Kings selected Jason Thompson with the 12th pick, the Trail Blazers selected European forward Danilo Gallinari with the 13th pick, and the Warriors selected Brandon Rush with the 14th pick.

With the lottery draft over, it's time for playoff teams to select their players.

The Suns acquired the Hawks' 15th pick in a trade, and Stern read out the name: "...DeAndre Jordan from the Texas A&M team!"

DeAndre Jordan didn't fall to the second round! Although he didn't make the lottery, he was selected as soon as the lottery results came out!

Yi Shui thought of the looks in D'Antoni and Walsh's eyes again, and a trace of despair rose in her heart.

He traded his intelligence for talent and good looks; this label he carries in their minds is unlikely to be removed anytime soon.

But why? Didn't you say you wouldn't choose 'Little Howard'?

What Yi Shui didn't know was that this was 'his' fault.

In the original timeline, DeAndre Jordan performed terribly during his tryouts.

In the previous two years, teams didn't care about this; if you had good physical attributes, you would be picked as a 'Howard lottery ticket'.

But after two years of setbacks, teams lost interest in this seemingly brainless, physically gifted guy. Selecting him for the green room was more about misleading other teams into "buying lottery tickets," potentially putting their preferred players on the back burner.

Here, the teams genuinely selected DeAndre Jordan for the green room because of his performance in the tryouts.

Because in the first scrimmage of the joint training, Yi Shui demonstrated the 'correct way' to play DeAndre Jordan!
Previously, centers with this build were used like Dwight Howard, relying on their explosiveness to score and grab offensive rebounds.

After all, DeAndre Jordan played like this in college. He looked impressive during the conference stage, with an extremely high shooting percentage, and even had a conference record of making 16 consecutive shots.

When it came to the third season of the NBA Finals, DeAndre Jordan's weaknesses were exposed. In the first round, he scored 0 points and 1 rebound against a tanky opponent, and in the second round, he only managed 6 points against Kevin Love. He simply couldn't break through the defenses of strong opponents.

But with Yi Shui's example, the perimeter players all knew how to cooperate with DeAndre Jordan, and having such a helper was also beneficial to their performance.

That's why Yi Shui was able to see DeAndre Jordan outperform Brook Lopez in the joint workout.

...

Later, the Trail Blazers, who acquired the 16th overall pick in a trade, selected Jerry Bayless.

The Raptors selected Roy Hibbert with the 17th overall pick, but Hibbert was traded away as a 'bonus' shortly after he put on his hat and shook hands.

TJ Ford was traded to Jermaine O'Neal, and Roy Hibbert is on the Raptors' trade list...

麦基18顺位被奇才队选中、莱恩-安德森第21顺位被篮网队选中、伊巴卡在24顺位被超音速队选中、巴图姆在25顺位被火箭队选中后送到开拓者队、乔治-希尔在26顺位被马刺队选中……易水印象中厉害的球员，都被选走了，不知道他们次轮5号签能选谁了。

He originally hoped to snatch DeAndre Jordan in the second round, one pick ahead of the Clippers, but the idea of ​​him being a "prophet" and accurately grabbing players is completely unreliable.

When he was bored before, he thought about sending Randolph to the Grizzlies in exchange for a 09 first-round pick, which would give them the second overall pick. He remembered that the Knicks would trade Randolph this summer, but now that he thought about it, if the trade really happened, the Grizzlies would definitely go all out to win.

With rookie Derrick Rose, third-year player Rudy Gay, rookie Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, and Mike Conley, they might not make the Western Conference playoffs, but their record will definitely improve significantly.

The Celtics selected Darrell Arthur with the 30th overall pick and sent him to the Grizzlies in exchange for Patrick O'Bryant, the 9th overall pick in the 06 draft, marking the end of the first round of the NBA draft.

Except for those who didn't come to the event, the other first-round draft picks all came to the venue and took photos with Stern. Yi Shui was arranged to stand with Stern in the absolute center position.

After the group photo, Yi Shui bid farewell to his teachers and friends and, together with Curry, headed to the draft office under the guidance of Knicks staff.

Curry fiddled with the Knicks cap in his hand—who would have thought that this elementary school kid would actually have a day like this!
In Auckland, they promised to select him in the lottery and told him not to continue trying out... He didn't agree and went to every team in the lottery that had invited him to try out.

He was actually chosen ahead of time! It seems he was traded for Randolph!
Just as Curry was getting excited, he felt an arm on his shoulder. He turned his head, looked up, and holy crap! He'd completely forgotten that the number one draft pick was also from the Big Apple!

He had a vague feeling that he was about to break apart. He had sworn that he would never be teammates with Yi Shui in the NBA, but he hadn’t even kept his promise for a second.

Before he was drafted by the Knicks, Yi Shui had already been drafted by the Knicks!
However, he did not push Yi Shui's hand away, and they went to the Knicks' draft office together.

The door was open, and Walsh inside saw Yi Shui and Curry with their arms around each other, and breathed a small sigh of relief.

I hope my two favorite geniuses don't have any conflicts!

In his memory, the two didn't have a good relationship. First of all, in the quarterfinals, Yi Shui defeated Curry head-on.

Later, during the joint tryouts, Curry would challenge Yi Shui whenever he had the chance, showing more hostility towards Yi Shui than Westbrook, Rose, Mayo, and others.

Is this a case of becoming friends after a fight, and then appreciating each other's talents?

Primary school student: Hehe, I'm just a wise man who knows when to yield. What can I do if I'm just a lottery winner when others are top scorers?

Dolan enthusiastically stepped forward, pushed Curry aside, and gave Yi Shui a big hug.

"Welcome, Brook. Honestly, if it weren't for the NBA draft process, and getting the first pick, I'd be announcing you've joined New York..."

"You can't hit a smiling face," Yi Shui said, exchanging pleasantries with Dolan, who was about to become his boss. He only hoped that Dolan would enjoy his time happily and not focus on the team's operations.

Walsh patted Curry on the shoulder and said, "Stephen, don't mind him. The owner has always been a Brooks fan and often goes to the Huskies' home games."

Curry nodded to indicate that he understood. He was definitely jealous, but after all, Curry was the number one draft pick and was considered a 'local genius' by New York fans, so the treatment was naturally different.

Then the league staff arrived, and Walsh carefully looked at the names still lit up on the screen.

He took out his pen and started writing quickly.

Yi Shui leaned closer to take a look... Mario Chalmers.

(End of this chapter)