The longest river

Chapter 244 2003 NBA Draft
Some people think that Yang Shuai was losing out by giving up another easy opportunity to build a dynasty just to help his hometown, and that it was extremely foolish for him to go to a bad team like the Cavaliers.

Some people believe that Yang Shuai's willingness to give up another chance for a dynasty for his hometown, and even to join a weak team, highlights his extraordinary personal charm, which is not a choice that ordinary people can make.

Of course, for many people, it felt like "daylight had broken."

The Trail Blazers' strength stems from Yang Shuai, but it's not entirely due to him; Allen's unparalleled financial resources cannot be ignored.

When the richest people and the best basketball players get together, who knows how long they'll dominate the league.

But now, this perfect combination has finally been broken up.

Yang Shuai is still very strong, but the Cavaliers are too weak.

Basketball is not a one-man sport; everyone understands that.

Although the Cavaliers have this year's number one draft pick and are likely to select LeBron James, rookies need time to adapt to the NBA. At least for the foreseeable future, they have a chance to seize the opportunity and win a championship, just like the Lakers did before.

Of course, no one can be sure how long that window will last. It's always better to do this sooner rather than later. So what we can foresee is that next season will be a season full of "arms race" label.

Yang Shuai, the person involved, discussed the next crucial event, the 2003 NBA Draft, with his team, including Vaccaro, the day after the championship parade.

Yang Shuai has not officially signed with the Cavaliers yet; he is not currently a member of the Cavaliers, and the Cavaliers do not even have an owner yet. However, he clearly has a lot of say in the Cavaliers' upcoming draft.

After all, the contract hasn't been signed yet. Even though he's already said he's going to the Cavaliers, if Yang Shuai is unhappy, he can easily sign a short-term contract.

Returning to the draft, the Cavaliers now only have two options: use the number one pick to select LeBron James, or trade for the number one pick.

After James signed that lucrative endorsement deal with Reebok, he became the undisputed number one draft pick. That's the special nature of business leagues; his value lies there.

Paul's suggestion was to directly select James. From a business perspective, it would be very newsworthy for Yang Shuai to play with James, and as local players, they would also receive strong support from Ohio fans, a privilege that was previously only available to NCAA teams.

Undoubtedly, Paul, as an agent, was more concerned with influence and commercial factors.

Rondo's suggestion is to trade for suitable immediate contributors. He believes that trading this year's number one draft pick for a quality second option is entirely feasible, and he even mentioned Garnett.

Yang Shuai and Garnett are close friends, and the Timberwolves are currently facing a predicament. If it's just about selling tickets, James could do a better job. Moreover, if they did it that way, the Timberwolves could legitimately get through the transition period without first-round draft picks, instead of forcibly pushing for results and then running out of steam.

If they can't get a good second option, Rondo's suggestion is to trade with the Pistons and then use the second overall pick to select Anthony.

His reasoning is similar to before: among all the rookie players in this class, Anthony has the strongest immediate impact.

So from a purely draft-oriented perspective, Anthony and James are currently tied 1-1.

Yang Shuai then turned his gaze to Ray Johnson.

"I prefer LeBron."

Johnson also chose James, but his thinking differed from Paul's.

He felt that James's technical characteristics were a better fit for Yang Shuai.

Most high school star players, including Yang Shuai, are super scorers in high school, but James is an exception. His team awareness and organizational skills are obviously stronger than others.

Pippen battled Jordan for a while with the Bulls, but found he couldn't beat Jordan, so he was forced to transition into a point forward.

But James didn't need this process because he was a point forward from the moment he entered the league.

Moreover, Johnson closely followed Yang Shuai, and he was basically involved in all the interactions between Yang Shuai and James.

He could sense that James had a clear admiration for Yang Shuai, the most obvious example being that he wore the number 16 jersey in high school.

Just as Johnson was speaking, Rondo raised a question.

How can you be sure LeBron will be content to support Hansen?

Although Rondo wasn't always by Yang Shuai's side, he was the person closest to Yang Shuai, so Yang Shuai would talk to him about many things he wouldn't normally say, including complaining that James was too shrewd.

James is so shrewd, would he really be content to just be Yang Shuai's sidekick?

“I can’t be sure, but I think he won’t be now.”

Johnson's view is flexible; no one can consider uncertainties about the future because people change.

Yang Shuai seemed thoughtful after listening to their conversation.

Although he had considered the possibility of being teammates with James, he hadn't seriously thought about it because he was playing in the playoffs at the time.

However, because he was sitting next to James, he knew James well, and after listening to Rondo and Johnson's conversation, he felt that this was indeed a problem to consider.

James once did something similar during his time with the Heat, relinquishing control of eight key players. Although it happened during a season when he was desperately seeking success after seven years of failure, no one can guarantee that it won't happen earlier.

Yang Shuai finally turned his gaze to Vaccaro.

Of all these people, Vaccaro is the most experienced.

"My choice is LeBron."

Vaccaro also gave his choice.

The current vote is 3 to 1, with James receiving the most votes.

However, Vaccaro's next words indicated that his views differed somewhat from those of Paul and Johnson.

"Nobody said a trade has to happen before the draft, right?"

This sentence made Yang Shuai's eyes light up.

Vaccaro's idea is to try James out first, and if James is willing to play as a supporting player and the two can mesh well, then James will stay.
If James has second thoughts, or if the two don't mesh well, then a trade can be made at that time.

For a typical rookie, doing this would be risky because you're unsure if the rookie will be a bust.

But James doesn't have this concern. James' ceiling depends on the configuration of his teammates, but his floor is still very high.

Regarding the issue of team control, Yang Shuai went to Cleveland as a "savior," and regardless of who ultimately buys the Cavaliers, he will have absolute say in the team.

Even disregarding this background, given Yang Shuai's current status and influence in the league, no investor would spend a large sum of money to buy the Cavaliers and then deliberately go against him.

Vaccaro then mentioned the negative impact of trading the number one draft pick at this time on Yang Shuai's "short-sightedness," an impact that would still linger even if Yang Shuai later led the Cavaliers to a championship.

After Vaccaro finished speaking, Yang Shuai quickly recalled the Cavaliers' trade of Wiggins to Love when James returned to the team in 2014, which indeed had the kind of impact Vaccaro mentioned.

Having listened to everyone's opinions, he had basically made a decision.

While Yang Shuai and his team were discussing the draft, the Cavaliers were experiencing something predictable: they were being snapped up by other teams.

Originally, because the Cavaliers got the number one draft pick, some owners had already turned their attention back to this team.

Yang Shuai's involvement has ignited investor enthusiasm, making this a decision that is destined to be fiercely contested, and a resolution is unlikely to be reached anytime soon.

It was around this time that Yang Shuai's first personal biography, "The Road to Conquest," was officially released. This biography, which shares the same title as his first documentary, tells a very different story.

First, its timeline starts from Yang Shuai's birth and continues until he helps the Trail Blazers complete their dynasty.

Secondly, and more importantly, it tells many behind-the-scenes stories that are not covered in the documentary.

Yang Shuai also held a book signing event in Portland on the day the biography was released.

Because of prior publicity and his recent official announcement of joining the Cavaliers, the autograph session was extremely popular.

Many of the fans came not only to buy books, but also to bid farewell to Yang Shuai.

Feeling the enthusiasm of the fans, Yang Shuai not only signed autographs but also took photos with them.

In the end, the book signing event, which was originally scheduled for two hours, was stretched to half a day.

However, Yang Shuai did not feel tired; on the contrary, he felt a little reluctant to leave.

He doesn't regret his previous decision, but people are always complex emotional creatures.

The day before the draft, Fratello came to Portland.

Because the Cavaliers' owner has not yet been finalized, he is currently the person in charge of the team's specific operations.

After Yang Shuai finished the championship parade, the two had been communicating frequently by phone, but when he actually saw Yang Shuai again, Fratello was filled with emotion.

In 1997, Yang Shuai went to Portland, which he regretted, feeling that he had missed several opportunities to coach Yang Shuai.

Unexpectedly, he still got the opportunity to work with Yang Shuai.

"Mike, I've always wanted to thank you for arranging the one-on-one match between me and Jim (Jackson)."

Yang Shuai fully demonstrated his improved interpersonal skills over the years, and his very first words made Fratello blush.

After all these years, Yang Shuai still remembers that little incident from back then!

"That's the proudest thing I've ever done in my life."

The two smiled at each other, and the distance between them instantly closed considerably.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Fratello brought up the main purpose of his trip: he wanted to invite Yang Shuai to the draft.

Instead of sitting in the stands as they used to, they went into the Cavaliers' draft cabin.

This subversive behavior fully demonstrates Fratello's attitude at this time: he not only treats Yang Shuai as one of his own, but also entrusts Yang Shuai with the decision-making power.

Yang, General Manager, is handsome.

However, after a brief moment of thought, Yang Shuai rejected Fratello's suggestion.

While it may sound impressive, this behavior is tantamount to openly interfering with management, which would have a very negative impact, especially given that the Cavaliers' owner is still undecided.

Fratello didn't insist, but he still confirmed the selection of the number one pick with Yang Shuai again.

"Mike, I will have no objection to whoever the management chooses."

Two days later, on the evening of June 27, the 2003 NBA Draft was held at Madison Square Garden.

Yang Shuai did not join the Cavaliers' draft team, and he did not even go to New York.

For him, it was best not to appear in the public eye during the draft.

However, on this day, Paul, Rondo, Johnson, and Vaccaro were all at his home, and they would watch the draft live together.

Before the draft began, the three members of the TNT team were chatting away in the commentary booth.

The topic they talked about most was naturally the Cavaliers' number one draft pick.

Based on the information they currently have, there has been no news that the Cavaliers intend to trade their number one draft pick.

This means the Cavaliers will most likely use it directly.

They discussed various aspects, including commercial value and compatibility with Yang Shuai. Surprisingly, the commentators were in unison that the Cavaliers would choose James.

Just as they finished their discussion, Stern came out from backstage.

After the familiar opening remarks, Stern announced the winner of the first overall pick.

As Barkley and his team predicted, the Cavaliers kept the number one pick and did not choose to trade it.

Five minutes later, Stern came out again and announced the Cavaliers' draft results to the expectant eyes of everyone present.

"The Cleveland Cavaliers selected LeBron James, a 2.03-meter small forward from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, with the first overall pick in the first round of the 2003 NBA draft."

Cheers erupted from the Cavaliers fans. As fans, they naturally hoped the team would select players with a homegrown background, just like Philadelphia chose Iverson before.

At Yang Shuai's home, the others nodded in agreement after seeing the result.

Under normal circumstances, the Cavaliers would not have chosen not to draft James.

Therefore, Yang Shuai's decision not to give Fratello his own opinion is tantamount to tacitly agreeing with the Cavaliers' decision.

The reason he didn't say he wanted to draft James was because if he did, James would become his handpicked number one pick.

If, as Vaccaro mentioned, there are issues with team chemistry or other unexpected situations, trading for James again would become very difficult.

After the draft results were announced, Yang Shuai kept his eyes glued to the live stream.

The camera quickly focused on James, who stood up excitedly, looking very thrilled.

This was further demonstrated after he took office; he even seemed to walk with a gust of wind.

Yang Shuai also looked away. James's reaction was a good sign. After all, it was a done deal that he was going back to the Cavaliers. Given James's personality, he would definitely show it if he had any ideas.

Following the Cavaliers, the next team to be selected is the Pistons.

The Pistons also chose to keep their second overall pick.

It's clear that this is a strong draft year, and teams won't make any moves easily.

Five minutes later, Stern stepped forward again and announced the Pistons' selection.

"The Detroit Pistons selected Carmelo Anthony, a 2.01-meter small forward from Syracuse University, with the second overall pick in the first round of the 2003 NBA draft."

(End of this chapter)