The NBA started with helping Iverson win the championship

Chapter 374
The draft has officially started.

Zhao Jiwei came directly to the draft tonight, and it seems that he has very high expectations of himself.

Sitting in the small green room, Zhao Jiwei looked very nervous.

Because many media predict that he may even be won by the Philadelphia 76ers, who lack point guards, with the No. [-] pick.

It's not impossible.

In the draft last season, the 76ers were also the No. [-] pick and won Ben Simmons.

Although Simmons is also a point guard in name, it is more appropriate for him to be classified as a point forward.

Experts analyzed that the Philadelphia 76ers need a flexible point guard with outstanding pass control ability and good offensive firepower to connect the backcourt.

Undoubtedly, Zhao Jiwei's style is quite suitable.

However, experts also said that Zhao Jiwei is not the only choice for the 76ers. This year, Markelle Fultz from the University of Washington is also likely to be selected by the 76ers.

Now it depends on what the 76ers management thinks, whether they want Zhao Jiwei, the second generation of the son of the wind, or Fultz, who is more physically fit.

Li Xun is actually very curious, not knowing how the 76ers will choose.

From the perspective of God, Zhao Jiwei is obviously more suitable.

Because Fultz is actually a parallel importer, his psychological quality is really poor, and he even got yip syndrome later.

It's a movement disorder that robs Fultz of his shooting muscle memory.

"I announce that the Philadelphia 76ers have selected Markelle Fultz from the University of Washington with the first overall pick in the first round."

Xiao Hua stood on the stage and read out.

Li Xun shook his head with a smile. It seems that the 76ers have a long way to go if they want to rise.

In the past two years, the two of them have won the No. [-] pick and selected two players who can't shoot.

This is too deadly in the small ball era.

Zhao Jiwei in the small green room sighed silently, and it turned out that the champion was not himself.

Who doesn't want to be the No. [-] pick, who doesn't want to be the number one rookie like Yao Ming did back then.

It's a pity that the Philadelphia 76ers didn't choose themselves this time.

Without any hesitation, Li Xun handed the note with Tatum's name on it to the Lakers management.

"I announce that the Los Angeles Lakers have selected Jayson Tatum from Duke University with the second pick in the first round."

Xiao Hua announced the second place candidate again.

Unknowingly, Li Xun has actually selected a considerable number of Duke University players.

The quantity and quality of stars produced by this top NCAA prestigious school are indeed high enough.

For the Lakers to choose Tatum, many people were very, very surprised.

Because the Lakers have said more than once before that they must train Ingram well, and now they suddenly use the precious second pick in their hands to choose Tatum, who is in the same position as Ingram, which makes people wonder whether the Lakers are going to give up Ingram. .

Some were surprised, others outraged.

Lonzo Ball, who was originally expected to be selected by the No. [-] pick, his father directly raged on the Internet media.

"I don't know what Magic Johnson is thinking."

"Lonzo is definitely a hundred times better than that Duke kid."

"It won't take long, maybe only half a season, for Magic Johnson to regret his choice tonight, and he should take the blame and resign!"

Dad Ball was so angry that he caught Magic Johnson and blew up.

How did he know that choosing Tatum was not Magic Johnson's idea, but Li Xun.

The reason why he was so angry was because Lukai, who was not selected by the top two picks and held the lottery, seemed unlikely to choose a point guard.

Now that the Green Kay team already has Thomas Jr. and Smart as two point guards, it is impossible to continue to choose a point guard. They will definitely choose a small forward.

This is the main reason why Dad Qiu is angry. If he is not selected by the top three picks, he will receive much less attention.

"I announce that the Boston Celtics have selected Josh Jackson from the University of Kansas with the third overall pick in the first round."

This Josh Jackson is a small forward with exceptional physical fitness.

The draft template given by experts is also very amazing, the lower limit is Iguodala, the upper limit is even Leonard.

It can also be seen from this how much this draft has been valued by experts. The players selected with the third overall pick have such outstanding templates.

In fact, Li Xun also paid attention to this rookie in his previous life. In terms of pure physical fitness, this guy is indeed a malleable talent.

It's a pity that there is only one Leonard, and Josh Jackson didn't play in the end. After his rookie season, he became less and less reused, and finally he couldn't even get a middle-level contract in the NBA.

But now, except for Li Xun, no one knows this.

Green Kai now needs a top small forward in the team, especially Josh Jackson, who seems to have both offense and defense.

So after they saw that Tatum was selected, they immediately selected Josh Jackson.

This choice made the Suns, holding the No. [-] pick, smile.

They were also worried about whether to choose Josh Jackson or Zhao Jiwei, the second generation son of the wind.

Now it seems that there is no need to be so troubled, just choose Zhao Jiwei directly.

Under normal circumstances, they would have chosen Josh Jackson. Now that Zhao Jiwei can be selected, the Suns have actually made a lot of money.

Sun fans cheered at the moment.

How could they forget the glorious years of Nash's peak period, and now there is a second generation of Fengzi, and they firmly believe that the Suns will rise sooner or later.

Hearing that he was selected by the Suns with the fourth overall pick, Zhao Jiwei heaved a long sigh of relief.

Being selected with the fourth overall pick, I can completely accept it, after all, this selection is already high enough.

The key point is that the topic of being selected by the Suns is high enough. If I can really play Nash's demeanor, my name as Nash's successor will be confirmed.

Although Nash did not win the championship at the peak of his career, that is to say, he went to the Mavericks in the last year and won a championship with Li Xun with no gold content.

However, Nash's historical status is still quite high. If he can become Nash's successor, Zhao Jiwei will undoubtedly have a good start in his career.

Li Xun nodded. Zhao Jiwei's selection by the Suns was actually within his expectation. For Zhao Jiwei, this should be the perfect result.

After the top four picks were selected, Li Xun frowned and began to think.

Next to make a deal with the Lakers, the Knicks will send Booker, Siakam and Zhou Qi in exchange for Ingram and the newly selected Tatum.

Booker and Siakam, against Ingram plus Tatum, are actually probably in the same position, but the style is slightly deviated.

And the Knicks are equivalent to losing an insider Zhou Qi.

So in this draft, Li Xun has to find a way to supplement the team's inside line.

"Phil, Jeff, is there any way to get another [-]th or [-]th lottery pick?"

Li Xun asked the Zen master and old Hornacek around him.

This year's draft conference can actually be regarded as a big draft year.

However, the Knicks don't have many draft picks, and Li Xun will leave after next season, so there is no need to get too many powerful rookies for the Knicks.

Now that the Knicks lack insiders, in order to win the championship next season, Li Xun decided to find a way to get a strong insider.

As for Mitchell, the 13th pick under normal circumstances, Li Xun currently has no plan to win him.

Of course he also knows that Mitchell is strong, but the strong belongs to the strong. Li Xun only stays in the Knicks for one season, so there is really no need to win him.

Because the Knicks are almost overcrowded at the second and third positions.

If Mitchell is a traditional point guard, Li Xun may consider him.

But everyone knows that Mitchell is a shooting guard with a height of 191 cm, and it is useless to the Knicks.

In addition to Mitchell, the all-around power forward John Collins with the 19th pick, Kuzma with the 27th pick and Derek White with the 29th pick are also very good.

In terms of cost performance, Dillon Brooks with the 45th pick is very cost-effective.

But this is a solid scumbag, and Li Xun is not interested in choosing him.

I won't even ask for free gifts.

The reason why Li Xun wanted a pick with the [-]th or [-]th pick was to select Adebayor as an insider.

Under normal circumstances, Adebayor is selected by the Heat.

In Li Xun's view, he can be regarded as a poor version of Jokic. The defense may be slightly stronger than Jokic, but he is a weakened version of Jokic in other aspects.

He also has a good ability to organize the basket, but not as good as Jokic.

There are professionals in later generations who listed eleven elements to become a perfect center forward.

If only active players are considered, Jokic occupies five of them, namely ball quotient, ball holding, passing, mentality and key ball ability.

Embiid occupies three items, namely offense, athletic ability and finishing ability at the basket.

Gobert occupies one, and it must be defense.

Downs also occupies one item, shooting ability.

The last item was obtained by Adebayor, his hard work on the court.

There is actually nothing wrong with this statement. Among the active centers at that time, these few people were indeed the top in a certain aspect.

For example, Towns, many fans may not know that he is the center with the best three-point shooting ability in NBA history.

And Jokic is already infinitely close to the legendary perfect center.

Adebayor's hard work has also been recognized, which is something Li Xun likes very much.

In his opinion, a player, especially an inside player who needs to sit in the melee area under the basket, must not work hard.

It can be said that none of the famous super centers in NBA history is a cowardly softie.

"The Pistons have contacted us before and want Brogdon. They have a [-]th pick in their hands."

"Do you want to ask them?"

Zen Master said.

Li Xun nodded, the [-]th pick is enough to win Adebayor.

Although letting the Pistons get Brogdon is a bit cheap for them.

But Brogdon is not a top star, he can only be said to be the kind of quasi-All-Star player, if you get it, you get it, no big deal.

Zen Master glanced at old Hornacek.

The old Hornacek left his seat resentfully, this kind of thing can never let the Zen master run errands.

After a while, old Hornacek came back with good news.

The Pistons agreed.

Originally, the Pistons chose Luke Kennard with the 12th pick this year, a short guard with a height of 196 cm.

Now their plan is to use this draft pick to take Kennard.

As a result, when the Knicks said they wanted to trade, they immediately agreed.

Although Brogdon didn't have many opportunities to play in his rookie season with the Knicks, his performance was perfect in the few 30-minute games he played.

After all, the age is there, that is, the combat power is quite amazing.

Instead of taking the risk of taking Kennard, it must be more cost-effective for Brogdon.

The key is that this is the player selected by Li Xun. The Pistons, who have suffered a lot, are more at ease to use.

Soon it was the turn of the [-]th pick Pistons.

The Pistons selected Adebayor, and after the draft, the two teams will trade.

Next, the Knicks still have two draft picks in their hands, the 30th pick in the first round and the 30th pick in the second round.

These two draft picks are actually useless.

In addition to Dillon Brooks, who is very cost-effective, Josh Hart is also a good choice, but Li Xun feels that Josh Hart is really not needed, so he simply did not choose.

For these two draft picks, he simply let Zen Master choose them himself.

This year's draft was held in New York, seeing that the ones who should be selected were selected, Li Xun simply found an excuse to leave the draft.

Early the next morning, the Knicks held a press conference with the Lakers and Pistons.

A series of deals were announced.

Zen master selected two point guards for the two draft picks that came with them yesterday. As for their names, Li Xun didn't even remember them.

The name that Li Xun couldn't remember was probably a cannon fodder player, so there was no need to remember it.

When all the transactions are completed, the Knicks' lineup for the new season will be temporarily determined.

The center position is still led by Jokic, and now there is an extra substitute Adebayor.

For the forward position, it feels a bit overcrowded.

Li Xun, Ah Lian, Pickled Pepper, Tatum, Ingram.

But looking at the overcrowding, in fact, many of these forwards can play guest shooting guards.

As for the guard, there is only one Sun Yue left in the Knicks.

Just after the draft, the Knicks started a crazy point guard recruitment plan.

They contacted Curry first.

Curry is currently a free agent, and he was an old teammate with Li Xun before. The Knicks feel that if Curry can be won, the Knicks will be able to win the third championship.

Unfortunately, they failed to negotiate with Curry.

The main reason is that Li Xun called Curry and told him not to do stupid things like cutting salary.

If he stays with the Warriors, Curry will be able to sign a five-year, 5 million super contract.

If you come to the Knicks, the Knicks will definitely not be able to give this price now.

Moreover, the annual salary of the contract can only be signed for four years. With the current salary space of the Knicks, it is not bad to be able to give 1.2 million US dollars in four years.

Although Li Xun said that he is looking forward to joining forces with Curry again, he doesn't want Curry to suffer such a big loss.

Then the Knicks contacted Rose again.

In the end, the discussion didn't come down, and Rose decided to die with the Bulls and renew his contract with the Bulls.

Now in front of the Knicks, only Lowry and Rondo are the first-line free point guards left.

Li Xun laughed.

He wondered what Rondo was thinking now.

When Rondo was in Lukai before, he was messed up by Li Xun. He didn't know if he was interested in the opportunity to become his teammate now.

(End of this chapter)