Anthony the Reborn

Chapter 226 NBA Draft
In the end, under Anthony's suggestion, the Nuggets made a trade with the Boston Celtics before the draft. They traded Wang Zhizhi to the Celtics for the No. 15 pick in the first round. The future draft pick made a deal with the Chicago Bulls in exchange for their No. 9 pick in the second round and the No. 39 overall pick. In addition, they also directly bought the Atlanta Hawks in the second round with cash. The 13th overall pick with the 43rd overall pick.

This is the part of the transaction. At the same time, Vandeweghe also approached Bell and Mutombo in private, communicated in private, and negotiated a one-to-one renewal contract with the two parties. Bell has a starting salary of 425w, and the number of years is A 5-year contract, while Mutombo signed a 3-year contract. The starting salary of the new contract is 500 million US dollars, but it is a contract that decreases year by year, and the third year is not guaranteed.

As for Korver and Diaw, Vandeweghe also communicated in private, preparing to let them become restricted free agents next year. This decision has also been approved by the two players.

After finishing the internal affairs, the Nuggets renewed the contracts of Battelle and Roger at the price of the basic salary. With a salary space of nearly 1500 million, the Nuggets are about to enter the free agent market this summer, but before that, there are other An important job content is the NBA Draft.

Originally, Vandeweghe wanted Anthony to go to the manager's office with him, but Anthony felt that the room was too depressing, and he had already given his advice to Vandeweghe. He felt that there was no need to stay there, so he ran to the stands. .

This time, Anthony was in the stands as a spectator. Unlike before, he was feeling uneasy. He could be said to have no pressure at the moment. As a bystander, that feeling was completely different.

Sitting with Anthony was her girlfriend, Megan Fox, as well as his sister, Daphne, and her boyfriend, Anthony's childhood friend Kenny Minor.

The same venue, familiar scene, the scene is still crowded with fans of each team wearing their own team's clothes, cheering for their team.

After a while, the lights at the scene dimmed, followed by the president of the league David Stern came out from behind the scenes.

Looking at Stern, who already had half of his gray hair on his head, sitting at this angle, Anthony had a completely different feeling from the past. He suddenly felt that the old man in front of him walked from behind the scenes to the front of the stage again and again, every year. We must try our best to maintain and even develop this alliance. I don't know how such an old man persisted.

"Gentlemen and ladies, welcome to Madison Square Garden in New York, thank you..."

Stern started the speech he had read countless times before the draft. Anthony listened to it now, and suddenly smiled inexplicably.

"Hey, Melo, who do you think the Magic will choose to be the No. He gradually put it down, but this did not prevent him from becoming a basketball fan.

"Howard." Anthony said without thinking.

"Why are you so sure?" Mina didn't expect Anthony to be so straightforward, he said inexplicably, "Howard does have potential, but after all, he is a high school student who has never studied in college, and Okafor has already trained in college. In four years, his statistics in college are even more abnormal, averaging a double-double and nearly 5 blocks per game, unless the Magic are crazy, why would they choose Howard?"

Listening to Mina's words, what he said is indeed correct, but it is naturally impossible for Anthony to tell that he has traveled through time, and he has predicted the future. He thought for a while and said: "The Magic is rebuilding, and Okafor is indeed Very strong, but Howard is younger, and youth is capital."

Listening to Anthony's explanation, Mina was stunned for a moment, and then he didn't know how to refute. Finally, he could only turn his attention to the draft field. He is now waiting for Stern to announce the results of the Magic's draft.

Soon, Stern stood up, took the card and began to read: "No. [-] pick, Orlando Magic selects, Dwight Howard, from Southwestern Christian Academy in Atlanta."

When Stern announced the results, there was an uproar on the scene. According to their predictions, the Magic were also most likely to pick Okafor, especially Okafor himself. He looked a little embarrassed at the moment, look at his appearance , his agent seemed to get the guarantee of the draft just like what happened to Anthony, but it didn't happen in the end.

But the happiest thing at the moment was the draft room of the Bobcats. When they heard that the Magic had chosen Howard, a high school student, all of them jumped up excitedly, and then their choice was finalized.

"Crazy!" Mina saw that the Magic really chose Howard, he suddenly felt a little speechless, then turned his head and said, "This scene is too similar to last year, Melo, the Magic are going to lose money, just like It’s because the Cavaliers didn’t choose you last year. LeBron’s high school student is very strong, but he’s far worse than you. This year, they dared to choose a high school student as the No. [-] pick. It’s really crazy.”

Hearing Mina using himself as a metaphor, Anthony was a little dumbfounded. Of course, he couldn't tell Mina that he was a time traveler, and he changed Anthony's fate. Obviously, Okafor couldn't be the time traveler. In the end, it will be that "Warcraft" Howard who will make a better name, so he just smiled and said nothing.

There is not much suspense about the next selection. The Bobcats with the second pick took Okafor from the University of Connecticut. The Bulls picked Okafor from the University of Connecticut with the third pick. Teammate Ben Gordon.

Everything seems to continue to run according to the trajectory of history until the 15th pick in the first round. Here, the pick has not changed, but the person who owns the pick has changed, and the pick has changed from Boston Celtics to Denver Nuggets.

Hearing that he was preparing for the 15th pick, Mina became agitated and turned to Anthony and said, "Melo, your team is here, do you know who you are going to pick? The one with super athletic ability Josh Smith, JR Smith with explosive scoring ability, or a stable point guard Nelson, or Jefferson with good offensive skills but short stature? I think Josh Smith or JR Smith is the most likely, the team Now we need a backup at small forward."

Anthony smiled and didn't speak. Now he suddenly realized that when he already knew the result, the feeling of watching others keep guessing was really very subtle.

"Melo, seeing you smiling like this, you must know something inside?" Mina saw Anthony smiling and said nothing, and hurriedly asked, "Tell me quickly."

Anthony looked at Mina's eagerness and said, "Our team has traded Wang Zhizhi before."

"Ah? Trading Wang Zhizhi?! Why, he played so well, he performed so well in the playoffs, especially in the Western Conference Finals. Although he lost, he was the best player besides you. It was a bad decision, Mello, didn't you tell Kiki?" Mina said with a shocked expression.

Anthony didn't want to explain too much, just smiled and said: "It is because of his performance that we were not able to keep him. He is a very hard-working player, and Boston is rebuilding. I hope he can be there." Had a great performance.”

Mina saw that what Anthony said was so official, and guessed that the things inside were not so easy to explain clearly, so he didn't ask any more questions, but went on to say: "That said, it seems that Josh will be chosen. Smith, that guy can shoot [-]s like Wang, he can play power forward, and most importantly, that guy can play defense like hell."

Anthony smiled and didn't say anything, but at this moment, Stern had already walked out, and he followed up and said: "In 2004, the 15th pick in the first round of the NBA draft came from the Denver Nuggets. Selected...Al Jefferson from..."

"Grooving, why did Kiki choose Jefferson!" Before Stern finished speaking, Mina couldn't help shouting, "He actually gave up on Josh, my God, tonight's draft is really amazing. It's so surprising!"

Anthony smiled and said nothing, these were all within his expectations.

The NBA draft continued, and there was nothing unexpected for Anthony. In the second round, the Nuggets, who held the ninth pick in the second round, picked Chris Duhon again. Trevor Ariza was picked off at the second place, and here, the Nuggets' draft is complete.

In the end, Vandeweghe fully adopted Anthony's opinion. Taking off Jefferson is to fill the team's backup power forward, and taking off Duhon is to make up for the team's point guard. Roger has proved last season that he is not a A very good passer, but as a backup for the 2nd position, as a defensive vanguard, it can still have some effect, so some adjustments are necessary.

As for Ariza, they trained them as rookies to improve their bench strength by the way, because although the Nuggets already have Korver and Diaw as substitutes, if any of them are injured and unable to play, then their The bench will become very stretched, and the arrival of Ariza is also what Anthony hopes to solve this problem.

The draft is over, and in a few days, the free agent market will officially open. After this day, the team can negotiate with the players and reach a verbal agreement. After July 7, the team You can sign contracts with players.

This time the free agent market is destined to not be an ordinary one.

(End of this chapter)